The show, which is based on Sara Shepard's novel series by the same name, centers on a group of five friends: Aria (Lucy Hale), Spencer (Troian Bellisario), Hanna (Ashley Benson), Emily (Shay Mitchell) and Alison (Sasha Pieterse). One night while drinking and hanging out in their "secret spot" (an old shack in the woods), Alison disappears under mysterious circumstances. Aria is the first to realize something isn't right, only to have her suspicions confirmed by Spencer, who says she heard a scream.
The plot picks up a year later on the anniversary of Alison's disappearance. Aria returns to her hometown to discover the once tight group of friends have fallen out of touch after Alison's disappearance. Spencer is buried in schoolwork and internships, while Hanna has taken Alison's spot as the "It Girl." Meanwhile, Emily is silently dealing with Alison's disappearance while also harboring a secret of her own.
Secrets, and the lies associated with keeping those secrets, form the basis for the show's ongoing plotline. Not long after Aria returns home, she meets a guy and the two hook up. Days later, Aria meets him again only to find out he is her new English teacher. Once the pair's eyes meet, Aria receives a text message from "A" threatening to reveal Aria's fling. The other girls also receive messages, each detailing a secret that only Alison knew.
The messages are enough to drive the girls back into each other's lives as they try to figure out A's identity. The show does a great job of teasing the question. It begins with the first few messages, which are direct threats against the girls and their personal secrets. The end of the first episode raises the stakes when Alison's body is discovered. The police immediately begin to suspect the girls know more than they're telling, trapping them between two major lies.
The mystery is what drives the show, although if the quest for A's identity doesn't draw you in early, there isn't much of a chance you'll want to stick around for the rest of the series. Although built around the I Know What You Did Last Summer premise, the series continually plunges into well-trodden teen drama territory. A is always around, although the mystery sometimes takes a backseat to the drama brewing between the girls and their families. Towards the middle of the season, A begins to morph into more of a fourth wall-breaking concept; a little "wink-wink" to viewers since you know everything A does. I enjoyed this aspect, though I'm not quite sure if it was meant to be taken as such. You could tell me Pretty Little Liars is meant as a running joke commentary of teen dramas and I would believe you.
The series set includes all 22 episodes from the first season split across five discs. All are included as shown on ABC Family, though a few include cut scenes (denoted by a scissors next to the title). Deleted scenes are presented out of context, though after watching the first few, it was clear why they were cut. Most expand on ideas that don't need expansion, while others are throwaway scenes.
Additional extras include a "Making of..." segment, which goes over the process of turning the novels into a television series. There are clips detailing the audition process, as well a segment on how stylists matched each girl to a signature look. There's also a bit about the series' over-arching mystery. This is the longest of the extras and one of the more interesting and works well with the Behind-the-Scenes feature.
In the second major extra ("Two Truths and a Lie"), the girls reveal facts about their lives. The catch is one of the truths is actually a lie. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this feature. It is a fun, silly way to both introduce the girl's personalities and build on the show's bigger premise.
Pretty Little Liars is a decent show, though even with the attached mystery, it cannot escape being just another teen drama. That is not a bad thing, but it won't pull in viewers who aren't already fans of shows like Gossip Girl. If that's you, Pretty Little Liars will not be disappoint.
