S05.E25: Welcome To The Dollhouse

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I love the fact that even though Mona doesn't have a watch, she not only figured out that the dollhouse lost power for three minutes every night but she timed her runs in every direction while exploring during her free time. I have missed you so much, Mona. And you look pretty good with blonde hair!

 

I kind of hope that Andrew/Charles is Jason's twin because then at least I could kind of buy him going all 21 Jump Street/Never Been Kissed and looking twice as old as some of the other students.

 

As much as I enjoyed the Fellowship of the Boyfriends working together to find the girls, I still want Ezra to go away. I loved Caleb sassing Tanner and Spencer's dad trying to cut it off for Caleb's own good. Caleb is still the best boyfriend ever. When he took Tanner's hand off his shoulder, I had to pause the episode and laugh for a good minute. Back off, bitch!

 

 

 

We had all different types of mysterious characters in rosewood: Red Coat, Black Widow, etc. Are we going to be getting answers soon as to who was hiding in each of these disguises?

   

MK: Yes, absolutely, Yes. The finale and the next 10 episodes answer every single one of those questions.

Hahahaha, if anyone believes MK is telling the truth, I have a bridge I want to sell you.

 

 

 

I knew this would be just as bad as the Dan as Gossip Girl reveal only I can't tell which is worse. Is it this show because now the writers have two more seasons make sense of this or Gossip Girl was the writers were just: Dan is Gossip Girl, DEAL WITH IT. THE END.

The hilarious thing is that Mr. EB (who doesn't watch PLL and didn't watch GG) asked me earlier tonight, "Do you know who Big A is?" because he read something about it online. I told him it was Dan Humphreys (despite not watching GG, he found out that Dan was Gossip Girl thanks to me and the day after the series finale aired he overheard some girls talking about it at work and he said, "OMG, can you believe that DAN HUMPHREYS is Gossip Girl?").

   

 

 

I completely forgot about Jason falling down the elevator shaft!

All the great characters have fallen down elevator shafts: Jason DiLaurentis, Dr. Drake Ramoray, Rosalind Shays.

 

 

 

if Andrew is Charles and Charles is Jason's twin then Andrew is also Spencer's half-brother, which makes him asking her to make out and playing strip study quiz with her extra creepy. So I seriously hope that's not the case.

Ugh, good point. Maybe he is just a DiLaurentis kid, not Jason's twin. That would make him totally unrelated to Spencer so the strip study quiz would be way less creepy.

 

After all the 'we're totally not going in the same direction as the books' talk I'm going to be so pissed if they do go with the twin theory. Making Jason a twin instead of his sister is not a big difference. It's not really clever or anything.

I never understood why (book spoiler:

in the books, Ali is the result of the Hastings/DiLaurentis affair but on the show, it's Jason.

I'm not crazy about the twin stuff but if they were going to go with having a crazy twin, I wish it were Ali who had one, not Jason. The twin stuff (and the motivation) made sense in the earlier books.

 

Now that I think about it, wasn't there something in the books about how Ali broke her arm when she was young (maybe 8?) and it had something to do with her twin?

Edited March 25, 2015 by ElectricBoogaloo

[dwmckim]

I loved the look on Spencer's face when she had her Eureka! moment and figured it out but what I don't get is how she was able to visually recall and rearrange the blocks she saw for a few seconds hours earlier to spell out Charles, but when she literally had 3 different anagrams of the name Charles DiLurentis written down on a card in front of her face she couldn’t get it?

The less lettters, the easier to work out an anagram.  With seven letters, Spencer could do this in her head.  With the Phrases of Mystery, she'd be better served by a pen/paper or computer.

 

 

I never understood why (book spoiler:

in the books, Ali is the result of the Hastings/DiLaurentis affair but on the show, it's Jason.

I'm not crazy about the twin stuff but if they were going to go with having a crazy twin, I wish it were Ali who had one, not Jason. The twin stuff (and the motivation) made sense in the earlier books.

 

Now that I think about it, wasn't there something in the books about how Ali broke her arm when she was young (maybe 8?) and it had something to do with her twin?

This is the quandary shows based on books face (especially if the genre is mystery) - if the show is exactly like the books, viewers who've read the books know the answers and there's no suspense.  By taking things from the books and tweaking them, it honors the source material but makes it different.

 

I'm pretty sure there was no broken arm in the books.

I love the fact that even though Mona doesn't have a watch, she not only figured out that the dollhouse lost power for three minutes every night but she timed her runs in every direction while exploring during her free time. I have missed you so much, Mona. And you look pretty good with blonde hair!

 

"One Mippippippi, Two Mippippippi..." <Farscape reference>

 

In a recent interview Janel said she doesn't think she looks good with blonde hair and dreads watching the scenes with her in a wig. 

Edited March 25, 2015 by dwmckim

[Jack Shaftoe]

Who cares if Charles's Jason's twin or whatever ridiculous thing they are going to come up with - the point is you can't introduce the main evil mastermind about a hundred hours into the narrative and expect anyone to take your "mystery" serious. The classic joke of a mystery plot "the butler did it" is still much better because at least the butler is usually introduced early on. Even if it's Andrew... still too late and he has been in too few episodes. And still not even a trace of motive. Okay, we now got one possible motive - Charles is still pissed that he didn't get to go to the prom. How exciting! Of course, none of the Liars had anything to do with that but he is a lunatic, so anything goes, right, Marlene?

