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Hayley McManus

A Review of Freeform's Cruel Summer Premiere

I guess Cruel Summer is more than just a Taylor Swift song now.


You might have seen trailers or commercials for Freeform's new teen drama Cruel Summer which premiered the first two shows on Tuesday, April 20. You can also find the episodes on Hulu as well which is where I watched them. There are supposed to be 8 episodes and the rest will be released one by one each week like a traditional TV show (boringgg).


It was around 9 PM when I opened up Hulu planning to watch my usual crime drama, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, but ultimately convinced myself to go with Cruel Summer, a less dramatic, but still just as intriguing show, and let me tell you, it did not disappoint!


Let me start with this: if you were a fan of Pretty Little Liars this show is a must and I highly recommend--- no scratch that --- I demand you watch it.

She even looks like Ali from PLL!



A mix of Pretty Little Liars and 13 Reasons Why, Cruel Summer is your spicy teen drama with mystery, intrigue, and well...teenage drama! Set in a rather well-off Texas town the story takes place during the June 21st period of the years 1993, 1994, and 1995. It follows Jeannette Turner as she evolves from a nerdy girl to the new popular girl, that is after the former popular girl Kate Wallis goes missing. The episodes jump around from year to year, but it is made pretty easy to follow based on the cinematic and aesthetic choices of the producers, such as maintaining bright lighting and scenes set in 1993 and darkening the scenes and atmosphere for the following years. That being said, if you don't enjoy shows that constantly jump around from different years or perspectives you might not enjoy this show, or at the very least you might have to pause frequently to figure out the context of a scene.


Without giving away too much from the first two episodes I'd say it is definitely a show to watch if you enjoy teen mystery dramas that are almost cheesy and predictable but yet surprisingly addictive. Unfortunately as previously mentioned they will be continuing to release one episode each week so we are forced to endure a whole week to find out what happens next. Brings me back to DVR recording Pretty Little Liars every week during middle school. You could always wait until all the episodes have aired and binge all the shows at once, but a show with this premise and the sure promise of unexpected twists is hard to avoid for that long!


I feel like I should sign off like -A on Pretty Little Liars...someone get my red raincoat! That show ran my life about 10 years ago so let's see how this new teen drama compares as a newly 23-year-old.


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