Freeform’s Cruel Summer features one of the most beautiful coming out scenes we’ve ever seen on TV. That scene takes place in the teen mystery thriller’s eighth installment, titled “Proof.” At the heart of the story is recurring cast member Nathaniel Ashton (“Mr. Mercedes”) as Ben Hallowell, and Allius Barnes (“PEN15”) as Vince Fuller. Nathaniel very graciously hopped on the phone and connected with PopWire to discuss his character’s big episode.
“I feel like with film, TV, theater, and any kind of art, people come to it to see themselves, in a way, to kind of see reflected back on them another person’s experience,” Ashton says of queer representation in the media. “That’s what we as creatives, and as people should aim to do with TV, is to accurately and authentically represent people from these communities that have historically been represented in a way that have not been the best.”
In “Proof,” we saw that Ben and Vince have a heart-to-heart in Skylin High’s gymnasium (1993). It’s where they both talk about the loss of their mothers — Ben’s mother died of cancer when he was just 13, and Vince lost his mother due to a car accident. Ben reveals that there had been something that he had always wanted to be brave enough to tell his mother, but he chickened out. When Vince asks what that something is, Ben doesn’t say a word. Instead, gives one small, but intimate, meaningful gesture — interlocking pinkies with Vince. It was at that moment Vince realized they had another thing in common.
Ashton says that the character and his relationship with the video store clerk was “really important to me.” He shares that prior to production of Cruel Summer, he sat down with one of the show’s creators to discuss the character, so they could flesh him out and portray him in the right and most respectful way. Going into this episode, he says it was especially important to him. “[Coming out is] a really big moment in a lot of people’s lives,” he says. “It’s one of those turning points for a lot of people where they feel like they see themselves.”
Choosing who you come out to can be very difficult, but for Ben, Nathaniel says that sharing this part of him to Vince was the right decision to make. “I think Ben finds a lot of comfort in Vince’s empathy and his warmth,” he says. “The way Allius brings Vince to the screen is from a place of honesty and openness. I think Ben felt that, and felt okay and safe that he could tell him what to him was such a big secret and a big part of himself that he had just found that he was kind of keeping locked away.”
Filming of that scene took place at the end of the day. Both Nathaniel and Allius had been already shooting for four-to-five hours. In preparation, director Daniel Willis sat down with the two young stars to discuss the best way to approach the scene, but not dissect it too much. “It’s a really raw, nervous, terrifying moment for these kids,” Ashton says. “We didn’t want to put too much into it. We just wanted the audience to hopefully be able to see a little bit of themselves in that moment.” He reveals that the scene was so emotional, that by the time it was over, they were all in tears.
Jumping to 1994, we see Ben ask Jamie (Froy Gutierrez) for a ride to the field, completely unaware that his friend is completely intoxicated. The ride ends in a car crash, which finds Ben badly injured, bandaged up, and on a gurney about to go into an ambulance. Vince catches sight of him and runs over, clutching his hand. He wants to join Ben in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, but Ben shoots down his request.
“I think a lot of that comes from that same background of all the people around you telling you that it’s something you should be ashamed of, or something that’s not acceptable, and I think it really got to Ben,” Ashton says of why his character didn’t want Vince to go with him. “He was scared and that fear showed through, and he pushed away someone who was really there for him. In that moment he was so afraid of what people thought, and he was afraid of being forced to come out like that.”
As Ashton mentioned earlier, it’s a really big moment in a lot of people’s lives. If/when Ben decides to come out, it should be on his terms — when, where, and to whom. Hopefully if/when Ben comes out, Tennille (Shelby Surdam) will have some closure, and finally learn why her advances toward him were shut down. We do love that Jamie was smirking when she came on hard on Ben in the school yard. Jamie definitely knows. After all, he and Ben are best friends.
After that car accident, however, Nathaniel Ashton says that there will be a major rift in their friendship. We see in 1995 that Jamie has been holding so much guilt because his incessant drinking caused his friend irreparable damage to his arm, effectively destroying any chance he may have at a football career after high school. What will come for the rest of the season will be the aftermath of that.
Cruel Summer airs Tuesdays at 10pm on Freeform.
