One Of Us Is Lying is a teen drama that's streaming exclusively on Peacock. The mystery drama series is based on the young adult novel by Erica Saleh. Although One Of Us Is Lying is enjoyable, some things about the murder mystery don't make sense.
Great for fans of The Breakfast Club, Gossip Girl, and Pretty Little Liars, One Of Us Is Lying follows a group of four high schoolers: Addy, Cooper, Bronwyn, and Nate. After a student named Simon dies, the four protagonists become suspects and an anonymous source threatens to reveal their secrets.
10 Simon Cyberbullies Students And The School Refuses To Step In
Simon runs an app called "About That" where he "anonymously" posts students' deepest secrets. After his death, the principal reveals that the school knows about his app but refuses to stop it. She states that what Simon does off-campus is his own business.
However, if the school is aware of the cyberbullying and harassment Simon dishes out, they should feel obligated to step in or attempt to intervene with him and his parents. Consequently, the principal and Bayview High are negligent at best, as students would obviously tire of Simon's antics and retaliate.
9 None Of Simon's Victims Try To Stop Him
The entire Bayview High population knows Simon is behind the gossip app, despite his attempts at keeping it anonymous. Simon sneaks into parties, finds dirt on his classmates, and posts the information for the school to see. Yet, no one tries to stop him from exposing everyone's secrets.
Simon's best friend, Janae, half-heartedly attempts to convince him to shut down the app. Aside from that, it seems as if everyone else lets it happen. No students or adults intervene to help Simon's victims, and Simon winds up dead.
8 There Doesn't Seem To Be A Dress Code
Most American high schools enforce a strict dress code with what they deem "appropriate" for the classroom. Codes typically include mandated short or skirt lengths, strap widths, closed-toed shoes, and more. However, Bayview High doesn't seem to have a dress code, which the students use to their advantage with outfits that wouldn't usually be allowed.
Like most teen shows, the young characters wouldn't pass through a typical school's halls without getting sent to the principal's office for a violation. While the messages behind dress codes themselves are debatable, they're typically strictly enforced, making it odd that so many teen shows ignore this small real-world detail.
7 The Kids Clearly Aren't High Schoolers
While it's typical for older actors to play teenagers, it's still jarring when people in their mid-to-late-twenties play high schoolers. Chibuikem Uche, who plays Cooper, is 22 years old. Cooper van Grootel (Nate) and Annalisa Cochrane (Addy) are both 26.
Marianly Tejada, who plays Bronwyn, is 30. While these actors play their roles excellently, they're still clearly not high school-aged. Plenty of talented young actors are age-appropriate for high school roles, and it's a shame teen shows fail to utilize them.
6 The Main Characters Are All Clichés
One Of Us Is Lying has some parallels to The Breakfast Club, which is evident in the main characters' personalities. In the classic 1985 John Hughes film, the detention group are described as "a brain, an athlete, a princess, a criminal" and a cynic. Those tropes are also very present in the TV show's group.
Bronwyn is the brain, Cooper is the athlete, Simon is most like the cynic, Addy is the princess, and Nate is the criminal. Granted, the characters start to shed their stereotypes as the season progresses, like when Addy cuts all her hair off and Cooper comes out and puts his happiness above his sport. However, these clichés are overdone, and it doesn't make sense that they're still playing out decades later.
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4 All Of The Parents Are Awful
For some reason, every parent in the show does terrible and problematic things to or for their children. For example, Addy's mother criticizes her appearance and encourages her to flirt with the police to get out of trouble. Nate's parents fail to care for him at all, leaving him to fend for himself.
Cooper's dad wants his son to hide his sexuality to avoid risking his baseball career. Simon's mother uses his death as a political campaign to gain sympathy. Bronwyn's parents, who pit their daughters against one another and only care about perfect grades and image, are somehow the best of the group. Unfortunately, none of the children have good, stable, loving parents to admire.
3 Simon Agreeing To Jake's Dare Doesn't Fit His Character Development
Simon and Jake, Addy's controlling boyfriend, were best friends until they hit high school. After discovering that Addy was cheating, Jake uses Simon to exact revenge on her and the other three students. Jake coordinates the peanut oil stunt, promising to have extra EpiPens stored for safety. However, because he wants to frame Addy for Simon's murder, Jake hides the medicine.
Simon is initially reluctant but agrees to the plan when Jake dares him. While it's understandable that he wants to impress or reconnect with his former friend, Simon changed when their friendship ended. Simon agrees to a life-threatening stunt because he wants to avoid disappointing a childhood friend, but that doesn't make sense for his character development.
2 Bronwyn Risks Everything For Nate
Nate and Bronwyn have a complicated relationship, nursing crushes but avoiding their feelings to spare one another. Getting romantically involved could be disastrous as they're both murder suspects. When the police arrest Nate for Simon's murder, Bronwyn risks everything to prove his innocence.
Bronwyn potentially gives up her future at Yale and thousands of dollars from her college fund to bail Nate out of prison. The two confess their feelings for one another, but after Jake's death, Nate avoids her like the plague. He's likely trying to protect her, but after all she does for him, it doesn't make sense that he treats her this way.
1 Lying About Jake's Death Is A Terrible Plan
The more the teens lie, the more complicated everything becomes. After the Halloween party, Jake chases Addy into the woods and the others follow. During a scuffle for a gun, someone shoots Jake in the stomach and he dies. The teens hide his body and pretend they didn't see him that night.
All five protagonists get an anonymous text from someone who knows what happened, leaving an opening for season two. However, their lives would be much easier if they'd told the police the truth. They have a copy of Jake's texts and can likely prove he orchestrated Simon's death. At the very least, they can say they shot Jake in self-defense. By lying, they're getting themselves wrapped up in much more trouble.