Cruel Summer – Springing a Leak

By starrymag | June 25, 2023

By: Atiya Irvin-Mitchell

 

 

This episode’s events occur on July 23, 1999, December 23, 1999 and July 23, 2000.

 

In the summer of 1999 Megan (Sadie Stanley) is in her room telling Isabella (Lexi Underwood) she wants this summer to be different. She says that nothing ever changes in Chatham and she does the same thing every year: work and go to the lake. She’s ready for some adventures. By the winter she’s excitedly telling Isabella about a white hacker program at the University of Washington. Long story short, white hat hackers usually hack into stuff for a good cause. Megan thinks she can do it to make extra money in school. The conversation is interrupted when they hear Debbie (KaDee Strickland) yelling.

 

When they go downstairs they see that the pipes have burst. Megan laments having another bill to pay. In the summer of 2000 we see Megan go outside at 9PM and throw away a small trash bag. Isabella goes to the trash after her and opens the bag to find what looks like a bloody shirt. Going back to the winter, Megan and Debbie talk about the pipes. The plumber wants $6,000 upfront and the Landrys don’t have it. The emergency fund went towards fixing the roof and Lily’s retainer. Megan’s annoyed that Debbie didn’t tell her because she leans on her to help pay for stuff. Debbie suggests asking Steve (Paul Adelstein) since the $900 that Megan has saved is supposed to be for school. Isabella offers the $5,000 her parents gave her. But Megan and Debbie say that’s too much and decline.

 

Back in the summer Luke (Griffin Gluck), Jeff (Nile Bullock), Isabella and Megan decide to go to a club. However, they lack IDs so Jeff has the idea to make them. With his photoshop skills and Megan’s coding skills combined, they make some pretty convincing ones. In the flash forward due to the lack of water the Landrys have to crash with the Chambers. Although, because of the sex tape fall out Megan really doesn’t want to be around Brent (Braeden De La Garza). Debbie completely understands and says he had no right to do what he did. She adds that sex is supposed to be private and she’s sad Megan’s first time was ruined. Then, she says Megan could’ve told her she started sleeping with Luke.

 

The Landry family, sans Lily, arrives at the Chambers house. No one’s looking forward to it, but Megan is happy to see Luke. Luke tells Megan that Steve is making Brent take the semester off and work for him, so he’s pissed. The idea of Brent suffering, even only for a few months, makes her happy. Luke says that he promised to take care of things.

 

In the year 2000 while Megan is being interrogated we learn a few things. Megan didn’t take Luke home like she said. They went back to the cabin – a/k/a the murder site. When Sherrif Myer (Sean Blakemore) asks she admits that Luke told her he was running away. He points out that she always said she had no idea he was leaving. Going back to simpler time, in 1999 Isabella and Megan get into the club but Jeff and Luke don’t. The boys opt to wait in the care and the girls have fun inside.

 

Flashing back to the winter Luke grills (Chatham is in California) and Megan talks about Isabella’s money offer. Luke doesn’t get the big deal because she was trying to help. Megan says it felt like taking charity. We learn that Luke and Isabella still talk sometimes because they’re friends. He then adds that it’ll work out, but Megan is doubtful. She points out that easy for Isabella and Luke to be so chill about money because they’ve always had plenty of it. Megan; however, worked all year for the $900 she has and in one fell swoop it’s gone and it’s not even enough. She says she can’t just write a check to make problems go away like they can.

 

In 1999 the summer Jeff and Luke talk about whose fault it is they didn’t get into the club. They also talk about Isabella and Megan. This leads to them joking about Jeff being bad at numbers, but Jeff points out that he has dyslexia, which might come up again later. For now, Luke tells Jeff that it’s cool that he and Megan are hanging out.

 

Flash forward and Megan catches Isabella looking through Brent’s room. When Megan asks what she’s doing, Isabella says she’s making sure there are no more tapes. She then hands Isabella something she found in Luke’s closet and wonders if Isabella and Luke were together for longer than the summer. Isabella is angry that Megan is accusing her of still having feelings for Luke or worse of being with him while he and Megan were together. Isabella says she’s let the entire town call her a slut and a bad friend, so it hurts that Megan still doesn’t trust her. Isabella asks if she needs to kill for her.

