Over the summer of 2025, before my junior year, I discovered a show that had just been released on Prime Video called We Were Liars. It’s based on the book that was released in 2014, written by E. Lockhart. I’ve never read the book, but I’ve heard people say that it was different from the show.
To me, every episode left off on a cliffhanger, keeping me intrigued and watching it past midnight every night, especially since it was summer. However, the ending was devastating and I’m still not over it. It’s a mystery drama about a wealthy family that spends every summer on their private island. The story slowly reveals a tragic event that the main character and narrator, Cadence Sinclair, can’t remember due to a mysterious accident one summer.
Johnny was funny, outgoing, and protective of his friends, and Mirren cared a lot about appearances and fitting in with the wealthy Sinclair lifestyle. Harris Sinclair was the strict and powerful grandfather who owns the island. Cadence and her family spent every summer there along with her love interest, Gat Patil, who was also Johnny’s best friend. Gat is thoughtful and often questions the Sinclairs’ wealth and privilege. Gat yearned for Cadence the whole show and I loved the relationship they had up until the accident. He’s not a part of their family, but Johnny’s mom, Carrie Sinclair, was in a relationship with Gat’s dad, Ed Patil. Gat was with the Sinclairs quite often, but felt like an outsider since he wasn’t as wealthy or as privileged as them. All four teens called themselves “The Liars”. They would hangout, swim, play games, and explore the island together.
One summer (called Summer Fifteen) something terrible happens, but Cadence can’t remember it because of the accident that happened in the process. After fully recovering two years later (Summer Seventeen), she returns to the island to try and put together the pieces on what happened. Throughout the show, she slowly pieces together memories while noticing that things feel strange and that things weren’t the same because everyone was hiding something from her. To me, this was really intriguing because I was completely clueless on what could’ve happened to her. They gave enough hints to keep you at the edge of your seat but not enough to try and guess what happened.
The root of the accident, and how everything started, was because the Liars were frustrated by the Sinclair aunts (the cousins’ moms/Harris’ daughters), who were constantly fighting over money, houses, and inheritance. I thought they just had pure jealousy over each other. They always found different things to compete with each other over, whether it was over looks, wealth, or lifestyle. Their father, Harris Sinclair, also encouraged competition between them instead of trying to fix their family problems. He would make snarky comments towards Gat and Ed Patil (that barely anyone noticed or pointed out) since they were Indian-American. It was clear that the family cared more about wealth, appearances, and status than about each other.
One night, Gat spoke about the Sinclairs’ wealth and privilege harming people and their relationships. He pointed out that the family’s obsession with money was tearing everyone apart. I was really glad that he finally stood up for himself and what he believed in because the way him and his father were being treated was unfair. The Liars then started thinking that the houses and inheritance were the reason the family kept fighting which caused them to come up with a plan: if the houses and possessions were gone, the adults wouldn’t have anything left to fight over. So, they decided to burn the house down while they were home alone and everyone was out, thinking it would force the family to start over and focus on each other instead of money. Well, they started over alright.
They believed it would be a symbolic reset for the family, but the fire spread much faster than they expected and turned into a tragedy. All of the cousins went inside to burn everything, meanwhile Gat stayed outside to get the boat ready to get away from the fire, everyone agreed on a certain time to meet up at the boat. Cadence tried getting out of the house when she realized the fire was spreading rapidly. When as she was running out, she realized she left her dogs locked in a room. She then runs back to help them but something falls and knocks her unconscious, causing her to get serious injuries and memory loss. She never got to save the dogs, and she was unconscious and inside the burning house for so long that she herself caught on fire too. That causes her to then run outside and, since the ocean is right outside of their house, she jumps into the water. However, she loses consciousness again and wakes up on the shore not remembering anything. In my opinion, this was a dumb idea and they died over something stupid and avoidable. There was most definitely an alternative way they could’ve taught their family a lesson that wasn’t life risking.
Gat noticed that it had been awhile since the fire started and ran inside to see if everyone was okay. Little did he know, he wouldn’t be able to make it back out. Johnny got out in time but saw that there was no one in the boat, so he tried going back inside to help or warn the others but got trapped inside too, along with Mirren. Overall, Cadence was the lone survivor of the fire. She lost the people who were most special to her along with some of her memories.
Throughout the story, the Liars that Cadence were talking to (during Summer Seventeen, the return after the accident) were actually all ghosts, memories, or even illusions. They were not real people. Once she remembers the truth, she realizes she has been imagining them. Everyone was lying to her because, every time they tried to tell her the truth, she would freak out and have an episode. So, they had to let her put the pieces together and figure it out herself. I was hysterically crying at the end of the show, mostly when she wasn’t able to save the dogs since they had nothing to do with it.
