A Review of ABC Family’s “Twisted” by Tiffany A. White

I have a secret… I love ABC Family’s teen mysteries.  Because I enjoy Pretty Little Liars as much as I do, I decided to give The Lying Game a try last year when it premiered.  Sadly, the network recently announced they will not renew The Lying Game for a third season, but that’s okay—now we have Twisted (and soon we’ll have Ravenswood, a PLL’s spinoff).

So, what is Twisted?

Twisted follows Danny Desai (Avan Jogia), a troubled teen recently released from juvenile detention after serving five years for his aunt’s murder.  Known as a “confessed, unrepentant murder,” Danny’s homecoming doesn’t go as smoothly as his family had hoped.  Looking for redemption, Danny immediately tries to reconnect with two of his best girl friends from his past—Jo (Maddie Hasson) and Lacey (Kylie Bunbury)—but even they have called Danny “socio” on occasion.

Since Danny’s conviction, Jo has had trouble moving on and is considered by many to be a social outcast, while Lacey has left her past behind… for popularity and a new boyfriend.  Bringing this group back together doesn’t go as smoothly for Danny as he had hoped, especially after a classmate is found murdered and he becomes the prime suspect—again.

This new series also stars: Denise Richards as Karen, Danny’s mother—the former socialite, whose social status hasn’t quite recovered since her son’s arrest; Sam Robards as Kyle, Jo’s father and the town’s sheriff; Grey Damon as Archie, Lacey’s new boyfriend; Chris Zylka as Tyler, a boy pretending to be interested in Jo and Danny, but he’s really only creating trouble; Kathy Najimy as Mrs. Fink; Robin Givens as Lacey’s mom; and Kimberly Quinn as Jo’s mother.

Earlier, I mentioned that Danny confessed to his aunt’s murder.  And he served his time.  But like with every murder, everyone around town, including his two besties, wants to know why he did it.  Not helping his case, Danny sticks to his guns and will not say.  All he will tell anyone is that he had his reasons and that he is protecting them by not divulging the truth.

This only adds to the mystery surrounding Danny.  As a convicted killer, and after spending five years in juvie, one might expect him to be a bit rugged and short-tempered.  But he’s not.  For the most part, he takes the high road and avoids many of the physical altercations thrown his way by the “studs” of the school.  Danny is actually quite smooth, if you ask me.

But his eyes… his eyes tell a different story.  Granted, sometimes his eyes portray the sweet teen boy he appears to be externally; but sometimes, his stare alone makes me question his innocence.  Maybe Danny is a “socio”—I guess we’ll just have to wait and see…

Bottom line?  I watched nine episodes of Twisted in three days.  Every free moment I could spare, I pressed play on another episode.  Now, do I like it as much as Pretty Little Liars?  No, not yet anyway.  But am I hooked?  Yes.  Have I figured out the mystery?  Nope—as Danny, Jo, and Lacey uncover new evidence, I’m thrown for a loop.  And it’s for all these reasons that Twisted ranks up there with Ray Donovan as one of my favorite new summer shows.

*****

Tiffany A. White is the author of the YA mystery “Football Sweetheart” series. She blogs at The Ooo Factor and is available for contact via Twitter at , Facebook at , or by email at .

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