‘Cruel Summer’ Recap: ‘It’s the End of the World’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Griffin Cluck as Luke in Episode 207 of ‘Cruel Summer’ – ‘It’s the End of the World’. (Photo Courtesy of Ricardo Hubbs/Freeform.)

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 207 of ‘Cruel Summer’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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It really is quite amazing, how the Freeform series, Cruel Summer, continues to keep us on our toes. Simply because for a few weeks now… it has seemed as though the strange love triangle that Isabella, Megan, and Luke share… combined with some genuinely toxic behavior, were all contributing factors in Luke’s death. As though love and toxicity combined to create the perfect storm for murder. But even that… is nothing more than a mere piece of the puzzle. For this week’s episode of the show took the time to reveal, that there may have been other factors that contributed to his end, and other players might have been part of this mess as well.

For ‘It’s the End of the World’ offered up some unique truths about Luke and Ned. Because we came to learn here, that at one point in the Winter of 1999, a flustered moment between Megan and Ned, one that wasn’t of terrible concern… brought forth a pushing match between Luke and Ned. One filled with threats and posturing and they oddly… ran into each other often in the past year in a negative manner. All because Ned had little respect for Luke and his family, and truly saw them as spoiled brats that hid behind their standing and well… that suddenly puts Ned in an interesting and suspicious light, because that’s motive. Not to mention, Luke’s temper here, led to a critical reveal in this story.

Because in many ways… we’ve seen him as a gentle innocent in this story. The poor victim that had the summer and winter of his life, only to have it end for nefarious reasons. But here… we came to learn he isn’t all that innocent, in part through that fight but also… through lies. For one cannot forget that he told Megan that Isabella made an attempt to kiss him at the Plunge, wherein he pushed her away and scolded her for it, when it was him that tried to make a move. Which brought about tension and fury between Isabella and Megan in this tale, until Megan discovered the truth… through some toxic behavior. Wherein Luke was bragging to his friends about being able to land both of them if he wanted, and he confessed to trying to snag a kiss from Isabella, and this hurt Megan deeply and elicited some darkness from her and Isabella, and this inferred that a not-so-great guy might have gotten his just desserts in this story and that… the motive might have been revenge over passion.

However, while those two elements alone could have carried this story, it still had more surprises to send our way in the Summer of 2000. Since the Sheriff took the time to press fraud charges against Megan, which sent her scholarship out of the window and that put her in a tough place mentally… one where she might do anything to save her scholarship, including taking a plea deal with the information she has to overturn the charge. Plus, we also saw that the Chambers family still has a bone to pick with Ned, to the point where Luke’s dad and brother confronted Ned on his property because they could. And that, combined with the fight Luke and Ned had earlier, could imply that Ned had some involvement in the end of Luke as well. Which could explain why he and Megan were on such great terms here. Since they too share in a secret.

Either way, this was quite the eye-opening episode. One that truly painted Luke in a far different light than we expected. Since he is now a bit of a cad, and a jerk and that cannot bode well, especially since he crossed two unstable friends at the wrong time. Plus, we really are left wondering what the deal is with Ned and why he hates this family so, and well, all this episode did in the end, was remind us to expect the unexpected with this series. Because it will shock us at will and take us down new paths when we think we have everything figured out and truly… it will be genuinely interesting to see where this story takes us next. For we are in the endgame now, and the reveals await and those will undoubtedly blow us away and leave us in awe as we come to the end of this complex and curious journey. Until next time.

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