Cruel Summer Review – Springing a Leak (204)

Cruel Summer Season 2 Episode 4 dropped a major bombshell that’s bound to change the trajectory of the investigation into Luke’s murder. 

***SPOILERS AHEAD — Stop reading if you haven’t seen the latest episode****

In the latest episode of the anthology drama, Sheriff Meyer uncovered that Megan was, at one point, pregnant with Luke’s baby. 

While he didn’t disclose how he found that out or what the circumstances were surrounding said pregnancy—and there’s still the question of what happened to the baby or if it was ever even Luke’s—he definitely struck a chord as Megan’s whole demeanor shifted the moment he mentioned it, proving that he was onto something. 

Megan doesn’t have a good poker face when she’s confronted with a truth, though she’s adamant to keep plenty of secrets, even as her lawyer begs and pleads for her to tell him everything so that he’s prepared to defend her at every turn. The poor dude is just blindsided every single time they sit down in the interrogation room.

A pregnancy reveal changes everything, including motive. Is the Sheriff on the money by claiming Megan killed Luke after he rejected the idea of having a baby with her? That doesn’t strike me as something Luke would do, however, a baby would definitely throw a wrench into Megan’s plans of leaving Chatham behind and pursuing her dreams of coding and computer hacking. Did she “take care of it?”

There’s also the question of whether the baby was even Luke’s as the series made a point to show how Megan’s connection with Jeff flourished. There’s no doubt that he’s involved in this in some shape, way, or form. Could it be that Megan was cheating on Luke this whole time with Jeff?

And then there’s the fact that hormones were running high within that group to begin with. Megan and Isabella were the best of friends, but there’s a string of jealousy that remains constant whether it’s Isabella feeling like Megan is replacing her with Luke, Megan becoming suspicious of Luke and Isabella together, or Luke using Isabella to get over his feelings of jealousy when he sees Megan and Jeff together. 

This could’ve been a crime of passion for everyone involved. Did Megan get jealous of Luke’s connection with Isabella and do something haste? And is Isabella keeping a secret to protect her friend? 

It definitely seems as though Megan truly has no idea what happened to Luke. The Sheriff brings up that Luke was planning on running away and Megan admits to wanting to help him, however, when she got back to the cabin the next day to take him to the train station, he was gone. She then claims that she never heard from him again until they found his body, and again, it looks like she’s telling the truth. 

So the question is—why was Luke trying to run away? What was he afraid of? Did he even know about the pregnancy? Does it have something to do with Brent’s twisted passion for filming everyone? Or is it somehow connected to Steve’s flopping business? Brent may be the creep who films his girlfriends without their consent, but Luke is the reason that Steve lost all his investors and his reputation and family name were tainted, so it’s possible that he sought revenge on his youngest and attempted to make his life a living hell, in turn forcing him to run away. 

There’s also the fact that Steve’s parenting is somewhat unconventional and he lets Brent get away almost scot-free, which becomes a controversial moment in his relationship with Megan’s mom. Letting your kid get away with sick behavior allows the behavior to continue—or even escalate. I wouldn’t put it past Brent to kill his brother—they clearly don’t have a good relationship. And I wouldn’t put it past Steve to cover it up for the sake of protecting himself. 

I don’t think Steve would ever kill his own son, especially since he was grieving throughout the whole disappearance, but you never know when it comes to rich people who have lost everything. 

I’m still waiting to see how the man in the woods with the love of guns plays into everything. I can’t shake the look he and Megan exchanged when they pulled Luke’s body out. 

And then there’s a fan theory floating around that maybe it wasn’t Luke’s body after all. You know what they say when it comes to TV plots, if you don’t see the body, you can’t assume they are actually dead. It’s possible Luke faked his death and he’s hiding out in the next-door cabin. It’s unclear why Steve would identify Luke’s body unless he’s in on it, but I do want to highlight that it seems to be the only confirmation of identity up until this point. 

Everyone in town seemed to think Luke was a cheater, so maybe he needed to fake his own death and get off the grid to get a second chance. It would make sense as to why Isabella and Megan think they have to get their “stories” straight before talking to the police. 

As for the baby in question, if I had to guess, I would say Megan either aborted it or had a miscarriage based on the bloody covers she threw out in the night. It seems like something she’d turn to Isabella for, but there’s definitely a rift in their friendship now that Megan accused her of stepping out with Luke after she took the fall for the sex tape. Isabella may or may not have known about the pregnancy, but she was clearly taken aback by the blood on the covers.

How much does she know?

Everything began to unravel after the sex tape secret, and it just kept spiraling. It put a huge strain on their friendship, but is it what led to the present-day 2000s fallout? Or did something else happen concerning Luke?

Isabella also tried to give Megan and her mom $5,000 to fix their leak, but Megan refused to take the money because “it creates problems.” Is this proof she doesn’t trust her or did she just not want to owe her friend anymore? And is that the money they found at the cabin? The series makes it a point to showcase that Luke and Isabella are good friends who talk about a lot of personal issues, so it’s possible that she tried to loan him the money to run away. Also, why aren’t the cops asking her if she knew about Luke’s plans? She may not have been the “last one to see him” officially, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t know more.

The Sheriff also obtained Megan’s computer on the suspicion of fraud, which likely stems from the moment he saw them sneaking into the club, however, it also brings up the question of Megan’s secret online friend who offered to teach her new coding tricks in an AIM chat and who she seemingly called about the virus after her computer was seized. Who is this mystery person? Is it the man in the woods? Is he/she the reason Luke is dead? There’s definitely more to dig into here. 

There was also a brief mention of Lisa (Isabella’s friend) when Isabella and Megan are drinking at a bar after getting in with their fake I.D.s. Will we ever hear from Lisa? Or find out what happened to her? I think it’s especially suspicious that Lisa is mentioned in passing as a distant memory.

The mystery continues on Cruel Summer with each passing week. What theories do you have?