Note: This episode of Cruel Summer contains descriptions of grooming and sexual assault. For 24/7 help visit RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline 800-656-HOPE or online.rainn.org.
In “You Don’t Hunt, You Don’t Eat,” we see Kate’s trauma in a new light as she makes connections with a therapist — and Mallory. We also see more of Rod’s family, including a surprise connection one member has with the Turners. Olivia Holt delivers a stunning performance as Kate begins to allow herself to feel angry about what happened to her — and what the adults she trusted allowed to happen to her.
1993
Rod and his daughter Ashley are preparing for a hunt, laughing while cleaning their guns. Kate happily joins in, and it’s immediately clear that Ashley sees Kate as a stepsister even after 10 years as she silently leaves. Rod tells Kate she just needs time.
1994
Kate is in the dining room, flashing back to her time in the basement. Ashley enters, and Kate remarks that the room has new wallpaper. She realizes this means Rod and Joy were looking at wallpaper samples while she was living in hell in the basement. Ashley says she wouldn’t know, but that she’s here to see Kate.
1995
In the same room, the lawyer has arrived as an angry Joy rants about Jeanette’s lawsuit. Kate stops her, saying that Jeanette has been secretly preparing this case for months, and they need the lawyer’s help to win. She says she doesn’t go out hunting unprepared. The lawyer tells her their weapon will be to poke holes in Kate’s story, whether through alleging her memory is compromised or that she outright lied. Kate, determined, stares straight ahead.
1994
Kate is in the car with Jamie, who reminds her she’s late for therapy. She asks him again about the garden party, and he lies about Jeanette. She goes inside alone. The therapist, Sylvia, asks when the last time she felt safe was, and Kate says she loved her room. But now it feels like a cage, trapping her in a self she doesn’t recognize. She asks if Sylvia can help, and the therapist says she can help Kate work through it. Kate mutters, “So that’s a no then,” as she stares out the window.
1995
The lawyer grills Kate the way Jeanette’s lawyers will. He says her entire captivity will be fair game as Jeanette’s lawyers try to show that Kate’s memory is compromised by trauma. Kate gets high in the bathroom with Mallory, who is now her best friend. Mallory tells her the lawsuit is ridiculous, and both start giggling as Kate suggests they get Dunkaroos.
1993
As they prepare for the hunting trip, Rod mentions that Joy is talking to Scott about landscaping. Remembering the kiss she saw the night of the garden party, Kate asks Ashley if they can talk alone later. But Ashley just brushes her off, her dislike for Joy (and by extension Kate) clear.
1995
Mallory and Kate are eating in the kitchen when Joy enters, furious. Someone taped a note accusing Kate of lying to the front door. Joy is worried this means the court of public opinion is changing sides, and she asks Kate who could have written it.
1993
At the Hartwood camp site, Jamie jokes that he and Kate should be allowed to bunk together. Ashley says hello to Derek Turner, and Joy reveals that she invited Martin to Hartwood. Always with an ulterior motive, Joy mentions that it’s to ensure Martin’s continued silence about Kate’s drunken escapades.
1994
Kate leaves the therapist and sees Mallory in the waiting room. Mallory says she’s also there to see Sylvia. Mallory vouches for Sylvia, and Kate asks why she’s there. Mallory says her reasons are dark but she quickly adds, “Not like what-happened-to-you heavy, more run-of-the-mill-verbal-abuse heavy,” which amuses Kate as Mallory rambles nervously. Kate asks if Mallory and Jeanette are still friends, and Mallory emphatically says they are not. Kate tells Mallory about seeing Jamie kiss Jeanette. Mallory reacts incredulously and wants to know if Kate plans on calling Jeanette out. Kate says she’ll let the police deal with her, and Mallory confesses something of her own. She says she disliked Kate for a long time, and when Kate says she doesn’t hear that very often, Mallory smiles as she says she thinks she knows why.
1995
Mallory can’t believe this town contains anyone who could dislike Kate. Joy asks if Kate can think of anyone who might hate her the way Jeanette does. Joy is worried that whoever wrote that note could go to Jeanette’s lawyers and cost them the case. Kate snidely comments that Joy is mostly worried about losing their house and their social standing. Joy wants Kate to make an appearance at Hartwood to make sure their friends remain on their side. Kate agrees to go if Mallory also comes.
At Hartwood, Mallory declares, “I’m a pacifist,” and Joy rolls her eyes before responding, “You mentioned,” as she takes a seat. Kate is enjoying the show, chiming in to say that she too is a pacifist and vegetarian now. Joy butters up their friends and lets them know they’ll likely be deposed.
