understanding

How Cruel Summer Recontextualizes Our Understanding of Teenage Trauma

This article contains spoilers for Cruel Summer. The Freeform drama Cruel Summer is undoubtedly one of the best TV series of 2021, an addictive teen thriller with a story spread across three distinct timelines and an ending that manages to feel both completely inevitable and deeply shocking. (Plus, there’s the amazing 1990s soundtrack – truly a gift!) Set in the aftermath of a kidnapping in a small Texas town, Cruel Summer follows the story of Kate Wallis (Olivia Holt), the high school queen bee held captive in her vice principal’s home, and Jeannette Turner (Chiara Aurelia), the former dorky nerd…
Read More

How WandaVision is Rewriting Our Understanding of Wanda Maximoff’s Story

This article contains WANDAVISION spoilers. Despite its many still-lingering questions, WandaVision has made one thing crystal clear: Wanda Maximoff is truly the most powerful Avenger. Not just the woman who destroyed an Infinity Stone and almost single-handedly defeated Thanos, she’s also managed to somehow power an entire town built on false realities and resurrect her dead boyfriend at the same time. But even as the show reaffirms the scope of her power, it also acknowledges one other truth that is too often swept under the rug: Wanda Maximoff is also incredibly depressed. This shouldn’t really come as a surprise to…
Read More