 

So happy I only care about the mystery in terms of how much snarking material it gives me. I say embrace the absurdity further and have the actor who played Jason in S1 play Charles. And explain that Jason had plastic surgery between S1 and 2 because he didn't want to look like his bro any more.

 

I wonder how long it would take for the police to decide they have caught A or that the girls are the actual villains, after all. Six episodes? Because if they don't what are we going to watch - Manhunt Rosewood for 2 seasons?

Edited March 25, 2015 by Jack Shaftoe

[Giuliano Lanzilli]

Who cares if Charles's Jason's twin or whatever ridiculous thing they are going to come up with - the point is you can't introduce the main evil mastermind about a hundred hours into the narrative and expect anyone to take your "mystery" serious. The classic joke of a mystery plot "the butler did it" is still much better because at least the butler is usually introduced early on. Even if it's Andrew... still too late and he has been in too few episodes. And still not even a trace of motive. Okay, we now got one possible motive - Charles is still pissed that he didn't get to go to the prom. How exciting! Of course, none of the Liars had anything to do with that but he is a lunatic, so anything goes, right, Marlene?

 

So happy I only care about the mystery in terms of how much snarking material it gives me. I say embrace the absurdity further and have the actor who played Jason in S1 play Charles. And explain that Jason had plastic surgery between S1 and 2 because he didn't want to look like his bro any more.

 

I wonder how long it would take for the police to decide they have caught A or that the girls are the actual villains, after all. Six episodes? Because if they don't what are we going to watch - Manhunt Rosewood for 2 seasons?

Just brilliant!!! Couldn't have said it better myself!

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I'm pretty sure there was no broken arm in the books.

Sorry, you'd think since I just read the books last year I would have remembered the details! It was actually

Ali's twin trying to drown her

, not breaking her arm.

[Kaboom 2.0]

Well that was...something. I'll admit, by now I don't really care who A is as long as it's an actual "whoa" moment when we finally see who it is. I love reading about all of your theories, observations, etc, you guys are most of the reason why I've kept watching this show. :-)

 

What I loved:

 

Caleb's expression when Tanner places her hand on his perfect shoulder and when he immediately brushes that hand off, hee!

 

The Hastings working with the PLLs' boyfriends, especially Caleb.I still think one of the Hastings started this entire mess that created A.

 

Mona. Is. Back. YES! And wearing Ali's yellow tank top with the fluttery horizontal strips. I just love that she and Spencer are always thinking. Can't stop, won't stop.

 

The all around creepiness of keeping teenagers in a life sized dollhouse, forcing them to live, to be, as A sees fit. A is one sick fuck.

[Giuliano Lanzilli]

So, judging by the last shot, I think we're to assume that Rosewood is located inside the Amazon Rainforest. *eyeroll*

Edited March 25, 2015 by GiulianoLanzilli

[insubordination]

This post is rambling, contradictory and nonsensical, but I figure you're used to that since you watch Pretty Little Liars.

 

Well I thoroughly enjoyed the episode. I watch for the scares, the outrageous fashion, and the friendship between the girls. It delivered.  The replica bedrooms with concrete behind the windows in the middle of the woods? - Terrifying!  As was a mannequin prom,and "Don't fence me in" playing, not to mention the return of the gas mask and those godawful prom dresses.  I thought the dolls were Mona's obsession. Can we honestly rule her out?

 

I keep going on and on about the gas mask to a friend who watches the show, and here it was back. I thought it was Ezra wearing it last time? Am I remembering wrong? What on earth could that gas mask mean?

 

The A reveal was dumb, but I didn't expect anything better. Just because a Jason twin video exists doesn't mean the twin is A. There are so many minions about and Andrew is just one of 100.

 

It was great to see Mona again. Also nice to have both Hastings parents. I agree with the earlier poster that having all the parents in one episode would have been awesome.

 

 

I have no idea what the answers are. I've given up on logic and just watch now for the girls' friendship).

 

Me too. When they were first reunited in the Dollhouse and squeezed each other, I was genuinely touched. Also when they said were going to stick together and had each other.

 

 

I doubt that that whole three minutes-like clockwork thing was a real deficiency.  I'm sure that was a deliberate set-up to allow Mona and later the Liars when they joined her think she had an actual window of opportunity/false sense of security.

 

I like that theory. It's my official handwave. A probably enjoyed those bits most of all.

 

 

As much as I enjoyed the Fellowship of the Boyfriends working together to find the girls, I still want Ezra to go away

Agreed. He just didn't fit in there. The Hastings should be side-eyeing him.  I'm glad they had this 'B' plot though.  Mrs Hastings/that actress can pull off the most ridiculous material with her non-smiley screen presence.

 

Honestly, I still haven't ruled out EzrA 'cos he had a better motive and a longer game than most other characters, but when he punched the wall and said he wanted to find Aria, I just wanted him off the show. Luckily we had Caleb heading the B plot for the likeability factor.  I actually didn't mind 'cop' Toby for once. He wasn't convincing, but it was clear which side he's on.

 

 

Who cares if Charles's Jason's twin or whatever ridiculous thing they are going to come up with - the point is you can't introduce the main evil mastermind about a hundred hours into the narrative and expect anyone to take your "mystery" serious

 

 

I don't know but suddenly making Andrew this huge crucial character is stupid to me,

Exactly. Andrew is not even a blip on my radar.  If Jason has a twin, I don't really care. I didn't care about the Bethany Young nonsense either. I want A to be Wren again now, but we haven't seen him in so long. 

