Cruel Summer Season 2 Episode 10 Review: Endgame
This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the series being covered here wouldn’t exist.
Cruel Summer Season 2 Episode 10, “Endgame,” provides closure to the murder mystery with long-awaited answers but subverts justice in a dramatic twist.
Written by Elle Triedman and directed by Bill Purple, the season finale fills in some lingering gaps and flips the script with some characters — almost jarringly so — to keep the audience guessing or engaged until the final second.
Yet, the twists never quite gain the cutting edge that “Endgame” wants, so realistic performances ground them despite their underwhelming shock value. Namely, Sadie Stanley, Braeden De La Garza, and Lexi Underwood pull out all the stops.
First and foremost, it’s not even slightly surprising that Isabella hands over an edited version of the tape from the cabin to spite Megan.
Isabella tests Megan’s loyalty from Cruel Summer Season 2 Episodes 1 and 2, “Welcome to Chatham / Ride or Die,” and never seems pleased with the lengths Megan will go to, considering the ones Isabella does for Megan.
Their ability to be on the same page about their friendship — let alone their story revolving around a murder — is always fleeting.
The entire season is never a question of if Megan and Isabella will finally trust each other but how far they will go to break each other. It’s a toxic friendship through and through, which makes rooting for its demise far more uncomplicated than its repair.
Even if it is a real challenge to understand why Isabella clings so tightly to Megan after, well, everything, that loyalty is so profoundly embedded in Isabella’s character that a breaking point is inevitable. Nevertheless, Isabella’s retaliating action is so life-ruining and brutal that it digs Isabella deeper into a trench of no return.
In fairness, Megan — or anyone else — isn’t far behind after the events of Cruel Summer Season 2.
Oddly, “Endgame” mentions an untapped plot point that could have offered a different side of these characters amongst the elevated drama — Debbie’s illness.
Megan mentions in passing that her mother is in remission, and while that is celebratory news, Cruel Summer only mentions Debbie’s battle, presumably with cancer, less than a handful of times across the season.
Considering the relationship that Isabella forms with Debbie and Megan’s complicated relationship with her mother, Cruel Summer could have mined that story as a source of vulnerability beyond the toxic love triangle. Not to mention, it would have been an opportunity to utilize KaDee Strickland’s talents more.
Strangely, Debbie is absent on “Endgame” when her daughter is arrested for murder. Assumedly, Megan’s mother would at least be present in the Sheriff’s station’s lobby at some point. Even briefly cutting to Strickland before or after Sadie Stanley and Sean Blakemore’s scene would heighten the emotional stakes.
That scene is one of the standouts during the season finale. The desperation Stanley brings to Megan’s pleas is as heart-wrenching as the dynamic reaction Blakemore delivers when Sheriff Myer handcuffs Megan is intriguing.
Regardless, this show is a psychological thriller in the teen drama subgenre, so these parental figures still hold weight in the story. Cruel Summer Season 2 Episode 9, “The Miseducation of Luke Chambers,” and “Endgame” express this awareness with Steve Chambers. So why doesn’t Debbie get the same relevance?
Instead, Debbie’s overall character and struggles become a fleeting memory in a timeline far more concerned with the nature vs. nurture of the Chambers sons.
Brent’s moral compass does a complete 180 on “Endgame.” While Braeden De La Garza delivers a compelling performance as Brent grapples with the weight of his actions with Luke, Brent’s accountability falls short because of how late it comes in the season — and after a pattern of other criminal and problematic behavior.
Alternatively, seeing those blue and red lights illuminate Steve in the Chambers’ house after a season of cover-ups and lies is quite rewarding.
Using the TV to transition into the water’s darkness — and the flashback — when Brent confesses to what happened with Luke is another example of great direction. It sets the tone for that night and that room in the present. “Endgame” utilizes that direction again in the season’s CODA when Megan discovers Isabella killed Luke.
That final blow to Luke’s life by Isabella is more concerning than surprising.
If Isabella takes Lisa’s name and escapes to Ibiza to repeat a pattern she presumably has done twice, does Cruel Summer Season 2 posit that a serial killer is on the loose? Is Isabella even her real name? Will she take Megan’s name in the future?
Cruel Summer‘s anthological nature suggests that a season may not come to a satisfactory ending where everyone has positive closure. Correspondingly, “Endgame” is relentless in its pessimism, which links to that surrounding Y2K.
Megan’s job opportunity is a beat of relief before a crushing wave takes it out with the tide, which Sadie Stanley perfectly portrays. Ultimately, this story has no happy ending or happily ever after for these characters. The toxic cycle continues.
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What did you think of the Season 2 finale of Cruel Summer? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Cruel Summer Season 2 is streaming now on Hulu.
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Shelby Elpers
Shelby is a TV enthusiast and pop culture writer. She's an avid podcast listener, green tea drinker, and soccer fan. Her brand can be summarized in rom-coms, superheroes, teen dramas, and workplace comedies.