"Cruel Summer" Review: Teens, Kidnapping, and Semantics

Platform: Freeform, Hulu

Release Date: April 20, 2021

I have never been ashamed of loving a good teen drama. Amidst a world of cinematic and deeply scripted series, I find it necessary to balance it all out with having a mindless drama on which to fall back. This spring, one of the most talked about of such series was Freeform's "Cruel Summer," which wrapped up its first season on June 15 and is now available in its completion on Hulu. The show's synopsis puts a serious twist on the typical popular/unpopular girl at school drama and, while still falling into the typical pitfalls of a YA drama thriller, raises the dramatic stakes by including a kidnapping, accusations, and a court case all wrapped around the typical relational drama you would expect from the genre. This show is built on the uncovering of the truth, so this review will remain as non-spoiler as possible.

The series examines the lives of two high schoolers, Jeanette Turner (Chiara Aurelia) and Kate Wallis (Olivia Holt), in a plot that drapes across three years: 1993, '94, and '95. Kate, a popular and well-liked girl, goes missing in 1993, while Jeanette, a socially awkward outcast, struggles with her looks and social status. When discovered alive and rescued in 1994, Kate returns to the world finding that Jeanette has seemingly taken her place amongst her friends and risen in social status. Kate's reappearance comes with a stark accusation: that Jeanette saw Kate while being held by her kidnapper and never said anything. With Jeanette now facing harsh scrutiny from loved ones, her town, and the nation, she denies Kate's accusations with a defamation lawsuit in 1995. Now, as the story unfolds across the three years, we witness shifting allegiances as the veil is slowly pulled away on the truths, lies, and twists of the story.

First episode or two were difficult to get through because of the unorthodox structuring of the episodes, with unwarned shifting through each of the three years (and not always in order). Once you catch on to how each year carries its own color tone ('93: full color, '94: dulled colors, '95: nearly gray scaled), you actually come to enjoy the structure of the storytelling. This structure helps amplify the twists and turns since you are capturing the happenings of multiple years in a single episode and can only allot so much time to resolving any one plot point. The constant flipping between Kate and Jeanette's timelines did a good job of keeping me on edge regarding certain story details. More so, the tone for each of the season is accentuated by the shifts in color tone, which I found to be a nice artistic touch.

The acting throughout the show is probably better than it has any right to be, with both lead actresses really leaning into their characters. Further praise for Aurelia's Jeanette, she has the task of playing two different characters with the stark differences in Jeanette's transformation from nerd to popular to outcast throughout the years. I will note, though, that there are some inconsistencies in the characterizations of the leads which could be more about the writing and directing than the actresses performances. There really are not any characters that I find to be unbelievable, but a few members of the supporting cast come off more like soap opera actors than others. Where the actors all around do well is shift your allegiances as they navigate the story. There are easily characters you are meant to hate and they do that well, but in terms of where you stand with Kate, Jeanette, and their closest friends, you may find yourself switching allegiances every episode.

The show does fall prey to the typical soap opera structure: starting the episodes with a strong plot point and then adding a bunch of relational fluff in the middle before ending with a hook/twist for the next episode. As you would expect, some of the relationship drama is adjacent to the main storyline and has no bearing on the main storyline. I think the effort they put into these plot lines and characters, such as the gay relationship between two male characters, seems a bit wasteful since many of those characters come off as unecessary by the end.

As I put in the title, this is a show about semantics in so many ways and it bleeds in to the ultimate resolution of the series. As is typical in teenagers, there is a lot of misunderstandings and misperceptions that drives much of the relationship drama. There is a focus from the families, especially Kate's, in regards to how situations are discussed around others as to maintain a positive and innocent facade. The show deals with the process of grooming by Kate's captor, some of which is perofrmed through carefully selected words/phrases when she is vulnerable. Of course, there is the nature of the accusation and the preceding defamation suit, all around Kate's accusation that Jeanette saw her while captive and Jeanette's denial of doing so. This has a huge payout at the end of the finale, but of course, no spoilers.

Semantics of the language. It is a legal battle, in the end, and semantics mean everything in the line between truth and lies.

The show may start off hard to follow, but if you stick through it, you are in for a really good time. This is an excellent show by Freeform standards and a really good one, nonetheless. There are some odd decisions the show makes which are either ill explained or not at all to move the story forward. But those can be forgiven with the web of twisted truths, half truths, and lies that it has to present and untangle through the course of 10 episodes. Most importantly, I think the season had a pretty satisfying ending, with most essential storylines concluded. With the series renewed for a second season, I do hope that the rumors of this being an anthology series are true. As much as I would like to see some of these actors again (perhaps they could follow the American Horror Story casting model) I think the integrity of this season rests on what has already been done, rather than trying to stretch it further....even with that ending.

---

RATING: 👩🏼‍⚖️ 👩🏼‍⚖️ 👩🏼‍⚖️ 👩🏼‍⚖️. 25 / 5

---

If you enjoyed this content, please follow Geeky Therapy on Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date with all posts and reviews.

---