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How Cruel Summer Season 2 Chose Luke’s Killer: “Deceptive, Possessive Friendship”-TGN

The following article contains spoilers from Cruel Summer season 2, episode 10, “Endgame.”

Summary

  • Cruel Summer showrunner and executive producer Elle Triedman confirms Isabella as Luke’s killer, citing her deceptive friendship with Megan as the reason behind the choice.

  • Isabella didn’t intend to kill Luke but made a snap judgment when she found him nearly dead, wanting to secure Megan’s future.

  • Cruel Summer season 2’s lack of subversion and weak character connections resulted in a less impactful and engaging storyline compared to season 1.

Cruel Summer showrunner and executive producer Elle Triedman opens up about choosing Luke’s killer and the thought behind it, confirming that there were other possibilities. In the second installment of the Freeform teen drama, the big mystery centered around the question of who it was that killed Luke (Griffin Gluck). Even though Luke’s older brother, Brent (Braeden De La Garza) initially believes he accidentally killed Luke, one last twisty scene shows that it was Isabella (Lexi Underwood) who suffocated Luke after the teen almost drowns.

Triedman discussed the Cruel Summer season 2 finale in an interview with TVLine, confirming that there were other options for Luke’s potential killer. They included Debbie (KaDee Strickland), Sheriff Myer (Sean Blakemore), and also Brent. Still, as Triedman explains, Isabella was ultimately decided because it felt like “the culmination of this deceptive, possessive friendship” between Isabella and Megan (Sadie Stanley). Triedman’s quotes are below:

TVLINE | How did you decide that it should be Isabella that was responsible for Luke’s death, and why?

I decided by the end just because it felt like the culmination of this deceptive, possessive friendship. Also, I think it’s important to note that Isabella doesn’t go there to kill him. She goes there to talk to him and try to reason with him and get him to stay out of Megan’s life, but she then is presented with (him) basically half-dead, and so, it’s one of those snap judgment, in-the-moment situations, and she decides this is the way to ensure Megan’s future at that point.

TVLINE | Is she doing it all just for Megan? Or is there a part of her actions that are driven by her own needs and her obsession with Megan?

She’s very clear when she says there isn’t really room in (Megan’s) life for both (her and Luke). I don’t think murder was ever a part of that calculation when she was first thinking about it. It was more she didn’t want to have to share her. She didn’t always want to have to come in second to him, and I think she genuinely thought she was better for Megan, so Megan would have a bigger, broader, more interesting and exciting life when she was with her, in a platonic way.

Did Cruel Summer Season 2’s Final Twist Deliver?

The show’s second installment was obviously aiming to echo its first. But whereas the Cruel Summer season 1 ending packs a punch, the second attempt falls short. In season 1, the stubborn insistence of Jeanette (Chiara Aurelia) that she never saw Kate (Olivia Holt) in danger is technically true as she never sees her. Kate is hidden behind a door as she’s crying for help. Jeanette can clearly hear her, though she decides not to help her regardless and it makes for a difficult scene to watch.

A criticism of Cruel Summer season 2 is that it has no subversion. Isabella is marked as a potential killer from the moment she arrives. After ten episodes and a few misdirects, she turns out to be a killer. The visual of her keeping Luke underwater with the tip of her shoe is striking, but without a deeper connection to the characters or a stronger sense of surprise, it doesn’t amount to much.

Cruel Summer season 2 is also marked by an absence of characters worth rooting for, as the series was keen to paint everyone as a suspect and reveal as little as possible. The ten-episode was not devoid of any intrigue or positives, but compared to the highs of the Jeanette and Kate story, the Luke mystery was never as challenging or as engrossing as it could have been.

Source: TVLine