Alison DiLaurentis: Queen Bee

[Mabinogia]

I see it as Allison's reaction to the end of all the A BS. Her youth was so chaotic that she is now trying to be "normal" but, given who her parents are, she didn't have an example of what "normal" is so she's basing it off of what she's seen on TV. I wouldn't put it past her to have watched old b&w sitcoms when she was younger, Donna Reed, Leave it to Beaver, the kind of families she didn't have growing up. And now she's trying to emulate them in some misguided attempt to have a nice life.

 

Or the pervy doctor did some kind of hypnotherapy on her when he was working with Charlotte and now has her programmed as his perfect little Stepford wife.

 

Either way, I wish we had more of the queen bee back. At least she was interesting. This one is about as exciting as watching white paint dry on a white wall.

[FineWashables]

 

It's very hard to talk about this and coming off well, and I can only hope SP doesn't know of the existence of this board let alone checks it out, but Alison's look from head to toe this season has been problem for me. I'm sure if the story was better I wouldn't be so hyper aware of that but since I have nothing to distract me it's become an issue. The hair...the long, stringy, terrible fake hair. Why? Why so much hair? Why so long? Why so fake looking?

I would copy your whole post because it's so on-point, but this needs to be said, and you've said it so well.

 

The stylists seem to try to be distracting us from SP's weight gain, which is fair enough, but giving her an enormous mound of fake-looking hair isn't helping as much as they seem to think it does. Yes, when you're heavier, you want to make sure that you don't look like you have a pinhead on a big body, but this is just drawing negative attention. And dressing her in layers of ruffles is just making her look like one of those crocheted things my grandma put over her spare toilet paper roll. All those giant skirts!  She's just a bonnet and a crook away from Little Bo Peep.  Look around, stylists. The world is full of plus-size women who dress well. Give poor Ali a break! She's been through enough!  

[Mabinogia]

I wonder if they are dressing her so old (dowdy old, like granny old) because Sasha is so much younger than the others and they are worried we won't think she's 25 or whatever age they are supposed to be now. It's not working. She looks awful, and Sasha is a beautiful girl. It is sad seeing her like this. And shallowly, it makes me less interested in Allison.

[cuddlingcrowley]

And shallowly, it makes me less interested in Allison.

 

Same. But, I can only hope it's the combination with a terrible storyline that has made me completely lose interest in Alison. That said, i'm happy to say for the last couple of episodes her hair has looked very pretty and her make-up is considerably better as well. Well done show! Now if only you could write her half-away decently we'd be friends again.

[xyzzy]

I honestly can't decide if they're styling Ali poorly to punish the actress for gaining weight or if they're just terrible at dressing normal people. We're not talking Skyler-level of steroid fueled weight-gain here. She's got a little meat on her bones, that's it. It's not like firefighters have to break down a wall to get her to work every day.

[rho]

I honestly can't decide if they're styling Ali poorly to punish the actress for gaining weight or if they're just terrible at dressing normal people. We're not talking Skyler-level of steroid fueled weight-gain here. She's got a little meat on her bones, that's it. It's not like firefighters have to break down a wall to get her to work every day.

 

I think it's a little bit of both. She's not a sample size anymore so they probably don't get gratis for her but it also looks like the clothing allowance only stretches to the Macy's clearance rack. On the flip side, I don't think the wardrobe dept would even know what to do if they had unlimited funds. Most TV/film stylists get in a rut and are totally useless when it comes to anything larger than a size 4. And of course, there is always the silent pressure to lose weight. I'm sure all the talent on the show experiences that, not just Sasha. Ian's airbrush abs are another not-so-subtle dig.

 

Honestly, I don't get it. The prairie dresses are even less flattering, but I did like the outfit she fell down the stairs in. I was wondering when they would finally give her a pair of jeans and ruffled blouse. After seeing her in that, it's clear the other outfits make her look heavier. She's roughly 1-2 sizes larger than the other girls.

[Oholibamah]

Sweet Mona, I can't stop cringing during any scene involving Ali with Elliott. I don't blame Sasha since she is a good actress, but not good enough to elevate a completely hollow block of wood (like Troian manages to do with Toby).

 

I can't recall ever seeing poorer acting on a primetime TV show. Can Emily kill him next, please?

[SadieT]

Sweet Mona, I can't stop cringing during any scene involving Ali with Elliott. I don't blame Sasha since she is a good actress, but not good enough to elevate a completely hollow block of wood (like Troian manages to do with Toby).

 

I can't recall ever seeing poorer acting on a primetime TV show. Can Emily kill him next, please?

 

Yeah, Huw is not very good. Although I wonder if having to do an American accent tripped him up a bit and caused him to come across so stiff? In a way, his poor acting kind of worked for the story because very few people found him to be a believable love interest for Alison and sensed there was something off immediately. The actor however wasn't informed he was going to be revealed as bad till later on during filming so while it may not have been a deliberate acting choice, it worked in a sense that the character was meant to be acting. 

 

ETA:  I can actually recall seeing poorer acting on this particular TV show. PLL has a history of casting pretty people with minimal acting ability.

Edited March 20, 2016 by SadieT