Latest news with #TheLiars
Bangkok Post
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Bangkok Post
The price of privilege
In We Were Liars, Prime Video's new YA mystery-drama based on E. Lockhart's bestselling novel, 17-year-old Cadence Sinclair (Emily Alyn Lind) returns to her family's private island after suffering a traumatic brain injury the previous summer. The incident has left her with no memory of what happened and as she searches for answers, she finds herself surrounded by layers of silence, secrets and selective memory from those closest to her -- including her childhood besties, known as "The Liars", and her first love. Set on the fictional Beechwood Island, just off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, We Were Liars is visually seductive, filled with the kind of sweeping coastline shots, glowing golden-hour skies and sprawling estates designed to draw viewers into a world of generational wealth and understated privilege. But underneath the glamorous façade lies a family deeply fractured by ambition, resentment and emotional manipulation. Unfortunately, for all its visual appeal and hints at deeper themes, the series doesn't quite hold up under closer scrutiny. This show will likely appeal to audiences still smitten with the idea of rich people spending long summers in beautiful places -- think Big Little Lies or The Summer I Turned Pretty -- but as a mystery thriller, it struggles to land its emotional and narrative punches. The plot relies heavily on the overused trope of amnesia as a way to build suspense, and while it's initially intriguing, the structure soon becomes repetitive. We jump between two timelines -- Cadence at 16, when the "incident" occurred, and Cadence at 17, when she returns to Beechwood -- but the back-and-forth begins to feel like a narrative gimmick rather than a meaningful tool of storytelling. For all intents and purposes, We Were Liars is an "amnesia thriller", but I'm not sure that's a strong selling point. After a while, the mystery feels less like a gripping puzzle and more like a loop that goes nowhere for too long. None of the characters are particularly likable, and in a show like this, that's a problem. Harris Sinclair (David Morse), Cadence's grandfather, presides over the Sinclair clan like a capitalist patriarch out of a Gothic novel. He's not just emotionally manipulative -- he's also racist and cruel, a man so entrenched in his privilege that he sees no issue in pitting his daughters against one another for his approval. His wife, Tipper (Wendy Crewson), is somewhat softer, but her passivity in the face of Harris' tyranny makes her equally complicit. Their three daughters, each damaged in different ways, are constantly at war for affection, validation and inheritance, caught in the same toxic cycles they'll likely pass on to their children. Cadence, as our main character, is stuck between these generations, trying to piece together what happened to her while grappling with a growing sense that her family's wealth and legacy are built on silence, repression and guilt. One of the few emotionally resonant aspects of the show is her complicated romance with Gat Patil (Shubham Maheshwari), a boy who is both an insider and an outsider. As the only person of colour in the group who isn't part of the staff, Gat is constantly reminded -- subtly and not so subtly -- that he doesn't really belong. His father, Ed (Rahul Kohli), is dating one of the Sinclair daughters, but this doesn't shield them from Harris' condescension or racism. Gat's growing political awareness and frustration adds a much-needed layer to the story. He challenges Cadence and her friends to recognise their own blind spots and privileges, and his presence forces the show to touch -- however briefly -- on themes of systemic inequality and inherited wealth. That said, the series doesn't fully commit to exploring these ideas, and that's one of its biggest missed opportunities. What I appreciated most about We Were Liars is that it doesn't completely talk down to its target demographic. The show allows its characters -- especially the teens -- to be complicated, selfish and morally ambiguous. Everyone makes bad decisions, but those choices are given space for reflection and growth. There's a quiet urgency to the narrative: if the younger generation doesn't choose to break the cycle, they risk becoming just as broken and bitter as their parents. It's this generational push-and-pull that gives the show a deeper emotional core. Despite its surface as a teen drama, We Were Liars sometimes feels like a quiet war over the souls of these kids. Can they escape the influence of their elders, or is the damage already done? Still, the series would have benefitted from a tighter format. Eight episodes was too much. This could have been a five-part miniseries and lost nothing in terms of story. Instead, the pacing drags, especially in the middle episodes where we're forced to watch Cadence spiral in circles, still unsure of what happened and drifting through hazy, fragmented flashbacks that start to feel like filler. Worse still, the show introduces other potentially rich storylines that it never properly explores. Take Johnny Sinclair (Joseph Zada), one of The Liars, who is clearly in the closet and dealing with unspoken trauma of his own. We get hints -- an arrest, some trouble at school and a grandfather who "bailed him out" -- but the show never develops this arc. This subplot could have added much-needed depth and intersectionality to the narrative, especially when contrasted against the so-called progressive values the Sinclair family claims to uphold. But instead of pursuing these threads, the story repeatedly returns to Cadence and her vague sense of loss, and by the fourth episode, the mystery loses its grip. The story becomes less about revelation and more about repetition. I found myself losing patience -- not just with the plot, but with the entire premise. In the end, We Were Liars is a mixed bag. There are moments of genuine emotional power and some beautifully acted scenes, particularly between Cadence and Gat. But the series stumbles with its pacing, underdeveloped subplots and over-reliance on moody ambiguity, this one might not be worth the full eight-episode investment. You might be better off reading the book -- or skipping a few episodes in the middle -- unless you truly have nothing else to do.
