‘Cruel Summer’s Twist on the Victim Blaming Narrative Recontextualizes How We View Survivors

The myth of the perfect victim is one that’s haunted us since the dawn of time; and now, it’s being explored on Freeform’s Cruel Summer. But the way the series is exploring this tired and patently false narrative has led to a richer story about the way we understand survivors and victims, and the series is all the better for this twist.

Until Episode 7, Kate Wallis’ (OIivia Holt) story largely followed the perfect victim trope. That was especially true when her story was being told by Kate’s mother, Joy (Andrea Anders). The way Joy tells it, Kate was a responsible, popular, rule-abiding girl who was one day captured by her vice principal. In this version, Kate is the perfect damsel in distress, a young woman so dedicated to propriety and devoid of her own agency that she’s seen as having little more than a supporting role in her own kidnapping.

Of course, we know that was never the case. Martin (Blake Lee) wasn’t a monster who lurked in the shadows to snatch Kate. He was something far more nefarious. He ingratiated himself both in the community of this small town, and in Kate’s family. From the moment he met Kate, he started to groom her. When Kate was alone and drunk after a fight with her mom, he pretended to be her friend. When she was bored and frustrated during her family’s annual hunting trip, he led her aside, encouraging a relationship that was too intimate. So when Kate needed somewhere to escape, Martin’s manipulations paid off. She ran to him, just like he always intended.

The crucial piece of information that Kate went to Martin was revealed at the end of “Happy Birthday, Kate Wallis.” It then served as a narrative cornerstone for “Proof” and will likely continue to influence the rest of the series. Because Kate never told the police she went to Martin, Jeanette (Chiara Aurelia) can point to this inconsistency as proof that Kate was lying. And if Kate lied about that, she could have lied about seeing Jeanette, an important plot point in the overall story that pits Kate’s narrative against Jeanette’s. In short, Kate’s entire case against Jeanette, as well as her credibility and reputation, has the potential to be destroyed by this one myth.

If that seems messed up, that’s the point. Never once has Cruel Summer depicted what Kate endured as anything less than hell. Over its first season it’s chronicled Kate’s episodes of PTSD, her desperate search for any sort of community that understands her, and her abject sense of loneliness. Most of Kate’s time in 1994 and 1995 is spent either sighing or sneering over the life she used to live. What Martin did to Kate robbed her of herself, and because of him she can never go back to her once innocent past. That heavy realization is something that the series painstakingly explores.

Having this level of empathy for a character who also lied about what happened is a big deal. Though it’s getting better, our society loves to victim blame, especially when it comes to young women. Most news stories about murdered women are followed by a list of belittling questions. What was she wearing? How much did she have to drink? Why was she out alone so late at night? These place the onus on the person who was attacked, rather than the attacker. They’re also why the idea of a perfect victim is so alluring. Throw a blameless, virginal young woman in danger and the situation seems black and white, rather than colored by our society’s rampant sexism.

By merely making Kate’s story more complex, Cruel Summer is challenging this problematic narrative. There could be a million reasons why Kate lied to the cops about entering Martin’s house. She could have been afraid they wouldn’t take her seriously after that admission, and there is certainly grounds for that fear. It could have been an honest mistake that Kate is now terrified to correct. The reason for the lie isn’t important. However Kate came to be locked in Martin’s basement, the show is clear that it was never Kate’s fault. That tonal detail is revolutionary, not just in the world of crime dramas but in how we contextualize victims and survivors in general.

New episodes of Cruel Summer premiere on Freeform Tuesdays and Hulu Wednesdays. 

Where to stream Cruel Summer