S02.E03: Bloody Knuckles

[peachmangosteen]

Quote

In Summer 1999, Megan and Isabella bond during an overnight at the Chambers’ cabin. Luke tries to stand up to Brent, but ends up causing more problems for his dad. Suspicions are raised after fingerprints are found on the gun that shot Luke.

Airs June 12th.

[jsm1125]

Blech at Luke’s and Brent’s dad’s “my family’s reputation takes precedent over everything else, including the victims of a crime.”

[AstridM]

2 hours ago, jsm1125 said:

Blech at Luke’s and Brent’s dad’s “my family’s reputation takes precedent over everything else, including the victims of a crime.”

Especially when the crime is multiple counts of child pornography. 

[gesundheit]

I still can't believe this whole damn plot hinges on the scholarship being at risk because of Megan having sex, to the point that they're blackmailing Jeff to keep this secret

[Black Knight]

I've decided to pretend the scholarship is being funded by some sort of abstinence-only group that aims to encourage teen girls not to have sex by offering them a financial path to college if they abstain. And now I'm just going to not think about it again, because it's all too stupid.

The cop should have stopped paying attention to Steve's blather when he looked over at Brent and saw him smirking. Steve's promise to handle Brent was empty. Of course we saw all that amounted to was a short lecture.

So it seems like Jeff and Megan may have hooked up the first summer and then she dropped him for Luke. I wonder how Jeff makes his money, and if Megan and/or Isabella then did the same in order to get the money that was in that bag.

Why did Megan wait until Luke's body was found to clean the cabin? And did she know that bag was there and purposely leave it?

[AstridM]

1 hour ago, gesundheit said:

I still can't believe this whole damn plot hinges on the scholarship being at risk because of Megan having sex, to the point that they're blackmailing Jeff to keep this secret

IKR? It’s literally nonsensical. And I’m starting to hate Megan. Team Isabella!

Edited June 13, 2023 by AstridM

[Anela]

The "nice guy" who liked her the Summer before, telling her that she chose the wrong guy.

I was assuming that the rich Apple guy was Megan's father, until the musician showed up. 

Isabella has diplomatic immunity? Her parents are politicians? I missed that before. That would explain living everywhere but the US.

She was also in St. Bart's. Whew, they really must be loaded. 

 

[paulvdb]

It was mentioned in last week's episode that Isabella's parents are diplomats. But it is my understanding that they are Americans, so wouldn't they only have diplomatic immunity in other countries? And do diplomats' children also have diplomatic immunity? I am not an expert on diplomatic immunity so I'm not sure about any of this.

[skotnikov]

I don't want to be negative, but it's not even close to the last season. And unlike the last season it also doesn't feel like 1990s. Even the music doesn't help 😪

[KaveDweller]

1 hour ago, paulvdb said:

It was mentioned in last week's episode that Isabella's parents are diplomats. But it is my understanding that they are Americans, so wouldn't they only have diplomatic immunity in other countries? And do diplomats' children also have diplomatic immunity? I am not an expert on diplomatic immunity so I'm not sure about any of this.

Yes, I am pretty sure they would only have diplomatic immunity in the country where they are serving. I think children would also get that immunity if they are in that same foreign country, but not if they are back in the US. At least that's what Google says.

4 hours ago, AstridM said:

IKR? It’s literally nonsensical. And I’m starting to hate Megan. Team Isabella!

I like 1999 Megan but not 2000 Megan. I really want to know what happened to make such a switch. Besides the obvious guess of killing Luke.

She also seems oddly unaffected by the death of her best friend turned boyfriend. I mean, if she knew for 6 months, I guess she had time to process. But you'd think the body being found would bring it out again? She only seems worried about getting caught for something.

I didn't get what Luke's father was accusing him of doing that was so awful. He said Luke dropped off the tapes, but I think I missed which tapes got dropped off where. 

[Black Knight]

11 minutes ago, KaveDweller said:

I didn't get what Luke's father was accusing him of doing that was so awful. He said Luke dropped off the tapes, but I think I missed which tapes got dropped off where. 

Luke dropped some sex tapes Brent had made off at the PD. Since some of those tapes involved underage participants, they would be child pornography. Isabella and Brent's ex-girlfriend must not have found and destroyed all the tapes when they broke into the house last week.

[AstridM]

6 hours ago, skotnikov said:

I don't want to be negative, but it's not even close to the last season. And unlike the last season it also doesn't feel like 1990s. Even the music doesn't help 😪

Yeah, it’s pretty weak. 

