Summer School’ Is Starting To Feel LIke ‘Riverdale’

Riverdale is one of those shows that needs to be seen to be believed. It had a strong start, with a compelling mystery and a great cast of newcomers and veterans that made for dynamic performances. But as it went on it began to lose steam, and with every passing season it seemed to get more and more weird. It went from a small-town murder mystery to having aliens and superpowers. How it got to that point is just as confusing. Now Riverdale has become a meme, and even though the series has concluded, it’s still a prominent part of pop culture, if only for the absolute absurdity of its entire run. So, when it was announced that the show’s creator, Roberto Aguirre Sacasa, would be leading a reboot of Pretty Little Liars, fans were left a little nervous.

The thing is, Riverdale wasn’t all bad, it had its moments of greatness, so there was potential for Pretty Little Liars to be great. But it was also a reboot of a beloved series, one that was campy enough already and had its memeable moments. Surprisingly, though, Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin and its second season, Summer School, proved to be a really great reboot of the original show. It took just enough elements from the original series to earn its title but made enough changes to stand on its own feet. There is, however, one major flaw that’s becoming a little too evident as the show goes on: it’s beginning to take a lot of cues from the Riverdale handbook.

‘Riverdale’ and ‘Pretty Little Liars’ Exist in the Same Universe

In Season 1 of Pretty Little Liars, it was subtly suggested that Riverdale and Millwood — where Pretty Little Liars is set — exist in the same universe. It also revealed that Rosewood, which is where the original Pretty Little Liars was set, also exists in the same universe. The mention came when Imogen (Bailee Madison) and Tabby (Chandler Kinney) were told of a sanitarium called Sisters of Quiet Mercy. Now, if you’re not a Riverdale fan, this probably went right over many viewers’ heads. But for those who stuck with Riverdale throughout its many twists and turns, you would have immediately clocked this mention that connects the two shows.

Sisters of Quiet Mercy is the sanitarium where many of the characters were sent throughout the show’s run. In Season 1 we learned that Betty’s (Lili Reinhart) mom, Alice (Mädchen Amick) was sent there as a teenager when she got pregnant, and the same happened to Betty’s sister Polly (Tiera Skovbye) when she got pregnant. In Season 2, Cheryl Blossom (Madelaine Petsch) is sent there by her horrid mother, Penelope (Nathalie Boltt), when she comes out as a lesbian. And of course, who can forget when the show decided to add an organ-harvesting cult storyline in Season 3? That entire organization was run by the Sisters of Quiet Mercy. So to say that the sanitarium played a hefty role in Riverdale would be an understatement, and it’s no coincidence that it’s mentioned in Original Sin. It was really only a matter of time before the shows revealed they were connected. After all, Roberto Aguirre Sacasa loves to connect his shows, but was it a good choice?

‘Pretty Little Liars’ Is Taking Too Many Cues From ‘Riverdale’

There are a lot of subtle things that Pretty Little Liars does that feel a bit too reminiscent of Riverdale. For starters, Season 2 of the show, aptly titled Summer School, gives us a brand-new setting. An ice cream shop and a diner that feels all too alike the iconic Pop’s Chocklit Shoppe in Riverdale. And some more minor things, like changing real-world brand names into cheesy soundalikes. Like how Riverdale had “The Five Seasons Hotel” instead of The Four Seasons Hotel, Pretty Little Liars now has “Spooky Spaghetti”, a website that is a clear rip-off of CreepyPasta. Oh, and the church that Kelly (Mallory Bechtel) has become a large part of feels oddly cult-like. And as we’ve learned from Riverdale, the showrunner really likes indulging in some cultish mysteries. And perhaps on a more nitpicky scale, the show revealed that “A”’s name is Archie, which can’t be a coincidence considering Riverdale’s main character is Archie Andrews (KJ Apa). It all just feels a little too familiar at this point.

‘Pretty Little Liars’ Is Getting Ahead of Itself

In the grand scheme of things, having the two shows be connected is relatively harmless. But as Pretty Little Liars goes on with Season 2, I can’t help but notice some of the similarities in storylines between the shows. No direct plots have been taken from Riverdale, but in terms of structure, Pretty Little Liars is definitely taking inspiration, and that might cause more harm than good. This first became evident in the Season 1 finale of Original Sin, when the show neatly tied up the “A”/Archie Waters storyline, and just moved on to a completely different villain and storyline in Season 2. This is very reminiscent of Riverdale’s first season. The entirety of Season 1 centered around Jason Blossom’s (Trevor Stines) death, and who could have possibly done such a thing in the small, quiet town of Riverdale. By the Season 1 finale, we had our answer, and while it was thrilling to see the mystery be solved and see what theories were correct, that kind of wrap-up doesn’t work quite as well for Pretty Little Liars.

The reboot doesn’t feel like a rehash of the original series, which is good, but part of the intrigue of the original series was never knowing who “A” was. For seven seasons, we watched as our titular liars tried and failed to uncover the person stalking them. Yes, it got a little tiring at times, and the show certainly cycled through a few different “A”’s, but it always kept audiences coming back because we just had to know what would happen next. Original Sin wrapping up its “A” storyline so soon, takes away all of that intrigue. Yes, the Bloody Rose Waters storyline is still technically “A”-adjacent, but it doesn’t have the same effect. The show doesn’t have to drag the mystery out as much as the original series did, but keeping it going a little while longer couldn’t have hurt. And if the storyline with Bloody Rose gets wrapped up in the Season 2 finale, who knows what Season 3 could hold? And considering the turn Riverdale took in Season 3, it might be in the show’s best interest to just keep rolling with the “A” mystery.

In fact, the show just needs to drop its Riverdale ties altogether. Ok. Maybe not all together. But it does need to loosen its ties a little bit. Riverdale was fun while it lasted, and it will always be a fascinating piece of pop culture history, but by the time the show aired its series finale, it just wasn’t all that good. Pretty Little Liars has been doing really well in establishing itself. It’s interesting, it’s scary, and it’s got a fabulous cast. It doesn’t need the ties to Riverdale to be successful, it doesn’t even need to reference the original Pretty Little Liars to be successful, it’s doing well on its own, and it needs to stick with what it’s doing. Following too closely in Riverdale’s footsteps will only cause more harm than good. And while Riverdale was never anything short of entertaining, Pretty Little Liars deserves a chance to prove itself as a solid horror/mystery series, and it can’t do that if it’s constantly chasing Riverdale’s shadow.

Pretty Little Liars is available to stream on Max in the U.S.

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