Cruel Summer – Season 2 Episode 2 “Ride or Die” Recap & Review

Ride or Die

July 18, 1999

Episode 2 of Cruel Summer Season 2 opens with Isabella writing a letter to her best friend where she mentions that she’s having fun but still finds it difficult to bond with Megan. That morning, Isabella helps Debbie (Megan’s mother) with breakfast. They get talking and Isabella tells her about life and her family. She adds that she does not have many friends because she moves a lot.

Isabella tells Megan’s little sister Lily about her best friend, Lisa. Isabella is aware of how Megan is cold with her and is sure she will be able to crack through her personality. When Megan is at work, Isabella snoops through her room and finds Megan’s wallet. Isabella goes to the bar Megan works at and hands it over. Luke arrives just in time and places an order for something to eat.

Isabella and Luke get chatting and she ends up throwing a party at Luke’s house. Luke is amused with her and asks if Megan would like to join them. Isabella asks Luke to leave Megan to do her thing, suggesting that she’ll join them if she wants. On their drive to the Chambers House, Luke and Isabella start chatting. She tells him how Megan’s family and the photos of the town made her choose the town for her Exchange Program.

Isabella is not surprised to see the party had already started taking shape at the Chambers’ pool. Parker is not so happy about Isabella either but Isabella tries to win her over with her smart talk. Brent awkwardly flirts with Isabella at the pool but she threatens to tell Parker about his flirting. Megan joins the party and notices how Isabella was behaving like she has been a part of the group the whole time.

Luke takes Isabella to the garage to look for fireworks when they start talking about Megan. Luke speaks highly of Megan. He asks Isabella to be herself and that Megan will come around. Outside, Isabella finds a bunch of pills inside Megan’s bag and is shocked. That night, Megan watches Isabella and Luke light fireworks together. Luke chats up with Megan about Isabella.

Megan calls Isabella an attention seeker but Luke defends her over Megan. He asks Megan to make an effort to befriend Isabella. Isabella joins Megan in the pool and discusses the pills. Megan claims that she was taking them so that she could stay up longer to study. Isabella promises to keep her secret safe while adding that they did not need to get along only needed to tolerate each other for one year.

Luke and Isabella get into the pool together and start bonding. Luke helps Isabella find her earring, and the two kiss as Megan watches them from afar. That night, Megan, Isabella and Luke take a Polaroid photo together.

December 18, 1999

The morning after the Chambers’ parry, Isabella is pranked by the townspeople as they put up slutty balloons outside her trailer. At the Landry house, Debbie tells Isabella that she had received a warning from high school and would not be kicked out yet because of the tape that played at the party. Debbie is pissed at Isabella for what she did to Megan.

In her room, Megan watches the rest of the tape which turns out to be a video of her having sex with Luke and not Isabella. Isabella comes to the room to talk. Megan tells her that if the school principal found out about the tape, she would lose her scholarship. Isabella promises to continue with the misunderstanding until she leaves town in a few months.

Isabella agrees to be slut-shamed if it meant helping Megan from losing the scholarship. Isabella tells Megan that she would do anything for her best friend – Megan. Isabella burns off the cassette that contained the sex tape. She is sure that they will find out who the person behind the tape was. The two girls tell Luke about their plan. They state that Luke needed to hide the fact that it was Megan on the tape.

Luke claims that his brother Brent was behind the tape but Isabella is sure it was Jeff. Luke and Isabella get into a fight about Megan and the people around them start to take notice. Luke asks the two to lay low till her talks to his brother about it and leaves. Isabella goes back to the Chambers’ house and finds Parker there.

Parker tells Isabella that Brent had tried to film them having sex before they broke up. She claims that she’s back to check if there are any tapes with her. The two start working together and break into the house. Parker wonders how Megan is okay with Isabella still living in the house after she cheated on her with Luke. Isabella breaks a glass door with a pot and enters the house.

