We Were Liars Review: A Slow Start And Overstuffed Plot Make It Hard To Stay Interested

There are two kinds of people who will watch "We Were Liars:" those who have read the book of the same name that the show is based on, by E. Lockhart, and therefore know what happens (or know someone who did and were willing to be spoiled) — and those that haven't. Those that have read the book will probably enjoy this series, which keeps most of its revelations until the very end. But those unfamiliar with the source material will likely get annoyed by the first couple of episodes. That's the conundrum of this show; it gets better — and makes more sense — as it goes along, but by the time everything snaps into place, it's too little, too late. On the other hand, those that have read the book may be more or less satisfied — even if they have to get through some early episodes that are purely treading water to get to the good stuff.

The plot seems fairly simple: Cadence Sinclair (Emily Alyn Lind), eldest granddaughter of multimillionnaire Harris Sinclair (David Morse), washes up on the beach in only her underwear with no memory of what happened, either that night or for the prior two months. But things get much more complicated when we factor in her family. Prior to her brain injury, Cadence's life seemed blessed with all the good things money and privilege can bring. She, like her cousins Mirren (Esther McGregor) and Johnny (Joseph Zada), is a blonde-haired over-achiever who spends her summers on Beechwood Island off Martha's Vineyard (which Harris owns) building sandcastles and having parties.

Into this comes Gat (Shubham Maheshwari), the nephew of Ed (Rahul Kohli), who lost his father (Ed's brother) and is dragged along to the island because Ed is dating Johnny's mother, Carrie (Mamie Gummer). Yet Gat ends up loving it as much as the others do, even though when he goes back to his mother's place for the rest of the year, it's nothing like Beechwood. He comes with Ed to the island every year thereafter and joins Cadence, Mirren, and Johnny in forming their own little pack — which, because of some white lies they told, is referred to as the "Liars" by their family.

But now Cadence can't remember what happened to her at the end of the summer of her 16th year, and she's full of foreboding and angst. Her mother, Penny (Caitlin FitzGerald), has explained that she can't tell her what happened, that she has to figure it out on her own — and Cadence doesn't understand why. It's in pursuit of that truth that Cadence decides to go back to the island — and she's dyed her hair black to prove she means business.

The trouble is that Cadence spends most of the early storyline spinning her wheels. Whole episodes go by without much forward momentum, and that kills the show early on. Without the specter of the ending hanging over "We Were Liars," there wouldn't be much reason to watch at all.

In "We Were Liars," the episodes go from terrible to not-so-bad in practically reverse chronological order. The pilot, "Tell Me Sweet Little Lies," is awful. With so many people to unpack and so much plot to establish, the episode is hurried, confusing, and overcrowded with booming popular tunes. This may seem ripped from the YA series playbook, but it doesn't work in this instance. And Episodes 2 through 4 don't get much better. They focus on Cadence and Gat's budding relationship and Johnny's bad behavior, among other things, and though they're important story points, they aren't important enough to maintain whole episodes.

But the thing that really disturbed me in the early episodes is that Cadence is informed that others can't tell her what happened to her. And no one can combat Cadence's post-traumatic amnesia with the truth, though they apparently know what happened. This is patently ridiculous, but because the audience isn't told what happened either, it gets us on her side. It turns out, though, that this is another lie in the show, and for those who don't continue to watch, they won't know that this fib is eventually corrected.

"We Were Liars" is co-created (with Carina Adly Mackenzie) by Julie Plec, whose most successful show is "The Vampire Diaries." So it's not surprising that this keeps the teen series' fires burning. This is particularly true when it comes to Candice King, one of the leads in "The Vampire Diaries," who co-stars in this show as Bess Sinclair, Mirren's mother. It's a little depressing, honestly, to go from King being the one in high school to being a mom. It shows just how quickly the YA show juggernaut can churn out new teens to replace the old. But that's life too, I suppose. And Plec is hoping for another winner with this show.

That may be harder to accomplish than it once was. After all, when "The Vampire Diaries" premiered, streaming wasn't a thing the way it is now. But even with this show having all eight episodes released at once, I still don't know that those who aren't already familiar with the tale it tells will appreciate it. Though "We Were Liars" does get appreciably better in the latter half, especially the last three episodes, the damage is already done. And the hints of further mystery, including the mentions of a fourth Sinclair sister and the coda in the final episode (which makes it clear that there's more to tell in a second season) is disingenuous to the story as a whole. This series tries, but its missteps are too large to ignore, and it'll probably end up as one of the year's TV flops.

"We Were Liars" premieres on Prime Video on June 18.