Cruel Summer Season 2 Episode 6 Review: The Plunge
Cruel Summer Season 2 Episode 6, “The Plunge,” dives into different relationships but still barely dips a toe into the season’s mystery.
This episode takes cues from Cruel Summer Season 2 Episode 5, “All I Want for Christmas,” and explores the early days of Megan and Luke’s friends-to-lovers dynamic. However, it does so at the expense of Megan and Jeff’s undeveloped relationship, complicating any motive it may build for Jeff based on burned bridges.
The drama doesn’t land between Megan and Jeff at Luke’s birthday party because the pair spend no significant time with each other on-screen after their first kiss on Cruel Summer Season 2 Episode 4, “Springing a Leak.”
Cruel Summer struggles to define their relationship from the beginning. So when Megan tells Isabella that she needs to break up with Jeff, it’s more of a shock that there is a relationship to end than that it is ending.
Consequently, “The Plunge” misses an opportunity to find genuineness in Jeff’s reaction to Megan and Luke, despite how relatability of the situation.
It does, however, find some teen drama greatness in the blocking of Jeff looking at Megan, who only has eyes for Luke while he looks at Isabella.
Oddly, Cruel Summer undercuts the significance of Isabella and Luke’s relationship because, like most of their time as a couple, their break-up happens off-screen. “The Plunge” sidesteps any hesitation on Isabella’s path to give up more for Megan or any understanding of Luke’s feelings about his relationship ending abruptly.
Like Jeff and Megan, “The Plunge” wants to care about the fallout of Isabella and Luke’s break-up enough to believe it could impact Luke’s mood on his birthday without providing enough context.
Cruel Summer tries to retroactively pull that thread tighter in Winter 1999 when Luke tells Isabella that he still thinks about her before he kisses her. Still, it falls flat because of how little their relationship is represented in Summer 1999.
The episode gives Isabella and Luke more reason to connect in Winter 1999 — because Megan pulls away to spend more time learning coding from Ned — than they ever have in Summer 1999, which may aid the season’s mystery.
Even though there’s still no apparent motive for Luke’s murder, it’s beneficial that Megan, Isabella, and Luke’s feelings become messier in Winter 1999.
Until “The Plunge,” everything between the trio was straightforward: Luke and Isabella dated, Megan and Luke dated, and then Luke died. Now there is more deception at play between all of them rather than between Megan and Isabella.
Cruel Summer can create a snowball by adding Luke’s lie to the others, resulting in a deadly avalanche over the next four episodes.
With that twist, the episode gains momentum that compounds with Parker overhearing Isabella and Megan and ends with the confrontation between Debbie and Megan. That turn of pace is a welcome change after such a slow burner.
That ending works because of Cruel Summer‘s gradual turn of Debbie actively protecting Megan. Those scenes of Megan reaching out to Debbie or Debbie encouraging Megan to speak to her more over the past few episodes play as a beat of relief, and this final blow amps everything between them back up to ten.
This season has been chipping away at Megan and Debbie’s complicated dynamic, and it still feels as though “The Plunge” is at the tip of that iceberg.
The nuance of their glacially shifting mother/daughter relationship has been one of Season 2‘s most intriguing stories, primarily because the slower pacing benefits it more than the urgency this murder mystery requires at this point in the season.
While there is plenty to dig into between Debbie and Megan, “The Plunge” knows its limits with Brent Chambers — thankfully.
This character’s criminal choices makes him unlikable from Cruel Summer Season 2 Episode 1 and 2, “Welcome to Chatham / Ride or Die,” so the show runs with that sentiment. Even when the script approaches him with sympathy after losing his brother, it uses Megan to quickly remind Brent of his cruelty.
That scene is another example of how two things can be true at once — a notable intersection of the season’s themes.
“The Plunge” takes it one step further by introducing a third side to Isabella’s time in St. Barts when Parker overheard their conversation. After not seeing this character since Cruel Summer Season 2 Episode 3, “Bloody Knuckles,” it’s exciting that she may get a more prominent role in the second half of the season.
It’s a great contrast to see Parker take up for Isabella in Summer 1999, only for Parker to turn Isabella in by Summer 2000. The distinction is that Parker doesn’t seem to be as strict with “ride or die” friendships as Isabella comes with a cautionary red flag because of how seriously Isabella takes loyalty.
With this turn of events, “The Plunge” showcases how quickly word travels through Chatham and how much a relationship can change over a year. Still, even when it acknowledges that external rate, Cruel Summer refuses to heat the slow-burn mystery at its core, raising the question of who will light a fire under it — and when.
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Cruel Summer airs Mondays at 10/9c on Freeform.
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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.