Advance Preview: ‘Pretty Little Liars: Summer School’ Brings The Sun & Scares
The Liars are back in Pretty Little Liars: Summer School. With Summer on the horizon, the girls just want to forget the events from six months prior, and everything to do with “A” and Archie Waters. However, the Summer has other plans when the Liars find out they have to complete summer school in order to be able to pass onto the next grade. If that wasn’t scary enough, the SpookySpaghetti.com’s legend, Bloody Rose, turns out to be no legend at all and seems to have her sights set on our girls. Now the girls must pass summer school and stay alive if they hope to see the new school year.
Summer School picks up right where Original Sin left off when it comes to the horror. It’s gory and scary, but where Original Sin relied more on a darker, slasher vibe tone, Summer School has a much more B-list campy horror tone going for it. It’s a lighter tone that encapsulates that care-free summer attitude and also makes for a fun season to watch. However, what Summer School does better than Original Sin is character development for our Liars. The first five episodes allow each Liar to take center stage and allows the audience to better understand their nuances and form connections with these characters, which makes the final minutes of each episode pleasantly horrifying to watch.
The biggest issue with this season lies with the minor outlandish details scattered throughout the season that harken back to the time when Riverdale became so far-fetched that even die-hard fans couldn’t muster enough energy to hate to watch it. Showrunner, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa is beginning to toe that same line with this new season. Viewers understand that this show is fictional, but there is something realistic about it that leaves that little piece of their mind thinking, “Could this happen to me?” But when the series begins to teeter into the realm of being completely unrealistic, viewers become disassociated with what they are watching. They no longer ride on the suspense of the next scare but are too busy shaking their head due to the ridiculousness playing out on screen. My hope is that the creative teams manage to reign that in and keep the show’s feet firmly on the ground as the final three episodes of the season play out.
If campy horror films are your jam, then Pretty Little Liars: Summer School is right up your alley. With a great cast behind the wheel and a road filled with horror galore, this shorter episode count will leave viewers pleased. However, to really enjoy the season, I would wait for all episodes to be released and binge watch it. Having to not wait between episodes definitely helped amp up the scary vibes.