Pretty Little Liars Review: Is it Worth Watching?

Pretty Little Liars features a standard plotline, stretched out over seven seasons of drama, suspense and macabre. The show captured teens’ hearts and generated a global fandom. It is loosely based on the novel series of the same name by Sara Shepard. 

While half of the show features characters staring at their mobile screens and the horror doesn’t scare, Pretty Little Liars succeeded in making a primetime entertainment mark.

1. Quick Review

Pretty Little Liars is not worth the time and dedication it would take to complete the seven seasons unless you’re specifically looking for a teenage drama for your brain cells.

Pretty Little Liars | Teaser [UK & Ireland] | Netflix

The show has a cult following but has never been able to showcase great depth in acting, plot, or dramatization. Overall, it’s an average drama-mystery show primarily made for and starring teenage girls.

2. Info & Watch Links

3. Is It Worth Watching?

Initially, Pretty Little Liars was described as a “Desperate Housewives for teens.” The show has received multiple Teen Choice Awards and People’s Choice Awards. It has just the right amount of mystery and suspense to hook a young mind, but as it progresses, the series gets stuck in a loop.

I. Plot

Set in the fictional town of Rosewood, the story revolves around five high school girls. They are the popular clique of the school and live lives filled with drama and steamy relationships. When the leader of their group, Allison, suddenly disappears, their friendship falls apart, and they go their separate ways.

One year later, they are reunited when all four of them, namely, Spencer, Aria, Hannah, and Emily, start receiving anonymous text messages. The messages are from an unknown mysterious entity named A, who threatens to expose their dirty secrets.

At first, the girls think its Allison, but after her body is discovered, they realize that it is someone else who is out for revenge. The person starts controlling their life and actions dictating who they can be friends with and who they have to fight.

A secret relationship between one of the girls and her teacher is that another girl’s sexuality is used as leverage for blackmail. As the friends try to figure out who is behind this string of texts, they face horrible choices, nasty situations, and violence.

II. Cast & Characters

Pretty Little Liars is a show that makes you care more about the characters than the story. Throughout its seven-season run, the girls go through a lot as their friendship and trust are tested. Their relationships are thrown in jeopardy, and they go through personality shaping arcs.

Troian Bellisario plays Spencer Hastings, a strong-willed, confident girl who is always competitive and tries to get results. She is a perfectionist who uses her wealth to get what she wants. Spencer also has a compassionate side to her as she will go to any length to protect those she cares about.

Ashley Benson plays Hanna Marin, a girl who used to be obese and had an eating disorder. After Allison disappears, Hanna changes her lifestyle and habits, and her personality starts resembling Allison’s.

She sheds her nickname Hefty Hanna and becomes the most popular girl in school, with the help of her new best friend, Mona Vanderwaal.

Lucy Hale plays Aria Montgomery, an old rebel who moves away after Allison disappears. When she returns to Rosewood after a year, she has a girly personality and is extremely protective of her family.

Shay Mitchell rounds up the group as Emily Fields, the sporty and athletic one of the group. She is the swim team captain and is a closeted lesbian, whose sexuality is used against her by A.

4. Grade

5. Final Thoughts

Pretty Little Liars is the kind of show you’ll either like from the get-go or give up on in the first season. As if the seven long seasons weren’t enough, ABC launched two spin-off series, Ravenswood and Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists, both of which were canceled after one season each.

The characters and the story start feeling repetitive as every season has the same premise of anonymous texts and suspense.  At one point, the show begins the same loop again with a different anonymous troll; this one named AD instead of A. If you like the premise, you’’ be offered much more of the same.