NOW PLAYING: Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin
The series follows the lives of a group of teenage girls who begin receiving terror from a mysterious assailant named "A", holding them responsible for something tragic that happened in the past.
This week we’re gearing up for a rootin’ tootin’ good time covering HBO Max’ latest dive in to the Pretty little Liars universe. Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin is the fourth installation in the PLL Franchise following a group of four teens dealing with the mysterious death (suicide) of their friend Angela. Similarly based on the books by Sara Shepard, this one seems to take a bit of a different tone despite having the same loose plot as the typical PLL make up. Boasting none of the character named cast: Aria, Hanna, Spencer, Emily, I truly don’t know what to expect from the latest and greatest except raw, sexual Power.
Let’s see what this one is all about!
They’ve got the old intro music playing and already, the opening sequence slaps harder than the previous one does. We’re following who I assume is A being absolutely deranged on his fuck shit with vials of shit in jars and all these photos of the main girls hanging around. It’s a very American Horror Story intro of them and I respect them for getting right in to it with no opening scene to set the mood.
A New Order song plays as “Millwood, Pennsylvania December 31st 1999 “ fills the screen.
Someone is calling out for a “Sidney, Corey, and Davie “ but none of her friends can hear her. She stumbles through the back door of a Halloween party with makeup streaked down her face asking everyone for help. Bestie is not doing too hot but her friends are having a blast on the dance floor and are too busy to notice her. Relatable, seeing as when a song I’m banging to like “Shut Up and Drive” plays, it’s no one but me and the dance floor baby. She grabs her friend Sid but Davie is like No, we talked about this and Sid turns around to dance with her friends, ignoring the crying girl.
Oh? Did Angela (crying girl) commit some fuck behavior? Some slight against girl code? Was Angela a big ol’ bumbling slut?
Resolved, Angela climbs a ladder as a countdown to midnight takes place. Everyone notices her up there and the music stops as she jumps off the scaffolding, dead.
Huge bummer for her five friends who now have blood pooling at their feet. (Also sorry I called you a slut RIP)
Twenty two years later, a mom is having dinner with her daughter Imogen, a pregnant teen. Her mom tells her to drink her milk and then holds her hand, comforting her daughter on some falling out she’s had with a friend recently. Mom’s a “cool mom” because she calls this girl a “stark-raving crazy bitch” and her daughter is like mom! You’re so bad! The pregnant girl gets up to grab her friend at the door who says “Greg’s waiting at the car so I don’t want any drama.” Karen, the friend, gives the mother Davie a letter that was taped to her door. The “A” in Davie is highlighted and the letter is a flyer to the old Halloween party she attended where her friend died.
Davie’s having wacky flashbacks but has to keep it contained because Imogen (interesting name) and her buddy Karen (wearing all pink) head up stairs to talk shop. Davie turns the flyer over and it says “Gone but never forgotten. You can’t ignore the past forever. The countdown starts now.”
Hold up, freeze frame, they also live across from a GRAVEYARD!?
The drama with Karen and Imogen is that Imogen made out with Karen’s boyfriend at a party. I don’t think he’s the one who got her pregnant, but that question is left to be answered as running water is now seeping down the hall. Imogen tentatively calls out for her mom as she moves closer to the bathroom but finds her mom dead in the bath covered in blood.
Okay Dexter Season Four.
One Month Later on September 28th a teen and her hot mom are talking about what they’re doing for dinner. Tabby has been picking up extra shifts at work lately because she wants to give Imogen space after her mom passed. There’s something to be said about the cycle of a mom dying and this teenage girl about to have a baby, but it’s lost on me because all I’m paying attention to is the COSTUME design happening. It’s great. Imogen comes downstairs and is skipping breakfast but will eat after school. I’m catching vibes that she’s living with Tabby Hayworth and her mom Sid which is yet to be determined.
Time for Tabby and Imogen to head to school!
They’re walking to school mulling over the fact their parents were friends in high school. Neither of them were aware of this information, but they pass over the conversation quickly in lieu of Imogen being nervous to return back to school. On the way there, they stop at her house to pick up a few things but she’s got TRAUMAAAA and is not going to go in. Fair, considering I would also never step foot in my own home if my mom was brutally murdered in there. I am a very sensitive baby who can’t even sleep right now reading Michelle McNamara’s book so seeing my own blood and kin lying in a heap of her own filth? Count me out please!
