Cruel Summer Season 2 Episode 1 And 2 Explained- All The Details That Matter

Fans of the twisty teen thriller had to wait two long years for the next installment of the soapy hit. The addictive “Who Done It” is finally back with a new cast, location, and even higher stakes. The first two episodes, which premiered tonight on Freeform, use the same structure as the first season. Cruel Summer Season 2 gives us three separate timelines and a new core group of three, Megan(Sadie Stanley), Luke(Griffin Gluk), and Isabella( Lexi Underwood).

As with the first season, we are introduced to specific days in all three timelines each week. Y2K paranoia is in full tilt, and the instantly recognizable sounds of The Spice Girls and Sugar Ray fill our ears. It’s Senior Year for Megan, Luke, and the newly transplanted Isabella, an exchange student living with Megan. It should be a time for hope and fun. But, instead, by the end of Cruel Summer Season 2 Episode 1 and 2, one of the three is dead, and it looks like the other two may have killed him. Here’s everything you need to know about each timeline.

July 16th-July 18th 1999

Isabella arrives in a pretty waterfront town in the Pacific Northwest. The small community is owned by Luke’s father, Steve Chambers, and is tight-knit. Megan’s mother has invited Isabella to move in with them because she worries that Megan needs to let loose and have some fun with a friend. In July of 1999, Megan is a straight-laced A student and computer coder hoping to get into the University of Washington on a coding scholarship. Her best friend Luke has always been around, but Megan hasn’t thought of him romantically until Isabella arrives and pursues him. Isabella is stunning, charismatic, and says all the right things. She claims she has lived all over, and her diplomat parents sent her to boarding school years ago. She has a close friend at boarding school named Lisa.

During a snooping trip, Megan finds a passport filled with stamps which means this part of her story is true. Megan also finds a disk labeled Summer of 1998. Before she can look any further, Isabella catches her. Later the pair seem to mend fences a little at The Bloom, a local event celebrating a bioluminescence event on the shore. Isabella continues to try to befriend her new host. She also does some light snooping in Megan’s room and brings Megan’s wallet to her at work.

Later the two talk about Luke at his pool party. Everyone thinks Megan is perfect. She doesn’t drink or smoke and doesn’t ever get in trouble. However, this may not be the case as she has a bag with small white pills in her backpack. Is she a secret drug dealer? More likely, she is pocketing some of her mother’s pills. ADHD meds would be an ideal choice for a girl taking academically rigorous classes and driven to perform.

1999 Megan is timid and lets people walk all over her. Her boss gives away more profitable work shifts because Megan’s colleague flirts with him. She is desperate to leave town as she thinks she has no opportunities there. Luke also wants out of his father and brother’s shadow. His father wants him to follow in his footsteps and get a business degree, but Luke wants nothing to do with the family business. He hates his older brother and resents his father. Unfortunately, Steve is incapable or unwilling to listen. A strange but essential detail that may be important later is Luke is involved in a law enforcement program run by Sheriff Meyer. As with Cruel Summer Season 1, what we initially believe to be the truth may not be exactly what happened.

Megan’s mother works for Steve, and she counsels him that his latest deal, something called the Northland, is risky. Steve is arrogant and quickly dismisses her concerns. This could be very important later on. Isabella and Luke begin flirting, much to Megan’s dismay. Nothing makes you realize what is right before you, like watching it slip away.

December 15th and 18th, 1999

Six months makes a huge difference. Luke and Megan are now in love, and Isabella and Megan are best friends. Megan seemingly has it all. She just got accepted to the University of Washington and got a full ride to boot. By this point, Isabella has moved on and doesn’t seem to care that Luke and Megan are together. Their mutual friend Jeff, however, is less enthusiastic. Despite Luke’s desire not to go to school like his brother, he will attend business school in the fall.

Steve and Megan’s mother, Debbie, are having an affair, and as Debbie predicted, the Northland deal is not going as planned. At Steve’s annual Christmas party, he intends to show a movie but shows a sex tape to the entire crowd. Everyone at the party thinks the video shows Isabella and Luke having sex, and Megan runs out crying. Debbie has money problems, and a stack of overdue bills sits on the table. Is she forgetful because of whatever drug she may take that Megan stole, or does she have a condition that the pills are needed?

