‘Cruel Summer’ Season 2 Episode 3 Recap: “Bloody Knuckles”

By
Alison Helms
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Cruel Summer Season 2 Episode 3 Recap
Sadie Stanley and Lexi Underwood in ‘Cruel Summer’ season 2 episode 3 (Freeform / Ricardo Hubbs)

The dates of Freeform’s Cruel Summer season two episode three are July 19, 1999, December 19, 1999, and July 19, 2000. Which, of course, means the action takes place just one day after the events of episode two.

Summer of 1999:

Megan (Sadie Stanley) and Isabella (Lexi Underwood) are in the camper where Isabella’s staying as Isabella packs for a weekend getaway. Megan’s trying to talk Isabella out of going, making it sound like it’s just a guys trip (even though Megan’s going as well).

Later, the girls show up to the campout and Megan’s not pleased with seeing Luke (Griffin Gluck) and Isabella clinging on to each other. She’s also pissed she’s stuck unloading the car. Fortunately, Jeff (Nile Bullock) comes over to help, and it seems he might have a thing for Megan.

As the gang figures out who’s sleeping where, Luke isn’t happy when his brother, Brent (Braeden De La Garza), shows up. Brent claims their dad wanted him to tag along and make sure nothing happens.

A key moment in season two takes place when Luke shows Isabella how to shoot a gun, which, can we just say, is never a good idea. After seeing that Isabella’s a terrible shot, Megan steps in and asks Luke if he and Isabella are seeing each other. Megan has deadly aim and Isabella says, “Damn, Megan, remind me to stay on your good side.”

Jeff is recording Megan when she turns it around on him. He admits he likes having the camera around.

The gang plays two truths and a lie. Megan helps out Isabella with her lie for the game, and Isabella tells Megan that Jeff is crushing on her. (It’s so obvious!)

Megan and Isabella seem to be getting along and decide to ditch the guyfest and leave.

Megan got Brent to leave the cabin and Isabella wonders how she did it. Megan reveals that he isn’t as bad as people think, and he wasn’t like that before his and Luke’s mom died.

When Megan and Isabella return home – early and unexpectedly – a horrified Megan catches her mom and a man making out. Megan’s outraged, and when Isabella asks who the man is, Megan says he’s her dad.

Megan opens up about her dad and how he wasn’t really ever there for them. By the time her sister was born, he had pretty much disappeared. Megan and Isabella begin to open up about their lives and Isabella describes herself as more of an inconvenience to her parents.

Cruel Summer Season 2 Episode 3 Recap
Lexi Underwood and Griffin Gluck in ‘Cruel Summer’ season 2 episode 3 (Freeform / Ricardo Hubbs)

Winter of 1999:

A very angry Megan confronts Isabella, and it turns out that the thing she wanted to tell Megan’s mom (in episode two) was that it was really Megan on that tape. Megan feels betrayed, and Isabella brings up that she’s been leaning on Luke more than her. Isabella wonders if Megan would even take the fall for her if their roles were reversed.

Megan assures Isabella she would do the same for her and decides it was okay for Isabella to tell her mom. She even apologizes to Isabella about how she acted when she found out.

Meanwhile, someone leaves a box at the sheriff’s station addressed to Sheriff Myers.

Megan’s busy at work and Isabella’s hanging out watching her when Luke comes in wanting to see her. Megan doesn’t think it’s a good idea for him to be there, and Luke lets her know he took care of the tapes.

And it turns out that the box delivered to Sheriff Myers contains sex tapes. Myers (Sean Blakemore) informs Luke and Brent’s father, Steve (Paul Adelstein), that this is a criminal matter. Steve throws it out there that he fixed the sheriff’s station’s roof for free, amongst other things he’s done out of the goodness of his heart. Steve suggests that Myers get rid of the tapes, and he’ll take care of Brent himself.

Steve confronts Brent in the car, grabbing him by the neck and yelling at him.

Luke’s dad confronts him about dropping off those tapes at the sheriff’s station. Luke admits he wanted to see his brother punished, but his dad’s more worried about him making their family issues public.

Jeff shows up at the restaurant and confronts Megan, admitting he might not have seen who was on the tape, but he knows her laugh. Megan plays clueless and claims not to know what he’s talking about.

Brent confronts Luke, and Luke lies and says he didn’t give the sheriff the tapes. Brent brags that their dad got him out of it and threatens that Luke’s “side skank” Isabella will be dealt with. Brent’s landed on Isabella as the one who turned over the tapes to the sheriff.

Megan and Isabella confront Jeff about keeping his mouth shut about who’s really on the tape. Megan blackmails him, warning him to keep quiet unless he wants everyone to know how he really gets the money for his fancy equipment.

Summer of 2000:

Sheriff Myers shows up at Megan’s house and informs her mom that the ballistics came back on the gun that wounded Luke. It turns out the weapon is registered to Steve Chambers, but there were three sets of prints on the gun – Megan, Isabella, and Luke’s.

While Megan’s at the restaurant working away on her laptop, a news story comes on about Luke, what they found in his system, and how the police suspect foul play. As she watches the report, a young woman tries to chat her up by asking her questions about her and Luke. Megan realizes she’s the same woman on the news and is a reporter. Megan leaves, but not before she pours coffee on the woman’s food.

In episode two, Isabella called her mom for help. In episode three, it’s not her parents who show up, it’s their lawyer, Rebecca. Rebecca gets down to business and brings up Isabella’s prints on the gun, and Isabella chimes in that she and Megan both used that gun last summer for target practice.

Isabella comes clean about not being on the sex tape. Rebecca thinks that Isabella and Megan conspired to kill Luke, and Isabella informs her that she and Megan haven’t spoken in months. Isabella wants to know why she can’t just claim diplomatic immunity and get on a plane. Rebecca responds, “I’m afraid that would look very bad, especially after what happened in St. Barts last winter.” (Isabella must have a very colorful history!)

Steve goes to see Debbie (KaDee Strickland) and lets her know that he knows about the fingerprints on the gun. Although he doesn’t think the girls had anything to do with it, he tells Debbie that the sheriff did say someone recently cleaned the cabin. He admits he hasn’t been there in months, so he wonders who cleaned it.

Isabella tells Debbie she should get a lawyer. Isabella doesn’t seem concerned, and Megan thinks Isabella seems to know a lot about the law.

Megan and Debbie take Isabella’s advice and hire a lawyer, and he admits it doesn’t look good for Megan. Megan asks her mom how she got the money for this lawyer and isn’t pleased when she figures out it was from her dad. She vows to pay him back.

When Megan and her lawyer show up at the sheriff’s station, Isabella is already there.

The scene switches back and forth between Sheriff Myers asking Megan and Isabella questions about the last time they saw Luke and about why their fingerprints were on the gun.

Sheriff Myers pokes holes in Megan’s statement about dropping Luke off at his house the last time she saw him. There’s no sign of them on the security footage of the Chambers’ home that night.

Episode three ends with a bombshell as the sheriff produces a bag belonging to Isabella. It was found at the Chambers’ cabin in a crawl space. The bag is stuffed with cash!




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