The Cruel Summer Season 1 Finale Promo Finally Promises Some Answers
OK but really, who is Annabelle?
If you’ve been devouring Cruel Summer over the past few months, there’s a good chance you’re more than ready to learn WTF has actually been going on in this Freeform show. Luckily, a look at the Season 1 finale promo shows viewers might finally get some answers by the time the final credits roll. It’s been a long — and low-key stressful — ride, but it seems like the truth about Kate (Olivia Holt) and Jeanette (Chiara Aurelia) will finally be revealed once and for all.
Warning: Spoilers for Cruel Summer Season 1, Episode 9 follow. At the end of Episode 7, fans learned Kate originally went to her vice principal’s house after getting in a fight with her mother. Even though Kate told the police she hardly knew her captor and abuser, Martin Harris (Blake Lee), before he imprisoned her, Episode 9 showed just how big of a lie that really was. The June 8 episode (titled “A Secret of My Own”) showed how Kate and Martin lived together for months before she was locked in his basement.
It turns out, soon after she ran away to his house, the two quickly entered a romantic (though not consensual, considering Kate was underage and being groomed by a highly dangerous manipulator) relationship. For months — even though she knew she was a missing person and police were looking for her — Kate played house with Martin, planning road trips, cooking dinner, and watching movies just like a “normal” couple.
After months away from her parents, however, it was clear Kate was over the “stuck inside” situation. On Christmas Eve, she accidentally left Jamie (Froy Gutierrez) a voicemail (you know, the one with the snow globe sounds playing in the background) right before Jeanette broke into Martin’s house and stole the snow globe while Kate hid. That night, Kate snuck out to see her family, but after seeing her parents laughing through their window, she decided she was better off with Martin. The next day, however, Martin confronted her about the fact that she left the house, and when she tried to leave again, he locked her in the basement.
So, Kate’s lying about not knowing Martin before she became his prisoner, and Jeanette’s lying about having never gone into his house after the one time she played hide-and-seek there, which means the legal battle between the girls in Episode 10 is going to be a nail-biter.
While most of the promo shows the two girls duking it out in the courtroom, the biggest tease happens at the very end of the clip. “You asked me once how this ends,” viewers hear Martin saying as Kate looks at the camera terrified. “This is Annabelle.”
Up until now, there have been some wild theories about who (or what) Annabelle is, but it looks like viewers will finally get their answer once and for all. As to whether or not fans will find out if Kate was being held behind a two-way mirror or if Jeanette actually saw her in the house either on Christmas Eve or at another point in time, you’ll just have to wait and see as Season 1 comes to a close.
The Cruel Summer Season 1 finale airs Tuesday, June 15, at 10 p.m. ET on Freeform (and the following day on Hulu).
