If Gossip Girl and The OC had an orgy with Dawson’s Creek and Maxton Hall: The World Between Us and threw a deranged step-brother into the mix, it would serve as the perfect comeback for the ruinous drama that is Cruel Intentions. It is best to regard the Original series as a sexually liberated remake of the 1999 film featuring sexy celebrities Sarah Michelle Geller, Reese Witherspoon, and Ryan Phillippe which was, in fact, based on a French drama thank you very much – Les Liaisons Dangereuses.
What a nefarious alliance of plots this series has, most is too absurd to be believable but then again, it’s the TikTok generation, if people enjoy watching a buff half naked guy on a live or a middle aged woman in her underwear cleaning a house, why not a Cruel Intentions series? The series has plenty of sex and even more needs to be talked about. Instead of focusing on the unpleasantries, divine entities that this show contains, look how it skillfully weaves a season full misunderstanding love and unrequited love, social commentaries on — that’s not possible — fascism, and misogyny, and plotting after arranging the Greek university system.
Sara Goodman pulls together the likes of Preacher, Gossip Girl and I Know What You Did Last Summer, which is what she goes for in this show. In this show, we follow the elite students of Manchester College, an univ in the Washington D.C. area and all the bratty stuff that goes on there. Image is everything here, so expect the usual hemispheres of fraternity and sorority and the associated hullabaloo of being accepted into one. These thoroughly upper class students appear to view these places as their passports to something more after college. It’s just sad that they did not watch something like Cruel Intentions for instance so that they would know what to do instead.
And here we are, let’s sit back and relax. It’s just the kind of fun you’d be guilty of enjoying. Meet Alpha Fem Caroline Merteuil, the sophomore, the president of the sorority, and just an obsessed diva all in all, played by Sarah Catherine Hook. Caroline is worried about the power dynamics at school and she is quite determined alongside her step brother, Lucien Belmont, who is over confident to an annoying level. A violent and nasty rushing incident from last year’s almost ruined the entire fraternity-sorority system. This means Caroline will ensure that the system still has its power and credibility at all costs.
Why hello there, Annie Grover (Savannah Lee Smith). You’re a perfect target. For one, Annie is the Vice President of the United States daughter. And she is smart too. But Lucien’s fierce sibling rivalry makes him too obsessive a creature, to let this go. What does he stand to gain? He manages to sleep with Annie and make her long to enter Caroline’s sorority, putting Caroline at the very top. Finally, he will have his stepsister without any qualifications! Pure barbaric instincts!
At the same time, the other characters complete this picture of the so-called royal court and the ‘scenes’. The other one is the gay couple, Blaise and Scott, John Harlan Kim and Khobe Clark, the latter being quite a miserable and wooden character who controlled the situation – but had other plans in mind. Be ready for the character of Cece Carroway as played by Sara Silva to drive you nuts. She is Caroline’s most trusted assistant, has OCD, and further aggravates her already overbearing personality with OCD, but as more episodes air, there are things cooking in Eden when she later becomes TA to Sean Patrick Thomas’ Professor Hank Chadwick. The series has an abundance of characters and storylines, but perhaps its real strength is its lightness of touch especially when matters become a whole lot darker.
In this retake of an already familiar story set in modern times, we were assured that, ‘Hearts will break, loyalties will be tried and secrets will come out.’ All those land as expected, but showrunner Sara Goodman does not wish to dwell on any one thing or any big reveal for long. In any case, that helps propel this odyssey further, although one imagines what would happen if we took some time out to reflect. These people require a moment. After all, there is a person buried under Caroline’s witchy ways who has an unmistakable sense of history. Surely, a therapist would have her hands full (and making a good amount of money) intervening with the developmental bumps so to speak, from her and Lucien’s obsessive attraction to and dependence on one another.
Of course they are a great match as foes — they are soap opera siblings after all — isn’t that true about Fallon (Dynasty) and Oliver (The O.C.)? Sarah Catherine Hook also contributes the spice that the cast lacks, and Zac Burgess although quite good at it, at first is limited to certain lines and scenes. How many times can this stud-in-training skip aroung looking to snack on his next meal? Apparently, many.
Later seasons depict a relationship between Caroline and Lucien that adds a nice twist. Others include: Sean Patrick Thomas, who played piano teacher Ronald Clifford in the earlier version, portrays another character who has to cope with CeCe’s vigorous character. CeCe however is a creation of, in fact, Cecile, the character portrayed by Selma Blair in the movie. The character of Annette who was played by Reese Witherspoon in the original is simply titled Annie.
On that point, since everything revolves around the character of Vice President’s daughter Annie, played by Savannah Lee Smith of Gossip Girl, time for another scandalous love triangle has come. However, as it always is with the majority of family feuds, allegiances must endure hardship. Here, however, it must be for a genetically wired pair, Caroline and Lucien, who can be broken at any moment. Other than that, there are elements of frat life and sorority life that are crucial to the outing, offering the audience a decent window into what life is like in a competitive college and what kind of activities happen on campus, particularly for those in the Greek system where there are girls of a particular social standing (read: rich) that would enhance the image of the sorority and hence ensure profitability. If only these children could learn some manners.
The setting of the college is realistic as the showrunner one masterfully transports the audience into this Cruel universe and makes them eager to want to go back to it. It also helps that there are some amazing bitchy lines. “You never have feelings,” coos one of the characters, “You are empty, heartless and so damn f*ing dumb, the only way you can get off is when you are doing it for me.” Ouch indeed!
The narrative os accompanied by party scenes and sex scenes , and while it is pleasing to watch the series attempt to unveil one or two of the weaknesses of its key characters , it does not go beyond the material. Finally , the promise of seeking for something more profound and meaningful enabling individual growth are somehow sidelined for more over the top soap opera style drama. Like other new dramas, those revelations that envolve the main characters await the last three episodes.
It seems to us that the Cruel Intentions will be the blockbuster hit ever since its debut and even though the show is equal to many teen and campus dramas which, in the case, are just targeted revamps of the real Cruel Intentions. So grab the popcorn. Watch at a leisurely pace. Having one more guilty pleasure is not a bad thing and Cruel Intentions is definitely one of them. You may think you’d need to take a long shower after the show, but for now, wear your ‘leave’ baster.
Watch Free Movies on Hurawatch