Cruel Summer showrunner explains that scream-inducing final reveal
Warning: This article contains spoilers about Tuesday's finale of Cruel Summer.
Did Cruel Summer make you scream in the last moment of the season finale? A smile has never looked so devious.
Freeform's buzzy new '90s drama ended its first season with a bang after Jeanette (Chiara Aurelia) convinced Kate (Olivia Holt) she really didn't see her being held captive in Martin Harris' (Blake Lee) basement. The person who did see Kate living in Martin's home willingly was actually Kate's new BFF (and new love interest?) Mallory (Harley Quinn Smith), but no one saw or heard Kate after the moment Martin actually became her kidnapper.
At least, that's what we thought. After Kate publicly confessed her mistake in accusing Jeanette of knowing where she was being kept and Jeanette went on her own publicity tour celebrating her innocence (with a Marcia Bailey Show appearance of her own, no less), one final flashback revealed that during one of the times Jeanette broke into Martin's house, she did hear Kate locked in the basement yelling for help. And Jeanette. Just. Smiled.
This entire time, Jeanette did know Kate was being held captive. She did know where Kate was. And she lied to everyone and got away with it.
Below, Cruel Summer showrunner Tia Napolitano breaks down what that final twisty reveal means and so much more. Plus, hot on the heels of Freeform renewing Cruel Summer for a second season, Napolitano teases what fans can expect when the show returns with another mystery.
Freeform/Bill Matlock Michael Landes, Chiara Aurelia, Nicole Bilderback, Jason Douglas, Olivia Holt, and Andrea Anders in the season finale of 'Cruel Summer.'
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What did you want to accomplish with the finale episode?
TIA NAPOLITANO: It was very important to us to answer all questions, pay off all the clues, and paint a picture of the truth as a whole to put every single puzzle piece together. I also wanted the finale to be an accurate representation of the show as a whole, so we are heavy and can deal with the mystery and the trauma and there's also elements of joy - Kate gets a happy ending, Jeanette gets what she always wanted, which was the spotlight. To be able to smile and have a little bit of relief and healing was also important to me.
Everything seemed to be wrapped up so nicely by the end of the episode, but then you drop that final twist with Jeanette's smile! I literally screamed. Did you always know you were going to end the season like that?
No, we didn't. [Laughs] It's something that sort of revealed itself to us. We just kept working on the finale and thinking, "How can we make it better?" And that process led us to that final twist, which - I have no words. [Laughs] So no, we didn't always know about it. And I don't know if you can tell, but that is Olivia Holt singing a cover of Radiohead's "Creep" in that final scene, which I thought was just the cherry on top.
All season long we've been shown how neither Kate nor Jeanette are villains and that there are two sides to every story, so what does that final twist say about Jeanette?
That is up to the viewer. I think some people will see Jeanette as a good person who did a bad thing because of societal pressures in part, and sort of compartmentalized this kind of opportunity, and there are other people who will see her as a villain. I don't think life is that easy. I don't think there are many pure villains out there in the world, but that's me and someone else may feel entirely differently. I really think it's just open to the viewer.
You mention how societal pressures may have had an impact, so what was going on in Jeanette's mind in that final moment where she smiles?
Nineteen ninety-three Jeanette, when we meet her with the braces and glasses and frizzy hair, has been told that popularity is the trophy. And finally having the sun shine on her like Kate Wallis, she had sort of gleaned from society and media and pop culture and her mother that that is the prize at all costs. And she goes for it at a very high cost. I don't know that 1995 Jeanette would ever make that same choice though, because she learned a lot about finding her true compass and not being so influenced.
I had so many theories about who Annabelle was, but I did not see it coming that she was the Harris family gun. Where did that idea come from?
I just was banging my head up against the wall about how many more twists can the show have that are good? And then I came up with that and I told no one, and I just put "who is Annabelle?" at the end of the episode and released it into the world. People came up with so many theories like it's Kate's alter ego. Is it Martin's alter ego? Is it another victim? No one guessed it. And then when I said Annabelle's the gun, everyone had chills. And that was the reaction we wanted. It was right on the money.
In the moment, did Martin really mean to shoot himself and couldn't go through with it, or was he hoping Kate wouldn't either?
We rewrote that scene. That is the most rewritten scene of the finale because we really wanted to do it right. Blake Lee and I talked through it a lot, and he researched, worked with a therapist about what goes through a suicidal person's mind, and we tried to bring all that to screen. I think his intention was to kill himself and he just couldn't do it. I don't think he thought that Kate would put him out of his misery on any level.
