Cruel Summer 1×10 “Hostile Witness” came to blow our heads … and it success. After the revelations of the previous episode, the season finale had many surprises and revelations in store for us. We had to take our time to take it all in and we came to the conclusion that we couldn’t live without a season 2! Let’s review!
Here we go!
Boom, just boom! The long-awaited trial arrived. We never really stopped to think about why this trial was but I think we all took it for granted, at least I, that Kate had sued Jeanette but it was the other way around. The truth is that Kate’s statement destroyed Jeanette’s life completely.
And finally, we find out what happened. And Cruel Summer 1×10 “Hostile Witness” completely surprised me. I love when shows do that. I always thought that Kate was aware that what she was saying was not true. I always thought that wanting to get revenge on Jeanette for stealing her life was the reason Kate was lying about Jeanette seeing her kidnapped at Martin’s house.
But it was not like that.
Really Kate thought she was looking at Jeanette, I mean, everything fit, the bike, that sticker… it was dark, she was wearing a hood and she couldn’t get a good look at her but it was a reasonable conclusion for Kate to make. And so I understand why she did what she did but that we can debate whether it is fair that, with just a few hints, Kate claimed to everyone that Jeanette had seen her, completely destroying her life.
I think it was not. I mean, Kate could simply have claimed her, just like she does at the end in that very powerful scene of the two of them together, in the scene of truth. But the anger at Jeanette for not helping her and her anger that she feels that she stole her life completely intermingle here and make Kate act impulsively and accuse Jeanette in such a public way. And I understand it.
In fact, I think Kate feels guilty when she realizes everything… she is a good person.
Jeanette no.
I was feeling horrible for Jeanette. In fact, I’ve been feeling horrible for her all season because I always believed in her innocence, just… she wasn’t innocent. Jeanette actually heard Kate scream for help from Martin’s basement and she did absolutely nothing because having that life, Kate’s life, was more important than helping someone who was begging for help.
So Kate was telling the truth… even though she didn’t know she was doing it. They were all right to despise Jeanette and consider her a horrible person. Really, the victim attitude was just a facade, a lie.
But nobody knows.
The roles have now been reversed and Kate has publicly retracted her accusations, making her the person most hated by everyone now for destroying the life of an innocent person – although everyone is unaware that they contributed to it when they blamed Jeanette for no real reason that they knew about.
Meanwhile, Jeanette is the girl that everyone loves and adores again. For everyone, she is the victim so she deserves their attention, their love, their understanding … what’s more, she is not only the victim but the victim who forgave who destroyed her life so that makes everyone love her and adore her more.
After all, that’s what Jeanette always wanted if we think coldly about it. She wanted to be like Kate because she was the perfect girl, the girl that everyone loved, the most popular girl, the girl with the perfect boyfriend, with the perfect friends.
When she got it, she sold her soul not to lose it, even when she lost it all, she always tried to get it back (which is why she was insisting so much with Jamie even though he didn’t deserve it and why she accepted him back when he suddenly changed his mind) and now she has the chance to have it again everything she lost… and she doesn’t hesitate to take advantage of it.
But … how long will it last? Because we know that in Cruel Summer secret poles do not hesitate forever so I think the story of season 2 will be about discovering Jeanette’s lie, just as this season 1 was about discovering Kate’s lie.
I think that Cruel Summer 1×10 “Hostile Witness” did something great and that is that they left some threads to pull for season 2 but if the network had not renewed the show, it would have had a satisfactory ending. I like that they were smart enough to do it like this.
But this was not the only surprise that Cruel Summer 1×10 “Hostile Witness” had prepared for us. Because if Jeanette wasn’t who Kate saw that night… who was she? Well… Mallory! I knew she was more involved than she seemed! However, Cruel Summer surprises me again and we find out that Mallory didn’t really think Kate was kidnapped.
She thought Kate had simply hooked up with Martin and moved in with him secretly from everyone. Mallory thought she was witnessing the gossip of the century, not a crime. Now what does it say about Mallory that when she found out that Jeanette was being accused of something that, as far as she knew, she didn’t do, she just kept quiet?
I mean, I can understand that she didn’t know how to tell Kate the truth but not why she kept quiet when a life, as far as she knew, innocent, was being torn apart. That doesn’t say very good things about her …
I was amazed at how quickly Kate forgives her. I mean, she was willing to sink Jeanette’s life but with Mallory it’s … too quick a forgiveness. I wouldn’t have forgiven her that easily. It’s true that Mallory’s explanation is reasonable and understandable but… so fast? Nop…
Maybe it has something to do with Kate and Mallory there is something beyond friendship … that’s why Kate kisses her. There had always been something there and now that Kate knows the truth, that she has been able to accept it and forgive herself for it, she feels free to start living again, to do what she feels. I find this relationship interesting and I like it.
And what is that truth that Kate ends up discovering? Well, Cruel Summer 1×10 “Hostile Witness” gives us all the answers. We already know who Anabelle is: Martin’s gun. I think he, in the wrong, obsessive, twisted, sick way, really loved Kate, but that wasn’t love, it was an insane, predatory obsession of a grown man on a teenage girl at her most vulnerable moment.
When Martin is at a dead end and knows that he lost Kate, he is already beyond insanity. He feels that his life is meaningless without Kate… just that he doesn’t expect her to actually pick up that gun and end his life. But she does. Because she feels that it is the only way out she has to end that vicious cycle, to leave Martin behind and regain her freedom, to save herself.
But she can’t forgive herself for it. Kate can’t forgive herself for killing him … and she can’t forgive herself for loving him. Because she loved him. In a crazy, crooked, incorrect and passionate way. Or she believed that. Because that was never love. Martin manipulated her and she only clung to the only person with whom he felt safe, with whom she felt herself. But it wasn’t love. Grateful maybe yes, but not love.
Only when Kate manages to remember what really happened, when she manages to overcome it and forgive herself for having felt something for Martin and for having had to kill him, she feels liberated, she feels that weight that trapped her chest and did not let her breathe, disappears.
And Kate deserved to breathe again.
This is where our Cruel Summer 1×10 “Hostile Witness” review ends. It’s our last review of this season of Cruel Summer! It was a pleasure to share with you every week what this show makes me feel. I had a lot of fun playing with these characters and with this very different story. We’ll see you in season 2!
Agree? Disagree? Don’t hesitate to share it with us in the comments below!
Cruel Summer aired Tuesdays at 10:00 p.m in Freeform and you can stream next day on Hulu.
