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With Euphoria Season 3 Episode 7, Ali is no longer the guy who only saves Rue with speeches and deep and philosophical talks at the diner.
With the penultimate episode of Season 3, Colman Domingo’s character and his story showed exactly why he understands addiction, guilt, and self-destruction better than almost anyone else on the show.
The flashbacks in “Rain or Shine” highlighted Ali’s life before recovery, including his journey with drug use, cheating, violence at home, and the damage that he's caused his family during the worst possible period of his addiction.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter after the episode aired, Domingo explained that Euphoria has always planned to slowly unpack Ali’s past instead of revealing everything so fast and early.
According to the actor, the show needed us to understand the full weight that Ali carries before we moved into the Season 3 finale. The episode has also changed the way Ali and Rue’s relationship feels now. Their scenes no longer come across like AA sponsor meetings, because now, it is so much more than that.
Euphoria finally showed why Ali understands Rue better than everyone else on the HBO show
For 2 entire seasons, Euphoria has mostly made use of Ali as the calm voice in Rue’s life. However, with Episode 7, the dynamic changes because we get to see first-hand where his wisdom actually comes from.
The flashback scenes highlight Ali spiralling through addiction while destroying his marriage and hurting the people who were the closest to him. One dinner table fight with his wife turned ugly in front of their daughters, making it clear that Ali’s past is nowhere near it being clean or noble.
Then, Episode 7 of Euphoria Season 3 followed his recovery journey step by step.
After him landing in the hospital, Ali refuses to take any painkillers and he slowly commits himself to sobriety and 12 step meetings. Rue’s narration also explains how he's tried to turn his mistakes into something meaningful by helping addicts who were struggling like he once did.
“Ali figured if he could change his habits, maybe he could heal his past and transform his mistakes into blessings. It became his mission in life.”
However, Euphoria Season 3 Episode 7 has also made sure to show that recovery did not magically fix up his life. Ali kept losing people around him to addiction, even carrying around a notebook filled with names and death dates.
Colman Domingo told The Hollywood Reporter,
“This season was a great opportunity to really go into Ali’s backstory, to give you more context and understanding who he is and why he’s doing what he’s doing.”
The actor also admitted he did not want Ali to repeat the same mentor role forever.
Talking about this, Domingo said,
“I knew for sure that I was hoping that Ali wouldn’t just be in a diner sounding like a bumper sticker... We already did that.”
Ali and Rue’s scenes feel completely different now because of Euphoria Season 3 Episode 7
With Euphoria Season 3 Episode 7, the changes made through Ali and Rue's conversations are pretty evident. In the earlier seasons, Ali like Rue’s conversations in the diner have always had this sponsor and occasional reality check feel to it.
However, now? The relationship has evolved into something more, especially once Rue admits she is trapped between Alamo, Laurie, and the DEA.
Ali still tries helping her despite knowing how dangerous the situation has become. He even offers violent protection at one point, telling Rue he has a “12-gauge shotgun” if someone is forcing her into something against her will.
This scene feels extremely different after seeing his past because we now understand how much rage and regret Ali still carries inside him.
While speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Domingo said that the relationship has evolved into something much deeper than just mentorship. He said,
“Instead of big brother-little sister, this felt more like surrogate father-daughter...”
The actor also spoke about working with Zendaya, calling her one of his favorite scene partners. According to Domingo, their scenes are effortlessly easy because neither actor over-rehearses.
He said,
“We just strap in. We’ve done our own work and we show up and we listen and respond to each other...”
Episode 7 also introduced Natasha Lyonne into Ali’s backstory during the addiction flashbacks. Domingo revealed Lyonne had wanted to join Euphoria for years and specifically pushed to share scenes with him. Their scenes together felt raw because Lyonne has openly talked about her own history with addiction in real life.
Euphoria clearly made use of Ali’s backstory for more than shock value. Episode 7 has finally connected his painful past to the way he speaks to Rue, especially as the finale moves toward what already looks like the darkest ending the show has attempted yet.
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