Freeform’s ‘Cruel Summer’ Returns With a Tepid Second Season: TV Review
variety.comJoshua Alston Limited series have become the equivalent of trial marriages for cable networks and streamers. When they don’t catch fire — or run hot initially only to smolder by season’s end – they complete their self-contained stories and disappear into the void. (It’s technically not a cancellation!) But when the audience falls in love with a limited series, networks are more than happy to extend the runway, even when doing so is narratively prohibitive.
Such is the case with Freeform’s “Cruel Summer,” the intelligent, twisty teen mystery that debuted in 2021 and became the most-watched series since the network’s 2016 rebrand.
Technically, “Cruel Summer” wasn’t announced as a limited series, but it came to such a comprehensive conclusion that extending it after its wrapped up state would have reeked of desperation.
After considering multiple options, including having the same ensemble return as new characters, the producers opted to anthologize the show, promising new stories and new casts with each season.
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