"One of Us Is Lying" Initial Review: Cookie-Cutter, Yet Intriguing

Platform: Peacock

Release Date: October 7, 2021

Not to completely re-hash the introduction from my “There's Someone Inside Your House” review, but “One of Us Is Lying” is another book that I happened to get into during my reading resurgence this summer. After my experience with the former, I became very skeptical of the harm and bias that reading the book before the adaptation could do to my reviews. It was clear how much my opinion became skewed as I could not help but make comparisons between the book and the movie and focus on what was better or worse. Sure, an objective review can not truly exist, but knowing the source material certainly did not help in analyzing the adaptation independent of the book. In regards to the latter, though, I began to wonder that perhaps its only difficult to separate the two when the adaptation is inferior to its source material. Based on the novel by Karen McManus, “One of Us is Lying (OOUIL)” makes a number of noticeable changes to character details and the story's unfolding. Having the benefit of being adapted into a series, more of the book's depth of characters and plot could be brought to life while, also, having enough space to justify the story's alterations. Peacock dropped the first three episodes of the series last Thursday, will drop the next three on October 17, and then close out the season with the final two episodes on October 21.

The series follows an unfortunate holding of detention following the first day of school for Bronwyn (Marianly Tejada), Nate (Cooper van Grootel), Cooper (Chibuikem Uche), Addy (Annalisa Cochrane), and Simon (Mark McKenna). Before they could put this day behind them, it would become engrained in their memories forever, as Simon ends up dead. Having his fair share of enemies, Simon was best known for running “About That,” an online group dedicated to exposing the truths and gossip surrounding his fellow students at Bayview High. When Simon's death is ruled a murder, the only four students to have access to him when he died become the lead suspects. Each of the four had their own motives to rid themselves of Simon after he threatened to unveil a secret that each of them was holding. With suspicions pointing towards them, the four students band together to try and uncover who killed Simon, while someone new has taken over the “About That” webgroup. As secrets are revealed and the group battles a web of suspicions, the tangled mess of relationships and drama includes more than just the usual suspects, such as Simon's best friend Janae (Jessica McLeod) and Bronwyn's younger sister Maeve (Melissa Collazo). As the story plays out, the victims of “About That” fight to hold their lives together while waiting out the inevitable conclusion: who killed Simon Kelleher?

As is common amongst any teen movie, the array of characters offered in the series is vast and distinctive, but familiar. Following “The Breakfast Club” format of high school groupings, OOUIL gathers a core group that consists of the popular cheerleader (Addy), brainy good girl (Bronwyn), jock (Cooper), and the bad boy (Nate). While this is as cookie cutter as it can get, I find that I am more forgiving since the series plays with this character dynamics quite well. What the book does not do as well as the series has, thus far, is play with the suspicion and distrust between this main group of characters. Not only that, but these four take on multiple dimensions within that group, spanning the continuum of hiding things from each other to working together to solve the mystery of Simon's killer. Sure, many times it boils back down to the everyday teen dramas, but the juggle of character arcs to get there is still just as entertaining. Where I am not as forgiving is in how the series quickly resolves character resolutions within the same episode. It is usually superseded by a new set of conflicts, however, it would strengthen the narrative to have a few more hanging plot threads to tug on throughout the season.

There are character details that have been changed from the book, such as Cooper originally being characterized as a white down-home country boy to a black teen, but in this day and age, diversity is always prioritized. None of the changes made have a negative impact at all and most of the casting is really spot on. Addy comes off a much more ditzy in the show than she did in the book, but, again, I think that was done in the name of diversity to better distinguish her character from Bronwyn. What I really appreciate is the series' reliance on supporting characters to not just chew the scenery but actively contribute to the narrative's progression. Both Janae and Maeve are given some different dynamics from their novel counterparts, but still seem positioned to make the same type of impact towards the story's conclusion. There are a few changes to these characters, particularly to Maeve, that really pumps up the juiciness of their involvement and how deep their presence could run. The show is based around exposing secrets and most of these characters' secrets do carry some weight and are kept loyal to the book. However, there is not much shock and awe to the secrets themselves, as they are almost comically obvious based on the main fours' characterizations.

The show follows a pretty comfortable pace as it navigates the many subplots that individualize the character's struggles. It could have easily minimized the subplots for the sake of the main mystery or vice-versa, but the episodes are well structured (maybe even too well) with a beginning and end that brings the narrative back to Simon Kelleher. While there is not much of it, the inclusion of investigative work by the characters does help embed the show with a more procedural feel and helps break up the monotonies of teenage back-and-forth. A benefit of having so many pieces to play with is the ability to hold onto some of its cards and maintain a few slow reveals and blooming plot points. At the same time, I feel like holding back so much on the main Simon/killer plot point is hurting the draw of the show and, at the end of these first three episodes, has left the hook a bit more shallow than it needs to be. Instead, it has become a focus on who is still posting on "About That," but I do have faith that the show will come back around fluidly.

These initial episodes have really been a fun watch and, I think, may have even been made more enjoyable by having read the book. The series has added new characters and put a few twists on the existing characters' narratives to keep the show fresh for prior readers and just giving those new to the narrative more to sink their teeth into. While enjoyable thus far, the initial episode drop does come off like an extra long introduction with the emotional tone of the show never having a chance to get established with the characters quickly swimming through their various subplots. The anticipation for the mystery remains, and is likely to, but if the show does not slow down and let some of the drama simmer, the conclusion may be the only thing with which viewers walk away when all is said and done. That is the risk of following the cookie-cutter teen archetypes, it is much easier for them to disappear behind the narrative without establishing themselves as uniquely required for this story. But for those invested in the overall premise, which does carry a lot of intrigue, you might not care about the characters past the point of your own suspicions anyway.

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RATING: 🧑🏻‍💻 🧑🏻‍💻 🧑🏻‍💻.25 / 5

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