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Past Seasons Talk: A is Everywhere


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A place to discuss particular episodes, arcs and moments from the show's past four seasons. Please remember this isn't a complete catch-all topic -- check out the forum for character topics and other places for show-related talk.


First post:
With Ali back, I'm hoping she isn't welcomed back by the liars with open arms. I don't trust her, and neither should the other girls.

Another thing I am NOT looking forward to is the forced and inevitable reunion of Ezria.

Edited by maraleia
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I'd personally like to see flowcharts for the Most Wonderful Day of the Year to compare it with Allison's account of events. I'd like to see if there's a discrepancy as well as if it's the sort of sloppy thing that would invalidate some of my other theories or at least weaken them. I know some wonderful people must have pieced together that day so I'm hoping someone will post a link.

I have to keep telling myself this show is not LOST. That affects the way I view clues and hints.

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I've recently started watching this show, because a friend has the entire DVD set. It's certainly interesting, although in a very guilty pleasure way. The plot tends to fall apart when you think about it too much. So I try not to and just enjoy it in its ridiculousness. I actually like all of the characters, all four liars and their main love interests. I do tend to think the teen romances are not the show's strongest suit so I prefer it when they're just dating instead of the back and forth, wooing and angst stuff they throw in sometimes. I don't even mind Ezria. Sure, in real life I'd find it icky as hell but this is Rosewood. That's clearly in no way part of our actual universe. Aria dating her teacher, who used to spy on her? Whatevs. Spencer hooked up with two of her sister's boyfriends, both significantly older, one a certified creeper and attempted murderer, Emily dates the girl who once tried drowining her and has/had a crush on Ali, Hanna kissed Wren and Caleb spied on her too once upon a time (I do adore Hanna/Caleb most of the time, so I hope they'll get back together fast). Toby/Spencer is also a giant mess when you think about it. I think Aria is a bit of a drama queen and someone who loves feeling special and Ezra gives her that. I mean, if he doesn't die or get shipped out of town, now that he's officially in on the whole A business and on the liars' side at least we presumably won't have to suffer through completely unrelated storylines like his family troubles and Malcolm again.

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(edited)

Plus a lot of what he did last season was messed up and had nothing to do with his book. Keeping her away from the liars and trying to isolate her, also why did he put knives in Kung Fu Pandas gym bag? I wonder if the show is even going to try and spin that one. That is if they even remember the scene.

 

I believe TPTB have already said that the knives wasn't Ezra. Or maybe I made that up. I wouldn't put it past them though, nevermind the fact that it literally makes no season for it to be anyone else.

 

I promised myself I wouldn't watch this anymore after the damn mess that was 4B, but LOL I'm totally watching it tonight. I have no will power.

Edited by peachmangosteen
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I just started rewatching the series from the beginning on Netflix, and wow, the creeper is strong with Ezra. There was always somewhat of an "ick" factor from the get go, but knowing what I know now... I want to look away any time he's onscreen with Aria. There's a part in S1E02 where he walks into the theatre after Aria and her mother, and there's something about the lighting/his clothes/his facial expression that screams "sexual predator," or "sad, desperate shell of a man."

 

I was super stoked about Ezra being A, since, for the first time in the series, he would have been a compelling character, but of course TPTB Toby'ed it and now he's all "i did it bcuz i luv u." Sigh.

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I don't know, I could never take Ezra seriously as a predator or as A. He's a bit lame, to be honest. Aria practically had him wrapped around her pinkie from shortly after the start of their relationship and for the longest time he didn't even get laid for his troubles. While every other male character on this show seems to be very sexual (hell, even Wilden managed to come across as a sexual predator even when he was talking about completely unrelated stuff), Ezra seems to be actively averse to it. I mean, hell, I totally bought that he and Alison never had sex. They talked pretentiously and went to pretentious places and she totally wore the pants despite her being (in actuality) like, 14 at the time. I feel like that's exactly the kind of relationship Ezra likes to have, like he actually lives in the Great American Novel. 

