Despite time jump, not much has changed on 'Pretty Little Liars'

“Pretty Little Liars” (2010 - present) is the kind of show casual observers of pop culture think went off the air years ago. Frankly, it’s remarkable that after five seasons of increasingly absurd and hard-to-follow plotlines the show has enough steam to keep going. And yet, somehow, it appears there are still stories to be told about Rosewood’s most notorious residents— Spencer (Troian Bellisario), Hanna (Ashley Benson), Aria (Lucy Hale) and Emily (Shay Mitchell).

The second half of the show’s sixth season has picked up five years after the events of the previous episode in which the identity of the girls’ mysterious tormentor was finally revealed. In the winter premiere, the girls are summoned back to Rosewood by their friend Alison (Sasha Pieterse), and along with the return to their hometown comes plenty of mystery, intrigue and cute boys for fans to ogle at.

The time jump has certainly been a boon to the show, although it is hard to determine if it is as successful as it could have been without it. But many of the updates, both large and small, have been welcome ones. Bellisario, Benson, Hale and Mitchell are much closer in age to their characters, so viewers no longer have to pretend that women in their late 20s, or early 30s in Bellisario’s case, are simply a bunch of regular 17-year-old girls. Whatever outlandish plotlines the “Pretty Little Liars” writers conjured up in the previous five and a half seasons, hardly anything was more unbelievable than the glaringly obvious age gap between the stars and their characters.

The time jump has also found most of the girls with jobs and new love interests, both of which have already stirred up considerable drama and forced the girls into doing what they do best (or worst?) — lying. It’s unclear, however, how and if “Pretty Little Liars” will continue to make room for the fresh faces and storylines that have accompanied these updates in the girls’ lives. Thus far, the show seems intent on keeping the action primarily in Rosewood, and it’s unlikely that the liars’ bosses and significant others will be content to carry on communicating via the occasional Skype session. Eventually, something will have to give. 

Many of the updates felt like a breath of fresh air, especially for the first few episodes. Now, however, several weeks after the premiere, the novelty of it all is starting to wear off and it’s becoming increasingly obvious that the DNA of the show has hardly changed. In fact, the structure of this season so far seems to have been plucked straight from season one — the four friends, after a significant amount of time apart, have reunited in their hometown and are being tormented by an anonymous stalker. It’s a disappointingly unoriginal move but not an entirely surprising choice — expecting excellence from the “Pretty Little Liars” team might be asking too much. Occasionally, however, the lack of change is reassuring rather than frustrating. The fashion choices, for example, continue to be alternately impressive and absurd as ever — Hanna recently wore what appeared to be a silky bathrobe, short shorts and sky-high heels to the police station where she had been called for questioning.

Despite the abundance of recycled material, the “Pretty Little Liars” writers have concocted a rather unexpected storyline for Emily, whose return to Rosewood has been particularly troubling. Emily is now both broke and a college dropout, and she attempts to hide these facts from her family and friends. In order to make money she is planning to donate her eggs, which requires her to make covert trips to the doctor and inject herself with hormones on a regular basis. Which direction the writers will take this development remains to be seen, but they deserve credit for including a storyline viewers haven’t seen, in some form or another, countless times before.  

Whatever criticisms are hurled at “Pretty Little Liars”—and there are plenty to be sure—it’s important to acknowledge the somewhat exceptional position it holds in the TV landscape; it is one of the few shows on the air that stars women and features men only in supporting roles. Female friendships in particular are hard to find on TV, but on “Pretty Little Liars,” they drive much of the storytelling and character development. This is not to say that “Pretty Little Liars” is necessarily feminist or that it offers cutting commentary on gender roles, but rather to point out how rare a find it is. It may be the kind of guilty-pleasure show that will never win any Emmys, but that does not preclude it from offering something meaningful and significant to its hordes of young female fans.