Cruel Summer Season 2 Episode 5 All I Want For Christmas Review And Recap-The Only Way To Keep A Secret Is If Everyone Is Dead

All the small things are building up to something much larger and harder to contain in Cruel Summer Season 2 Episode 5. As if the references to Circuit City(RIP) and Matrix weren’t enough, The Goo Goo Dolls Slide slipped in to leave me with an earworm I can’t get rid of. There were a few nasty surprises and revelations between all the Member Berries’ warm fuzzies. When will people learn secrets and lies only lead to trouble? Bodies never stay buried; mistakes always haunt you unless you own up to them. Here are all the critical details.

July 25th, 1999

Isabella’s past is catching up to her. Lisa’s brother Trevor makes an unexpected appearance, and right away, it is obvious this isn’t a friendly visit. Isabella is uncomfortable, and Trevor is oddly aggressive with everyone. With Megan, he is secretive and probing, while with Luke, he is almost threatening. When Trevor pushes Isabella to tell everyone why she had to leave Ibiza and come to the US, she tells a story about being drunk and urinating in public, but that is a lie. We find out later she has something much bigger to hide. Isabella had a relationship with Trevor that she hid from Lisa, and it may or may not have contributed to the big reveal we learn at the end of Cruel Summer Season 2 Episode 5(more on this later).

The more important thing to focus on though is Isabella’s manipulation of Trevor, Luke, and later Megan. She appears to be a first-rate gas lighter that is playing everyone. Is she the devoted friend willing to give up her shot with a boy she likes and just slept with, or is she a conniving con artist working everyone? I don’t want to shame anyone, but I have never kissed one boy, declared my love, and then thirty minutes later, slept with another.

There’s still so much we don’t know about her, and that is one of the biggest problems with Cruel Summer Season 2. There is too much going on, and neither girl is established as sympathetic. With Season 1, we felt for both girls, which is why the gut punch that Jeanette saw Kate held captive in the house and did nothing was so powerful. We thought she was a good person. In Season 2, I’m not sure if anybody is.

Within hours of sleeping with Luke, Megan all but hands him over to Megan because she also loves the Matrix, and Megan confesses to having feelings for him. Is this a calculated maneuver to bring her closer to Megan, or does she really not care about Luke? Isabella holds her cards very close to the vest, so it is impossible to tell. Whereas Jeanette lied with ease, and we never saw it coming, we know Isabella is lying; we don’t know why.

The second meaningful relationship to keep an eye on is between Megan and the genius hacker-turned-town recluse, Ned. Cruel Summer has a history of older men having inappropriate relationships with high school girls. Although Megan denies anything happening in July of 1999, there is definitely something going on later. Ned is the one she is IMing in this timeline and presumably communicates with in all three.

December 25th, 1999

Isabella and Megan are still friendly, but cracks are forming. Megan is distant, and she is keeping things from Isabella. The girls still exchange Christmas gifts, a scrapbook for Isabella, and an expensive monitor for Megan, but things aren’t what they used to be. Secrets tend to do that. As predicted, Megan changed her C to an A in European History, and she probably got advice from Ned who she gave a gift too. She lied to her mother and Isabella about where she was going, perhaps because they would disapprove of their relationship. Even if it were strictly a mentor-and-mentee relationship, Megan’s mother wouldn’t be thrilled that he was teaching her how to break the law.

After witnessing Megan giving the gift to Ned, she immediately calls Luke to ask questions. It’s hard to tell if she is genuinely concerned for her friends and reaching out for help from Luke or if she is trying to drive a wedge between them. Before she gets too far into the conversation, Megan shows up and looks concerned to see them sitting together on the couch. These two have a complicated friendship. It’s impossible to tell who we can trust and what details matter. Clearly, Cruel Summer Season 2 Episode 5 wants us to know Megan reads a lot of mysteries and knows how to dispose of a body. Accepting that is true. She can’t be involved in Luke’s death because the body would never have been found.

Despite Megan pulling away, Isabella wants Megan in her life. She seems to need to replace Lisa with Megan, whether Megan wants that or not. Every concerning look and apology from Isabella seems calculated to achieve trust from Megan rather than atone.

July 25th, 2000

We know Isabella’s lawyer leaked Megan’s pregnancy to the press to throw attention off of her after Isabella’s money and bag were found in the cabin. Isabella insists she is being set up but by who and why? Megan is the most likely choice, but the girls are locked in a mutually disastrous situation. They have to keep each other’s secrets to protect themselves. Did Megan plant Isabella’s things at the cabin when she went there to clean up?

Isabella tries apologizing to Megan by explaining it was her lawyer who told the press about the pregnancy. As badly as Isabella wants Megan to be her Ride or Die again, Megan is done. There is too much water under the bridge and too many betrayals for the girls to continue their friendship. Perhaps one of the biggest red flags is Isabella admitting to digging in the trash to find the pregnancy test. We know this isn’t her first time digging through their trash. Normal people don’t constantly go through their friend’s trash for information.

When Megan asks her mother to pick her side and ask Isabella to leave, Debbie tells Isabella she must find somewhere else to live, at least until the trial ends. That prompts Isabella to lash out and ask her to look under Megan’s bed for the thing she couldn’t get rid of. That sets up one more mystery to solve.

Whatever went down with Trevor, Isabella, and Lisa ended in Lisa’s death. Trevor was kind enough to mail Megan a newspaper clipping of Lisa’s death with a note that she deserved to know the truth. The tragedy in St. Barts can’t stay hidden any longer. Is Isabella an obsessive stalker who has clandestine affairs and leaves a trail of dead bodies in her wake? Is she just an innocent girl whose parents withheld affection for her and who is unlucky in love and friendships? Is Megan the mastermind behind everything, and poor, loyal Isabella was in the wrong place at the wrong time and is now caught up in something she can’t control?

There are still so many swirling plot points unanswered that what happened to Luke doesn’t even seem like the most important one right now. Who leaked the sex tape at the party and why? How many other women scorned are there out there? Does this failed Northland deal matter at all? What happened to Lisa, and how involved was Isabella with Trevor? Why is Isabella lying about Lisa? Why is Ned helping Megan, and is he involved in the criminal activity hinted at in Episode 1? Who’s blood was on the dress in the trash? Who is the father of Megan’s baby? Did Luke even know about the pregnancy? Why didn’t Megan go to college?

Does any of that have to do with Luke’s death? There are too many threads to pull. I have a theory, though. My money is on Ned. Luke saw him and Megan together, and a struggle resulted in his death. Isabella saw it all happen and decided to help her friend. Who knows if I’m right? At the halfway mark, we are no closer to figuring out what is going on. Find all our Cruel Summer coverage here.