S06.E07: O Brother, Where Art Thou?

[DigitalCount]

The idea that Jason was heavily gaslit for his entire life is a retcon that works very well. I almost think they planned it, because they've stressed his past love of drugs so hard, and it works well alongside the idea that he wanted to constantly record his surroundings with video and photos as part of NAT.

This is why Jason wanting to redeem Charles works for me too, despite what's happened. He feels that they're ultimately both victims of crappy parents. It's also why I think Jason will not survive 6A, because Charles killing the one character pulling for him would serve to ramp up his paranoia and insanity, leading to what I hope is his eventual exposure.

I thought this episode was suitably suspenseful, but what the heck was up with Aria and the dolls? I'll laugh if a recording device is later found in the backwards-head doll, because otherwise Aria's thought process was "hmm, that doll is creepy. If I turn its head around on its shoulders it will no longer be creepy." WTF Monty, get it together.

Hanna is once again street smart and book dumb, and I continue to wonder why she got the secret genius plot.

Emily...

...

And of course the problematic issues with Spencer and Toby have been addressed. That power corruption storyline is really amazing when you look over seasons, who would have believed that Toby would morph into Darren Wilden from where he started in S1?

[Lii]

I love you. Tell me more!

 

It's possible I may be too stressed for the creative process to work. Bring jelly beans. Then we'll play tennis all night long. It'll be magical.

All roads lead to Skynet, though, we're still totes screwed. SAVE US MONA AAAAAAAAAAAA AAª

 

Spencer told Toby the truth and what did this get her? She handed him her agency and got punished for it. Not just the disaster with Charles, not just being apologetic for something Toby did to himself when he stole the candy, no, the very worst for me was that she immediately had to resort to begging him not to go to Tanner and submitting to his orders for her and her friends. That was just gross.

 

Wtf is the show doing with relationships? I remember a time when only Ezria was messed up, but now they all are. Spencer was defensive and pleading before she even told Toby; how is that normal? And Emily was so creepy in this episode(*), and how did that end up? She was rewarded with a kiss and the promise of dating. I don't need shows to be educational, even shows with the target audience of PLL, but this is matching the early Ezria stuff in wrongness. And the show is trying to educate... as to the dangers of pot, of all things!

 

And sorry to rain on parades, but Sara is not gone. She moved out, but she is dating Emily. Sure, she will be on screen less (hopefully), but that doesn't mean things will change with Emily's character assassination and plot irrelevance. It's a step in the right direction though.

 

(*) I didn't want to mention this, but I can't help it. Writers, when you make out with a woman, and in the morning she says something along the lines of "Did that really happen?" and means it literally, that is not a cute or funny thing that leads to awww awkwardness and fuzzy feelings. And when that question was not the result of being drunk, high, or otherwise temporarily impaired, having them just proceed with the relationship mere hours later is not particularly romantic either. It is even less so when you double down on the subtext that Emily is not capable of making the right decisions at the moment. It happens to some of us, we can get blinded by our wants, and it can be very twisted, it can turn us into the very worst versions of ourselves. The show is aware of this as it used it again and again. But it seems blind when it comes to romantic relationships. It should not be. The nature of the wants makes no difference. We crave, and we lose ourselves. Calling it "love" is no magical protection against this.

It's like when the show promised to get darker this season, we all thought that meant dollhousey stuff. Like did we know it actually meant the damn dark days of common sense in the writers room.

In a different and fresh way, tho.

[Jack Shaftoe]

 

That power corruption storyline is really amazing when you look over seasons, who would have believed that Toby would morph into Darren Wilden from where he started in S1?

 

Nobody because nobody thought that even this show go for a plot as stupid as Toby becoming a cop. I don't think there is any intention of portraying a power corruption storyline, as far as the writers are concerned Toby is a great guy still.

Edited July 23, 2015 by Jack Shaftoe

[cuddlingcrowley]

That power corruption storyline is really amazing when you look over seasons, who would have believed that Toby would morph into Darren Wilden from where he started in S1?

 

 

Ha! So true, only you know, Toby morphed in a way less hot version of Wilden. I still have serious doubts whether that has been intentional by the writers though.

