Distributor: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Episodes: 10
Duration: 45 min (per episode)
Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin: Season 1 (DVD) – Series Review
Pretty Little Liars is probably a show that will ring a bell for many people, even if they haven’t necessarily ever watched an episode of it. This series ended in 2017 and was extremely popular over the years. After it ended, however, it seemed as if it was the end of the massively popular franchise, up until Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin was announced in 2020. This new show follows the format of the original, albeit with a new story to tell, new characters to get to know, and its own dark twist that ties everything together. We were rather curious to see if this spin-off would manage to surprise us.
Original Sin starts off with a gruesome event in 1999, where a bunch of teenage girls are ignoring another girl who walks into a party while crying. The crying girl eventually gets pushed to her limit and ends up killing herself at the party. We are then fast-forwarded to the current day with little to no information, and we get to know Imogen (Bailee Madison) and her mother Davie (Carly Pope) who are living together quite happily. Imogen is a regular teenager, except for the fact that she is pregnant. She sadly is currently involved in some teen drama, as her previous best friend Karen (Mallory Bechtel) is coming over to pick up stuff. Imogen is accused of kissing Karen’s boyfriend, and it seems that this has caused bad blood between the two. Karen comes in with a flyer that was attached to the door and hands it to Davie, who reads the note attached to it and is seemingly rather disturbed. This disturbance eventually ends up with Davie committing suicide while Imogen and Karen are in the house. Things feel particularly off as Davie marked the letter A in blood on the wall of the bathroom. The flyer that the note was attached to refers to the 1999 party, and it seems that there’s something gruesome going on that still haunts the original attendees of said party. When the teenage daughters of the mean girls from the 90s start being stalked by a man with a strange mask, things start getting creepy, and Imogen decides that the girls should band together and research what is going on.
In terms of pacing and flow, the show does hit the nail on the head. Every episode has the right balance between story exposition, suspense, and action. There is not a single dull moment to be found, and while a few events are slightly predictable, we were quite often surprised by the twists and turns in the story. As a whole, we wouldn’t have minded if this show was a limited series with only one season, as the current story arc was perfect for this. A second season has already been confirmed, however, and while we are still excited to see what happens next, we hope it doesn’t get milked dry in the end.
The acting performances in Original Sin are great. A lot of cast members do not have that much experience under their belt yet, but they still manage to properly bring their characters to life. Even though we saw some stereotypes in the series, these never felt too in-your-face, and even with the limited character development, we did see an evolution in all the different characters, which is always nice. The supporting cast members also handle their roles extremely well, and we felt that the casting was done with a lot of care. The series has actors of very diverse backgrounds, and for this show, it works great. We enjoyed the fact that this was presented naturally, while still highlighting a few current issues in our modern-day society.
When buying the DVD version of Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin: Season 1, you’ll get quite a few extras on the discs. Most special features revolve around the creative process behind the series, but you’ll also get some extra insights for certain episodes, as well as a more lighthearted feature or two. We quite enjoyed going through all the bonus features, even though some of them didn’t really add that much valuable content to the mix. Even so, we always appreciate it when there’s additional material to explore.
Conclusion
Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin: Season 1 was a surprisingly good show that emulates the feeling of old-school slasher movies. While never overly explicit or horrific, the series manages to entertain from start to finish and will certainly please the fans of both horror and teen drama shows. Even though it’s already confirmed that a second season is in the making, we wouldn’t have minded it if Original Sin only had one season, as we felt the story was wrapped up nicely. That being said, if the upcoming season is as good as this one, you’re in for a treat.
No Comments