Got a Secret, Can You Keep It

Despite posting a list entitled The 100 Guiltiest Guilty Pleasures of the 00’s, I really do not feel guilty about any of the music I listen to or television I watch. Yeah I have Hilary Duff’s Come Clean on my iPod, if you don’t like the song than that’s your problem. But Pretty Little Liars during its first season really asked the question of when does a guilty pleasure becomes just plain guilty.

The premise was primed for guilty pleasurness: four friends who drifted away after their Queen B disappear are reunited a year later when she is found dead, each of who are harboring a dark secret of their own that a mysterious figure is harboring over them claiming to be the dead friend.. Best case scenario is the show would be a poor girl’s Veronica Mars, who was even mentioned during the first season. Unfortunately it turns out the four Liars have a combined IQ of the junior private detective.

The dumbest of the all being Aria, who, despite catching her English professor dad in a torrid affair with a student that ruined her family, carried on a torrid affair with her English teacher for the entire season. What’s worse is the writers made this seem like a grand forbidden love story on the lines of Romeo and Juliet instead of the creepy statutory storyline that Nancy Grace would have dedicated a month of shows to if it happened in real life.

The other liars didn’t have much better success with the opposite sex. Or same sex in the case of Emily who announced her lesbianess only to attract every other gay chick in a five mile radius. Hanna, who took over the mantel of Queen B when Allison went missing didn’t have much luck when she was trying to decide between the captain of the football team (who may have had his own sexual questions of his own) and the Yearbook nerd only to choose the skeevy bad boy who was paid to get close to her. But worse choose in boys goes to Spencer who kept on hooking up with her sister’s boyfriend (include the one who may have killed Allison (but probably not) and then tried to kill her) only to end up with the town pariah.

At least the season ended on somewhat of a high note when we got more back story about Jenna, the chick that Allison, who was aided and abetted by the other liars, blinded. The lead suspect for “A” since the beginning we learned that Jenna had to stay away from town because Allison was blackmailing her because she found video of Jenna blackmailing Toby that was made by Ian (or possibly not, it is never confirmed, Ian may had thought the video Spenser was blackmailing him with was the one where he “killed” Allison). This revelation may cross Jenna off the suspect list of being Allison’s killer because she never returned to town until Allison’s body turned up dead. But her hooking up with the cop adds to the theory that she is “A” with the officer being her eyes.

Unfortunately the season didn’t end with the curtain being pulled off of who is “A” though we may have gotten a look at her (him?) as the person who pushed Ian off the bell tower (worst death scene ever). Even though Jenna still remains at the top of the list, with Toby, Mona, Melissa, Lucas, or some combination of them also ranking high on the list, I still hope that “A” turns out to be a not so dead Allison. Though I am not sure I will still be watching when they finally get around to the reveal.

Pretty Little Liars gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.