‘Cruel Summer’ Season 2 Episode 8 Recap: “Confess Your Sins”

By
Alison Helms
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Cruel Summer Season 2 Episode 8 Recap
Sadie Stanley and Griffin Gluck in ‘Cruel Summer’ season 2 episode 8 (Freeform/Justine Yeung)

With just two episodes to go in Freeform’s Cruel Summer season two and, finally, with episode eight, we’re getting down to the business of discovering what went down during Luke’s last hours. Episode eight, “Confess your Sins,” takes place on:

August 1, 1999
January 1, 2000
August 1, 2000

Summer of 1999

After Megan (Sadie Stanley) tells Isabella (Lexi Underwood) about the kiss she and Luke shared (in episode seven), Megan thinks this could have never happened if it wasn’t for Isabella. Megan thanks her and calls Isabella the best friend she could ever have asked for.

Luke (Griffin Gluck) comes over and Megan wants some alone time with him, which seems to make Isabella sad. (Or, maybe jealous?) Debbie (KaDee Strickland) gives Isabella a pep talk about how she’s going to have fun when school starts.

Megan and Luke have a make-out session, and she thinks it’s good they both waited to have sex until they could be each other’s first. That makes their relationship special. Unbeknownst to her, Luke had sex with Isabella and, of course, he doesn’t come forward with that information.

Later, the senior car wash is in full swing and, strangely, Isabella and Parker (Lisa Yamada) seem to be hitting it off. As Isabella and Parker bond, Luke and Megan show up holding hands. Parker wonders if it’s awkward, and Isabella claims it’s not.

Isabella asks Jeff (Nile Bullock) what he’s doing with all the footage he’s shooting. Jeff reveals he’s making a time capsule of their senior year.

Brent (Braeden De La Garza) is bragging about how much better homemade porn is when Isabella overhears his gross conversation. Luke talks to Isabella about how he didn’t tell Megan the truth about them having sex. He assumed she told Megan, but obviously, she didn’t. He thinks they should keep it from Megan, and Isabella reluctantly agrees.

Brent tries to hit on Isabella and when she denies him, he unties her bath suit top and calls her a tease. He adds that “she’s asking for it.” Brent’s dad, Steve (Paul Adelstein), heard what his son said and tells Isabella that she’s okay and boys will be boys. How disgusting!

Megan notices something’s wrong with Isabella, but she won’t tell Megan what happened. Megan asks her if she would tell her if something was wrong. “No secrets,” Isabella promises. Which is incredibly ironic since she and Luke just agreed to lie to Megan.

Cruel Summer Season 2 Episode 8 Recap
Lisa Yamada and Lexi Underwood in ‘Cruel Summer’ season 2 episode 8 (Freeform/Justine Yeung)

Winter of 1999

Megan and Luke are preparing to get intimate at his cabin…or so Luke thinks. Things go sideways when Megan produces a rope and announces she wants to try something different.

As Megan ties up Luke, he wonders if they should have a safe word in case things get out of control. Suddenly, Isabella walks in and Luke appears to be shocked. (It’s worth noting the sheets on the bed are the bloody items Megan was trying to throw away a few episodes back.)

Luke demands to know what’s going on. Megan reveals she wants to know the truth about the plunge, and Luke begins to panic. Isabella tells him to relax, suggesting it will make everything a lot easier. The girls leave him alone to go make drinks and put some kind of “truth serum” medication in his drink. Odd, they could just ask him since he is tied up and all.

The girls make their own drinks with alcohol, and Megan adds a little alcohol to Luke’s as well. Isabella decides to add a third pill to his drink.

Now that Luke’s all drugged up, they decide to question him. Megan records their interrogation as Luke comes clean. He admits he’s been bragging about having both girls wrapped around his finger but insists it was just to sound cool. He asks what they’re going to do with the recording, and Megan replies, “Confess your sins, and we are going to make sure everyone in town sees it.”