IOL News
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- IOL News
Unmasking family secrets: why 'We Were Liars' is the psychological thriller you can't miss
Shubham Maheshwari, Emily Alyn Lind, Esther McGregor and Joseph Zada in 'We Were Liars'. Image: X When I stumbled across 'We Were Liars', a new release on Amazon Prime Video recently, I wasn't expecting to be left in tears and still thinking about this powerful series, long after the credits rolled. Having not read the young adult novel of the same name by E. Lockhart, I was expecting to escape into a teenage summer romance, much like with shows such as 'The Summer I Turned Pretty' and 'Outer Banks.' But soon into the show, I was also pleasantly surprised to discovered that it resembled Nicole Kidman-esque psychological thriller such as 'The Perfect Couple' and 'Big Little Liars', while also featuring elements from "Succession" - with 'We Were Liars' also centering around a billionaire American family who are desperate for their patriarch's validation. But what truly set this story apart was the devastatingly emotional manner in which it placed family dynamics, greed and racism in the spotlight, forcing viewers to contemplate these and other issues in their own lives. 'We Were Liars' centres around teenager Cadence Sinclair (played by Emily Alyn Lind), the granddaughter of media magnate Harris Sinclair (David Morse) and one of the heirs to his multi-million dollar empire. She appears to be a picture-perfect teen who is arriving with her newly divorced mother, Penny (Caitlin Fitzgerald), to summer at their family's private island located off the Massachusetts coast. Called Beechwood Island, there she meets her grandfather, her grandmother Tipper (Wendy Crewson), her cousins, Johnny (Joseph Zada) and Mirren (Esther McGregor), as well as her aunts Bess (Candice King) and Carrie (Mamie Gummer). Shubham Maheshwari, Emily Alyn Lind, Esther McGregor and Joseph Zada in 'We Were Liars'. Image: X Dubbed 'Summer 16' after her age at the time of her visit, Cadence and her cousins, who are all around the same age as her, kick off the summer festivities. They are joined by their childhood friend, Gat Patil (Shubham Maheshwari), whom Cadence is secretly in love with. They party on the beach, live it up poolside and spend their days being young and carefree. The group formed such a close bond during the annual visits to the island since they were children that the group earned the nickname 'The Liars', given to them by their grandfather as a consequence of their mischievousness. But this image of the perfect family is quickly shattered when a flash forward shows a severely injured Cadence lying naked on the beach, alone and afraid. This disturbing turn of events leaves viewers desperate to know what could have led the teenager to end up in such a state. And more importantly, who could have possibly wanted to harm her? With her family members as suspects, secrets begin to unravel. 'We Were Liars' does a stellar job at discreetly giving viewers clues about each of the characters, allowing them to try and solve the mystery for themselves. Could it have been one of the cousins? Johnny has a drinking problem, and his family wealth is the only reason he isn't behind bars following a violent incident at this private school. Then there is Mirren, an aspiring artist with mommy issues who is always cast into the background. Could she have been envious of Cadene, the oldest grandchild who is eligible to inherit the family's entire fortune? Even Gat, who arrived on the island just days after spending months in India, where he awoke to the idea that he no longer aligns with Sinclair's racist and bullying tactics, is not as innocent as he seems. There are many other factors at play with the adults in her life. Cadence's mother is struggling with a dirty divorce battle with her father. Her aunt Bess's husband is mixed up with some shady business deals and her other aunty is a recovering addict who agreed to take her father's money in return for not marrying her partner, Ed (Rahul Kohli), who is deemed the wrong race by Harris for the Sinclair brood. And as the truth about what happened to Cadence is finally revealed, viewers are left with a reality that is far worse than even I could have imagined. With such a powerful and poignant ending, 'We Were Liars' excels in suspense, keeping viewers constantly guessing. The cast should also be commended, and although many of them are relatively unknown, with King the most familiar of the faces following her role on 'The Vampire Diaries', they each did their characters justice. Meanwhile, the use of flashbacks and flashforwards as well as the inclusion of a young romance to add depth and layer to the story also contributed to the intrigue of 'We Were Liars.' * I give it 4 out of 5 stars.
