Pretty Little Liars is a mystery drama series based on the Sara Shepard book series of the same name. We follow the lives of 5 teenagers in a small town in Pennsylvania where they are harassed by a cyber bully.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!⚠️⚠️⚠️

The show starts with the group of 5 girls in a barn drinking before they pass out, only to wake up to their friend, Alison missing.

We flash forward a year later, with Alison still missing. The other girls aren’t really friends anymore until they receive threatening text messages from “A”. At first glance, “A” appears to be Alison. But then, the police found her body in her backyard.

After this, the show follows a very basic formula. The Liars will find a suspect, who presumably killed Alison, and is now threatening them with their secrets. Over the next few episodes, they’ll continue to stack up evidence against this suspect. But usually, the suspect in question couldn’t have done it in the first place or they end up dead themselves. The writers use this structure quite a few times, although the end result makes the situation unique.

Once “A” is revealed, a replacement shows up not long after. There are multiple accomplices who help this ‘new’ “A” , They get revealed throughout the next 3 seasons. These seasons aren’t too bad even though they follow the same formula as I said before. There are also other predictable moments throughout, such as Alison still being alive.

For me, this show really peaked at the end of Season 5 and the beginning of Season 6. The writers really impressed me with the Dollhouse, an underground bunker “A” built to trap the girls in and modeled after their bedrooms. They managed to still build suspense with a static set for the main characters until the big reveal of “A”.

Pretty Little Liars: Five Years Later

The second half of Season 6 starting with Episode 11 all takes place five years later. Alison brings the Liars back to Rosewood to help release their tormentor, Charlotte. The girls released Charlotte by giving testimonies. She was murdered the same night. Not long after, all five of the girls begin receiving texts from “AD”, demanding to know who killed Charlotte and threatening them in typical “A” fashion.

Season 7 was more enjoyable than season 6, mainly due to a board game the girls receive, Liars’ Lament. The game forces each liar to perform certain tasks leading up to the reveal of “AD” or “Uber A”. The season (& series) finale, packed a lot of content running 90 minutes. The reveal was a bit cliche, but was still ultimately enjoyable due to the backstory of “Uber A”.

TLDR;

Overall, the overarching story line was very enjoyable, although really tangled at some points. The characters are very likable, and go through pretty decent character development, but most important of all, they’re fun to watch. I think you can last 7 seasons, this show is definitely worth a binge.

You can start this binge of Pretty Little Liars on HBO Max today!

4.5/5

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