Pretty Little Liars: Summer School Season Premiere Review: This Season, Summer is Here to Slay

Things are looking a lot less pretty and a little more dangerous for the liars in the season premiere of Pretty Little Liars: Summer School.

Picking up right where things left off, Pretty Little Liars: Summer School Season 1 Episode 1 starts with four murders within the first five minutes.

Aptly titled “Loose Ends,” that’s exactly what’s taken care of. If the trend continues like a Scream movie, audiences may see each new season commence with a kill scene.

Sheriff Beasley, Chip, Madame Giry, Steve, and the drug dealer to Noa’s mom all met a grizzly end right at the start, wiping the slate clean for a new killer to cut some fresh flesh.

On top of everything the girls went through, now they have to spend their summer attending school or otherwise face repeating the 10th grade. A fate worse than death.

The girls also seem to each have their own struggle bus to board.

Imogen’s trauma is manifesting in hallucinations of her mother as well as “Bloody Rose Waters.” However, if Mouse’s grandmother is to be believed, the only figments of Imogen’s imagination may be the spectral visions of her late mother.

As if things weren’t bad enough for the poor girl, she’s struggling with giving her baby up for adoption. Based on the reaction of the couple who adopted her child, it’s clear that Imogen has made a significant number of unexpected visits in the guise of delivering presents.

Add to the fact that Imogen is separated from her friends during class hours, and the girl feels pretty isolated.

Wait. When did you guys go to a creepy cabin in the woods and why wasn’t I invited?

Imogen

Furthermore, she’s developed anxiety over the possible similarities between her and her mother’s mental health. And while some disorders are hereditary, it’s safe to say that Imogen’s issues are not the same as her mother’s, as echoed by Dr Sullivan.

Imogen: Guys, I’m flailing. Clearly. I mean, I’m having hallucinations.
Mouse: What kind of hallucinations?
Imogen: Bloody Rose. My mom. Both.
Mouse: My lola said she saw her too.

And speaking of the good doctor, viewers of the original Pretty Little Liars will likely recognize her as the same therapist that frequented the series.

If that wasn’t enough to give OG viewers a treat, there was even a possible call back to Ezra Fitz. The teacher was last seen marrying his longtime student, Aria before the couple made plans to adopt on Pretty Little Liars Season 7 Episode 20.

Dr. Sullivan: Remember the first couple you selected for adoption? At the last minute, you called it off.
Imogen: Because I got a weird vibe from that Ezra dude.
Dr. Sullivan: I remember. And they also lived further away in Rosewood.

If this is how things are for Imogen at the start of the season, she is likely in for a rough ride, both mentally and physically, as she was the first of the girls to have a possible run-in with Bloody Rose.

However, being the fighter and survivor that she is, it’s just as likely that she’ll come out the other end stronger than when all these murders first started.

As for her cinephile roommate, things are similarly complicated. She’s still dealing with the trauma caused to her by Chip but seems to have found a small fraction of closure through her short film, even with Chip’s mom demanding its removal from the internet.

Trial night with our bullies. Chip was tied up. The knife was right there. I should’ve carved that “A” into his chest. Branded him.

Tabby

Additionally, the theater has a cute new employee named Christian, who is into horror movies and seems interested in Tabby. As another horror franchise character might say, “Never trust the love interest.”

Even Jeffrey Dahmer supposedly seemed like a nice guy.

Noa’s possibility of lethal lovers comes twofold with the introduction of her juvie pal, Jennifer, with whom the pretty little liar shared some intimate moments during their lock-up.

This news will inevitably reach Shawn as this show is still a teen drama. What happens after that is anyone’s guess. There is not much in the way of stakes unless this new killer decides to test Noa by giving her a deadly choice between Jennifer and Shawn.

And then there’s Faran, who doesn’t want to return to dance just yet. Odd, considering everything she went through in the first season to reach her dreams as a ballerina. It’s possible the murder of Madame Giry in the first episode has left her with guilt and lowered her self-esteem.

At least she got a win by knocking Greg to the ground. Something she’s no doubt wanted to do for quite some time.

Mouse has thankfully moved on from comforting lonely men suffering from loss but seems to have replaced one unhealthy obsession with another. As she has admitted, Mouse is addicted to the internet and, more specifically, a macabre forum called “Spooky Spaghetti.”

It is a name that will not soon be forgotten, as it was repeated about thirty times in the first episode.

Mouse: Apparently, at 12:01 am, the time of Angela’s death, if you look into a mirror, one that Angela also looked into, and say “Bloody Rose Waters” five times, she’ll materialize.

It’s hard to say what’s in store for Mouse as she is in a considerably better place than the previous season. In Pretty Little Liars: Summer School Season 1 Episode 2, her moms leave for a summer cruise, giving Mouse more freedom than ever before to spend plenty of time with her boyfriend, Ash.

Please don’t break up with me because I’m insane.

Mouse

However, it could be that her newfound confidence will be her undoing if she decides to investigate “Bloody Rose Waters” on her own.

The lies are certainly piling up, and we’ve only just begun.

Collectively, the girls have made some questionable decisions. They’ve each given out their new numbers to one person or another. So, it shouldn’t have surprised any of them that they all received calls from an unknown number.

Mouse: Hello?
Bloody Rose Waters: Hope you’ve been studying.
Mouse: What? Who is this?
Bloody Rose Waters: You know who I am.
Mouse: What do you want?
Bloody Rose Waters: Save your breath. You’ll need it.

And while the girls are smack in the middle of their teenage years, it’s rather strange that none of them have connected the random roses to the name “Rose Waters.” They should be on high alert for anything out of the ordinary.

Kelly, at least, seems to be in a much safer boat than the rest of them. Her only concern so far has been getting as involved with her new church as possible, much to Greg’s dismay.

After everything she went through in the previous season with losing her sister and then dealing with her mother stabbing her father in Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin Season 1 Episode 10, it’s nice that her biggest concern is that of a role in a church play.

However, considering the last person killed at the end of the second episode was a fellow church peer, Kelly’s medium amount of peace may be short-lived.

Speaking of this new killer, it’s not exaggerating things to say they are not wasting any time getting the body count going. With three under their belt already, this “Bloody Rose Waters” could be packing speed over Archies’ brute force.

What’s staunchly different in Summer School from Original Sin is that the moms of the respective girls appear to no longer be caught in the crux of it all, at least for now. As most therapy sessions will reveal, it always goes back to the mother.

After starting the premiere episode with five times the body count of Original Sin, this season will be much more intense. If the rules of sequels are to be considered, things will be brutal, and there will be blood.

Best summer ever. We’re going to have a blast.

Imogen

Who’s next on Bloody Rose’s list? Which of the new faces this season is setting off your suspect alarms?

Drop a comment below to let us know! And join us again when we review the next episode!

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