9 Reasons That Have Me Obsessed With "One Of Us Is Lying"

It picked up from where it had left at the finale of the first season and again departed on a cliffhanger like its predecessor season. Nevertheless, it gave me so many reasons to be obsessed with it. Let's dive into ten of them. 

One of Us Is Lying is set in an American high school where a group of teenagers finds themselves embroiled in the investigation of the suspicious death of two of their schoolmates. In addition to the usual teen drama, the series offers mystery and intrigue in healthy doses. At one moment you are snorting at some snarky comeback and then next you're gaping at the clue that just dropped. 

The very first show that comes to your mind when you start watching this is Pretty Little Liars. The show is not a copy or rehashed version of PLL but the setting, paranoid atmosphere, backstabbing, stalking, and the mysterious texter shall most certainly give you the thrills reminiscent of PLL. 

It shall also help you recall iconic teen shows and movies like Gossip Girl and Breakfast Club. There is literally a gossip boy in OFUIL who starts this chain of events.

One of the main reasons why Season 2 was dearly awaited by fans was the nail-biting cliffhanger introduced in the finale of Season 1. Let me jog your memory: Season 1 of One Of Us Is Lying concluded with the main group receiving a text from "Simon Says" claiming to know the killer of Jake (Barrett Carnahan). Interestingly, Simon too is dead. So who's texting? Well, thank you, Season 2, for the terrific and surprising expose. 

Much before the woeful texter is unmasked, they blackmail the four protagonists into doing their often illegal and dangerous bidding. Sometimes it creates an edge--of-the-seat tension where you have no clue if the character will emerge unscathed or not. Honestly, it reminded me of some spy movies, and of Dirty Harry where a serial killer blackmails the supercop into doing his bidding and makes him run from one telephone booth to another. 

Maeve is like a cross of Hermione Granger and Lisbeth Salander who unfortunately is not a part of the group (the Murder Club), even though she really wants to be. She's easily the most intriguing and confident character in the series who shows the way (or creates a new one) when the group hits a dead end. In an act of self-awareness, the show acknowledges its treatment of Maeve, when in Episode 5 (“Simon Says Ho Ho Ho”), Maeve hacks into the school computer and sees that their school principal is writing a story about the Murder Club but she has been left out of the story. 

The show drops breathtaking twists in each episode that further deepens the mystery and increases the stakes for the group. Interestingly, the twists seem to resolve a conundrum but they pose new challenges for the group, making the adventure lively. For starters, it's revealed in Episode 2 that Jake's corpse, which had fallen off the yacht and apparently sunk to the bottom of the ocean, is actually inside a freezer on Janae's yacht. 

The actors look so smart and loveable and their acting complements that. You feel for them whenever they are narrating their latest predicament. The show has also taken great care in reflecting the diversity of the community where the story is set. The show doesn't use its diverse cast as props but involves them in storytelling and moving the plot forward. Although there are some stereotypes, most of the characters buck them and come off as natural and relatable to me.

An interesting singularity of the show is its subtle and natural portrayal of gender and sexual diversities. One of the main characters, Janae, is conflicted about her gender identity and even remarks to Addy in an episode about her frustration (“Sometimes I wish that gender didn’t exist”). Many viewers have also felt that sexual tension pervades the interaction between Addy and Janae. One of the main characters is in the closet while his friend is an openly gay African-American student who is quite comfortable with his sexuality. 

After I was done watching the Season 2 finale, I immediately jumped to the Reddit page of the series to devour the endless collection of fan theories. It was as rewarding as the show. The Redditors had come up with a myriad of opinions about who could be the unseen victim in Season 2's finale and other theories for Season 3. You can check them out here.