 

 "We were so close!  If only Spencer had bothered to tell her supplier that she was back in AA and not needing pot-based consumables!"

 

We were so close, if only Spencer wasn't inexplicably dating a douchebag who takes away her candy and her agency, that's more like it. 

 

I really hope

since we're getting a character back from the dead, the writers give one to death in return, to balance things out, and by God let it be frigging Toby!

Edited July 23, 2015 by cuddlingcrowley

[raytch]

Please Toby not Jason.

Jason is one of the few well developed side characters on this show, and I like how it's taken 6 seasons to get here.

The fact that his parents brainwashed him really explains pretty much everything about him, and I'm so glad that we get to see that reality sinking in on him a little bit every week.

I also loved his little moment with Ali because it feels deserved.

As for Toby. He's no Wilden but I do understand the point DigitalCount was trying to make.

Toby is no better than Wilden, even though he ultimately means well, because he still gave himself the right to take matters into his own hands and it back fired like crazy.

Ali calling the cops was a good move because the way things were going, they were going to show up just at the right time when Charles revealed himself to Jason. So even if he got away, they would've had a face; which at this point is all they need and the only leverage A has.

Edited July 23, 2015 by raytch

[Perfect Xero]

I think it's interesting that it's an issue we have Toby "taking away" Spencer's agency in the name of protecting her when she had a poorly thought out plan to confront psycho stalker/kidnapper/murderer Charles with herself and 3 unarmed civilians, but at the same time isn't taking away agency exactly what Spencer and Ali were doing to Jason? He had a poorly thought out plan to confront Charles and both of his little sisters were, independently of the other like, "Nope, that's crazy, Charles is a psycho stalker/kidnapper/murderer we need to call in some cops to protect Jason from the bad decision he's making."

[Chaos Theory]

I like how Emily just lets random women move in to her home, then immediately forgets about them when they move out (Talia). Please go the way of Talia, Sara. Girlbai.

.

I think Emily has sex blindness or hell even kiss blindness. If a girl kisses her she forgets every bad thing the girl ever did. Then again all these girls regardless of sexual orientation fall madly deeply in love with her. So win/win?

I think I like Toby when he is tripping. And I don't get how Toby is taking away Spencer's agency. Spencer is a drug addict with a history of acting irrationally. Yea what Toby did might not have been smart but I don't think it was completely stupid or horrible either:

So Hanna is doing surgery now? Sounds fun.

Edited July 24, 2015 by Chaos Theory

[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.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Please Toby not Jason.

Jason is one of the few well developed side characters on this show, and I like how it's taken 6 seasons to get here.
The fact that his parents brainwashed him really explains pretty much everything about him, and I'm so glad that we get to see that reality sinking in on him a little bit every week.
I also loved his little moment with Ali because it feels deserved.

I agree with all of this. Toby started out interesting as Jenna's victim, Emily's friend, Ali's suspected murderer, etc. But aside from his brief stint on the A Team, his main role for the past few seasons has been Spencer's Boyfriend (and he's not even an awesome boyfriend like Caleb).

 

Jason, on the other hand, has slowly had more of his background revealed. I know that some of it is probably just more red herrings, but I still find him to be a more interesting character than Toby. The latest twist about his parents totally lying to him about Charlie being his imaginary friend instead of his brother is several different levels of fucked up (for both Jason and Charles).

 

Even though their intentions were good (protecting Ali from Charles after he tried to drown her), lying to Jason and making him think he was crazy for his whole life was clearly not the right thing to do. Even in Rain Man, the Babbits never actually told Charlie that Raymond was an imaginary friend. They just let him forget about Raymond and come to his own assumption that Raymond was his imaginary friend. It's no wonder that Jason eventually turned to drugs and alcohol.

 

I'm not crazy about Jason taking over his mom's business but I guess since he wasn't doing anything else, why not? I like his hot and cold relationship with Spencer, which makes sense to me. Now that he knows they are siblings, he wants to get to know her as his sister but her crazy Spencering sometimes pushes him away. I also like how his relationship with Ali has changed. They clearly did not have a good relationship when they were younger but he was still trying to protect her from being convicted of Mona's murder. And now that they have found out about Charles, they have seemed closer and less combative with each other (mostly because they are now united against their dad).

