The Inevitable Downfall of Pretty Little Liars

[@JustClaribel]

PLL was the Riverdale before Riverdale

[@ariellestorm2991]

PLL walked so Riverdale could run

[@David-gx1nu]

PLL was truly the blueprint for riverdale. The only difference is PLL is actually still good despite how messy it is, riverdale is both messy AND terrible 💀

[@thelifeofmaryd.2494]

Lost was the PLL before PLL.

[@warrior9694]

PLL is still a hundred times better than Riverdale. Riverdale’s plot is so messy and it makes no sense 😅

[@na1959]

@@ariellestorm2991 pll walked so that Riverdale could first run then get shot in its knees and crawl more painfully than Andy dufresne escaping through his tunnel of freedom, the length of five football fields just shy of half a mile in Shawshank redemption

[@JAdHum]

When you invest 7 years of your life into this show, and realize on the last episode the writers were just winging it the entire time. Such a disappointment.

[@yespls4184]

Very true

[@d1etpussy621]

You knew the definition of true pain when you were an "Aria is A"-theorist on Tumblr back when the show was airing.

[@mygiraffegotnojams1891]

@@d1etpussy621 frl 😩😩😩

[@blatfrau]

@@d1etpussy621 so true!!😭

[@alexcoyg3281]

Lesson here, nobody asked you to, you made your choice and have to live with the consequences 😄This show is so bad its good

[@aryanetrallais]

pretty little liars is the biggest waste of potential in a teen series ever, it could've been an iconic classic masterpiece and it was just...disappointing

[@friendlyspaceninja]

It could've been the "Gone Girl" of television, the premise was just as effective!

[@sarahxo2317]

honestly if the show stayed the same quality as s1 when the plot wasn’t as complicated and focused on the characters more it would have been amazing

[@bonigirl]

nailed it! the story was so good in the first few seasons. It seemed like the show decided to cater to the fans later on ("ships" for example ughhhh). I honestly thought the finale would have been great if Ezra had been A instead of glorifying an inappropriate relationship. hopefully this reboot will stick to the story.

[@xxXmmxx]

First seasons were very fun but then it got so repetitive and boring

[@cutienerdgirl]

@@sarahxo2317 With most bad shows, the first season is great then proceeds to go downhill because they have to write seasons within a shorter timespan than they got to write the first season in. The first seasons of shows are written out over years and pitched numerous times to numerous networks, the ongoing seasons have to be written out during Winter and Spring.

[@joseribamarjr5164]

Aria was a teenager girl going to bars during the day, drinking and hooking up with her teacher in the bathroom. Sooooo relatable

[@miaurakimchi7349]

I hate rewatching their scenes. I loved her with little Fitz - because it made wayyyy more sense.😒

[@Pesto_O]

Yeah writers essentially want them to act like college kids but with the restrictions on a school kid

[@zombelladonna]

Ngl I went to bars and hooked up with adults as a teenager...we make questionable choices when we’re young

[@SabrinaRina]

I really think they wanted it to be college, but also shock with high schoolers and most media fetishizes teen girls behaving like adults. **gag**

[@lil-mochi1579]

@@zombelladonna ...

[@shay494]

I feel like Ezra being the main villian in the end would been good plot twist. That he secretly controlling Aria, which explains why she was so shady all the time/why she also being torture alone with the other girls. When they hinted he might have been A, I really hoped they followed through with it, but nah they threw that away.

[@Mixhelle.n]

YES! Him having a secret lair in ravenswood, him following Allison when everyone thought she was dead and collecting all that information just for his BOOK????!!!! Most stupidest, lazinest, nonsensical thing ever.

[@buchbummelant8980]

@@Mixhelle.n it also ruined his character for me. Before this reveal, I kind of felt for Aria and Ezra and how messed up it was that he became her teacher. But him being involved with Alison before and the whole book-plot ruined their whole relationship for me. And him continuing to be her teacher was just so ... Wrong.

[@Awkward_Runner]

Ezra would have been a great A. The liars could start suspecting Aria for why she's seemingly missing or barely gets hurt, but it could have been because Ezra wanted to subvert suspicions.

[@buchbummelant8980]

@@Awkward_RunnerIf they had planned for him to be A from the start, that could have eben awesome. Totally agree. I just don't like the book-storyline as it is.

[@princessofjedi]

See I think Aria was so shady to start because the original plan was for her to be A but then the fans figured it out (it was a whole thing) so Marlene had to change course

[@ML-zu6by]

The fact that they wanted to make us believe that by season 5 they were still in highschool is almost insulting.

[@JR-vr6ri]

Haha I know right like many teen dramas have this same issue when they cast much older actors to play teens.

[@thelonelywoodstock674]

The three month long bullshit was only for like three weeks, from the middle of season three (the Halloween train episode) to the middle of season five was about three weeks because the episode before the Christmas one took place in THANKSGIVING, Ezra is invited to Thanksgiving dinner where he bakes a pie. Then a month passes where fucking nothing happens and BOOM Christmas.

[@electricpurple4112]

I dont know, I didn't find it insulting. Lots of people didn't.

[@savannahb5208]

The way teenage me used to compare how I looked to actual adult women😂

[@ladyfibonaccii]

There are also a ton of flashbacks that we see.....lol

[@a1918-b4g]

Friendly reminder in the OG books Aria and Ezra's relationship lasted for five seconds and she ended up with someone her age long-term. There was literally no reason for this creepfeast

[@too-sad-so-bad]

WHAT??? i never knew that wtf why did mar mar like them so much?? ewwwww

[@tobias_cooper]

If im not wrong Ezra was even arrested

[@ellafrost3669]

@@too-sad-so-bad probably because the audience liked them for a couple of seasons

[@too-sad-so-bad]

@@tobias_cooper i'm in the middle of a rewatch right now and i just finished season 6A (everything before the time jump) and he hasn't been arrested yet :/ should be tho 🤢

[@Akyomi]

@@too-sad-so-bad "in the OG books" not the show

[@lessultanas]

How many shows were ruined because writers were trying to outsmart the audience? 🤦🏻‍♀️

[@user-ux9zm9il9r]

BBC Sherlock 😓

[@christinaulv2605]

@@user-ux9zm9il9r i think Sherlock was a good show

[@matheusportela6847]

Westworld has a very interesting mix of trying to outsmart the audience while dumbing it down in season 3

[@caseyw.6550]

Make it stop!!

[@pegazus8805]

Gossip Girl

[@Zero-mn8bt]

There’s a scene where Hanna gets groped by Aria’s mums fiancé, and Hanna tells Aria and Aria basically tells Hanna that she asked for it. It’s really bad

[@nikemaraje5]

This triggered me so bad when I was 12 ☠

[@raincandy1653]

That's literally so freaking bad! Book Aria would've been all over her mom's fiance if he did that to her friends or anyone for that matter

[@Inco464]

Yeah at this moment I started to hate Aria so much

[@eloradas7207]

yeah, aria is just a bitch

[@raqperalta]

She blamed Hanna for A//zacks behavior.. oh Kay … 🙄🙄🙄

[@thecrypticqueen]

The best thing about Alison is, that she didn't even go to school and becomes a teacher.

[@samruddhi8565]

an English teacher too!! which is very difficult as you don't have a set curriculum and requires a lot of background education and skills

[@sophielote7073]

And also, she disappeared for 2 years and then came back to school in the same class as the other girls??

[@colonelsanders1621]

@Randy White ROTC isn't a teaching position, it's extracurricular activity (similar to playing a sport ins school)

[@jasminadams44]

@@colonelsanders1621 In a lot of places it is, at my high school ROTC was an actual class.

[@doodlegirl44]

@@colonelsanders1621 actually it is an elective class. Not an extra curricular. And in order to be an army rotc instructor, you’d need at least a high school level certification, so unless Archie got his GED’s during that time jump, Riverdale’s rotc isn’t actually a properly accredited rotc unit and can be shut down by the army.

[@ericalevinson213]

In the books Ezra is completely a predator. He gets arrested pretty quickly and when he briefly returns later on, he hits on another teenager and is viewed as gross

[@valeriaperez9427]

That's how would have been in the series! :/

[@NAME-yg8sl]

I thought that was going to happen. When I realized they were romanticizing it I signed off.

[@JustTooDamnHonest]

Because book writers knows the difference between real life and fantasy and Hollywood knows only 2 things jack and shit and jack left town.

[@chavaspada]

@@JustTooDamnHonest nah bro, hollywood writers don't see it as bad because this kind of abuse is common in Hollywod and they're trying to normalise it.

[@JustTooDamnHonest]

@@chavaspada That is what I meant by knowing jack and shit. Because Hollywood wouldn't normalise it because they have minds of predators and we got most of them but the more people come into Hollywood the more we have to watch out for.

[@UHDPMT]

It’s infuriating that 15 yr old girls in the fandom were writing the show for Marlene and she ignored it because it was too “predictable” 🙄

[@Juanmaligno]

But didn't ignore the alison x emily somehow having biological kids??? That was such a weird choice that she only did cause people kept writing the fanfics with that trope and i- MARLENE WHY?! she changed A to being a trans women introduced in season 3???? Because people realized what marlene was setting up for season 5, with Alisons twin and marlene changed it last minute

[@kkkkksjdjdjjdjdjdjd]

@@Juanmaligno lmao cece was always supposed to be A- you can go all the way back to season 3 and tell....

[@Juanmaligno]

@@kkkkksjdjdjjdjdjdjd no she was not lol you can tell cece was never supposed to be a

[@kkkkksjdjdjjdjdjdjd]

@@Juanmaligno yes she was you can tell she was supposed to be A lmao. like why else would she be in a BLACK HOODIE spying on ezrias conversation....

[@ilovelanadelrey2900]

@@kkkkksjdjdjjdjdjdjd but it doesn’t make since what was her motive the only A that made since was Mona all the other ones had no motive

[@abbywolffe4114]

I've never seen the show, but I know Allison is A in the books, so here's my take: I feel like it would have been more interesting if the person who attempted to kill Allison didn't matter, because the entire town of Rosewood refused to turn them in. She terrorized everyone so much that when she was "killed" everyone agreed that it was for the good of the town, so when she turned out to be alive, she used A to bully the people in the town into admitting who attempted to kill her. And the writers could have played around with who the killer was, maybe by planting it on different people or making it a team effort.

[@beyourselfx3145]

That would have been a really good idea but isn´t it too predictable that Alison would be A ?

[@insertskullemoji9056]

@@beyourselfx3145 Sometimes being predictable is ok. It would have been really interesting to see everyone having to team together to fight alison. the books followed this plot and they were much better than the tv show.