[RachelKM]

9 hours ago, skotnikov said:

I don't want to be negative, but it's not even close to the last season. And unlike the last season it also doesn't feel like 1990s. Even the music doesn't help 😪

It's not as good as last season.  Season one,  Jeanette was three very different girls in each timeline which, the twist was bonkers and had no apparent resolution other than someone was wrong in a horrible way, and we knew early that both girls were lying in some way that put them in direct opposition. It made for wild dynamics and they did a good job constantly shifting the sympathies.

With this season, it feels like standard teen noir. Everyone is lying for often dumb reasons and it's a murder plot which, for these shows, is pretty pedestrian. It seems more like Season 1 of Pretty Little Liars (which, admittedly was the best season) than Season 1 of Cruel Summer. 

But I'll still watch for now.

As for not seeming like the 90s, that's because it's not really the 90s. It takes place from mid 99 to mid 2000 making it more aughts than 90s. A lot change between 1994/5 and 1999 style and music wise.  

[Irlandesa]

wh

9 hours ago, skotnikov said:

I don't want to be negative, but it's not even close to the last season. And unlike the last season it also doesn't feel like 1990s. Even the music doesn't help 😪

I agree.  Three episodes in and I'm still trying to figure out the plot.  I guess it's about who killed Luke but that's more straightforward than last season where you didn't know which person's POV was correct and it could either way.  And that's why the three different timelines worked. 

But mostly, last season had a slew of compelling performances.  The two leads managed to be both convincing and suspicious when they shared their stories.  The villain was convincingly charming and creepy.  Heck, even the much-maligned Harley Quinn Smith felt like a real person.

Megan feels like she's cos-playing gritty in the 2000 timeline.  I keep getting distracted by the amount of makeup Isabella is wearing.  No one else really feels like they've done much to distinguish the timelines.

And I like Katee Sackoff and Paul Adelstein (and it's kind of fun to see them reunited after The Practice) but they're not enough.

[Bobcatkitten]

23 hours ago, gesundheit said:

I still can't believe this whole damn plot hinges on the scholarship being at risk because of Megan having sex, to the point that they're blackmailing Jeff to keep this secret

This is my major problem with the series. This is embarrassing at worst. There is no jeopardy with a scholarship etc. So having that underpin all the secrets is just ruining it for me.

[gesundheit]

10 hours ago, RachelKM said:

 

With this season, it feels like standard teen noir. Everyone is lying for often dumb reasons and it's a murder plot which, for these shows, is pretty pedestrian.

And it already seems like it maybe isn't a murder at all -- those kids are all out there drunkenly playing with guns, so it just reads like there was a mishap and the kids all covered it up because of all the dumb lying they'd already been doing, which is always the most boring "reveal."

[Cranberry]

I feel like there's more to it than that. Isabella's unseen best friend Lisa has been mentioned by name several times already, so she has to play into this somehow. Isabella chose to stay with Megan's family for a reason. Was Luke perhaps involved in something bad happening to Lisa, so Isabella came to his small town, stayed with his best friend, and beelined for him on purpose?

[tennisgurl]

After seeing the teens drinking and playing with guns in the woods, it makes me wonder if Luke was shot accidently or even shot himself while messing around and the teens are covering it up. Or Luke killed himself and his dad is covering it up to avoid making their family look bad? I am still interested in where this is going but after a strong start it feels like its slowing down. I don't want to just compare it to season one, but that season told such a twisty crazy story where you knew that both girls weren't telling the whole story and had to parse out the truth, but this season the two girls seem to be on the same page more or less and its not as automatically dramatic and twisty. 

The sheriff should have stuck to his guns, Brent's stupid smirk basically confirmed that he was just going to get less than a slap on the wrist.

I am just going to need to head cannon that her school or scholarship has a very strict morality clause and that's why this sex tape is such a big deal, because otherwise I have no idea why this is even a thing.

[Black Knight]

I've been wondering if two of the core trio of Isabella/Megan/Luke had decided to run away together, and that's what the bag of money was for, to fund their new life. Then the third person found out, maybe by following one of the others to the cabin, there was a confrontation, and Luke ended up dead.

Megan's jealous a lot. Isabella's jealous a lot. Luke isn't jealous yet, but could become so at some point. Luke hates his family life. Isabella is alienated from her parents. Maybe during the winter of 1999 Megan became convinced she was going to get outed and lose her scholarship.

[AstridM]

1 hour ago, Black Knight said:

I've been wondering if two of the core trio of Isabella/Megan/Luke had decided to run away together, and that's what the bag of money was for, to fund their new life. Then the third person found out, maybe by following one of the others to the cabin, there was a confrontation, and Luke ended up dead.

