All Your 'Cruel Summer' Season 2 Questions and Theories So Far
This post contains spoilers for the first two episodes of Cruel Summer Season 2.
Cruel Summer is finally back after a two-year break—with a new cast, new characters, a new mystery, and lots of new questions and theories. This time around, the drama takes place in the fictional seaside town of Chatham, Washington, and centers on two frenemies: Megan Landry (Sadie Stanley), a Chatham native who’s hoping to leave town with help from a computer science scholarship at the University of Washington, and Isabella LaRue (Lexi Underwood), a glamorous exchange student who moves in with the Landrys for a year.
While Season 1 of the Freeform series focused on a disappearance, Season 2 ups the ante with a disappearance that culminates in a murder. At the end of episode 1, the body of Luke Chambers (Griffin Gluck) is found in the bay about seven months after he went missing, but he didn’t just drown—someone shot him and dosed him with pills before tossing him into the drink. So who did it, and how are Megan and Isabella connected to the crime?
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Those questions likely won’t be answered right away, and Stanley has promised that more mysteries are coming. “The thing about the show is that at the end of every episode, you're going to be surprised,” she told Teen Vogue ahead of the premiere. “It's set up so that every episode you’re kind of suspicious of somebody new and nobody in the cast is safe. Every single person is not exactly as they seem when you first meet them, which I love. … Everybody’s got something up their sleeve and everybody's got something … a skeleton in the closet.”
For now, take a look at some of the biggest questions and early-stage theories we have about the first two episodes of Cruel Summer Season 2.
All your 'Cruel Summer' Season 2 questions and theories so far
Who killed Luke?
Freeform/Justine Yeung
This is of course the main mystery of Season 2, as Luke’s body is the one fished out of the sea at the end of episode 1. His dad later reveals that he was missing for “months” before the police found him, and in the July 2000 timeline, one of his friends says he was last seen at the New Year’s Eve party on the last day of 1999. Megan and Isabella clearly know something, but are they the actual murderers? So far, there are several signs that point to “yes.” Megan rushed to clean up the cabin after realizing the sheriff was investigating, and Isabella told Megan that they needed to get their story straight.
If Season 1 taught us anything, though, it’s that nothing is ever as straightforward as it seems in these small towns. Megan and Isabella could have been involved, but having them pull the trigger seems too simple. Could they be protecting someone else or each other? They have a history of lying to authority figures to save their “ride-or-die” friendship—see also the sex tape situation.
Why is Isabella really in Chatham?
Isabella claims that she landed in Washington after years of jet-setting around the world, but again, that seems too simple. Why would a glamorous teenager want to spend her last months of high-school in a small American town when she could be in France, Argentina or any number of other more exotic places? It seems pretty clear she’s hiding something, especially when she flushes a bottle of mysterious pills down the toilet at the end of episode 2.
How does Megan turn into a hacker queen?
When we meet Megan in the July 1999 timeline, she’s a fresh-faced, girl-next-door type wearing overalls and declining alcohol while her friends go wild with wine coolers. In the July 2000 timeline, however, she looks like an extra from The Matrix, decked out in thick black eyeliner, an eyebrow ring, and clothes pulled straight from a Hot Topic. She’s also getting paid for hacking jobs that don’t seem entirely aboveboard. She’s always been a computer whiz, but what happened in a year to transform her into Trinity’s little sister?
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Who filmed the sex tape?
Megan and Luke claim they didn’t know they were being filmed, so this tape was apparently not a consensual situation. Luke’s older brother, Brent, has a history of filming his own sexual encounters, but he claims he didn’t film this one—and this actually seems true. For all his skeeviness, he does love his brother, and he seems genuinely afraid of pissing off their dad.
Another possible culprit is Jeff, the crew’s amateur documentarian. He seems to have a crush on Megan, so could this have been retaliation for the fact that she chose Luke over him? Then there’s Isabella: She dated Luke first, so it’s possible she could have done this out of jealousy. Yes, she seems shocked by the tape’s existence, but as the sheriff noted, she’s also the kind of teenager who knows you need a lawyer when you talk to the police. Her willingness to cover for Megan could all be part of a larger ploy.
Who planted the sex tape at the party?
Freeform/Justine Yeung
There’s a strong possibility that the person who filmed the tape is the same person who made sure it ended up on the big screen at the Chambers holiday soiree, but this could also have been a team effort. Both Jeff and Isabella have strong motives for causing drama in Megan and Luke’s relationship, so maybe they came together to plan this humiliating scenario.
What’s the deal with Lisa?
In episode 2, Isabella writes a postcard to her BFF Lisa, whom she presumably left behind at one of her old schools. Something seems off about this, though—if Isabella and Lisa were such good friends, why would Isabella be so eager to move thousands of miles away from her for her senior year?
What’s wrong with Megan’s mom?
In the 2000 timeline, Megan sorts pills for her mom, Debbie, and goes to the pharmacy to pick up prescriptions for her. Isabella, meanwhile, reveals that she stayed longer than planned in Chatham because “Debbie got sick.” Sick with what? And is this why Megan is supplementing their income with illegal hacking?
What does Luke’s eccentric neighbor have to do with all this?
When Megan and Luke are hooking up at his cabin in the December 1999 timeline, they hear a gunshot, which they discover came from the guy next door shooting at birds. According to Megan, this man is a wealthy tech genius who was an early employee at Apple. When Luke’s body is discovered, this guy is standing there watching as the corpse is rolled up the dock, and he makes eye contact with Megan. There are no coincidences in Chatham, so it seems highly likely this dude knows something about Luke’s disappearance and death.
Does Season 2 connect to season 1 at all?
So far, no—not even with an Easter egg. But there are still eight episodes left, so maybe a sly nod to Kate and Jeannette is still coming.