[@benedettadecesaris6831]

very agatha christie and I’m here for it

[@benedettadecesaris6831]

@@beyourselfx3145 yeah but it’s much better to be a bit predictable and then be able to play around with a coherent, good plot and characters than trying to make the most unpredictable choice ever and to try and outsmart your crowd you mess up all the potential your project had.

[@gRinchY-op5vr]

​@beyourselfx3145 there were other twists around Alison being A, that were the real shockers of the books not really who A ended up being

[@elmiratchagop3642]

The way Alison had beef with every single person in Rosewood and they all feared her will FOREVER be iconic

[@cammejia5665]

FOR REAL. they took all her power away and it made the show so much less exiciting. she was THE villain, like everyone wanted her to be the villain she was a good villain!

[@mohammedyahya5838]

@@cammejia5665 what I hated the most, was when she married that fake doctor and she became a damsel in distress essentially just ruined the character beyond belief

[@alyssao517]

I wanted her to be A so bad

[@araiahrodriguez9112]

YES

[@sydnitheromantictaylor112]

Agreed. I hate that she wasn't A in the end, it was stupid to give her a redemption arc.

[@rubyrider7902]

And they somehow went from Allison using Emily’s sexuality to toy with her to Allison marrying Emily and getting pregnant with her stolen eggs. WTF

[@nutsandbolts1264]

What?

[@juli_manzino]

The stolen eggs thing was so bad. If you actually think about it, she's pregnant with WREN'S BABY

[@bakeymykakey]

as someone who hasn’t watched past season 1 wtf

[@lenastorm6280]

@@bakeymykakey Same. WTF?? O.o

[@sadwhitesoxfan17]

As someone who watched the whole show at the begining of COVID-19 i don't remember shit how comes it is Wren's baby?

[@Anam.Fatima19]

When Spencer says "You know what they say about hope. It breeds eternal misery", that was an easter egg left by Marlene to fans who expected the show to make sense and have a coherent plot.

[@valentinat8955]

LMAO

[@JasminMiettunen]

Valentina T I was about to write the same exact comment, just lmao, all capitals. Really all you can say, isn't it?

[@ikeepscreamingbutgodwontan3132]

Oh wait... I didn't see it UNTIL NOW!

[@Nikki-jn3ud]

OML NO U DIDN'T 😂😂💀

[@matcha.clouds]

That quote actually felt natural though! Wouldn’t have been very Spencer to tell Melissa’s selfish ass to fuck off 😂

[@princessofjedi]

I think the fans figured out exactly what was originally planned for the ending and she had to scramble to fix it. It was absolutely supposed to be Aria. Lucy’s “shock” is because she took the role knowing what was going to happen and that’s why she was playing Aria the way she was.

[@jaylondoneye]

I don’t believe Lucy Hale took the role to _become_ A. I think Marlene made Aria more suspicious after Mona’s reveal because she wanted her to be A until people figured it out. Aria wasn’t going to be A before the show began.

[@jasonmoukala8909]

@@jaylondoneyeexactly

[@mgp1203]

Nope, the writers confirmed the network didn't approve of any of the liars becoming A, so even if they wanted too they couldn't. And it wasn't their plan. they wanted AD to be Wren originally.

[@symonew33]

The fallout from Hannas shoplifting had more of an emotion impact on her than her killing someone. 😂😂😂

[@noonstyles3973]

Pls💀

[@aaliyahgriffin781]

Naw fr though

[@rosealldays]

🤣🤣🤣

[@KD-ou2np]

Could be accurate characterization for a sociopath

[@nostradamus1162]

im so angry at the waste of Alison, they did Sasha Pieterse so dirty she was so great as Alison

[@everebecca9868]

She was born for the role of Alison and she had the potential to be one of the greatest villains in teen show history. i hated that they made her some dowdy housewife in season 6 onwards and they tried to make her nice but it just made her boring and ruined all the feistyness she used to have

[@juliamarie1018]

YES she is such an amazing and actually original character at the start

[@MissBelle127]

Agree 100% what the hell happened in season 5? Only great ep was the dollhouse

[@lauraj6694]

@@everebecca9868 I feel like they made her become a housewife trope because of Sasha’s PCOS and the weight gain it caused, one of alisons main things was being fatphobic. But for some reason the writers couldn’t just go “oh fatphobia is awful anyway, we don’t want that in our show” they seemed to go “well if she can’t be fatphobic we may as well make her super sweet good guy, can’t have a teen girl be an evil character if she’s not model thin, that’s just unrealistic.”

[@everebecca9868]

@@lauraj6694 omg i know! It was really sad to see Sasha get so much hate at the time over something she couldnt control, and i agree i really dont think fans would have been like well Ali isnt making fun of people being fat anymore boo hoo like i wouldnt have even noticed and they could have still kept her meanness and sassyness in a different way

[@lunebug00]

the POWER that Alison held during the first seasons. It’s so infuriating how they just threw that all away

[@ladyc663]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/jIvClHmjlKmdsMU

[@marialeduque8827]

100% agree sasha was woww it was awesome. after season three was so dumb

[@kingwolfinsheepsclothing4188]

@@ladyc663 no

[@whynot7802]

And the fake bang they gave her...ughhh god it was hidious

[@RenieCat]

Exactly

[@bell7005]

I really like the "Aria is A" theory, and I think that if the show hinted MORE of Alisson and Aria being the closest in the whole friend group bc they are "evil" or "manipulative" the same and that's why they gravitated towards each other and also why Aria is the one Alisson "picked". I would love for the both of them to have ended up being A or Aria assuming the position of A after Alisson died bc she wants to manipulate the girls into becoming friend again after they split up with Allison's disappearance (it would also explain why none of the girls ended up dead and why Aria would often be the one to "be around" after something traumatic happened to them all bc she wants the girls to trust her the most and to maintain the group together).

[@DrJohannPryce]

Pll is just like real life , it starts out slow and cordial and then turns into a random chaos of pure dislogic

[@micenabled9418]

Alison was set up to be A the entire time but I think her weight gain disorder too that away…which is not her fault at all sadly thats Hollywood but the plot holes are so bad the show is unwatchable now

[@pinky926]

How did allison become a teacher when she missed like 90% of school, nor did she care about it

[@jazminechan7283]

plothole #788

[@ninainejwylanbrekker]

Right!!!!!!

[@Jayxroberts]

You do know GED’s exist right lol?

[@Rose-hh7mk]

And she hated teenagers

[@pinky926]

@@Rose-hh7mk exactly, shes just not the teaching type. It was such a weird direction for alison to go in.

[@alicja3764]

It annoyed me how Emily had a permanent worried expression on her face

[@mgjprins]

I really like her as a person but she’s just not a good actress unfortunately..

[@elisadjones]

nooo, I liked Emily, the only one I liked on the show, oh well 🥴

[@alondraa3777]

thank you 💀💀 finally someone said it, that's alwayyys what i thought it bothered me so much. she always looked like she on the verge of tears

[@sweeety969]

I mean, she wound up with Alison, so I don't blame her for looking constipated all the time. That's literally the thing she was trying to avoid, but that bad writing tho...

[@shrishti4443]

I imagined that face as soon as I read this comment

[@thejadeflower6352]

I agree with the Allison part. She was so mysterious and alluring the in first 2-3 seasons, but by the end, she was really annoying

[@valentinat8955]

Yeah, i liked the show better when they didnt know ali was alive 😅

[@ky-pr7sh]

Right she literally turned into Emily

[@Emnms68]

I think it would have been better if they had either given a reason for all that alli did or just fully committed to making her the villain. If they made her do all those things for fun Bc she was seriously manipulative and sociopathic, it would have been interesting and then they could have explored what made her that way

[@Ally-oj4fo]

SPOILER FOR THE BOOK SERIES . . . . . . . . . . In the original books the TV show is based on, Ali actually WAS A all along, and it honestly worked a lot better than whatever the whole “spencer twin” thing was in the last season.

[@laylamorin8168]

@@ky-pr7sh frfr

[@AllycatCommentary]

The sad thing is that the books were really good! Part of what made Allison so evil was the lasting damage she did to her friends. In the first book, we learn that Hannah has Bulimia that effects everything she did, even in later books. Emily was a bisexual who was shipped off to her incredibly conservative aunt and uncle to 'straighten her out' and then ran away from them because of it, she also gets pregnant and has to give up the baby with no support from her family. Aria is a nice person who genuinely cared about others but was a little weird, she had to hold onto the secret of her fathers affair for years and Allison held it over her head. IMO Spencers relationship with her sisters fiancé felt a lot more predatory in the books, she tried to support her sister but her future brother in law kept making advances. Mona dies and stays dead. I couldn't watch the tv show because they ruined the characters and made them so shallow

[@katzi4230]

and they're not the complete opposite of role models in the books.

[@jasonmoukala8909]

It didn’t ruin anything

[@Artsyastet]

I should read it

[@grapestastelikecheese]

@@Artsyastet Just a heads up in case you haven't started and still are interested, I'd buy the older version of the first few books. They changed some of the references from the original and it's a bit uncomfortable reading it with the more current references.

[@LilySkye]

They got greedy. They could’ve had a great show on their hands if they had ended the show by season 4 or even 5, but they wanted to make more money. Further proof: Ravenswood.

[@ayaremko9715]

If they had followed the books instead of going off the goddamn rails at every second, could have been better

[@BBGIRL1812]

!!!!!

[@just1desi]

Who was A in the books?

[@jemaredwards8636]

@@just1desi *Spoiler Alert* Mona was the first A (books 1-4) The real Alison was the second A (books 5-16). There’s a twin twist in the books that’s a long story and kind of combination of CeCe and Alex’s storylines, but written and handled much better.

[@maanlicht8583]

@@jemaredwards8636 are the books any good?

[@alibeaulieu1087]

They really took Alison’s character from this badass villain that had secrets on everyone and was bold enough to blackmail grown adults to a kind of pathetic shell of her former self who feared everything and proposed in a pug sweatshirt

[@sweeety969]

Proposed to one of her former victims, who was also a shell of their former selves, and just this subservient babysitter/comfort character for other people rather than being a character of her own, who was fleshed out and complicated anymore. The only sign of life was when she suspected Alison was up to shenanigans that episode. But with Emily, at that point in time? The lights are on, but nobody's home. They really just absolutely destroyed her too, and I'm forever mad about it. Forever mad they forced her to be Alison's pet rather than just give her the happy ending she wanted with Paige for YEARS now.

