‘Cruel Summer’ Season 1’s Best Surprise Has Nothing to Do With the Mystery

Season 1 of Freeform’s Cruel Summer premiered in 2021, kicking off an anthology series that explored how the relationships between teen girls were affected by various traumatic events. The series prolongs the mysteries behind these dynamic changes by hopping between different three different years in the 1990s. It told the story of Texas teen Kate’s (Olivia Holt) kidnapping and Jeanette’s (Chiara Aurelia) dubious involvement. The story that unfolds is well-crafted and thrilling in its own right, but the best surprise of the first season is the relationship between Kate and Mallory (Harley Quinn Smith), a part of the season that grew out of the actress’ natural chemistry and the creatives’ openness to exploring unplanned ideas.

RELATED: ‘Cruel Summer’ Season 2 Cast and Character Guide

Kate’s Captivity Sparks Many Questions

In 1993, Kate Wallis has a series of encounters with Martin Harris (Blake Lee), the new high school Vice Principal who recently moved into their tight-knit Texas town. While Kate goes through much pain due to a volatile home life, Harris starts to slowly manipulate her to the point where she runs to his home after a particularly bad fight in which she is slapped by her mother. It’s at this point her disappearance begins. Martin convinces Kate to stay in his home in exchange for their romantic relationship, but when Kate misses her life outside his home and aspires to leave, he locks her in his basement. A year later, she is finally able to escape but kills Martin in the process.

At the same time, Jeanette, a geeky teenager, seems to imprint on Kate, including the inappropriate relationship she has with Martin. While doing stupid, teenage things such as pranks and shoplifting, this fixation drives a wedge between Jeanette and her small friend group, particularly Mallory, as well as drives her to break into Martin’s house several times. By the time Kate returns, Jeanette is friends with her social circle, as well as dating her boyfriend, Jamie (Froylan Gutierrez). Mallory hates her and accuses her of taking over Kate’s life, proving that the wedge would indeed break their friendship.

All of these events are told slowly over the course of Season 1, keeping the audience on the edge of their seats as to what actually happened during Kate’s captivity and the truth behind the role that Jeanette played as Kate later accuses her in 1995 of knowing that she was being held hostage, but did nothing about it.

Kate and Mallory’s Blossoming Friendship

Kate and Mallory become friends in 1994 when they both run into each other in the therapy waiting room and bond over their disdain for Jeanette — a typical way for a teenage friendship to start. Kate eventually invites Mallory over to her house where she confesses how she’s having trouble processing everything and can’t eat or sleep. From this point forward, Harley Quinn Smith’s character becomes Kate’s ride-or-die and a major part of her healing process. (And she finds a better friend in Kate than she did in Jeanette, too.) By 1995, Mallory and Kate are close. She supports Kate through the trial, and it’s even revealed that Mallory has been protecting Kate and her reputation since before they became friends, something that weighed heavily on Mallory’s shoulders. Mallory had seen Kate while she was in Martin’s house, but before he locked her in the basement. She didn’t know that it was Kate that she saw, but once Kate was freed, Mallory put the pieces together and dealt with an immense amount of guilt.

After the trial comes to a conclusion, so must the season, which means the end of these characters’ stories. While Jeanette continues to focus on image and reputation by going on The Marsha Bailey Show, Kate and Mallory watch the program until Kate suggests they go for a ride, something they had done in the past. The last time we saw this, they played music and Kate danced in the road, but Mallory was too burdened by her knowledge to join her. This time, she does, and Kate pulls her in for a kiss, signifying their new beginning, unshackled by their past trauma. It would be something they would continue to deal with in the future, but this time without secrets. Something they could do together.

Queer Relationships on TV Rarely Get a Happy Ending

The last few moments of Kate and Mallory’s story are filled with joy and that’s not something said too often about queer relationships on television. In fact, more times than not, these relationships end in tragedy or sorrow. (Looking at you, Killing Eve.) Instead, Kate and Mallory are granted happiness and a hopeful future, something they didn’t think they’d get to have. The audience was probably surprised, too.

The relationship definitely felt queer-coded, but that’s not something every viewer can pick up on, especially the ones who don’t reside under the LGBTQ+ umbrella. To some, it could just play out as an intimate female friendship, but thankfully, that wasn’t the case. And while some may not pick up on it, this relationship is probably one of the most relatable types for those who do. (Not including the traumatic beginnings that brought the two girls together.) High school is the age that a lot of girls start to explore their sexuality and friendships are one way these feelings might first manifest themselves. The slow journey from enemies to friends to more is a perfect way to draw this emotion out of women with whom this story resonates, paving the way to a journey that is unique. Or at least, it was for this viewer.

In fact, the actual development of Kate and Mallory’s writing lines up with the model close to spot on. Season 1’s showrunner Tia Napolitano told Insider that she and Smith decided early in the season that Mallory was queer (Kate did have a boyfriend at the beginning of the season, but eventually broke up with him). In addition, she elaborated that the two characters were not originally meant to be love interests, but she couldn’t ignore the chemistry between Harley Quinn Smith and Olivia Holt. She also hit the nail on giving Kate her happy ending by the way of Mallory, explaining, “It’s not until Kate has this moment of real joy in the end, that’s where they kiss. It’s happy….it’s Kate’s happy ending.”

Cruel Summer had an incredibly strong Season 1. From the interesting characters to the important subject matter, the first installment in the anthology series didn’t have too many flaws. The mystery is well told and utilized the show’s structure satisfyingly. Despite this, still, the best story and surprise of the season was the earnest relationship that bloomed out of genuine chemistry. Not only is this a pleasant surprise in terms of the story, but it’s also a relief to know that some creators are more open-minded about following threads that weren’t planned, but could enhance the story. If more television could break the jadedness taken on by queer fans, then audiences of all types could reap the benefits of storytelling with ultimately more freedom and sincerity.