Lexi Underwood and Sadie Stanley will not tell me the ending of Cruel Summer season 2, no matter how hard I beg them to. “We can’t confirm or deny,” they laugh in unison after I throw out every possible twisted theory I can think of. “What I love so much about this show is that every time that you think that you have it right, you have it wrong,” Lexi tells Betches. “It’s really complex.”
The second season of the popular Freeform series, described by Lexi and Sadie as “nostalgic, surreal, and chaotic,” follows the complicated friendship between Isabella (Lexi) and Megan (Sadie), their love triangle with Megan’s best friend Luke, and the unraveling of a tragic death that changes everything. (And, betch, I mean everything. This shit is WILD.)
“We’ve worked hard on it, so it’s just nice to see the physical manifestations of our dreams coming true,” Lexi says of filming the show, which takes place over the course of a year in the Pacific Northwest during the Y2K era. “None of us were actually alive [in] ‘99, so it was cool to step into that nostalgic vibe.”
“There’s just no words. I don’t even know how to process it, honestly,” says Sadie. “People talking about [the show] freaks you out a little bit … I’m just happy that we’re proud of it and people are liking it so far.” K, well, I’m liking it a bit too much, to the point where I’m losing sleep because I need to know WTF happened to Luke, but I digress.
Lexi and Sadie stopped by the Betches office to 1) make me jealous of their cute matching outfits (color-coordinated suit queens?!?!), 2) get interrogated by me and coerced into, hopefully, spilling spoilers, and 3) give us a glimpse into their own childhoods, which, spoiler, involved a lot less murder and crime and a lot more chicken nuggets.
HALL OF BETCHES INDUCTION:
Lexi Underwood and Sadie Stanley
What was your go-to lunch when you were a kid?
LU: Chicken rice and string beans. Literally, I was obsessed with it. I only wanted that like 24/7.
SS: Do you know the Any’tizers chicken nuggets? That, plus mac and cheese, and carrots and ranch. I had that so much in elementary school.
Beans and chicken nuggets!!! A+ combo. Did you have a special comfort object or toy or blanket that you couldn’t live or sleep without?
SS: I had a little baby doll named Lucy. And then I also had a teddy bear named Beary (very original).
LU: I had an American Girl doll that I was obsessed with, so I would just have Addy lay up in the bed with me. Goodnight!
Dolls are normal, no judgment. Are there any wild fashion trends from your childhood that you secretly hope never make a comeback?
LU: The flannel shorts! The colorful ones that you would wear outside to school. It was kind of bad…
SS: We’ve talked about this! You’d match a tank top to the color of the shorts.
LU: You get them at the Children’s —
SS: Children’s Place! Or Justice.
All right, let’s definitely not bring those back. What was the most mortifying moment from your childhood that still haunts you to this day?
SS: I peed my pants. It was first grade. My teacher would not let me pee, and she was like, “Get through the lunch line!” She wouldn’t let me pee all class either, and she was a mean person… Anyways, I was holding my lunch tray and just peed myself. It was traumatic. I promise, it’s funny now.
LU: Yeah, mine, I mean, it wasn’t embarrassing at the time, but now that I look back on it, I’m like, “Girl, what were you doing?” I entered the talent show when I was in third grade. And I didn’t tell anybody what I was doing. I just told my whole family, “It’ll be a surprise. Just show up.” I showed up to school in my church gown, and I did a full thing, and I did an impromptu dance to Someone Like You by Adele. When I tell you, I did not practice. There was no choreography, just movement.
SS: I also did the talent show in fifth grade and I sang the Cup song with this boy. There’s a video somewhere… unfortunately.
Videos or it didn’t happen!! If you were stranded on a deserted island and could only bring one celebrity with you, who would it be and why?
SS: This is tough because my go-to answer is always Jennifer Lawrence because I love her, but now I’m like, if I’m on a deserted island, I should probably be strategic about who I’m picking.
LU: The first person that came to mind was Rihanna…
SS: On a deserted island, I just don’t know! She’d be a great time, but she’d be miserable.
LU: We wouldn’t have fun. I can’t put her through that.
SS: What’s the guy from Survivor? Bear Grylls! He would help me survive.
LU: Oh, that’s good! I was thinking The Rock??
Wow, very logical answers! What kind of things do you write in your phone notes app?
SS: My dumbest, darkest secrets.
LU: Random things… it could either go from a lunch order to a whole therapy session to a grocery list.
SS: Yes, to the lyrics of some random song I decided to make up one day, to things I need to remember to tell my therapist, to quotes from my friends I think are stupid and hilarious.
Do you have a group chat with your friends? If so, are you able to share what it’s called?
LU: “Earth Sign Mother Support Group.” We love it because we’re all Earth signs, and all of our moms are Earth signs as well. We just get it.
SS: One of our Cruel Summer group chats is called “Will Cruel Summer Season 2 Beat the Flop Allegations?”
Beat the flop! Beat the flop!!! Was this a fun interview? Are you guys bored with me?
SS: Do we look bored?!
LU: No…
Stop lying. Anyway, what should we make the headline of this article? We’re taking suggestions.
LU: What have we talked about?!
SS: Will Cruel Summer 2 Beat the Flop Allegations?
Photography by Laura Valencia
