itainttippithebird

Having read/listened to interviews with the writers and directors, I *do* think a lot of this is intentional on the part of the people putting the show together and that there's some underestimation of their work in this thread here and there. (For especially interesting and compelling examples, see the Bros Watch PLL Too podcast interviews with Joseph Dougherty, Norman Buckley, and Bryan Holdman.) They get some things wrong, they get some things right, but there is a LOT of intention behind the writing and production of this show, especially as it pertains to the psychological violence of girlhood.

Oh snap! Just remembered - make sure you add to your (wonderful sounding) master post that doll that Aria gave to Mona (via Mike) in last night's ep, with its goddamned HANDS BOUND IN FRONT OF IT, that Mona glances at brielfy, then adds to her creepy doll shelf like it ain't no thang! WTF, Aria?! WTF, Mona?!

Extra Hot Great - click the "EHG" tab at top right on this site, or follow through iTunes. It's Sarah Bunting, Tara Ariano, and Dave Cole, plus a guest (another Previously.tv writer/contributor) talking all things TV. One of my very fave podcasts around!

I have to agree with Eve's hunch on the EHG podcast - it feels like it's the sheriff and son to me. Which is kinda awesome because the sheriff, aka Colin from 90210, looks to me like he's had a tad bit of IRL work done (ALLEGEDLY), which makes it kinda perfect if he's Brandon James and his face has been surgically repaired to normal! This week's "why would the killer be so low-tech as to send snail mail, when he's been very techy?" question seems like a very strong nod to an intergenerational killing team. We've not seen much of Kieran yet, but his dad is sketch as hell. They seem to be hinting at an eventual romantic entanglement with Emma's mom, aka Daisy, which would be perfectly creepy and perfectly in keeping with Brandon's origin story...

I'd also add the repeated shots of her looking in the mirror as a kind of visual DID reference, especially the recent one where she frowns at her disorted, funhouse reflection, right before she finds the knife-in-eye doll...

^ I think the only thing that maintains some semblance of fit is Wren as A, but no doubt next week that'll end up blown to bits, too! :)

@crim, I wish I could like your post 3,000 times. Yes to allll that! Especially: I was SUPER pissed through the whole episode for this exact reason. Also, I extra-appreciate your analysis of the Sara/Emily kiss and convo, and the very dark implications of her comment about not knowing if it was real or not in light of her trauma. I didn't even really think about it in the moment, but reading your comments, I was stunned by what a great insight this is. You are so right, and that is such a really critical moment to unpack! Generally, I give this show alllll the credit and I think that the writers and directors are really smart and thoughtful and feminist in their presentation, but they really wiffed it this time.

This has been a theory making the rounds since the finale last season, albeit with CeCe as Charles rather than Sara (which I think fits a bit better). I *really* hope they don't go this direction, as the trope of "trans person = psycho" is old, tired, and seriously destructive and transphobic. No matter how much they tried to turn it into a sympathetic narrative, it would be really, really ugly. For awhile I was despairingly convinced they were moving in this direction, but now I'm less convinced, and I hope upon hope I'm right! I was really hanging on to "Sara is Bethany," though, but last night's appearance by Claire, who knew Sara prior to her kidnapping, sorta took the wind out of those sails a bit. (Unless Claire is being paid/bullied into pretending "Sara" is really the Sara she knew years ago...)

I actually thought Toby's reaction was somewhat believable - edibles like that can be crazy potent in small doses, and he straight up ate the entire bag! I think some visual/auditory perception problems, dizziness, turning all pasty and sweaty is all in keeping with ingesting that much. At first I thought it was very rude of him to steal his gf's candy (sacred!) but then I realized he thought they were for him ("Love, S") - still, rude to not thank her for them! You could have saved yourself a lot of tennis balls and falling pipes if you'd just used your manners, Tobes. I think they are dropping lots of clues this season to something coming on with Aria - the funhouse mirror reflections, the dolls, etc - I think the trauma of the dollhouse is going to have turned her dark. My guess is that they are hinting toward some kind of dissociative identity disorder plotline, where her "evil" other self is working with Charles and/or doing weird things. I can't quite puzzle it out, but something's definitely going on there.

