I Love A Good Secret: Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin 1.01-1.03 Review

Rating: ★★★★☆

This blog post encompasses the first three episodes of the Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin, which dropped all at once to launch the new series on HBO Max. I've written each segment after watching that individual episode, but wanted to include it all in a single review.

1.01 "Spirit Week"

Apparently my blog is just a 4-Star Reviews blog. And quite honestly, the biggest reason is because one of the characters said something like "Why hasn't Karen been cancelled yet?" They really had my full attention on my TV until I burst out laughing at that line in this episode.

It's awesome that "Secret" by The Pierces is being featured as the theme song once again. The opening titles were really interesting, though the "Shhh" index-finger-to-the-lips is very missed.

Once the action started, I immediately thought this was a step-up from the ICONIC original series because HBO Max can get away with more graphic swearing than ABC Family/Freeform could ever have dreamed of featuring. I don't think excessive swearing would be necessary, but there's something about a horror/thriller/slasher being able to say "f*ck" that makes the trauma more realistic.

One aspect of the episode that did kind of bother me was the Split-Field Diopter where a character in the foreground was in focus at the same time as a character in the background, with the center of the frame blurred. It's a technique that can be useful in many cases, I've just never been a fan. And it was featured a handful of times in the episode, hopefully it isn't over-used through the season.

I'm a huge Bailee Madison fan, so I'm very excited to see what she does on this new show. She was definitely the "main character" of this episode. It will be interesting to see if she's the season/series main character, or if each episode shifts focus to the five main girls.

Then seeing Tabatha (Chandler Kinney) working at a movie theater and the conversation included "Go mop the projector booth." I just left my job at the local movie theater (on good terms, I just want my evenings and weekends back) and I pictured how much of a mess a projector booth could really be.

To the best of my memory, my only context for Mallory Bechtel, who plays Karen AND Kelly in this show, is from when she played Zoe Murphy in Dear Evan Hansen on Broadway. Going from a sweet, lovable character to the Queen Bee, secondary antagonist is a big shift, but I am here for it.

SPOILER: The episode ending with "We should kill Karen Beasley," showed me that this show is not messing around. It's a true departure from the original series.

1.02 "The Spirit Queen"

So we just aren't going to talk about the last line of Episode 1? Just going to skip right past the part where Imogen suggests murder? Sure. I guess we can forget that ever happened.

The video scene at the movie theater was definitely cringey, but it's supposed to be. Except that it's about Karen, so maybe I wasn't supposed to feel bad for her? Uncertain.

Then "A" comes along and commits murder and the vibes finally match the original series. And (nearly) ending the episode with the text to the five Liars as we see them all pull out their phones in horror - I was ready for that moment!

1.03 "Aftermath"

What made me most mad this episode was that the ballet teacher could get away with being so rude to Faran. I mean, yes the teacher was written as racist along with almost everyone else in the ballet class. But especially as an arts teacher? Artists make themselves vulnerable in so many ways and anyone teaching any sort of art class should be building their students up, not kicking them out of class over something that hasn't been proven.

It just hit me that the original series also did the twin angle, though much worse and I will forever be mad at which character ended up having a twin. I believe the books also had the twin story for Ali, but I haven't read that series yet. So I appreciate that we're getting through the twin aspect of the show right at the beginning instead of waiting for it to happen. And this time the twins actually make sense! I fully anticipate them to pull a "You thought it was this twin, but it was actually this one, they're just identical so you couldn't tell."

One of my favorite aspects of the original series was the Liars' moms, but they rarely got good storylines. There's the one episode where they all came together before getting locked in a basement for the rest of the episode. I have a feeling adding the late 90s plot of the moms in their senior year was partially in response to the love that the OG moms received. And it works so well! Not only am I questioning everything the Liars are doing, I have to be wary of the parents too!

After the episode 2 cliffhanger, I was a little disappointed that this episode closed with the Liars seeing A staring at them at the graveyard. I was expecting something a little scarier and more intense to need resolution next week, but I'm still excited regardless. Especially after the promo teased more violence and direct interactions between the girls and A.

I need to brush up on Broadway actors because I didn't realize creepy Wes the movie theater manager is played by Derek Klena until the credits were rolling and I saw his name. I think he's a good actor, I don't like his character though. At least they're making the adult hitting on the teen girl actually creepy, instead of re-creating the Ezria scenario.

General Note:

Of course the showrunner is Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, one of the writers and producers of Glee and the man responsible for Riverdale, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, and Katy Keene. Surprisingly, I barely get the cheesy Riverdale vibes though, which is a nice change of pace.