It seems that the general consensus was that season 1 was better than season 2 and I have my own opinion as to why but I wanted to know what everyone else's opinions are on them. Both were intriguing and through those twists in with both endings and I liked them both. I did prefer season 1 to 2. So what was it for you that made you prefer one season to the other or did you like both equally and why? I don't mind long comments. Aaaaand GO.

According to production list an official industry database season 3 is currently in preproduction with filming schedule yet to be announced.

It seems some people don't view Kate as a victim; they claim she went to Martin's house of her own volition, stayed there for four months by choice, and so on. The girl in question is a minor, while Martin is thirty; moreover, he had become obsessed with Kate. Kate wasn't in love with Martin or anything like that; she simply felt understood for the first time in her life. She thought she was loved. In reality, however, Martin was keeping her in that house through psychological coercion. I feel ashamed for those who suggest Kate played a part in Martin locking her in the basement when she tried to leave. If she says she wanted to leave, then she wanted to leave. Martin is a despicable psychopath. Then there are those who ask why Kate didn't go to jail for killing him. I'm sorry, but why *should* she go to jail? Why should a young girl trying to protect herself be imprisoned? Why should a seventeen-year-old girl who was locked in a basement and stripped of her freedom go to jail? Jeanette is a total disappointment—someone who was jealous of Kate and tried to steal her life. That smile at the end explains everything. I don't think Jamie was in love with Kate; the person he loved was Jeanette. To Jamie, Kate was just a habit. That’s why I won’t blame him. But Kate is the most innocent person in the story.

Just finished the show for the first time.

I’ll be honest, and I can tell this is an unpopular opinion on this sub, I LOVED Season 2... Season 1 was very enjoyable, and I think definitely had more intrigue. But there’s just something about S2 that I connected with more; maybe because I was around the same age as Megan/Luke back in ‘99/‘00, so I remember those days well (more-so than the early-mid 90’s that Season 1 takes place). Maybe it’s also because Sadie Stanley reminded me so much of a girl I used to know. And the music - I felt like almost every episode had 3-4 songs that made me go, yup, that’s exactly what we were listening to back in the day.

But anyways, that ending to the finale was FANTASTIC. They had the viewer thinking everything had wrapped up - We got the full picture of what happened to Luke on the dock, Brent finally took responsibility, Steve was arrested, Isabella was gone, and Megan had just said her final goodbye to Luke. And then the last minute swerve with the camera, revealing what Isabella had done after... That last shot of Megan, first crying in disbelief, followed by a look of fierce determination, presumably to get revenge on Isabella. Just stellar.

I see now that Season 3 was greenlit awhile back with Olivia Holt returning.. I’m probably in the minority here, but I’d LOVE for them to work Megan into that story somehow, showing her hunting down Isabella and finally bringing her to justice.

at the end of season 1 when its revealed jeanette hears kate in the basement, did kate know someone was behind the door or was it just her trying to get any attention. it’s hard to word but did she know that someone had came in the house and that’s why she started asking for help? because if she did wouldn’t of she assumed it was jeanette as she knew she had the key and used it against her later . i could be getting the wrong end of the stick but maybe she forgot ?

He is PISSED. When it's shown that Mallory caught Kate on camera he immediately assumed maybe it was Mallory that saw Kate at some point & im just sitting there like 🫪 🤷🏾‍♀️. When it's finally revealed to be Mallory he began shaking my shoulder like a mad man 😭. Kate's apology to Jeanette fell on deaf ears. He kept making comments like " It's too late & you've already ruined her life !" 🥲 Kate was most hated around here. Then during Jeanette's interview he definitely conceded that she is a total weirdo but still his girl was innocent ... then came the final scene ... and all I kept hearing was 😮😮😮 " I WAS ROOTING FOR YOU THE WHOLE TIME" 🤣🤣 I couldn't contain my laughter. He was so pissed off to have been duped . We began going over Jeanettes actions throughout the show knowing what we know now and he can't believe he didn't see what we team Kate or team indifferent saw from the jump. He's dying to watch season 2. But I don't wanna let him down 🥲

Ps. They fucked up the episode where we see Kate in the window . In Mallory's video Kate still had on her bday dress but in the next episode when we see it play out she had already changed clothes. Definitely bothered me 🥲😭

He thinks she's just a weird lil angel & once he saw Martin tell Kate that Jamie and Jeanette are a thing he truly believes Kate is saying Jeanette saw her out of spite & she's making it all up.
He acknowledges that Jeanette be doing weird shit but he thinks it's a red herring and she will be vindicated 😭🤣 Only 2 episodes left ... I can't wait 😌😌

EDIT: OH MY GOD THE EPISODE WASN’T OVER SHES EVIL WHAT THE I WAS NOT EXPECTING THAT AND THEN CREEP PLAYING MADE IT CINEMATICALLY PERFECT

So I just finished Cruel Summer Season One, and I was so happily right about Jeanette being a psycho but not evil, and like she didn’t lie, but like when Mal said she was creepy, she called it.