Tom's Guide
29-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Tom's Guide
5 teen thriller shows like 'We Were Liars' to stream right now
Based on a 2014 novel by E. Lockhart, "We Were Liars" is the latest teen drama to hit Prime Video. It stars Emily Alyn Lind as Cadence, a girl from a wealthy family who is struggling to recover her memory after an accident she experiences during the show's first episode. Surrounded by her three closest friends — the group dubs themselves 'The Liars,' hence the title — Cadence desperately tries to figure out what happened to her, since she has no memory of the event itself. But the deeper she digs, the more it becomes clear to her that the truth is being hidden by those closest to her. A perfect summer watch, "We Were Liars" keeps you captivated through all its twists and turns. After you finish bingeing it, here are a few other teen thriller shows like "We Were Liars" that will fill a similar niche. The main difference between "We Were Liars" and "One Of Us Is Lying" appears to be exactly how many of the characters are being dishonest. OK, so that's not quite true, but lies and secrets are still a huge part of the game. Like "We Were Liars," "One Of Us is Lying" is also based on a YA mystery novel adapted for the small screen, revolving around four teenagers who have been implicated in the death of their classmate. The plot thickens when we learn that the deceased left behind a poem containing potentially life-altering secrets about each of the four students who are now being considered as suspects in his death. Did one of them do it? Did all of them do it? Well, you have to watch to find out. Watch on Peacock Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. Like Cadence in "We Were Liars," Maddie (Peyton List) in "School Spirits" is suffering from a bout of amnesia. She spends the better part of the first season attempting to unravel what led to her own disappearance and — without spoiling anything _ things don't exactly get easier to explain once she understands what's going on. And just like "We Were Liars," there are some supernatural elements at play that defy the expectations of a typical teen drama. "School Spirits" ran for two seasons on Freeform, the second of which wrapped up in March 2025. It may not have had a chance to reach its full potential, but it's still an underrated and criminally underseen show. Watch on Paramount Plus "We Were Liars" revolves around one central mystery; "Riverdale" thinks that having one mystery is for babies and instead features about 10 different convoluted plotlines going on at any given time, each popping up like a demented game of whack-a-mole (we mean this as a compliment.) Nominally based on the Archie comics that began in the late 1940s, "Riverdale" takes the kernel of those origins and turns them into a teen drama on steroids. With Archie (KJ Apa), Betty (Lili Reinhart), Veronica (Camila Mendes), and Jughead (Cole Sprouse) getting up to increasingly outlandish antics, you never know what's going to happen next in their not-so-sleepy town. Watch on Netflix Secrets are basically part and parcel on "Pretty Little Liars." A safe assumption to make is that no one on the show is telling the truth at any given time, which is how "We Were Liars" often feels. The immensely popular teen drama ran on Freeform for seven seasons, putting its central cast through the ringer the entire time. After the queen bee of their high school clique suddenly disappears, the mysterious figure known only as A begins to target the group of friends, threatening to reveal all of their secrets. As the story unfolds, it seems like new mysteries and twists emerge at every turn, ensuring that "Pretty Little Liars" held the interest of audiences over the course of several years, never giving them — or the characters they became fascinated by — a moment's rest. Watch on Hulu or Max At the very beginning of "Cruel Summer," Jeanette (Chiara Aurelia) appears to be a perfectly sweet, if somewhat awkward, girl who experiences a glow-up over the summer, as many teenagers do. But when she's essentially able to step into the shoes of her missing classmate Kate (Olivia Holt), a popular girl at school, you kind of start to wonder if Kate got Single White Femaled. Especially when Kate turns up after a year of having been gone and accuses Jeanette of knowing about her abduction and purposefully keeping silent about it to preserve her new social standing. A frothy teen soap, "Cruel Summer" was at its peak during its explosive first season, but its second — which features an entirely new cast of characters — is worth a watch as well. Watch on Hulu
