#’I Know What You Did Last Summer’ Ramps Up Just in Time for Halloween

It’s Halloween weekend, and what better way to celebrate than to watch the latest episode of the TV adaptation of the 1997 horror film, I Know What You Did Last Summer. The Prime Video show follows a group of teens who, having accidentally hit one of their friends with a car and killing them, return to their small Hawaiian town one year later to find that someone knows what they did, and is coming after them for it. The twist: the girl who died has an identical twin sister who’s taken her place. Episode 6, which aired on October 29, is sure to thrill with major character deaths, the reveal of shocking secrets, and a cult.

Last episode ended with the friends escaping former cult-member and possible murderer Clara (Brooke Bloom) after she came after them with a gun and dogs for snooping around her property. Or did they escape? We saw Allison (Madison Iseman), who’s still posing as the deceased Lennon (also Iseman), and Margot (Brianne Tju) get home safe, but what about everyone else? In the opening scene of this week’s episode, we go back in time to that night to see what happened, which leads to a frightening revelation: Riley (Ashley Moore) got caught by the killer, and she may or may not be dead.

The chase sequence where Riley runs from the killer through the woods is heart-pounding and gory. She gets hit by a car, run through by a machete, and her arm is chopped clean off while reaching for a branch to use as a weapon. And she’s somehow still alive. From there it’s a race against the clock: will anyone find her in time before she actually dies?

Enter Riley’s mom, Courtney (Cassie Beck). Okay, it’s true, Courtney has done exactly zero to endear us to her this entire show. She’s just generally a terrible person, especially when Riley calls her to tell her she needs help, and Courtney ignores her. But the next morning, Courtney actually remembers that she’s a mom, and that she cares about her kid, who didn’t come home last night. What works really well about this episode is how the show gives viewers hope for Riley, only to snatch it away. Courtney goes into super-mom mode and searches the town for her, which includes getting turned away by the police when she begs them for help. When Riley sends Courtney a pin of her location, it seems like maybe there’s a chance.

A lot of the deaths on this show happen off-screen, but not this one. If you thought Riley was going to be the first one to die this episode, the killer has other plans. Having been lured to a specific location, Courtney triggers a booby trap and gets suspended and hung from a crane. Even though she was awful up until this very episode, it’s devastating to watch. It’s only after this happens that Riley finally reappears. She stumbles into view right by her house (she literally has a gaping hole in her chest from where she got stabbed by the machete so I’m not sure how she was able to walk home but okay). But her mom’s not there to see her, because she’s dead and no one listens to the small child who yells Riley’s name when she sees her. This episode does a great job of keeping us on the hook until the very end, but Riley finally dies, mere feet from her own home.

But, I also promised big reveals and a cult this episode. If a cult is mentioned in episode 1, it should be assumed that they will show up in a bigger way later on. The people in the cult died at high tide in the cave. Clara used to be one of them. This is all we knew, until now. Learning last episode that Allison and Lennon’s dad (Bill Heck) was also in the cult and was married to Clara was pretty shocking news, but finding out this week that in fact their mom, who presumably committed suicide, actually is still alive, and left them after being contacted by another former cult member definitely tops it. To make matters worse, Lennon knew the truth about their mom, and was keeping it a secret from Allison. It turns out Lennon and her dad were fighting about this the night of the party, which leads to the second secret reveal this episode: this is the reason Lennon was on the road that night, because her dad kicked her out of the car due to the fight. This is the reason she’s dead.

Amazon Prime Video

With Riley officially gone, the friend group suddenly feels very small with just three people. What’s worse is that Dylan (Ezekiel Goodman) definitely seems up to something when he meets Clara in the cave at the end of the episode. With the way events line up this episode, I don’t think either Clara or Dylan is the killer, but Clara shows up to the cave with Riley’s body, which can only mean there is so much more to unravel.

I Know What You Did Last Summer, Fridays, Amazon Prime Video