Karolina Wojtasik/HBO Max
Forgive me, Lucy Hale, for I've sinned. Let me confess as my first admission of guilt: I’ve solely ever seen bits and items of the authentic Fairly Little Liars.
In my formative days, the ABC Household (and, by the point the present led to 2017, Freeform) teen cleaning soap by no means infiltrated my very own little, ridiculous pop-culture universe, apart from a couple of minutes right here and there whereas channel browsing. Why linger after I may flip one channel again and see no matter crock The CW had in retailer for me that night time? I wouldn’t dare miss an opportunity to see Jenny Humphrey’s eyeshadow creep again additional onto her brow.
However I’ve at all times been ashamed! Through the years, my love for pulpy teen dramas has solely grown, and the PLL universe has been my irreparable blind spot; the unique sequence had 160 episodes—that’s not even contemplating the 2 different short-lived, in-universe spinoffs which have popped up since—it’s simply too daunting. So after I heard that the fourth sequence in the Fairly Little Liars universe can be a largely standalone reboot, I knew my time had come.
Except for being only a reboot, HBO Max’s Fairly Little Liars: Unique Sin additionally retools the present’s format from an overblown teen thriller drama right into a straight-up teen horror slasher. If you realize something concerning the authentic sequence, you’ll perceive the gamers and the development of its antagonists, but it surely’s not essential to have seen a single body of any Fairly Little Liars iteration that has come earlier than to take pleasure in this. And as a now-confessed PLL beginner myself, I relished the prospect to dive in with out a 10-hour YouTube explainer.
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Set within the tiny Pennsylvania city of Millwood, Unique Sin follows a gaggle of 5 highschool women—Imogen (Bailee Madison), Noa (Maia Reficco), Tabby (Chandler Kinney), Faran (Zaria), and Mouse (Malia Pyles)—introduced collectively in detention after seemingly being framed by their faculty’s most formidable bully, Karen (Mallory Bechtel). Sure, that identify alternative does appear intentional, however that second of cringe passes rapidly.
The ladies resolve that Karen’s suspected sequence of more and more ugly assaults deserve a revenge plan that’s simply as vicious. However when issues begin going awry, the Liars understand it might not be Karen who’s after them, however a mysterious, masked assailant identified solely as “A.”
In fact, a model of “A” was current within the authentic sequence as nicely, however this isn’t your highschool bestie’s Fairly Little Liars, oh no.
For starters, tv’s a special sport than it was 12 years in the past. Teen dramas was given 22-episode season orders, stretching their plots so skinny that you may see the holes forming from a mile away. However the present’s transfer to HBO Max means a slashed episode order retains issues transferring—it additionally signifies that this new set of Liars can curse simply as a lot as any regular high-schooler would. There can be nudity, grisly deaths, and each figurative and literal backstabbing. Similar to real-life highschool!
As soon as they’ve shaped their clique, the women band collectively to determine why they’re being focused by “A.” They might want to struggle by way of the remaining 9 episodes if they've any probability of creating it to commencement, or, on the very least, promenade night time. Complicating issues is a cryptic occasion from 22 years prior, when their mother and father have been attending Millwood Excessive. The Class of ’99 has a religious tight-lipped coverage, inflicting the Liars to appreciate that even the smallest cities have the most important secrets and techniques.
Unique Sin’s mix of thriller and horror is finished surprisingly nicely. A sequence of stylistic homages to traditional slasher flicks units the exact-right tone. Within the first episode alone, references to The Shining and Halloween imbue the present with a welcome eeriness with out being so overt that they grow to be obnoxious. I used to be significantly thrilled to see a few creepy cut up diopter pictures, one which befell throughout a ballet class which appeared like a direct nod to Luca Guadagnino’s Suspiria remake.
