For whatever reason, I was quite looking forward to this PERFECTIONISTS spinoff of "Pretty Little Liars". I had tapped out on PLL somewhere around Season 6. It felt like dragging out drama for the sake of it. Honestly, in retrospect, it felt like they were just making stuff up from Season 2 onwards. It's like the Dr. Pepper commercial "I'm an A, she's an A, he's an A, we're an A, wouldn't you like be an A, too?" It become too convoluted after a while. Of course I re-visited the show in the finale to find out who the true A really was. Yeah, not worth the wait.
However, this spinoff seems very promising, in large part due to the fact that it stars 2 of my favorite characters from the original series Alison DiLaurentis (played by Sasha Pieterse) and Mona Vanderwaal (played by Janel Parrish). Aria was actually my 2nd favorite behind Alison, with Mona coming in 3rd, but in fact Mona fits way better into this series than Aria would. Ali and Mona are the 2 most devious liars and it's a treat getting to see them work their magic in a new setting, the fictional university of Beacon Heights.
I'm really liking the new main characters as well, this time a trio of "liars"' instead of a foursome: Caitlin Park-Lewis (confidently played by Sydney Park), Dylan Walker (earnestly played by Eli Brown) and last but not least Ava Jalali (excellently played by teen idol Sofia Carson). Caitlin envisions a political career, Dylan being a world-renowned violinist, and Ava ruling the fashion world. The writing does a fantastic job of weaving the characters' personal interests, majors, and goals into the fabric of the overarching murder mystery.
The victim in question is Nolan Hotchkiss (well played in the Pilot by Chris Mason) and surviving him are his older sister Taylor Hotchkiss (solidly played by Hayley Erin) and mother Claire Hotchkiss (superbly played by TV veteran Kelly Rutherford). The Hotchkiss family basically run the university and are it's biggest benefactors. Rounding out the engaging cast are Mason Gregory (good performance by Noah Gray-Cabey) and Dana Booker (craftily played by film/TV vet Klea Scott). The only characters I'm not feeling are the love interests of the main trio. They are all so dull and interchangeable and take away from the main story too much, one reason I took away 1 star from this otherwise entertaining spinoff.
But overall, I'm really enjoying the mixture of murder mystery, university politics, familial power struggles, and friendship dynamic. In particular, the writing is doing an amazing job of fusing the old PLL cast with the new, while allowing both parties to have their own meaningful interactions with each other. Ali and Mona's scenes are funny and refreshing with the occasional cheeky callback to PLL. The main trio have great chemistry with each other. In particular, I'm loving the friendship between Ava and Dylan, with Caitlin being the glue that holds the group together. And Ali's scenes with the trio have a genuine mother hen quality, which is a callback to the original series where she was the leader of the group of liars. Ali always knows best! Hopefully, this refreshing, engaging series continues for several seasons.
However, this spinoff seems very promising, in large part due to the fact that it stars 2 of my favorite characters from the original series Alison DiLaurentis (played by Sasha Pieterse) and Mona Vanderwaal (played by Janel Parrish). Aria was actually my 2nd favorite behind Alison, with Mona coming in 3rd, but in fact Mona fits way better into this series than Aria would. Ali and Mona are the 2 most devious liars and it's a treat getting to see them work their magic in a new setting, the fictional university of Beacon Heights.
I'm really liking the new main characters as well, this time a trio of "liars"' instead of a foursome: Caitlin Park-Lewis (confidently played by Sydney Park), Dylan Walker (earnestly played by Eli Brown) and last but not least Ava Jalali (excellently played by teen idol Sofia Carson). Caitlin envisions a political career, Dylan being a world-renowned violinist, and Ava ruling the fashion world. The writing does a fantastic job of weaving the characters' personal interests, majors, and goals into the fabric of the overarching murder mystery.
The victim in question is Nolan Hotchkiss (well played in the Pilot by Chris Mason) and surviving him are his older sister Taylor Hotchkiss (solidly played by Hayley Erin) and mother Claire Hotchkiss (superbly played by TV veteran Kelly Rutherford). The Hotchkiss family basically run the university and are it's biggest benefactors. Rounding out the engaging cast are Mason Gregory (good performance by Noah Gray-Cabey) and Dana Booker (craftily played by film/TV vet Klea Scott). The only characters I'm not feeling are the love interests of the main trio. They are all so dull and interchangeable and take away from the main story too much, one reason I took away 1 star from this otherwise entertaining spinoff.
But overall, I'm really enjoying the mixture of murder mystery, university politics, familial power struggles, and friendship dynamic. In particular, the writing is doing an amazing job of fusing the old PLL cast with the new, while allowing both parties to have their own meaningful interactions with each other. Ali and Mona's scenes are funny and refreshing with the occasional cheeky callback to PLL. The main trio have great chemistry with each other. In particular, I'm loving the friendship between Ava and Dylan, with Caitlin being the glue that holds the group together. And Ali's scenes with the trio have a genuine mother hen quality, which is a callback to the original series where she was the leader of the group of liars. Ali always knows best! Hopefully, this refreshing, engaging series continues for several seasons.