User Reviews

The premise of this show and the commercials were so good that I had a really difficult time believing there was any way the finale and the big reveal were going to live up to it, so I am happy my expectations weren't too high. I liked the multiple twists that played out in the last episode. It really stayed true to the formula of the show. However, the ending has several problems.

The first problem was all it did was highlight a huge plot hole from episode 1 that I kept thinking was going to be explained somehow. That plot hole being Kate asserted that Jeanette saw her through the window but everyone seemed to be under the impression that she had been trapped in the basement for the entire time. So why did no one (especially the police) question how someone could have seen her when she was trapped in the basement? There is one window in the basement but it's very high up and covered with wire. The only way someone could have seen her was if they were crouching outside the house looking through it, not running away and stopping to look back from a distance like Kate stated. Considering how much this was investigated and how many reporters did exposés on this it's impossible to believe no one would have noticed this huge problem with Kate's story.

The second is it's unclear why Kate seemed to be so sure that Jeanette saw her. Her claim is she only lied about the eye contact because she was 100% certain that the person saw her but how could she possibly have felt 100% certain without eye contact? Is she just that much of a narcissist that she believes people can tell exactly who she is in the middle of the night in a dark room with mostly closed curtains? Why would it not ever cross her mind that Jeanette assumed she was someone else or that someone's first instinct seeing a woman standing freely in a living room wouldn't be kidnapping?

Another plot hole was how this became such a huge story and seemingly no talk show made any effort to get Jeanette's side of it. I could see them all not believing her, but not attempting to capitalize on the opportunity to get the accused girl in front of their camera and hopefully get caught lying on television for ratings? That's just not how people in show biz work. They would have tried to bury her worse than Britney.

Finally, the snow globe. There was no reason why Jeanette would have given it to Mallory and there was no reason why Mallory should have been packing in the last scene. Mallory wasn't present for Kate and Jeanette's conversation so why would she feel she needed to leave town?

There are also still a lot of open plot points and stories that didn't quite come to a resolution. Did Kate know that it was Jeanette's brother who printed her chat and not Ashley? Did Ashley ever confront Jeanette's brother? Did Jamie really "ruin Ben's future" with that car accident? The extent/permanence of his injury was never firmly established. Are we expected to assume that his career plan was to go pro and that he had the skill to even do that? I don't think that was ever established either. Also, why are we supposed to accept Mallory as a likeable character now, when all she has done throughout the series is be jealous of the popular girl and bully and peer pressure people into doing what she wants them to do? Also how out of line was Ben for how he treated Vince? When he said Vince calling him was painful the assumption was that Vince had broken his heart but Ben actually basically dumped Vince for caring about him. Holding his hand is definitely something that a straight guy may have done for a friend they were concerned about. I find it hard to believe he was sitting around fuming over that for a year.

All of these unfinished plot points combined with the plot holes gave me the impression that the story wasn't fully fleshed out from beginning to end before some of the episodes were written which you absolutely cannot do with a show like this. Every "I" needs to be dotted and every "T" crossed before pen even touches paper.

All that being said they did ok resolving it after backing themselves into a figurative corner. I personally would have kept the misunderstanding twist and had all girls be fully innocent. Instead I would have had the finale end with a violent confrontation between the three of them ending with a possible death that we would learn more about in season 2. This would have established the narrative that a pile of lies and misunderstandings can turn any innocent girl into a killer.

However, since they wanted at least one girl to be plainly evil the twist at the end was fine. It could have been improved slightly by having the scene where Jeannette hears Kate in the basement play simultaneously with Jeannette's interview on the Marsha Bailey Show. Right after we see Jeanette choose not to let Kate out of the basement, end it with her saying "I forgive you" on camera and looking so happy and popular while the studio audience erupts into applause for her, with the "Creep" song playing of course. But, the ending is fine as is.

I don't know what's going to happen with season 2. I'm not too interested in Jeanette anymore and surprisingly I think this outcome may have been the best for Kate's mental health and closure, even though it's a lie. I'm kind of split on if I want them to move on and establish a whole new story with completely new characters, or shift to some minor characters like Vince or Ashley. I guess I'll have to tune in next season to find out.

The idea that Jeanette could have listen to Kate could have been delivered during the last two episodes (from Kate perspective and not from Jeanette perspective) and left to de audience to doubt about the truth. This serie does not need a season two, it need a new version/cut for the final episodes. It could be easily a 9/10.