 

So I would definitely rather keep Jason around. Toby's got great abs but other than that, I got nothing. His only usefulness is when he is playing Tanner for the PLLs.

[Spencer Hastings]

Count me in on the sacrifice Toby for Jason deal. Keegan was much better as a victim during season 1. He had a way of making me feel sorry for Toby and want to root for him. I was so glad they didn't go the way of the books with him. Now that he just lectures Spencer all the time, I really wish they had.

Jason has so much more to add to the show. I know it's partly because Drew VanAcker has been largely unavailable, but I like the pace and direction they took the character in. I don't think they planned for it to go this way but it's probably one of the only good things these writers stumbled into.

[kat165]

The Jason actor can also act. The Toby actor cannot.

[raytch]

I just remembered that Sara was supposedly run over by Lesli Stone's car last episode and Emily just seems to forget about that?

I mean I did for a minute, but... they were going to see Leslie. Couldn't Emily have said "Ok fine. Ask her why she ran over my gf last night"

[Cranberry]

Oh and, should we do a drinking game on the night of the finale?

 

I'm all the way across the globe so the episode airs at 4 - 5 am here in Leb but I wouldn't mind staying up for once and live streaming the episode and drink shots with you guys!

 

I'd be happy to set up a "liveblog" type thread for the finale so that we could all watch and post together! I did one for the Glee finale and it was a lot of fun.

[tennisgurl]

I would love that! We did something like that on Once Upon A Time during the finale, and it was a great time. 

 

I am fine with keeping Jason around. He actually has connections to the mystery, and I think the actor does a good job. Plus, anything with Ali`s family is welcome. The crazy is with them is a never ending treasure trove. 

[raytch]

Cranberry, let's do this! :-)

[Lii]

If there is one thing to be said for Officer Toby, he's the only cop in Rosewood in an age-appropriate relationship. Mainly because he, too, is underage, but nonetheless. So there's that.

He must have had to fudge his answer on the "how old do you like your women" question on the application or something. Spencer seems a bit too old for a Rosewood cop to be dating nowadays, don't you think?

Edited July 24, 2015 by Lii

[Aquariuz]

Charles underwent a sex-change surgery, turned into Sara Harvey and dropped off the face of earth (by kidnapping herself six seasons ago) and started the whole "A" business.

That explained how "A" had so many free time to terrorize the girls, buy stuffs, set up traps, without having to worry about alibi or homeworks.

And Sara's old 'clique' is how Charles practice navigating the girls world, preparing for the real Liars.

 

Any reveal in the finale other than the scenario above will fall flat for me. Sorry.

Edited July 24, 2015 by Aquariuz

[Cranberry]

I just can't get behind any kind of resolution where the villain of the entire series is trans. There aren't enough good trans characters out there for the PLL writers to be able to pull that off yet; every trans character on TV matters for representation and visibility, and making a trans character some kind of psychopath would send the wrong message. Flawed (like Sophia on Orange is the New Black), yes; evil, not so much.

[Lii]

I just remembered that Sara was supposedly run over by Lesli Stone's car last episode and Emily just seems to forget about that?

I mean I did for a minute, but... they were going to see Leslie. Couldn't Emily have said "Ok fine. Ask her why she ran over my gf last night"

  

Sara moved out, so Emily forgot she existed.

I think Emily has sex blindness or hell even kiss blindness. If a girl kisses her she forgets every bad thing the girl ever did. Then again all these girls regardless of sexual orientation fall madly deeply in love with her. So win/win?

I think I like Toby when he is tripping. And I don't get how Toby is taking away Spencer's agency. Spencer is a drug addict with a history of acting irrationally. Yea what Toby did might not have been smart but I don't think it was completely stupid or horrible either:

So Hanna is doing surgery now? Sounds fun.

I would watch the SHIT out of a Dr. Hanna, Vigilante Medicine Woman spinoff.