1993
Martin is having a hard time with the hunt as Kate helps him, taking pity on him as he flinches each time the gun goes off. Kate shows she is a confident, capable shooter and very different from the girl we know from later.
1994
Kate wakes up from a nightmare of Martin waiting beside her bed.
1993
Kate goes to talk to Ashley. At first, Ashley mocks Kate for getting into a fight with Joy because of how attached at the hip they are. Kate tries to tell the full story of what happened, but Ashley is angry that Kate would think Rod would cheat on Joy. She points out that Kate could have ruined Rod’s legacy and that she’s done tiptoeing around the privilege Kate and Joy have. Ashley says, “This sister thing you’re after? I’m not into it. Stop trying,” as she walks away.
1994
Sylvia reassures Kate that her hallucination of Martin is normal for a trauma survivor. She asks if Kate wants to share what happened to her, and Kate slowly opens up. We flash back to the basement, and in an unsettling scene we see how Martin gains control of Kate after she tries to escape. In the present, Joy excitedly announces that the police want them to come down to the station, saying there’s news about the case.
1993
Kate walks alone at night trying to clear her head. She comes across Martin sitting by the lake, and he promises not to tell.
1995
Joy waits for Mallory outside, and she asks if Mallory was the one who left the note on their front door. Joy says that clearly Mallory needs Kate to feel alone so she will rely on Mallory, and Mallory scoffs that Joy is even worse than she seems. Joy threatens Mallory, but Mallory coolly tells her she’s leaving.
1994
At the station, they are upset to find that the police aren’t charging Jeanette. The fingerprints were inconclusive, Jeanette denied the necklace was hers, and they don’t want to prosecute a young girl without hard evidence. Kate asks why she is the only one who gets punished as she leaves.
At home, Kate finds Ashley in her room. Ashley is trying to connect and even calls them sisters, but Kate points out that she didn’t want to have anything to do with her last year before she went missing. Ashley says she’s sorry she left her alone, but Kate just says, “I wasn’t alone for long,” as Ashley looks at her, confused.
1993
Martin and Kate are looking at the constellations together. She is happy to share her knowledge, and he’s clearly letting her show off to win her trust. He tells her stories about Greek mythology that discuss family drama, again attempting to draw her out. He says he knows how she feels, sharing that his father killed himself when he was her age. He confesses he fought with his father just before, and this is why he’s scared of guns. The admission works, and Kate trusts him.
1994
Ashley is shocked to learn about what really happened that night. She says she wants to help and that that’s what a sister is for, but Kate says they aren’t really sisters at all. She turns back to her computer and her online support group.
We flash back to the basement, and we see that Kate was given drugged food. Martin says it will be over soon as Kate passes out.
1993
Everyone is gathering at breakfast, and Jamie asks where Kate was. She says she went for a walk as she sees Martin across the campsite.
1995
Kate lists off people who she thinks could have written the letter as Mallory calls her paranoid. Mallory tells Kate what Joy accused her of, and Kate is angry. She goes to the campfire where the rest of Joy’s friends are gathered. She offers to share a creepy story as the others are telling ghost stories, and everyone listens as she tells a thinly veiled story of what happened to her about a little girl named Annabelle. She goes off on everyone sitting at the fire, calling them all hypocrites who are desperate for gossip. Looking straight into her mother’s eyes, she says she blames the adults for letting Martin into her life. She gets up and tells them all to sleep tight as she walks away.
1994
Ashley and Derek meet secretly on the playground. Ashley asks if Derek believes Jeanette, and he says he doesn’t think she’d lie about such a serious accusation. Ashley says she wishes she knew Kate like that. As they talk, we see Kate chatting with a new group member. The group member’s username matches a story Ashley is telling about ancient Egypt, and it seems Ashley is trying to connect with Kate this way instead.
In another flashback, Kate wakes up alone in the basement surrounded by supplies as “Beautiful Girl” by INXS plays.
1995
Mallory asks if Kate ever listened to the tapes of her therapy sessions. Kate wants to, but Mallory worries if she’s ready. Kate wants to hear her story again so she feels secure in her memory. Kate hits play, and we hear her say that right before she was rescued she met someone named “Annabelle” as Mallory shouts at Kate, asking if she’s okay. The screen cuts to black before we can see what Kate saw.
Cruel Summer airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET on Freeform, with episodes available the next day on Hulu.