[@kerriespires2571]

@alibeaulieu Okay firstly stop saying that Allison is scared of everything. Are we just going to ignore the shit Ali went tho? She was kidnapped, threatened, she was fucking hit on the head by her SISTER and buried alive by her fucking mum, her mum then got buried, lots of people she loved died, she married a guy who gave her fucking drugs to make her crazy so he could keep her quite, she was tortured by her own sister, So yes she gonna be scared she went through shit so I’m not fucking surprised she’s scared of everything for years she was being followed and attacked randomly. She couldn’t tell anyone or they would die the police didn’t listen to and was even tormented by a police officer she came very close to death multiple times and then your saying she fears everything well no fucking shit Sherlock of course she’s scared she doesn’t know who to trust. Also I love how this guy is saying that most of the girls are useless every girl and every character in this show has something to do with the plot they all bring something different.

[@samira_360]

@@kerriespires2571 Out of all the girls, Emily was probably the most useless. Her plot mattered until season 1 was finished. Then it didn't matter anymore. She just became an extra detective for the girls. Same with Hannah after two seasons

[@parkerparks8004]

Pug sweatshirt😭

[@gothboithick]

that pug sweatshirt was an absolute slap in the face. she would never. even if she’s more modest now, and even if she’s a mom, she shouldn’t even own something like that.

[@marichatismynameandladynoi1990]

Also the fact that aria dad is a bad person cause he dosent want his teenage daughter to be with her full grown teacher ooo how despise that storyline it’s a really bad message Edit: thanks for the likes and I lowkey started a war let me say it again arias dad is a bad person I know that but he is allowed to be angry at extra for dating his 16 year old child Yh he’s a hypocrite but his still right to be angry Ezra is CREEP

He is a bad person because he was in a relationship with one of his students himself and cheated on Aria's mom

[@belbarcelos9264]

They started to show him as a bad person for cheating on Aria’s mom but I do agree that the show treated him as even more unlikable for not being ok with Ezra

[@zainss9626]

@ His student was an adult in college. Whereas, Aria was 16 and (as it’s later revealed) Ezra always knew that and actively sought her out to solve Alison’s disappearance. He groomed a teenage girl, manipulated her but because he apologises, it’s supposed to be okay??

[@aishanikomath3836]

right like i was hoping he'd turn ezra in but they were just like but dating high schooler good

[@Montana677]

I probably hated him more when he accepted that relationship 🤢

[@sofiam.8474]

The most shocking thing rewatching the first episodes was Ezria. The fact that he knew her age and still kissed her and than again when she was in a vulnerable state at Alis funeral makes me sick to my stomach. And the actors actually being close in age and therefore being seemingly fine as a couple is just so 🚩🚩🚩 for whoever thought it was OK to write that and show that to a teen audience.

[@ash_613]

I think the actors being so close in age IRL is a large part of why so many of us were fine(ish) with it. Like, if they had cast a literal 30 something and teen in those roles, it would have been SO visibly creepy.

[@elstovon]

@@ash_613But he wasn’t a 30 something he was like 24. I think the relationship is gross but honestly not because of the age gap but because of the power dynamic and the stalking

[@cariad]

13yo me was reading theories about aria being a narcissist with multiple personalities and that was why she was always looking on the mirror. i feel robbed.

[@sweeety969]

Same. Those sound like sound theories. I love them already.

[@sophie9984]

THIS! The theories were so good and when you knew and watched it further, you could see how often she was looking in a mirror and „switching“. I would‘ve loved that.

[@welcometogenovia6581]

Yessss on tumblr!! I loved those theories. She was legit always looking in the mirror.

[@thatsdisco]

I don't like the insinuation of using DID for a villain like that, and how looking into the mirror.. made her switch?? What????

[@monicasantos4918]

@@thatsdisco I don't think it was much about DID as much as it was more like aria was A and she actually started caring about the liars but when she looked in the mirror she would remember she's not one of them and go back into A mode like it reminded her who she really was. There's the episode on the Halloween train where she tells Adam Lambert her name and spells it on the window and writes her name with and A type A.

[@zujuice8241]

Damn what's with writers trying to outsmart the audience, you should be proud the audience is able to follow along and piece things together, a little predictably isn't a sin.

[@yoshmarsh8412]

Right

[@cuervus_]

your audience being able to tie your plot together is a direct sign that your plot makes sense 😭 why would they shatter it like that

[@lilithhedwig5408]

"oh no, I was too good at writing this mistery in a way that makes sense and with clues to piece together and some fans actually did what they were supposed to do, welp now I need to change the whole story" That infuriates me it's so stupid

[@valentinat8955]

@@yoshmarsh8412 the fan theories were better then whatever the writers tried outsmarting the audience with

[@JasminMiettunen]

Yeah, the best part about the reveal of a mystery is being able to connect everything, like “oh that explains...”, ”that's why this character...”, “so _that’s_ what happened there” and “that’s why *all* this happened”. Like, finding out who River Song was in Doctor Who, how she knew the doctor, why she did what she did, her name. In such a short span of time we found out who Amy's friend was really, and *then* River Song appeared. Man, I had to pause and start connecting all the threads for a bit. It explained so much. Even if I had guessed it earlier, it wouldn’t have been a bad reveal, because it made sense. You’re supposed to be able to connect the threads if you pay attention.

[@EvanSol919]

I seriously don't understand this impulse to outsmart the audience. That feeling of "Yes I figured it out!" can be just as satisfying as "Wow I didn't see that coming!"

[@ggundercover3681]

the only time the "yes I figured it out" is bad is if it's sooooo predictable and you get that feeling immediately. Some ppl have insane guessing or intuition, but that's the minority. the majority of ppl can enjoy a well written piece of media and respect that even fi they figured it out, the media was still good nonetheless.

[@Whiteythereaper]

@@ggundercover3681 me guessing who the Tinkerer is in Spider-Man: Miles Morales comes to mind. It's a difference between figuring out a twist (like if you figured out Knives Out's mystery) and seeing something so obvious that you hope you're wrong because it takes so long to get to the reveal that you're being beaten over the head with the hints that are so obvious a child could figure it out

[@mkno2799]

@@Whiteythereaper I experienced exactly that for season 1 of Flash. It was so obvious that Wellis was reverse-flash, but due to how long the reveal took and the crazy fan theories popping up back then, caused me to second guess myself.

[@junie1017]

I'm re watching season one and now that I look back there were lots of subtle clues that Mona was A.

[@cocohatab9746]

EXACTLY!!!! Wandavision is proof of this!

[@Jess-pb1wv]

Lucy probably was right, but Marlene wanted to "gotcha" the viewers so bad that she changed things per season after seeing people were on to her. She gave us Cece (which wasn't actually possible) so that she could say "haha! I outsmarted and shocked everyone". Like yeah, Noone would have guessed that because it literally makes no sense.

[@504ever4]

The Cece reveal SUCKED! I almost hated it more than the AD reveal. At least I was prepared to be disappointed by the AD reveal. The CeCe reveal really caught me off guard by how nonsensical it was.

[@elizabethpage_]

100%. She saw everyone theorizing that Aria was A but was so determined to seem smart that she threw together this awful reveal that makes absolutely no sense

[@madeleinep.828]

I feel so bad for people who were devoted fans of the show since 2010 and spent so much time creating theories about who A was, only for A to be a random evil twin that no one could have possibly known existed before the last episode.

[@Tiff588]

Omg exactly !!!!!

[@Emma-vf9fb]

I remember being so excited to find out then just absolutely pissed... I had so many ideas in my head that would’ve been a great ending and I was just disappointed. My sister then binge watched the show with me a few months ago and I remember how confused she was at the ending. It was just pure shite

[@bejo2551]

While I do agree that the finale (and pretty much every season post the Mona arc) is just a dumpster fire with a 💩 on top, I actually remember theories popping up of Spencer having a twin around halfway through the final season. Still trash, though

[@d1etpussy621]

I remember there were some theories around 2014 where people theorized if Hannah or Spencer had an evil twin.

[@keannahaynes7467]

I've watched it since the beginning and I have read all the books and the thing that frustrated me is in the books(SPOILER) Allison had a twin sister and that twin sister was "A" and that made sense because there were times where Allison was mean and times where she was really nice so that would explain that switch and they could've easily done that storyline,but instead,in an effort to trick the audience, they did that storyline but with a different character. All these tricks and turns just to get to a similar storyline

[@JustinePerret99]

Underage relationships are one of the reasons why it makes me so angry that teenage girls are too often portrayed by women in their 20s. It doesn't seem really wrong because those teenagers look like full adults, so you don't realise they're supposed to be 16.

[@katherinepierce5506]

but then again 16 year olds nowadays are starting to look older and older, doesn’t make it right though still.

[@sal636]

Yup!!!

[@bleue5218]

@@katherinepierce5506 that's a like typically used by pedos. There is no excuse

[@katherinepierce5506]

@@bleue5218 no lmao i wasn’t making an excuse i literally said “doesn’t make it right though still”.

[@whatsagoodname1841]

@Uh Ok That's different. The show wasn't sexualizing Tori. The Landlord is shown to be creepy and not romanticized like Ezra, and he got beat up by her sensei for sexually assaulting the underage girl. Although I do agree with the rest of your statement, just not your example.

[@daisybrianna77]

In the book A was Allison. She had a twin that was bat-shit who spent most of her life in a mental hospital since she was a child. The twin liked to pretend she was Allison so that she didn't have to go back to the institute. She finally succeeded once and Allison was sent to the institute in her place cause her parents didn't believe that she wasn't her twin. When she finally broke out at sixteen she had become even more mentally crazy than her twin ever was thus the A reveal.

[@NOTHiNG2CBRA]

That's such a cool story... 😭🤷🏽‍♀️ DAMN IT MARLENE! 😁

[@gaanadelrey]

Wait woah-

[@FacebookQueen]

@@NOTHiNG2CBRA oh this is so much more exciting

[@enriquesanchez9016]

@@NOTHiNG2CBRA Marlene literally ruined Pretty Little Liars.

[@Ji-zt7ny]

Wooooaaahhh

[@Jack-kx5rf]

The creepiest thing about the entire show is that Ezra went out of his way to have a sexual relationship with 16-year-old Aria. And the show NEVER talks about this. The only reason Aria gets angry and they break up is because he was writing a book about them, not because he is a predatory pedophile. Everybody else, including Aria's parents, thinks that Ezra and Aria started out as a one-night stand without realizing the age difference but in reality, he sought her out and groomed her.