 

What I do not buy even if the show seems intent to retcon Ali into a virgin or something is that she and Ian never had sex. Unless we're talking about a "everything but..." situation. They were in a hotel room, with a camera - I'm supposed to buy Ian just rented that room for the weekend so he and Ali could do the Ezria programme, sit on the bed holding hands and tenderly quipping about literary references? What about where she fell down in the woods? That seemed very sexual to me. Also, Ian gave up hot sex with Melissa to hold hands with a 14year old? No way. 

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Well we know Alison had a pregnancy scare the summer before she disappeared, so she clearly did the nasty with someone.  I thought they confirmed that it wasn't Wilden she slept with, but I could be wrong about that.  Crossing Wilden off the list, there aren't that many guys left.  Toby was in prison.  Caleb wasn't around yet.  Lucas makes no sense.  Maybe Garrett but he has been dead so long it would feel like a cop out.  Wren should have been back in England (though we know much the writers can about continuity).  Maybe Noel Khan but he and Alison always seemed to hate each other.   I guess it could always be someone the girls haven't met yet but I really don't see the point in that.  So my money is on Ian or Ezra.  Personally I hope it comes out halfway through the season that Ezra was the one that almost got her pregnant and we get to see Aria go basaltic again.

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so my money is on Ian or Ezra.  Personally I hope it comes out halfway through the season that Ezra was the one that almost got her pregnant and we get to see Aria go basaltic again.

 

I thought it was established they didn't have sex with Ali. I don't know if that was done to make Ezra look like less of a creep (but then why Ian) or to make Ali look more virtuous for her redemption arc (which...come on) or because they want to do the "who's the baby daddy" storyline soon and want to eliminate some suspects, but the flashbacks have been true so far, so I see no reason to doubt them. Even though I really, really don't buy Ian not having sex with Alison.

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This show gets so convoluted I sometimes forget whether we know something or not.  Can someone please remind me:

 

  • Who killed Ian?
  • Who killed Garrett?
  • Who killed Maya?
  • Who killed Det. Wilden?  Wait - he is dead, right?
  • Who drove the car into Emily's house?

 

I don't even know if we learned all these answers yet.  But if we did, the show is such a jumbled mess of misinformation that I've already forgotten.  Help, please?

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This show gets so convoluted I sometimes forget whether we know something or not. Can someone please remind me:

  • Who killed Ian?
  • Who killed Garrett?
  • Who killed Maya?
  • Who killed Det. Wilden? Wait - he is dead, right?
  • Who drove the car into Emily's house?

I don't even know if we learned all these answers yet. But if we did, the show is such a jumbled mess of misinformation that I've already forgotten. Help, please?

Maya was killed by cousin Nate/Lyndon James

I think Ali killed Ian but we don't know who moved the body?

The police believe Cece killed Wilden, but who knows.

Garrett I don't know. I think Wilden was the suspect.

A crashed the car in Emily's house. I think the A reveal after that was the fake? Ezra one. Or maybe now we are supposed to think it was Shana?

This show has never been really clear with answers. Half the time they take them back too.

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Hey guys -- a friend of mine is way behind on PLL and wants to catch up, but doesn't have the time to watch every episode. I told her I'd work on a list of "must-watch" episodes -- after all, we all know that not much actually happens 90% of the time. Can you guys help me with a list of 5-10 key episodes that have aired between "This Is a Dark Ride" (3x13, the Halloween Train ep) and now? 

 

I know I want "Shadow Play" on there just because it was so neat, and of course the 100th. Probably "Now You See Me, Now You Don't" as well (the Ezra reveal was fun, if ultimately pointless).

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Episode 4x18, Bite Your Tongue, includes some of the backstory of Alison and Ezra, and it introduces Spencer's drug habit.  Also it a really well rounded and awesome episode in general.

 

Also you could have your friend watch Episode 3x21 Out of Sight Out of Mind, and Episode 3x23, I'm Your Puppet, or Episode 3x24, A DAngerous GAme, so she can have some idea what people are talking about when they mention that Spencer was in Radley.

