Pretty Little Liars: Summer School season review: How does it measure up to Original Sin?

Another chapter has closed in the Pretty Little Liars universe with PLL: Summer School now over. All eight episodes of the season are now streaming on Max, and of course the final episode brought us the big reveal of who Bloody Rose is. And spoiler alert, she wasn't working alone. Now that the full season is out, we're looking back and reflecting upon it. Here's my thoughts on Pretty Little Liars: Summer School overall. SPOILERS from the finale below.

The Liars' storylines

Let's start with the girls. I think overall each of the little liars had an interesting storyline individually. Or, at least most of them anyway. Imogen was still dealing with her mom's death, giving up her baby, and of course the trauma of what happened to them in season 1. Tabby was still reeling from Chip sexually assaulting her, and Imogen, and trying to process the trauma of it all. Faran found strength, but had to learn she didn't have anything to prove and she was pushing herself too far.

All three of the girls also have great romance storylines, with Greg actually surprising me. I actually ship him and Faran, ngl. I am disappointed that Johnny and Imogen broke up. Though I can't blame him. And I also don't blame her for her initial reaction.

Now onto Noa and Mouse. The former was my favorite character after Imogen in Original Sin. But honestly, her storyline in Summer School just been downhill. There was nothing tangible except for the introduction of Jen. Which is great. But I don't like the way the writers went about it. A cheating storyline always turns me off, and this one was no different. Shawn has been a great boyfriend, and he didn't deserve that. And honestly other than the love triangle, that was Noa's whole storyline this season which is disappointing.

As for Mouse, she just annoyed me this season. Her obsession with SpookySpaghetti and Internet addiction are just too much. And as a plot device, there needed to be someone who was monitoring the website. I get that. But it just got too much. And even though she was seeing Dr. Sullivan with the rest of her friends, this Internet obsession never went anywhere and wasn't brought up. But I have news for you all. It's not healthy what she does! And that's why she isn't a favorite character from this season.

The season's big bad

The concept of Bloody Rose was actually interesting, and I think keeping that mystery all season was really effective. I like that each of the girls had a Final Girl test. It made us look forward to something when they started as we knew to expect them. And Tabby's being the final one was really fitting not just when it comes to who the antagonists are, but just because she's the big horror movie buff.

What I don't like though is who the villains of PLL: Summer School turned out to be. Mrs. Langsberry is Bloody Rose and Wes orchestrated the whole SpookySpaghetti site and community in an attempt to make what he thinks is a great live movie of people being killed, which in turn supposedly is supposed to make him a great filmmaker. Like the first season, I think it was smart to have one person actually killing and the other being the mastermind, like Archie and Principal Clanton. But when it comes to who it actually is, I'm not impressed or surprised. Chip's mom is such an obvious choice, and Wes has always been annoying and a bad person overall.

What I liked about Original Sin is that I really felt like the series managed to surprise us with the reveals and the involvement of the moms made it more interesting. The principal wasn't shown much and there was no indication that he could be involved. Even Chip seemed like a nice guy, constantly being turned down by Tabby. Those shock values really came into play in the first season, but it didn't happen for me in Pretty Little Liars: Summer School. I felt like we got too many hints, even when the writers were trying to throw us off with Dr. Sullivan and Davie (Imogen's mom) potentially being Bloody Rose. It just didn't work.

Though speaking of Dr. Sullivan. I really liked this character the whole time and knew she wasn't Bloody Rose. At the end however, she calls the little liars narcissists and is happy with what she got from them for her book which is apparently a huge success already with publishers before it's been released. She doesn't get to bask in that success for long before Archie, who, surprise actually didn't die in the prison riot, barges in and kills her.

And look, I know this is a common thing with horror movies that the killer is never really dead. Or as Dr. Sullivan says, the boogeyman never goes away. But I really did not want to see Archie again. I'm just so over him even though I did like the reveal he's "A." in Original Sin. Overall, I think Pretty Little Liars: Summer School is mediocre compared to its predecessor and that the first season's storylines and antagonists were much better. The second season had its good moments, but it had its bad ones more. To be frank, Pretty Little Liars: Summer School doesn't measure up to Original Sin. What do you think?

The full season of Pretty Little Liars: Summer School is now streaming on Max.