[@mylifeislegendary942]

Jack ezra and aria were a great couple .one of the best in the show also this is a dark show and not made for social messages so overall i am so fed up with haters 😒🙄 who takes things too seriously and personally . Dont be a snowflake

[@alexrussell6399]

@@mylifeislegendary942cringe

[@riceuh3694]

@@mylifeislegendary942 "dont be a snowflake" you are defending literal pedophilia, which is an actual crime

[@esem3511]

well her parents were super against for a WHILE

[@Jack-kx5rf]

@@mylifeislegendary942 ah yes being against rape makes someone a snowflake

[@JemimaDoesASMR]

Pretty Little Liars is one of a number of shows that, honestly, I think should have been set in university/college. The student/teacher relationships would still be taboo, but like, not underage. Being in college would explain the ridic amount of freedom (and money??) they seem to have, and I mean, look, none of the actors really looked 15/16.

[@islaR05]

Completely agree. It would make more sense also with the whole alison pregnancy scare in season 3.

[@emma9995]

@@islaR05 ahhhh i forgot about that wow

[@islaR05]

@@emma9995yeah I’m currently doing a rewatch and I’m just PST that episode

[@courtneystevens9344]

Lol it's not on Netflix anymore where can I watch now

[@courtneystevens9344]

@@islaR05 no U.S.

[@MeganMacLive]

Ezra is so much worse once you realize he knew Aria was underage before they hooked up. We’re led to believe, along with Aria, that he only knew she was in high school when he saw her in his class during the first episode, but he was already doing research on Alison and the other girls for his book about Alison, once she went missing...a whole year BEFORE they met at the bar for the first time. The fact that the show wants us to root for them is so disturbing!!!

[@klaudinegarcia8932]

Omfg this really! 🤦🏻‍♀️ It's disgusting...

[@jujube1013]

He stalked all of the girls.

[@nicoleackerman205]

@@jujube1013 I saw I theory right before the series finale were Ezra would actually be A along that would have been a better finale.

[@hoseokismyhope3351]

It wouldve been AMAZING if Ezra was A! He was a full-on creep, he was a little too neat and nice and A never directly went after him (A only threatened Aria to go after him basically) and then they had him act super creepy and intimidatingly, he stalked and spied on the girls for years...... for a novel??? that he never even published???? like what... just so he and Aria could end up together?? such a letdown

[@nicoleackerman205]

@@hoseokismyhope3351 Hey I remember how at the end of every episode show A doing something and one time the had the girls faces on bottle and spined another bottle to see who would be tortured next. It landed on Aria and another A moved it to Spencer. That so would be Ezra. My picks were always Wren, Ezra, Melissa, Courtney being Jason's twin since in the book Ali and her are Spencer's half siblings and in the show Jason was so having it be him would be like the books but with a twist, and Pastor Ted I know the last one sound crazy but I want it to happen.

[@saddo7694]

Fuck if aria was A that shit would have been so crazy. I'm upset she wasn't now lol

[@anlu7432]

Right!! Those theories were great and actually made sense

[@Mangoo-o]

I want Cece to be A but her reasons for being one was pathetic

[@PopularHorrorSlut]

It would have been good but what would have been her motive?

[@alex_n215]

All the theories I’ve seen throughout the years have been way better than the plots of the show

[@lunarialoonatic]

I feel like you say that because you hate Aria lol no hate. It’s just the comment section be shading Aria and wanting her as A because it makes sense. And of course it does in a way because the truth is she kind of faced the worst in terms of A’s torment. But I feel like that would have defeated the purpose of the show if one of the girls was actually A. Isn’t it supposed to be them against a common enemy? That’s what they did for 7 seasons

[@mrbeanieboy2752]

I’m genuinely convinced if they had sat down before it even aired and said “this person is A.” Instead of hop skipping and jumping it wouldn’t have been so awful, after a bit it became clear even the writers didn’t know who they were pinning as the real A.

[@ShadowSonic2]

The problem is them thinking there had to be one "Boss A", in the books "A" is just a name used by multiple different people unassociated with each other.

[@madeleinegibson1650]

I feel like the show was never the same when Allison became one of the liars. The main plot of the show was the mystery surrounding her and how unattainable she was, her character lost its appeal when she just became a normal, kinda pathetic girl. The strength of her character was gone

[@Sunkissed949]

She had everybody at the palm of her hands! I cannot believe they just threw that kind of power away

[@bahjaabdi6529]

I still think it shoiuld have been Alison and Ezra writing a book and Alison helping him by creating a story, then Ezra wanting to. bring the book. to life and. killing Alison to hide the fact that he's a predator. Alison being in over her head with an older manipulative man would have made. sense, and that ezra targets aria (bc she should have gone to Radley) and uses her to be A to bring his book to life.

[@viglor]

@@bahjaabdi6529 I wouldn’t have minded Ezra as A but tbh I didn’t want Ali to be A, I wouldn’t have been upset but I was content with her being part of the liars

[@aminas31]

definitely

[@davineuskens21]

I completely agree with you!! I was obsessed with Alison, I wanted her to be alive just so I could see more of that magnetic character yet when she comes back she's just a scared, bland girl lol. When she was being bullied by that pre-teen omg I could not

[@katherinealvarez9216]

"It's still better than Emily In Paris though." Footage of rats dying are better than Emily In Paris.

[@kaodi6993]

Anyone with camera can do better than that

[@CiaLaVirago]

Why would you say that. You know i can only like it once, right?

[@astroblast2325]

That would still be an accurate portrayal of Paris

[@bartoszspytkowski129]

looks like Ratatouille

[@SoelPockychan]

Not when you were a fan and spent lots of time reading fan theories like me 😂😂😂 the ending was a kick in the teeth for everyone. But to be fair the books are a lobotomy to everyone’s intelligence

[@rickycampos3215]

Even though everyone was suspicious of Aria being A. If they made her A in the end it would have blown everyones mind.

[@RoyalRoses]

EXACTLY

[@JasminMiettunen]

People are supposed to be able to find out the mystery, that means it makes sense! It will still blow the minds of most people who weren’t suspicious, and will be satisfying to those who found out themselves. Then you just sprinkle in some unknown information, to explain it better and tie up loose thread, like what happened the night Alison went missing, and you have a good finale. Always tie up the loose threads, preferably gradually during the show when introducing new mysteries, and not cram it all in the finale, but even that is better than leaving them open.

[@anaosorno5148]

The fact that Aria being A had so much sense even with the mess the writers had created and STILL they chose not going that way just to outsmart the audience, just wow

[@vanessaamesty6739]

I didn't watch the show but watching this video the writters could have made Aria a psiquatric patient, that spend a year in a psychiatric hospital and have a doctor from the hospital being a co-villant as well cooparating with her to commit the murders

[@Nikki-jn3ud]

@@JasminMiettunen aria was the worst friend imo. She always ditched them for her teacher!(🤮)

[@momori636]

I rewatched the show and I definitely feel that Aria was supposed to be A. In one episode when she is watching those old black/white films, it includes the movie audio saying "Even his son", and a few episodes later it's revealed that Ezra has a son. In another scene of her watching a movie, it says something about a person having someone's head inside of a box; so it made me think that she hid Allison's head in a box (before they brought her back to life). Aaand, just before Mona was killed, she tells Aria "You know just where to plunge the knife and twist it", then she is killed in that exact way afterwards. I wish we weren't robbed of the Aria is A ending, it would have made the show much better.

[@isauldron4337]

Aria is beyond suspicious

[@tsid5]

she was meant to be A but everyone guessed it too quick so the writers changed it

[@nour8219]

The fact that Spencer was accused of murder when she was the only liar who didn't kill anyone 😶

[@XX-um1du]

Alison never killed anyone either

[@danielb3381]

@@XX-um1du didn’t she kill Ian in the season 1 finale?

[@erinbarker166]

@@danielb3381 no somehow he wasnt dead. A killed him

[@XX-um1du]

@@danielb3381 According to Marlene King, Ian killed himself.

[@shashankdube8834]

@@XX-um1du alison, in the show has said that she killed ian

[@Azulagirlboss]

Abandoned plot lines- check countless plot holes- check Characters introduced out of the blue- check Fillers- check Wasted characters- check bad writing-check Engaging premise- check wayy too many baits and switches- check So Pretty Little Liars was basically Riverdale of the early 2010s

[@mayahdenman9401]

At least PLL didn’t have three musical episodes

[@marichatismynameandladynoi1990]

I’ll take pll over riverdale any day lol but yeah pretty much lol

[@brookelee9745]

PLL was actually watchable tho

[@lunarialoonatic]

Let’s not forget how I’m pretty sure Riverdale is gonna end like how PLL did. Every old hookup in HS is gonna get back together in the future because that’s realistic 👌🙄

[@a49-n2o]

I.e why I gave up on the show 😅😅

[@persgodiva]

I loved Alison as this mysterious, evil character. She was FANTASTIC. And her actress was younger than everyone else around her BY FAR as she was still the most outstanding, most impressive, most notable out of all of them. I'm devastated with what they did with her.

[@jijgigijiwapo]

The Alison comeback was so confusing. This?! This is the girl who orchestrated the blinding of Jenna? Encouraged Hanna's bulimia? Blackmailed everyone and their mama?!

[@rahbeeuh]

@@jijgigijiwapo her character should've stayed dead or at least give her a better reason for at least faking her death. When she returned it's like they failed her character

[@sarontheartsyglaceon2157]

I, at some point had a theory that she faked her death and was A Like she was just screwing with those she called friends, Why I don't know, but it seemed to fit what I saw of her character in the flashbacks

[@davidm2345]

i feel the same way however they changed her like season 6 bc season 5 she was still bitchy/evil.

[@ClaudetteVioletta]

Allison had nothing to do in the series after she went back. As so Hanna and Emily were just there almost the whole series

[@ashdweeb9063]

lets be real if you were working at rosewood high why on earth would u hire Alison??? she was extremely well known for being a terrible terrible person in her teens, then disappeared, came back with a very iffy explanation that eventually broke down. maybe it’s sympathy, but too many people in the town were happy to see her dead for this to make sense to me. how tf were they like ‘yeah :) she can guide the next generation’

[@Nathi98]

Even then she goes out of her way trying to make a dig at Paige yet again Paige who she threatened to stay away from Emily because Paige had a crush on her. She was so horrific to her Paige was suicidal for a while

[@Rose-hh7mk]

British Spencer is the worst thing that ever happened to PLL

[@magicalratfairy]

ELLOH SPENCAH

[@rahbeeuh]

@@magicalratfairy goodbye Alex

[@elisabethenglisch3835]

And with all the crap they pulled over the seven season, that is saying a lot

[@tiddlesletoitoise]

I literally couldn't even tell she was meant to be English the accent was so bad

[@SmoreLegend]

God bless Troian, but that accent will follow her forever 😭

[@julia-if5dm]

i am SO MAD they turned alison into a regular suburb nice lady mom and wasted her opportunity to be a villain with aria LIKE IMAGINE THE TWO CLOSEST FRIENDS BEING A THE WHOLE TIME IMAGINE

[@gilli4899]

ugh imagine if it was aria and alison and then one of them would backstab the other which would start it all!!!!

