Why Aren't You Watching Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin?
Review on the first three episodes. Warning, possible spoilers.
Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin |
Initial Thoughts: This show was way better than I had expected. I was hooked right off the bat. I don't usually have much faith in reboots, especially after Gossip Girl reboot and others, but for some strange reason I had faith in this show.
If you don't know about the original show, Pretty Little Liars- the show follows the lives of five best friends whose clique falls apart after the disappearance of their leader Alison. One year later, the estranged friends Spencer, Hanna, Aria and Emily are reunited as they begin receiving messages from a mysterious figure "A" who threatens to expose their deepest secrets.
The premise of the original show is set in the suburban town of Rosewood, Pennsylvania, the series follows the lives of five high school girls: Spencer Hastings, Alison DiLaurentis, Aria Montgomery, Hanna Marin and Emily Fields, whose clique falls apart after the leader of the group, Alison, goes missing. The remaining estranged friends are reunited as they begin receiving messages a year later from a mysterious identity named "A" (and later "A.D."), who threatens and tortures them for the mistakes and lies they have made and told before and after Alison's death.
In the past, freeform and ABC Family have tried rebooting this iconic, successful franchise but have failed each time, with each reboot having only one season. Now I know it's too soon to speak on this show, but the show is soo good with so much potential and amazing execution. It's like a teen slasher mystery show.
The original sin starts off in a new town, with new characters and almost a similar storyline but it executes it completely differently. The first episode starts off with a flashback of the original sin at a rave on December 31st, 1999 in Millwood, Pennsylvania. A girl who is named Angela is seen crying for help but is ignored by her mates, ends up committing suicide that night. Twenty two years later, five of the girls who especially ignored Angela, are all grown up with daughters of their own. We get introduced to Davie, who won spirit queen back when she attended Millwood High, and her daughter Imogen who is pregnant and the father... Well... Has not been mentioned yet. Imogen's former best friend, Karen knocks on their front door and hands the mother an envelope that was left on the porch for her.
Imogen and Karen go upstairs to Imogen's bedroom and there we find out why they had a falling out and are no longer as close as they used to. Not long after, Imogen finds her mom dead in the bathtub after receiving the letter that read 'Gone but not forgotten. You can’t ignore the past. The countdown is on.'
The episodes goes on to introduce the rest of the liars; Tabby, Imogen's friend who took her in after the death of her mother, she is also a movie buff and works at a theatre, Faran, a talented ballerina, Noa recently got out of juvie and walks around with an ankle monitor when she's not doing community service and well, there's Mouse, she spends too much time online. Trust me, there is more to them and they are more fleshed out in the show but I just don't want to give too much away in case you might decide to watch it.
The episode continues with the liars receiving weird texts from an unknown number which they rightfully ignore. A nerve racking scene follows with the death of the poor janitor at the hands of a creep who have been stalking the girls throughout the episode. At the end of the episode, they a get detention for a crime they didn't commit and after explaining why they were all there, it boiled down it being Karen's fault because she targeted them and lied against each of them. Karen- school queen bee, mean girl, a twin Kelly, Imogen's former best friend, a liar and a really dysfunctional family. The liars decide to get there revenge on her, or at least teach her a lesson and the episode ends with Tabby asking what they could do to punish her, what can they do and Imogen stares dead straight into the camera and says, "I think... we should kill Karen Baesley."
Final Thoughts: Wow! What a premiere episode. I don't wanna go into the other two episodes because I won't be able to make this a spoiler free review anymore. The acting in this show is great, there hasn't been any scene so far where you just close your eyes out of second hand embarrassment cause of the acting, then cringe. And man, the writing, better than I expected. I don't really trust Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa with any tv show's writing, after, well Riverdale and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, but the writing in this show was really good. He and Lindsay Calhoon have done a really great job so far. I mean, usually his first seasons are good, flawed but good then things go down hill after wards. Kind of hope they get new input for season 2 so as to avoid that, I don't completely trust him.
Goodness, the acting, amazing! Bailee Madison as Imogen, she's absolutely amazing. I always wondered why she wasn't as popular, but hopefully during or after this show people start appreciating her acting more and she gains way more recognition. The actors and actresses on this show are great. The sheriff, Karen's dad, man I hate that man but the actor, he depicts him so well, brilliant.
The characters, the liars, the original sins, I can't even pick a fave yet. Okay, let me try; I love all the liars, but there is a hierarchy- Imogen, Faran, Noa, Tabby and Mouse. From the original sin; it's Sidney (Tabby's mom) and Elodie (one of Mouse's mom). The characters are written very well so far.
The plot and story... what can I even say? It's good. Lol, I literally have only good things to say about the first 3 episodes. I mean my only complaint is that they don't glamorize a relationship like Ezria again. I'm talking to you, Tabby and Wes because I would literally sue HBO! I want Tabby and Chip, they are so cute. "We're just friends," sureeeee, reminds me of Adrien Agreste. Nevertheless, my favourite ship so far is Noa and Shawn. They are fricking amazing together, don't ruin them for me because then love doesn't exist.
Conclusion: I can't give it a rating until the first season is over.
Amazing review will watch it soon
ReplyDeleteExcellent review!
ReplyDeleteNow, I have to watch it.
ReplyDelete