 

I was surprised that Aria didn't seem to get as much focus as the other girls in terms of emotional reaction. (I liked her one good line in the van). I plan to rewatch and check again.

 

Emily just gets more beautiful by the week. I'm afraid the actress isn't improving a lot though. I guess she's reached her peak and that's OK.

 

So Grunwald likes reviving dead girls, does she?

 

Anyway, the episode was mindblowing for me. On a personal level, I found the captivity frightening. It was so far removed and sick with all the role-playing and beepy Pavlovian signals.

 

 

I definitely liked the whole Dollhouse aspect of the episode (aside from the suspension of disbelief on how a single 'A' can pull it off).

 

There can't be a single A surely. Maybe it is the NAT club. What is the motive though? Just sick nuts who like perving on and terrifying young girls. Stranger things have happened in real life. Does A have a grudge from years ago? Who 'stole the game' in Radley? Just a freakin' twin? They they do roll out the 'someone locked in a room' a bit too often. Was the twin locked up and fed fish heads while watching family life going on around him? Oh wait, that was another show.

 

Oh well, we had our originAl reveal in Mona.  That was good enough. I just can't see why anyone else would want to mess with the girls that much.

 

I feel like I'm in Spencer's head trying to unjumble this convoluted garbage. Charles? Really?

Edited March 25, 2015 by insubordination

[RobC1116]

Long-time lurker, first time poster:

 

My theory(ies):

1): Charles is A and is Jason's twin--probably identical (judging from the two little blond boys who appeared to look alike).

2) Andrew is not Charles, but is either a red-herring or is working for A.

3) Charles broke Ali's arm and was deemed at a young age to have mental or emotional problems. At that point, he was sent to Radley for a long-term or perhaps even permanent stay.

4) Jessica. D regularly visited Charles at Radley . It was there that she met and became close to Bethany and Bethany's father (with whom she had an affair). 

5) At some point, Jason escaped from Radley. In Rosewood, he tried to kill Ali, whom he blamed for all of his troubles; he failed, as we know, but Jessica D. thought she was dead and buried her to protect Charles. 

6) Charles killed Bethany out of jealousy (thought him mom loved Bethany more than she loved him).

7) Charles killed or targeted Jason's friends (Ian, Garrett) because he wanted to ruin Jason's life (not too sure about my theory here). 

8) Charles has targted the Liars because they were/are Ali's friends and hurting them makes him feel he's hurting her.

9) Finally, the "Jason" we see is sometimes Jason, sometimes Charles. It was Charles on the Christmas train--Charles who got stabbed, for instance. This would explain the changes we have seen in Jason's personality over the course of the series.

[Cranberry]

Maybe Charles is CeCe. Is she the same age as Jason?

[Sakura12]

So, A is someone we never heard of or seen ever. Lame. I thought A was supposed to have been in the pilot? I haven't watched this show since the Christmas episode. I'm glad I stopped. This show is never going to make any sense. 

 

I'd believe preface transplant Jason was A at least he was on the show in the beginning. 

Edited March 25, 2015 by Sakura12

[mac123x]

Who cares if Charles's Jason's twin or whatever ridiculous thing they are going to come up with - the point is you can't introduce the main evil mastermind about a hundred hours into the narrative and expect anyone to take your "mystery" serious. The classic joke of a mystery plot "the butler did it" is still much better because at least the butler is usually introduced early on. Even if it's Andrew... still too late and he has been in too few episodes. And still not even a trace of motive.they don't what are we going to watch - Manhunt Rosewood for 2 seasons?

 

 

Maybe they'll go with the Murder by Death ending.  They'll pull off A's mask and it'll be Truman Capote.

[Kate213]

Why oh why must this show backtrack on everything?  Don't get me wrong, I love Mona but she was dead.  As in make sure we saw the body, leave no doubt, dead.  It makes it impossible to believe anything on this show because it will all gets written back a few episodes later.  Alison is dead! No wait, never mind.  Toby is A! Nope, just kidding. Ezra is A!  No, he's just creepy and writing a terrible book.  Mona is dead!  Nope, just kidnapped, stuffed in a life-size dollhouse and made to dress as Alison. 

 

So we’re supposed to believe that ‘Charles’ is A.  Ok.  But who is Charles and why should we care about him?  Charles is actually Andrew/Wren/whoever?  Ok.  But again, why should we care?  Some random secondary character who was in too few episodes to really matter and is suddenly relevant because he’s being hinted at being A?  Even if the show doesn’t backtrack and makes Charles A and he is actually Jason’s twin/brother/cousin, I feel like it will all end up being so unsatisfying.  Maybe a clear motive will be revealed, but shouldn’t he be torturing Jason, not Alison?  And what about Alison’s friends, who literally have nothing to do with him?

 

There are too many threads for everything to tie up neatly.  I had a feeling they’d go the twin route, not only because of the books, but because they’ve been shoving twins down our throats for a while now but really, male twins makes no sense.  At least if Alison had a crazy twin it would explain why she and her friends were the targets (punishing her for living the life the twin should have).  Or actually having Mona, Toby, Ezra, Alison, some combination therein, as A would be a satisfying reveal because it wouldn’t come out of nowhere and there are certainly enough clues already put into the show for any of them to work as A.