[@babydollangelx]

It took you less than thirty seconds to write a better plot for PLL. Yet they had 3 years after season 4, to be groundbreaking. But instead we got : “you’ve heard of filler episodes...😱 GET READY FOR FILLER SEASONS 🤠💀

[@acho2030]

SOMEONE MAKE A WATTPAD RECREATING THIS WHOLE SHOW RN BC YALL HAVE GOOD IDEAS

[@sunsetspice4143]

Aria was a villain?

[@arisboba]

@@acho2030 That would take forever, they would need help, lol

[@kaodi6993]

I hate the concept of outsmarting the audiences The surprise element isn’t necessarily the only driving reason for us to watch Anticipation, character admiration, nostalgia and many more can keep the audience

[@sugarycitrus8247]

Surprises are cool but with how intuitive audiences are nowadays I always like to say “if no one in the crowd predicted it, you didnt set it up right”

[@kaodi6993]

@@sugarycitrus8247 Great statement

[@i.147]

the whole point of mysteries is that the audience is supposed to be able to solve them, clues have to exist so it makes sense. changing the ending just for shock value is basically destroying everything youve built

[@BroTastic23]

... which is why I'm waiting for The Blacklist to just go down the same path

[@kaodi6993]

@@BroTastic23 I refuse to watch it. I’ll keep my dignity for better shows

[@with_yarn_through_life]

So, from what I understand, Allison got hit with a rock by Cece; Mrs. Dilaurentis buried Allison's body; the old lady pulled Alison out of the dirt; Mrs. Dilaurentis went back to unbury Allison's body and found an empty grave (it explains why later in season 6 girls found the basement with all the files and investigation Mrs. D kept on everyone); then Mona hit Bethany with a shovel; and Melissa found the body, thought Spencer killed this girl and buried her alive.

[@Hellstothenaw]

Wow…just reading this makes me cringe. Of all the things they could have done 😭

[@savannaaah]

Anytime Bethany is mentioned, I just get lost 😞

[@CJMGalaxy]

Nothing bothers me in shows more than creators trying to outsmart fans without having any actual plan or actually being smart. Sherlock has been the most obvious, because they ran out of rope in that last season and just fully outed themselves as idiots without any clue what they were doing, but Doctor Who, Lost, this show, and others have fanbases who are so intelligent and invested and they just let them down by not actually being clever or even having a plan. It's insulting and disrespectful to the audience.

[@JasminMiettunen]

I just used Doctor Who in another comment as an example of a good mystery writing regarding River Song, lmao

[@CJMGalaxy]

@@JasminMiettunen I was thinking specifically of the Matt Smith years/River Song when I brought up Doctor Who 😅 I guess we each have our own opinions, but I got real sick of being told how powerful/smart/interesting the Doctor was instead of Moffat showing us the interesting/clever things he did. And with River there are too many continuity issues and plot holes for me to believe he had a plan.

[@CJMGalaxy]

@@nightcoffees they got so adversarial with their fan base. I remember them saying that the Reichenbach Fall was a mystery with a clear solution but no one had got it yet, and then came back to say it didn't matter how he'd survived and mocked fans for caring and trying to solve it. That's when I abandoned the show. I feel fortunate that I jumped ship then, because it seems to have gone badly downhill until fans were so disappointed they thought it couldn't possibly be real how bad it was. Though why I watched after what they did to Irene Adler I'll never know.

[@JasminMiettunen]

K McIntosh I really thought the reveal with River Song worked beautifully, we found out who she was, why she knew so much about the doctor, how she could do the things she could, even her name was connected from the fist time we met her. When she saved the doctors life and her face appeared, I had to pause for a second to connect all the dots. Everything that had happened flashed in front of my eyes and everything fell into place. I won’t comment on the “show, don't tell” aspect, but I do think the overarching storyline was pretty good.

[@nightcoffees]

@@CJMGalaxy I got into the show during the break between Season 2 and 3 and I remember that too. It made me so angry they had the audacity to encourage us fans we could figure out how he survived the fall. ... only for them to turn around and gave us the middle finger, write us as crazy people in their show for caring how he survived, and didn't even bother to properly explain the fall anyway. I still continued to watch the show because I was invested in the characters and their arcs.. that was until they destroyed their characters and plots in Season 4. To this day, I have not rewatched the 4th season since it aired.

[@rebecca8836]

They were just obsessed with preventing the audience from working out the twists so every time we got close they changed it up which created an absolute mess lmao

[@evunee]

The audience can't figure out a twist if the twist doesn't make sense!

[@lazilyymade]

I started watching midway through its season 4 run on TV and got so confused because each plausible theory I had got thrown out the window every other episode.

[@Ramsey276one]

That was definitely the wrong thing to do!

[@cassandranolan432]

Can we talk about how these girl continuously self-sabotaged themselves... like getting rid of pieces of evidence, or not telling an adult or the police?!

[@PeptoBismel]

All for “drama” like there comes a point where the plot needs to thicken without all that mindless drama.

[@lesbiangoddess290]

It was just so annoying. Like please you want to lead a normal life but you constantly jump into danger and mess the minute it comes knocking on your door. It got old real fast

[@justunder5]

I just wanted one of them to learn self defense.

[@AliceInsanity]

@@justunder5 And Aria did. Kind of. She just stopped after a short time because she broke up with the guy who trained her. For Ezra. Again. (Because all her relationships failed since she couldn't let go of him) Seriously, I felt Aria sabotaged herself the most because she knew that there was always someone watching her and blackmailing her and she still kept going out with Ezra. Emily wasn't too clever either (as far as I remember) but she was the most scared and unsure of herself, so I could at least understand her a actions a little better. In the end I think Spencer was the most intelligent and dealt with the A thing the best (most of the time), but of course even she messed up at time. I guess Hanna is somewhat close to Spencer's level when it comes to dealing with her problems, she's also the one with the best support system (Caleb, her mother).

[@banahisayas4832]

Exactly! They knew that the crimes they committed would be used to blackmail them to commit more crimes... just go to the police and except what you did. I was so tired of them making the same mistakes over and over and over again 😭 they were always so shocked when A blackmailed them.

[@elijahdoesstuff4600]

In my opinion, the golden lesson that we an learn from this show and Gossip Girl is that when you’re writing a serialized TV show - or any story, for that matter - you need to at least have an idea as to how it’s going to end.

[@emmadenton1826]

BUT you shouldn't force the original ending if it no longer makes sense - the lesson we learn from himym 💀

[@meaganchalmers5880]

The most important lesson I learned from this show is that you absolutely cannot base a story on a mystery unless you already know the answer to the main question.

[@LemonPeeel]

That's it. That's the entire show. Words to live by.

[@tasneemahmed5821]

Right? It feels like every episodes the writers changed their minds on who A was and how they were going to end it.

[@apologist.mp3]

Do y’all remember that Halloween episode where Hanna’s mom encounters a little ghost girl and it’s definitely a ghost and then we were all expected to act like that just never happened?

[@lostinthesubway]

yess i was so confused when they never explained it again

[@MissBelle127]

Omg the theories!!! I remember those. Hanna’s twin etc omg

[@colonelsanders1621]

I think she was just hallucinating as Ted (who was there) never actually saw her. (or he lied about not seeing her)

[@juli_manzino]

I think at that point the writers were actually trying to follow the book's storyline (about alison killing her twin sister), but then as they decided to do something different that scene made no sense at all

[@basic_bixth2477]

i thought it was ali 💀

[@giantsalamander8139]

The problem is, they decided to start mysteries before they even answered them theirselves. So when they realized they didn’t have a good reveal, they just abandoned it.

[@miaferrari958]

Actually, a lot of the mysteries were in the books and had perfectly sensible build-up and development, but Marlene King wanted to "surprise" the audience or something and decided to take a different route most of the time. And I suspect a lot of the ones she wrote herself had a sensible answer too but once the fans figured them out, she decided to scratch that for the sake of outsmarting them.

[@mrrpggamer2]

themselves*

[@162Jenni]

That is the biggest reason why I stopped watching the show I think after season 4. The premise was so interesting with all the mysteries but I eventually realized that none of it made any sense

[@giantsalamander8139]

@@miaferrari958 I’ve never actually read the books, once watched the show. Are the books good?

[@FLdancer00]

27:20 This is exactly why I got hooked! Every episode gave the promise of answers but then only delivered more questions. I would end up bingeing episodes because I thought if I just watched ONE more, I would get an answer. I tapped out around season 4/5. Thank you for the recap because I definitely wasn't going to dive back in.

[@HealingInsideMyMind]

No matter how many fan serviced details they put in, the writers just couldn’t let the fans be right about something within their own show so they kept drawing the fuck out of it

[@toomuchbongwater]

why is this literally so true 😔

[@ellielouise9625]

God Aria and Alison working together as A would have been phenomenal

[@agalwithnoname]

That would be the dream

[@drlee2]

Those were my 2 favorite characters.

[@leedongwok86]

it is too smart for Marlene I King to think of

[@bisanm.h.140]

It definitely should’ve been one of the main character or at least like a secondary character smh

[@harmani2356]

@@leedongwok86 they wanted to do it but fans already knew so it wouldve been spoilt

[@secondcoming9789]

I will live and die on my belief that Aria was meant to be A but the writers got pissed when damn near everyone figured it out. Seriously the theory videos on KZbin were my everything back in 2014/2015.

[@majinally3527]

it was never gonna be aria. she wasn’t even on the list they originally wanted it to be either melissa or wren or both

[@secondcoming9789]

@@majinally3527 I doubt even the writers knew who it was after Mona.

