Wait, I'm Not Actually Dying? Why You Should Watch Life Sentence: A Review.

I have a love/hate relationship with television shows. Well, I mean, I don’t exactly watch television all that often, but when I do, there is a specific list of maybe ten shows that I’ll actually get into, and end up watching over and over. To name a few: Gossip Girl, Grey’s Anatomy, Gilmore Girls, Pretty Little Liars, The Fosters, How I Met Your Mother, Good Witch, and you get the idea. It seemed like I had never moved on from these, and it felt like I was never going to. I knew if I started any of the other legendary shows my friends often tell me about, it’d take me a while to get into, and I just wasn’t sure if I wanted to yet. Like I said, I don’t watch a whole lot of television, and I was perfectly content with the shows I had been watching on a loop.

When I saw a few posts over social media announcing a new show, Life Sentence, which was to premiere on The CW, I was intrigued. The show was created by Erin Cardillo and Richard Keith, and the series got its start on March 7, 2018. Based on the Pilot’s synopsis, I could tell that the storyline was going in a very interesting direction, and I knew I had to see it. I found out, minutes later, that Lucy Hale was starring as Stella Abbot, and my excitement grew to a whole new level. Let me be biased for two whole seconds. I’ve seen almost everything Lucy’s been in, from the obvious Pretty Little Liars to The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, How I Met Your Mother, Drake and Josh, Private Practice, Once Upon a Song, and Dude. With the characters Lucy played, she told each one of their stories with so much passion and dedication; she is so incredibly talented as an actress, and singer, which I won’t get into today. The show also stars Elliot Knight, Jayson Blair, Brooke Lyons, Carlos PenaVega (Big Time Rush anyone?,) Gillian Vigman, Dylan Walsh, and Nadej Bailey.

Image via The CW

Long story short, I started college this past year, and I didn’t have Cable TV. I knew I was going to have to wait till at least a few episodes of show were uploaded to Netflix or Hulu to be able to watch it, so I made an effort to avoid the internet and the live tweeting to ensure that nothing was spoiled for me. Ultimately, it was when the network canceled the series that the first season was published onto Netflix. I knew going in, clicking on the Pilot, that the show was not going to continue, but somehow binging through made me forget until the final scene of the thirteenth episode.

Life Sentence surrounds the Abbot family, who deals with all sorts of chaos, but what initially caught my attention was the way the creators decided to take a sad issue, a young woman battling cancer, turn it around, and show what her life was like after she found out that she had been cured. I’ve seen the typical “The Fault In Our Stars” type of movies and shows, and don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love the story John Green created, but Stella Abbot’s tale was drastically different, and unique. Imagine being in your 20’s, constantly reminded that you only have a few months left to live; instead of dying on your “expiration date,” a direct quote from the show, you wake up to your oncologist telling you that you’re no longer sick, and your whole world changes. Stella, essentially, came out of her protected shell to discover that her parents’ marriage fell apart, her mom was actually dating her Godmother, her brother was a lowkey drug dealer, and she didn’t know her husband Wes as well as she thought she did.

Image via The CW

In each episode, Stella seemed to uncover more and more about what she missed out on, especially in the lives of her family, and attempts to fix everyone’s problems while discovering who she is again as a person. Through the insanity that Stella faced, that sometimes made her wish she was on that hospital bed again, one thing remained constant: her positive outlook for others, especially her loved ones. Maybe it was a little too much, but it was the way she learned to live again. From the start to the end, Stella focused on creating solutions for the world around her that she lost herself. As the plot progressed, we could see that her character development was fueled by inspiration not only from her family, but the new world that she was exposed to. The more she broke out of the bubble that had been keeping her in for the duration of her cancer treatment, the more she discovered what she wanted, what she really needed, to live her life to the fullest. Except, the person Stella was as a cancer patient would always remain a part of her, helping her to make or change decisions, and introduce her to people and opportunities she’d never thought she’d have.

Image via The CW

I finished Life Sentence in about two days, and by the end, I was drowning in a river of tears. The story was told in a very realistic, yet dysfunctional way that made the audience feel like they could relate to the characters and have a good laugh or cry. I admire the creators’ focus on the importance of family, and they did that by filling the scenes, the dialogue, and the shots with emotion and inspiration. Lastly, the energy between the actors is another reason for my love of the production. The way the cast portrayed such a close-knit, yet chaotic family made me really believe I was there with them, and the chemistry between Lucy and Elliot’ roles was simply magical, despite the fact that they were consistently trapped on a struggle bus that they couldn’t get off of.

Image via The CW

The entire cast and crew of Life Sentence gave the show such a wonderful life, and they gave it a beautiful ending. If I could recommend a show to anyone this summer, this would be it. I’ll always appreciate the way the storyline was produced, and how distinctively different this was from any other television series. If any network, ahem The CW, wants to bring the show back for a few more seasons, I wouldn’t be against that… but for now, go binge the show. Bring some tissues, drink some coffee, you’ll be up all night sobbing and laughing. And yes, it’s a good thing.

Xo, Cindy