It’s still spring, but Freeform is looking further back to a Cruel summer with the two-hour Tuesday premiere of the twisty psychological thriller.
The series takes a nostalgic time-hopping approach to storytelling: Episode 1 is told from Jeanette’s point of view on June 21, 1993 (and ’94 and ’95), while Episode 2 goes to Kate’s POV on June 26 during the same three years. Now that we’ve established the show’s timelines, let’s sum it up in chronological order:
1993 | Jeanette (Tell me your secretsChiara Aurelia) is a clumsy teen with braces who is celebrating her birthday with her best friends Mallory (Super girlHarley Quinn Smith) and Vince (PEN15Allius Barnes), who made her a “You Go Girl!” necklace as a last minute gift. Jeanette’s mother (Grey’s AnatomySarah Drew) notes that it looks cheap, but it turns out to be very important. (More on that later.)
Jeanette sees her beautiful, popular classmate Kate (Cloak and dagger‘s Olivia Holt) at a kiosk in a mall and awkwardly pretends to shop at the same stall. When Jeanette blurts out that it’s her birthday, Kate is surprisingly sweet and wishes her a happy birthday before making out with her hot boyfriend Jamie (Teen WolfFroy Gutierrez). After that, Jeanette, Mallory and Vince decide to drop an item from their summer to-do list, which is more like a compilation of challenges. So they break into a house that Jeanette’s dad (Lois & ClarkMichael Landes) just sold to the new vice principal of the school, Martin Harris (Parks and recreationBlake Lee), who she almost caught in the act. The rush of breaking the rules seems to go to the good girl’s head.
In the second episode, we discover that Kate is dealing with the revelation that her mother (Better off Ted ‘s Andrea Anders) is having an affair. The information sends Kate into a drunken tailspin, ending up on the sidewalk in front of Martin’s house.
1994 | Jeanette – without underwire and now with shiny, straight hair – is woken up on her birthday by Jamie, who is now her boyfriend. Kate has been missing for a while and Jeanette has seemingly taken over the blonde’s life and became besties with Kate’s friends after growing apart from Mallory and Vince. But when Kate is miraculously saved – Martin held her! – Jeanette’s new life is starting to fall apart. In a shocking moment, Jamie hits Jeanette, thinking she has something to do with Kate’s disappearance. At the end of the first episode, we discover that Kate went on national TV to declare that Jeanette had seen her while she was being held, but that she did nothing to help her. “Jeanette Turner, I hope you rot in hell,” Kate says straight into the camera as Garbage’s “Stupid Girl” plays. It’s a “gasp!” twist – but it may not be the truth?
There are rumors about Jeanette in episode 2, but Kate is not yet on TV with her accusation. (I think. #Timejumpproblems) Jeanette tells Jamie – who’s back with Kate – that she hasn’t seen the other girl and suggests that Kate’s trauma may be responsible for the misunderstanding. Kate spies on the couple’s secret meeting and kiss. When Kate finally talks to the police, she takes out Jeanette’s “You Go Girl!” In advance. necklace to prove that Jeanette was really there. Hmmm… The police then ask how well she knew Martin before the kidnapping. “Not good at all”, she answers / lies.
1995 | Jeanette is now the most hated person in the country, and she has the angry shaggy haircut that comes with it. She obsessively watches VHS news footage of Kate’s disappearance, while Jamie sits in his car outside her house like a creep. Her father – whose happy marriage seems to have fallen apart over the past two years – wonders if his daughter is a sociopath, and Jeanette’s lawyer advises her to be more sympathetic.
Meanwhile, Kate is all about grunge-y plaid and piercings and The Cranberries’ “Zombie” and has dropped her filter. She logs into a kidnapping victim’s chat room to ask what would happen if people knew she wasn’t being completely honest. That question can be answered because Jeanette is suing Kate. While Kate watches the announcement on the news, the episode flashes back to her in a pretty red dress, banging on Martin’s cellar door and begging him to open it. In 1995, Kate bursts into a primal cry.
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