Tabby’s headed on up the stairs to put the key beneath the mat when a figure moves in to frame in the house, watching them. It genuinely scares me but neither girl notices it, showing up to realize it’s Spirit Week at school. Karen is in the front doorway selling cupcakes and stops Imogen to check in on how she’s doing. Tabby, rightfully so, calls Karen out for being a narcissist who hasn’t checked in on Imogen, genuinely and she’s like ok but I was there too so like??? I have more brownie points than u, Tabby <3
I love when friends try to monetize trauma. Gimme more.
We cut to a screaming Karen running out of the house flooded in red lighting. Ooooo this is MUCH darker than the original Pretty Little Liars, I’m here for it.
Karen hugs Imogen and says in her ears “nobody wants your pregnant, tragic ass here.” Karen is uglier than Imogen, making me think she’s jealous of her, but she also seems more popular so I’m confused what her MO is. Tabby says fuck everyone, you don’t owe anyone anything and you can sit with me at lunch. Imogen is like thanks <3 and heads to class as we get introduced by a new bad bitch in town:
Faran, a hot girl who does NOT have the time to say hi to Karen despite Karen’s desperate pleas. Karen shifts her attention to some girl named Mouse looking at a GSA poster and says Mouse doesn’t need to come out, they already know. Mouse bravely calls her a dick and turns around to run in to some girl with an ankle bracelet on, who bonds with her over the fact that yes, Karen is a raging cunt.
Karen and some girl named Kelly.
The girl with the ankle bracelet is named Noa and has to show up first thing to the nurses office with pee every morning for some reason. She says hi to Kelly in the nurses office and they’re?? twins?!! Noa walks by some guy named Shawn and has a massive freak out about her life being a shit show, saying she has to pee in a cup for the rest of the year and do community service, too. She’s sad she has to miss the dance with Shawn because she has to stay at home and oOOOOOooO indicates there might be some sexy time, ok!!!! I could NEVER in high school but you go off! Kiss in those halls!
Ope, mood ruined though. A text from an unknown number says “don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.” AHHHH!
In a film class, Tabitha calls out the teacher for not putting a single director who’s a woman or person of color on their list of films they have to watch and he’s like ok well this was vetted by my colleagues so?? Old people can’t do any wrong? You can watch whatever movies you want outside these walls and she tries to plug her own film club but is shut down. Immediately getting a text from an Unknown number that says “what’s your favorite movie?” Tabby gets on edge when the guy responds he’s a Peeping Tom. Imogen gets a more direct text that says “Look out the window” and it’s a terrifying guy standing some way off.
Horrifying.
Mouse gets a text that says “Can the mouse come out to play?” and the stakes are UPPED! Smart one that she is, she blocks the number. Good. In ballet class, Faran is given the part of the Black Swan and Karen doesn’t get a part but is rather, an after thought as “The Queen.” She makes eyes with her sister about how annoyed she is as Faran stretches on the pole as Karen makes an overt macroaggression about her being the Black Swan. An unknown number texts her that she’s going to slay as the black swan and vibes are off, she’s stressed out.
Side note, they have one actress playing twins Kelly and Karen! Very true to the PLL book series because Allison ended up having a twin later on! Spoiler!
In Pittsburgh, Faran’s mom picks up the phone to Faran excitedly saying she got the part in the ballet dance. Her mom says she’ll come to the high school to see her in the play but has a little moment of doubt because as we all know, the mom is one of the woman who’s friend Angela died in the first scene. People flank Imogen in the bathroom about what she’s going to do about the baby since her mom’s dead and panicked, she goes to the nurse and says she wants to get rid of the baby. She says since her mom’s not around to help raise it, the best option is to abort it but she’s six months pregnant and it’s too late which fucking blows oh my God.
This is worst case scenario.
The nurse says she can give it up for adoption in three months though and she’s like yeah, okay. Karen, meanwhile, tracks down Noa in the hall to say something condescending while asking if she’d vote for her for Spirit Queen. At community service, she’s cleaning up a section of town the mayor thinks has a lot of potential but isn’t quite there yet.
