on “Pretty Little Liars” (2010-present)

Summary: It would seem what problems teenage girls can have, from small town Rosewood? Difficulty in choosing a dress and setbacks on the love front. The main heroes of the series dream about such problems. Instead, they are threatened and blackmailed by maniac who kidnapped and killed their leader, Allison. A year after her disappearance, the mysterious intruder A is going to ruin the lives of four friends: Aria, Spencer, Emily and Hanna. Girls are in real danger. They have to find out what happened to Allison, and if they’re lucky – to avoid her tragic fate.

The Good: I’m not actually sure there is much good here besides the casting and the fashion. And lots and lots of eye candy.

The Bad: This show. Seriously, they ALWAYS make the wrong decision, pretty much anytime they might make a right decision, the person they would speak to is going to fuck things up for them. People drop like flies left and right.

Then you have the families. In what world do parents give their teenagers that much autonomy. It’s baffling.

The Ugly: To be honest, 90% of the time I feel like the leads are too stupid to live. The level of angst is so over the top it’s almost unbearable. I have stopped and started this show multiple times.

The main problem, of course, is how long the drag out the main plot, who is A? Most shows now will hold on for one plot line for maybe a season, definitely for at least 3 or four eps in a smaller arc. Aside from The Mentalist, this show has held out a plot the longest I’ve ever seen, and it’s really fucking frustrating. It just kept getting more and more convoluted. It’s no wonder I had to take a break from it.

Then let’s talk about the older men and high school girls theme that repeats throughout the show. Really? This is a show geared towards high schoolers, young adults. Teacher student relationships being rationalized, older men trying to sleep with younger girls…ugh.

Conclusion: This show should be filed under “Guilty Pleasure”. At no point do the scripts rise into the okay realm, never mind good or excellent. And yet, like a car accident on the highway, I just can’t look away. I have to know what happened. But I feel like I’ve lost some IQ points for having watched it, all the same.

Grade: D+

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