For a show about the aftermath of a kidnapping, Cruel Summer still managed to find a new way to disturb fans with its heartbreaking, and downright chilling finale. The final episode of Cruel Summer's first season, titled "Hostile Witness," revealed all the details about Kate's kidnapping, from how she got to Martin's house to how she escaped. And with that came the true identity of Annabelle on Cruel Summer.
A popular fan theory about Annabelle was correct all along: Annabelle was never a person, but Martin's father's gun, which he used to take his own life years earlier. Martin presents Annabelle to Kate the day before she is rescued from his basement, and tells her that he plans to die by suicide with the gun. However, Martin can't do it — he drops the gun, sobbing, and it's Kate who shoots and kills Martin.
It retrospect, this Annabelle theory was always the one that made the most sense, if only because it was the simplest. It explains the gunshot we heard earlier in the season, that predated Kate's rescue and therefore couldn't have been from the so-called "shoot out" with police. And if Annabelle was a person that Martin was hiding, or someone that came to rescue Kate, why wouldn't the show have already revealed who that was?
There were also plenty of Easter eggs that hinted Kate would bring Martin down with a gun. Martin and Kate bond during the hunting trip in 1993, which is when we learn that Kate was always a good shot. It's on this hunting trip that Kate tells the story about Annabelle. It's implied that Annabelle is a stand-in for Kate, and in a way, she is: Annabelle is the thing that ultimately saves Kate from Martin, but it's Kate to has to make the choice to use her.
There is one small thing that doesn't quite line up, though, that may have thrown fans off the "Annabelle is a gun" theory, and that's the fact that the police and the media are seemingly unaware of how Martin really died. Why would there be a shoot out with police, if Martin was already dead? And how would the media get that so wrong, when the better, more compelling story (at least, in terms of the whole "crime as entertainment" genre, which the show is commenting on) is that Kate was the one who saved herself?
Regardless, some Cruel Summer fans can sleep soundly knowing that they were right about Annabelle's identity — as disturbing as her introduction turned out to be.
Images: Freeform