TeeVee: Pretty Little Liars
Pretty Little Liars (Mondays at 8PM on ABCFamily)
Credit - ABC Family
As one of my New Year's Resolutions, I decided I was going to start watching Pretty Little Liars. It helped that ABCFamily decided to run a marathon of the first 10 episodes before they premiere the first of 12 episode of Season 1 on Jan. 3rd. I spent the last week watching the initial 11 episodes, and I got to say "I'm hooked!"
The show is based on a popular series of novels written by Sara Shepard and is a one-hour teen drama/mystery. The series follows the lives of Spencer Hastings (Troian Bellisario), Hanna Marin (Ashley Benson), Aria Montgomery (Lucy Hale), and Emily Fields (Shay Mitchell), four girls whose clique falls apart after the disappearance of their queen bee, Alison DiLaurentis (Sasha Pieterse). One year later, after Alison's body is found, they begin receiving messages from a mysterious figure using the name "A" who threatens to expose their secrets — including long-hidden ones they thought only Alison knew.
Here are some of the girls secrets and more info:
Spencer - kissed her sister Melissa's boyfirend Ian (still a secret); kissed her sister's fiancee Wren (not a secret anymore); she stole a report written by Melissa, and won an award for it (not a secret anymore - at least with her family); knows her mom went on a drinking bender at the country club after she tested positive for cancer. She's an overachiever, with a strict family. Is now dating a guy that works at the country club her family goes to, and just found out that Ian and Melissa eloped...
Aria - in a relationship with her English teacher, Ezra Fitz (still kind of a secret); knew about her dad's affair and kept it from her mom (not a secret anymore). She's fighting to make things work with Ezra, even though he's struggling with ethics of it. Noel (a guy she was seeing while Ezra was MIA), recently caught the two making out in a car in the woods (he's promised not to say anything). Otherwise, she's trying to deal with her now separated parents.
Emily - recently come to terms with the fact that she is a lesbian and in a relationship with Maya (not a secret anymore); had a crush on Alison (not a secret anymore). She struggled with her feelings for Maya, but just told her dad that she's gay (her parents, particularly her mom, is not taking it well). Other than that, Toby confided in her, but he blames her as he was picked up by the police (and so does Jenna).
Hanna - her mom's in debt (still a secret); her dad left and only came back to tell her he's now engaged to someone else. She used to be fat, but now is the queen bee at school since Alison went missing. She shoplifted for fun, but was caught. She has a boyfriend, Sean, that wants to stay a virgin. She was hit by a car, after thinking she knew who "A" was.
Biggest story-line of the first 11 episodes:
Who's "A"!? The girls are desperate to find out who's leaving them messages about things they only thought Alison knew.
The biggest suspects were Jenna & Toby Cavanaugh because Jenna was blinded by a prank Alison and the girls did before she disappeared. Toby took ended up taking the blame for the accident, which gave the two motivation to kill Alison and mess with the girls. Plus, Alison knew that Jenna and Toby were more than step-siblings, they were having sex.
But at the end of the first 10 episodes, Toby tells Emily that he and Jenna were indeed having sex, and that he wanted to stop and Jenna didn't. It seems as if Toby was being framed for Alison's murder, and he's now kind of ruled out as being "A". Jenna hasn't been ruled out, but the girls know she probably wouldn't be able to do it on her own (considering her blindness).
Noel became a suspect recently, but I don't really see it. And the girls also realized that the older guy Alison was seeing was Ian, Spencer's sister Melissa's new husband (and one of the guys Spencer kissed), but he always seems to have an alibi for "A" appearances.
The newest suspect we've seen, but the girls haven't is... Lucas. He came in a few episodes in, while Hanna tried out a "Pro-Virginity Meeting" with Sean. These two became unlikely friends, but Hanna seems to have a soft spot for him, but when he visited her in the hospital, and they talked about a kiss he gave her earlier (she just wants to be friends), he storms out. But we've seen other clues: his dirty shoes (after Alison's memorial bench was destroyed), and his hatred for Alison in general.
But really, I think the story-lines are a bit over the top, but I like it. (Kind of like a teenage Desperate Housewives-vibe) The mystery aspect is indeed,mysterious and intriguing. And the acting is pretty great (at least for ABCFamily original programing). It's on again tonight (Jan. 10th) at 8PM, so why don't you catch the liar-fever?
