Horror being my favorite genre, the Pilot for this series drew me in based on that element alone. And I probably would have stuck with the show just based on the heavy horror vibe and aesthetic. But the reason that I actually became invested in this series is the excellent casting. I was unsure in the Pilot, but within a couple of episodes, I was impressed by the acting and chemistry of the 5 actresses playing the main characters: Bailee Madison (Imogen), Chandler Kinney (Tabby), Zaria (Faran), Malia Pyles (Mouse), and Maia Reficco (Noa). I have a GOOD problem with this show. I have no idea who's my favorite of these 5 characters. That's how well written, engaging, persuasive, and likable these young ladies are. Throughout the season, I found myself enjoying all of their conversations and bonding as a group and working together to solve the A mystery.
The collection of actors playing the supporting teens are well cast, too: Mallory Bechtel (who plays mean girl twinsKaren/Kelly), Carson Rowland (as Chip), Ben Cook (as Henry), Jordan Gonzalez (as Ash), and Alex Aiono (as Shawn). My least favorite characters are probably the Moms, but the casting is pretty uncanny in both the resemblance to the actresses playing the daughters as well as the actresses who play their younger selves. The show probably made the Moms a bit too uniformly 1-dimensionals and overprotective. But this is a minor nitpick as they all play second fiddle to the teens. The other adult characters like the Sheriff, the school nurse, the movie manager, and the ballet teacher are all interesting characters, too.
This show is an excellent homage to old-fashioned horror and the finale didn't disappoint. Much like the rest of the season, the writing, acting, editing, cinematography, camera work, music, and scene transitions are on point. Appropriately, the best chase scene happened in this finale after a season of great chase scenes. The big A reveal was extremely satisfying. The writers kept the story surprisingly simple and let their characters drive the plot instead of the other way around. One thing that I really liked about this finale is that it wrapped the story up to where a continuation is unnecessary. But this show is so good, I'd definitely watch a Season 2.
In terms of modern horror/slasher series, Season 1 of PLL Original Sin is definitely near the top. Probably my #2 all time. The only season I put ahead of it is Season 2 of Netflix's Slasher show, which is probably my #1 slasher season ever. AHS 1984 was a contender with a strong first half, but the second half was abysmal. Original Sin is much more horror-centric than PLL was and for me, that's a good thing as I found the original show veered too often into soap opera territory over the years. I feel as if the producers behind this show are dedicated to embracing the horror aesthetic throughout it's run and based on this finale as well as Season 1, this show has the potential of being one of the best horror series ever.
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