Parker and Isabella destroy most of Brent’s tapes but as soon as they are about to get to Brent’s secret stash, the garage door closes. The girls flee but Luke and Brent’s father – Steve confronts the boys and notices the broken tapes in the living room. Steve asks if that was their only tape and Brent claims it was. Luke is sure that Brent was lying but their father ends the argument.

Steve asks Luke to apologise to Megan. Isabella tells Megan about how she destroyed Brent’s videotapes and promises that things would go back to normal soon. After their dad had left, Luke confronts Brent about how he makes videotapes of girls she hooks up with. Luke is pissed to hear Brent’s misogynistic comments about women loving the attention they get when these tapes leak.

Brent promises that he was not responsible for Luke’s sex tape before he leaves. Later that night, Luke talks to Megan about how his dad did not really love him because he was not like Brent – someone who loved business. He is worried that the whole town thinks he cheated on Megan. Megan asks if Brent knew it was her on the tape and not Isabella.

Luke is sure Brent does not know it was her. Isabella overhears how Megan calls Luke the most important person in her life just like she called Isabella. Isabella is infuriated and confronts Megan about something.

July 18, 2000

Megan tells Isabella that they’re both responsible for saying things they should not have before Luke’s death. Isabella wants Megan to talk to her before the interrogations start. Sheriff Meyer learns that the cause of Luke’s death was drowning but adds that he also had a gunshot abrasion around his ear. The sheriff adds that Luke had a high amount of muscle relaxants in his system before he was shot.

Meyer continues, revealing that the person that shot at Luke wanted him to drown without a chance at survival. Luke’s brother – Brent tells Debbie, Megan and Isabella that Luke had not just drowned but was murdered. Parker is now friends with Isabella and notices how the latter is packing up to go to Paris all of a sudden.

Isabella panics when Parker tells her that Luke’s murder is being taken seriously and that every one of his friends were being questioned. Isabella and Parker get to the police station for their interrogation when she runs into Megan. Isabella tries to talk to Megan but the latter has got nothing to do with her.

Isabella tells Megan that she’s going back home but Megan is pissed that the former is leaving her to take the blame for Luke’s death. Megan threatens that she will keep Isabella’s secret if she stays until the investigation is over. Steve and Debbie get talking about how he had started smoking again after quitting for years. He blames himself for the deaths of Luke and his mother.

Sheriff Meyer talks to Parker and the other friends about Luke. They all claim that the last time the group saw Luke was at the Y2K party – aka the New Year’s Eve celebration. The friends add that Luke was happy when he was with Megan. They also claim that Megan and Isabella were fighting

Sheriff Meyer asks Isabella about her relationship with Luke. She reveals they dated over the summer of 1999 before they broke up and he was with Megan. He asks Isabella about the sex tape but she claims that the cops needed to be worried about who made the tape in the first place. Meyer asks why Isabella was still in town despite the end of the school year. He adds that she was already ready to leave when Luke first went missing.

Isabella argues that she stayed because Debbie had fallen sick. The thing is, Isabella has changed three schools in three years which makes her look like a troublemaker who has a pattern. Isabella asks to call her lawyer before leaving the interrogation room.

The cops believe Isabella knows when to ask for a lawyer because she may have needed one before. Isabella flushes some meds down the toilet when she leaves, and calls her mother for help because she’s in trouble.

The Episode Review

There is something about the green tone from the Summer of 2000 that does not sit right with me and while I really miss the storytelling of the previous season, I feel like the show can also start taking shape into a murder mystery soon. It looks like it is not Megan who is obsessed with Isabella but the other way around.

It won’t be a surprise if it is revealed that Isabella made the sex tape of Megan and Luke to drive the two apart and become a saint in front of Megan by taking the blame for everything. Brent really is the worst person on the show but something about Megan in the 2000 timeline seems more worrisome.

The story of this episode was told from Isabella’s point of view and it seems like the makers are continuing with the Kate/Jeanette storyline from the first season. Knowing that a bullet grazed his ear, which led Luke to his death, I can’t help but wonder if the person shooting the birds from episode 1 had something to do with this.