Life Sentence Season 1 Episode 1 'Pilot' Episode Review; Is It Any Good?

Life Sentence is a new drama/comedy that aired this week on The CW starring Lucy Hale in the lead role of Stella Abbott.

It has an interesting concept, although the first episode does have a few flaws that might prevent this from becoming a longer series.

I have to admit, this is the first type of drama/comedy I have watched in many years.

The last time I watched a show from a similar genre was probably The OC back when I was still a teenager over a decade ago!

The start of Life Sentence is a little sobby as Stella Abbott talks about her life being a terminally ill cancer patient that's going to die soon.

Despite her impending doom, she's tries to live life to the fullest for the past eight years being as happy as possible.

It's not until her doctor tells her that her cancer has been 100 percent cured does her life change. Her family is obviously happy that Stella is no longer dying, although they are far from perfect. 

The main hook of the show is the fact that Stella's family were pretending to be happy in front of her so she won't get upset.

Now that Stella will be alive for the long term, her husband (Wes) and the rest of her family admit that things aren't so rosy for them.

One of the funniest and most shocking revelations is that Stella's Mom Ida confesses that she is bisexual and that she has been cheating. Ida now likes a new woman more than her husband (ie Stella's Dad). 

Stella's sister (Elizabeth) and her brother (Aiden) also have problems of their own that they hid from her all these years.

Aiden actually became my personal favorite character in the series because he's a bum with a carefree attitude most of the time.

Stella's husband Wes also pretended to be happy all of the time, but deep down he did not like everything about their relationship. However, the two are still happy together although that could change the longer the series goes. 

I don't mind the pilot's mix of both drama and comedy because I think it works in the show's favor.

It doesn't get too sappy as there are light hearted moments sprinkled in to make the tone brighter than other dramas.

The show also grabbed my attention mainly because the problems the family have are more than just first-world problems.

They aren't the richest family in the world and Aiden himself does not even have a job and just lives with his parents.

The only issue I have with Life Sentence is that I struggle to see how this series can be stretched into an entire season.

The main goal of Stella is to make her family happy again, although I'm not sure if there's enough story here to make the season exciting each and every week.

That said, it's not entirely bad although I am interested to see if they can make more storyline threads heading into episode 2 and beyond.

In my opinion though, the show needs stronger storylines if it wants to keep me hooked for the long term.

Verdict: 7.0/10

Wanna read more on this? Check these out: Lucy Hale Confirms 'Life Sentence' TV Show Has Been Canceled (more); Life Sentence Season 1 Episode 7 Review: 'Our Father the Hero' (more); Life Sentence Season 1 Episode 5 'Wes Side Story' Review (more); Life Sentence Season 1 Episode 4 'How Stella Got Her Groove On' Review (more).

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