Pretty Little Liars: Why I Watch

The promo imagery offers a fair
 portrayal of the show.

Primarily, I blame my sister. I think she stumbled upon PLL during a Tuscan heat wave. Streaming American TV offered her an activity that required minimal sweating during a period of under-employment. I remember her telling me about it jokingly, at first, but by the end of the first season, her recommendation was, "You should seriously watch this." So I did. 

The best description I have for PLL is that it's like an ABC Family cross between Gossip Girl and Bones. The plot surrounds four teenaged girls (Gossip Girl) who are trying to solve the murder of their best friend/ring leader Alli while also being tormented by "A" who is possibly the murderer (Bones). It's super soapy with just enough of a driving mystery to keep me hooked in between the relationship drama, other blackmail fodder subplots, and the insane wardrobe. 

The main characters (in order of my preference) are: Hanna, the "fashionista" former fat kid who has great one liners and an adorable boyfriend; Spencer, the Type-A overachiever; Emily (played by one of the most beautiful humans ever to live), the star swimmer, lesbian, and 'vulnerable one'; and, Aria, whose obnoxious name pretty much says it all. Whatever A, or any of the other nefarious characters of Rosewood, PA, might put them through, and whatever might pit them against one another in the short term, the PLLs are bound by a friend love that keeps them together and keeps them answering one another's "SOS" texts. 

Season 3 was all over the place with plots involving insane asylums, secret societies, AMNESIA, illegitimate children, and of course, murder. The season ended with both Toby and Spencer double-agenting for A, the girls trapping Mona, but "Red Coat" trying to maybe kill them all, but saving them, with several of them hallucinating(?) that it was Alli. 

Overall, PLL is a ridiculous, and ridiculously entertaining, show. Some might call it a guilty pleasure, but I'm not even really that guilty about it.