Cruel Summer Season 2 Episode 8 Review: Confess Your Sins
Justin Carreiro
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Never come between a pair of ride-or-die BFFs. They will make sure revenge is felt if they ever feel betrayed.
Megan and Isabella held Luke accountable for his lies on Cruel Summer Season 2 Episode 8.
Prepare yourselves, Cruel Summer fans! We've made it to the cabin, and the tension has skyrocketed. This thrilling murder mystery is starting its roller-coaster highs toward the climax.
"Confess Your Sins" was a chapter carried by how strong Winter 1999 became. We've waited most of Cruel Summer Season 2 to get to this moment, so the stakes were high. (And the early action delivered!)
The summer of 1999 added plenty of fuel to the fire burning in the winter. We couldn't have one without the other to land the truth bombs. But for Summer 2000? It was on the back burner.
With a plot that jumps around three periods, they can't always get equal focus. Cruel Summer Season 2 Episode 5 was the closest, where everything felt self-contained and essential to the mystery.
The summer of 2000 has been dealt a short hand at times because the characters have to catch up after Luke's body is discovered. And we can't move forward too much because there's still a murder to witness in the past.
Once again, the summer stalled in its pacing, instead choosing to drag out the drama.
Plenty of starts, stops, and exposition to fill the timeframe. There wasn't anything new added we didn't already know.
The closest new information was Megan telling Isabella why she hung out with Ned.
Her answer was very understandable and something Megan would want. She's always focused on her goals and doing stuff she could claim as her own. Even Cruel Summer Season 2 Episode 1 dealt with her frustration at having to share her life with Isabella.
Ned and the tech world were all hers.
Isabella: Well, yeah. I mean I’m just saying if I were hella paranoid, I’d put them somewhere completely unlikely. Like with my taxes or in a totally different database, right?
Megan: That’s actually really smart.
Isabella: You could be less surprised. Reading people is like my superpower.
Megan: You do have a talent for it.
However, we need more info on why she turned to cyber crimes. Like how did Ned get her to agree to hack?
There is more to this than simply needing a separation in her life. Megan has a whole different side to her that only scratched the surface.
Steve and Brent are the absolute worst. Like a whole "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree" situation, right?
The summer of 1999 (and the winter of 1999) proved yet again why the Chambers men are trash.
Brent is running wild and talking a big game, but when the chips fall, his daddy also bails him out—even this time after his gross behavior toward Isabella and undoing her top.
Isabella: What are you doing?
Megan: Looking for you!
Luke: We wanted to figure out what to do tonight.
Isabella: Oh. Cool.
Megan: What are you up for? You always have the best ideas.
Isabella: Absolutely anything.
Here comes Steve to flex his toxic masculinity and cover up for his son's terrible attitude. A decent parent would've held his son accountable for how he treated Isabella and made her uncomfortable. But no, Steve is the worst enabler.
He's lucky Brent never got any charges and that Parker only dumped him. Brent deserved a lot worse, and hopefully, his karma comes swiftly and painfully.
It's nice that Parker and Isabella bonded after everything that happened. We only got the first few hints of their friendship starting, but we know they'll eventually become BFFs later.
This makes Parker's eventual betrayal on Cruel Summer Season 2 Episode 6 even more shocking.
Coming to Chatham, Isabella seemed the worldliest and most realistic of the teens. She knew how cruel the world could be and didn't like optimism blind her judgment. Parker was a good balance for her because she seemed mature and didn't accept Brent's behavior.
Tim: Yo, Isabella? You wanna get wet?
Isabella: Ummm, only if it’s for charity. Which, I guess is you? But still, nah, I’m good.
Parker: Wow, Tim and his limp hose.
Plus, Parker could easily spot Isabella holding back the truth during the car wash. You could see it on her face; she knew there was more to the story.
I wish we got more scenes of them together, especially to get a contrast between how Isabella's friendship with Parker was different than hers with Megan's. The ride-or-dies felt more intense, while she and Parker were more of an unspoken understanding.
