Cruel Summer (Season One) - Review

Rarely have I seen a teen drama written with such nuance and depth. Told over three summers in the 1990s, a girl goes missing and another mysteriously takes over her life. In many ways, this felt like watching a V.C. Andrews thriller - especially the dark gothic horror themes, messed up families and unreliable characters.

This was a very interesting way to portray the story, because every actor had to play three different versions of their respective characters. Each episode was set on the same day, but during different years. The writers managed to keep the narrative going chronologically while incorporating this narrative structure. The pacing for this was actually very well done, nothing felt rushed or jarring and there was still enough space to fill in the gaps as a viewer while the story was slowly being pieced together.

Olivia Holt was superb as Kate. The screenwriting on this show deviated from what could’ve been a very familiar archetype. I was expecting Kate to be written as a Regina George mean girl, but she wasn’t. On the contrary, she was actually an overachiever who didn’t need an entourage. Yes, her character was born into money - but she actually starts the series as sweet and very innocent.

Holt perfectly encapsulates Kate’s transition from wide-eyed and innocent 16-year-old, a 17-year-old dealing with the aftermath of a trauma in therapy and an 18-year-old who has gone off the rails. This show was also responsible in the way it handled Kate’s survivor storyline - she is the victim of grooming and lived through a horrific ordeal - and the writers make it abundantly clear that she was in no way to blame for what happened to her. Also the tiny details of this character were very well done – like how Kate’s parents have strong Texan accents, which she naturally slips into when she’s talking to one or both of them and how she later tries to hide that accent when she’s with her friends or boyfriend.

In an era of 13 Reasons Why and even Riverdale, Cruel Summer should receive more praise for how they wrote the difficult themes of grooming and domestic abuse authentically and responsibly.

Chiara Aurelia as Jeanette wasn’t my favourite casting at first, especially when it came to her character’s progression over the three years. While she was great at playing Jeanette as the quirky nerd in 1993, 1995 Jeanette felt a bit forced. Not in terms of the writing, but I think Aurelia struggled to find a comfortable range for those scenes - she made her voice deeper during those scenes where she’s older and I don’t think it was as affective as Holt’s transition.

I kind of wish we saw more of popular Jeanette’a era and how the social structure changed her relationships with her family and friends with this sudden popularity. 1994 was mainly reserved for Kate’s return and the subsequent revelations that followed.

This might be my cynical side as a writer and viewer coming out, but I didn’t trust Jeanette as a character. To quote Shakespeare “the lady doth protest too much” and yet the final revelation I did not expect and even I was genuinely surprised by that ending. As the 10 episode arc continued, I feel like we saw her grow in confidence with this character and I thought her acting vastly improved with Jeanette in later episodes - I personally however would’ve cast Joey King in this role, especially after seeing her in The Act. However, I’m interested to see how she plays this character in season two and onwards.

This show had one of the strongest ensemble casts I’ve seen in awhile - Amazon’s The Boys currently holds that spot - and each character felt fleshed out and nuanced. Sarah Drew (who it took me four whole episodes to realise was Susie Peppers from Glee) was great as the Turner matriarch and I genuinely hope she gets a series regular role next season.

Brooklyn Sudano, Ben Cain, Andrea Anders and Allius Barnes were definitely some of my favourites to see progress throughout the three year narrative, they gave strong performances throughout. Harley Quinn Smith as Mallory Higgins had similar issues as Aurelia - the final transition felt a bit too jarring and both actresses had unnecessarily deepened their voices for the older counterparts.

Blake Lee as Martin Harris, the new vice-principal of Skylin High School who held Kate captive was written to be a dark antagonist. Even though he resembled Pretty Little Liars’ Ezra Fits in appearance. Both writers rooms tackle this character type very differently. Martin Harris is not written or played to be a romantic hero or a character to idealise - he is quite plainly an abuser who manipulated and took advantage of a vulnerable girl.

Shockingly the student/teacher dynamic is still written as romantic in fiction, but Cruel Summer refuses to write into that unhealthy trope. Instead, we see Harris for the vile character he is. Lee did a great job with this challenging character, he captured the right balance of Norman Bates and Ted Bundy for this role.

The twists were actually well written. Nothing felt forced in for shock value and instead each reveal made sense for the plot. This show also tackled themes of racism and homophobia rather well, especially through Barnes’ character and I feel this is a character that needs more exploration in season two. Also some of the best scenes between Holt and Cain explored a beautiful father/daughter relationship that we rarely see played out on screen.

The ending was very well done and everything that lead up to it made sense. However, I am sceptical of a second season as I feel that the show should’ve been left open-ended or been an anthology where each season sees the actors play different characters in a completely new story.

As I write this, the Amazon Prime show has already been renewed for another season with the cast set to reprise their established roles. Assuming they follow the same structure, season 2 will see Kate and Jeanette from 1996-1998. There are many avenues the show can take these characters down and I am definitely intrigued to see how this story continues…

My rating for the first season of Cruel Summer is a strong ★★★★½.