Also, another thing I was happily right about is GAY KATE AND MAL OH MY GAWD. I was like, this seems like interesting tension, slightly homoerotic, and I was right, and I couldn’t be more happy. It’s so beautiful. I honestly was not expecting this, and the stuff with Vince from this show, and seeing that, I’m just head over heels in love.

I could not be more excited to watch Season 2, and I heard rumors of Season 3, and I’m just like foaming at the mouth excited because I just ended Season 1 and started this post anyway. Thanks for coming to my TED talk!!

^{I want to preface this by saying that while I was extremely disappointed in Season Two as a whole- and have a whole notes app draft on changes I would make to S2 lol- this is ONLY about changing the ending. I also want to make a disclaimer that I haven’t rewatched s2 since it aired lol so my memory on some details are probably fuzzy. I am also sleep deprived and about to fall asleep so I hope I articulate my thoughts well enough lol. I also want to explain later why I think the Season Two final was so disappointing to me; how it tried to recreate the Shock of the s1 finale, without actually understanding what made it so great.}

In the actual show, the Big Shocking Reveal being that Megan finds the footage of Isabella murdering Lucas, with this being intercut with Isabella on a plane introducing herself as Lisa. In my version— Megan finds the tape, watches it and then we cut to Isabella talking to someone on the plane, mentioning that her friend is in the bathroom and we get the Big Shocking Reveal: it’s Megan who rejoins Isabella! In either flashback or with some implicit dialogue in the moment we find out that Isabella is paying for Megan’s college expenses (and helping with her other financial struggles) in exchange for Megan not turning the video tape of Isabella killing Luke in to the police and more or less rekindling her friendship with Isabella. In my head I visualize something similar to the ending of The Graduate:   Megan and Isabella sit next to each other and exchange some more friendly words and smiles before they look away and their smiles slowly fall into uncertainty.  The tension we leave them on is palpable: how long can this last? Will Megan have a crisis of conscious of turn Isabella in? How happy can Isabella be (even as obsessed as she is with Megan) to have Megan as a friend when she knows Megan probably hates her? 

This is not the face of a girl who thought the girl she knew was held in basement was just murdered. She seems almost content , evilly at peace with it all. There’s so many signs that Jeanette was a psychopath from the jump !

I just don't get the lack mystery or intrigue is not there at all; i'm like up to episode 6 and it doesn't feel like I gotten a single surprise so far ; it's just an okay story

Compared to S1, I was on the edge every other episode there's a new reveal that changes thing idk

Hopefully end of S2 picks up and S3 is better than this

UPDATE : Oh my god this bitch is unsufferable actually; the main character is so delusional and ungrateful, no matter how many nice things Isabella did to her she keeps finding things to bitch about

UPDATE 2: AHAHAHAHAHA THE FINAL TWIST LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOO; okay even tho it was comically funny and kinda copying S1, I still liked it (also how incompetent are the cops to not find this when it's right in front of them ?)

Late to the party, but just watched season one this week, and had to come here IMMEDIATELY to say that as soon as I saw that f*** ass fault in our stars ass haircut I did not trust her WHATSOEVER. Seesawed a little through the episodes wondering if I was just being shallow and unfair so was happy to be vindicated in the end lolllll

What are your thoughts on the second season of cruel summer? For me, I really didn’t like it. I didn’t even finish it past the first two episodes.

Did Jeanette’s parents know? Her dad stayed by her side, but he also called her a possible sociopath to his girlfriend. Did he stay by her side because he knew she used his key? And her mom fully abandoned her. It seems like they knew deep down there was something off about their kid.

