Pretty Little Liars is, at heart, your typical teen drama. Relationships start, stop and are rekindled in nearly ever episode and the girls deal with a lot of the problems faced by most teens. Hanna (Ashley Benson) deals with her father’s re-marriage and Emily (Shay Mitchell) faces the possibility of having to leave Rosewood for Texas. While not exactly “realistic,” the plotlines are normal for most teen dramas. What really makes the show, however, is the I Know What You Did Last Summer premise threaded throughout the “normal” plotlines, as the mystery of who “A” is and what really happened to Alison.
The second season opens immediately after the first season. The girls are now branded as liars by the entire town, forcing their parents to stage an intervention of sorts. As a result, the girls are sent to Dr. Anne Sullivan (Annabeth Gish) for group therapy. The girls discover they can trust Dr. Sullivan, but are reluctant to let her in on the loads of secrets built up over the course of the first season. They eventually decide to finally spill the beans, only to abort the plan at the last minute after a series of events orchestrated by “A.” Based on their erratic behavior during the session, Dr. Sullivan decides that time apart would be the best thing for the girls.
This separation kicks off what becomes the series’ major plot point – the identity of “A” and his/her/their reasons for wanting to keep the girls apart. The therapy and separation don’t last very long, though the show does a really good job of driving the mystery forward from episode to episode. There are numerous red herrings tossed out along the way, but the show still does a really good job of not getting out of control. Some of the concepts do seem a little too far-fetched, but never to the point of ridiculousness. After a season of torture, it is fun to see the girls attempt to take a more proactive role and fight back. This, of course, comes with loads more secrets and lies, but when your enemy is as shadowy and all-knowing as “A,” anything goes.
Although the show’s mysteries and plotlines are enjoyable, I didn’t enjoy the next chapter nearly as much as the first. It managed to hold my attention better than the first season, which got to be a bit of a bore as it set up a lot of the show’s plotline scaffolding, but it didn’t have the devilish “charm” present in the first season’s second half. In season two, “A” becomes more of a show-running menace than a subtle “wink and nod” to the audience. I’m positive I’m still reading too much into the series, but I liked the “teen drama joke commentary” vibe the show had. It’s still around from time-to-time, but not nearly as much as the first season.
Pretty Little Liars: The Complete Second Season does, however, offer plenty of answers, bringing some satisfaction and rewards towards the end of the season. Nearly all of the mysteries introduced in the first season are answered by the end, including the unmasking of “A,”' but with those questions come a few bigger ones that I assume will take root during the third season. “A”'s identity may be out, but "A" may not be down.
The six-disc season set features all 25 episodes, including a couple of unaired scenes for six episodes. These aren’t mandatory watching, but are worthwhile viewing for fans of the show. Also included are two extra segments, “Fashion’s Guilty Pleasure” and “Men of Mystery.”
The first focuses on each of the four major character’s fashion sensibilities and what goes into making sure each stays well dressed and in-character. I wasn’t really into this segment, but I don’t really think it was meant for me in the first place. The same goes for the second one, which shows off all of the guys (and there are a few) who make appearances during the second season.
A download code for the UltraViolet version of the show, which allows you to download and stream episodes to nearly any device in your technology arsenal, is also included as a bonus.
Pretty Little Liars: The Complete Second Season is a decent show. It manages to fix some of my issues with the first season, but with those changes come new problems. Seeing as how dependent the second season is on the first, I recommend snagging it before jumping into the second season. Still, even with the mysteries, it still can’t quite break away from being a teen drama, either keeping viewers away or drawing them in even further.