Back at the school, Tabby enters the boys locker room to grab a ??? Go Pro??? She goes to work and the guy from her film class, Chip, also works there. Noa, meanwhile, sees the creepy guy lingering in a nearby window while she’s cleaning up and goes to report him to the cop overseeing their community service. She catches a YOUNGER GUY giving him head in the service program and runs away.
Yikes! Men are BAD!
Tabby is cleaning the counter at the movie theater while her now Manager talks to her about directors the way men love discussing movies. He uses the words “auteur” and “Hitchcock” and immediately, I’m tired. Tabby makes a point about saying all the victims are sexualized before being killed in Dress to Kill and this MANAGER is like wow, you remind me of the girls I dated in college <3. She side steps that and says she’d love to go to NYU and also, can they do a double feature of Jordan Peele movies on Thursday? He’s like do you need a ride home? And she says sure and he’s like great.
Okay bad vibes, bad vibes.
Imogen goes back to her house and smells all her mom’s things :( Poor girl. She sees the ultrasound of the lil’ baby in her stomach and cries before spying the flyer Davie got before she died. Opening it up, she finds the note on the back. Ay carumba!
Noa comes back from community service and her mom says “you don’t need bad influences in your life.” A flashback plays indicating she was also there the night Angela died which we’ve come to understand seeing as all of the mom’s kids are being targeted. The manager Wes brings Tabby home and stops on the side of the road to smoke weed. He says “you’re something else you know that Tabs? You’re special.” He dangles NYU in front of her saying he’s talked to his old professors about her and they’re impressed which WE ALL KNOW IS A PLOY!!! IT’S NOT REAL!! She’s talking about Ari Aster and I’m groaning because I know he’s taking this as an opportunity to yep, there it goes. He’s holding her hand. He’s moving in for the kiss. Right as he does, he sees the fucking scary guy just standing there looking at them both.
Can’t believe the terrifying dude saved the day.
Back at home, Tabby says goodnight to her mom quickly before running up the stairs, flustered. She locks the door behind her and plugs in the camera she put in the guy’s locker room to just??? Take notes on their junk???
Why lol
In ballet, Faran is absolutely SLAYING the competition but her teacher only says “good enough.” Henry apologizes for sweating on her but he seems gay so idk what this is. The teacher calls her in to the office afterwards to chide her for not staying for class the day before. She’s not going to get to Alvin Ailey (whatever the fuck that is) with that attitude, missy!!! She says she’s thinking ABT but the teacher says “I doubt they’d take you because you had scoliosis.”
Literally why is no one rooting for hot girl Faran :(
In the computer lab, Mouse meets an Ash who says Mouse should come to one of the Spectrum meetings, which is the gay people meeting. He’s like we have good snacks there and it’s a safe space and I don’t get why they’re flirting if Mouse was established as gay but Alright. Imogen meets with the principal about the possible abortion she floated by the nurse and he’s like we’re all so worried about you :/ Maybe you should go to a different school WOWWWWW. I’m sorry, what is the principal doing? Edging her out because she’s pregnant and wants an abortion? He literally says people are “Triggered by her presence here” and she says what classmates?
Cut to a cafeteria scene where Imogen is on the prowl going after Karen. She says “are you fucking serious?” and the entire cafeteria turns to watch her chew her out. Karen’s like “you’re unhinged :/” and Imogen turns to Karen’s boyfriend Greg to say “will you finally tell her the truth?” Imogen’s so god damn fed up she says she’s going to run for Spirit Queen against Karen and she’s going to win.
Home girl storms out with her head held high.
At Karen and Kelly’s dinner, vibes are tense. Karen’s bitching about Imogen and Faran getting the lead role and her dad cuts her off to chew her out. We get the vibes she has daddy issues and that’s why she’s up tight but also she’s a bitch? Do we care? He says if she wants to dance the lead role she needs to be better and it’s super tense at their house thank God the scene is over.
