The Lying Game: Pilot [Review and Comparison to the Book]

Wow. I've got to admit, the t.v. adaption of The Lying Game (book by Sara Shepard) was not what I expected.

Uh, yea. You've got to have read the book and watched this episode to understand the whole article, but you don't have to.

I was actually really excited to watch The Lying Game since I had read the books. To my disappointment, the show was nothing like the books. Of course, I knew from the previews that Emma (Alexandra Chando) had met Sutton (also Alexandra Chando) before her disappearance  unlike in the book, but I had no idea that there would be so many and such drastic changes to the characters and plot. 

First of all, Sutton's sister Laurel and her friends are not what I pictured them to look like. Laurel is (no offense) ugly (or at least not as youthful as I thought she would be), and Sutton's friends look way too old to be in high school. Nisha, her enemy, well, I honestly thought that she was supposed to be Indian, or, am I mistaken? And finally, the guys of the series (or maybe, possibly, just this episode), Luke (who is he??), her... well, honestly, I don't know what he is, and apparently, Ethan, her "boyfriend" (really??). Also there's... what's his name again? Oh yea, the pedophile stepbrother Travis. I have one thing to say about him--make that two. He's OLD! And, he's weird.

The plot is twisted from the book, twisted so much that Ethan finds out about Emma way too soon, and without a back story might I add, and that Emma actually meets Sutton! Weird huh? I mean, of course I didn't expect it to be exactly the same, but this is a big change. 

There are also little things in the books that I wish had been included in the show. I don't want to spoil anything though, so let me just give you a warning right now: SPOILERS AHEAD, FOR THE REST OF THIS PARAGRAPH (I mean, I just have to specify since I hate it when I read that in an article and I have to guess where the spoiler ends and then I accidentally read it while trying to find the continuation. Yea.). Anyway, I wanted to see Emma get "kidnapped", Twitter Twins (where are they by the way), and most importantly, Sutton as a ghost!! I just think that as a ghost in the book, Sutton carries important details about her background and her emotions and thoughts as she follows Emma through her life. Another little detail, Sutton is supposed to be the one good at tennis, not Emma!Ok, I'm done.

Oh, one thing that fit my expectations perfectly though: Emma's foster mom's house. It was EXACTLY how I pictured it.

Eh... Overall, it was okay. I can't wait to see how it plays out though. But that's just me. For people who have not read the books, obviously, you don't  know the differences, so, I'll give the show a separate review just for you! Uh.............. Actually I can't really imagine it, but I assume it's REALLY GOOD. By the way, what's with Sara Shepard and -SPOILER- murdering teenage girls?


Update: After watching an interview with the cast about the book series and the show, I can understand why they are making such big changes to the story in the show; I mean, I've watched and read Pretty Little Liars and they are pretty different. It's just that I watched the show before I read the books so maybe that's the reason why I'm not as freaked out about the differences on PLL.


It's actually bedtime, and I say watch, don't wait.