 

Having Charles/Andrew/Wren/whoever be A is frustrating because it seems so out of left field and they’ve all been irrelevant.  None of them are prominent enough characters to make a real impact from the reveal.  But who knows, this will all probably be walked back in early season 6 anyway…

[ottoDbusdriver]

So, A is someone we never heard of or seen ever. Lame. I thought A was supposed to have been in the pilot? I haven't watched this show since the Christmas episode. I'm glad I stopped. This show is never going to make any sense.

 

I'm sure if you watched the pilot episode, whoever they determine to be 'A' probably walked by in the background of a scene for a fraction of a second, out of focus and we only saw them from the waist down. </sarcasm>

[tldryolo]

---So many things going through my head, but my chief thought from this episode is if A had Mona trapped in the Dollhouse all this time, wouldn't monitoring her be a pretty much fulltime thing?  Especially with Mona being...you know...Mona.  Trying to figure out times (besides those three minutes) where A wouldn't be watching what she was doing because A himself would have to sleep on occasion, go out shopping for new props (unless he just orders everything from Amazon), 

 

On the surface, one might think that Charles should spring for Amazon prime.  Not really, though-- he plans so far in advance that he can just use super saver shipping.  He was even able to buy dresses that fit the girls perfectly, because of course he knows all their sizes.  

[SadieT]

So we’re supposed to believe that ‘Charles’ is A.  Ok.  But who is Charles and why should we care about him?  Charles is actually Andrew/Wren/whoever?  Ok.  But again, why should we care?  Some random secondary character who was in too few episodes to really matter and is suddenly relevant because he’s being hinted at being A?  Even if the show doesn’t backtrack and makes Charles A and he is actually Jason’s twin/brother/cousin, I feel like it will all end up being so unsatisfying.  Maybe a clear motive will be revealed, but shouldn’t he be torturing Jason, not Alison?  And what about Alison’s friends, who literally have nothing to do with him?

 

My guess is Charles got put away for hurting Alison. Possibly the broken arm we’ve heard so much about this season. Or maybe Alison delibertly hurt herself and framed him because we all know she’s batshit crazy and capable of doing such a thing. Although for that Alison would have to be old enough to remember she had a second brother when he disappeared but maybe her parents lied and told everyone he died and she just doesn’t talk about it and that's why she hasn't suspected him? But anyway, if Charles blames Alison for him being locked up and missing out on growing up and going to prom and all that, I could see him targeting the other girls to get to his sister. At first he might have been doing it to draw Ali out of hiding because he wanted her to come to their rescue but once she got back to Rosewood it could be about him trying to hurt Ali by hurting her friends. He was apparently going to gas them all (sans Mona) to death after the prom so his plan could be to take away the friends she loves so much because he never got to have friends thanks to her.

 

Err I don't even know. But my new theory on Andrew is that he isn't in anyway related to the DiLurentis family and is just spying on the girls to gather material for his true crime podcast that will accompany Ezra's true crime novel. 

[apgold]

 

But anyway, if Charles blames Alison for him being locked up and missing out on growing up and going to prom and all that, I could see him targeting the other girls to get to his sister. At first he might have been doing it to draw Ali out of hiding because he wanted her to come to their rescue but once she got back to Rosewood it could be about him trying to hurt Ali by hurting her friends. He was apparently going to gas them all (sans Mona) to death after the prom so his plan could be to take away the friends she loves so much because he never got to have friends thanks to her.

 

I think this makes sense for some kind of motive, as much as this show can make sense.  But at the end of the show, the Liars haven't escaped so will he still plan to gas them?  Clearly he can't kill them all, b/c we'd have no show otherwise.  It could be a mind game, too.  If Charles actually killed all the Liars, he'd have nothing to amuse himself with.  

 

Like most of you, I am just happy to have Mona back and clearly Tanner will have to release Ali if Mona is alive.  I'm happy that Tanner finally got on the A train b/c she was so frustrating.  I wonder if Toby's "she takes whatever info I give her and twists it to fit her theories" was some kind of shout out to the fans who do the same with whatever crumbs IMK provides in each episode, lol.

[Giuliano Lanzilli]

I'm sorry, but where does it say that the show is set in 2012? I've seen that bit of info thrown around more often than not, but I can't for the life of me remember when Marlene said it. :/

[Primetimer]

The season finale is impressively creepy, and the dresses ain't bad either.

Read the story

[maraleia]

Somebody made a timeline and it does make sense. I looked it up and there's only been three Halloween episodes with one being a flashback

It also explains why the girls technology isn't that advanced because three years is a long time in technology land.

http://rosewood-clues.tumblr.com/post/95925885693/pretty-little-liars-timeline

[Sakura12]

BTW, I love how so many people here, on twitter and everywhere are really dissapointed. After all the excitement of the 'big A reveal' it really was a let down.

 

How can anyone be happy with the big A reveal being someone none of us have heard of or seen before. It's not a mystery if you never introduced the character before now. This show is so stupid. I can't believe I wasted 4.5 years watching it. 

 

I loved how delusional IMK is, she said they were leaving clues all the time for this A. Making shit up as you go along are not clues! I'm not even watching anymore and I'm bitter. 

