Cruel Summer – 204 – Springing a Leak [RECAP/REVIEW]

Last week’s episode of Freeform’s Cruel Summer set up and tore down a lot of theories, and questions about what happened to Luke Chambers and who is at fault. That said, it also gave us some new suspicious clues about key players. Let’s take Camera Jeff for example, apparently, he’s doing some illegal things to pay for his camera equipment. He’s also super upset about Megan choosing Luke. Is it enough to humiliate her and his family?

We also learn that both Megan and Isabella have been lying. Megan never dropped Luke off after the party, and Isabella had stashed a ton of money in a bad at the cabin. So, what does this mean going forward? Well, Cruel Summer 204 “Springing A Leak” doesn’t really have much to say.

Cruel Summer – Springing a Leak – July 1999

Megan and Isabella’s friendship continues to grow over this episode. Megan shares how she feels stagnant in life and wants to “live life on the edge”. She’s tired of being a good girl and predictable. So, while the girls are hanging with Jeff and Luke at the beach they get the idea to make Fake IDs and hit the club. This is the perfect opportunity for Megan to show off her hacker skills, flirt with Jeff, and shake her good-girl image.

While getting ready we see the girls sharing clothes again. I have a feeling this is going to come into play later as well. We already know part of Isabella’s blame for the sex tape is the sweater she was wearing in the video. However, we know it actually belongs to Megan. Next, we get a cute scene of the crew practicing what to say for their Fake IDs. Of course, Isabella is the pro who’s teaching them. In the end, only the girls make it inside and the boys are stuck waiting in the car for them to come out. Inside, we get to see the girls continue to bond. Megan drinks for the first time, dances, and almost gets caught by the Sheriff who is there off duty to have a good time of his own. But, not before Isabella mentions the infamous Lisa and how they use to drink Rum and Coke all the time together.

While Jeff and Luke are waiting in the car, Luke tells Jeff that he’s cool with him and Megan hanging out. This is odd, cause why doesn’t Jeff need his permission? We can also see that Luke is incredibly jealous of the Megan and Luke situation. He’s also sad and jealous that he wasn’t inside to see Megan drink for the first time. So, after the girls come running out they head back to Luke’s place to continue drinking together. There, Megan and Jeff have their first kiss as Luke looks on confused, and jealous over seeing his best friend with someone else. So, he doesn’t what any boy in that situation would do. Kiss the girl he’s dating to convince himself he doesn’t care.

Cruel Summer – Springing a Leak – December 1999

Diving into December 1999 of Cruel Summer, It’s still only a few days after the infamous Christmas Party but before Luke’s disappearance. Megan shares with Isabella that she wants to go to school to be a White Hat Hacker. Isabella is still jealous of Megan and Luke’s relationship, but the awkward conversation is saved by a burst pipe. There is a HUGE leak in the kitchen that’s going to cost $6k to fix, and they’re all out of emergency funds. Isabella offers to help by giving them $5k of the money her parents gave her, but Megan refuses to take it because that kind of money in friendships is complicated. So, since they can’t stay in a house without water, they all head over to Steve’s (Luke’s father’s) house which no one wants to go to for obvious reasons. However, here is where we get some of the best scenes of the entire episode.

While there, we learn that someone huge pulled out of the Chamber’s Northland deal because of the sex tape scandal. Megan is acting weirdly jealous of Isabella and Luke out of nowhere. This is only compounded by Megan finding Isabella’s bathing suit top in the towels of the guest bath. To me, that shows the maid’s not doing their job not that Isabella and Luke are cheating, but I’m not a 16-year-old. Then, when Megan tells Luke about Isabella offering to pay $5K he doesn’t agree with her that it’s weird. So, she picks a fight about how the two of them will never understand what it’s like because they both have money.

Next, we see Isabella digging in Brent’s drawers supposedly looking for more tapes. Megan then confronts her about the bathing suit top and asks for the truth. Was there an overlap? Are they having an affair? Does she still have feelings for Luke? Personally, I find this to be projecting over all the crazy things going on in her life, and Isabella is overly understanding. That said, we get an interesting line from Isabella asking what she has to do to prove her loyalty to Megan. Does she have to “kill for her?”