[Giuliano Lanzilli]

Why did Ali throw that decaffeinated coffee bag into the wastebasket and cover it with tissues? Also did she call 911 to have the cops break into her house or follow them to the arcade? Why did they stop at the DiLaurentis'house before showing up at the arcade? God this show... -.-

Also, I just cringed whenever they mispronunced "carissimi"... for starters, carissimi is a plural form (the singular one would be carissimus in Latin and carissimo in Italian), not to mention it's pronunced "carìssimi" instead of "carissìmi". Ahahahah It's like "Nos animadverto totus" (which makes NO sense at all in Latin, besides containing like 12 grammatical errors at once) all over again! It's like they're so hell-bent on having Spencer sound smart and educated that they don't care if she makes a fool of herself... CONSTANTLY! XD 

But seriously, not even ONCE have I heard an Italian/Latin word spelled correctly on a tv show (on DH Angie said "Rimanga bene" while allegedly talking to her mother on the phone, when the Italian expression is "Stammi bene", just off the top of my head), so can TPTB from all over the world just STOP doing it altogether? How much research would it take to get these things right, anyway? I'm starting to find it culturally insensitive, almost as if it were a bad running joke aimed at Italians!

Edited July 25, 2015 by Giuliano Lanzilli

[Jack Shaftoe]

In other news, Heather Hogan keeps on complaining about Sara and various male characters while basically sweeping Emily's creepy possessiveness under the carpet.

 

 

I just can't get behind any kind of resolution where the villain of the entire series is trans. There aren't enough good trans characters out there for the PLL writers to be able to pull that off yet; every trans character on TV matters for representation and visibility, and making a trans character some kind of psychopath would send the wrong message.

 

Not to worry, they will probably make him a cuddly psychopath, like Mona and Alison.

 

 

I think I like Toby when he is tripping. And I don't get how Toby is taking away Spencer's agency. Spencer is a drug addict with a history of acting irrationally.

 

I don't agree with this description of Spencer but I do think this "taking away of agency" is being applied way too liberally. Toby is a police officer, it's a part of his duties to "take away the agency" of vigilantes. Though, in this case his excuse for going where Jason was was so flimsy he was almost a vigilante himself. Anyway, the Liars make A-related decisions that affect other people without bothering to consult them (mostly their boyfriends/girlfriends and families) all the time, yet one rarely hears them being criticized for it. There is the example mentioned above of Alison and Spencer ruining Jason's (profoundly stupid) plan, Emily not saying anything A-related to Sara (not to mention trying to stop her friends from seeing her), Caleb being kept in the dark often for no apparent reason, etc.

Edited July 25, 2015 by Jack Shaftoe

[lorikauai]

Why did Ali throw that decaffeinated coffee bag into the wastebasket and cover it with tissues? Also did she call 911 to have the cops break into her house or follow them to the arcade? Why did they stop at the DiLaurentis'house before showing up at the arcade? God this show... -.-

Also, I just cringed whenever they mispronunced "carissimi"... for starters, carissimi is a plural form (the singular one would be carissimus in Latin and carissimo in Italian), not to mention it's pronunced "carìssimi" instead of "carissìmi". Ahahahah It's like "Nos animadverto totus" (which makes NO sense at all in Latin, besides containing like 12 grammatical errors at once) all over again! It's like they're so hell-bent on having Spencer sound smart and educated that they don't care if she makes a fool of herself... CONSTANTLY! XD 

But seriously, not even ONCE have I heard an Italian/Latin word spelled correctly on a tv show (on DH Angie said "Rimanga bene" while allegedly talking to her mother on the phone, when the Italian expression is "Stammi bene", just off the top of my head), so can TPTB from all over the world just STOP doing it altogether? How much research would it take to get these things right, anyway? I'm starting to find it culturally insensitive, almost as if it were a bad running joke aimed at Italians!

 

 

I think she was supposed to bring her dad regular coffee so he could stay up and protect them from Charles. Instead she drugged decaf coffee so he would pass out and she could sneak away. I guess after the Spencer incident on the Night of 1000 Yellow Tops she was worried about the combined effect of a stimulant and a sedative.

 

As for the Latin/Italian errors, I'm pretty sure most TV writers either aren't as brilliant as they think or are just too lazy to care. However, after 4 years of Latin in high school and 2 years of Italian in college I feel your pain.

In other news, Heather Hogan keeps on complaining about Sara and various male characters while basically sweeping Emily's creepy possessiveness under the carpet.

