After reinvigorating the teen drama genre with an exciting storytelling approach in its maiden season back in 2021, Cruel Summer came up with a second season this year with the burden of a lot of expectations from its cult followers. While the current season has been lacking in terms of subtlety and finesse compared to the first season, the pulpy storytelling and intriguing new characters have managed to keep us on the edge. With the season approaching its culmination this week, we are going to discuss a bit about what has happened so far and the questions the big finale needs to answer.
Spoilers Ahead
Cruel Summer Season 2: What We Know So Far
I promise to keep this short, as we are already aware of the nitty-gritty of the season. But before we get into the questions, here’s a little refresher for you.
The timeline is rather short here, as it is divided into two consecutive summers with the winter sandwiched between them. The years are 1999 and 2000. In Chatham, Pennsylvania, resident Megan, a straight-A student, meets Isabella, who has come to live at Megan’s house thanks to a student hosting program. After initial hiccups, the two form a strong friendship. Isabella becomes part of Megan’s life and eventually starts to date Megan’s best friend, Luke. Megan finds herself in a confusing situation as she also has feelings for Luke, but she genuinely cares for Isabella as well. However, upon realizing Luke and Megan are soulmates, Isabella breaks up with Luke.
Eventually, Megan and Luke give in to the inevitable and start their relationship. Things seem to be going well for the lovebirds until the winter comes, and the two of them find themselves in a spot of trouble thanks to a scandalous videotape. Luke subsequently goes missing, and his body is found by the police the next summer. Given their close proximity to the dead guy, Megan and Isabella are the prime suspects. And we know for a fact that they were trying to hide a lot of detail about the fateful night from the very persistent Police Chief Mayers. Now that there is only one episode left, there are some burning questions Cruel Summer needs to answer. Let’s take a look at those.
Who Did Luke Page?
Over the past two weeks, it was revealed that Megan and Isabella were taking revenge on Luke, as he was basically pulling a toxic “dude bro” act on the girls. However, things went south as Isabella fired the gun, which grazed Luke’s ear, and Megan confessed to Luke about her pregnancy and then got irked by his reaction.
We saw things from Luke’s perspective last week, which actually made a lot of sense, even though it didn’t justify his wrongdoings. Anyway, after Megan and Isabella left, Luke managed to free himself on his own and get out of the cabin. Drugged and humiliated, a dejected Luke reached the dock, where he first actively proposed to Megan. And then he paged someone who arrived after a while. We didn’t see the face, but Luke said that he was not expecting that person to actually turn up. We need to know who this person might be. My guess would be Sheriff Mayers, but in that case, Mayers is definitely not who he seems to be. Or it might just be the case that Luke was rescued by Mayers, and the police chief staged the whole thing so that the boy could get away. It has already been established that Mayers genuinely likes Luke and has always been on his side.
How Did Luke Die?
That is the million-dollar question of this season, for sure. But if we take Mayers helping Luke fake his death into account, then that negates the question itself. That would be a huge twist, but I personally believe Luke is indeed dead, and someone we know actually had something to do with that.
At this point, everyone from Megan to Isabella to Jeff to even Sheriff Mayers can be labeled as suspects, but from what we have seen so far, I don’t think Megan would be revealed as the killer, as that wouldn’t be very convincing. Isabella, however, is a volatile person, no matter how good her intentions are. Jeff has a clear motive, as Luke was literally the person to whom he lost his girlfriend, but picturing Jeff as the killer is quite difficult as well. As far as Mayers goes, there is no motive (as far as we know), although he did have a gambling problem. I don’t see how exactly Luke’s death would be beneficial for him. I am not ruling out the idea of Luke dying accidentally as well, which would be ironic but not particularly impossible.
What Will Happen To Megan And Isabella?
If you think about it, the winter timeline of the show is all about action, and the summer 2000 timeline is about the consequences of that. One of the things we’re all. invested in is Megan and Isabella’s fate.
Let us talk about Isabella first. Despite the character not seeming like someone who is inherently evil, it has been established by the show that trouble keeps following this girl. From Lisa to Luke, the death omen is always omnipresent with Isabella. And it can’t just be a coincidence. We have already discussed things like her split personality and her hidden feelings for Megan, which might come into the equation by the end. Although these are just speculations based on what we know. Will Isabella be able to get away with what she has done if she is indeed guilty? We are hoping to find out.
Megan Landry: While it’s true that the main character of Cruel Summer season 2 is not the goody two shoes she initially appeared to be, she is not exactly a bad person either. The computer genius with a bright future turning into a hacker over the course of one year, thanks to her circumstances, is actually quite sad. Even if she is exonerated of all the charges against her, Megan Landry’s life ahead doesn’t look that sunny from where she stands. Will Megan’s character at least have a hopeful ending? Let’s see what the writers have in store for us.
Will There Be A Final Twist?
Remember Jeanette Turner from last season? You know what I am talking about if you have seen the first season and still can’t sleep peacefully thinking about what Jeanette did (and could have done). However, the characters of this season don’t seem to be as complex as Jeanette Turner, and I am not exactly expecting a twist like that. But I have a feeling that just like last season, Cruel Summer is going to leave us with something to ponder over until the next season arrives. In about twenty-four hours or so, we will hopefully have all the answers.