How does shooting Martin change Kate moving forward, especially now that she remembers she did it?
Kate goes on a journey that our audience might also go on, which is it's just not that simple. What Martin did to Kate was terrible. But the more you think about it, the worse it gets because he befriended her, and then he made her think that she was in love with him and then he locked her in the basement and betrayed her. And the final thing is, now she's killed a person. But what else was she supposed to do? It was self defense, she had to save herself, but that's a lot. Through therapy, becoming comfortable and okay with that, Kate still has a long way to go.
Is there a chance the truth will come out about Kate and Martin's relationship, or how he died?
Yeah, I'm not sure. [Pauses] I'm not sure what the future holds in terms of Kate's secrets.
Why did you want the truth to come out when Kate and Jeanette were finally face-to-face in the Harris house?
I really like the idea of clearing out everyone else and just getting these two girls in a room together speaking to each other, which rarely happens throughout the season. They have almost no scenes together. It is a commentary on society's ability to pit women against each other and I really wanted to give them the microphone and advocate for themselves as young women.
I loved Jeanette "forgiving" Kate on the Marcia Bailey Show, what a great, twisty full-circle moment that was. What did that mean for Jeanette?
That's how you're still seeing the societal pressures on Jeanette. She's still trying to fit into "you're an angel or devil," and here I'm being an angel, I'm going to forgive this person who wronged me and that will make me beloved in the eyes of everyone watching,
The entire twist of it being Mallory who saw Kate and then Kate forgiving her and then they kiss was a roller coaster ride. What's going on with their relationship by the end of the season?
I love Mallory and Kate so much. I love everything about their friendship and their relationship. I call them Kallory. [Laughs] Harley has always played Mallory as a queer young woman, that's always been true from the second that we rolled camera in the pilot. She's not sure of Kate's feelings for her. She is swept up in the magnitude of Kate Wallis from the second that they become close right up until that kiss and beyond. It's a first kiss that probably almost happened many times, maybe it almost happened on Kate's birthday in the roller rink. But now that Mallory's secret is finally out and Kate's received a little bit of healing and is like, let's move on, that's the perfect positive warm space for a first kiss, so that's why we saved it for then.
So is that kiss showing that Kate does reciprocate those feelings for Mallory?
There are those of us who see it as a... I don't know, it's her first kiss. What happens after you kiss your best friend and you're not sure if you both have feelings, who's feelings are stronger? What happens after that is really exciting. Would you risk the friendship for romance? That's that teenage space where we leave them with them and [we're left] having some question marks.
Why did Kate go after Jeanette so ruthlessly but forgive Mallory so quickly and easily for essentially the same crime?
What's interesting is if Cruel Summer has one actual bad guy it's Martin Harris, but he's dead. So Kate has no one to hold accountable, and when she thinks Jeanette has wronged her, it's a very easy target. It's a girl she barely knew, and she can point fingers and sort of take it out and hold someone accountable for something. And then as Kate gets into therapy, gets to know Mallory, gets rid of her old friends and sort of grows up, her outlook on punishing someone for something changes. And it's very difficult to hold your very best friend accountable. It's just a different ballgame.
The way the show handled Kate and Martin's relationship throughout the season was impressive with how, even in the smallest moments that Kate clearly viewed as romantic, it was always painted in a creepy, problematic light for viewers. That's something that isn't usually depicted in these kinds of teacher/student relationships shown on TV, even though that's the reality of that dynamic. How did you go about making sure that we, as viewers, never rooted for Martin and Kate's relationship and didn't romanticize or sanitize it in any way?
I really appreciate you saying that, and hearing that that has landed well with audiences is very, very important to us. We consulted with Hollywood, Health & Society to make sure that we got it right and invited their criticism and their expertise. It was very important that they did not come off as made for each other or romanticized in any way. The actors Olivia Holt and Blake Lee just put so much care into it, and we were very clear tonally we are not supposed to feel what Kate feels, which is that this is "romance." It should make you feel uncomfortable. We stay with him when he sees that she's missing on TV in episode 109, we see him change from worried to happy before he goes in the bathroom where she's taking a shower. It should feel icky to the viewer, and I hope it does.
And congrats on the season 2 renewal! What are you most excited to explore in a second season?
Tackling an issue like grooming was very challenging and scary and I feel that we got to take our time and, ultimately, were able to do it right. And we'll do that again. We want to explore some other emotionally difficult spaces in a realistic and impactful way, so that's very exciting to me.
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