 

 

Not to worry, they will probably make him a cuddly psychopath, like Mona and Alison.

 

 

I don't agree with this description of Spencer but I do think this "taking away of agency" is being applied way too liberally. Toby is a police officer, it's a part of his duties to "take away the agency" of vigilantes. Though, in this case his excuse for going where Jason was was so flimsy he was almost a vigilante himself. Anyway, the Liars make A-related decisions that affect other people without bothering to consult them (mostly their boyfriends/girlfriends and families) all the time, yet one rarely hears them being criticized for it. There is the example mentioned above of Alison and Spencer ruining Jason's (profoundly stupid) plan, Emily not saying anything A-related to Sara (not to mention trying to stop her friends from seeing her), Caleb being kept in the dark often for no apparent reason, etc.

1000 times this. It's hard to feel sorry for them when someone tries to help them without their approval when they have repeatedly done this over the course of the series. In fact if they hadn't been so adamant about "protecting" others from secrets, A would never have had so much power over them.

[Lii]

 

 

I don't agree with this description of Spencer but I do think this "taking away of agency" is being applied way too liberally. Toby is a police officer, it's a part of his duties to "take away the agency" of vigilantes. Though, in this case his excuse for going where Jason was was so flimsy he was almost a vigilante himself. Anyway, the Liars make A-related decisions that affect other people without bothering to consult them (mostly their boyfriends/girlfriends and families) all the time, yet one rarely hears them being criticized for it. There is the example mentioned above of Alison and Spencer ruining Jason's (profoundly stupid) plan, Emily not saying anything A-related to Sara (not to mention trying to stop her friends from seeing her), Caleb being kept in the dark often for no apparent reason, etc.

Although yes, truth, preach, I feel compelled to point out that the entire original reason Toby became a cop was to enable the Liars' vigilantism. That he decided to instead become a complete douchenozzle and waffle back and forth about his loyalties and whatnot happened after the fact and has been supremely boring and the main reason for him being my number one pick for finale death this season. And last season. But, you know, that's neither here nor there. Just wanted to point that out.

[Giuliano Lanzilli]

But I still haven't gotten a reply as to why the cops swung by Ali's place before heading to the arcade...XD By the way, why weren't Mona and Alison there, anyway? They were just driving around.... aimlessly? XD God, this show makes me constantly question my IQ!!! .-.

[SadieT]

But I still haven't gotten a reply as to why the cops swung by Ali's place before heading to the arcade...XD By the way, why weren't Mona and Alison there, anyway? They were just driving around.... aimlessly? XD God, this show makes me constantly question my IQ!!! .-.

 

Ali didn’t know where Charles was going. She just saw the card he left for her dad which said he was coming home for his birthday so that’s all the info she has to tell the police. Only Jason got the invite with the arcade address on it. The girls track Jason’s car to the arcade but it’s not like they could keep Ali updated on their plans or Jason’s whereabouts because her dad took her phone, so it makes sense the cops would start their search at the DiLaurentis house with nothing more to go on, and then go to the arcade when they found the invite Jason conveniently left laying around at the house.

Edited July 26, 2015 by SadieT

[AmandaPanda]

The whole 'Toby accidentally got stoned' was not funny like I thought it would be. Darn, I was hoping for some humour there. And I guess I just noticed that Keegan isn't a main cast member anymore. Also...tennis balls. TENNIS BALLS.  Ok, then. 

 

I'm fairly certain that Keegan hasn't been a main cast member for a few seasons now. He's done some TV movies and some sort of play, so he dropped down to recurring in order to go do that. 

[Lady Calypso]

I'm fairly certain that Keegan hasn't been a main cast member for a few seasons now. He's done some TV movies and some sort of play, so he dropped down to recurring in order to go do that. 

 

Maybe you're right, but I do think I remember seeing his name in the main cast last season, at the very least. I could be wrong, though. What's funny is that I swore last season, I saw his name in the opening credits as a main cast member, but I could be entirely wrong. Wikipedia has him listed under the strict recurring section and it shows that he's never been part of the main cast. I mean, if someone could go back and check, because I'm lazy as hell, then that would be great. Maybe he's always be recurring.