After a somewhat satisfying, albeit uneven first season of teen slasher antics, Max’s Pretty Little Liars reboot (revamp?) returns for a second season: Summer School.
The first episode, “Chapter Eleven: Loose Ends”, acts as a new audience-friendly bridge between seasons.
S01 found the series’ five main girls menaced by A(rchie Waters), who – during the finale – escaped custody on Christmas Day to resume his killing spree.
The S02 premiere picks up immediately after – chronicling the events of Christmas and New Years when Archie is apprehended by police before jumping ahead six months. The girls – baby mama Imogen (Bailee Madison), movie lover Tabby (Chandler Kinney), ballerina Faran (Zaria), “bad girl” Noa (Maia Reficco), and computer-obsessed Mouse (Malia Pyles) – are trying to process their trauma and move on with their lives, all while waiting for the verdict in A’s trial.
The girls have spent their time in solo and group therapy with Dr Sullivan (Annabeth Gish), who keeps them calm throughout the manhunt and the trial. In the premiere, it is Imogen who struggles the most: she’s paranoid about A escaping, refuses to leave the gay couple who adopted her daughter alone, and tries to distance herself from the past by seeking out a job on the edge of town under an alias.
Bailee Madison negotiates these scenes with an appropriate mix of rage, fear, and exhaustion. Despite the group’s proclamation that they’re all Final Girls, it’s clear that Imogen remains PLL’s main focus and Madison gets nearly all of the show’s dramatic scenes.
The other character who benefits from the time jump is Tabby, whose characterization still relies too heavily on spouting movie references, but has seemingly been dialled back. At least PLL has the wherewithal in the second episode to have her acknowledge it: “And yes, haters, that is from a movie.”
With A mostly set aside, the first episode catches audiences up and lays the foundation, while the second episode actually gets things going (it’s the stronger of the two). This includes fresh storylines and side characters for each girl, while also teasing the season’s new villain: Bloody Rose Waters. She’s the mother of A, best described as an urban legend cross between Leatherface from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Cinderhella, the fictional killer in Joseph Kahn’s Detention.
Rose Waters has become popular in large part thanks to the website Spooky Spaghetti, PLL’s riff on creepy pasta (It’s funny the first time; less so the fifteenth time it gets name-dropped in a single episode).
It’s obvious that the mystery of Rose Waters’ identity and motivation is the driving force behind S02, and PLL does an admirable job of introducing a bevy of new and returning suspects in the first two episodes to keep audiences guessing.
Red herrings include Henry (Ben Cook), Faran’s ballet boyfriend who resents staying in Millwood for their relationship; born again religious girl Kelly (Mallory Bechtel) and her shitty homophobic boyfriend Greg (Elias Kacavas) as well as Mouse’s boyfriend, Ash (played by trans actor Jordan Gonzalez).
Then there are the newbies: movie theatre employee Christian (Noah Alexander Gerry), who unabashedly supports Tabby and her horror short “Avenge.” There’s also Rhodes (Charlie McElveen), the swim coach who selects Faran as captain at her summer Lifeguard job, as well as ice creamery employee Johnny (Antonio Cipriano) who catches Imogen’s eye in episode two, “Chapter Twelve: Summer Lovin”. Throw in Noah’s old juvie friend/love interest, Jennifer (Love, Victor‘s Ava Capri), and there’s plenty of suspicious people floating around town.
The most obvious suspect is, of course, Dr Sullivan, not just because Gish is the biggest guest star, but also because the character is a) incredibly nice and supportive and b) knows all of the girls’ secrets. This includes their phone numbers, which they’ve been ordered to keep private, a plot device that lasts until the montage-heavy final moments of episode two when an Unknown Caller reaches out to all five girls.
By this point the girls are firmly entrenched in summer school and their self-declared “hot girl summer” is on the cusp of being derailed into a summer of terror when the bodies of Rose Waters’ three victims are inevitably discovered.
Strap in, because PLL is just getting started!
Other Observations:
- One of the most frustrating things about the way Tabby is written is when the meta-character gets things wrong. In the premiere, she attributes the fact that her feminist slasher short was rejected to the (obnoxious and wrong) belief that film festivals don’t have any interest in female-driven revenge narratives. That’s definitely untrue. If anything, the brief clips we see of it proves that “Avenge” simply isn’t very good)
- While Tabby’s dependence on film references remains the least appealing part of the character, her outrage over being silenced and having her film censored by her rapist’s mother (Carey Van Driest) is compelling. Things often happen a little too quickly on the show, including the random friends-only premiere of “Avenge” that comes together in five minutes, but the dialogue about rape and believing survivors, as well as the camaraderie between the girls, is very welcome.
- In the first two episodes, Kelly’s “born again” storyline at the suspiciously cult-y Our Mother of Holy Grace feels completely separate from everything. Pulling in Greg and Henry should help, but as it stands, PLL is already stuffed with characters and plot and, at this point, this storyline feels the least essential.
- Very curious to see how Jennifer will fit into the mix. Noa is by far the most sexually active of the five girls, which is highlighted in the premiere when she runs afoul of Shawn (Alex Aiono)’s mother for sleeping with him while living with them. The introduction of Noa’s bisexuality is intriguing, though, because it offers a potential new direction to explore. One red flag: Jennifer is already throwing deranged looks at Shawn, so this could quickly become a “dangerous queer” trope if the writers aren’t careful.
- Mouse’s addiction to Spooky Spaghetti is the least interesting of all five leads’ storylines, which is a shame because Pyles is a solid actor. Either the show doesn’t know what to do with her or the aforementioned million storylines means there isn’t enough screen time to go around. Here’s hoping PLL finds something more exciting for Mouse to do than resist the lure of a horror website and look after her sleepwalking Grandmother while her moms are on a cruise.
- The design of Bloody Rose Waters is great. The villain isn’t featured a ton in the first two episodes, but her bloody face bandages and the prairie dress make for a striking image.
- Fingers crossed that we’ll get another epic/adventurous chase sequence this season a la carnival or Noa’s hallway sequence. PLL has the capacity to fill the slasher hole that’s missing from (theatrical) features right now, so here’s hoping they capitalize on it.
Pretty Little Liars: Summer School airs Thursdays on Max