Comedy
Dead Boy Detectives
Dead Boy Detectives targets teens in style and story. But it comes with very adult, problematic content.
A lot can change over the course of a year.
One summer, Jeanette Turner was a happy-go-lucky kid with braces and frizzy hair, playfully daring her two best friends to try things they’d never done before. The next, her braces were gone, her hair was sleek, she had entirely different friends and a boyfriend to match. And the year after that, she was the town outcast, accused of allowing a classmate to be kidnapped and tortured.
Jeanette wasn’t guilty kidnapping Kate Wallis in Season One of Cruel Summer. But she was guilty of taking over Kate’s life after the pretty, popular girl disappeared in the summer of ’93.
And when Kate was finally rescued from her actual kidnapper–the school vice principal, who had groomed her—Kate accused Jeanette of knowing where she was and failing to report it to police, resulting in Kate’s prolonged abuse at the hands of her kidnapper.
Viewers who watched the events of Cruel Summer’s first season unfold know that Kate and Jeanette eventually went to court over claims of defamation of character. And eventually, the truth of what happened to Kate, how she was rescued, who was responsible for her liberation and who killed her kidnapper all came out.
Season Two isn’t about Jeanette and Kate. But the fact that a lot can change over the course of a year remains the same.
In the summer of 1999, Megan Landry’s life is upended. Her mother, Debbie, agrees to host an exchange student. But college-focused Megan doesn’t want to spend the year babysitting a stranger when she should be focused on getting a scholarship to her dream school.
But Isabella isn’t what Megan expects. Though the girls butt heads at first, they eventually become best friends. And by the winter of ’99, Isabella has become instrumental in helping Megan get that scholarship she so desires as well as a boyfriend, Megan’s long-time best friend Luke Chambers.
Unfortunately, that’s where things take a turn. Because that same winter, a sex tape featuring Luke and a girl everyone believes to be Isabella is played at a Christmas party in front of the whole town.
Relationships are shattered. And soon after, Luke disappears without a trace.
The following summer, Megan is a recluse, Isabella is an outcast, and Luke’s body is found in the lake.
Most believe that none of this would have happened if Isabella had never come. But Megan knows better.
She and Isabella know more about the sex tape that started this. More importantly, the girls know more about what caused Luke’s death.
But they’d better get their stories straight. Because the sheriff is asking questions. And the wrong answers could change their lives forever.
Cruel Summer is a mystery show. It showcases the events of each season’s murder through time jumps, usually from summer to summer. And viewers can expect quite a bit in terms of content.
The first season’s episode were often prefaced with warnings about depictions of domestic violence (which is completely warranted since we see a young man punch his girlfriend in the face, giving her a bloody nose and black eye).
The second season tones these aspects down a bit, but the show still isn’t harmless.
Parents have affairs, and the teens are just as sexually active as the adults. In addition to seeing some of these actions onscreen, we also hear plenty of morbid details and see lots of smooching (including between some same-sex couples). Language is another issue, with uses of just about every word but the f-word.
The show presents a mystery season after season, but it’s not a mystery that Cruel Summer isn’t for everyone.
In the summer of 1999, Megan begrudgingly shows exchange student Isabella around Chatham. In the winter of ’99, the town is aghast when a sex tape leaks of Isabella and Megan’s boyfriend, Luke. And in the summer of 2000, Luke’s body is found in the lake.
Onlookers are shocked when a sex tape featuring two minors is played at a party (we see the guy’s bare upper torso and the girl’s exposed legs). Luke and Megan make out and start removing their clothing (we see Megan in a bra). Couples kiss. Teen girls wear bikinis and other revealing outfits. Megan and Isabella remove everything but their undergarments to go cliff jumping. There’s a lot of talk about sex. We see a poster of a shirtless guy on a girl’s bedroom wall.
Debbie says many women would leave their husbands for Luke’s father (who has been single since his wife passed away). A boy hits on another girl in front of his girlfriend. Several guys express interest in Isabella.
An adult man shamelessly flirts with a minor. And Megan calls him out for flirting with another underage girl as well.
Officials load a black body bag into a vehicle. A man unzips the bag offscreen, verbally confirming it is his son’s body. Megan cleans blood off the floor of a cabin. A man fires a gun at geese multiple times. We hear about the Y2K world-ending fears.
