Cruel Summer Season 1 finale recap: Hostile Witness

In the previous episode of Cruel Summer, we found out just how Kate ended up in the basement of Mr. Harris’s house and how she got Jeanette’s necklace. But the question remains, did Jeanette see her there?

This episode takes place on October 3rd, 1993, 1994, and 1995.

We begin in 1995, in the courtroom. Both attorneys are pleading their cases for Jeanette and Kate.

We go back to 1993, Kate and Mr. Harris are in their bathroom getting ready for the day and Jeanette is with Jamie. Both attorneys are still speaking about how these events had nothing to do with what happened on the talk show.

Cruel Summer Season 1 Finale: Will the truth finally come out?

In 1994, Kate is getting ready to go on the Marsha Bailey show. We hear her say that she was found by someone and we also see Jeanette and her father watching.

When Kate leaves the show, her parents yell at her for breaking the law, but she doesn’t care.

We go to 1995. Kate and Jeanette are leaving the courtroom. It is a media circus.

Jeanette goes to see Jamie. He is asking her about the case and appears to be on Jeanette’s side.

Kate is at home on her chat board. The person on the other side is giving her a pep talk.

We go back to the courtroom. Jeanette’s attorney is questioning Kate. Kate is giving her a false story about how she ending up in Mr. Harris’s basement. Her story is that he drugged her before putting her in the basement.

The attorney gives Kate the chat room log to read to the courtroom. This turns Kate’s story on its head.

Kate and her attorney are in their own room talking about the chat. The attorney tells her that her sister was on the other side of the chat. He pleads with her to be honest.

In 1995, Jamie has finally gone over to Ben to apologize. He also tells Ben that he basically knows about Vince.

Mallory and Kate are in Kate’s room talking about the online chat. Kate is annoyed that it was her sister on the other side. She thinks that there are more missing pieces. She wants to know about Annabelle.

Cruel Summer Season 1 Finale: Will we finally know who Annabelle is?

Ben goes into the video store to see Vince. Ben says that he misses him and apologizes for what he did when Vince was worried about him.

Kate goes back to Mr. Harris’s house. It is exactly how it was left. Jeanette meets her there. They both want the truth.

Kate tells Jeanette that she knows that she broke in on Christmas Eve in 1993. This is the night that they both question.

We go back to 1993 and see Kate making that call to Jamie. Then Jeanette breaking in, while Kate hid.

Kate says that she saw Jeanette’s bike ride away. In the shadow, she saw the person on the bike look at the window she was standing in. Kate describes the bike and Jeanette tells her that it was not her bike, it’s Mallory’s.

Cruel Summer Season 1 Finale: Did Mallory really see Kate?

Kate is in disbelief. Now, we see the same night from Jeanette’s point of view. Mallory watched Jeanette break-in and hoped that she was going to get busted. Jeanette didn’t know she was there until later.

Mallory sees Jeanette run out of the house and Mallory looks back. But did Mallory even see Kate, or was it too dark?

Mallory goes to Jeanette’s house and busts her with the snowglobe. Jeanette gets angry and gives it to Mallory.

In 1995, Kate realizes that she was wrong this whole time and apologizes to Jeanette. Kate tells Jeanette the entire story and now she wants her help in remembering who Annabelle is.

Kate and Jeanette go into the basement. There is a bloodstain on the floor. Kate starts talking about the night before she was rescued.

Kate thinks that on this night he had worked up the courage to kill her. He came downstairs with a box telling her how it would end. He said the police had arrived today and then he shows her a gun.

The gun is Annabelle.

Annabelle is the gun that his father used to commit suicide. Kate wants to know if he is going to take her life. She pleads with him not to.

He tells her to go live her life and he pulls the gun on himself but doesn’t shoot. He can’t do it. He drops the gun in front of Kate. Kate picks it up and Mr. Harris tries to plead it out of her hands.

She pulls the trigger. Kate killed Mr. Harris.

She tells Jeanette that she sat with Mr. Harris all night because she had a hard time handling her emotions. In the morning, she called the cops.

Kate thinks that she is the bad guy and tells Jeanette to sue her. Jeanette confesses that she doesn’t want to sue her, she just wanted to feel loved and to get the truth.

Kate makes a press release saying that Jeanette was innocent, then goes to Mallory’s. She immediately says that she knows that Mallory saw her in Mr. Harris’s house.

Mallory confesses to seeing someone that night. Mallory says that she saw a woman living freely and thought that it was Mr. Harris’s girlfriend or sister. She didn’t put it together until the news said that she was rescued.

When Kate said that she was in the basement the entire time, Mallory didn’t want to reveal that she saw a woman because it would go against Kate’s secret.

Kate understands the whole story and gives Mallory a hug.

Jeanette goes onto the Marsha Bailey show to tell her side. Marsha Bailey apologizes for her part in naming Jeanette. Then, she asks if Jeanette has anything else to say and Jeanette forgives Kate on live TV.

Kate and Mallory drive their car to the middle of nowhere and dance around it. Kate leans in and kisses Mallory.

We go back to 1994. Jeanette enters Mr. Harris’s house and walks around. She hears a voice coming from downstairs. It is Kate pleading to be let out. Jeanette didn’t see Kate, but she did hear her.

What did you think about the Cruel Summer season finale? Did it answer all of your questions? Leave a comment below. 

You can catch up on Season 1 of Cruel Summer on Freeform or Hulu.