All this week, Ology.com’s New TV Preview Week is celebrating our favorite (and least favorite) spring premieres by doing what we do best: watching them in advance and letting you know if they’re worth your time. Each day, we’ll be putting one major show under the microscope, and Monday, Terron R. Moore takes a look at what makes ABC Family’s Pretty Little Liars so addictive.
Show: Pretty Little Liars, ABC Family
Timeslot: Tuesdays at 8pm
Seasons: 3 ½
The Basics: A gang of girls in Rosewood, PA try and solve the mystery of who killed their old frenemy Alison, who was a pretty horrible human being (like Regina George, except way worse), and the further they dig, the more their frenemies keep dying.
Why We Love It: Creepy mystery? Shocking twists? High tween fashion and shirtless hunks? You’d be hard-pressed to find something not to love about PLL.
The Eye Candy: Lucy Hale (Aria), Ashley Benson (Hanna), Shay Mitchell (Emily), Troian Bellisario (Spencer), Keegan Allen (Toby), Ian Harding (Ezra), Brendan Robinson (Lucas), Tyler Blackburn (Caleb), Drew Van Acker (Jason)
What You Should Know Before Watching: That on the show’s Halloween special, the most likely suspect--police officer and side-winder Garrett Reynolds--was mysteriously murdered while also insisting that he was not Ali’s killer. The gauntlet was then thrown in the direction of--GASP--Aria’s dad!
You’ll Be Ready For: The season premiere (“She’s Better Now”) picks up roughly where the Halloween episode drops off, the girls still spooked about Garrett’s death and everything it means about the N.A.T. club, ‘A’s identity, and Aria’s dad. But all of this is thrown for a loop when Mona returns to Rosewood, packing plenty of suspicious actions, more secrets than ever, and more strategic moves than the girls are ready for.
You can expect to see ‘A’ back at his old “message-in-a-bottle” tricks, and while some are, um, “brainy”, others are downright dangerous. Plus, creepy Toby is plenty ready to return. Actually, Toby’s pretty much gone full creep now, but thank heAvens he’s still got those abs!
You Won’t Be Ready For: The first episode back is surprisingly high on small-time players: characters like Lucas, Jason, Meredith and even Hanna’s grandmother make some surprising contributions to the episode. But many of them weave right into the second half of season 3’s central mysteries, and while many of these characters hold the key to many, many new secrets, one of them gives an important clue to one of the Liars.
Are There Answers? A few of the minor cliffhangers from the last episode (Who did Aria stab? Did Byron and Ali have a secret situation?) will certainly be answered, as they are crucial points to figure out as we get into the back of the season. But as ‘A’ (or better, The ‘A’ Team) sets their sights on some surprising new victims, there will be plenty new questions that will arise.
Minutes Until First Ezra Sighting: 19 minutes, plus commercials
EZRIA HINTS PLEASE: Is Pretty Little Liars ever willing to let Ezra and Aria exist in peace? Of course, not, and it won’t take long before one of them has to face a certain truth.
Okay, something about the other relationships I may or may not care about: It’s nice to see Hanna and Caleb together, but those of you still pulling for Lucas and Hanna to get together may have something to root for in the episode.
WILL I LOVE IT OR NOT: Premieres and finales are like Pretty Little Liars’ bread and butter, and they have yet to fail at delivering, especially when we’ve been waiting for months to get back into Rosewood. Will your head be spinning? Of course, but that’s exactly how you like it.
Pretty Little Liars premieres Tuesday, January 8th at 8pm on ABC Family.
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Follow Terron R. Moore on Twitter: @cityfitch
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