[@paccinocappaccino]

THIS

[@majinally3527]

@@secondcoming9789 this is what the writers were told

[@aliciaa4859]

i’m pretty sure marlene said it was supposed to be Wren, (i mean cmon even in season one when the girls blocked A, his call to spencer didn’t go through) but everyone caught on and that’s when it changed to cece being charles and then the rabbit hole just gets deeper lol

[@FurTheWorkers]

I read all 16 books or whatever that went to this series (they are very fast reads), and I have to say they are pretty good. There's very little artistic value and are more like the junk food of literature, but they are very entertaining and I genuinely didn't expect the plot twists. The author either had the ending planned from the very beginning, or she was really good at building an ending on loose threads she'd placed throughout the books. There was literally a clue to the final books in the prologue chapter of the second or third book that I had missed entirely.

[@dp8178]

Same... I read all the books and while they weren't literary masterpieces, the actual mystery plot was 10/10, especially the whole Cortney/Alison plotline... I especially loved how we had like 99% of the puzzle from nearly the start too... It was so good and well thought out that it would've worked in the TV show for both people who didn't know (surprise/shock element) and people who read the books and knew (because then you would've been able to enjoy all the tiny hints of the truth).

[@davineuskens21]

What was the clue?

[@FurTheWorkers]

@@davineuskens21 Spoilers: It's revealed the Alison the girls knew is actually dead and was really the twin sister Courtney who had tried to kill the real Alison as a child and was sent to that hospital. Courtney came home one summer because the hospital closed, before being shipped off to a different hospital. The twins looked similar and even their parents couldn't tell them apart, so they wore color coded bracelets. Courtney swapped out the bracelets and got Alison locked up. The clue is that in one of the earlier books (book 5, I went back and checked), the girls go visit Alison and are told that she's in her room. They go upstairs and see her on the bed, but before they can talk Mrs DiLaurentis comes up stairs and tells Ali to come downstairs in a very "you're in serious trouble" tone. The girls eventually come downstairs and find Ali outside on the patio. She's wearing a different shirt and when Spencer asks her what she got busted for, Ali looks visibly confused. What had happened is that both girls were at the house at this time, and the main girls encountered one girl upstairs and another on the patio.

[@davineuskens21]

@@FurTheWorkers thank you! Your original comment made me interested in the books, so I literally downloaded the first one and I'm about to read it now 😄

[@FurTheWorkers]

@@davineuskens21 They're actually really fun reads. I ended up reading them back to back for the most part because as soon as one ended, I wanted to know what comes next. I watched some of the show first, and it was interesting seeing the changes between the characters.

[@megc8470]

The definition of pretty little liars: “I’m not mad I’m just disappointed”

[@cyanscrewdriver2092]

I’m hella mad

[@megc8470]

@@cyanscrewdriver2092 don’t get me wrong I’m still mad lmao because I invested 7 seasons to be rewarded with utter garbage lol 😆

[@renrose2386]

@@megc8470 same

[@Needler13]

@@megc8470 lol I made it for 2 seasons before I called bullshit on the show. I only watched it because of a girl as well and we would watch it together. I just couldn't, I called out the disgusting pedo relationships that was "romantic" and all the dumb shit that was happening. It did have a kick-ass intro song though which I made my ringtone for a long time

[@angieezbabes4759]

Your pfp matches with my nail colour🙃

[@cinderblockforabrain]

It would have made so much sense if Aria's time in Iceland was the time she was the patient in that hospitla

[@chiara8914]

true and the pilot was just how other people perceived it, due to the lie or even her own distorted version of reality in order for it to align to the other girls perception of things

[@Danny-be1ex]

I noticed the writers didn’t grow with us, we started wanting other things aside from romance like the PLOT to develop. Almost everyone I’ve seen wishes aria was A, and that’s because we stopped caring so much for the romance and we wanted a good ass show

[@oliviamargrett7004]

Yes that made so much more sense and i remember this scene in season 7 or something where Arias mom tells Hannahs mom that she is worried about her daughter and they are shown to be speaking something which we do not hear. I thought maybe this was her mom talking about Arias mental disorder or something.

[@MajorOctofuss]

Wouldnt surprise me if that was the og plan but as fans started to theorise that online it got scraped because shock value is better than making sense rip 🪦

[@Danny-be1ex]

@@oliviamargrett7004 there are SO many hints about aria being A and the writers got scared.

[@Thisguy38]

Watching this now I realize PLL is probably the reason Riverdale exist

[@taethetical]

PLL Walked so Riverdale could crawl.

[@blackhalo317]

I hate the fact that makes sense. 😭

[@namjoonie936]

omg😭

[@shoegirl927]

Riverdale copied so much from PLL it’s ridiculous.

[@sprinklingmoonlight]

OMGG and the high school sets used for riverdale is actually the same high school set used for pll so that’s a coincidence 💀

[@hotchic4000]

I think the evil twin thing could've worked if they were actually planning for it. If they had decided when they started deviating from the the plot, the exact way they'd change the ended, and actually foreshadowed it. Like imagine if some of the scenes had been Spencer's twin, and we could look back on the seasons and pick out where were seeing Spencer, or Alex. It still would've been tropey, but it could've worked, but it was obvious they just pulled that out of their ass and tried to make it fit.

[@elsie26]

some of them were spencer’s twin! alex looks through the photo book, has s*x with toby in the cabin, kisses toby before he says goodbye, etc. they mention that in one of the last episodes i think. but only in the last season, before that it’s never foreshadowed.

[@i_exist1872]

They did foreshadow it but only once

[@hoseokismyhope3351]

i just dont UNDERSTAND how can you, as a WRITER, write a big huge mystery surrounding someone's secret identity... without even having planned who the villain is gonna be in the end!! what!!!

[@flyingangel1223]

Sadly, this is super common, especially with writers who don't normally write mysteries. There's this belief that if you just keep upping the stakes and adding more questions you can keep audiences hooked without actually delivering. Of course, in reality this usually ends in backlash for obvious reasons.

[@rahbeeuh]

@@flyingangel1223 it's so unfortunate. I'mma need all of them experimenting in my favorite genre to back ALL the way off

[@NAME-yg8sl]

In another show they planned the ending but changed it when people solved it.

[@karlarao8736]

@@NAME-yg8sl Gossip Girl!

[@ringer1324]

My mother became obsessed with this show a few months ago when it came to HBO max. She randomly stopped watching at season 6. When I told her who A was she was so disappointed that she didn’t speak to anyone the entire day and took like three naps.

[@dianehutchinson9257]

Omg, this made me laugh so hard🤣🤣🤣 Your poor mom!

[@alnsubuga]

Three naps! 😂🤣💀

[@psykanimo]

I'm dying 😭😂

[@serenahopeisabella2226]

That’s when I stopped too

[@blaszaczka]

Nooo, I'm so sorry for her :(

[@MrsRona-jl1bf]

The whole Spencer had an evil twin plot line was UNNECESSARY!!!

[@Suzq21678]

Unnecessary is nice. Completely dumb, is more like it. I feel like when writers do that, it’s so utterly cliche, it’s comes off that they think their audience is dumb.

[@Bayougirl78]

Especially since they had already used the "SURPRISE, LONG-LOST TWIN" plot device with Mary Drake. Having Mary also be the mother of another set of long-lost twins, and Spencer being one of them, was so ridiculous.

[@hijena1234]

it was kinda fun

[@katpage9378]

Made it so unrealistic and I hated it

[@stankatbarrell9878]

I wish they would have kept it to be either wren or melissa.

[@musicdiary5768]

The reveal of Spencer’s twin was very much a “wtf” moment in the worst way. They can’t recover from that bull.

[@katiephillips1523]

If they had told us there was a fake Spencer the entire season, and we watched her interact with the characters all season without them knowing, it would have been SO. MUCH. BETTER.

[@MapiK.95]

The problem with your idea is that the Evil twins thing wasn`t scripted since the beginning of the show. It simply came up from nothingless. In other hand, I think that a lot of the plote holes in the history existed because of the same reason. The key points of the entire histoy weren't planned.

[@sylvie395]

This is off topic but that lipstick is so your color

[@saranemcova5448]

They do not have guts to do such a thing 🤷‍♀️

[@donnilloyd1355]

If they had told us, it would have ruined the surprise. The way they did it we had to go back and search for those times we were questioning Spencer. Didn't ya have a questioning feeling half of the season? THAT is what they wanted.

[@dragonslastfyl2203]

@@MapiK.95 plot holes*

[@siddiqsmouse5004]

Spencer was iconic, hanna was funny, aria was annoying, emily was boring and allison was wasted

[@elenajohnson6336]

I feel like Mona was pretty under utilised too 😔 her character was the most interesting IMO

[@giuliantoneIIi]

Yesss, thank you

[@siddiqsmouse5004]

@@elenajohnson6336 honestly, mona is iconic too

[@sravanthisenthilvelan1263]

Spencer and hanna were the only characters who carried the entire show

[@lucijarebrovic8058]

I always found Spencer kinda annoying

[@Jay-no8ky]

Can we give some respect to the REAL creator: Sara Shepherd, the BOOK AUTHOR. She went in a different direction (no Alex Drake, no Charlotte Dilaurentis) and is the reason the show was picked up before Marlene ruined it. What happens in the books are so much better

[@joemama-vb4yo]

@haily fernando what happened in the book like the ending

[@justme8841]

because it has agendas. the famous lbtq things must be in it etc etc.

[@esterh0000]

@@joemama-vb4yo There WAS a twin reveal in the book, but it was Alison's twin Courtney. Alison was jealous of her and wanted to get rid of her by trying to convince her parents Courtney was crazy and that she wanted to be Alison. It's a little complicated and convoluted but basically she was supposed to go to a psych ward, but didn't want to so she pretended to be Alison and the REAL Alison's plan backfired because when they tried to take away the REAL Alison, nobody believed that she was actually Alison and not Courtney pretending to be Alison. The "Alison" that the girls thought they had been friends with was actually Courtney, and it was also Courtney who died in the beginning before the plot begins. In the end, Alison is A (who also has an accomplice "Helper A" that ties into several mini plots in the book) and she basically wanted revenge for her life being ruined. Mona was also A earlier in the books but she actually dies, and the New A is Alison. I don't remember the exact ending but I'm pretty sure the girls get framed for murder after Alison tries to kill them and escapes, but they end up outplaying Alison in the end. It's been a long time since I've read the books but I remember them being really good and suspenseful.

[@joemama-vb4yo]

@@esterh0000 thanks

[@joemama-vb4yo]

@haily fernando thanks

[@TiredLex]

There's no way spencer was supposed to the smart one of the group but still managed to Falsely accuse so many people of murder and getting off Scott free lmfao. One of my only issues with her.

[@noname-jo2fc]

No one can be smart enough to instantly detect a killer. Especially bc all the characters r so damn suspicious.