Did they really have to make Kate be with Mallory at the end? Ugh other then that it was SO GOOD.

That was one of the best television episodes of the year. Hands down. They literally blew everything we thought we know up like..5 times.

Jeanette? You lying b. Mallory? I knew u were shady. Still shocked that Kate literally forgave her...in more ways then one.

My jaw was literally only the floor. Amazing show, slow at times, but this finale PERFECTLY ended it. That cliffhanger...i-i-i-

THIS is how you wrap up a season.

I've never written a review before and didn't even have an IMDb account but the reason I'm making this review is to comment on the very last scene. This episode was great overall but I am SO excited for the season two... because just when we thought we knew everything they throw in that huge curveball in the last minute and DAMN..

OK LOOK BEST PLOW TWIST on a tv serie.

I m still shocked.

Ok so this was one of the best shows i saw this year. It was obviously not perfect at all, but I loved the story, the characters and the whole mix of the times, it was not so confusing for me and I liked it.

Thank god the series was not ruined in its final episode, like others (cough cough ahs red tide).

This episode takes place almost all in 1995, which was my favorite part of the series, even so there were some unfinished things that I HOPE will take it up again in the second season. I have a lot to say but maybe I will write a review of the show in general.

The only thing that ruined the episode for me was the final scene, BECAUSE I was happy loving that character. Also, no more scenes of Vincent and Ben were shown, they were not relevant to the main plot but one more scene of them, and another of Jeanette with her family and Jamie would have been great, and more considering that this show is most likely an anthology. The mystery was solved, but I would like to see more of the characters.

We didn't even see the reaction of Kate's parents, one more episode would have been perfect, even so it is still at the level of the first episode, which for me are the best of this season, I wait patiently for the second season, probably with another story.

You weren't kidnapped, you played house, basically shacking up! I don't care about those moralists arguing about her age,,, for gawd's sake she's 17, she knows exactly what she was doing the moment she packed her bags and went knocking on his door! She was asked to leave and go back to her house the day after... I'm not condoning how he kept her under lock and key months after and she suddenly felt bored - want her life back... puhhleeeze...it was a series of events that somehow lead to her being locked in the basement... Martin was very clear upfront about his fear losing everything (career/reputation) when it blows up, she made her own assurances... then unfortunately, being her flaky self, she wants her mommy... ugh!

She's a budding sociopath that ended up Killing him.

Spare me the grooming analysis BS... Martin was just a lonely sap of a guy who fell for her dramas and BS.. paid dearly for it too.

"Cruel Summer" came across my radar as Kevin Smith talked about it on his podcast, for one obvious reason. So, I went in not knowing anything about the story, or conceit of the series which I think worked to its benefit.

In 1993, gawky teenager Jeanette (Chiara Aureila) and her friends plot a summer of (slightly dangerous) fun, but Jeanette casts envious glances towards Kate (Olivia Holt) who is much more popular and outwardly together than her. In 1994, Kate has been missing for over a year and Jeanette has essentially replaced her, dating her boyfriend, and ditching her friends for Kates. Kate is found alive, having been kidnapped and held by a vice-principle at their school. In 1995, Jeanette is preparing for a legal battle, as Kate has alleged that she knew where she was but did nothing to help.

I toyed with the idea of not writing a summation as explicit as that one but decided that it's going to be difficult to continue on with the review unless I do. This is because the shows best idea, for me, was not to present either Kate or Jeanette as being in the right, or even as the sympathetic one. Indeed, despite each episode revolving around a revelation that pushes us along the story, it's not until the very final episode that we're given the key information about what's actually happened. It's anchored by two excellent performances by Aureila and Holt. Aureila's physical transformation, in particular, is striking as she looks 14 in the 1993 scenes and twenty-five in the 1995 ones. There are a number of good supporting roles but if anyone deserves specific praise it is Harley Quinn Smith, as another character pivotal to the plot, Jeanette's friend Mallory, who later becomes Kate's new best friend as she struggles with life after her ordeal.

I think that the idea to anthologise the series is a good one. As a way of telling the story the three plot strands, each of which is a year apart works really well and would again for a different tale - but it does feel like this particular story has reached it's climax and there's not much more to mine from it.

