Two Summers: the ending, explained

Two Summers, or Twee Zomers as the original title, is a Belgian thriller series which explores the subject of friendship and revenge. Everything is set in the beautiful locations of Belgium and France to keep the viewers captivated amidst the dark theme.

The story moves in a flashback narrative of a group of friends

Romée and Peter invite their childhood friends on a weekend getaway at a private, isolated island in Côte d’Azur, France. They are possibly getting back together for a holiday 30 years after their previous one. The friends- Didier, wife Sofie, Luk, his girlfriend Lia, Saskia and their friend Stef reach the island together. Out of all 8, Lia is the only one not a part of the childhood group.

While the group enjoys, flashbacks of a holiday 30 years ago keep on appearing. Sometimes they are scenes, while other times young Luk’s camera recordings. The one video being used to blackmail Peter for something criminal he, Stef, Didier and their dead friend Mark did 30 years ago. This video becomes a nightmare for the group.

What is the blackmail video about and who sent it?

The video shows Peter and Mark taking advantage of an unconscious Sofie sexually all those years ago. Meanwhile, Stef is recording and Didier stays there unable to stop anything. While Peter is the one who receives it, he tells the accomplices about the video when they reach the island. He is being blackmailed for 100 Bitcoins. This leads to them raising suspects within the isolated group with no means of phone reception.

They are sure of one thing though, that the blackmailer is someone from their own friend group only since even though they supposedly burned the tape all those years ago, it still surfaced.

It’s revealed that Romée is the mastermind and the ladies the accomplice. Lia revealed the video to them and she got to know it from Luk, who was going to do a similar thing, but for different reasons. The plan was to scare the men and force them into admitting their mistake. However, sometimes, things never go according to plan.

Implications of the blackmail and how the season ended

Due to Romée’s last dirty/impulsive trick to make the men admit their guilt, she caused a horrible incident which destroyed the group. She claimed to have sent the clip to the 3 biggest presses before coming to the holiday. Stef, a minister’s secretary, commits suicide in the fear of his reputation being smeared in black.

On both holidays together, they lost a member of the group. In between the scenes from holiday, there were scenes of the group members shot while talking to an inquiry officer. At first, it’s not known why they were actually there, but in the end, it falls into place.

After taking everyone’s account for the events that took place, the inquiry officer decides to proceed with the case of unintentional manslaughter and blackmailing against the group, to which they receive summons in the last scene.

The holiday turns into something none imagined coming…

Not only the video, but many secrets of the past emerge in this holiday. Stef’s pining for Saskia, and her relationship with Luk. Saskia’s pregnancy. Over the weekend, many of these issues, along with the blackmailing, tears the friend group apart. What was once a tight-knit bosom group of childhood friends disintegrates into a group with masked people having hidden agendas.

Within 6 episodes, viewers are not only exposed to the secret but also complex personality traits, group dynamics and simmering issues of the individuals 30 years ago and in the present time.

Alternative plots which I thought of while watching

While in the middle of the series, I kept on assuming that it was Mark who was blackmailing Peter. He must have escaped from the house fire and didn’t meet up with everyone in the front assuming they left him. Since there was no concrete evidence implying that he was indeed dead, this seemed to be a reasonable but far-fetched assumption.

Another thing I thought was that Lia was in fact someone who knew Mark and wanted to take revenge on the guys for blaming everything on him all those years ago on the morning before the fire and for what happened the night before. Hence why she instigated the ladies with the clip while being Luk’s girlfriend.

I also believe that Romée started using this clip for her own personal gains. Perhaps it was her own perception of “ethics” or ”justice” but more than that, it looked like her stubbornness refused to let things go and resolve the matter maturely.

What’s in store for the series next?

There has been no official report of a renewal or cancellation by Netflix or the producers. While the ending could mean an impending trial, in my opinion, they left the series in a gray area for the viewers to make out what they want about the actions and consequences. This usually is the case with dark psychological thrillers.

The show also sparked some controversy with the heavily dark theme of sexual assault be used as a fiction drama, as noted by De Standaard. While writer Tom Lenaerts agrees on Nieuwsblad that there’s a #metoo inspiration, the show is about transgressive behavior and how, “You have to be careful with everything from the past through today’s glasses”.