Cruel Summer Review: The Teen Popularity Mystery Drama a Dark Teen Drama

Filmyhype Ratings: 3.5/5 ( Three and Half Stars) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

When you think that a genre has little or nothing yet to say comes a new serial product to contradict this statement. This is how, as we explain in this review of Cruel Summer , the new series available from August 6 on Prime Video , the teen mystery drama / young adult genre takes on a new approach to telling about adolescence and the importance of popularity, much more interesting and compelling than it may seem at first glance not attentive.

The Story: Three Shades Of Gray

During the 90s a young girl, Kate Wallis, blonde and popular, disappears into thin air in a small town in Texas, attracting the attention of the media from all over the United States. When she is miraculously found a year later, another young girl from her school, Jeanette Turner, still immature and decidedly less popular, is accused of having seen Kate imprisoned but having done nothing to save her, in order to maintain the popularity gained during the absence of Kate. If the story may seem already seen and new at the same time, new is certainly the way chosen to tell it, the real winning idea of ​​this series. The story in fact takes place on three timelines, presented immediately in each episode – the summers of 1993, 1994 and 1995 – and immediately recognizable thanks to the stratagem,

In fact, three shades of color correspond to the three vintages and range from more gaudy, patinated and pastel shades to a black-gray-blue, just like the abyss in which the characters find themselves as the story progresses. What was supposed to be a beautiful, carefree season ends up being the cruel summer of the title, and for both the two protagonists – but also for the characters that gravitate around them – the situation plummets steeply into an increasingly black hole, from which it seems impossible to get out.

Review and Analysis 

This narrative structure is very well used to create more pathos in unraveling the events that led to Kate’s kidnapping and release: time leaps sharpen this aspect despite jumping into the “future” and not into the past. It is also a way to show how much things can change in a single year during adolescence, especially for girls. Furthermore, the story plays with the school social pyramid, because Kate has a complex relationship with popularity as she realizes what all these expectations imply on her shoulders, and on the other side of the fence Jeanette, who yearns for that fame, finds herself the most hated girl in all of America for what she allegedly did to Kate. In her absence she cultivates the same friendships and has a relationship with her boyfriend, and with his “old” friends he seems to no longer want to deal with. But none are what they seem in this series and there will be quite a few twists in the barrel from the writers. Each of the inhabitants of the town where everyone knows each other has secrets to hide and to reveal but this does not invalidate the themes carried forward by the story but rather enhances them, even if among some such clichés.

A tale that recalls Mean Girls for the careful and shrewd writing and for the change in popularity of the characters from one year to another, but it is much more dramatic than funny. From the teen drama Cruel Summer it also takes the perfect soundtrack, which draws not only from songs (not too shamelessly) from the 90s such as But none are what they seem in this series and there will be quite a few twists in the barrel from the writers. Each of the inhabitants of the town where everyone knows each other has secrets to hide and to reveal but this does not invalidate the themes carried forward by the story but rather enhances them, even if among some such clichés. From the teen drama Cruel Summer it also takes the perfect soundtrack, which draws not only from songs (not too shamelessly) from the 90s such as But none are what they seem in this series and there will be plenty of twists in the barrel from the writers. Each of the inhabitants of the town where everyone knows each other has secrets to hide and to reveal but this does not invalidate the themes carried forward by the story but rather enhances them, even if among some such clichés. From the teen drama Cruel Summer it also takes the perfect soundtrack, which draws not only from songs (not too shamelessly) from the 90s such as it has secrets to hide and to reveal but this does not invalidate the themes carried on by the story, on the contrary it enhances them, even if among some such clichés. From the teen drama Cruel Summer it also takes the perfect soundtrack, which draws not only from songs (not too shamelessly) from the 90s such as it has secrets to hide and to reveal but this does not invalidate the themes carried on by the story, on the contrary it enhances them, even if among some such clichés. From the teen drama Cruel Summer it also takes the perfect soundtrack, which draws not only from songs (not too shamelessly) from the 90s such as but it’s much more dramatic than fun. From the teen drama Cruel Summer it also takes the perfect soundtrack, which draws not only from songs (not too shamelessly) from the 90s such as but it’s much more dramatic than fun. From the teen drama Cruel Summer it also takes the perfect soundtrack, which draws not only from songs (not too shamelessly) from the 90s such asWhat’s Up of the 4 No Blondes but also sophisticated pieces like a particular cover of Wonderwall by Oasis.

Mothers And Daughters

It is not only the young cast to offer convincing and heartfelt interpretations – among all the ambiguous Olivia Holt (already seen in Marvel’s Cloak and Dagger in a role practically opposite to that of Kate) and Chiara Aurelia (Jeanette), together with turncoat Allison (Harley Quinn Smith, a name a guarantee). Adult stories are also important because of the impact they have on the lives of adolescent children. Kate and Jeanette’s mothers, Joyce ( Andrea Anders ) and Cindy ( Sarah Drew), seem to project their high school glory days onto their respective daughters, possibly causing more damage than anything else, as they don’t provide the right tools but only the goal to achieve. They depict two women from the South who are determined but also fragile in discovering the truth about their daughters. Obviously, the relationship with fathers is also important to Kate and Jeanette, and these equally central parental figures follow an equally radical change through the years. Who tells the truth between the two girls and between the various characters? As the series tagline says “truth is as you want to see it”. Speaking of mothers, Cruel Summer is produced by Jessica Biel , who after The Sinner is once again interested in investigating female psychology.

Cruel Summer Review: The Last Words

We conclude the Cruel Summer review happy that the teen mystery drama genre still has to say, and that it finds new ways to do it like the three temporal and chromatic planes of the story. Successful casting for all the characters, especially the protagonists and their parents, in a story that takes its cue from Mean Girls to tell a much murkier and blacker story, which reflects on today’s popularity among teenagers and beyond, and on how much parents’ expectations are sometimes dangerous and detrimental to their children.