Ringer

If there's any of the mystery-suspense-tv-shows I have reviewed today I was disappointed in, it was this one. I very much enjoyed Buffy, and I like Sarah Michelle Gellar. I was excited to see this, as one of the great tests of acting is playing two distinct characters. Gellar does alright, but she's swimming in material that is dull at best, ludicrous at worst.

They try the same set-up with The Lying Game, two twins switch places, one is 'evil' one is 'good,' and the good one, upon taking the evil one's place, improves the lives of those around her, and doesn't want to leave.  But in the end, she's just a place-holder.

It had a good start to it. Evil-Twin fakes a suicide, and the best thing for the Good-Twin to do, for herself and Evil-Twin, is to take Evil-Twin's place. Good-Twin starts improving Evil-Twin's life, just by being better and nicer. Everyone notices the difference, but attributes it to something else. But then it's shown Evil-Twin faked her suicide, and just wanted not to be collateral damage when she took her husband down.

There really isn't much to say. The show is very dull, and it has been done better. It was done better in the same TV Show season, even, with The Lying Game.

Better luck next time Sarah.

The Lying Game

This show very frequently gets compared to my last post, Pretty Little Liars. It makes sense to an extent, the poster does encourage you to compare them by saying it was from the creator. Both of the series are based on secrets and lies, they're the same genre, they focus on teens, and they were both made from a book series. (The book series, from what I understand, is more supernatural, as one of the twins is dead.)

This show is now into its second season, and has been happy to hand over answers a lot faster than Pretty Little Liars was. By the second season, both characters know who their birth mother and father is, and the show has it stacked so we know who the 'villains' are of the piece.

And boy, do we have some great villains. They're all Chessmasters with good motivation, and good points to them. One guy killed a person, but absolutely adores his daughter. One woman is trying to break up a family because she wants the majority of that family to be her family. One woman is a bit of a Ritch Bitch in a tough spot, but has been noted and proven to have good spots and points.

You can feel for each of them, and hate each of them. Often, these Chessmasters turn on each-other too, making for great entertainment.

At the heart of it, are three people who are considered the protagonists 100% of the time. We're always supposed to feel for these people, and we do. They're the collateral damage in the Chessmasters's games, and if they don't shape up and join the fight, they'll lose what they've fought so hard for. It's great entertainment.

Pretty Little Liars

Today I'm going after the soapy-suspense-tv-shows, starting with Pretty Little Liars. This show is deep in the middle of its third season, which is usually at the point where the soapy-suspense-tv-shows start to have problems.

After all, it opens with a grand secret or question. In this case: who killed Allison? Then, it adds a second one: Who is this "A" harassing us?

These two questions can definitely fuel a season. It can fuel two seasons. But eventually, the audience is going to get tired of hitting a wall when they go looking for answers. Therefore, the show had to start giving the audience some answers. So far, Pretty Little Liars has been doing this well, by revealing that "A" is a bunch of people, which makes sense. With all of the things that "A" has done to them, it had to be more than one person. "A" knows all their secrets, seems to have eyes everywhere, yet is nowhere to be seen. It had to be supernatural, which was a viable option throughout the first season, or a bunch of people.

And now, with A being a bunch of people, the show can start revealing the faces of A, without losing the entire mystery. Giving the audience some answers. This way, the show doesn't feel like its treading on water.

A lot of the biggest issues in the first season, one of the characters dating an older guy, and one of the characters being gay, for starters, have been fully resolved by the latest season. Forward-motion is good!

One of the biggest problems people have been having with the show, however, is how relentlessly depressing it is. If this was happening in real life, these girls would need years of therapy at this point. No spoilers, (by saying who it is), but by this point:

1 girl: Has had two of her best friends be faces of A, and been hit by a car.
1 girl: Had a stalker try to kill her and her lover. Then, she killed the stalker.
1 girl: Was drugged and kidnapped.
1 girl: Found out her lover was a face of A, and is now a version of Break the Haughty (or Break the Cutie depending on your opinion of her.)

Now the only question is, who in the lives of the two girls who have not yet had a friend/lover be a face of A, will have a friend/lover be a face of A? Their torment has hardly been even, and each girl handles it a different way, which makes the show fairly interesting for those who are fans of psychology.

For those who are fans of answers, however, either wait a few years for the show to wrap itself up and read the wikipedia, or just read the book series the show was based off of. (The books don't give the answers to the TV show, note. They split ways two seasons ago.)