Tamal Kundu
‘Cruel Summer’ is a teen-drama thriller anthology series that tells a new story every season. In season 2, the narrative revolves around Megan Landry (Sadie Stanley), a brilliant and ambitious student who wants to be a coder and attend the University of Washington as a Computer Science major after high school, and Isabella LaRue (Lexi Underwood), a worldly girl and exchange student who comes to live with Megan’s family for a year. Although Megan initially seems distant, she and Isabella become close friends over the course of a few months. When a sex tape featuring Megan and her boyfriend Luke (Griffin Gluck) is leaked, Isabella doesn’t correct the public presumption that it’s her in the video as a favor to her best friend. Sometimes later, Luke vanishes under mysterious circumstances, and when his body is eventually found, the police conclude that the young man has been murdered and subsequently launch an investigation. If you are wondering when and where Cruel Summer season 2 takes place, we got you covered. SPOILERS AHEAD.
July 1999 to July 2000: Cruel Summer’s Period
‘Cruel Summer’ employs this fascinating plot device in which the narrative is split into three timelines. In season 1, they are 1993, 1994, and 1995, whereas, in season 2, they are July 1999 (summer), December 1999 (winter), and July 2000 (summer). The story jumps back and forth between timelines, but in both seasons, there are elements that help us distinguish between them. In season 2, the color palette of the sequences and Megan and Isabella’s hairstyles serve as indicative tools. Warm, bright colors denote July 1999, whereas black-and-white marks December 1999. The July 2000 timeline can be recognized by the darker color palette.
‘Cruel Summer’ is executive produced by Jessica Biel and Michelle Purple through their Iron Ocean Productions. Reflecting on the show’s complicated timeline, Biel told TV Insider, “It’s just so complicated to put together the puzzle pieces of the three timelines, the dual perspectives and is it making any sense? I’m always like, ‘Is anybody going to understand this at all?’ And then, oh my God, surprisingly, they do!”
Purple applauded Underwood and Stanley for delivering multi-faceted performances. “We are so grateful we found them. They delivered and were such great leaders on the set, both of them,” she told the same outlet, adding that “What we loved about it was, we gave these women the opportunity to play three different roles.” The executive producer also mentioned, “It’s the same character, but really three different parts of that character…and there’s not many opportunities to do that, I would assume, for actresses to sink their teeth into stuff like that.”
Cruel Summer Season 2 Takes Place in Chatham
The second season of ‘Cruel Summer’ takes place in Chatham, a town by the sea, located in Barrington County in the US state of Washington. Just like Skylin, Texas, of season 1, Chatham is a fictional place. In July 1999, Megan can’t wait to leave the town. She gets the means to do so in December 1999, when she is accepted into her preferred school. But by July 2000, she is still in the town, indicating that something drastic has happened which has kept her in the town. Toward the end of the pilot episode, Luke’s body is retrieved from the water, and it is heavily implied that Megan and Isabella were someway involved in his death.
In Chatham, Luke’s father owns most of the businesses, prompting Megan to seek a job at an establishment he doesn’t control. When Isabella learns that the local police believe that Luke was killed, she unsuccessfully tries to return to France. When she speaks to Megan about this, the other girl threatens her.
Read More: Who Killed Luke in Cruel Summer Season 2? Theories
