Olivia Holt & Chiara Aurelia Are the Two Sides of ‘Cruel Summer’ (VIDEO)
The twists keep coming in tonight’s Cruel Summer, which kicked off our new mystery obsession with a two-hour premiere last week. As the story jumped between 1993, ’94 and ’95, fans learned that nerdy high schooler Jeanette Turner (Chiara Aurelia) had somehow assumed the queen bee spot from Kate Wallis (Olivia Holt) following the golden girl’s abduction…only to become a total pariah once Kate was rescued and revealed that Jeanette had seen her in captivity and never reported it.
So did Jeanette keep quiet to maintain her social standing — and her romance with Kate’s ex (Froy Gutierrez) — while Kate suffered unimaginable abuse at the hands of her kidnapper, who just happened to be their small town’s new assistant principal? What was Kate involved in before she went missing? And why are both Kate’s and Jeanette’s moms seemingly terrible people? There are so many layers to Freeform’s impressive psychological thriller, viewers would be wise to have the remote close by for easy rewinding. We’re pretty sure clues are being dropped left and right regarding a lot of these questions.
Additionally, the multiple timeframes allow the actresses to portray various shades of their characters as they are forced to face certain truths about themselves — not to mention their families — over the course of these three painful years. We chatted with Holt and Aurelia about these complicated roles, how trauma shapes both the victim and the perceived villain, and where all this could be headed.
Cruel Summer, Tuesdays, 10/9c, Freeform
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