Pretty Little Theories

[Cranberry]

Every season I swear I won't get caught up in the theorizing again, and every season I end up right back at it. My ultimate (and half-serious) theory is still that Ezra Fitz is tormenting the girls in order to get material for the next great American novel (which will probably actually end up being a trashy book series much like the one this show is based on). I will continue to subscribe to this theory even after the show "redeems" his character and finally ends.

[Cranberry]

...Close enough? I'm gonna say I was close enough.

Also, something definitely went down between Spencer and Alison the night Ali "died," right? We now know that Spencer had a drug problem two years ago (so the timeline works), and that when she takes these pills, she loses time/sleepwalks. She was outside the barn that night while the rest of the girls were sleeping. Her mother said she couldn't bail Spencer out again. Yeah, something definitely happened.

Edited February 19, 2014 by Cranberry

[DigitalCount]

So, AriA. I'm going to edit this post later (by later I mean after REAL LIFE TIME is over) to talk about my main reasons why Aria is super shady and possibly A. I think it's better here than in her character thread, because it's a theory (and one that seems to zigzag in terms of making sense, thanks to the way these people treat the idea of consistent writing) but it's one I've held varying amounts of stock in for varying amounts of time.

[Cranberry]

I'm interested to read that! One of my friends is also convinced that Aria is A and is always trying to make me believe.

[PandaTracks]

My mom and I watch the show. She has always been suspicious of Aria too. The show does a great job of painting characters in a certain light. Like, Melissa Hastings...what is her deal? Always coming and going from the picture. Also, when did Toby go to London? I definitely do not remember that happening.

[Kromm]

I'm interested to read that! One of my friends is also convinced that Aria is A and is always trying to make me believe.

I'm years behind watching this show (and unlikely to catch up), but remember having that theory early on too.  The logistics are impossible, of course, but this show has never really cared much about things fitting realistically.  Obviously if "A" is different people at different times for different reasons, but there's one master person pulling the strings even behind those others, even someone we see "affected" by A could be A.  Even if we see them gasp in surprise when they are alone in a scene and have some A trick pulled on them, well... they could always have multiple personalities or something like that, right?  It's a soap after all.  

[pachis]

I'm now convinced that Spencer is gonna be the one with the evil twin.

These are the clues:

• Sasha Pieterse said Ali doesn't have a twin, but hinted that someone else might.
• Veronica's comment about Spencer acting crazy that summer, like she had an evil twin.
• In the flashback when they woke up and didn't found Ali, Spencer wasn't sleeping and she was acting confused and shady when she said: She's gone, I think I heard her scream.
• Why would the Hastingss try to cover up the death of Toby's mom? Maybe Spencer's twin was in Radley and she killed her.
• Why would Veronica try to help Garrett out of jail? Maybe she knew he was innocent and felt guilty
• Mrs. D seemed to be pretty sure Spencer was the one bullying Alison with the texts messages. Where would she get that idea, unless she already knew something was up.
• I think the biggest clue is the flashback between Mrs. D and Alison. "I know things about that family that you don't" and "You have to remember, never turn your back on a Hastings" Alison was with her back turned when someone hit her!
• Spencer/Twin had enough reason to hate Alison and want to get rid of her. 

This show makes my head hurt, so many questions and not enough answers!

[faceupandsing]

My memories on previous seasons may be a little fuzzy but I'm definitely starting to believe that Jason is responsible for hitting Ali the night of a hundred conversations. Mrs. D's mutterings while burying her daughter make sense if she was doing it to protect her eldest from going to jail for murder. Her warning to Ali this episode to "never turn your back on a Hastings" could also apply to Jason, he's a Hastings by blood even if he doesn't officially have the last name. I'm not convinced yet that he's behind Ali's early A harassment, but given the creep factor of all guys in Rosewood I wouldn't find it hard to believe. 

[lorikauai]

I wouldn't mind a Spencer twin. I love Troian. I'm really hoping they don't do the twin thing though.

[lorikauai]

I'm now convinced that Spencer is gonna be the one with the evil twin.

These are the clues:

• Sasha Pieterse said Ali doesn't have a twin, but hinted that someone else might.
• Veronica's comment about Spencer acting crazy that summer, like she had an evil twin.
• In the flashback when they woke up and didn't found Ali, Spencer wasn't sleeping and she was acting confused and shady when she said: She's gone, I think I heard her scream.
• Why would the Hastingss try to cover up the death of Toby's mom? Maybe Spencer's twin was in Radley and she killed her.
• Why would Veronica try to help Garrett out of jail? Maybe she knew he was innocent and felt guilty
• Mrs. D seemed to be pretty sure Spencer was the one bullying Alison with the texts messages. Where would she get that idea, unless she already knew something was up.
• I think the biggest clue is the flashback between Mrs. D and Alison. "I know things about that family that you don't" and "You have to remember, never turn your back on a Hastings" Alison was with her back turned when someone hit her!
• Spencer/Twin had enough reason to hate Alison and want to get rid of her. 