So, if Leo and the four consider themselves family - with the same father, calling each other siblings, etc - then isn't it kinda weird/creepy for Leo and Mia to be in love?!

Here's another, even more detailed and pretty much flawless one I refer to a lot - http://xjennax13.tumblr.com/post/118220195154/timeline-of-events-in-real-rosewood-time

Benjamin Light and Marco Sparks of Bros Watch Pll, Too, Heather Hogan at Autostraddle, and Jacob Clifton, who did the TWOP recaps have all said something similar about this that really struck a chord with me, and it's something to the effect of - The A mystery is a metaphor for the claustrophobia, paranoia, and isolation of being a teenage girl in a patriarchal world, so the fact that they can't (or don't want to) turn to parental/police/authority figures is really about how the experience of teenage girlhood (and growing into adulthood) often includes navigating various sorts of trauma/menace that your parents and authority figures can't understand/save you from, as you realize their fallibility and fragility. It can even isolate you to the extent that you are divided from your friends, but ultimately there's strength in numbers and it is in friendship that you find strength to harness to speak back to that malevolence and violence. And that's why the girls' friendship is ultimately the way out. So they all say, and I would heartily concur, getting caught up on the detail of "why don't they go to the police/parents" is missing the point. (I know that's not what you were saying and you were in fact critiquing the police gripe, I just used your quote as a jumping off point for adding this to the discussion.)

I think Wren is the best possible fit, BUT since Mona got in an out of Radley like it ain't no thang, and since someone (Mona? Charles before her?) put that map on that old board game to show Spencer how to get out of Radley undetected, any Charles sightings prior to Labor Day could be easily hand waived away as Charles, having grown up in Radley, having total run of the place and escaping whenever he saw fit.

I agree with y'all that Jay was following orders/being ruthless, but in my opinion, Shia was kind of a dick for wanting to confess to him - sure, it's kinda cold he wanted deniability, but if they are such good friends, she shouldn't have wanted to legally implicate him in her own terrrrrrrrrible choice just to be able to say the words aloud. Friends don't force friends into a choice between perjury and being made an accessory, especially when it need not be said! This irked me in the moment.

WHEN IS SHE EVER GOING TO ACTUALLY BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR THIS?! That they dropped a straight up murder investigash plot is still killing me. I'm not sure why it matters that Emily has dated multiple people and has no obvious OTP - does...everyone have to have one?! Why? For the sake of shipping? If anything, Emily ships are more interesting because there's possibilities for rivalry, I would think. Then again, I don't really care very much about the romantic pairings of the show, so I guess I don't relate to the indignance - I'm here for the friend(ships).

This was my first thought too, but no, that was Rumer Willis, who already came by on a 2k mile detour to thirst for Emily a couple seasons ago! Rumer, aka "Zoe" on the show, was supposedly her supervisor - she wrote a letter of reccomendation for Emily. So then who is Nicole?! Maybe they wanted Rumer back (I actually did hear a...um...RUMOR that she was coming back this seaz) to do this part, but she was busy, so they snuck in a new supervisor, Nicole. Anyyyywayyyy, when Em came back from Haiti, she was supposedly the world's best Habitat volunteer, who changed everyone's lives with her lustrous locks and penchant for power tools, so I guess Nicole is just really invested in bringing back the #1 draft pick...?

Errr, ok, so I am no fan of Sara (nor of Emily, really), but Emily gets romantically involved in the exact same ways and number of times that all the rest of the girls do. New characters on this show pretty much EXIST to be romantic entanglements - Lorenzo, Travis, Dean, Johnny, Andrew, that one dude on Aria's college trip, etc etc etc. It shouldn't be so remarkable that they treat the queer girl the same as the straight ones - although perhaps it is, just because most shows completely neuter LGBT characters... Anyway, friendly reminder that lots of us got lots of action in high school, even (and sometimes especially, sigh) with the straight girls.