This was good though and I actually looked forward to watching it, rather than doing so out of a sense of obligation.

I knew it was too good to be true. Episode 9 was SO good to the point I knew the finale couldn't live up to it. Much like most shows, the writers rushed to the finish line in this season finale HOSTILE WITNESS. And it's definitely a "season" and not "series" finale as it was confirmed on the day of the finale that there would be a Season 2. But the question is that will it continue the Jeanette-Kate saga or be anthology format with the same actors playing different characters in a different plot. Regardless, the writers really went out on a whimper in this one and after such a generally well-written, fascinating season of storytelling. First of all, I unfortunately knew where all of this was heading. It's a mystery drama "true crime" series. The intention was always to have a big twist at the end, no matter how ridiculous and unearned and believe me this twist was totally UNEARNED. I was hoping the writers wouldn't resort to cheap tricks, but alas, much like many TV series, they couldn't help themselves.

Starting with the "twist" ending, it was so random and cheap! So after a season of great character development of Jeanette Turner being shown to be sympathetic and a devoted friend and family member, the writers expect us to believe that she was a liar all along? Well, not technically since she was telling the truth about never seeing Kate on Christmas Eve. Which leads to another problem. Kate actually LIED about Jeanette and she did it maliciously because Jeanette had stolen her life and off the assumption of circumstantial evidence. Regardless of Jeanette hearing her in the basement months later, the entire premise of Kate's accusations showed her to be a completely unreliable narrator and she ruined Jeanette's life out of spite. BUT narratively, Kate gets cleansed of all that because the writers decided to make Jeanette a villain in the end anyway.

Then this new twist opens up a can of worms. Since Jeanette could so clearly hear Kate yelling from the basement, which in and of itself feels like a stretch, why didn't Kate ever do that before? In all the months that she was in the basement, are you telling me that Kate never just simply tried to yell whenever Martin had a visitor? And don't tell me that not a single soul ever came to his house in a stretch of 6 whole months! She could somehow hear Jeanette, who was purposefully being quiet and tiptoeing around because she was illegally breaking in, but for all the visitors who had no idea she was there and would just walk around freely and loudly, could she never hear any of them?

Then there's the stuff with Mallory. It was so obvious from very early in the season that Mallory was somehow involved in all of this, so the general fact that she was culpable was no surprise. But the way the writers explained Mallory's guilt was so haphazard. First, she actually saw Kate through the window on Christmas Eve but didn't know it was Kate and thought it was some random woman. But it never once occurred to her that it could be Kate? Especially since she'd been missing all that time? Also, why did Jeanette just give Mallory the snow globe? It felt like the writers needed Mallory to have it because they already established it in the previous episodes. And by some miraculous coincidence, she was somehow dressed EXACTLY like Jeanette on the same night and happened to be riding her bike around that neighborhood at the same time Jeanette was? This was the best the writers could do?

But the kicker is that not only did Kate immediately forgive Mallory, after persecuting Jeanette for so long, but they just end up as a happy couple by the end. So Mallory just gets away with it AND gets Kate, too? Plus, why was Mallory running away at the exact moment that Kate showed up? Shouldn't she have immediately ditched town a couple episodes earlier when Jeanette asked for the globe? She would have to have had ESP to know that Jeanette and Kate had figured out she was guilty at the exact moment she decided to run away..

My final issue with this episode is all the unanswered questions and MIA characters. First, why did Mallory hate Kate so much back in '93? The writers made a point that Mallory hated Kate more than anyone, but never explained why. Second, why did nothing come of that yearbook that revealed Harris' previous job in Widow Falls? I expected the writers would dig into his backstory as a predator, but nothing came of that. How does Cindy come back to town and there's not a single scene between her and Greg? Also, we never got a confrontation between Derek and Ashley over him stealing the printout of the chat between her and Kate and using it to help Jeanette. Why was there no scene of Mallory begging Jeanette's forgiveness? She doesn't know about the twist at the end, so from her perspective, she let an innocent person take the fall for her.

There were positives such as the continued excellent acting by Aurelia, Holt, and Lee. But this finale was so disappointing after a pretty good season where the writers paid careful attention to the separate and overlapping subplots, developing relationships, and character-building. I almost think that this should have been something like 12 or 13 episodes, because this finale felt so rushed. Disappointing after a pretty strong freshman season.