[tldryolo]

Right-- if you work forward from Alison's disappearance being 2009, then we are undeniably in 2012. Most notoriously, this ostensibly means that everything from the "Halloween Train" in season 3 to Mona dying-but-not-dying in mid-season 5 took place over the course of a few weeks. HOWEVER, they have also introduced concepts that don't belong in 2012, such as a Frozen sing-a-long and Emily/Hannah danced for the beauty pageant tryouts (remember that?!?!) to a song that didn't exist at the time ("Bang Bang", released in 2014). So the show is set in 2012, but differs from "our" 2012 in various ways.

[RedInk]

I don't think Charles is A, you guys. The same way I never bought for a second that Mona was dead. This show has confirmed and retracted the reveal for every single finale. As far as I can tell, Charles (if we're assuming he's the guy in the mask) could very well be another person forced to live in that house. I think the show is trolling - the storyline is fluid and is written with no definite end game, and the writers know their core audience is more interested in fantasy than continuity or logic.

So watch me take back my words and try to make sense of it, anyway ;) If Charles is A AND Jason's twin...and we go with the theory that he's been locked up...that's a pretty elaborate and expensive set up for an unemployed and severely mentally ill person. And I also can't buy that Andrew and Charles are the same person, because surely he wouldn't be enrolled at the local high school and dropping by Spencer's/his half-sibling's house with no concern for who might recognize him. I still want it to be Ezra, who is the only person who would make sense, but I give up on that.

[GaT]

Charles could be related to Bethany. Maybe he started out with trying to find out who killed her. I still want to know why Jessica had such interest in Bethany. If Charles was Bethanys brother or something he might have known about that and that she was in Rosewood the night she died. He might have known or suspected Bethany was the one burried there. Considering how everyone just ignored the Bethany story this season and we never actually saw a picture of her, she could be a twin. Everyone else in Rosewood seemed to believe at some point that the liars had something to do with Ali/Bethanys death, so why wouldn't Charles come to the same conclusion? If Andrew is Charles, it would at least not be so weird if he was Bethanys twin, who we've never seen.

 

Until I read your post, I had forgotten all about Bethany. She's just another red herring they introduced & then dropped, never to be heard about again, isn't she?

[Jack Shaftoe]

 

Alison is dead! No wait, never mind.  Toby is A! Nope, just kidding. Ezra is A!  No, he's just creepy and writing a terrible book.  Mona is dead!  Nope, just kidnapped, stuffed in a life-size dollhouse and made to dress as Alison.

 

Yes, the backtracking is so silly. The Liars have believed that Toby had died no less than three times. Couples break up and get together at the drop of a hat. People become top A suspects for no reason only for the Liars to become convinced these people are completely innocent, again for no reason. Ezra has a kid, only for the kid to, gasp, turn out to be someone else's.

 

You know, if Caleb is good at tracking hacker trails, one wonders how he hasn't caught A ages ago. Got distracted watching internet porn or searching for ghosts or something? And why on earth would A or A's minion dump that van next to the room with all the monitors? Such a rookie mistake.

 

I guess I am in the minority but I didn't find this dollhouse scary in the slightest. Also, I think it would have been much better if Spencer and Mona had planned this EMP machine without speaking, just with notes and gestures when out of the reach of the cameras because these idiots know A must be listening but once again discussed their plans out loud.

 

And "A has a soul" must be one of the worst lines in the entire show. First, who talks like that? Second, watching videos of yourself as a little kid doesn't automatically rules out the possibility of you being psycho. Such an artificial way of trying to make the viewers feel a bit of sympathy for A.

[lorikauai]

I'm going to go with Mona is A and Charles is just a helper. Maybe Jason's twin/brother/cousin/alternate personality, but not big A. Consider that footage was possibly placed there on purpose for Spencer to find (just like the clue in the mirror). That tells me this is what A wants them to believe, not necessarily what is true. One thing that stuck out to me was how Mona told them how she had explored the bunker and the only way out is THAT way. That other way is definitely NOT a way out. Don't even try to go in that direction. Plus I know from watching countless TV dramas and movies that you never ever EVER trust your fellow "prisoner" in a situation like this. 

[maraleia]

Right-- if you work forward from Alison's disappearance being 2009, then we are undeniably in 2012. Most notoriously, this ostensibly means that everything from the "Halloween Train" in season 3 to Mona dying-but-not-dying in mid-season 5 took place over the course of a few weeks. HOWEVER, they have also introduced concepts that don't belong in 2012, such as a Frozen sing-a-long and Emily/Hannah danced for the beauty pageant tryouts (remember that?!?!) to a song that didn't exist at the time ("Bang Bang", released in 2014). So the show is set in 2012, but differs from "our" 2012 in various ways.

Or IMK was writing this as if it was in the future with Aria returning to Rosewood happening in 2013. Or we've put more thought into this that she has which is probably true.

[lion10]

My biggest question is HOW is this happening?  HOW does A have such resources to make and/or furnish a FUCKING UNDERGROUND BUNKER  in the middle of a sizable Pennsylvania forest without anyone noticing or asking any questions?  I know we make jokes about how PLL is in an alternate world where reality doesn't apply to them, but I still can't wrap my head around the bunker.  More than anything else the bunker breaks my suspension of disbelief.    

[MissL]

 

"One Mippippippi, Two Mippippippi..." <Farscape reference>

One of my favorite Farscape references!

 

I agree with everyone on the stupidity and the backtracking. Why show a well and truly dead Mona in a trunk and take it back?

 

On a side note. I loved the moment Emily grabbed a piece of Mona's hair and yanked on it trying to figure out if it was a wig and then the "it's her HAIR" mouthing she did to Spencer. They do pretty good at the tiny funny moments.

