What I’m Watching: Liar (Season Finale)

Liar: Season 1, Episode 6 “The Marshes” (B+)

This was a strong way to wrap things up, but I’m not sure how I feel about it as the launching pad for a second season which is set to star both Joanne Froggatt and Ioan Gruffudd again. While the five episodes that led up to this one all made it unclear what specifically had happened and invited viewers to watch for clues about who was telling the truth, this hour cut to the chase, even doing a three-month time jump after we saw Andrew being arrested by the police to fast-forward to more significant events. Laura was dating someone new, Katy was coming to terms with her family situation, and Andrew had even found himself a new girlfriend. Laura, as usual, didn’t want to leave things alone, and she contacted Charlotte, who was already in the middle of doing a sting operation that went very poorly. While the police once again couldn’t prove anything, Laura was enterprising and surprisingly pretty legal about it, finding video of the seventeen different women Andrew had raped. There’s no ambiguity about what he did, which is good, though I’m worried that season two is going to play out a chapter of this show we don’t need to see, filling in the gaps between the filing of the charges and Andrew’s ultimate demise. While this show held my interest, I’m not sure what’s left to find out, and I still don’t know what its message is supposed to be. Maybe it’s just TV, and I prefer one that deals with the implications of sexual assault than a season-long whodunit.

Season grade: B
Season MVP: Joanne Froggatt as Laura