[@504ever4]

I mainly hate how she was the smart one, but she never actually figured out that CeCe was A. They had to be told directly by CeCe herself once CeCe decided she was ready to be caught, I guess, which makes it lame. Also dumb that Spencer was the smart one and she was the only one who didn't play a part in figuring out who AD was.

[@nang4218]

Yes!!

[@pinkcrush183]

THIS BOTHERED ME SM… she was constantly always so sure and then was like let’s go to the police

[@jasminedeadlymagmite]

I always felt like Spencer was the smart one academically but Hanna was "smarter" at predicting or coming up with theories as to what was happening. That's why I think Hanna was always vital to the group when they were dealing with A in the earlier seasons

[@pommes2618]

I had a girl in my class who got so obsessed with PLL that she faked having a stalker

[@850thameem7]

@@KingKissan it is?

[@850thameem7]

@@KingKissan how? That's really creepy

[@enderkatze6129]

Ok, now explain in it in the Style of an r/askreddit answer. I wanna know detals

[@lisavanderpump7475]

Do u mean you hunny. U can admit to us we promise we won't judge that hard

[@naimafigueroa2080]

@@lisavanderpump7475 huh?

[@gibbums_lee194]

I think we can all agree on at least 1 thing about the show: Ezra is a predator. Like, seriously. Also, because of the weird writting he can't even use the excuse that Aria lied about her age when they first met, because it's revealed that he actually knew how old she was the whole time. So yeah Ezra is creepy as fuck, and I don't appreciate the writers trying to make him a sympathetic good boi UwU for no reason other than them wanting to drive the show with his and Aria's "romance."

[@Starkid_hanners]

I ate that shit UP when I was 13 watching it and when I watched it last year as a 24 year old I couldn’t get past episode one because I was sick at the amount of grooming??? Aria and Ezra were my otp man and I just 🤢

[@remytherat2929]

@@Starkid_hanners SAME, i really thought that was ok, i even wanted my own teacher boyfriend because of that shit

[@sweeety969]

People who defend this shit with "it's just tv" literally act like that shit never influenced anything, when not only have I been personally affected by stuff I see, and know it does have an effect on me and other people, but you can't even go mentioning this couple for example, without someone recalling how this show made them think it was cute and appropriate in their youth, and made them fantasize about being in a similar situation, or worse. There's people who have actually been groomed and abused because Aria and Ezra is made out to be romantic, so they think it's romantic when a teacher or older man shows them attention and end up getting in some dangerous situations because of this shit show.

[@cantthinkofanamebitchh.7034]

the only reason people thought it was ok was because ezra was hot. if the predator in a series is hot: ‘omg so romantic’ if the predator in a series is ugly: ‘omg he’s such a creep’ the double standards are ridiculous

[@drfifteenmd7561]

Agreed. I hated him.

[@mandy19137]

I know we talk about Ezra a lot but can we also talk about how WREN a DOCTOR kept hitting on teenagers. When your a doctor aren’t you suppose to be in your late twenties or early thirties. He tried to get with Spencer and Hanna

[@jollywallyholly]

I completely agree; Aria and Wren should have been -A. But they should/could have been cousins as well. We already know Byron’s brother and Wren’s father both had a history of mental illness, so why not make them the same person? Just one of many missed opportunities, I guess.

[@foosheezoo]

@Joshy you’re right! I always rooted for Wren being Uber A!

[@maliamalis6389]

The writers were so weird with incest and minor and older relationships

[@allisonmacleod1534]

THANK YOU. I was rewatching it and realized how many predatory men were in the series...

[@cleahogan98]

@Joshy YES i was so hoping for both Aria and Wren to be the A team but instead we get CeCe which made no sense to me and it just felt so flat

[@dahliassalvias7972]

The fact that writers have the audacity to go ahead with shows and actually ending them without having story plans 💀

[@AJ-hw2vc]

i believe writers would write the show as they went along and if a fan theory gained certain attraction by the audience, then they would quickly edit the script to a point where it wouldnt make sense, all this just to appear like they outsmarted the audience.

[@melenengrl]

Hey girl, hey And also, solid theory

[@aryanetrallais]

i fully believe that cuz the spencer's twin theory was the most popular on tumblr before the season ended

[@h.r.9563]

Like any soap opera they make it up as they go along

[@belbarcelos9264]

I agree completely, and it kinda pisses me of that they would edit the script without even thinking about wtf they would do with all of the loose ends they created as they changed the storyline a million and one times.

[@nusaibahibraheem8183]

I think the key to mystery writing is to know the ending before you start. That way, it will make sense even if its so mysterious. I definitely think they write as they go and change plots and forget about old ones. And that's not difficult to do. Keeping the same ending but finding a way for it to work and make sense is actually the hardest job.

[@CozyPayPay]

Just because someone figures out the direction your mystery is going doesn't mean you have to stretch a new twist waaaay out of reality to throw people off.

[@jensenkansas567]

Truee, I mean they could just be more creative with the explanation and however predictable it is like Aria being A, it would still more than suffice and much muh better than what we got

[@missserenity1090]

It also happened with Gossip Girl.

[@sydnitheromantictaylor112]

when writers change the endgame just because people figure out the direction of the story it just gives the audience an incoherent story, it's full of plot holes and inconsistencies it just makes the writers come off as incompetent. Dan DB Weiss and David Benioff did the same thing with Game of Thrones and who hasn't heard of the backlash for the final season of Game of Thrones.

[@jules8159]

Also another plot hole : what the fuck was the deal with Ravenswood, you can tell they were like ‘umm maybe some magic stuff’ and went noo

[@erinfullerton3744]

They made a spin off show called raven-wood based off that episode , it got cancelled after 1 season because it was so bad and made no sense

[@cherryblossom7120]

I liked the idea of ravenswood, but it should had been the place where alison's was staying in while she was missing.

[@AA-fl8kj]

Literally that’s the episode where I gave up.

[@lunaballesano6410]

@@cherryblossom7120 yesss

[@xoxocessa]

@@cherryblossom7120 I liked the idea too! I actually watched. Too bad it got canceled

[@marissabys878]

I have always wondered if the artists got cocky and decided because everyone was suspicious of Aria that they were just gonna change the direction entirely. All signs pointed to her and never were tied up. I think they just wanted to surprise/shock us so badly that they did it in the worst way possible.

[@cypress2289]

Yep it was meant to be aria but the fans figured it out so the writers just changed it and it made no sense

[@marissabys878]

​@@cypress2289 So upsetting. It's a mystery, you're supposed to solve it. They could've executed it in a way that still was exciting to watch. I doubt people would've stopped watching just because they knew what was coming.

[@indiji]

"Look, I *love* pretty little liars. I know it doesn’t look like it because i’ve been ranting about it for the past like 6 hours but-" Only someone who deeply cares for a flawed show can passionately rant about everything wrong with it for this long.

[@sweeety969]

Yes, this! I rant about it all the time out of frustration and everyone who'd rather kiss its ass gets pissed off and tells me to quit it since I hate it so much, but they don't get it, man.

[@veritasvanburen_]

FACTS

[@ChaoticallyCosmic]

I don't think we should gatekeep shit. Anyone who's spend their time watching a whole show, only for it to be stupid and pointless and as trashy.. they are allowed to rant about it.

[@indiji]

@@ChaoticallyCosmic Yes that’s exactly my point. I’m not gatekeeping anything. What makes you think i’m gatekeeping anything???

[@bunnywxbbit]

@@ChaoticallyCosmic They're not saying "can" as in "allowed to" but in the context of "will actually" I think you got mixed up

[@EleanorGrey13]

The biggest intrigue of PLL was always Alison. Her character was like a goddess. Her ghost was constantly haunting the Liars, even in the form of A. When we found out Mona was A, the show was still good and actually interesting. It made SENSE. They totally wasted Alison’s potential. I wanted the Liars to accept Mona, SHE could get the redemption arc, and they would have to take down Alison together. That would have been WAYYYY better and the stakes could have been way higher too.

[@mohammedyahya5838]

Yeah I hated gow the main 5 just treated her like shit everytime she tried to help, or were suspicious of her at all times. Like I get that initially, but not seasons later when she genuinely tried to help them

[@marcioroberto9820]

@@mohammedyahya5838 Well, she almost killed Hanna twice and tried to kill Spencer too. Not to mention she knew Charlotte's killer, herself, and yet allowed Alison and Hanna to be tortured and tried to blame Spencer for Charlotte's death in 7x01. I love Mona and I always wished for her to be part of the group but honestly, the girls have plenty of reasons to not trust her.

[@nothingbutintroverted4372]

@@marcioroberto9820 ya because the friend they let bully her literally tormented her to such an extreme degree it literally left her severely mentally unstable you just gonna forget that part

[@marcioroberto9820]

@@nothingbutintroverted4372 Still doesn't excuse trying to kill someone else, especially your best friend who actually tried to defend you, too, and she tried twice.

[@tvddamonlovernina]

@Ks YES!! THANK YOU!!

[@danotazmedia]

You know the craziest part about the Aria and Ezra relationship was that it ended relatively quickly in the books. Ezra literally gets arrested in the books and Aria ends up with Null.

[@ihatemickiegee]

i thought it was "noel". ?

[@arisbetleon6132]

@@ihatemickiegee it is they just spelled it wrong

[@warclassics]

Null 💀

[@fatoumatacisse3796]

wait she ended up with noel. I dont remeber them being together in the last book.. I thought they broke up

[@ggundercover3681]

@@arisbetleon6132 I remember watching this British chap once and the name was supposed to be noel. I was so freaking confused for the entire video until I looked at the comment. section and realized what he was saying. sometimes it's so hard to distinguish

[@jaylondoneye]

Personally, I think Alison should have been the second A like in the books. I think one of the main reasons Marlene changed it because she wanted Sasha Pieterse to come back and play Alison in the present, but you can still do that with the A theory. You could even make her good if that’s what you wanted. You could make her pretend to be good while she’s “helping” the girls find out who A is, while making her draw them further from the truth. You could add some clues to this too, have the girls slowly pick up on the fact that Alison is constantly ruining their plan. It could clear up other storylines too. Noel Kahn’s motive could be his love for Alison like in the books. Noel could’ve been in love with Alison. Alison was also the only one not in the dollhouse, this could’ve been because she was A. If you wanted Cece to fit into the plot, she could be the one helping Alison stay hidden. She could be the one being A as Alison is in jail. This could also help the Red Coat storylines too. That was why Cece put Emily in the box, to keep the liars away from Alison. If the writers had taken more storylines from the books, Mona’s reveal could’ve been better as well. Mona wanted revenge for Jenna in the books, this would’ve worked for the show because we _literally_ see Mona *befriending* Jenna during the Halloween episode in season two. The Alison is a twin thing would be good for the same reason. Alison told a story about a girl who murdered her twin sister, just like Alison and Courtney. I think the main reason Alison shouldn’t have been in the liars on the show was because she doesn’t *care* about them. She’s not _supposed_ to. They’re just _dolls_ to her. She doesn’t care about them, they’re there for her to play with. She views everyone as her dolls and that’s how she’s so manipulative. She killed people in the books because they didn’t _mean_ anything to her. They were not on her level, for lack of better words, she was better than everyone. When we found out she killed Ian, like she did in the books but in a different way, I thought later we were gonna find out that Alison was just pretending to be back. Bethany Young was such a dumb plot point because Courtney was already there. The layout was there, but Marlene ignored it. You could’ve had a better mystery if it wasn’t for the shock value. The audience is _supposed_ to figure out who it is. It’s not supposed to be so hard that it’s literally impossible to figure out. TLDR; Ali would’ve made a better A.