All that being mentioned, even with all the welcome injections of horror, that is very a lot nonetheless a teen cleaning soap. Fairly Little Liars: Unique Sin is most gratifying once you don’t suppose an excessive amount of concerning the logistics of the shenanigans. Positive, I used to be dazzled by that ballet class sequence, however a highschool ballet elective? On this financial system of large public faculty arts cuts? Make that make sense!
However as quickly as I put my judgment again within the pot of Fairly Little Liars soup and set it to boil, I used to be proper again in.
It turns into troublesome, then, to chorus from evaluating Fairly Little Liars: Unique Sin to the Gossip Lady reboot, additionally an HBO Max affair. With Warner Media plucking these beloved teen dramas from community tv and transferring them to streaming, all anybody needed was somewhat extra grit.
The place Gossip Lady largely failed to do something however water down the campiness of the unique sequence by purposely eradicating slut-shaming, catfights, and depraved little digs—you realize, all the issues we watch these exhibits for—Fairly Little Liars: Unique Sin goes all-in on its premium platform pleasures.
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Unique Sin understands that simply because audiences take pleasure in watching youngsters be unhealthy folks doesn’t imply that they endorse these behaviors. The sequence wades into the muck of petty digs and gasp-inducing comebacks as a result of it is aware of that these issues are exactly why we’re right here. We don’t need good core values and simply resolved fallouts, exhibits the place the one plot progressions come from selecting completely different characters out of a hat and throwing them into mattress collectively. We would like dialogue and drama that fairly actually make us say, “OOP!”
So, after all, I used to be past thrilled to listen to characters throwing informal slut-shaming and homophobia as in the event that they have been as widespread as “hi there” and “goodbye.” It has been too lengthy since I’ve heard an honest, lowdown dig like, “No one desires your pregnant, tragic ass right here,” or, “No want to return out of the closet, rodent, we already know.” And that’s not even contemplating the beautiful blowup Karen has at a pizza parlor within the first episode. I gained’t spoil it for you, however my jaw (lastly!) actually dropped. Is it woke? No. Have a humorousness!
Although the sequence holds tight to the teenager drama that makes the style so watchable, it stumbles a bit when attempting to additionally depict the Extraordinarily On-line tradition of 2022. Sometimes, a personality will ship a line in full Twitter Converse that makes me wish to crawl out of my pores and skin. When somebody asks, “Significantly, how has Karen not been canceled but?” I practically withered away.
Then again, it’s additionally a pure delight to look at racist, homophobic, and ableist soccer jocks get their karmic return courtesy of what seems like a strolling scarecrow with a burnt-up Leatherface masks.
Sure, the “A” of Unique Sin is legitimately creepy and undoubtedly deadly. Pitting the Liars towards this villain is intense, particularly in an exhilarating residence complicated chase scene. Trendy slasher movies have all however finished away with the cleverly-plotted chase in favor of too many bounce scares, so it’s good to get some traditional taste on this modern twist—and on tv, no much less!
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The present does veer left when attempting to offer us an excessive amount of of a very good factor, although. The horror and movie references packed into Unique Sin can generally be exhausting. In a single five-minute stretch, we’re clobbered with hamfisted nods to It, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and even Girl Chook. I puzzled if these scripts are how I sound as an leisure critic simply attempting to make dialog in on a regular basis life?
But, to its credit score, the sequence additionally understands how obnoxious that may be. After one of many Liars makes her umpteenth horror reference, one other rolls her eyes. “Greeeeeat, thanks for moviesplaining that to me.” That one little joke is the right distillation of how nicely this present can work when it successfully combines fashionable slang with blatant horror influences, sending them up with spicy teenage haughtiness.
The place the Gossip Lady reboot tried to make a needlessly woke teen cleaning soap and this 12 months’s Scream revival tried to weave those self same hamfisted social issues with horror, who thought it could’ve been the fourth(!) Fairly Little Liars sequence that succeeds essentially the most in the way it depicts the (generally literal) hellscape of being a contemporary teenager?
Like something sinful, the sequence is fleeting, somewhat immoral, and oh so scrumptious.