Drama
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
Captain Pike finally gets his time in the Star Trek spotlight, but his story is one filled with tragedy and foreboding.
Cadence Sinclair Eastman has lived a privileged life.
Every summer, her grandparents, the illustrious Harris and Tipper Sinclair, host their three daughters’ families on a private island off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard. Every year, Cadence and her cousins, Johnny and Mirren, along with Gat (the nephew of Johnny’s mom’s boyfriend) have free reign on Beechwood Island. And every year, Cadance revels in her time spent there, creating memories for years to come.
But in Summer 16 (as Cadence calls the summer they all turned 16), something happens to Cadence—something that prevents her from recalling any of the memories she made.
Cadence is found washed up on shore, wearing nothing but her undergarments and having suffered a traumatic head injury. Over the next year, everyone refuses to tell Cadence what occurred. Her cousins and Gat (whom she had started a romantic relationship with prior to her accident) virtually ignore her all year long. And trying to remember on her own triggers epileptic episodes.
So, when Cadence returns to Beechwood in Summer 17, she’s on a mission to discover what happened last summer: “When you’re left for dead, you want answers. I’m determined to get mine.”
Prime Video’s We Were Liars is based on the novel of the same title by E. Lockhart. And in a way, it could be taken as a cautionary tale—though with more than a few cautions for potential viewers.
The adults in this story are corrupted by their lust for money, power and well, lust itself. Cadence’s grandfather, Harris, continually pits his daughters against each other, forcing them to compete for their inheritance, even as their worlds fall apart.
Each daughter is in some sort of financial trouble. One of them has a husband who’s facing federal fraud charges. Another is broke after paying off people to protect her son (and the family name) from public disgrace. And the last daughter is going through a messy divorce—caused by her own extramarital affair.
But to talk about these issues—to admit you have problems at all—isn’t the Sinclair way. So rather than seeking help, each woman lies. Each sister blackmails another. And each mother uses her kids as bargaining chips, hoping to curry enough favor with Harris to receive a financial payout.
You can only imagine what that does to the kids.
We learn one of the teens beat up a rival and left the kid for dead, forcing his mom to pay the kid off. Two kids nearly drown during a storm. One teen girl is emotionally abused by her mother regarding her physical appearance. And that same girl’s mother destroys something precious to her in an angry and malicious fit. We learn one of the Liars (as Cadence calls herself and her cousins) is gay and keeping it secret for fear of being disowned. An adult struggles with alcoholism, and Cadence becomes addicted to drugs after her accident. Gat and his uncle, Ed, (who are both of Indian descent) are subjected to racist remarks from Harris.
But it all culminates when the Liars, after getting drunk, decide that they’re sick of the adults’ behavior. That for once, they’re going to teach the adults a lesson.
Suffice it to say that’s how Cadence’s accident occurs.
With everything I’ve already outlined, most parents would be justified to tell their kids “No” to this series (and the book, too). But the content concerns don’t end there.
Foul language, including the f-word, permeate each episode. Teenagers drink to excess, made only worse by the fact that the adults know and seemingly don’t care. Teenage and adult couples also have sex. And while camera angles keep most nudity offscreen, we see enough skin and movements to know exactly what’s occurring. (We do see a man’s bare backside in the first episode.)
And this is perhaps a bit of a spoiler, so I won’t get too detailed, but violent acts occur during the course of the show that result in death. As a result, a few characters begin seeing ghosts of the deceased, specters that are corporeal and indistinguishable from living people.
In my opinion, We Were Liars should be rated TV-MA, not TV-14. But because TV ratings are self-administered, Prime Video is able to slap on whatever rating it feels is appropriate. But that does not mean that this teen-centric series is anywhere near appropriate for teens.
(Editor’s Note: Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at [email protected], or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.)
Cadence recounts the beginning of Summer 16, which then flashes forward to her being found injured and half-dressed on the beach after mysterious events.
We see a partial depiction of Cadence nearly drowning before she washes up onshore, wearing only her undergarments and narrating that she suffered a traumatic head injury. Flashbacks show members of her family angrily arguing. Johnny comes to Beechwood via police escort, something he takes as a joke but his mom is upset by. We hear he crashed a golf cart into a store window for a bet.
A married woman has sex with someone who isn’t her husband. Her daughter sees them but says nothing, and we briefly see the man’s bare backside. A young boy asks why his mom’s long-term boyfriend isn’t part of a family photo, and his cousin jokes that it’s because they’re “living in sin.” A teenage boy talks about a same-sex sexual encounter that occurred during a school trip due to irresponsible chaperones. Later, he makes out with another male character. A teen guy and teen girl kiss, too.
And there’s still more sexual content to unpack here. Teenagers talk about sex, and one girl gets nervous that the guy she’s “sexting” will expect her to do the things she’s texted him about. A teen girl talks about the guys she kissed during the school year. Adults talk about sex, too. Characters wear swimsuits. Female characters (including teenagers) sometimes wear revealing outfits. Teen girls ogle a shirtless teen guy. Adult women ogle a man, encouraging one of their number to have sex with him since she’s divorced now.
Cadence and her cousins gain passage to a “booze cruise” despite being underage. One of the moms learns about this but allows it to happen since she used to have a fake ID herself. Adults drink wine. A woman smokes a cigarette.
A woman insults her daughter’s “bony shoulders.” Adults gossip. Cadence explains that she and her cousins (and Gat) were dubbed the “Liars” due to their childhood antics. Cadence hints that future episodes will depict addiction, more extramarital affairs and illegal activity. Someone makes a feminist joke. Characters mock therapy. Most of the adults in Cadence’s family act entitled, proud and self-righteous. Gat says he robbed a bodega during the school year.
There are three uses of the f-word and one of the s-word. We also hear a couple uses of “a–” and one misuse of God’s name.
Emily studied film and writing when she was in college. And when she isn’t being way too competitive while playing board games, she enjoys food, sleep, and geeking out with her husband indulging in their “nerdoms,” which is the collective fan cultures of everything they love, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate and Lord of the Rings.
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