The penultimate episode of Merciless Summer time faucets right into a TV pattern: utilizing one episode to vary the narrative’s focus, whether or not or not it’s the perspective or simply the character on the heart of the week’s story. In “The Miseducation of Luke Chambers,” the entire Freeform present’s storytelling units shift the main focus from Meghan to Luke within the blissful fall of 1999 and simply earlier than his dying within the winter of 2000, forgoing your complete third timeline in summer season 2000 which takes place after his dying.
The episode’s predominant function is to make clear Luke’s secrets and techniques and motivations, pushed largely by the contentious relationships together with his dad and brother, and his cherished recollections of his useless mother. Luke’s dad has been portrayed as a workaholic, which has in flip generated their monumental wealth, however his parenting hasn’t actually come beneath the microscope. However within the ninth episode of the collection, we discover out that he and Luke had been usually at odds with each other — particularly as Luke blames his dad for his mother’s dying in a automotive accident the place Steve ought to’ve been behind the wheel.
Issues worsen when Luke’s desires of becoming a member of the Coast Guard are shut down by his father who insists that he comply with in his footsteps and attend Branson School and take over the household enterprise someday. “That’s a pastime, not actual life,” Steve says, dismissing his son’s aspirations and pursuits in a single fell swoop. However Luke goes behind his dad’s again with the assistance of the Sheriff, making use of to the Coast Guard Academy utilizing the police station’s deal with. When he will get in, his father loses it and says he received’t pay for him to attend.
The animosity between the 2 males bubbles till its boiling level: in an effort to embarrass his dad on the household’s vacation social gathering extravaganza, he grabs the intercourse tape that he made from him and Meghan and fingers it to the waitstaff to play in entrance of everybody. Luke’s motivations lie in hurting his dad; hurting Meghan was simply an afterthought to him.
Specializing in Luke’s story and perspective additionally shifts the notion of different characters — most notably, his interactions with Isabella. In “The Miseducation of Luke Chambers,” Luke observes Isabella actively stirring issues up in his relationship with snide feedback meant to extend suspicion and jealousy. When Meghan unintentionally misses a hang around with Luke in favor of going to the bar with Isabella, he perceives her as rubbing in the truth that a man on the bar was hitting on Meghan. It underscores the animosity brewing between the previous lovers and the secrets and techniques they’re all holding from each other.
After the gunshot that ended final week’s episode on a cliffhanger, we discover out in Winter 2000 that the bullet grazed Luke’s ear — and that Isabella allegedly didn’t suppose the gun was loaded. Fearful about somebody listening to the gunshot and calling the police, Isabella means that she and Meghan flee the premises with out Luke, leaving him on the cabin to consider what he’s achieved. Earlier than leaving, Meghan drops her huge information: she’s pregnant together with his little one. In a state of shock (and who can actually blame him, given he’s been tied up and was just lately shot within the ear), Luke means that his father will “know how you can get this taken care of,” a sentiment that upsets Meghan. She declares that he’s a liar and a jerk and that she by no means needs to see him once more, one thing that can undoubtedly change into true when he dies later that night time.
However we don’t truly see Luke die. As a substitute, we see him escape the ropes and saunter out to the water, the place the place he feels most at peace, with a real 2000s banger “In The Finish” by Linkin Park scoring his journey to the docks. When he will get there, he fumbles with a pager and earlier than lengthy, a determine seems within the nook of the body.
“I didn’t suppose you’d come,” Luke says to the individual earlier than the episode ends. The apparent guesses are his household, however Brent and Steve are too emotionally distant to be Luke’s “in case of emergency” contacts. My guess is that it’s the Sheriff who was seen serving to Luke together with his Coast Guard utility earlier, and is somebody whom we haven’t gotten sufficient backstory given how outstanding he’s within the collection. If he’s there on the docks, his involvement within the homicide investigation turns into extraordinarily thorny for the season’s closing hour.
Radhika Menon (@menonrad) is a TV-obsessed author based mostly in Los Angeles. Her work has appeared on Vulture, Teen Vogue, Paste Journal, and extra. At any given second, she will be able to ruminate at size over Friday Evening Lights, the College of Michigan, and the proper slice of pizza. It’s possible you’ll name her Rad.