The actresses dive into all things episode seven of the Freeform show and reveal if they are happy with where the finale leaves their characters.
[This story contains spoilers to Cruel Summer season two, episode seven, “It’s the End of the World.”]
In Cruel Summer season two’s seventh episode, the world is ending. That is, it’s the night before the year 2000, and the teenagers of Chatham are partying like there’s no tomorrow.
“Teenagers feel like they’re invincible,” says Sadie Stanley, who plays Megan Landry in the show. “For them, it’s just an excuse to party.”
Throughout the Freeform series, Megan and Isabella (Lexi Underwood) have seen their fair share of ups and downs in their evolving friendship as they deal with heavy themes of death, loss, infidelity, manipulation and more. During those darker moments, the actresses tell The Hollywood Reporter they made sure to check in.
Near the end of the episode, Megan overhears Luke boast to a group of guys that he’s playing both Megan and Isabella. What were your reactions to seeing that progression for his character?
STANLEY: I think we both kind of saw it coming. Those discussions had been had, and we kind of knew there had to be some reason for whoever did [it] to do what they did. We knew from the jump that he’s not the best guy, but it definitely is still a shock. When he kisses Isabella in episode six, or when she hears him talking that way about her in episode seven, that’s a punch to the gut. This boy is also the boy whose baby she’s pregnant with, and that’s huge. That’s heartbreaking. All of a sudden, she feels betrayed, like she was being gaslit and manipulated this whole time. Maybe he never really loved her the way that he said he did. Why is he acting all tough with these people who don’t matter, when she’s the one who’s been there for him this whole time? It’s really painful.
UNDERWOOD: It’s really interesting to see the progression with Luke. Even as we get into later episodes, and you get to see the background and his upbringing. I think that with Luke, those are the cards that he’s been dealt. His father is a prime example of what it means to be a toxic — toxic masculinity at its finest. And also, I would say privilege. We get to see that over the past six months, a lot of things have happened, where Luke has been able to get a pass and get away with it, as we see usually with men, especially men that come from families that are very powerful. It was bound to happen; it was destined to happen. That’s what happens when you consistently let somebody do something, get away with it, and just give them a slap on the wrist. You don’t actually give them real consequences. Same with Brent. And I think from there, it all goes downhill. And I think that it’s important that we see it and touch on it, the mere fact that toxic masculinity and privilege are really what’s driving Luke. It’s his downfall. It’s the whole family’s downfall.
Both of your characters grapple with some heavy stuff. Did you ever feel like you needed to take time or step away when you were filming some of those darker scenes?
UNDERWOOD: I consider myself to be kind of a method actor, in a sense. Like, not full-blown method, but I definitely carry some of that emotion that I am dealing with on a day-to-day basis into my character. And sometimes when I leave set, I’ll still kind of feel that residue, emotion-wise. And so there were times, especially as you get further on in the series, things get really dark. They’re all dealing with very, very interesting things. And I think, Isabella, specifically, after episode seven, we really get to see the spiral, and how she has completely lost it. And so there were a lot of times where I had to make sure that I was checking in with myself, my wellbeing.
I’m a very, very big advocate for therapy in my everyday life, but also when I’m working. Just so that I’m giving myself the space to also tap back into Lexi and how I’m feeling, and how I’m dealing with everything. It was definitely a push and pull. There were times where I would carry it, and I would just bask and sit in it, because I felt as though that’s really what made me connect to Isabella the most when I was just sitting in those raw kind of deep feelings. But outside of that, I definitely tried to make sure I was tapping in with myself and making sure that I was okay mentally every step of the way.
STANLEY: I think it’s important to acknowledge that our characters are going through a lot, but also us, as people, are going through a lot. It’s a balance. I think there’s a part of me that likes to really just dive in and stay in Megan’s world, so that I don’t have to deal with Sadie’s world, but you figure it out. I also think that like when you’re doing these really high-stress scenes, and these darker scenes, it can kind of stay in your body, too. Even if your mind [is] stepping away from it, that stress level still stays in your body. So, it’s so important to, like Lexi said, check in with yourself. I think what helped me in this project is that I didn’t have a lot of time to wallow in any sort of feelings. It was weird jumping back and forth constantly, and so it was just a real exercise. Being able to jump in and out, even if I’m still feeling those residual emotions, I have to tap into these other parts because it’s time to go.
And as we inch closer to the finale, has it been hard to keep things under wraps?
UNDERWOOD: Yes, especially with social media. They’ll critique or criticize a certain character, and I want to be like, “No!” and back that character. Then, I’m like, “Oh, wait, but they’re supposed to think that, so let me just keep my comments to myself.” But we only have three or four weeks luckily until everybody else has the secret, so I’m just ready for it to be out. It’ll be so good to no longer have to bite our tongues.
STANLEY: My family is dying to know.
Although the season isn’t over yet, are you satisfied with where your characters ended up in their journeys?
UNDERWOOD: Yes, and no. I’ll be honest. I wish honestly now looking back, I think I really would have liked to see or hear a little bit more of Isabella’s backstory. I would have went a little bit more in depth and explained a lot more. I think there’s so many interesting parts of this story. And it’s not even just me, like I’m thinking about Parker, I’m thinking about Jeff, I’m thinking about all the different cast members. And there’s just things when I watched the show, where I’m like, “Oh, this could have been a thing. And this could have been a thing. I wish we would have teased this out just a little bit more.” So I would definitely say there are a lot of things that pop up in mind, but all in all, I am satisfied with Isabella’s ending, where she goes, and how I kind of interpret how her future will look like after this.
STANLEY: I think I’m satisfied. It’s hard for a story like this to end in a satisfying way because there will be pieces that the audience is going to have to put together for themselves, which I think is satisfying, in and of itself. I like to do that as a viewer. I like when you’re left with a little bit up to interpretation. You can go back and rewatch scenes and be like, “Oh, that’s what they meant by that. That’s what they were planting there. That makes a lot more sense. I didn’t see that at first.” So I’m satisfied with Megan’s journey. As like Lexi said, we had a lot of characters in the show, and we only have a limited amount of time, so you can’t always dive into everybody the way that you want to. But I hope that — at least through all the deep work that we did with our characters — people can see enough.
Interview edited for length and clarity.
New episodes of Cruel Summer debut Mondays on Freeform.