Mouse, at home, is talking to Ash online because apparently she’s not a lesbian but we’re just going to dangle the gay thing out there and never portray queer relationships period!!!!!!!! Annoying! Mouse’ mom, who was also there the night Angela died, says a word of caution about Mouse talking to a boy she doesn’t know well and we switch back to ugh, Karen.
Karen is at dinner with Greg and she’s chewing him out about getting a suit or something for the dance. She’s talking about her parent issues including her mom being a coward and her dad being a dick. Greg says “it’s ballet, who cares?” and she kicks him under the table going off on his football games. She says “you’re lucky I let you touch me” and he gets up to leave, throwing money down on the table on his way out.
Good, put her in her place.
At school, Faran is dancing when she sees a figure in the mirror. Home girl is ALL alone at this school and I’m stressed! I don’t like this! She’s running around! The lighting is eery! The Madam interrupts her line of thought asking why she’s not practicing and then saunters out past her. At Imogen and Tabby’s, the two talk about Imogen’s bold decision to go for Spirit Queen and she opens up about having a ton of panic attacks the previous day. She reveals she asked the nurse for an abortion but didn’t really think through it. Given the circumstances, Imogen is like idk if I can be pregnant I mean I went back to my house and found this invite my mom received the night she died and I’m freaking out, I can’t figure out why she killed herself. Tabby reassures Imogen she will be okay and better yet, she’ll win Spirit Queen and the two guffaw.
Everything’s going to be okay :’)
At school, the Janitor yells at the mysterious man and tells him he can’t be in the school. Following him outside, the Janitor enters a little side room shop thing and sees a ton of weird shit, including Faran’s shoes, a mouse, and a ton of flyers, laying around. He says he’s calling the Sheriff and the dude slashes his throat.
Sad reacts only.
Imogen shows up to school the next day and sees a ton of Karen’s posters slashed out with “Bitch” and “Whore” written on them. Obviously, Karen pulled the classic Camp Rock move (I recently watched this) of staging her own bullying to get the good girl out of Final Jam. The principal calls Imogen to his office, thinking she defaced Karen’s posters, and Karen gets a dead fucking rat in her purse!!!!!! Good!
In the computer lab, someone sneaks up on Mouse and that someone is Mr. G. He asks if Mouse put a rat in Karen’s bag? Things aren’t looking good for anyone because weed is showing up in Noa’s urine sample and she’s like I didn’t though? Not me? She’s getting detention for a week and my girlfriend just joined the show to ask “where are they finding all these black principals?” upon seeing the nurse is black.
Love when Ana shows up for the last six minutes.
In ballet, Karen’s foot is hurting and the teacher takes it off to find a fucking razor in it. She accuses Faran and she’s like why would I do that? The teacher sends her to the principals office and it looks like they’re all in detention, baby.
Breakfast Club time!
Imogen tells the group yes, her and Karen used to be friends but now Karen wants to destroy Imogen because she kissed her boyfriend once. Faran says Karen put razor blades in her own point shoes to get Faran kicked out and Noa’s trying to figure out if Karen threw her drug test for saying she wouldn’t vote for Karen for queen. I put together Noa saw Karen’s dad (the cop) getting head from a kid and OHHHHHHHH!!!!
BIG TWIST.
Mouse talks about her backstory with Karen which isn’t big, she just introduced herself as Mouse and Karen calls her Rodent. Imogen is really rallying the troops against Karen and they’re saying they should cancel Karen. They all agree to get payback on her and decide they’re going to kill Karen as the next rational step.
Overall, I’m giving this a 7/10. I think it introduces modernity in to the show really well, making it a pertinent teen show to this time period specifically, and I’m not sure I’ve seen something that introduces that with ease in a while. I genuinely jumped at a few scenes and enough was established to keep me invested, but I wonder if it was too much, if every spinning plate will come down. Having an ensemble of five is muuuch different than four and though each plot is unique in itself, I worry HBO Max is taking on too much to chew. Given that it was an hour long, at times the pilot dragged on. Though yes, I am curious to see what comes of Pretty Little Liars, being an avid fan, it doesn’t stick out in my head as one I care to continue watching in the long run.
A lot of my friends have hyped it up hardcore, though, so maybe it’s worth sticking with it.
See you next week for whatever Q show I can think of !!!!!!!