Well, the plot thickens! We didn’t realize the “K” in Y2K stood for “karma.”
Megan and Isabella are starting their plan of sweet justice on Cruel Summer Season 2 Episode 7.
This is the stage of the murder investigation we have all been waiting for, Cruel Summer fans. The first chapter in this next phase brought us to the edge of our seats. And we can’t wait for more!
“It’s The End Of The World” was a perfectly-named episode. Megan was front and center in each period, experiencing the start of her romance with Luke and her university dreams crashing down.
If you want to sum up Cruel Summer Season 2’s journey of highs and lows for a character, look no further than Megan’s worst nightmare.
Before everything became worse for her, Megan seemed to be riding high. She had her scholarship, a new friend, and a successful side business with Ned.
The real high point was the summer of 1999 when she and Luke finally got together.
Did anyone else smile when they kissed at the dock? Not just because they had a romantic moment but because the couple got together and caught up with the storyline.
All the anticipation and the teasing of their romance came together at this moment. We’ve known about this since Cruel Summer Season 2 Episode 1, but we didn’t know how it happened.
Putting aside Luke’s shadiness that’s coming up, we can’t deny that their flirting was so adorable.
Summer 1999 has always felt light-hearted and carefree, like there was innocence in the air. Cruel Summer’s showrunner Elle Triedman said as much when we chatted with her about the storylines.
Scenes like Luke and Megan running through the woods together and reminiscing showed this feeling well. It felt like a teen rom-com!
Megan: What do I do now?
Isabella: Just pretend it never happened. One day when the time is right, the universe will give you a do-over.
You could tell they both liked each other and reached a point where they needed to do something. Not just with their hand-holding on the dock (which was cute) but also making an actual move.
This entire segment felt so satisfying because of our journey with the couple. Even with Luke’s interest in Isabella on Cruel Summer Season 2 Episode 3, we still knew that more would come to get to this moment.
The sweetness of that time on the dock seems like such a distant memory than Luke, Megan, and Isabella from winter 1999. Who would’ve known five months would be enough to change them completely?
Whenever Luke opened his mouth to Megan, I couldn’t help but think, “That boy’s a liar.”
I can handle both of them, no problem. I’ve got them wrapped around my finger.
Luke
And if he would keep his story going, he needed to do a better job telling his tale. He nearly slipped up while shopping with Megan.
How hard is it to think of why Isabella wanted to kiss him?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not defending Luke at all! If he wanted to play this lie and be the “big man,” he should’ve thought about all the possibilities before he lost control of his story.
For instance, why didn’t he think about what would happen if Megan talked to Isabella about the kiss?
All it took was one chat at the party for Megan to feel guilty about not believing Isabella. The BFFs are ride-or-dies, so there would always be a layer of doubt to the story for Luke and Isabella.
And let’s not forget that Isabella agreed to the rumor of being on the sex tape to protect Megan.
Unless Isabella is playing this puppet-master-level game to betray Megan, there would be no reason for her to take the lie and try to cheat with Luke to hurt Megan.
The stupidest moment of Luke’s night: bragging to the guys about what he did. What if the guys joked about what Luke said to Megan or Isabella?
His “guy code” wasn’t foolproof, and it was easy for someone to walk by and hear him. If it hadn’t been Megan, it could’ve been someone else.
Isabella: What are you thinking?
Megan: I think we should get some serious payback. I wanna make Luke wish he never met us.
We’ve discussed before on Cruel Summer Season 2 Episode 6 that Luke has been showing his insecurity about “being a man” lately and showing up that he can be a player. Bragging to the guys was another tell-tale sign of him trying to be like Brent and flex his swag.
At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if Luke was the one who released the sex tape on Cruel Summer Season 2 Episode 2.
What better way to show up to Brent and the guys than by airing his hook-up? The real Luke is coming out, so we must brace ourselves for whatever other truths are revealed.
I felt so bad for Megan. Luke said some nasty stuff, which shattered the reality she had built up in her mind.
For instance, Luke lies about Isabella. But even worse, Luke said he didn’t care about cheating on her, alluding to him likely being single in college. It’s no wonder Megan was out for revenge.
What scheme do you think Megan and Isabella have planned?
It’s probably something big that will destroy his character. Only confronting him on his lies seems too small; the revenge will most likely involve humiliating him and everyone finding out. They’re out for blood, but murder would be too high.
The summer of 2000 presented us with more pieces to the puzzle and some extra doses of karma for our main players.
Megan’s side business wasn’t a surprise. We knew she was a hacker and making money from it; no one will debate that.
On the other hand, the police cracking her codes and exposing her business was a shocking twist. For the police force in 2000, the team had an excellent cyber-crime staff to take down Megan’s firewalls. That’s quite impressive for the time.
Megan: Do you think that you could hack into the court’s database and erase it?
Ned: I wish I could, but I mean, once something like that is in the system, there’s a paper trail. It’s too late.
Megan: Damn it. You were my last hope. My last chance.
It’s a shame she lost her scholarship, but she also got that through hacking and altering her grades. My sympathy evens itself out because of the justice, and it means another deserving student will get the scholarship now.
Megan played with fire, and now she’s getting dealt the consequences of her actions.
Speaking of consequences, there were some strange behaviors from the group.
Like Ned refusing to help Megan in her time of need. He’s a tech genius millionaire! Why isn’t he funding her education?
Megan could easily become a Silicon Valley tech CEO with training and schooling.
It can’t only be about Ned’s paranoia; this also has to do with control.
He wants Megan to be the hacker he needs. That’s why he’s so possessive of his friendship with Megan and why he’s so angry at Luke too. His decisions can’t only be about the property line and the investigation.
And Brent is being a little too helpful to Megan.
Granted, he views her as a sister and doesn’t believe she killed Luke. However, in this chapter alone, he helped her on two occasions. From what we’ve seen, Brent isn’t the most thoughtful guy.
Giving Luke the canary keys and being a good big brother seemed out of character.
Could this be a ruse to make him look good before it’s revealed he killed Luke? Brent is still a suspect, so we can’t rule him out yet.
Last Thoughts From The Archive:
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Poor Megan. Finding out on the same night that you’re pregnant and your boyfriend bragged about cheating on you was not a great way to end the year.
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I’m unsure how I feel about Jeff telling the police about Megan. He only did it to save his butt, and Megan did play her part in her crimes, but it’s very underhanded. It’s less petty and more survivalist.
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Jeff’s video footage probably plays a part in the future. There is a lot of footage floating around of the group together. Could he have recorded something that would be a smoking gun?
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Steve will look back one day and realize he was a terrible dad to Luke. The Chambers’ legacy wasn’t worth more than his son.
Now, over to you, Cruel Summer fans.
What did you think of “It’s The End Of The World”?
What revenge plan do Megan and Isabella have up their sleeves? Why is Brent always going out of his way to help Megan? Will Luke discover the truth about Megan’s pregnancy?
If you missed the latest episode of Cruel Summer, you can watch Cruel Summer online via TV Fanatic. Come back here and share your thoughts in the comments below.
Justin Carreiro is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.