Luke continues to insist he was only saying that stuff to look cool. Isabella needs to know if Luke knew about the tapes his brother was making. Megan looks puzzled by that question but is soon distracted when he says he saw a little of one tape, therefore, he knew Brent was making tapes. Megan is outraged that Luke knew Brent was recording at the cabin and did nothing. Luke confesses he made the tape – not his brother.

Megan justifiably freaks out that Luke recorded them. She’s ready to flee and leave Luke tied up. But Luke, in a last-ditch effort, yells out that Isabella has lied to Megan too. Luke confesses that he and Isabella had sex once last summer.

Isabella blames Luke, insisting he wanted to keep it from Megan that they had sex. As Luke continues to pit them against each other, Isabella retrieves a gun and points it at Luke, demanding that he shuts up.

Summer of 2000

Megan is trying to get ahold of Ned on Instant Messenger with no luck when Isabella arrives, demanding that they talk. “Sheriff Myer called my lawyer. He knows about our lie,” says Isabella.

Megan wonders which lie she’s referring to since there are so many. Sheriff Myer knows that it’s Megan on the sex tape and not Isabella. Megan accuses her of telling him to cut a deal for herself, but Isabella insists it wasn’t her.

Megan informs Isabella they have a bigger problem; Steve Chambers thinks Ned killed Luke. Isabella doesn’t see that as a problem. She thinks the heat will be off them. Megan shuts her down by revealing that Ned has security cameras all over his property and they were filming on New Year’s Eve. Plus, he has a camera pointed toward the fork in the road between his house and the Chambers’ cabin.

Megan and Isabella need to get to the footage before the cops do, so they decide to head to Ned’s.

Sheriff Myer (Sean Blakemore) speaks with a deputy about the case and shows him surveillance footage of Megan with Ned. Myer knows that Steve believes Ned killed Luke, and he asks if the deputy has finished going over Jeff’s videos from New Year’s. The deputy claims that so far, there hasn’t been anything noticeable with Megan and Isabella from that night.

Myer orders him to keep looking. If they lied about the sex tape this whole time, what else might they be lying about?

After the girls don’t get an answer from Ned, Megan remembers Ned’s code to get into his house. The girls begin to go through his computer to try and find the footage from that night. Just as Megan thinks she found something, suddenly Sheriff Myer can be heard saying, “Me too.”

Steve Chambers desperately tries to talk to Debbie, curious to know if she knew it was really Megan on the sex tape. She admits she was just trying to protect her daughter, and he wonders about Isabella. Debbie’s not going to let her daughter go down for a crime she didn’t commit. Steve wants to know if she can say the same about Isabella. Debbie walks away without answering.

The girls are at the police station, and Sheriff Myer questions Isabella about what they were doing in Ned’s house. Isabella claims they were trying to find out if he killed Luke. He asks Megan why, if she and Isabella aren’t friends anymore, did he catch them together in Ned’s house? And why did they maintain the lie about who was on the sex tape? Myer says the only other person who knows the truth is dead, and he thinks they killed Luke to protect the lie.

Megan says Luke and Isabella continued the lie of who was on the tape to protect her. If people knew it was Megan, she would lose her scholarship.

Myer asks Isabella what came in between her and Megan, and she responds that gossip came between them. Isabella confirms that she and Megan got into a fight on New Year’s Eve and never made up.

Sheriff Myer inquires as to when the last time Megan and Isabella saw each other. Their stories differ as Isabella says she wasn’t feeling well, so she left the party and saw Megan the next day. Megan says at the party.

Megan’s shown Jeff’s video from the party. Apparently, they were able to isolate Megan and Isabella’s conversation at a loud party about getting back at Luke.

Myer tries to get them to crack, telling each of them that the other said they brought the pills to the cabin and gave them to Luke. It’s obvious as Megan and Isabella talk about wanting to make Luke pay that they’re now blaming each other for Luke’s death.

Episode eight wraps up with a crazy ending recalling the events of Luke’s last night. Isabella is more concerned about looking like a bad friend to Megan as she points the gun at Luke, and he just keeps calling her crazy. Megan attempts to defuse the situation, but Luke won’t stop. In the final moments of the episode, Isabella fires the gun!




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