Megan's jealous a lot. Isabella's jealous a lot. Luke isn't jealous yet, but could become so at some point. Luke hates his family life. Isabella is alienated from her parents. Maybe during the winter of 1999 Megan became convinced she was going to get outed and lose her scholarship.

Outed for WHAT?

[Cranberry]

Outed for daring to have sex with her boyfriend and getting illegally filmed by somebody, which in the world of the show is apparently enough to make a college pull your scholarship. It's stupid, but it seems like we're going to have to take that at face value.

[skotnikov]

On 6/14/2023 at 7:09 AM, RachelKM said:

It's not as good as last season.  Season one,  Jeanette was three very different girls in each timeline which, the twist was bonkers and had no apparent resolution other than someone was wrong in a horrible way, and we knew early that both girls were lying in some way that put them in direct opposition. It made for wild dynamics and they did a good job constantly shifting the sympathies.

With this season, it feels like standard teen noir. Everyone is lying for often dumb reasons and it's a murder plot which, for these shows, is pretty pedestrian. It seems more like Season 1 of Pretty Little Liars (which, admittedly was the best season) than Season 1 of Cruel Summer. 

But I'll still watch for now.

As for not seeming like the 90s, that's because it's not really the 90s. It takes place from mid 99 to mid 2000 making it more aughts than 90s. A lot change between 1994/5 and 1999 style and music wise.  

Well I teach the 1990s so I know all about how the enthusiasm of the first half of the 1990s turned into gloom of 1999/2000. Still the dark filter doesn't really help make it more authentic. The characters behave themselves like contemporary teens and they do things no one would do in the 1999.    

[Jax7917]

On 6/14/2023 at 11:28 AM, gesundheit said:

And it already seems like it maybe isn't a murder at all -- those kids are all out there drunkenly playing with guns, so it just reads like there was a mishap and the kids all covered it up because of all the dumb lying they'd already been doing, which is always the most boring "reveal."

I was just saying to my husband that this seems like it’s gonna end up being accidental and I haaaate when shows do this . I feel like that type of reveal makes the entire show pointless .

[Jeffurry]

I have to join the chorus: Season One was so compelling, while so far Season Two is a slog that lingers on my DVR for days and then when I finally put it on I walk out of the room because I forget I'm watching it. What is this even about? I think I'd rather watch Megan write software for an hour because then I might learn something.

[CrystalBlue]

Someone made a sex tape of a townie who was banging the town's richest high school student, who she said was OK for the new girl in town to bang because townie girl and rich boy are just friends but somehow rich boy ended up in a body bag and townie girl might lose her scholarship because she had sex when everyone thought it was the new girl in town having sex because they all recognized her pink sweater.

[LuvMyShows]

On 6/13/2023 at 12:05 PM, gesundheit said:

I still can't believe this whole damn plot hinges on the scholarship being at risk because of Megan having sex, to the point that they're blackmailing Jeff to keep this secret

The plot progressing also seems to hinge on believing that a lawyer would advise a client to not use diplomatic immunity because it wouldn't look good!  WTAF.  That's exactly what diplomatic immunity is there for...a literal get out of jail free card to use as needed.  If ever there was a time to use it, it's now, and the lawyer's number one goal should be to protect her client, which could be best done by her client not being there anymore!

On 6/14/2023 at 3:04 PM, tennisgurl said:

I am just going to need to head cannon that her school or scholarship has a very strict morality clause and that's why this sex tape is such a big deal, because otherwise I have no idea why this is even a thing.

Except that the school is the public University of Washington in Seattle, and IIRC the scholarship is connected to the Gates Foundation, so there's pretty much zero chance that there's a strict morality clause.  It would have been so simple for them to make the scholarship from some very conservative organization that has a morality clause, and then we wouldn't be having the heartburn that this is causing us!

[JAYJAY1979]

So my theory is that Megan broke up Luke/Isabella...and either Jeff or Isabella had it filmed/released as revenge for different reasons (Jeff for being screwed over by Megan... Isabella because of some other reason unknown to us).

And I'm wondering if the video of Megan/Luke is just a red herring and there is something else that will be revealed.  Maybe Megan lied on the application..or maybe she isn't the coding genius we've been led to believe she is.

As I recall in season 1, both girls were neither innocent nor truly evil...so I'm guessing season 2 will also show that Megan/Isabella is neither innocent nor all evil.

[Constant Viewer]

In regards to the whole scholarship issue, are the writers misremembering the 90s or is it just bad plotting? Do they think this would have actually occurred in the 90s that a student would lose an academic scholarship because of their personal life?