The Lying Game

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

The Lying Game is an ABC Family series based off the novels of the same named by Sara Shepard. It follows the adventures of Emma Becker and Sutton Mercer, two long-lost twins living in different parts of the country. When Sutton decides to go looking for their real parents, Emma is forced to move into her home and take over her life. The Lying Game premiered on August 15, 2011.

Has a characters page in need of some love.

Not to be confused with Liar Game. Or The Crying Game.

Tropes used in The Lying Game include:
  • Acting for Two: Alexandra Chando as Emma and Sutton.
  • Advertised Extra: Nisha is billed as a main character despite only appearing in a few episodes. Compared to Alec who is a recurring character but has been in all but one episode
    • She was demoted in episode 11.
  • All Girls Want Bad Boys: Subverted. One would think this was the reason Sutton was attracted to Ethan, but he actually turned out to be a fairly decent guy.
  • Alpha Bitch: Nisha Randall comes off as this. It's implied that Sutton may have some Alpha Bitch tendencies too.
  • Always Identical Twins: Emma and Sutton.
  • Ambiguously Brown: Mads, which is confusing as her father and brother are white.
    • This troper just assumed that Mads liked to go heavy on the spray tan.
  • Analogy Backfire: In "Bad Boys Break Hearts", Laurel says her and Emma are both like Cinderella. Emma points out that in the Cinderella story, "everything went to crap" at midnight.
  • Becoming the Mask: Justin
  • Beta Couple: Laurel and Justin.
  • Betty and Veronica: Ethan between Emma (Betty) and Sutton (Veronica).
    • Emma between Thayer (Betty) and Ethan (Veronica).
    • Laurel between Baz (Betty) and Justin (Veronica).
  • Big Bad: Initially, it seemed like it was Alec Rybak who's behind the major mysteries of the show, but after the airing of the season finale, "Unholy Matrimony", Rebecca is actually the one manipulating the events and Sutton is collaborating with her in carrying them out.
  • Big Brother Worship: Mads, who adores Thayer.
  • Big Sister Instinct: Laurel with Sutton
  • Billing Displacement: Several of the show's most important characters are billed at just recurring status (ex. Alec, Rebecca, Justin) while Nisha is basically an Advertised Extra.
  • California Doubling: Set in Phoenix, with Sutton off to Los Angeles... and filmed in New Mexico.
  • Cassandra Truth: Emma tries to confess her secret to Dan, but he doesn't buy it.
  • The Cast Showoff: Episode 13 features not only Allie Gonino's singing talents but also the other members of her band.
  • Casting Gag: Charisma Carpenter due to her role in Deadly Sibling Rivalry, a movie about a Twin Switch that came out at the same time as The Lying Game and its Dueling Show Ringer.
  • The Chessmaster: Sutton was already shown as quite the chessmaster but the season finale revealed that she was collaborating with her mother Rebecca
  • Clark Kenting: Taken Up to Eleven. Emma is different from Sutton in almost every way except for appearance (Sutton is a slacker, Emma is smart. Sutton is kind of a bitch, Emma is nice. It goes on.) and yet the whole town continues to believe that she is Sutton simply because she says so.
    • Makes sense in that when someone you know is acting differently you don't automatically assume that they must have switched places with a long lost twin.
  • Cool Big Sis: Sutton failed to be this for Laurel, but Emma makes up for it.
  • Dawson Casting: All of the teens are in their 20s. The youngest was Kirsten Prout at 20 who played Char.
  • Demoted to Extra: Kristen Prout (Char) was demoted to recurring status. Sharon Pierre-Louis (Nisha) was also demoted but she had never really been a major character in the first place.
  • Different As Night and Day: Emma and Sutton
  • Disney Death:Sutton
  • Dogged Nice Guy: Thayer to Sutton
  • Five-Man Band:
  • Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Sutton and Emma. Laurel's relationship changes depending on which one is playing Sutton.
  • Foreshadowing: Rebecca says this to Emma!Sutton after Ethan's murder charges are dropped in episode 18.

Rebecca: Sometimes mothe- (catches herself) an older person knows best!

  • The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: A very extreme version between Emma and Sutton. Sutton and Laurel are a pretty tame version in comparison.
  • Hair of Gold: Laurel and Kristen.
  • In Love with the Mark: Justin, who was initially just using Laurel as a means to get to Ted, ends up falling in love with her.
    • Derek only began dating Char in order to spy for Alec and ends up genuinely liking her. Alec is less than enthused.
  • I Knew It!: Annie is not the twins mother, Rebecca is.
  • Lady Drunk: Char's mother, Phyllis.
  • One Steve Limit: Averted with Annie Hobbs and Annie Sewell. Played Straight in that the latter goes by her middle name, Rebecca.
  • Out of Character: In-Universe. Emma, in her role as Sutton, is often noted to act in ways that contradict Sutton's personality. (Agreeing to give her sister a ride, apologizing to someone she'd angered, etc.)
  • Parents as People: The parents are arguably more screwed up and entangled in lies than the teens.
  • Preppy Name: All of the wealthier kids (Sutton Mercer, Laurel Mercer, Thayer Rybak etc.)
    • And their parents Theodore "Ted" Mercer, Alec Rybak, Phyllis Chamberlain
  • Put on a Bus: Char in episode 12.
  • Race Lift: Of the Type 4 variety. In the books, Nisha (whose last name there is Banerjee) is Indian. In the show, she's African-American, with the last name Randall.
  • The Reveal: No not that Rebecca is the twins mother It's the fact that Sutton seems to have known all along and they have some sort of plan put together
  • Revenge: Sutton is pretty pissed at Emma for "stealing" her lifestyle and is probably planning some kind of revenge, despite the fact that this was neither Emma's desire nor her intent.
  • Rich Bitch: Nisha. Sutton herself.
  • Secret Keeper: Ethan and Thayer, who know Emma and Sutton's secrets. Later, Emma brings Mads into the secret. Alec and Ted also keep the secret about Emma and Sutton's mother
  • Separated At Birth Casting: Charisma Carpenter and Alexandra Chando look so much alike that the reveal of Rebecca being the twins's mother was borderline The Untwist.
  • Sibling Triangle: Sutton and Emma over Ethan.
  • Sibling Yin-Yang: Sutton and Emma
  • Tangled Family Tree: The show has implicitly stated that the twin's parents are Ted and Rebecca. This causes a whole bunch of tangles and relates the twins to almost everyone in the cast. This makes Laurel their biological sister, Char their cousin and Mads and Thayer their step-siblings.
  • Teens Are Short: Averted with Mads and Ethan. Played straight with just about everyone else.
  • The Three Faces of Eve: Sutton is the Seductress, Mads is the Child and Char is the Wife. When Emma switches with Sutton, she becomes the Child and Mads becomes the Seductress.
  • Twin Switch: The plot of the series is based on one.
  • Wham! Line: "Hi, Mom."
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