Yahoo
24-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'We Were Liars': Esther McGregor breaks down 'bravest' and 'difficult' scenes with Candice King, Emily Alyn Lind
The most popular show on Prime Video, We Were Liars, is bringing fans to tears with it's devastating and shocking finale. Starring Emily Alyn Lind, Mamie Gummer, Caitlin FitzGerald, Candice King, David Morse, Shubham Maheshwari, Esther McGregor, Joseph Zada and Rahul Kohli, the captivating drama has audiences hooked. We Were Liars really leans into its most emotional moments, with the cast really taking on every twist, turn and wounding moment with conviction. One of those moments that really stands out is between Mirren (Esther McGregor) and her mother Bess (Candice King), after Bess finds out her daughter saw her affair with "Salty Dan," a harbour service worker, and shared that information with The Liars. Specifically, Bess is angry her sister Penny (Caitlin Fitzgerald) has that information and is holding it over her head, preventing her from getting more money from her father to reconcile her debt. In Episode 5 Bess confronts Mirren, destroying all of Mirren's beautiful art. "You are not an artist. You are a dilettante and you're a child," Bess says. "I'm your child," Esther says in response. "I didn't ask for you to waste your life on me. And neither did the twins. You chose to be a mother. ... It's not our fault that you decided to hate it." "It was written very well, first of all, so it was easy to kind of get there," McGregor told Yahoo Canada. "I think that it is a lot of people's narratives to kind of feel shut out as a kid, especially if you've got a young mother, or whatever it is." "I've not necessarily [had that] with my mother, but I've dealt with similar stuff in terms of ... not feeling like I have a place. And I think the courage it takes to say that is really big. ... When she hurts me, ... she hurts my art, and she hurts my art that I made because I was so happy with The Liars, and that was my safe place. And when that fractures, that's big enough to break me. I think Mirren tries to keep it together quite a lot, especially towards her mother. So that was something really interesting ... and I think it's one of her bravest moments in the series. So it's lovely to find that, but really heartbreaking too." By the time we get to the last episode, we see a particularly close bond between Mirren and her cousin Cadence (Emily Alyn Lind), who's spent the season trying to figure out the circumstances of her injury during the summer of her 16th birthday. The conversation in Episode 8 starts with Mirren telling Cadence she wishes she had been kinder to The Littles, but Cadence says Mirren shouldn't have regret, she should be "light as air." Then Mirren starts talking about how she always wanted to be "excellent" at everything, that both she, and her mother, never let themselves me "messy." "I don't think anyone really saw me," Mirren says to Cadence as she starts sobbing. "And now no one ever will." "No, look at me," Cadence says in response. "The Liars saw you Mirren. And I'll see you for the rest of my life." "That moment, that's a difficult one," McGregor said. "It was interesting because that one was I think in the last week of us filming, I think we had like a few days left, so that goodbye felt very real and present." "She was such a guiding light for me, quite motherly towards me, which is really what I needed. Like even if I had my stomach ache, she would set me up with some saltine crackers and my medication. Emily's a very thoughtful person that's very attentive, and I think that definitely blended into our characters and our togetherness." But one satisfying part of the We Were Liars Season 1 ending is that Ed (Rahul Kohli) gets back together with Carrie (Mamie Gummer), after previously leaving following Ed's failed proposal. While Ed and Gat's (Shubham Maheshwari) bond as outsiders to the Sinclairs was compelling to watch, it was also interesting to see how Ed is so important to Carrie's kids, Johnny (Joseph Zada) and Will (Brady Droulis), but is still on the outside of the larger Sinclair family. "That dynamic, it's super relatable," Kohli said. "It's not too dissimilar to my current living circumstances." "I am obviously British born and I live in America, I've been there for 10 years, and some of