[gesundheit]

"Here, Mr and Mrs Hastings, here's some boxes full of the most private, intimate details of your daughter and her friends' lives. Lots of video, too! Sure, some of it is in bedrooms and bathrooms and all of it during a full expectation of privacy. Aren't I so helpful? Oh, how did I get all this? RESEARCH! I'm such a good boyfriend! I mean stalker! I mean teacher!"

 

That last 45 seconds of the girls basically doing pinball pirouettes in that yard was flipping hysterical. Where are we? Is there a way out? Is there a way out if I face this way? Is there a way out if I walk two inches and turn? What about now? What if I twirl? What if I walk another two inches and turn my head slightly?

Edited March 25, 2015 by gesundheit

[Crim]

My first thought, being completely spoiled for the finale, was that it's interesting that A never planned to get Ali too, and was content to have Mona-as-Ali (the blonde hair being real emphasized it). And then I liked a lot of things... but all of that doesn't matter anymore because:

 

1. A is a man and older than the PLL.

I call bullshit on A/Charles having a soul.

2. This. Especially if A is this Charles fellow.

 

When I heard that line, I had what would probably be my last PLL thought: "It was a good ride. Thanks and I'm out."

Edited March 25, 2015 by Crim

[resonance]

I wonder how long it would take for the police to decide they have caught A or that the girls are the actual villains, after all. Six episodes? Because if they don't what are we going to watch - Manhunt Rosewood for 2 seasons?

We'd watch the same main thing regardless of whether the police decides they have caught A or that the girls are on the run... the girls stuck in the "dollhouse". The only way out of it is if the girls escape.

[fandomfatale]

I agree with everyone on the stupidity and the backtracking. Why show a well and truly dead Mona in a trunk and take it back?

 

I'm as fed up as everyone else with none of the reveals sticking, but in terms of Mona's death, I think it was clearly the plan all along for her to not really be dead. Her fainting spell was a clue planted long before she was "murdered". 

 

I'm angry that her supposedly dead body was never explained to the audience in this episode, but PLL does this all of the time. It focuses on one thing, and leaves everything else in the background. Sometimes it picks up those other threads, sometimes they're dropped forever. I'm not defending that method, but I do think we'll hear more about this when the girls are freed and Ali is released. 

 

Twin theory has been around since the beginning, so we've been speculating for years now that Ali or someone else would have a twin. (And the show has dropped some hints, too, of course.) For that reason, I can't quite feel indignant that it's not a character we've never me before. It doesn't feel like it's coming out of left field to me. But it's not as shocking as I was hoping the A reveal would be. Jason having a twin instead of Ali is just not surprising enough to warrant this kind of build up - on top of that, it has far less in terms of interesting possibilities. An identical Ali running around town, no one knowing when it was Ali or when it was the twin, a motivation we could actually make sense of - that's better to me. 

 

Of course that's supposing that 1) the other child we saw in the video was Jason and Ali's brother, 2) not just a brother but Jason's twin, 3) his name is Charles, and 4) Charles is big A. That's a lot of suppositions. Given this show's track record, I'd be surprised if any of those things were true, certainly not all 4. 

 

Given the anagrams on the card, I think we can say at least one thing for sure - there is someone whose (real?) name is Charles Dilaurentis. And it's not Ali, Ali's mother, Ali's father, or Jason. (Because that would be pointless.) To me that's still interesting/exciting, even if Charles isn't A. 

 

I have to agree that Andrew can't be Big A - he's just too busy. 

[resonance]

I agree with everyone on the stupidity and the backtracking. Why show a well and truly dead Mona in a trunk and take it back?

She wasn't dead. She could have just been knocked out or drugged. 

[MissL]

 

She wasn't dead. She could have just been knocked out or drugged.

Well I guess. But the eyeballs open and death pallor certainly heavily implied dead.

[resonance]

Who cares if Charles's Jason's twin or whatever ridiculous thing they are going to come up with - the point is you can't introduce the main evil mastermind about a hundred hours into the narrative and expect anyone to take your "mystery" serious.

I think it is best to come to accept that the "real" and most logical A is Mona.

 

You don't write a story with one suspect in mind, reveal that suspect, and then magically come up with a second suspect that makes just as much sense. Everything that we're watching now is like the bad sequel to the original being pushed to milk more money.

Edited March 25, 2015 by resonance

[superman1204]

 

And "A has a soul" must be one of the worst lines in the entire show. First, who talks like that? Second, watching videos of yourself as a little kid doesn't automatically rules out the possibility of you being psycho. Such an artificial way of trying to make the viewers feel a bit of sympathy for A.

I think the funniest thing about line is that it came from Mona.  I mean she was A!  Shouldn't she assume that yes, whoever is doing this has some amount of humanity, even if they are an absurdly disturbed and horrible person.  What was her working theory before that video, that A crawled out of pit in the lower reaches of Hell?

[elizacat]

After reading everyone's theories i've come to the conclusion like some others have that Mona is A and always has been. The dolls house is her elaborate little fantasy. Everything else the twin theory etc is all just  red herrings. Charles if there is even a Charles is a minion just one of many.

Edited March 25, 2015 by elizacat

[ElectricBoogaloo]

So Grunwald likes reviving dead girls, does she?

