Cruel Summer Season 2 Episode 3 Bloody Knuckles Review And Recap- Delta Sierra, Diplomatic Immunity, And What Happened In St. Barts

What a difference a year makes. What was once sunny and full of possibilities morphs into something darker until all light has been sucked out of the place, leaving behind a sickly green pall. Megas, Isabella, and Luke are locked in a deadly orbit around each other, and in July of 1999, they don’t even know how bad things will get. Cruel Summer Season 2 Episode 3 begins pulling back the layers on the mystery of Luke’s death. Who killed him and why? As with the first season of this twisty teen thriller, what we think we know is just the tip of the iceberg.

Told again over three timelines, we watch as events play out over July 19th, 1999, and July 19th, 2000.

July 19th, 1999

In July 1999, the girls prepared for an annual campout in Luke’s cabin. It’s tradition, and this year Isabella is coming along. While at the cabin, Jeff and Megan flirt, even if Megan doesn’t realize it at first, and Luke and Isabella continue to get closer. Luke’s brother Brent shows up with firewood to keep the “trigger happy” neighbor Ned from shooting them for stealing wood and promptly makes himself at home. He and Megan have a conversation later that makes it clear he wasn’t always the dirt ball he is now. Evidently, his mother’s death changed him.

We don’t know whether he was shaped by her death, his father, or something yet to be discovered. In any case, he was already slime in July 1999. We see a glimpse of who he once was in Cruel Summer Season 2 Episode 3. He and Megan had a good relationship at one time, though, and his comment to her about “getting rid of” Isabella was a joke, but I wonder how loyal he is to Megan. After finding Luke’s dead body and being convinced that Isabella may have given his tapes to the police, I wonder if he would have stashed Isabella’s bag at the cabin.

Brent and his camera aren’t the only ones filming. Jeff uses his like a shield to be part of the action but is invisible at the same time. He clearly has a crush on Megan and is so excited to see The Blair Witch Project. In July of 1999, he was sweet and curious. Just five months later, he is belligerent and angry. How angry was he that Megan chose Luke over him?

There are a few details that matter in this timeline. Both girls shoot Luke’s father’s gun, getting their fingerprints on the weapon used to shoot Luke in the eat shortly before his death. We only see Luke and the girls holding the weapon in 1999. Megan is an excellent shot, while Isabella is not. She jokes about diplomatic immunity and getting away with murder which is problematic in light of what happened to Luke just a few months later. She also proves to be a gifted liar playing two truths and a lie. Megan is also a good liar.

Isabella’s friend Lisa is also mentioned again. At some point, the two spent time somewhere near an ocean. This is an important detail considering in July of 2000; Isabella talks to her lawyer(maybe also her aunt) about something bad that happened in St. Barts. St. Barts is a Caribbean island and could be the place she and Lisa were last. How serious was the incident in St. Barts, and are Isabella and Lisa still friends? Does Isabella have a habit of leaving trouble and bodies behind?

Lastly, Megan’s father, Keith, had come over to visit her mother while she and Isabella were gone. Megan was angry her mother was kissing him because he left them when her mother was pregnant with her sister. The two girls bond over having absentee parents. I am curious why Keith actually left all those years ago. Is it possible what Megan knows isn’t the whole story? Is it possible one or both of the girls is not Keith’s? A perverse part of me is hoping that Megan’s sister is Steve’s. I assume Debbie would have told Megan she shouldn’t date her brother.

December 19th, 1999

A few people know Luke did not cheat on Megan with Isabella in the sex tape. Isabella broke down and told Debbie because she couldn’t stand her surrogate mom thinking she would do such a terrible thing. The girls initially argue, but Megan quickly forgives her. The other person who knows the truth about the tape is Jeff. He recognized Megan’s laugh and knew it wasn’t Isabella. The girls blackmail him with the secret of how he earns money. We don’t know what that is yet, but we should find out soon.

Sheriff Jack consoles Luke and acts more like a parent than his own father, who vacillates between threatening Jack into dropping the case against Brent and mentally abusing Luke. Steve is a nightmare of entitlement and excuses. Luke tried to do the right thing by turning Brent’s tapes over to the police. He also thought he might gain the upper hand against his brother. Unfortunately, nothing happened. Steve threw his political and monetary clout around to get Brent out of trouble and then got angry with Luke for airing their dirty laundry.

Steve is very good at playing the two boys off of each other in Cruel Summer Season 2 Episode 3. Making each think they the more liked at different times to keep them off balance and pitted against each other. It’s telling that for Steve, the bigger sin was telling other people what Brent was doing than filming underage girls without their consent.

The only other detail that may matter is a deputy at the police station was gambling on a basketball game. Is he a chronic gambler, and does this matter? Could he be involved somehow because he owed money? It’s hard to know this early which details matter.

July 19th, 2000

Everyone wants a piece of Luke, Megan, and Isabella’s story. A reporter is in town, and Megan refuses to talk to her. We will have to wait and see what part she may play in the future. Both girls have lawyers who guide them through the interrogation process. The three sets of prints found on the gun are a problem for them. They have a reasonable excuse for their prints, but combined with other factors, they are the most obvious suspects.

The sex tape and potential betrayal are bad for both of them, regardless of who anyone thinks was on the video. The recently cleaned cabin is also an issue. We know Megan cleaned it in the previous episode. Why she did, we don’t know, but we can assume that it was blood, she was cleaning up. With things looking dire and a warning from Isabella, Debbie asks Megan’s dad for money for a lawyer. Megan is furious, but she doesn’t have much choice. Megan lies about the night Luke went missing. She claims she and Luke went to a party at midnight and went to the beach for a while before Megan drove him home. However, the surveillance tape from that night does not show Luke ever returning.

Isabella has something to answer for as well. Her bag was found stuffed in the crawl space of the cabin. Did she leave it there, or was it planted? Has Megan begun planting evidence to protect herself and incriminate Isabella? If so, why did these two stop being friends? What did Isabella or Megan do to the other to break them apart? The Christmas party Steve threw was certainly eventful. What will happen at this other party mentioned in Cruel Summer Season 2 Episode 3?

I also am desperate to know what happened with Isabella in St. Barts. It is severe enough that diplomatic immunity had to be used to get her out of trouble. Is Lisa dead?

There are still so many things we don’t understand. As with Cruel Summer Season 1, the more we think we know, the less we actually do. Which girl was involved in Luke’s death? Was either girl? Who is covering for who and why? Does any of Isabella and Megan’s past matter to Luke’s story? We will have to wait and see. Find all our Cruel Summer coverage here.