 

During the 1999 club adventure Megan and Isabella are able to successfully try drinks. But the fun is cut short when Megan spots Sheriff Myer so the girls hightail it out of there.

 

Get ready for the most awkward Christmas Eve Eve dinner ever. Megan needles Brent about being grounded. Brent feels no remorse and blames his current situation on Luke being a snitch. Luke says it’s not his fault that he’s a pervert and Brent unironically agrees that everything is his fault. Then, he mocks Isabella about the tape which angers Megan and Isabella. Isabella calls him a predator and Megan says she used to feel bad for Brent because of his mother’s death, but she’s done with him now. But Brent thinks everyone needs to get over it because it’s not that big a deal. Isabella says he’s lucky he’s not going to jail right now. Brent tells her to get off her high horse and calls her a slut. The yelling attracts Steve’s attention and he says that’s enough.

 

Despite the animosity everyone still sits down for dinner. Next, there’s another flash forward and Debbie is confronting Megan. She demands to know why she never said anything about knowing that Luke was running away. Megan says she was protecting Luke. Debbie still wants to know why. Luke said he needed to get away, Megan says, so he gave her the letter to put in his father’s mailbox and was going to drive him to the train station. Although, the next day when Megan got back to the cabin he wasn’t there. She says she hoped for a while there that he really did just go to Virginia to be with his family like he’d said.

 

There’s an awkward silence at dinner in the winter of 1999. Debbie breaks it by saying she thinks Brent owes Luke and Isabella an apology. Steve tells him to apologize and Brent says the bare minimum. Debbie and Megan point out the lack of genuine remorse on Brent’s part. Steve and Luke just want to have a nice dinner. Megan points out this wasn’t the first time he’s done this and that he filmed all the other girls without their consent. Debbie is horrified and says that the boys’ mother would be so ashamed. She wants to know why Steve isn’t angrier. Steve just says Brent made a serious error in judgment (over and over again) and he’s been punished. Debbie disagrees on account of all the child pornography and thinks he should’ve let Brent face criminal charges. Steve explains he doesn’t like having his parenting skills questioned, but Debbie tells him that actions need to have consequences. Steve says she shouldn’t be playing the morality police considering she’s not married to her daughters’ father. Isabella tells him not to talk to her like that and Debbie leaves before saying that she at least took responsibility for her actions instead of sweeping things under the rug. Before she goes she says this Brent behavior is what he gets for putting his family name before the family.

 

During the summer of 1999 the girls run back to the car and say they spotted Sheriff Myer. Luke drives them off and the boys are surprised that straight-laced Megan was actually drinking. Even though they can’t go back to the club, the girls say they should try to find some fun elsewhere. In the winter Debbie and Megan go home and Debbie says that maybe they should take Isabella up on her offer since she doesn’t want to ask Steve for anything. And the Landry house is getting a lot of phone calls calling Isabella a whore. Debbie points out that the tape is putting a lot of pressure on the kids and their friendship. Megan wonders if she and Steve will be okay. Debbie says sometimes love isn’t enough and it’s important to share a worldview which they don’t.

 

The kids bought more alcohol and then split up. However, first Megan thanks Isabella for being a booze guide. Luke kisses Isabella and Jeff kisses Megan. In the year 2000 Sheriff Myer serves Debbie with a warrant and takes Megan’s computer. Megan is horrified, but there’s nothing she can do. Later Megan makes a phone call and tells someone that the computer has “stuff’ on it and that it’d be bad if the cops found it. And she promises that she did something, but she doesn’t know if she got it right. At the station as the computer is being searched a virus is released.

 

Back in the winter the plumbers are fixing the Landys’ pipes. Megan asks if she came to an agreement with them, but Debbie says she didn’t have to because Steve sent them as an apology. Then, Megan opens her report card and is disappointed to see that she has all A’s and a C. She doesn’t tell Debbie about it. Flash forward and Megan is being interrogated again. Sheriff Myer says he knows that Megan was pregnant and he thinks Megan killed him because Luke rejected Megan and the baby.