Pretty Little Liars is a 2010 teen drama mystery crime thriller developed by I. Marlene King, starring Troian Bellisario (Sister Cities), Lucy Hale (Scream 4), Ashley Benson (Eastwick), Shay Mitchell (Dreamland), Sasha Pieterse (Heroes), and Janel Parrish (To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before).  The series follows the lives of four girls whose clique falls apart after the disappearance of their leader.  One year later, the estranged friends are reunited as they begin receiving messages from a mysterious figure named “A” who threatens to expose their deepest secrets.

Plot:  Pretty Little Liars follows the exploits of four young ladies as they deal with their everyday lives while being tormented by the mysterious A after the disappearnce of their friend Alison.  I can admit that the series has a pretty interesting story.  Each season opens up more about the past events that have led up to the current story.  It’s all creative and stuff but totally implausible.

The storytelling is masterfully craft with more information being revealed without feeling out of place.  It has some strong , suspenseful moments and the more the series progresses the deeper down the rabbit hole we go.  However, I will admit that the subplots can get pretty predictable, repetitive, and far reaching.  Still, the series does have enough plot twists to keep it interesting. (3 out of 5)

Characters:  The series features some really good characters as well as some really jackass ones.  The main cast includes Aria Montgomery, Spencer Hastings, Emily Fields, and Hanna Marin.  They’re likable characters but dammit if they’re not frustrating with all the dumbass decisions they make.  They each have their own stories.  Emily is gay and working towards becoming a professional swimmer.  Aria is in a relationship with her teacher.  Spencer is highly intelligent and an addict.  Hanna is a complete airhead who believes in making every dumb decision possible.  Don’t get me wrong.  They have their moments and developing arcs.

The supporting characters are equally as polarizing.  My personal favorites are Toby Cavanaugh, Mona Vanderwaal, Paige McCullers, and Lucas Gottesman.  Everyone else contributes to the overall story; some more interesting than others.  A lot are freaking useless, more plot devices to keep the story rolling.  The whole story revolves around the character Alison who’s responsible for everything that’s basically happening. (3 out of 5)

Cast:  Despite the frustrating characters the performances are solid.  Love the performances of the main four and the awesome chemistry they have.  The main cast are Lucy Hale (Aria), Troian Bellisario (Spencer), Shay Mitchell (Emily), Ashley Benson (Hanna), Sasha Pieterse (Alison), and Janel Parrish (Mona).  The show features a large supporting cast Ian Harding, Keegan Allen, Tyler Blackburn, Vanessa Ray, Torrey DeVitto, Tammin Sursok, Holly Marie Combs, Laura Leighton, Julian Morris, Brant Daugherty, Cody Christian, Chad Lowe, Drew Van Acker, Bianca Lawson, Lindsey Shaw, Brendan Robinson, Nia Peeples, Bryce Johnson, Ryan Merriman, Nolan North, and Lesley Fera. (3 out of 5)

Visuals:  Visually it’s a great looking show.  The cinematography is great and you can see the high production value. (3 out of 5)

Score/Music:  Thumbs up for the music.  There are some great songs played.  It works well with the suspense and the drama, you know, what you’d expect from a thriller. (3 out of 5)

Writing:  This is a very polarizing to me.  On one hand the writers do a great job with the narration.  It’s very complicated, intermingling several major events with so many different characters to make a cohesive story.  There’s a good bit of mystery and suspense that’s balanced well with the drama.  But on the other hand the writing is lzay, sporadic, and dumb at times.  It took my fiancee for me to notice that nearly all the men are bad guys to one degree or another.  And/or leading some kind of double life.  Everyone has some life threatening secret or connected to this conspiracy.  Why?

Characters are written in, just out of the blue for no reason other than being a plot device.  For example, this dude named Jonny Raymond pops up in season five and is staying in the Hastings’ barn.  Where the hell did he come from and why is he staying in a barn?  Character roles become incredibly predictable.  And I have to say that the parents of the show are some of the worst scum on the Earth.  All this stuff is happening around their daughters and they don’t just move?  Also, this thing with A being omnipotent is just pushing it. Not to mention quite impossible. (3 out of 5)

The Verdict:  In the end, Pretty Little Liars is a good series but it gets ridiculous after a while.   The show does have problems and its mostly around stupid characters, story repetition, and predictable plots.  However, it is suspenseful, has an interesting story, has likable characters, good performances, good production value, and a good score.  Pretty Little Liars gets 3 out of 5.