When Mona mentioned the Grunwald to the girls, it was Mona acting as Ali for the camera so I don't think that the Grunwald actually revived Mona as well. You'd think at some point that the girls would ask Mona what really happened at her house and how she got to the dollhouse. You know, just for funsies and considering the fact that this isn't the first time she has pretended to be A's victim to gain their trust.

Edited March 25, 2015 by ElectricBoogaloo

[Mayadog]

One thing I noticed on rewatch - the boys in the home movie actually don't look like twins.  One seems to be a little bit (maybe a year?) older.   Not sure why then the 2007 Prom is so important, but then there are a lot of things that don't make sense. 

[debbie77]

A couple of you questioned the purpose of the trailer (and episode) zoning in on the product number of the chair in spencer's room.  Well, i think for sure it's a clue.  Remember Toby made Spencer that rocking chair in her room.  Maybe that's why Spencer was looking at it so thoroughly- and when she saw the product number she flipped.  So this could either mean that Toby didn't make the chair or maybe it was just the writers putting that little inkling of a thought of the chair (and Toby) back in our minds.  Either way, i think Toby is Charles/A....or at least a part of the A team.

[mac123x]

Yeah, I think the guy in the mask will be backtracked as just another prisoner in A's doll house.  He's probably been there so long that A has completely brainwashed him into obedience, which the girls will eventually help break him out of so the six of them can escape.  Real A hasn't been anywhere near the bunker, as A is actually a sentient computer program living in the internet.  The final reveal will be that A is Johnny Depp.

 

I was yelling at the girls to check each and every mannequin at the prom to figure out which one was a person.  I was also yelling at Spencer to kick Masked Man in the nuts as soon as she turned to face him.  Of course, that didn't happen because these girls are morons.

 

I am really glad Ali and the BF's came clean about A to the Hastings', though it's criminally irresponsible for the police not to notify the other parents.  The girls were missing for at least 2 days; weren't ANY of the other parents going to you know, visit them in jail?  Maybe Ella and Ashley were just waiting for the weekend, so they could make a day trip out of it.  Visit our daughters in prison, then an afternoon of antiquing upstate!  Or is Tanner actively covering it up?  "Yessss... you can see your daughter after she's been processed.  That can take a while.  We'll let you know." 

[Peanut6711]

It doesn't surprise me that this involves Jason somehow. To me, it almost had to. We were running out of characters, number one..but he was connected to everything..the main two families..NAT club..etc..I was personally hoping they wouldn't go the twin route, but I'm glad it's his twin. So A is Ali and Spencer's half brother...(assuming he's Jason's twin..which they look identical so..)

 

I don't think Andrew is Charles. He's too young. And he's also someone who they all knew for a while. But he's clearly involved in some way. 

 

 

Ok if Andrew is Charles and Charles is Jason's twin then Andrew is also Spencer's half-brother, which makes him asking her to make out and playing strip study quiz with her extra creepy. So I seriously hope that's not the case.

 

If Jason does have a twin (whoever it may be) and from that old film clip it looks like he does, it's possible that Jason and his twin do not have the same father. If they are fraternal twins and Mrs. D slept with Spencer's father and her husband around the same time, each could have fathered one of the twins as biologically they are two separate eggs. I'd almost bet money that this is the case if Jason turns out to have a twin.

 

I have a bit of a hard time with Andrew being Jason's twin since he's been presented as being the same age as their girls. (I'm not going to comment on how old he really looks since they girls in real life are way older than high school students too.)  I see Andrew as being one of A's minions.  I could be down with Ian as A. That's another old mystery that they need to either settle up or connect to something current. 

 

On a different note, I was glad to see Mona alive, as well as Spencer's parents both in the same episode and working together. About time one of the sets of parents got clued in and, with them both lawyers, it was a good choice. 

[Cranberry]

A couple of you questioned the purpose of the trailer (and episode) zoning in on the product number of the chair in spencer's room.  Well, i think for sure it's a clue.  Remember Toby made Spencer that rocking chair in her room.  Maybe that's why Spencer was looking at it so thoroughly- and when she saw the product number she flipped.  So this could either mean that Toby didn't make the chair or maybe it was just the writers putting that little inkling of a thought of the chair (and Toby) back in our minds.  Either way, i think Toby is Charles/A....or at least a part of the A team.

 

I don't think that Toby is part of the A Team, but I'd forgotten that he made that rocking chair... and that explains why Spencer was horrified by the UPC; it meant that the chair was store-bought and not her actual chair. That was her first real confirmation that she was in a replica room.

[Mabinogia]

I'm sure if you watched the pilot episode, whoever they determine to be 'A' probably walked by in the background of a scene for a fraction of a second, out of focus and we only saw them from the waist down

 

 

So, for shits and giggles I looked up the pilot on IMDB, which is about as reliable as this show, so...anyway, I think I found A. It has to be Cameron K Smith who played the uncredited Crime Scene Witness. I mean come on! 1.) crime scene witness? Who would be at the crime scene but A him/herself. 2) the character is "uncredited". Would A really want us to know who they are? No, they'd hack into IMDB and make themselves "uncredited". 3) all this he/she/it stuff, Cameron is a gender neutral name, so A could be either or. I mean, it all fits! (and makes as much sense as Jason the love child having a twin that he never acknowledged that disappeared as a child and is now back to torment four girls he never even met, not to mention his desire to go to prom with his sister (though, that would explain why he's using Mona rather than Ali, so it's not really his sister but he can live out his incestuous fantasies.

