Cruel Summer Review: As The Carny Gods Intended (Season 1 Episode 5)
Teens take over the carnival on Cruel Summer Season 1 Episode 5, “As The Carny Gods Intended,” but the only prize Kate and Jeanette win is psychological damage to last a lifetime.
Cruel Summer has decided that since we’re heading toward the final half of the season we all know each other well enough to combine Jeanette and Kate’s perspectives. It’s right. But this takes time to adjust to, hence the .5 deduction in this rating.
Once we get comfortable, it’s another episode packed with so much information it’s hard to know where to start and when to finish typing. I’m bound to miss at least one important piece of this extremely complicated puzzle.
One thing is for sure — the mirror in Martin’s basement matters.
We’re not down there on this episode, but Jeanette does chase Kate through a funhouse in 1994. They don’t confront each other, but Kate has a hallucination of Martin while she’s inside.
Mirrors can play tricks on our eyes. Did Martin’s mirrors play a trick on Kate?
We also learn that 1993 Jeanette is not as innocent as she seems. On previous episodes, she is definitely quirky and desperate to be popular. But her desperation never makes her downright mean like she is at the Skylin High takeover.
She ditches Gideon because of something Kate’s friends Tennille and Renee say. Kate is nowhere to be found. It’s not necessarily surprising — it’s just sad that Jeanette would stoop so low and be so rude when the person she idolizes is not the one antagonizing her.
1993 Jeanette and Gideon would be such a cute couple! I suppose it’s time we all face the truth. 1993 Jeanette may not be who Jeanette is at her core.
It’s hard to accept, but as she says in 1994 after Derek reminds her that the Wallis’s always win, she can’t go back to being the dork who no one notices.
Firstly, because she’s changed too much. But I’ve come to realize that Jeanette is right. She set something in motion the moment she stepped into Martin Harris’s basement in 1993 — her own transformation.
She doesn’t know it and she also has no control over it. But, she begins to change from the minute she leaves the house the first time she breaks in on Cruel Summer Season 1 Episode 1, “Happy Birthday, Jeanette Turner,” and tells Vince and Mallory how much fun she had.
Something bigger is at play here than the desire to steal Kate’s life. It makes Jeanette’s summer dares list a brilliant catalyst throughout Cruel Summer — but it’s not the only one. Everything connects on this show, everything matters.
Think about the path Kate’s scrunchie takes from her head to Martin Harris’s hands to Jeanette’s possession. Martin and Jeanette’s respective obsessions with Kate are connected via that scrunchie. What does it mean? Who has it in 1995?
We have no answers right now and I need to move on to Jamie. I have to admit that even though he punches Jeanette, I find him to be a sympathetic character until the county fair in 1994.
Physical violence is bad enough, but psychologically abusing Kate is unforgivable.
Characters’ observations seem to be true enough on Cruel Summer. It’s their perception of what they observe that creates most of the drama.
So, I never doubt that Kate sees Jamie kiss Jeanette in 1995. He’s an absolute monster for making her believe she is mistaken and blaming therapy for what she sees.
No one deserves the dunk tank more than Jamie in 1995 except for maybe Cindy Turner. We still don’t know where she is in 1995, but it’s officially a safe bet that she’s a full-blown alcoholic.
I think she cares about Jeanette, but she definitely has narcissistic tendencies that render her incapable of being there for her kids when they need her most.
On one hand, it’s understandable that she wants to avoid getting spit on at the video store and hearing people say bad things about Jeanette. On the other, I have no sympathy for her if she thinks drowning her sorrows in wine is the answer.
Sarah Drew definitely provides a couple of minutes of comic relief on the episode. But also, why the hell does Cindy know or care what they do with a dead body on a plane?
Speaking of dead bodies — why is Martin Harris buried in Skylin? He’s new there. Even a predator might have relatives who want to go visit him in his hometown.
I don’t actually care or feel badly that Kate cracks his headstone, this is just a good excuse to bring up the fact that Kate’s trauma is written and being portrayed so well.
Her ignorance of the fact that she’s being groomed in 1993 is chill-inducing. And in later years, her visions of Martin happen so quickly and randomly they scare us when they scare Kate. It’s brilliant television and devastating to watch.
The same can be said for Jeanette’s anxiety attacks. It’s heartbreaking to watch her find a few minutes of relief in karaoke with Angela only for it to end in panic.
She needs love so much, and the only people really trying to give her a semblance of it are Derek and Angela. If Cindy Turner is flying first place somewhere, I hope there’s a dead body next to her.
Crime Scene Observations
- The cast is impeccable, but someone give Chiara Aurelia an Emmy. She sings, too?
- Watching Greg’s love for Jeanette change/decline is devastating.
- Kate knowing about her mom’s affair is a subtle way her outside circumstances are isolating her.
- The high school takeover of the fair is a unique way to explain why no one is around to see Martin interacting with Kate.
- Cruel Summer‘s soundtrack is impeccable.
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What did you think of this episode of Cruel Summer? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Cruel Summer airs Tuesdays at 10/9c on Freeform.
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Esme Mazzeo
Esme Mazzeo is a lifestyle and entertainment journalist from Long Island. When she's not writing for work, she's writing for fun, or searching for something to satisfy her sweet tooth. She thinks rainy days are the best kind of days. Certified night owl.