Then we move on to what I like to call the dinner showdown. This is where Megan’s mother forces Brent to apologize to Isabella and Luke. Then, she learns the truth about there being multiple tapes and some are of underage girls. Also, how Steve worked the Sheriff to get Brent off the hook. She is absolutely disgusted and the two get into a parenting fight. Steve also tries to be the morality police calling out how she had 2 children out of wedlock. I’m sorry, but that’s not even close to the same thing. So, of course, she rips Daddy Chambers a new one telling him this is what happens when you prioritize the Chambers name over family, and that their dead mother would be disappointed in them. Yeah…she pulled the dead mom card.

Back at Megan’s house, there are horrible prank phone calls to Isabella calling her names and telling her to go back to where she came from. Her mother is also trying to convince Megan to let them take Isabella’s money, which is still a hard no. Her mother is also worried about how much pressure this cover story is putting on their friendship. Then, Megan asks about her and Steve. She then gives some of the best relationship advice I’ve heard in a long time, “Love isn’t always enough. You have to see the world in the same way.”

In the morning, we see that there’s a plumber in the house fixing the pipe. Turns out it’s Steve’s way of trying to apologize. However, her mother hasn’t made any decisions either way. We then see Megan looking at her report card. She has all A’s with the exception of one class that’s gone from an A to a C+. If it’s not gym class I don’t know what it could be. What class would she be faltering in and why?

Cruel Summer – Springing a Leak – July 2000

Getting into what I’m calling “present-day” Cruel Summer, we see Megan throwing out the trash, looking around all sketchy. Then, we see Isabella come out of her trailer to look at what was thrown away. It’s something bloody. Next, we see Megan’s lawyer pissed at being blindsided by the video evidence proving she lied. He pressures her to tell him the truth and anything else she may be hiding. Megan swears that’s the only thing she lied about.

We now have new evidence from the police – A letter from Luke saying he was leaving to go see family in West Virginia. This letter has Megan’s fingerprints all over it. The police push to get Megan to answer why he was running away and she lets it slip that he was scared, but won’t say why or what. Her mother then confronts her at home about Luke wanting to run away. Megan shares Luke was freaked out and needed to get away for a while. Luke showed her the letter at the cabin. The plan was that she was supposed to give it to his dad after taking him to the train station. However, when she came to get him after work he wasn’t there. Through tears, she said she thought for months every time the phone rang it was gonna be him. 

The next day, the Sheriff shows up at Megan’s house with a warrant for her computer. Megan quickly gets on the phone with someone freaking out telling them the cops have her computer. It sounds like she says she wiped it but doesn’t know if she did the code right. Well, it looks like she did because when the police go into her computer they release a virus that seems to destroy everything. So, when being interrogated next the Sheriff says that Megan was the last person to see Luke alive and knows that she was pregnant. Their new theory, Luke rejected her and her pregnancy so Megan killed him!

Cruel Summer – Springing a Leak – REVIEW

I have to say that Cruel Summer Springing a Leak was the first real filler episode of the season. While we got a good dun dun dun moment in the end with Megan’s pregnancy, overall nothing really happens. We have continued friendship building, Megan’s mother learning what a slime Steve Chambers really is, and a little bit of new evidence with the letter and pregnancy.

That said, that’s all that happens. I found myself checking the time about halfway through and not understanding why nothing was progressing. Who knows. All of this could eventually be relevant in the episodes to come. We know how they like to drop tiny hints like the Fake ID and Pills. Maybe this is setting up the parents to be way more involved in Luke’s disappearance than we realize.

So, my questions now are: When did Luke actually die? If his body was in the lake for 6 months he’s be unrecognizable. Was Megan really pregnant? Did Luke’s father find out about the pregnancy cause rejection sounds more like his area of expertise. Did the killer expect someone else and accidentally kill Luke? As we know, the bullet didn’t kill him it was a graze. Was Luke murdered for being in the wrong place at the wrong time? Hopefully, all these and more will be answered soon!