[@emily-sg2cu]

Omg Noel Kahn was the most annoying character he just did all this crazy stuff and there were NO reasons for it

[@babyfaceweeb8937]

Most people don't need a reason to be crazy so that was pretty realistic.

[@AnimeSheX]

Yeah and smiled the most ridiculous wide-toothed smile every time. So weird.

[@ahuffandapuff]

Um... those bitches didn’t understand him??

[@shaebubblegum3212]

@@AnimeSheX aww he can’t help he has a big mouth 🤣 . Your comment made me laugh too loud

[@DarkParadise__]

Same with Melissa

[@strawberrylime33]

Hey, who else was upset that the NAT Club storyline was never fully explored? I mean, college-aged and older men watching and filming teen girls in their bedrooms? That's so creepy, and could've been motive to "silence" anyone in the neighborhood who discovered that secret.

[@alex_n215]

YESSS! I’ve seen so many theories over the years, even one where it turned out the Ezra was the one in charge and running a secret cult. I’m so upset that nothing ever came of the NAT club.

[@Rpgonzo13]

@@alex_n215 Honestly, Ian Harding played Villain Ezra so well in season 4 that it kind of makes me wish they actually committed to that instead of doing the typical PLL thing of returning to the status quo. It's been a while since I watched it, but I remember him being so intimidating and creepy. I'm kinda sad that Harding hasn't really gone on to do much since PLL, because I felt like he was one of the strongest actors in the show.

[@jenni230]

Omg yes I was so disappointed. They never explained

[@kristendanielle8687]

I totally agree, especially since Ezra could have been in it and he had a history of dating two underage girls in the show. They could have used him to be more than arias love interest

[@jujube1013]

Well the start of the NAT club was in high school so it didn't start out as skeevy.

[@alliecrews5891]

In the books Alison is actually A and the other 4 had to ban together to take her down. The writers of the show should of followed the books closer

[@danielorlovaquinn]

They did but people figured it out so 🤷

[@Vi_Vi_1]

@@danielorlovaquinn people figuring out a mystery isn't inherently bad--often it means you laid the groundwork of your story well. Much worse to panic and change things than to stick with the plan, at least that makes sense within the story. Otherwise you get trainwrecks like the finale

[@houseofmatrix6174]

Allison was A overall what was her motivation

[@ECPhoenixman]

@@houseofmatrix6174 I believe she hated the 4 liars because they were friends with her sister Courtney after she stole Alison's place. So Alison became A to torture the liars as punishment because she was a sociopath.

[@Spinelli_Blues]

Yea I agree

[@JaysieeisyaJ]

Sometimes I'll randomly start to get the itch to rewatch the show but then I just rewatch this video instead and that itch is scratched for a long while. So basically, thank you for saving me from spending even more hours of my life on this show and from being extraordinarily frustrated all over again!

[@jamarsh09]

They should have just followed the books and let Allison remain the villian

[@memorydocumentation5942]

Making her the victim destroyed her character. Alison was a sociopath and it made no sense for her to be redeemed. why give her redemption arc???

[@acho2030]

Ugh yes that would've been iconic to see her just reveal herself. The girls would feel so betrayed & the story would've been so much better 😫

[@ApparationsOfGloom]

Allison was such a good villain omg the way sasha delivered her lines was so good

[@ruben4464]

ugh she would’ve gone down as an even more iconic mean girl

[@eliza5344]

I feel like they totally could've kept her as a villain, but sprinkled in a little traumatic backstory that might make you sympathize with her. They pushed it too far and made her "completely reformed". They did the same with Alison and Emily. They were my very first OTP, and yet I was so upset that they got married in the end, because it's not realistic in the slightest?? Not to mention, it was rushed. Alison was just playing with Emily. That was part of the allure for me. The last two seasons were literally just a horribly written fanfic.

[@babygurll7]

The whole greatest part of PLL was in the early seasons when we believed Alison was dead or MAYBE could be alive somehow and the writers FUCKED everything up by bringing her back. Us thinking Alison was dead or maybe alive was the entire amazing mystery element. It would have been sooo much better if she was actually dead and still had that haunting figure and that the girls needed to solve her murder.

[@renrose2386]

Agree

[@paolazeledon9661]

Fr, I felt the show got so shitty the moment she came back

[@chanhee4531]

my forever question is : why did they despise mona so much, but forgave everyone else who has done so much worse to them

[@lyssbeth]

YESSS. I loooved Mona! Like she did so many crappy things but she was humanized by her love for Hannah and her constant desire to fit in and be accepted. Unpopular opinion but I think the person everyone should’ve disliked was Spencer. She constantly did crappy things to everyone and somehow was easily forgiven (hooking up with her sister’s boyfriends, being rude and aggressive to everyone especially Hannah, etc etc)

[@julietteporrovecchio3670]

@@lyssbeth i agree with you but not for spencer. I actually love spencer and she’s one of the only reason i continued the show.

[@lyssbeth]

@@julietteporrovecchio3670 😇

[@markshyshkovskyy7307]

YESSS mona was literally the best character!!!! she’s the only one in the show with any common sense

[@lyssbeth]

@@markshyshkovskyy7307 yess! ❤️🥺

[@luciechristian3095]

Aria was DEFINITELY supposed to be A. But that theory absolutely blew up with fans and I fully think the writers changed it to “outsmart” the fans. PISSES ME OFF!!

[@saloosh777]

Ikr? I was so shocked when Aria didn’t turn out to be A because there were SO 👏 MANY 👏 THINGS 👏 hinting to SPECIFICALLY her out of all the characters - even little objects and set props presented in scenes! Everyone was pointing them out and we ALL know no one would add those props just for the sake of it, especially on a MYSTERY show. Honestly, even thinking about it now still frustrates me cause I was one of the people who would pick apart scenes and set design in this show to find clues about A. All that detective work gone to waste just because Marlene wanted to be “one step ahead” and just change the plot to suit whatever dumb surprise/twist she wanted to have. 🙄

[@aesketches]

I support this comment 💯 percent

[@Ritualwellbeing]

Same! Maybe if they would have just stuck to an original storyline, not strayed from it, even if it meant making less seasons, they could have created a satisfying story that was consistent and made sense. Quality not quantity! Instead, it snowballed into one disaster plotline after another just to keep it going. The plot holes, the clues that turned out to mean absolutely nothing, the creep factor that never panned out and instead the villains just became more and more ridiculous. It started off as great art and turned into garbage.

[@madelyneschnurr5567]

The biggest issue I had was that they originally were going to keep this as a two season show which would have worked! Mona was A and then she would have been out away. But then it started getting popular. So then they green light it for another two seasons which then they decided to add in guess what Allison is alive. And now it’s about adjusting to a dead not dead character. Then green light again. And now they decided let’s kill Mona but then it gets fucked up again and decided to change direction. So then they decided to change the mystery again and it just didn’t make sense. You could literally see the chucks of the mystery that would work as a seperate shows and spin-offs.

[@arisboba]

@@jennyasmr5511 I remember that, lol

[@sharyebethancourt3660]

Your take on Alison is perfection! I’ll never get over the fact that the youngest actor was one of the best characters and actors! She is pure evil, and so good at it!

[@sharyebethancourt3660]

Alison seems evil, not Sasha btw. Sasha seems like a a sweetheart.

[@esem3511]

she was good then got stuipd at the end.

[@eviehnt]

sasha is incredible!! she’s such an underrated actress and she never gets cast in anything anymore which is a crime because she’s amazing at what she does!!

[@pamelajaskot4538]

@@eviehnt agree, I wish I saw her in other shows 😢

[@Pk5714-]

Emily's character is basically dating/falling for the broken/evil characters after meeting them for seconds and cry over them till they die or someone else comes along.

[@OfficialPrettyLittleLiars]

The first two seasons are the highlight of the show because they were following the books’ first arch of Mona being A. Hence, the writers had to pull less weight lol I agree that the show should’ve been around 5 seasons, but I’d go as far as to say that they should’ve stuck with the villain plot line of the books’ second arc (the Alison and Courtney story). The fact that they didn’t definitely goes to your point that they wanted to outsmart the audience. Although I’m sure the books also have plot holes, my memory of reading them was that at least the main storylines made a fair amount of sense. Also, Alison’s storyline could have maintained the best aspects of her character while also grounding the mystery in a semi-realistic and scary way (and it was not all that different from what they tried to do with Spencer in Season 7.) A fantastic breakdown of the show, btw.

[@OfficialPrettyLittleLiars]

The timeline of Season 3-5 made me laugh out loud. God this show dragged us along lmaoo

[@123gmari]

Yes! If they just followed the books it would of been way better

[@eg4761]

after season 3 the show went downhill I find because they ruined the shows only sense of mystery which was Alison. Like you had this pretty, mean girl friend who was super sketchy and was also a straight up bitch and then she dies and no one knows what happened. That’s what kept me into the show. They also ruined it by brining in Charlotte and that whole disaster called her origin story. It was literally so random, unplanned, and a waste of a story because they pull an Uber A. If they stuck to the books and the twin plot it would have been more suspenseful :/

[@amydunnediditnow]

@@123gmari i guess they didnt do that because they wouldve made less money if fans could just look up who A was in the books and then know what would happen in the show, so they had to change up to keep people watching. shame they did it in such a bad way though

[@TubemastaC]

I think the dollhouse is easily the greatest part of PLL so I need season 6 to stay 😩😩😩😩 or if they just did it earlier at like season 3 and Alison was revealed to be there the entire time