Cruel Summer Review: Happy Birthday, Kate Wallis (Season 1 Episode 7)

Kate Wallis’s birthdays get progressively better on Cruel Summer Season 1 Episode 7, “Happy Birthday, Kate Wallis,” and it makes for another perfect episode of television. 

We get an answer about who put the “Liar” note on Kate’s door, and let’s be honest — it’s not too surprising that mama is the culprit. 

Joy Wallis is the worst in 1993 and 1994. But part of the brilliance of Cruel Summer is the complexity of everyone’s relationships with each other, and it’s hard not to empathize with Joy in 1995 — just a little bit. 

Based on their 1993 relationship, of course Joy and Kate miss each other in 1995. To borrow imagery from Cruel Summer Season 1 Episode 6, “An Ocean Inside Me,” there is an ocean between Kate and Joy. Do we expect anything else? 

Kate understandably blames her mother for what Martin Harris did to her in the most powerful scene of the episode — the argument between them in 1995. 

Kate: You know my therapist said that Martin Harris basically was grooming me from the moment that he met me. And I keep thinking, why me? But the answer is so obvious. My whole life, you have been toting me around like one of your purses…I believed everything you said, I did everything you asked. And the moment that I quuestioned you, you tore into me. You raised me to be blindly obedient, trustinng and open and he took that…But YOU teed him up.

Her words are harsh. But how can we blame her? Not only does Joy slap Kate when her daughter confronts her about her affair in front of her stepfather, she blatantly denies the truth and then basically dares Kate to leave the house. 

Joy is also the reason Martin Harris is around Kate so much in 1993 and therefore part of the reason why Kate trusts him so much. 

Let’s be clear that the only person to blame for Martin Harris’s crimes is Martin Harris, but he is dead. Kate only has Joy to blame right now, and she is justified in calling her mom out for the actions that she needs to be held accountable for.

Joy deserves a Cindy Turner-esque evolution, even though she is the least likable character on Cruel Summer other than Martin Harris. From their fight, it may seem like Kate’s 1995 birthday ends horribly. But I hope that the confession that they miss each other is the catalyst to healing. 

For the sake of her relationship with her daughter and her marriage, I hope Joy can become more authentic soon. 

At least Kate has Mallory. That is not a sentence I thought I would be typing after Cruel Summer Season 1 Episode 1, “Happy Birthday Jeanette Turner.” But their roller skating rink takeover scene is epic. Plus, we all deserve a friend to act as the “keeper” of our birthdays and shoo annoying people away like flies. 

The direction and cinematography on Cruel Summer are as beautiful as the writing, but we are always reminded that we are watching the story of a young girl who was groomed/abducted. 

Kate has signs of Stockholm Syndrome, as we see when she learns that another alleged victim of Martin’s has come forward. 

It’s also very upsetting to watch Martin control Kate with food and watch her struggle with that even a little bit after she is home. His character is the worst, but Blake Lee plays a very good abuser.

Speaking of abusers, we need to talk about Jamie. 

He is also just a kid, so I have empathy for him. But if he is not a full-fledged abuser in 1993, he is on his way there. 

His promise ring for Kate does not feel like an innocent gift for his girlfriend, especially because Kate clearly feels trapped by it. Maybe it’s just hard to be raised by a single mom, but I also do not see his hogging the flask at the mall as typical teenage drinking. 

He has such high expectations for his future in 1993 and they are so cookie-cutter American dream it’s scary. Oh, how the mighty fall.

It’s easy to forget that we learn on Cruel Summer Season 1 Episode 1, “Happy Birthday Jeanette Turner,” that in 1995 Jamie is stalking Jeanette and has a gun in his car.

I don’t have much more to say about that, but I think about Jamie’s role in this mystery often. Like the scrunchie and Martin Harris, he is a direct link between Jeanette and Kate, for better or worse.

Derek’s relationship with Ashley Wallis indirectly connects Kate and his sister, too, though. So, I guess we can find connections anywhere we want. 

The reveal that Kate went to Martin’s house on her own accord is shocking at first. 

It may change Jeanette’s legal case, but I disagree that it “changes everything” as she says when she reads the chat transcript Derek gives her. 

Jeanette does not care about Kate in 1995 beyond beating her in court. But it’s not like Kate begs him to lock her in a basement and withhold food from her. 

I’m also not convinced that August 29, 1993, is Kate’s abduction day. But Joy really does say horrible things to Kate when she leaves the house and has more of a reason to want her away from home now that Kate has literally outed her affair to Rod. 

I prefer to watch Cruel Summer and enjoy it as much as I can without driving myself crazy speculating. But who the f*%! is Anabelle? 

Crime Scene Notes 

• Rod and Kate’s relationship is worth analyzing eventually, but these reviews can’t go on forever. 
• Olivia Holt is so good in the scene where she’s yelling at the movie. Kate’s trauma really comes through and it’s brilliant to weave flashbacks in. 
• Cruel Summer‘s soundtrack never misses. 
• Obviously, the songs are from the ’90s and it should totally stay that way, but Olivia Rodrigo’s SOUR would compliment Cruel Summer so well. 
• This episode makes me want nachos with liquid cheese, sour patch kids (for no real reason) and to spend a birthday at the mall. 
• Using the same song to lead into Jeanette’s birthday and Kate’s may seem like a small choice, but these are the things that make Cruel Summer so good. 
• This cast is so good. Teen shows often get overlooked but someone deserves an Emmy nod, anyone. 

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Cruel Summer airs Tuesdays at 10/9c on Freeform.

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