There’s two sides to every story.
Cruel Summer Season 1 Review (Top 10 2021).
The second season of Cruel Summer follows two best friends Megan (Sadie Stanley) and Isabelle (Lexi Underwood, Little Fires Everywhere) between the Summers of 1999 and 2000 as they meet and eventually become close, bringing each other out of their respective shells and then becoming involved in the suspicious death of their shared love interest Luke (Griffin Gluck). Starting in the summer of 99, Isabelle arrives to stay with Megan and her Mother Debbie (KaDee Strickland) on a year long exchange where the two girls initially clash but soon bond and become close friends. Megan, a shy computer geek is encouraged to be more outgoing by Isabelle and Isabelle herself finds a family with Megan and Debbie and some stability in her life.
Megan’s best friend Luke soon becomes interested in Isabelle but Megan’s own lingering feelings complicate things, putting the three in a messy triangle. By the winter of 99 Megan and Luke are happily dating but when he then goes missing and his body is found nearly eight months later all eyes are on the two girls and their suspected involvement. Luke’s Father Steve (Paul Adelstein) is desperate for an arrest to be made and pushes for the two to be investigated but in the end it is only Megan and Isabelle who really know what happened to Luke that fateful night. So what really did happen and who out of the two is the real guilty party?
Because of how much I loved the first season of Cruel Summer I have to say I was a little bit disappointed that there wouldn’t be a continuation and instead we were going down the anthology route, starting up with a whole new set of characters and storyline. I just feel like season one had so much left to explore and I really came to love that group of people and the complex situation they all found themselves in. But moving forward I was still excited to return for a second season and see what would happen next, exploring this new location and yet another ‘cruel summer’ where once again two girls found themselves wrapped up in a devastating mystery. Despite by initial disappointment at not continuing on with the season one storyline however, Megan and Isabelle’s mystery was more than enough to keep me watching and I really enjoyed this season just as much as I did the first. This time around there was an actual murder and as each episode unfolded we really got to explore the friendship between Megan, Isabelle and Luke and the complicated feelings between them that led to Luke’s death.
Similar to season one Cruel Summer once again spread its narrative across three separate timelines, distinguished by the camera lighting and character appearances, a technique I have really come to love for this show. This time around however I feel like the three timelines were slightly more concise, following one year’s worth of timeline spread across three periods rather than three sperate years like the first season. I think because of the shorter span between the three timelines there was less unseen footage so to speak and everything linked up a lot better, meaning the narrative flowed more smoothly. Because of the gaps in the story in season one I did leave with a lot of unanswered questions but that wasn’t really the case here and overall it felt like a more cohesive mystery. Stylistically though I do really love how Cruel Summer splits its story up, showcasing how much things can change in just a few short months and then often working backwards and slowly revealing everything that happened over the season, it makes for a very compelling narrative technique.
Megan, Isabelle and Luke made for an incredibly messy trio and the dynamic between them and the constant ups and downs was very much the driving force of the season. Two best friends liking the same guy is always a strange situation and I think despite his best intentions Luke very much liked the shared attention and did boast a little, a move which ended up being his undoing. Season two also explored the ups and downs of having a best friend and how you can have such strong feelings for one person, whether they be positive, negative or even both and I really liked the intense look into friendships and how they really can make or break you.
Overall I really enjoyed this second season of Cruel Summer and loved following a new mystery over the three timelines and once again exploring the complexities of female friendships. Starting up with a whole new group of characters, Megan and Isabelle made for an interesting duo and paired with their shared love for Luke made for a very messy season. Whilst I think I still preferred season one, the storyline here definitely held up and I really enjoyed switching between the three timelines as we got to bottom of everything that was going on. Yet another great mystery, I really hope we get a third season of this show!
Ramblings of a Supposed Writer 