Prime Video’s new series Cruel Intentions doesn’t quite hit the stratospheric heights of the debauched 1999 movie about scheming step-siblings, but it does feature one performance very much worth highlighting.
In this new reimagining of the 18th century novel, Sarah Catherine Hook plays Caroline Merteuil, a conniving sorority leader who will stop at nothing to recruit the daughter of the U.S. vice president to join her chapter. The character is the equivalent of Sarah Michelle Gellar’s Kathryn Merteuil from the ’99 movie, now adapted into the president of the Delta Phi Pi sorority at Manchester College in Washington, D.C.
After a fraternity-related incident on campus in the previous year, the entire Greek life student body is on thin ice and fearing university administrators who are eager to protect the optics of the school by potentially banning chapters on campus. Given the fragile state of Greek life, Caroline schemes with her stepbrother Lucien (Zac Burgess) to seduce Annie Grover — the daughter of the VP — and to sway her to join Delta Phi Pi, believing that it will protect the chapter from banishment.
While the show is lackluster in many regards — sadly, it’s both underwhelming and mostly sexless (par for the course for Gen Z) — Hook’s portrayal of a desperate queen bee willing to go to any extreme makes the show slightly more redeemable. From the quiet but terrifying stare she is often sporting to the subtle delivery of truly devastating remarks, Hook elevates the drama and almost makes you forget that the show is otherwise unsatisfying.
For a character like Catherine to work, any actress would have to be able to play both an almost daunting sense of apathy to the world around them (check!) as well as an undercurrent of caring so much that they have no other choice than to be the puppet master (double check!). In this case, Hook makes both sides look easy and effortless, even blending the two to a point where the difference is imperceptible.
We also have to give credit to her — and to the cast of the original Cruel Intentions film — for being able to bring a certain level of sincerity to even the most absurd of lines. The show may have made changes to the overall story and characters to adapt it into a new project for TV, but that 1990s high school catiness writing style remained at its core.
At one point in Episode 4 (“Delta”), Hook’s character relays to her stepbrother that he has yet to deliver Annie on a silver platter, causing her to deliver a line that could be cringeworthy without the right cadence and tone. “Do I have to do everything myself? Seriously, a salad in Mexico is more reliable,” she says earnestly. Even writing it out gives me the ick. And yet, Hook makes it feel real and dare I say funny.
She may not go down in history as one of the most iconic mean girls in pop culture — that superlative is reserved for the likes of Rachel McAdams as Regina George in Mean Girls and Leighton Meester as Blair Waldorf in Gossip Girl — but Hook definitely earns her flowers in this iteration.
The good news is that it doesn’t seem like we are the only ones noticing her talent.
If you aren’t willing to tap into this eight-episode season because of its less-than-stellar reviews but still want to get a sense of Hook’s acting capabilities, you won’t have to wait long to see her on your screen. The actress — who previously had showcasing roles in Netflix’s First Kill and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It — is slated to appear in The White Lotus Season 3. It’s unclear what role she will be playing or how big it will be at this time.
The Emmy Award-winning series from the mind of Mike White doesn’t have a release date yet but is expected to premiere in 2025. The cast also includes Parker Posey, Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Michelle Monaghan, Carrie Coon, and Patrick Schwarzenegger, just to name a few. Season 1 alum Natasha Rothwell is also set to star in the upcoming installment, which is set in Thailand after Season 1 took place in Hawaii and Season 2 featured a Sicilian backdrop.
All eight episodes of Prime Video’s Cruel Intentions are currently streaming.
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