My Initial Thoughts on The CW’s New Drama Life Sentence

The new drama Life Sentence debuted on The CW last night; and it’s the kind of quirky, serio-comic series that the network has been putting on the airwaves for quite some time. In the vein of Gilmore Girls and Hart of Dixie with a dash of Jane the Virgin tossed in, Life Sentence delivers on its basic premise.

Life Sentence follows Stella Abbott, a girl who has spent the last eight years living like she was dying (because she was). Just like the “manic pixie dream girl” heroines in her favorite sappy cancer movies, Stella traveled the world, faced her darkest fears and found true love on a whirlwind trip to Paris. But when she finds out that her cancer has been cured, she is suddenly forced to face the long-term consequences of the “live in the moment” decisions she has made.
And if that’s not enough, she also finds out that her “perfect family” isn’t so perfect after all.

Here is a rundown of the characters and my thoughts on them:

• Lucy Hale plays Stella; and it’s a tailor-made role for her to take on. It’s also a great departure from the role of Aria Montgomery for which she played on Pretty Little Liars for seven seasons. She has the whole “desperate millennial with a funky haircut” look down pat and carries the lead role well. I actually felt bad for the character as she first get the glad news that her cancer is cured but then has the rug pulled out from under her as her family – once they learn the glad news – begins to reveal everything they have been hiding from her because she was dying;

• Elliot Knight plays Wes, Stella’s husband of 6 months. They met by accident in Paris, fell in love – as we saw depicted in that opening montage when they were buying her “funeral” cake – and married. It was actually refreshing to watch as he came clean to Stella about all the “things” he did and did not like about their life as a couple – it’s hard pretending to be the perfect husband when you really aren’t, huh?

• Brooke Lyons is Stella’s sister Elizabeth, who seemed like the modern-day version of a multi-tasking wife, mother and sibling that is until you look beyond the curtain to discover that she gave up her dreams in order to take care of Stella and start a family with her husband Diego (Carlos PenaVega). Elizabeth is the quintessential example of having it all but not having it all.

• Jayson Blair plays Aiden, Stella’s older brother, who stills lives at home – in the apartment above the garage – sells Adderall to soccer moms and uses his sister’s cancer to guilt them into sleeping with him. He was referred to as a “loser” and that certainly seems to be the case if you don’t look beyond his façade, but I have a feeling there is a lot more to Aiden than that – he just put his whole life on hold because of his overriding concern for his little sister and needs to jumpstart his life.

• Gillian Vigman and Dylan Walsh play Stella’s parents Peter and Ida, who have been married for a very long time; but who have fallen out of love…well, to be more precise it’s Ida more so than Peter because she is exploring her feelings for her best friend (and Stella’s godmother) Poppy [who also happened to officiate Stella’s marriage to Wes].

The episode played out much like a movie montage to a great degree, giving viewers insight into Stella and her very dysfunctional family. It equated itself to the old adage “don’t judge a book by its cover” – allowing Stella – for the first time in 8 years – to see her family for what they are: screwed up just like the rest of us.

Did you watch the new series? What do you think? Please let us know below.

Life Sentence will air its next episode on Wednesday, March March 14 on The CW at 9/8c.

[Photo Credits: Nino Mu-oz/March Hom/Mark Hill/The CW]