 

Or you could jokingly suggest that your friend take a bunch of caffeine and StudyAid and then binge watch the like forty episodes she hasn't seen yet, because this show is clearly best enjoyed while in a state of hyper reality.

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I think you should watch

-3x13

-3x14

-3x16

-3x20

-3x21 or 3x22

-3x24

Most of this season that I left out was just Spencer acting all upset about her break up with Toby (and it gets quite irritating that she doesn't want to tell her friends).

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(edited)

At this point, it's almost like the less one thinks about past seasons, the better. Because now that Mona was confirmed to have known Ali was alive and anti-Ali, and it seems that CeCe was on Ali's side all the way, what about Mona being visited in Radley by CeCe and wanting so badly to meet Red Coat, and all the events at the lodge? It seemed to make sense in that Mona was in the same boat as the Liars in regards to Ali, CeCe and Red Coat, but she obviously wasn't because she knew Ali was alive and CeCe, as her not!twin, was most likely on her side. But then who exactly did Mona take her orders from and who did she think it was?

 

I think Ali killed Ian but we don't know who moved the body?

We know now that Noel worked with Ali, so maybe they moved the body together.

Edited by Crim
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I've been rewatching a few episodes from past seasons.  This weekend, I watched a few from early in season 4, and it's crazy how much has happened and how much I forgot about.  I just watched Cat's Cradle (4.4), where Hanna sees the Wilden murder board at the police department.  I noticed that next to Wren's picture it says "Dr." Wren Kingston.  What?  He's pretending to be a doctor?  Have we gotten an explanation for this?  Can anyone fill me in?  Thanks!  Either I never noticed this, or I forgot it, but either way, it seems like a juicy detail I want to know about.

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I remembered that too, although now I think the questions is mark is there because they don't know what kind of Doctor he is. He's a general doctor, an ER doctor, a surgeon and a psychologist. All of which are separate practices. I was surprised he wasn't the eye doctor and the dentist. 

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Lol, that would have been a great way to bring Wren back, having him show up at the eye doc office to treat Spencer, Jenna, and the other Jenna.  Wren seems to be a jack of all medical trades, but "Dr" is the appropriate title for someone holding a doctorate of medicine in any of those specialties.  If Wren really is a doctor, it would be very easy to verify his education and board certification--even for the seemingly challenged Rosewood PD.  If he is still in med school, that would provide a better explanation for his being in all these medical fields virtually at once, as he could be doing clinical rotations.  But med students can't jet off to London indefinitely and hope to graduate and pass their boards, and he certainly can't practice abroad at the snap of a finger.  I think Wren is not a real doctor, though obviously he has medical training.  And some mad forgery/con skills.

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I have a bet that I need to settle with a friend.

What is the exact timeline of this show? How many months/years take place during each season? How are they still in their senior year in season 5?

We got confused trying to explain it to each other - lol. Thanks in advance!

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I have a bet that I need to settle with a friend.

What is the exact timeline of this show? How many months/years take place during each season? How are they still in their senior year in season 5?

We got confused trying to explain it to each other - lol. Thanks in advance!

I'm not an expert but I think I have the timeline more or less figured out.  Seasons 1 and 2 take place over the first eight months of the girls' junior year.  Between season 2 and 3, the show skips over the last month of junior year and that summer.  Season 3 pick up as the girls are going back to school.  Season 3 takes place over two months (rough estimate).  Seasons 4 and 5 have advanced the in show timeline a day an episode (again roughly).  So the end of season 5a will bring us to winter break senior year.  If I'm right the timeline in the show makes sense, it just feels weird because the writers felt the need to slow down the progression of time as the show went on, most likely because the show kept getting renewed and they didn't want to have everyone leave for college.

