Cruel Intentions – Season 1 Episode 6 “Zeta” Recap & Review

Zeta

Episode 6 of Cruel Intentions begins with Lucien being picked up and bundled out the sorority house in the middle of the night. Wrapped in a sheet, they throw him in the pool… as part of his birthday celebrations.

When Lucien wakes up after a drunken night, Caroline is there. Lucien is confident that he’s going to win over Annie in less than 12 hours. Caroline though intends to try and sabotage all of this before he can make good on his bet.

Blaise finds himself drifting apart from Scott in the midst of this, who has now been distorted by this power of being the leader and started to become an asshole. He makes digs about Blaise’s sexuality and even shuns him regarding news about how his night with Annie went.

Blaise has further issues though when he realizes that his tuition fees haven’t been paid by his dad. His father is holding out on the money and unfortunately, this puts him in a difficult position. Beatrice though agrees to get him the transcripts he needs in exchange for access to their dorm and scandalous details. Blaise reluctantly agrees after trying his hand at talking Scott around.

That night, Blaise invites Beatrice along to a big party, but it’s all just a way of getting her in with the crowd so he can get the details.

Annie speaks to Caroline before the party and the latter decides she needs to be careful and not push on with any rebounds here. All of this works to put a block on Lucien’s chances, although Lucien does join her as they head to the old people’s home to volunteer that afternoon. Unfortunately, the pair end up getting locked in the hallway.

This works for Lucien to open up to Annie and bring up his feelings for her. Specifically, the jealousy surrounding her and Scott, and how he actually does really like her. It’s enough for them to kiss but she pulls away, believing they need to take some time to think things over.

Lucien has heard enough when she brings up his family, and eventually leaves in a huff, leaving Annie all alone.

At the same time, Cece can’t stop talking about the professor. Caroline decides she just needs to sleep with him and get it out her system, so Cece decides to pursue this further. After a failed attempt at seducing the teacher, and a botched kiss that night, Chadwick admits he likes her but it can’t happen between them. He wants to keep things professional and not act on their feelings. At least not right now as she’ll need to graduate first.

Lucien shows up at the party and immediately confronts Caroline, knowing she’s been messing with the bet. Lucien calls her out for being afraid of wanting him and intentionally sabotaging his chances so he can’t follow through. Lucien is done playing by her rules and decides that now, the gloves are off.

The first port of call comes from talking to Annie, who rocks up at the party all apologetic. Lucien clears the air, pointing out that his mother killed herself, and eventually lashing out at Scott. Turns out his hostilities toward Blaise all episode is because he’s gay, and Lucien knows that. The pair end up fighting, as police show and break everything up.

The party is busted, there’s pandemonium all over the place, while Beatrice decides to give a statement to the police about how all of this is Delta Phi’s problem.

The Episode Review

So this episode continues the gameplaying between our central trio, while also exuding absolutely no chemistry between a lot of the cast. There’s been no innocence or breaking down boundaries as we saw in the movie with Lucien. He’s still the same character he was at the beginning, but this time he’s a lot more unhinged.

Meanwhile, we have a slightly “softer” side to Caroline as she clearly loves her brother, but the drama here just doesn’t have the same edge as it did in the film and book.

I could go on with platitudes about this show’s failings, but with only two episodes left, there’s still time for this one to turn it around. Although it does seem very unlikely.