I was never planning on writing this review. I wasn’t even planning on watching the TV adaptation. Yet out of boredom, I clicked on the first episode. And then I watched one more. And another. And another. I already read and reviewed One of Us is Lying by Karen McManus, and while it’s a book that failed my expectation, I liked it. I was looking for a YA murder mystery, instead, I got a YA drama. Which was still fun. Luckily, the TV series was equal parts drama and mystery.

The adaptation started faithful to the book. The characters are easy to like, and you want everything to work out in the end. Being familiar with the story made it easy to keep going. Although not much encouragement was needed because of how each episode is structured. Each one is a step closed to the truth, so I wanted to keep going, even when I already knew the truth. The first season easily grabs the spectator. And I was most curious to see how the story would unfold since it has a second season.

My first impressions were that Simon wasn’t that bad. In the book, it’s clear that Simon is an unlikable person. No one likes Simon, actually, people despise him. People aren’t even surprised he died, only that someone had the gut to do it. This contrasts enjoyable characters being murderers and a dislikable character being the victim. But in the TV series, Simon isn’t presented as a bad person. Yes, he’s still trying to expose everyone, and no one likes him, but the stakes aren’t that high. And if any of the suspects killed Simon, it was only to stop him from sharing their secrets with the whole school, not because they wanted to stop him. And the secrets never seemed a strong motive to kill.

And so, fundamentally, there was a slight change in the narrative. When I watched the so-awaited final episode of the first season, I finally understood the changes made to Simon. He was never supposed to be evil. He was just gossipy. He was acting in the name of honesty and against hypocrisy when he lost himself in the power it gave him to possess other people’s secrets. He was just another victim.

Until this point, I was enjoying the story a lot. It was, in my eyes, a good adaptation. Focused more on the murder investigation, which was lacking in the book. The characters were also interesting, even the secondary ones. But the ending was what made me want to write this review. I was not happy.

Ever since I saw One of Us is Lying had a second season, I was curious. What could possibly be the second season about? The book has a finished plot. Nothing is left open. There is a second novel, also set in Bayview High, but follows a new cast of characters and happens a year after Simon’s death. It’s a sequel, not a continuation. And usually, seasons are a continuation of a plot that wasn’t fully finished. But with the changes to Simon’s murder, it became clear what the second season would be about. And also, that it was planned from the beginning.

The start of the second season picks up exactly where season one finishes. The Murder Club, the Bayview Four, are no longer innocent. They are murderers. Very on brand with I Know What You Did Last Summer, the group is haunted by someone that knows they have gone to a new raking. Gone from played victims to accidental murderers. I still kept watching because the mystery was addictive, although I felt it was a bad move to rewrite the ending that way.

What made the story so simple in the book was the pairing of lovable characters that were actually innocent and an evil murder victim. I never felt sorry for Simon’s death, and it would devastate me to know a character I like could be a murderer. But in the series, not just one, but all the innocent characters stopped being so innocent after all. And that changes the characters, changes how I see them. And the ending of season two doesn’t rewrite them back to a better place. Instead, it’s worse. Not only are they not innocent, but they also framed someone else for their wrongdoing.

There’s nothing wrong with characters that aren’t either bad or good, or good but do bad things, or vice versa, or even bad characters. I enjoy it when a character has a darker side. I love to watch You, and that series is about following a murderer getting away time and time again. Although, in this instance, I don’t like it. I feel it goes against the story. A story that is made to make you love these characters without knowing if actually one of them is a murderer in secret. To be on the expectation that, at any moment, it could be revealed that your beloved is the killer all along. And so when proving that none of them are guilty, they become guilty, it feels pointless.

Sadly, the series was cancelled, and we’ll probably never see a conclusion to the cliffhanger of the second season. But if, in the future, a third season is realised, I will watch it. Despite the problems I have with writing choices, the episodes are engaging and fun to watch. However, I would not want to see more than a third season. Let’s face it, these characters can only hold one more season until it becomes ridiculous how often they are mixed up in crimes. Mind you, if the third season is made, the series spans a whole school year. And for a high school where nothing like this ever happened before, having 3 murders in a year is a cause for concern.