I come out of lurking because...Noel Kahn!
I happen to love all of the characters we rarely see - Jenna, Melissa, Jason. Maybe it's because they don't stay long enough to get bit by the stupidity bug that is floating around Rosewood (not to be confused with the liking-underage-girls tainted water in that town). How else to explain Noel sitting in his car listening to that recording of Alison, aloud, with the windows down and in public? Then leaving it in his school locker and his car? Seriously?
I loved Alison in flashbacks. Now? I like the bitchy side of her but this scared, slightly frumpy dressing girl? Do not like. I was hoping for more...charisma. Also, she seemed more proactive in flashbacks gathering intel on people just in case they were the ones harassing her - now? Nothing. I don't know, I guess they made her seem like this way-too-cunning for her own good 14 year old and now she gets bested by Mona recording one conversation on her phone? Boo show!
I shouldn't be surprised. This show rarely lives up to the stuff we think of here. It lives on cliffhangers and dies on the explanation. Toby is A! No, he was doing it for Spencer. Ezra is A! No, he was writing a book. At this point, I'm expecting this show to end on Dan-as-Gossip Girl levels of bad. (Yes, I will forever be bitter about that.)
It sounds like I hate the show. I don't I really like it but the problems are becoming more apparent with each passing season and the individual episodes are usually good - they just never cohesively end anywhere good. If that makes sense...