Nate Jacobs isn’t just one of the most terrifying, morally bankrupt characters on HBO’s TV series Euphoria; He is one of the most formidable antagonists in all of television. Nate is extremely cunning and uses people to get what he wants, which is absolute control over others.
EuphoriaThe film focuses on the lives of high school students, dealing with drug use, relationships, and trauma, and really taps into the fact that a character like Nate, as scary as he may seem, is still a possible person in the world. Considering all the horrible things he’s done on the show so far, this is pretty chilling.
Matt manipulates Maddie into getting back together with him
Although Nate seemed unsure about his future with Maddie in season 2, one of his EuphoriaThe most stylish of the protagonists, in season one he does whatever it takes to control her and make her one of his. That’s why, even though he says he will never hurt her and will always protect her, he still fights with her and does terrible things to keep their relationship going.
He constantly lied to her, especially after he assaulted her, and he led her to believe that what he had done would never happen again. Of course, Maddie isn’t entirely innocent, but he knows he’s lying when he says it, which makes it all the more difficult to watch when Maddie agrees to be with him again.
Nate convinces McKay that Cassie doesn’t actually like him
Nate always uses foul language, especially around the hyper-masculine jock crowd he spends time with, but when it comes to McKay and Cassie, it’s clear he wants to make McKay feel unsafe. At the beginning of season 1, he led McKay to believe that Cassie only wanted him for sex.
Not only did the conversation spark season-long tension between the couple, but it was also the reason why McKay believed everything Cassie did was hypersexual. With the seed of this evil idea in mind, Nate ruined the relationship from the start. This could also indicate that he always wanted Cassie to be his own.
Nate Gaslett-Casey returns to McGrady
Season 2 begins with Cassie hooking up with Nate, which leads to her falling in love with him, while Nate’s feelings may be similar, but more possessive. After this night, Cassie starts dressing up to get his attention, but to no avail as he is too timid to tell Maddie that he hooked up with her best friend.
That said, he basically drives Cassie over the edge because she has no idea how he really feels and he keeps messing with her feelings. Not to mention, he continued to hook up with Cassie at night while ignoring her all day at school.
Nate dreams about killing someone for Maddie
In season one, a cold opening explains Nate’s entire mindset when it comes to his relationship with Maddie, which is unhealthy. Not only does he like her for her outward femininity, but he often thinks about how to specifically kill those who try to harm her.
Ironically, now he doesn’t care that much about McGrady. To him, violence seems more exciting than being in a loving and protective relationship. There’s a lot of talk about Nate and Maddie being the perfect couple, but the truth is they make each other worse.
Nate creates a Grindr profile to track his dad’s hookups
Of course, Nate connected with Jules through a dating app his dad used, but it seems like he had the account before searching for her. This is obviously a bit speculative, but it’s not Nate’s job to stalk his father’s lover.
Not to mention, it’s definitely no coincidence that the hotel where he met Maddie in Season 1 was the same hotel his father used to hook up with. Nate analyzes the rooms and in a strange way tries to become a voyeur into his father’s secret sex life.
Nate watched every one of his dad’s sex tapes
Most children, if they find an explicit video of their parents, will look away and hide it, or tell their parents immediately. Nate, an emotionally distant man, watched all the tapes, learned how his father stored them according to color coordination, and continued to do so into his golden years growing up. Actually, Euphoria Plot points from season one about Nate’s sexuality and aversion to sex need to be revisited.
Not only is this sick and twisted, but it shows how he suppressed his hatred for his father for years. In a strange way, he enjoyed being blackmailed, even if it hurt him to know it. The same goes for finding the tape of Jules, because as Fisco even points out, part of Nate’s anger seems to come from his unwillingness to admit that he likes Jules.
Nate deliberately takes advantage of Cassie when she’s vulnerable
When Nate bumps into Cassie at the gas station, Cassie isn’t thinking about Nate at all and she’s kind of buzzing. Of course, that doesn’t mean he took full advantage of her, but he blatantly flirted with her and invited her into his car.
Cassie knows it’s wrong, but because Nate is such a good manipulator, he gets her to do what he wants by giving her loving attention, which is one of the only things she craves. In a way, his attempts and successes in hooking up with Cassie were a challenge to himself, making him feel superior to McKay and his ex, Maddie, who he’d cheated on him with multiple times.
Nate beats Maddie
Nate is a violent man, but what makes him so terrifying is that he’s so in control most of the time. When he does burst into anger, he is unpredictable, as he is powerful enough to kill almost anyone with his bare hands, and he despises most humans.
When he attacks Maddie at the carnival, he doesn’t care about her feelings because he knows she loves him too much to tell anyone what he did. He wanted to test his power over her, and his sadistic plan worked until she passed out at school the next day.
Nate almost beat Taylor to death
When Maddie lies to Nate and tells him that she lost consciousness while having sex with Taylor in the pool at McKay’s party, Nate becomes enraged and immediately moves to scare Taylor.
Not only did Nate beat Taylor, but he also went to Taylor’s apartment to shower to remove the blood, took Taylor’s clean clothes, and threatened to call the police. With this leverage, Nate gained complete control over Tyler and got him to confess to strangling Maddie. Not to mention, the name he stalked Jules on the Tinder profile was Taylor.
Nate blackmails Jules
As mentioned, one of the worst things Nate has ever done euphoria, According to Reddit, one of the best teen dramas involved blackmailing Jules with a sex tape of her and Jules’ father. He has evil motives, but his conversations with Jules on the dating app and the way he can’t get her out of his mind prove otherwise.
He’s obviously conflicted because he does like Jules, but he despises masculinity and anything related to his father. He hurts Jules with this blackmail because it’s the only way he knows how to deal with people he doesn’t understand. He hurt them.