Edited by superman1204
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I've kinda stopped watching after s4 finale and yesterday tried to get into the show again... but I couldn't. Four episodes, and I was was bored out of my mind. Nothing happened. I get the feeling no development is possible until A is found, because the status quo is too important for the show. As much as I like Hanna and Spencer (and Aria and Emily are OK as long as they're far from their romantic interests), I simply can't watch the same show over and over again. I need my characters to really develop, I need for plot to progress, and it simply doesn't.

 

Also, Alison doesn't work as a protagonist. Her character is way too ambiguous for that. Neither Jenna nor Mona were ever in the limelight like Ali is, but I can't connect to a person I don't understand! She needs to be either an antagonist or an occasional ally, not one of the Liars.

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The show seems kind of stalled and if turns out she is a red herring, then what the hell was she brought back for?

Taken from the S05.E13: How The 'A' Stole Christmas thread.

 

It was the natural conclusion of her being alive. Or do you mean why did the show not go with Ali being dead? The show did have 2 options regarding Ali: her being dead and A being revealed as someone after increasingly meaningless red herrings as the show scrounged up increasingly irrelevant characters*, and Ali being alive with the possibility of more story lines, including solving the first mystery the show had: what happened during the 34-hours Night of Many Yellow Shirts, and why. (Personally I still do want to know that. It was only later in the show that the 2 mysteries - A and Ali's death/killer - really diverged and A became the overwhelming focus of the plot.) Since the show got at least a 2-season renewal... well, there ya go.

 

In terms of how many story lines they can squeeze out of Ali's return, it also makes sense to have her built up as A, then revealed as a red herring, and moving to someone else as a suspect, as opposed to solving the A mystery with her. As many plot developments as there were, the show didn't shut the door on the core mysteries it was initially built on: what happened to Ali, who is A, and what does A want. There is no reason why it couldn't do it now, of course. But it hasn't so far. Do the writers have a plan where to go from there, presumably with no confirmed end of the show in sight?

 

With each new episode I think the show is building it up to the fact Ali is not A (after setting her up). Or at least not the only A - after all, she had her A too. But I don't mind that the Liars think she is - it makes sense both from their PoV and from Ali's. What I wonder about is who the next A candidate will be after Ali so that it doesn't feel like a letdown.

 

* The reason why I said that about increasing irrelevancy is that, with Ali "dead", the show already really floundered in introducing new developments (see: Tippi the Bird, flashbacks with information they really should have remembered ages ago, CeCe revealed as someone really important that they had never met) and, as far as I can tell, between the deaths and the red herrings we already had, not many characters were left who could reasonably be the center of A story lines. With Ali alive, we can see her side of the story, and the dynamics change.

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Can someone remind me what it was that Maya knew? I feel like I've asked this before and either have forgotten or didn't see the answer.

 

EDIT: I mean, I remember that she knew her stalker, Lyndon, but that seems like an odd thing to say in code, and it doesn't seem to fit.

Edited by DigitalCount
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Can someone remind me what it was that Maya knew? I feel like I've asked this before and either have forgotten or didn't see the answer.

 

EDIT: I mean, I remember that she knew her stalker, Lyndon, but that seems like an odd thing to say in code, and it doesn't seem to fit.

What it is exactly that Maya knew remains a dropped story thread - probably meaning that her there will probably be a reveal down the line that her death wasn't as random or un-A-related as anyone thought.

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I just always found that to be one of the biggest deals that they never followed up on, and it was such a juicy clue too. I guess if that's the way they work it makes sense that they're constantly remembering info in flashbacks that they should have already known.

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Whatever it was that Maya knew, if we ever find out, it better be something that she'd have a reason not to tell Emily. Maybe she knew that Ali was alive (and never told Emily because of Emily's crush on her - Maya could be a bitch like that) or she knew that Bethany existed and didn't realize Emily was not aware of it and/or that it could be important.

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So if Cece was helping Ali when Ali was "dead" why did she (as Red Coat) kidnap Emily at that magic show and put her on that saw at the mill? Was she doing that for Ali? Or Ezra? I'm so confused!

