PLL round up.
Jun. 9th, 2010 12:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
impyAnd now, PLL.
I get a feeling that unlike Gossip Girl, this is going to be one of those series where if you've read the books they're based on, you're going to be a little less than impressed with the mystery. At least until the books and the TV show part ways, which I'm kind of wondering about. (For instance I'm pretty sure the Jenna thing isn't going to be identical to the book, but I'm still not on the edge of my seat waiting to see what they might change, y'know?)
Let's run down the characters, shall we?
Aria, since Lucy Hale is being promoted moreso than the other girls and is coming across as the star. I think Lucy is cuter than hell. But she doesn't scream Aria to me at all times. This doesn't bug me as much as I thought it would, but that might be because other things work better this way. In the books, I was kind of meh about the whole teacher Ezra hook-up. On screen it works better for me. So plus? I'm partial to pink!Aria, too.
Aria leads us to Ella and Byron. Byron's a little on the skeeiver side than I would've thought, but they're playing up the 'secret' angle so it was bound to happen. Ella is Holly and Holly makes me happy. I wish I could blather on about this in an intelligent sort of way, but mostly she's there to worry about her kids and to be confused as to why her husband is worried they'll drift apart after moving back to Rosewood. (Cuz he's a cheater, duh.)
Emily is adorable. ♥ I just wish they hadn't... rushed the whole Emily/Maya thing. I get that with ABC Family's shorter seasons they've got to most faster but really, day 2? ...okay.
Em leads to Maya and my brain is currently broken by the fact that Bianca Lawson is still playing a high school student. Yes. Kendra from Buffy and I dunno, a million other things. Also? I get distracted by the hair. Superficial but true.
Hanna is the character I keep coming back to. I don't really get chubby from the flashbacks (I think toning down the blond hair would've also done wonders to exaggerate the differences between not as popular!Hanna and itgirl!Hanna, though I suppose that when Ali went missing, Hanna could have already begun losing weight. Hmm. Anyway, she's fun to watch. Yes, popular girl with issues is a cliche, but book!Hanna gives me hope for tv!Hanna.
Surprisingly enough I really enjoyed Laura Leighton as Hanna's mother. I was least looking forward to her because, well, I'm shallow and the promo pictures of her looked like she'd done a faceplant in white powder. But she was a good match for the part in the best possible way.
Which brings us to Spencer. In the books, Spencer chapters tended to make my blood boil because her family is filled with incredible assholes. This worked in her favor because Spence? She's got some rage issues and they're totally understandable. But on the flip side, it made her stuff hard to read, especially when she did stupid things to further fuck things up. I fear the same will hold true on the TV show. Also, Troian, the actress, looks like she's on a completely different show than the rest of the girls. Really skinny girls who are overdressed for working with the mayor or whatever and look ready to take their field hockey stick to every third person they see. It's... strange and hard to describe. You either see it or you don't.
Plus side? The rage works when dealing with Melissa who is one of my least favorite characters. Period.
Overall, I'm intrigued. You can catch the pilot on Hulu or at abcfamily's site here.
I get a feeling that unlike Gossip Girl, this is going to be one of those series where if you've read the books they're based on, you're going to be a little less than impressed with the mystery. At least until the books and the TV show part ways, which I'm kind of wondering about. (For instance I'm pretty sure the Jenna thing isn't going to be identical to the book, but I'm still not on the edge of my seat waiting to see what they might change, y'know?)
Let's run down the characters, shall we?
Aria, since Lucy Hale is being promoted moreso than the other girls and is coming across as the star. I think Lucy is cuter than hell. But she doesn't scream Aria to me at all times. This doesn't bug me as much as I thought it would, but that might be because other things work better this way. In the books, I was kind of meh about the whole teacher Ezra hook-up. On screen it works better for me. So plus? I'm partial to pink!Aria, too.
Aria leads us to Ella and Byron. Byron's a little on the skeeiver side than I would've thought, but they're playing up the 'secret' angle so it was bound to happen. Ella is Holly and Holly makes me happy. I wish I could blather on about this in an intelligent sort of way, but mostly she's there to worry about her kids and to be confused as to why her husband is worried they'll drift apart after moving back to Rosewood. (Cuz he's a cheater, duh.)
Emily is adorable. ♥ I just wish they hadn't... rushed the whole Emily/Maya thing. I get that with ABC Family's shorter seasons they've got to most faster but really, day 2? ...okay.
Em leads to Maya and my brain is currently broken by the fact that Bianca Lawson is still playing a high school student. Yes. Kendra from Buffy and I dunno, a million other things. Also? I get distracted by the hair. Superficial but true.
Hanna is the character I keep coming back to. I don't really get chubby from the flashbacks (I think toning down the blond hair would've also done wonders to exaggerate the differences between not as popular!Hanna and itgirl!Hanna, though I suppose that when Ali went missing, Hanna could have already begun losing weight. Hmm. Anyway, she's fun to watch. Yes, popular girl with issues is a cliche, but book!Hanna gives me hope for tv!Hanna.
Surprisingly enough I really enjoyed Laura Leighton as Hanna's mother. I was least looking forward to her because, well, I'm shallow and the promo pictures of her looked like she'd done a faceplant in white powder. But she was a good match for the part in the best possible way.
Which brings us to Spencer. In the books, Spencer chapters tended to make my blood boil because her family is filled with incredible assholes. This worked in her favor because Spence? She's got some rage issues and they're totally understandable. But on the flip side, it made her stuff hard to read, especially when she did stupid things to further fuck things up. I fear the same will hold true on the TV show. Also, Troian, the actress, looks like she's on a completely different show than the rest of the girls. Really skinny girls who are overdressed for working with the mayor or whatever and look ready to take their field hockey stick to every third person they see. It's... strange and hard to describe. You either see it or you don't.
Plus side? The rage works when dealing with Melissa who is one of my least favorite characters. Period.
Overall, I'm intrigued. You can catch the pilot on Hulu or at abcfamily's site here.
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(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-09 07:10 pm (UTC)I also noticed that one chick sticking out, but couldn't quite figure out why. And I kept getting them all mixed up, who had which hang-up/quirk/past issue and all that.
It also weirds me out that ABC Family has all these sexy shenanigans and weed smoking and such going on. :p
(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-10 01:17 pm (UTC)Cheat Sheet:
Hanna- Food and daddy issues. Shoplifting. Dimples. Blond.
Aria- The short one. Like-ums the teacher. Pink hair in flashbacks; daddy's cheating on mum.
Spencer- Tall, skinny rage-aholic perfectionist.
Emily - Preppy possibly gay one.
Ali - Blond, impossibly long curls, bitchy. Dead. Probably.
Yet even during the show I kept thinking the actress for Aria was Hanna (book!Hanna was a brunette and all) and... Dude. What happened to ABC Family? Where will the people go to watch their conservative programming? (Though totally awkward when Aria and teacher of hotness were going at it at the funeral and my nephew pops in and shrieks, "Are they gonna get married?" No, monchichi. No, they are not.)