Do you think Isabella told Parker the truth about Luke losing his virginity? She kept the secret from Megan, but Parker is a different story.
The odds are low, especially since Luke pressed hard to ensure the truth would never come out.
Even at their lowest, Isabella would never do something to hurt Megan intentionally. Revealing that truth to the world would cause a tidal wave of issues. Megan can't handle betrayal well; she lashes out at everyone.
The events at the cabin proved that theory.
Now, it's time to discuss the revenge at the cabin. Or what we'll call "Luke's Villain Arc."
This little boy kept digging his grave one comment after the next. Sure, he was drugged and drunk, but he had done and said all these things long before Megan tied him to the bed.
We called it for weeks now that his insecurity and need to "be the man" would be his undoing. His nice boy-next-door image was only a ruse to cover up all the terrible things he said and did.
Luke is probably a nice guy in his everyday life, but his actions don't support that. Someone who cared about his girlfriend wouldn't record a sex tape, brag about cheating, or try to cheat on her. He cares too much about his image and reputation.
Did anyone correctly guess that Luke recorded the sex tape?
He was suspicious, but those theories were pushed aside to focus on other people. Like, Luke couldn't have been that terrible? He couldn't be like Brent, right?
Isabella: Luke, if Brent didn’t make the sex tape between you and Megan, who did?
Luke: I did.
Wrong! He didn't do it with the same seriousness as Brent, but he still recorded a sex tape without Megan's consent.
And if it was only for "pleasure" for him and Megan down the line, he could've easily told me. Plenty of time has passed since the scandal broke out, so he could've quickly come clean.
He most likely had other reasons for that tape. Maybe it was a competition against Brent and his many secret videos?
Luke's other big villain moment was revealing the truth about his virginity.
Do you think Megan believed his lies? Luke pressed hard and tugged on the emotions, but he was a proven liar. Megan can't believe him after everything; there's no way she would fall for this.
She has proof that he can't be trusted between the cheating attempt and his bragging. Luke is only out for himself.
Regardless of why they kept the secret, Isabella and Luke were dating then. It would've been nice if they had told the truth, but only one used it as ammunition at the cabin. And that wasn't Isabella.
Speaking of ammunition, the cliffhanger ended with Isabella firing a gun on camera. Their testimonies to Sheriff Myer made it seem like they were testifying against each other.
But Luke couldn't have died from the gunshot at that point. Their chat that Parker overheard confirmed they weren't together when Luke died and were still suspicious of each other.
My theory is that the gunshot could be from a blank gun.
A prank to push Luke to the brink and capture him on camera confessing to everything. Whoever killed Luke had to have happened afterward.
We still have two more episodes left of Cruel Summer Season 2, so plenty of time remains in this murder mystery. Let's not forget the big twist of Cruel Summer Season 1 Episode 10 didn't happen until the final minutes. Anything could happen at that cabin.
Last Thoughts From The Archive:
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Sheriff Myer is going to find plenty of footage on those cameras. Maybe it'll reveal if someone else drove up the cabin after Isabella and Megan left?
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Really? A video camera from 1999 picked up audio, let alone an audio team made it clear, of Megan and Isabella plotting their revenge across a loud party? No home camera was that good two decades ago.
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Luke knowing about Brent's secret sex tapes (and watching them) cemented him as a terrible guy. No one who stood back and did nothing as it continued could be a good guy.
- Who could it be if Luke is adamant that he didn't release the tape? One of the gross guy friends? Jeff? Steve? Parkers or one of the girls?
Now, over to you, Cruel Summer fans.
What did you think of "Confess Your Sins"?
Did Isabella murder Luke with the gunshot? Who do you think released the sex tape? What will Sheriff Myer do now with the testimony?
If you missed the latest episode of Cruel Summer, you can watch Cruel Summer online via TV Fanatic. Come back here and share your thoughts in the comments below.
Justin Carreiro was a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow him on X.