In all honesty, no idea, but I have been watching this show long enough to come up with a crazy theory.  So A, who I think was Shana at this point, had some plan that involved Red Coat, the Liars and possibly Mona, most likely involving the identity of Bethany Young's body being revealed.  To fight back against A, Red Coat, probably Ali, had Mona steal some of her meds from Radley and tried to drug the liars (wouldn't have been the first time), to stop them from getting themselves into trouble.  Of course, only Emily drank from the flask, and A needed to slow down Red Coat, so A grabbed Emily, left her by the side of the road, and then sent a message to Red Coat telling her Emily was about to pass out in the middle of a major roadway.  Red Coat sent Noel (we know he worked with Ali) or Jenna (no idea what team she is on) to pick up Emily and leave her at the dinner.  Red Coat and Mona then grabbed Emily to make sure she was safe and continued with their plans, thinking Emily wouldn't remember anything from that night anyway.  They then dug up the grave and removed the body, preventing anyone, at least for the time being, from identify the body as Bethany.  After all this, they realized Emily had called the other liars and that they were on their way to pick her up.  So to save themselves some trouble they left Emily at the graveyard where the Lairs found her.  At some point A must have stolen the body from Red Coat, explaining why the Liars were sent Bethany's teeth and why the body was eventually returned, probably with the hope of someone running more tests on the body and realizing it was not Alison.  No idea if any of that is true but it's what I got.  

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Of all the various dropped threads/hanging storylines, there's two i really wish the show would pick up again.

 

- NAT Club.  I've long thought that the entire A game is connected to the club's origins.  I keep wanting to get more info about the NAT history/backstory - though i think if it ever really comes it will be at the very end when they're wrapping up the entire mystery.

 

- Season 2 midpoint finale.  There was this whole ado at the end with Jenna and Garrett gloating about how they managed to frame the Liars.  So J/G would have either had to have been a part of the A-Team (or at the very least had enough intel on it to where they could piggyback off of it.)  Yet after Mona was revealed to be (Season 1-2) A, there's never been any kind of acknowledgement that Jenna or Garrett had been accomplices of Mona or tied into A Team 1.0.

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Yes, the NAT Club was dropped, probably as Melissa left. If/when the actress comes back, maybe the show will get into it again. I wonder if what is shown on the show right now about The Night Of Many Yellow Tops is still the same story that the writers had when the NAT Club was relevant. Maybe not, and they are still preparing the epic retcon that will tie it all together.

 

About your second point, I never thought the old NAT Club people - including Jenna - were part of the A Team when Mona called the shots. The gloating was not about framing the Liars to fuck them over, Mona style, but framing the Liars to take the fall for something that could still go back to them. There is no indication that Jenna and Garrett knew Ali was alive at that point; I don't know if Garrett told Jenna the truth about not hitting Ali that night or if she still thought they might have killed her right then. Either way, I think Jenna only found out about Ali being alive later, when she started working with Mona or Shana (whichever happened first).

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Jenna/Garrett may not have been privy to Mona's knowledge or had the same goals but still they had to have been working with her A Team or had enough knowledge of it since the means by which they had framed the Liars to be in possession of the shovel was tied into A messages about Dr. Sullivan. J/G would either have had to be working with Mona or knew about A and what A had been doing with the Liars.

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I've long thought that Jenna was also getting threatening texts from A. 

 

Even way back, I remember a scene where Jenna was on her phone then Spencer got an a text. People assumed it was a clue to Jenna being A, but I think she's been threatened too.

 

Plus, someone has been trying to kill her for a while. 

 

In fact, I think whatever the A mystery is, is revolved around NAT, but A has been picking off NAT for a while now. 

 

So I don't know that, they were working with A, but rather that A gave them options. (To frame the liars). And they took it. 

