"Cruel Summer" Review

Kate Wallis is a popular girl who appears to have everything entirely together, but she’s going through a lot with her family behind the scenes. Jeanette Turner is a nerd who aspires to be as popular as Kate Wallis someday. When their two worlds collide, one ends up missing while the other one thrives in her place.

“Cruel Summer” is a teen mystery show about two teenage girls and how different yet surprisingly similar their lives are to each other. Every episode focuses on either Jeanette or Kate and their perspectives on the events from 1993-1995. Both characters have different sides to the story, and you can’t be sure of who exactly to believe.

You can tell the difference between the years based on the color scheme, character’s behavior, outfits, and hairstyles throughout the show. Flashbacks for the happier times are all bright and colorful, while the present dark times are dull and gray.

I really enjoyed watching the show because there were always plot twists, so I didn’t know what to expect and who to root for. Although I will admit that some clues are dropped that foreshadow the show’s ending if you pay close enough attention to the episodes. There is also a lot of suspense building up for the trial episode, and once you find out the actual truth, it’s incredibly shocking.

“Cruel Summer” is a complex show where not everything is black and white. Both the girl’s versions of events are slightly faulted yet true to a certain extent, so it’s hard to figure out who’s the victim and who’s the villain or if they are indeed both.

So if you are looking for a mystery drama where you don’t know what to expect, and the characters are complex to the point where you don’t know who to root for, I suggest you watch this show.

However, I would recommend taking your time watching it versus binge watching it as it does get tedious at specific points, and it helps build up more of a “wow” impact once you reach the season finale. You can watch “Cruel Summer” on Freeform or stream it on Hulu.

Let me know in the comments or contact form below if you watch it or have any show recommendations. I have also recently created a Google Form to submit shows you would like for me to review, and a random drawing will take place every month. You can find the link in my Instagram bio :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wX9ccYHMwKw