Adults drink at a party. Underage teenagers also drink alcohol, and without their parents’ knowledge.
Megan sneaks out her window when the sheriff arrives at her house to question her. She sells what appears to be illegal computer code for hacking.
A girl rudely calls her mother by her first name. Megan calls Isabella a lot of rude names before she even meets her. She also snoops through Isabella’s belongings. Megan often talks disparagingly about Chatham.
We hear five abuses of God’s name. There are three uses of “a–,” one of “h—,” and one variant of “b–ch.”
Megan helps to take care of her family, providing money for bills through a part-time job. She also tells her sister to dress more modestly at one point, attempting to protect the younger girl’s reputation.
In the summer of ’99, Isabella begins to date Luke. In the winter, Megan reveals that the girl in Luke’s sex tape is her, not Isabella. But Isabella agrees to keep this information secret to protect Megan from the harsh repercussions that she’s already faced herself. In 2000, the girls begin to worry after the sheriff says Luke’s death wasn’t accidental.
We see the sex tape once again, this time showing both participant’s bare upper torsos (though the girl’s breasts are hidden). Teen girls wear bikinis. Couples make out in their swimsuits. There’s talk about sex. A teen couple snuggles in a bed with their clothes on.
We learn that Brent, Luke’s older brother, has illegally recorded himself having sex with many girls. (He claims that he wasn’t responsible for the video of Luke and Megan, which was filmed without their knowledge.) He defends himself, saying his victims wanted the videos to get leaked. Two girls break into Brent’s house to destroy the tapes. Brent is called out for flirting with another girl in front of his girlfriend.
We hear that while Luke died of drowning, he had an abrasion on his ear suggestive of a gunshot wound and his system was full of muscle relaxants.
Minors drink alcohol. A grieving man breaks out a pack of cigarettes after eight years of sobriety. (He says the only other time he’s slipped up was on the anniversary of his wife’s death.) Isabella discovers that Megan takes drugs to help her study. Someone flushes prescription medication down a toilet.
Isabella is nearly suspended for the sex-tape scandal. People vandalize her residence with sex toys painted with rude words. She’s rightly angry at the sheriff for not being concerned with who was responsible for the tape, since it was recorded illegally and without the participants’ knowledge. And Megan fears that if people discover she was the girl in the tape, she’ll lose her college scholarship. Luke, on the other hand, while facing disappointment from his father, receives no other repercussions. (Although his dad does state that this will impact their family quite severely.)
People are rude to each other. Characters lie. Isabella accuses people of “jumping on the grief train” after Luke’s death.
God’s name is abused four times and Christ’s name is abused once. We also hear four uses of the s-word, three uses of “h—,” two of “a–hole,” and one each of “a–” and “b–ch.” There’s also a use of the term “skank.”
In 1993, Jeanette and her friends spend the summer doing things they’ve never done before. In 1994, Jeanette tries to convince her boyfriend that Kate is lying. And in 1995, she reconciles what happened in the past in an attempt to fix her future.
We see several gay couples dancing together at a club. A boy looks at an adult magazine. A girl is called a “slut.”
A boy is threatened by his ex-girlfriend’s brother and dad after they discover he hit her. Kate screams at Jeanette when she spots her at a traffic stop. Jeanette talks about how people want her dead.
A girl steals her mom’s marijuana stash and Jeanette flushes it down the toilet. However, we later see her posing with a joint. Someone talks about getting “contact high” from marijuana.
Jeanette breaks into someone’s house and steals a yearbook. A boy lies under oath. People question why Kate is watching movies about kidnapping and torture. A girl wonders if she set evil forces into motion. We hear uses of the s-word, “a–,” “p-ss” and “h—,” as well as misuses of God’s name.
Emily studied film and writing when she was in college. And when she isn’t being way too competitive while playing board games, she enjoys food, sleep, and geeking out with her husband indulging in their “nerdoms,” which is the collective fan cultures of everything they love, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate and Lord of the Rings.
Dead Boy Detectives targets teens in style and story. But it comes with very adult, problematic content.
An elf mage contemplates on connection and regret as she watches her human friends grow old and pass away.