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Ok so I watching (Pretty Little Liars: Everything We Know About Bethany Young) on youtube and and I noticed something its when Jason walks outside he see's a red glass sitting on the porch he picks it up to drink from it then he throw's it to the floor thats when he see's Melissa and CeCe talking. My question is is that the same cup the girls were drinking from and if it was then how did it get there? I thought it was a little weird that it was just there. But when Melissa is on the phone it's gone

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^ I hope not. The show has played around with twin figures a lot, but all centered on Alison. Re: ": “A” went after Hanna’s mom hardcore last season, doing everything in their power to have her framed for Wilden’s murder. If the twin can’t have a loving mother, why should her sister, Hanna?" Well, there are 2 things at play here:

1. Ashley, for all that she is awesome, is vulnerable to attacks herself due to the choices she makes (sleeping with Wilden and stealing the money were things she did that A just took advantage of).

2. Hanna is more vulnerable to attacks on her mother because her father is gone (and not in the loving-but-I'm-away-on-this-job way Emily's is).

So I don't think there is a need to read more into it.

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I just watched 4.5 again in which Ravenswood is first introduced via Spencer and Toby's blue filter road trip and seriously what was the point? It looked nothing like the Ravenswood that would appear on the actual show or even in the Halloween special and the clues they gave had nothing to do with the actual mystery on the show. Even if the show had been successful it would have annoyed me (not a fan of the Grunwald and the story of her on PLL) but knowing it was done for a show that failed out of the gate annoys me.

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I'm not sure I remember everyone, but here is a start:

 

1. Ian Thomas - because the suicide note was written by A.

2. Garrett - I'm not sure who the Liars think killed him. It could have been Wilden just wanting to silence him, with no connection to A.

3. Jessica DiLaurentis

4. Mona

 

Deaths that are still not attributed to anyone:

Marion Cavanaugh

Bethany Young

Possibly Eddie Lamb who is connected to this and disappeared.

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Does anyone know if Redcoat is still #BigA (quoting a Marlene tweet with that hashtag) or has that been dropped?

 

Redcoat is one of the things that confuses me the most on this show. We had so many people wearing those trenchcoats and I can't figure out if any of them was supposed to be actual RC or if we still don't know who that is.

 

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(edited)

There had to be a third Red Coat, because Red Coat was the one who drove a car into Emily's living.  That or Ali and Cece tried to kill Emily for some reason.

 

Red Coat is one thing about this show that really bugs me.  The writers basically revealed that Red Coat was Ali and they then decided that explained the mystery.  Since the Lairs found out that Ali and Cece were Red Coats, why didn't they ask what Ali actually did as Red Coat?  For example, who was the Red Coat who dug up "Ali's" grave? 

Edited by superman1204
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Red coat was such a big issue back then, now it seems completely forgotten. Like so many other things...I was actually always surprised Spencer didn't have her own Anti-A-lair or something like Ezra did with timelines and everything. When she went back to the Lost Woods and made that 360 degrees picture of what Mona's Laie looked like I thought that was a great idea, typical Spencer move. Why didn't she continue doing something like that? Why didn't they use more of Ezra's material to go back and see if it could help them figure out some things?

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There was definitely a third Red Coat, but the issue was dropped because the Liars and Ali had no idea who she was, and then she disappeared (i.e. she didn't appear in the Red Coat again, but could be Black Widow and/or one of Black Hoodies.) Hanna was Red Coat too - for Spencer - so the show tells us the Red Coat disguise is easy to pull off. There is nothing to latch onto. The ideas they had and the hints they thought they had just dried up.

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The thing that gets me about original Jason is the completely different personality that came with the recasting, he was such a driven preppy type compared to the button down druggy with huge memory gaps that he became.

 

Obviously Jason is a Time Lord who went through a regeneration off screen.

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(edited)

I'd forgotten how bad the first Jason was. He was like a poor man's Brendan Fraser and nothing like the hot, second one.

 

I liked the first one WAAAAY better and was actually bummed out when they recast him. I can't stand Drew Van Acker with his Dumbo ears and Cicciobello face!!! 

Edited by Giuliano Lanzilli
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