Reviews
“Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin” Review – Thoughts on the Final Five Episodes Including the Finale
The first five blood soaked episodes of “Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin” left big shoes for its latter half to fill. While episodes 1-5 were filled with flashbacks galore, character introductions, and a trail of corpses in A’s wake, episodes 6-10 plants us much more in the present, with explorations of the conflicts facing both the liars and their parents, and a deeper dive into the investigation of A. While the back half of “Original Sin” improves upon some of its preceding episodes’ shortcomings (most notably, giving Zaria, Malia Plyles and Maia Reficco more time to shine as Faran, Mouse and Noa respectively), it was also inflicted with the slasher curse of not quite sticking the landing. While the revelations are shocking, it stretches reality a bit too far at times to tie up all of its loose ends, leading to an ending that feels a bit rushed.
With all that said, beware of major spoilers below!
Starting with the positives, “Original Sin’s” back half is where its characters shine the most. Capitalizing on the foundation set from previous episodes, the cast of liars are given more breathing room to explore and evolve from the conflicts that they’re facing. Faran’s complex relationship with her mother stands out in particular–a coming-of-age arc, as Faran reconciles with the physical and mental consequences of her mother’s choices. We’re also given more clarity surrounding Mouse’s fixation with grieving father, Steve, which turns out to be a coping mechanism she uses to grapple with a missing paternal figure in her life. It’s one of the more raw and tragic takes on parental relationships in the show, especially with the heartbreaking scene of Mouse’s biological father coldly rejecting her by literally shutting the door in her face.
Another standout worth noting is Mallory Bechtel’s ability to seamlessly leap between channeling Karen and Kelly between scenes–so seamlessly that your head will continue spinning even up until the last episode wondering which sister is still walking the halls of Millwood High, and which one is six feet under. It contributes to the air of mystery leading up to the finale, along with uncovering the identity of the person who sexually assaulted both Tabby and Imogen, the true fate of Angela Waters, and ultimately, the person behind the mask lurking around Millwood as A.
While the mysteries are gripping, the final foot of the journey is where things get a bit shaky. In short, “Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin” likely could have benefitted from another episode or two to give it the space it needed to more neatly tie up its loose ends. For example, the liars’ plan to obtain DNA from the male students at Millwood High (and the subsequent montage of them extracting sweaty jockstraps from the boy’s locker room), while entertaining, almost felt like a bit of a deus ex machina plot device to conveniently narrow down suspects within one episode. When Noa’s mom suddenly has a “friend at the lab” who is willing to compare the DNA of high school students with the DNA of Imogen’s baby, it starts to feel the show is stretching reality a bit too much to keep the plot gears turning quickly.
The uneven pacing also spreads to the final reveal and climax of the season–within the 50 minutes of the finale, we learn that Chip had assaulted Imogen and Tabby, we discover that Angela has a twin brother all along named Archie, all of the liars’ parents are kidnapped by A, Milwood High is transformed into a fucked up torture chamber, Principal Clanton is revealed as the mastermind controlling A (which I’ll come back to shortly), Imogen gives birth to her baby, and A escapes. It’s exciting and answers a ton of questions, but it’s also a bit of whiplash. Whereas so much of the show carefully sets up complex conflicts and dynamics between all of the characters, the last stretch barrels through to the credits without fully developing all of the revelations.
And, to address the most important part of the finale, the reveal of Principal Clanton and his son Archie as the duo making up A: my reaction was lukewarm at first. I had put the pieces together in earlier episodes that A was likely a family member of Angela, but Clanton seemed to come a bit from left field. However, upon revisiting earlier episodes, a couple red flags pointing in his direction seemed more apparent: his interesting choice of the phrase “she [Karen] will be punished accordingly” in episode two, with her death later in the episode, and the fact that A’s lair seems to be in the school without anyone realizing it are two of the clues that seemed obvious in retrospect. It warmed me up to the reveal a bit more the longer I sat with it, but regardless, I’m sure many will find it polarizing.
In a way, it’s successful because it made me crave more. I’m attached to the cast of liars–they’ve all evolved and had high stakes in foiling A’s plans, and I’m curious to know how each of them will move forward from the events of the season. It’s an improvement from the original series as well, as it feels much more conclusive and cohesive instead of leaving the identity of A as a cliffhanger. My only reservation is that I’m not exactly how a smooth transition into another season of “Original Sin” can occur. It gives the impression that in the rush to tie up all loose ends, complete all character arcs, and fit all of the reveals into the last couple episodes, the story feels very complete as is. Imogen says it herself at the end of the finale: it feels over, over.
Despite this, I’m still hoping for another season. Aside from pacing issues in the back half, “Original Sin” remains one of the most successful slasher shows I’ve seen to date, and I was glued to my seat waiting to see how all of the pieces would fall into place by the end. The writers may have to do some gymnastics to naturally introduce a new batch of conflicts for the liars to face in a new season, but the good news is that they effectively characterized the group in season one enough that I’d love to see them tackle new mysteries in Milwood. Besides, this wouldn’t be the first time a new A could be introduced. In the meantime, I’ll be watching my phone anxiously like I’m waiting for a text from A to see if “Original Sin” will be renewed or not.
My rating for the entire season of “Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin” overall?
Reviews
“AHS: Delicate” Review – “Little Gold Man” Mixes Oscar Fever & Baby Fever into the Perfect Product
‘AHS: Delicate’ enters early labor with a fun, frenzied episode that finds the perfect tone and goes for broke as its water breaks.
“I’ll figure it out. Women always do.”
