'Cruel Intentions' TV Recap & Ending Explained: Did CeCe And Annie Learn About Caroline’s Truth?

Not every beloved piece of fiction turns out to be timeless, which is why topicality is an important factor. Back in the early 00s, when small screen teenage high school drama was selling like hot cakes, the cult classic Cruel Intentions proved to be a hit by being a subversive, licentious, and satirical take on the existing extracurricular activities of hormonal, ultra-elite college grads. But an attempt to recreate the premise with the new Cruel Intentions series, with Gen Z leads, having them treat their fraternity life and politics with utmost seriousness while being preoccupied with a political power grab through the exploitation of one’s sexuality, feels pretty vapid, shallow, and ill-contrived. As a result, the characters involved in the messy game feel as outdated as the 1960s vintage Roadster.

Spoilers Ahead

Why Did Caroline Want Annie in Delta Phi?

Cruel Intentions focuses on stepsibling duo Caroline and Lucien, senior year students of high society education establishment, Manchester College. Like the majority of their peers, the siblings belong from a filthy rich background, which, coupled with a lack of parental care, has turned them into developing a vicious, troubling, self-centered mindset that is reflected in their social life. A manipulative, controlling, devious Caroline is the president of her sorority house, Delta Phi, and with the help of her subordinate, CeCe’s sprawling network, she recruits the cream of the crop. Lucien is the heartthrob playboy from Alpha Gamma, whose emotional disconnect is the result of his childhood trauma of witnessing his mother kill herself. Lucien treats his brief flings as a way to evade emotional connections, records his sexual encounters, and sends the videos to Caroline, who uses them to satiate her own sinful urges, but really as a leverage for the future. There’s this grand extravagant myth surrounding Delta Phi created by Caroline and CeCe, which prompts students to basically throw them at Lucien to get a spot in the so-called prestigious sorority house, being oblivious to all the deceit and manipulations. 

There’s no place for poor commoners in Delta Phi; your parents need to be among one percenters for you to join the circus, something Beatrice Worth, one of such gullible teenagers who continually tried to join the sorority house and eventually hooked up with Lucien to have a spot to no avail, had realized too late. Beatrice’s realization coincided with a troubling hazing incident, when a newcomer, Scott, was injured by Caroline’s then boyfriend, Rourke. Scott’s father, Congressman Russell, questioned the fraternity tradition of the university, putting all the houses in jeopardy. Caroline took this chance to call out Rourke for the incident, who was dating her Delta Phi presidency rival at that time, thereby ensuring the power stays with her. It should be mentioned that Caroline’s actions resulted in a conflict of interest with her estranged mother, Claudia, who needed the political support of Rourke’s father, which was ruined by Caroline’s little stunt. Around the same time, Beatrice decided to get back at Delta Phi by beginning an anti-fraternity movement, and some of the victims of the prevalent demagogic, toxic culture joined her movement as well. However, the series is fashioned in a way to make fun of Beatrice’s attempt, and her efforts don’t get much traction. Still, it’s enough to rattle Caroline’s cages, and to preserve the power of Delta Phi, she decides to make the newcomer Annie Grove, daughter of the States’ Vice President, join her merry band of clowns. She gets Lucien to do her bidding; he needs to use whatever means necessary (mostly sexual) to convince Annie into joining Delta Phi, which will provide Caroline’s sorority house with certain immunity, and in exchange, Lucien will have his desire to sleep with Caroline fulfilled. 

Annie appears to be naïve to a fault, but at the same time she has her guards up from the likes of Lucien. She actually gets along with Beatrice and sympathizes with her—but as the series progresses, she does a total 180 on her stance, thanks to Caroline’s manipulations and a genuine attempt at romance by Lucien. Gradually, Lucien loses the plot as his budding relationship with Annie gets too real too soon, prompting him to turn his back on Caroline’s deal. 

Blaise’s Cunning Ways

Lucien’s good friend, Blaise, is another nincompoop who tries his hands at this game of using sex as a means to manipulate others but ends up failing miserably. Blaise had offered his protection to a vulnerable Scott by recruiting him in Alpha Gamma, got into a relationship with him, and eventually got into Congressman Russell’s good books, which allowed him to secure a future for him. Later on, Blaise eliminated Blandsman’s chances for presidential candidacy for Alpha Gamma by blackmailing him with illicit photos, which Blaise had gotten from CeCe, and made Scott the president of the fraternity group—only to mooch him off. Blaise’s family wasn’t as well established as his peers, and to live among these preppy fools, he adapted a survival strategy of fitting in by any means necessary—even if that meant conning someone by abusing their trust and emotions. Lucien, who was the treasurer of Alpha Gamma, was able to expose Blaise, who was embezzling money from Scott in the guise of funding the fraternity. Blaise wanted to pin the crime on Lucien, but Scott was able to see things for what they were. Fearing repercussions and desperate to hold on to his position, Blaise tried to blackmail Congressman Russell by insinuating his reputation as a religious political figure will be at stake if he ‘exposed’ Scott’s sexual leniency in public. But to his surprise, Russell was supportive of his son’s choice and had no qualms with his orientation becoming public news. Turns out, Blaise didn’t lack money as much as he lacked class, and he had promptly jumped into the ditch dug by himself by revealing his true colors to Scott and his father. By the end, Blaise was expelled from Alpha Gamma for good. 

Did CeCe and Annie Learn About Caroline’s Truth?

Fiercely territorial and power hungry, Caroline couldn’t tolerate the minimum of insubordination from people close to him—probably as a result of her own dysfunctional relationship with her mother. CeCe had fallen for new history professor Hank Chadwick while working as his assistant, and her divided attention irks Caroline, whose control freak nature prompts her to have sex with Chadwick and have him secretly reported for misconduct. As CeCe learns about the misconduct report, she is heartbroken by assuming Chadwick had an illicit relationship with one of the students, and she completely devotes her to Caroline, who had previously warned her about the professor. However, in order to convince Annie to join Delta Phi, Caroline had shared one of CeCe’s experiences as her own, and the day Annie pledges for Delta Phi, she learns about this discrepancy while having a chat with CeCe and begins to doubt Caroline’s motivations as a result. On the other hand, CeCe starts to see Caroline in a new light, as her blind trust in her wavered after learning about her deceit. Meanwhile, Annie decides to rekindle her friendship with Beatrice, and she seems convinced that it was Caroline who had reported Chadwick for misconduct, with the intention to destroy the budding relationship he had with CeCe. Which means, if a season two is made after all, we will see CeCe, Beatrice, and Annie stand against Delta Phi led by Caroline. However, it seems Caroline has to add her stepbrother to her adversary list as well, as conveyed by the ending of the first season. 

Lucien’s unwillingness to cooperate with Caroline to trick Annie resulted in troubling repercussions, as a vengeful Caroline had leaked all of Lucien’s sex tapes among the students, thereby ruining his reputation and costing him the relationship he had with Annie. Lucien knew he wouldn’t be able to directly oppose Caroline, which was why he decided to take a much more personal route to hurt her emotionally—the same way she did to others. Lucien decided to sleep with Claudia, Caroline’s mother, who had a thing for Lucien as was evident from the very first episode of the series, and sent a video of their sexual encounter to Caroline. I can’t help but draw a comparison with Paul Finch-Stiffler’s mom situation from the American Pie movies, although Cruel Intentions takes itself way too seriously for its own good. Anyway, Lucien had the last laugh, and it was implied that his rivalry with Caroline will see a number of old friends and foes switching sides in the near future.

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