 

Honestly, I could care less. This was a great episode. Creepy, there was lots of pretty, Three out of four Hastings, Caleb being awesome, Ezra being impotent. What more could a girl ask for? Plot? Meh, if I wanted plot I'd be looking elsewhere.

 

And mac123x, I love you for life for mentioning Murder by Death. I think it is because I love movies like that that I can tolerate all the insane that is PLL. It's just a bit of fun for me.

[superman1204]

Ok so I have had a theory since page one of this thread.  I haven't had time to write it up until know and half of what other people have theorized makes more sense, but it has been bouncing around in head all day so hear we go.

1. Mrs. D had a second affair with someone other than Mr. Hastings, and she got pregnant with twins.  She didn't want Mr. D to leave her so she planned to say the twins were his, but the man she had an affair with wanted to be part of his children's lives.
2. To solve this problem Mrs. D came up with some weird plan to make sure that Mr. D misses the birth of the twins.  Once the twins are born, she has one twin, Courtney, stay with the father and keeps the other, Alison, in Rosewood.
3. Mrs. D basically ends up having two families, hence the flash back Alison had during the Christmas special about the two presents.
4. As the girls got older, Mrs. D introduced the two girls too each other, which isn't much of an issue because Alison lies without a second thought.
5. When they are first introduced, Courtney dresses like a tomboy, so Alison, being the wonderful human being she is, immediately starts referring to her by a boy's name, Charles.
6. A few more years pass and everyone starts to realize that something is off about the twins.  In reality, the problem is Alison is a psycho, but she convinces everyone that Courtney is crazy, and Courtney ends up committed in Radley.
7. Mrs. D visits Courtney in Radley, but to keep her affair secret, she has the records altered to say she was visiting or signing out a different patient, Bethany Young.  It's an added bonus that the two girls look similar, so if she is seen out with Courtney, no one outside the family, for example a private investigator,would realize that Mrs. D is not just spending time with a patient who might be a family friend or something.
8. Alison forms the Lairs so that has someone other than Courtney to control.
9. During the pilot, Courtney, with Bethany's help (the two girls happen to become friends), escape from Radley with the intention of having a show down with Alison.  Alison hits Courtney over the head, Mrs. D protects the child she thinks is alive and Grunwald shows up to save Courtney.
10. At some point that night, Bethany and Alison run into each other and Alison hits her over the head too.  Alison plans to bury her alive but Melissa beats her too it.
11. Realizing that Courtney is still alive and could ruin everything at anytime, Alison decides to run too and just hopes people are dumb enough to think Bethany is her.
12. After Mona is revealed as A, Alison takes over, using Mona's resources to track down Courtney and punish the Lairs because she feels they, particularly Hanna and Emily, have moved on without her (she just hates Spencer, so that's why Aria hardly ever has anything bad happen to her).  Courtney, on the other hand, feels the need to protect the Lairs because she did not stop Alison from making their lives hell and becomes the good Red Coat. 
13. Courtney eventually comes out of hiding.  Since she is pretending to be Alison, she has to keep most of this a secret because she does not want to end up back to Radley.

 

Random thing:

Courtney is not a psychopath like Alison which is why "Alison" changed from a terrible person in the flashbacks to a scared victim in the present.

Courtney is gay, hence why "Alison" did a complete one eighty on wanting to sleep with Emily.

The video is fact out.  The Alison was watching it.  One of the boys is Jason.  The other is a cousin or friend.

 

So I am probably wrong, but I just wanted to put this out there, because I will feel amazing if this turns out to be true.

[Perfect Xero]

Spencer's interaction with Charles was very weird if he's A or even an A minion but makes sense if he's another prisoner. He comes up behind Spencer and just stands there, then vanishes as soon as Spencer looks away for a moment when Mona comes in. He never actually does anything aggressive towards the girls. He comes out at the "prom" when they call his name, gets blinded by their light show. He had ample opportunity to attack Spencer or even Spencer and Mona but vanished instead.

[mercfan3]

I was thinking that Charles was another prisoner too. Also, why would A have a room there? He wouldn't, but Charles would have a replica room. 

 

This Charles, if we know him..has dark brown hair. So he's not Andrew. Even though there are so many clues pointing at it being Andrew..I'm still sticking with that..because the Andrew reveal would be so boring. 

[tennisgurl]

I still love how Spencer's first reaction to being in the doll house was hurling a chair into a window. 

[Spencer Hastings]

Spencer's interaction with Charles was very weird if he's A or even an A minion but makes sense if he's another prisoner. He comes up behind Spencer and just stands there, then vanishes as soon as Spencer looks away for a moment when Mona comes in. He never actually does anything aggressive towards the girls. He comes out at the "prom" when they call his name, gets blinded by their light show. He had ample opportunity to attack Spencer or even Spencer and Mona but vanished instead.

This is why I think there's more to this than "Charles is A".  He had ample opportunity to hurt them.  He has them locked up right where he wants them but he never showed any kind of aggression or anger towards them.  Yeah, there have been times where A could have killed them, but he/she has done some insane stuff to rattle their cages (see: Emily gets glass in her hair, Aria gets locked in a box, Hanna's tooth of doom, Spencer...well...Spencer).  Charles seemed like he wanted to have Ali/Mona as his prom queen or even tell Spencer something, but he certainly didn't seem dangerous in those moments. He didn't even give chase when they ran.  

Edited March 26, 2015 by Spencer Hastings