American Horror Story is no stranger to remixing real-life history with ludicrous, heightened Murphy-isms, whether it’s AHS: 1984’s incorporation of Richard Ramirez, AHS: Cult’s use of Valerie Solanas, or AHS: Coven’s prominent role for the Axeman of New Orleans. Accordingly, it’s very much par for the course for AHS: Delicate to riff on other pop culture touchstones and infinitely warp them to its wicked whims. That being said, it takes real guts to do a postmodern feminist version of Rosemary’s Baby and then actually put Mia Farrow – while she’s filming Rosemary’s Baby, no less – into the narrative. This is the type of gonzo bullshit that I want out of American Horror Story! Sharon Tate even shows up for a minute because why the hell not? Make no mistake, this is completely absurd, but the right kind of campy absurdity that’s consistently been in American Horror Story’s wheelhouse since its inception. It’s a wild introduction that sets up an Oscar-centric AHS: Delicate episode for success. “Little Gold Man” is a chaotic episode that’s worth its weight in gold and starts to bring this contentious season home.
It’d be one thing if “Little Gold Man” just featured a brief detour to 1967 so that this season of pregnancy horror could cross off Rosemary’s Baby from its checklist. AHS: Delicate gets more ambitious with its revisionist history and goes so far as to say that Mia Farrow and Anna Victoria Alcott are similarly plagued. “Little Gold Man” intentionally gives Frank Sinatra dialogue that’s basically verbatim from Dex Harding Sr., which indicates that this demonic curse has been ruffling Hollywood’s feathers for the better part of a century. Anna Victoria Alcott’s Oscar-nominated feature film, The Auteur, is evidently no different than Rosemary’s Baby. It’s merely Satanic forces’ latest attempt to cultivate the “perfect product.” “Little Gold Man” even implies that the only reason that Mia Farrow didn’t go on to make waves at the 1969 Academy Awards and ends up with her twisted lot in life is because she couldn’t properly commit to Siobhan’s scheme, unlike Anna.
This is easily one of American Horror Story’s more ridiculous cold opens, but there’s a lot of love for the horror genre and Hollywood that pumps through its veins. If Hollywood needs to be a part of AHS: Delicate’s story then this is actually the perfect connective tissue. On that note, Claire DeJean plays Sharon Tate in “Little Gold Man” and does fine work with the brief scene. However, it would have been a nice, subtle nod of continuity if AHS: Delicate brought back Rachel Roberts who previously portrayed Tate in AHS: Cult. “Little Gold Man” still makes its point and to echo a famous line from Jennifer Lynch’s father’s television masterpiece: “It is happening again.”
“Little Gold Man” is rich in sequences where Anna just rides the waves of success and enjoys her blossoming fame. She feels empowered and begins to finally take control of her life, rather than let it push her around and get under her skin like a gestating fetus. Anna’s success coincides with a colossal exposition dump from Tavi Gevinson’s Cora, a character who’s been absent for so long that we were all seemingly meant to forget that she was ever someone who was supposed to be significant. Cora has apparently been the one pulling many of Anna’s strings all along as she goes Single White Female, rather than Anna having a case of Repulsion. It’s an explanation that oddly works and feeds into the episode’s more general message of dreams becoming nightmares. Cora continuing to stay aligned with Dr. Hill because she has student loans is also somehow, tragically the perfect explanation for her abhorrent behavior. It’s not the most outlandish series of events in an episode that also briefly gives Anna alligator legs and makes Emma Roberts and Kim Kardashian kiss.
“Little Gold Man” often feels like it hits the fast-forward button as it delivers more answers, much in the same vein as last week’s “Ava Hestia.” These episodes are two sides of the same coin and it’s surely no coincidence that they’re both directed by Jennifer Lynch. This season has benefitted from being entirely written by Halley Feiffer – a first for the series – but it’s unfortunate that Lynch couldn’t direct every episode of AHS: Delicate instead of just four out of nine entries. That’s not to say that a version of this season that was unilaterally directed by Lynch would have been without its issues. However, it’s likely that there’d be a better sense of synergy across the season with fewer redundancies. She’s responsible for the best episodes of AHS: Delicate and it’s a disappointment that she won’t be the one who closes the season out in next week’s finale.
To this point, “Little Gold Man” utilizes immaculate pacing that helps this episode breeze by. Anna’s Oscar nomination and the awards ceremony are in the same episode, whereas it feels like “Part 1” of the season would have spaced these events out over four or five episodes. This frenzied tempo works in “Little Gold Man’s” favor as AHS: Delicate speed-runs to its finish instead of getting lost in laborious plotting and unnecessary storytelling. This is how the entire season should have been. Although it’s also worth pointing out that this is by far the shortest episode of American Horror Story to date at only 34 minutes. It’s a shame that the season’s strongest entries have also been the ones with the least amount of content. There could have been a whole other act to “Little Gold Man,” or at the least, a substantially longer cold open that got more out of its Mia Farrow mayhem.
“Little Gold Man” is an American Horror Story episode that does everything right, but is still forced to contend with three-quarters of a subpar season. “Part 2” of AHS: Delicate actually helps the season’s first five episodes shine brighter in retrospect and this will definitely be a season that benefits from one long binge that doesn’t have a six-month break in the middle. Unfortunately, anyone who’s already watched it once will likely not feel compelled to experience these labor pains a second time over. With one episode to go and Anna’s potential demon offspring ready to greet the world, AHS: Delicate is poised to deliver one hell of a finale.
Although, to paraphrase Frank Sinatra, “How do you expect to be a good conclusion if this is what you’re chasing?”
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