the people I call my family I still, even at Thanksgiving or across the table, still don't feel 100 per cent a part of that. It's just something that comes with being a fish out of water." But in order for We Were Liars to bring the audience through the peaks and valleys in this thrilling story, the show needed directors who could take on the task. In this case, all five directors, Nzingha Stewart, Julie Plec, Tara Miele, So Yong Kim and Erica Dunton, brilliantly crafted their elements of this intertwining story. "[Nzingha Stewart], who did the very first episode, she set the tone," David Morse, who plays Sinclair family patriarch Harris, said. "She's really excellent with actors and taking time with us as we're discovering things. Especially in that first episode you feel so naked the first time you open your mouth as a character on that first day, and you'd like to know there's somebody there who's there to protect you and help you a little bit. And Nzingha was great with that. ... Towards the end, we had a really terrific director for those really challenging last two episodes. ... And I think we had the right directors at the right time."
Buzz Feed
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
We Were Liars Book Vs. Show: Here's What Changed
When you first heard this was getting adapted, what was your first hope — and your biggest fear — for what the screen version would get right or wrong? Book-to-screen adaptations often demand more 'flesh' for visual storytelling. Is there anything you were excited to add to the world of We Were Liars that wasn't in the original novel? Having a diverse writer's room is important enough, but I applaud the team for taking a step further and allowing the input of Indian writers to be taken into account as well. As you mentioned, The Liars (outside of Cady) were given a little more of a background story to really push their personalities forward, which we didn't fully see in the book (i.e., Johnny's anger issues and almost killing someone). How were those storylines constructed, and how much input did you have in that with Julie Plec and Carina Adly Mackenzie? Can you take me behind the scenes of the casting process and chemistry reads? Our readers love hearing about how actors are chosen. I love that casting directors and whoever else is involved in the process are willing to take a chance on someone who doesn't have proper training or professional experience, because they're putting a lot of faith into these actors. I just think that's so special. The book came out in 2014, and you mentioned that it was going to originally be turned into a movie back then. Were there any actors during that time who you imagined playing these roles? What has been one of your favorite moments from set? If the book is a quiet psychological storm, then TV is often louder and more literal. What's something internal about the story that you're hoping won't get lost in the shift to screen? In the book, the incident takes place during Summer '15, but in the series it's switched to Summer '16. Was there a specific reason for that? Was there a moment in the adaptation process when you saw something — a scene, a performance, a line — and thought, 'That's it. That's exactly how I imagined it.'? Grief in the story is silent and isolating. And it's explored in so many ways. Death (which is what most people connect with grief) is at the soul of the story, but you also have characters grieving relationships, life's expectations, and more. How did you tap into that kind of pain authentically, and what did you learn about it while writing from Cady's perspective? The book leaves room for reader interpretation. How do you feel about fan theories, especially the ones that go a bit off the rails? Do you enjoy that ambiguity, or ever wish you could set the record straight? There's a lot of talk about whether Mirren, Johnny, and Gat are ghosts or hallucinations. Mirren refers to herself as a ghost in the series, but I wanted to know where you stood with that debate. I don't know if you know this, but this book had such a resurgence on TikTok. What does it feel like having your book be such a talking point, 10 years after its release? What do you think teens today, especially Gen Z, might take away from this story that's different from what readers took in 2014? Lastly, you wrote the final episode. Is this your first time writing a screenplay or script? If so, what was that experience like for you? Thank you so much for chatting with me!
