“Pretty Little Liars”
Starring: Troian Bellisario, Ashley Benson, Lucy Hale, Shay Mitchell, Sasha Pieterse
Grade: C
One thing is certain when it comes to ABC Family’s “Pretty Little Liars”; the show is never afraid of sweeping, sudden plot twists.
That’s exactly what happened at the beginning of the fifth season of the network’s most popular drama. At the end of the past season, our four protagonists, the attractive and petite deceivers referenced in the show’s title finally learn the truth about the night their best friend, Alison DiLaurentis (Sasha Pieterse), went missing. That mystery had been the series’ driving force for four seasons. With its resolution, the writers needed to redirect the show’s attention.
Initially, it appeared that this season would put Alison’s disappearance to rest and focus on the series’ other primary storyline, the anonymous stalker, A, who has been tormenting this group of adolescent girls. However, the season premiere not only revealed the identity of A — a predictably disappointing minor character named Shana (Aeriél Miranda) — it also featured A’s death at the hands of protagonist Aria (Lucy Hale).
With both major mysteries solved and previously-believed deceased Alison returned home, the writers have chosen to kill off Alison’s mother (Andrea Parker) to create a new mystery that will apparently feed the rest of the season.
To call the “Pretty Little Liars” writers heavy-handed with their application of symbolism and narrative devices is a gentle understatement. Alison’s mother was murdered and buried in the same grave she had dug for Alison three years prior. Later, when Alison chooses an outfit to wear to her mother’s funeral, she unknowingly picks the black dress Mrs. DiLaurentis wore to Alison’s wake two years ago.
There is no way the parallelism between Alison’s near-death and her mother’s actual demise could be more forcibly depicted unless the episode were to feature a split screen sequence of both women’s attacks, burials and funerals. Given all of the major developments featured in the previous two episodes, this week was mainly about individual character development among its four core cast members rather than worthwhile story developments.
While Aria struggles with her responsibility for Shana’s death, Spencer (Troian Bellisario) struggles with the fact her half-brother is suspected of Mrs. DiLaurentis’ murder. Emily (Shay Mitchell) continues to be have troubles with her girlfriend, and Hanna (Ashley Benson) laments the loss of her old self after her transformation into a personality clone of Alison after the latter’s disappearance. These struggles were seemingly told by rote and offered no new information to viewers.
The developments could easily have occupied a scene each in an episode otherwise devoted to more interesting material. Unfortunately, it seems that for all its plot twists and developments so far this season, “Pretty Little Liars” failed to yield an interesting or enjoyable addition to its canon of intrigue and deception.
