REVIEW: ‘We Were Liars’ Excels In Subversion
- Moriba Forde
- Jun 16, 2025
- 4 min read
We Were Liars is Amazon Prime Video's newest series, intended to entice young adults with a recipe of suspense, drama, and mystery.
Based on the novel by E. Lockhart, We Were Liars revolves around the elite Sinclair family through the eyes of the eldest grandchild, Cadence. They rule like American royalty on their private island, Beachwood, with wealth, power, and a legacy. The Sinclair family has it all, minus trust, respect, honour, and dignity. The series picks up one year after mysterious circumstances leave Cadence with a traumatic brain injury that has her memory in fragments. In her resolve to piece her memory back together, she confronts the sins of her family as they are hellbent on keeping her in the dark.
Young adult fiction often provides an immersive experience into dystopian, fantastic, or supernatural worlds, where a clear hero and villain engage in a fight for love or survival. Like its source material, We Were Liars disrupts the formula to engage audiences in an unpredictable thriller set against the backdrop of the real world because there is nothing more terrifying than reality. The series is essentially the offspring of Succession and The Hunger Games. Though, unlike Succession, it is no form of comedy at all.
As ironic as this sounds, We Were Liars never pretends to be anything it's not. Showrunners Julie Plec and Carina Adly McKenzie effectively capture the tragic and mysterious nature that originated from Lockhart's mind, resulting in a successful adaptation. The series takes its time to build up, but it pays off in the end. Until then, the leads keep us occupied with impeccable performances as the Sinclairs shed their skins.
The Kids Aren't Alright
The self-titled 'Liars' are a quartet of best friends who spend their summers on the family's private island, Beachwood. They are four cousins (three biological, one by marriage). Unlike their parents, they cherish the time spent with one another instead of fighting for inheritance. Anyone looking at them would easily dismiss them as spoiled rich brats without a care in the world, which is dead wrong.
Emily Alyn Lind, Joseph Zada, and Esther McGregor accomplish the nearly impossible task of getting anyone to sympathize with rich white kids as they provide intimate looks into the minds of Sinclair cousins: Cadence, Johnny, and Mirrin. As for the fourth member, Gat, played by Shubham Maheshwari, he shares the Sinclair curse despite not having the same blood.
These four kindred spirits band together to keep each other from falling apart. The way Johnny, Mirren, and Gat rally around Cadence after her near-death experience serves as a clear indication of their unbreakable bond. Cadence has been carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. Now she must learn to let her loved ones carry her, and their dynamic carries the show.
The Sinclair Sins
If you ever wonder what a generational curse looks like, look at the parents in the Sinclair dynasty. They are not necessarily bad people, but they are far from good, and to call them flawed would be an understatement. Their love for their children is buried deep down by a primal instinct to survive at any cost.
The Sinclair Sisters have so many skeletons in their closet while being starved for affection from their father, who is the absolute worst, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. We'll get to him shortly. Caitlin FitzGerald, Mamie Gummer, and Candice King's portrayals of Penny, Carrie, and Bess Sinclair mirror the faces of greed, pride, and envy. They succeed in internalising those demons with a thread of trauma they share.
To no one's surprise, none of them is happy. They smile, wave, and blow kisses for the sake of appearances. While they serve as clear indications for why their children are severely messed up, you can't help but feel pity for them instead of disdain. Any disdain viewers are expected to have is reserved for the Sinclair monarch, Harris.
Harris The Sinister Sinclair
Don't worry about spoilers. You will find none of those here. I can write a dissertation on how Harris might be Satan, and you still would have no idea what transpires. The show is called We Were Liars for a reason after all. Played by David Morse, Harris is the source of the Sinclair family's generational curse. There are stubborn old men stuck in their ways, and then there is Harris.
As far as Harris is concerned, he is Zeus, refusing to hand over Olympus to his progeny. He would rather pit them against each other to see who deserves to inherit his kingdom the most. He is the worst type of narcissist anyone can imagine, with a mastery of psychological warfare under his belt. Speaking of psychological warfare, the writers are the most dangerous masterminds.
The One Truth Worse Than All The Lies
The true nature of We Were Liars is not revealed until the season finale. The writers build on the foundation laid by the original author to misdirect viewers with merciless plot twists. This saga testifies that seeing the world through someone else's eyes does not guarantee an understanding of their suffering, because life is more complex than we care to admit. What we see is not necessarily what we know.
Rating: ★★★★★
About We Were Liars
Premiere Date: June 18, 2025
Episode Count: 10
Executive Producers/Showrunners: Julie Plec, Carina Adly Mackenzie
Writers: Julie Plec, Carina Adly Mackenzie, Scarlett Curtis, Fola Goke-Pariola, Sid Gopinath, Aditya Joshi, Allison Sanchez
Directors: Erica Dunton, Nzingha Stewart
Production: My So-Called Company, Amazon MGM Studios, Universal Television
Distribution: Amazon Prime Video
Cast: Emily Alyn Lind, Shubham Maheshwari, Joseph Zada, Esther McGregor, Caitlin FitzGerald, Mamie Gummer, Candice King, Rahul Kohli, David Morse, Wendy Crewson
Based On: The novel We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
Synopsis: The series follows Cadence Sinclair Eastman and her tight-knit inner circle, nicknamed the Liars, during their summer escapades on her grandfather’s New England private island. The Sinclairs are American royalty -- known for their good looks, old money, and enviable bond -- but after a mysterious accident changes Cadence's life forever, everyone, including her beloved Liars, seems to have something to hide.
Comments