Later Megan watches the sex tape and realizes it is of her and Luke. She is panicked because she is afraid she will lose her scholarship. Isabella offers to continue to pretend the tape was of her and Luke. Megan worries that everyone will think Isabella is a terrible friend and slut shame her because they will think she cheated with Luke. This staggeringly bonkers decision only works if everyone involved is in the know. They have to tell Luke. He doesn’t want to keep up the lie but agrees it is the best for Megan. They all discuss who might have filmed them. Isabella thinks Jeff did it as he had a camera and was jealous, but Luke is convinced his slimy brother Brent did it. Brent also got a camera for Christmas, and is disgusting enough to think that is a good idea.

According to Luke, his father thinks Brent can do no wrong, and comments from Megan make it clear Brent has been abusive to Luke for a long time. Brent’s ex-girlfriend, Parker, thinks Brent may have sex tapes of her as well. When Isabella breaks into his house looking for more tapes, the two girls realize they have mutual motivations. From Parker, we know Steve’s wife and the boys’ mother died sometime after 1988 and before 1999. We also learn Brent has a special stash of tapes in his room. Before the girls can get it, though, they hear the garage door open and leave.

The Chambers’ neighbor is a mysterious former computer coder who loves to shoot things and act like a nutter. This show loves red herrings, and Cruel Summer Season 2 looks no different. He could become an ally to Megan if Brent expands his sex tape business to include disks.July,

July 2000

2000 looks very different for everyone. Megan is now sporting several piercings, and her sunny curly blond hair is gone. She now wears it slicked back and severe. Isabella is also toned down, and the girls, although still talking, are chilly toward one another. Even Megan’s sister, who was a sweet, optimistic child, has changed. She is now belligerent and rebellious.

Luke has been missing for a long time, and Megan blames it on Isabella. For some reason, everyone in town thinks Megan is a freak now. Megan saves a vector file onto a disk and gives it to a man for money. Vector files are typically graphics or photos, which is interesting considering all the sex tape footage that could be out there. It could also just be a way for Megan to earn money for her family and have nothing to do with Luke and Isabella. In any case, she thinks this mystery man told the Sherrif something that worries her.

Megan picks up a prescription from the pharmacist for her mother, which may be what Megan had in her baggie in the first timeline or somethinSheriffetely unrelated. While at the pharmacy, Megan overhears someone saying they found a body in the water. She panics and goes directly to a cabin, where she scrubs what appears to be blood from the floor. She then heads to the shore, where she sees a body bag being transferred to the Sheriff. Isabella stands alongside her and tells her they must get their stoSheriffight. Cruel Summer Season 2 will be about discovering their secrets.

After an autopsy on Luke’s body, the Sherrif discovers Luke had been drugged with muscle rSheriff or pain medication and was shot in the ear. His cause of death was drowning, but apparent steps were taken to ensure he died in the water. Isabella wants to run, but the Sheriff has reopened the investigation, and everyone is being questioned again. The once-tight friends argue about Isabella trying to leave. Strangely everyone else in town has decided that Isabella killed Luke so she would have Megan all to herself. Is there truth to that? Is this a Single White Female situation happening?

Has everything we have seen so far designed to make it seem like Megan and Isabella did it together. Is it possible the ride or die friends had their loyalty tested when Isabella asked Megan to help her bury a body. After all Luke tells Isabella, Megan is that kind of friend.The town

Details are everything. Although Isabella and Megan are acting very suspiciously, plenty of other players could be involved in Luke’s death. Luke’s dad is shady. Megan’s mother has some skeletons and any number of girls could be angry with Brent and confused him for Luke. Luke also may have finally confronted Brent and things got out of hand. There are too many possibilities and not enough clues yet. Maybe the girls are just their own worst enemies, and they are inadvertently covering up something neither of them is to blame for. We will be watching and waiting. Find all our Cruel Summer Season 2 coverage here.