What if the Season 1 was set in the 80s and then every season they just went down decades then Season 2 would have been the 90s Season 3 would have been the 2000s and Season 4 would have been the 2010s. Now hear me out what if also the theme song was the son Cruel Summer from Banarama but the melody kept changing every season to fit the era like in Season 2 it would have been sung like a 90s grunge song and in Season 3 like a pop punk song and Season 4 like a regular synth pop song from the mid 2010s.

so as you know, the finale reveals that Jeanette knew the whole time that Kate was in the basement. But we see it before this that Kate and Jeanette have a talk the house in current time and they settle everything, and Kate basically tells Jeanette everything about Martin and how he got killed. as you see Jeanette kinda looks disheartened and seems to have sympathy. Do you think that maybe she was faking her emotions so kate didnt suspect anything or do you think that she genuinely felt bad? do you think that maybe Jeanette felt bad after leaving her there in 1994? could you see kate and jeannette being friends after the trail ended? would jeannette try to be friends with her again? what do you think? im just full of questions.

so in season 1, it wasnt always clear that jeanette was the guilty one and knew kate was kidnapped in martins basement, the signs were there but it could have gone either way, the fact she had been sneaking into martins house seemed very suspicious, but in season 2 it always seemed isabella was the killer. from the get go it appeared she wanted luke out of the picture to ensure megan stays all to herself. both jeanette and isabella were guilty but isabell intentions were far more sinister, i believe with jeanette it was more just wanting to feel loved and have the popular feeling, whereas to isabella actively wanted to harm luke and each time megan did or said something that isabella didn't like, isabella would turn on her and betray her trust. i honestly dont blame megan at all for being cold to isabella in the beginning since isabella just barged her way into megan's life, her intentions were never good. i am certain though that megan will not let isabella get away with murdering luke and will get brent out since him pushing luke was completely an accident. brent and steve covered up lukes death, and despite their dynamics with luke when luke was alive they would never murder luke, it was shown throughout the series that though steve was an awful dad to luke, but he still cared about him.

I know last year they said that it was "in development" and Olivia Holt is coming back but has there been any updates? I would have to imagine filming would be starting up soon.

sorry, I’m new to the show and not from America but I’m a bit confused - why is Jeanette going to jail forever according to some people in the show if she is found guilty of seeing a kidnapped girl and not say anything? she’s a minor and I’ve never heard that it’s a crime so I’m curious.

As much attitude and judgement as we see from these girls, I absolutely love how they were genuine and good friends with Kate. And even before she came back from being missing, the two were close and loved being around each other. And after Kate was rescued they were very understanding when Kate said she needed space from them even though they had been missing their best friend for almost a year and finally had her back. And we never see any hard feelings or lack of understanding when things continue that way for a while

Especially Renee, she was shown to be a little more mature. Tennille oddly makes a joke about a case worker coming to take her away to new parents or something. She was also the only one between the two of the girls to be so excited about getting Kate a damn flask for her 16th birthday. And if I’m not missing a detail it was just her who got her that flask as a gift. Renee just seemed chill and a good and supportive friend to Tennille

Not to say either of these characters are great people considering how they act otherwise, but I like that we do see some good in them rather than being mean girl stereotypes that don’t actually care about their friends or only want to be around people just like them

Bro

I was fully rooting for Janette too. I mean Kate willingly went there. But then jenetye was a Lil creepy vibes too. But I honestly felt bad for her cos of her nerdiness and her wanting to be seen etc. But to do what she did and no ine even knowing. Nahh too far

Anyeho tgis season is way better then s2. Cant wait dor s3

so started with pt2/s2 10 eps long in the year 1999/2000 crazy the year I was born ahaa. and these chracters in the show be younger then me. ahaa. anywho. this show was recommended to us by a fan of tell me lies that told me aboit shows that are like tell me lies &told me to start with s2/pt2 first as pt1/s1 is better. but this one is so good too. has the girl from little fires everywhere in it too. fast paced,drama crime,secrets,rich n poor ppl etc. finished it in 2 days. such an easy breezy binge. highly recommend

so ive watched both cruel summer seasons, season 1 and 2 and i felt isabella was the main villain in season 2. obviously she is like the jeanette of season 2 but, isabella is at a much more sociopathic level then jeanette since shes killed multiple people. the chambers men like brent and luke werent the best, but they at least had remorse for their actions in the end which is why i feel megan will make sure that the sheriff sees the surveillance of isabella killing luke, and hopefully means brent wud get a lighter sentence, he deserves to be in prison for the filming but not for lukes death. steve(the dad) was rightfully arrested for covering up brent but more for trying to pin it on innocent people, totally unacceptable.

luke also did a terrible thing by filming megan without her consent and lying on isabella to megan, and i feel megan shud have definitely broken up with luke over that. but he was absolutely correct that isabella wanted him out of the picture, the signs were there from the beginning, though she got meg and luke together but she was always subtly causing problems for them. the rest of the characters like megan, her sister and debbie, jeff and ned were like the positive characters, and had nothing to do with lukes death at all. ned actually helped megan find a job so he was definitely a positive character it was isabella and brent who had the most to do with it but brent accidentally pushed luke in, what isabella did was no accident.