This show makes my head hurt, so many questions and not enough answers!

At times I almost wonder if it's a split personality instead of a twin. In Spencer's drug-induced "dream" she had Ali hiding out at the jazz club, the girls confront her there, and Ezra follow them there. Pretty much exactly what happens in the finale.

[Kaboom 2.0]

Theories, give me more theories!

TWoP'er here but I never posted in their PLL forum because...reasons. With Ravenswood's cancellation I'm hoping we see more of The Grunwald. 

Jason being the one with the shovel that hit Ali that night makes some sense. What if he's working with Spencer's twin? Or Jason's twin is working with Spencer's twin?

[AmandaPanda]

I'm almost positive that Jason is the one that hit Ali. As was pointed out, the "never turn your back on a Hastings" line could also apply to him. Plus, it doesn't make sense that Mrs. D would try to protect anyone else by immediately burying Ali.

While I would love to see Troian get to act an "evil twin" storyline, I get really weird vibes from Mona, like she either has a twin or a split personality. There was just something about the finale where they had her in the motel room with Ali and then in the room right next door in the lAir. I feel like one of the Monas is definitely a lesbian who is in love with Ali and/or Hanna, while the other is the totally sadistic original A. 

I would also really love to see Aria as the ultimate evil. Mainly because I think that would be the only thing to make her at all interesting.

[pachis]

I'm almost positive that Jason is the one that hit Ali. As was pointed out, the "never turn your back on a Hastings" line could also apply to him. Plus, it doesn't make sense that Mrs. D would try to protect anyone else by immediately burying Ali.

While I would love to see Troian get to act an "evil twin" storyline, I get really weird vibes from Mona, like she either has a twin or a split personality. There was just something about the finale where they had her in the motel room with Ali and then in the room right next door in the lAir. I feel like one of the Monas is definitely a lesbian who is in love with Ali and/or Hanna, while the other is the totally sadistic original A. 

I would also really love to see Aria as the ultimate evil. Mainly because I think that would be the only thing to make her at all interesting.

Yeah I initially thought it could be Jason, but then I noticed when they were being questioned at the police station, Mr. Hastings ran into Jessica and then told her: "the police are asking questions about Spencer, do we still have an understanding?" Which leads me to believe she is protecting Alison's attempted killer not because she is protecting one of her children like we were all thinking, but because she has an agreement with Peter. Either way the Hastings are definitely hiding something big.

I've been thinking about another theory. If Ali wasn't sleeping with Ian and Ezra aka Board Shorts, and since Board Shorts and Beach Hottie are two different guys, we still don't know the identity of Beach Hottie. We were led to belive it could be Wilden, but I don't think so because CeCe apparently never met this guy and she definitely knew Wilden. 

I'm thinking Beach Hottie is Wren, he already likes teenagers since he went after Spencer and then Hannah. He makes sense as being one of the A's too, Wren is a doctor and this season's A likes playing with body parts, has access to medical records, page 5, has money, works at radley, father had a mental illness so he could be a psycho too, plus both A and Wren drink vodka soda.

He is definitely not the ultimate A though, that may be the black widow.

[AmandaPanda]

 

Yeah I initially thought it could be Jason, but then I noticed when they were being questioned at the police station, Mr. Hastings ran into Jessica and then told her: "the police are asking questions about Spencer, do we still have an understanding?" Which leads me to believe she is protecting Alison's attempted killer not because she is protecting one of her children like we were all thinking, but because she has an agreement with Peter. Either way the Hastings are definitely hiding something big.

It could also be that Mrs. D went to the Hastings telling them that Spencer was behind it when it was actually Jason. Since Spencer was already acting sketchy and her parents were suspicious, it wouldn't be that hard for them to believe. But yes, the Hastings are definitely hiding something huge and I can't wait to see what it is. 

As for Wren, I definitely agree he has to be involved somehow. There's always been something not quite right about him. 

[faceupandsing]

 

As for Wren, I definitely agree he has to be involved somehow. There's always been something not quite right about him.

To be fair they're something not quite right about pretty much anyone with an XY chromosome in Rosewood. It's been a while since we've seen Wren on screen, but I agree he's got to be involved with A in some shape or form. I'll have to pay attention to him more when he comes back, the vodka soda thing went right by me. I'm still hoping that the mastermind A is someone that's been around since the begining but we're running out of suspects, at least of the non-parental variety. 

[DigitalCount]

Since it took a bit longer for me to get back here (oh, the MPRE) I decided to make a new post for this. I guess this can be called AriA, part 1 - the General Foundation. There are specific actions she takes for which there are a small number of plausible explanations, including her being A, which I'll examine later; this post is more about the way the show portrays her overall.

Perhaps the strangest thing I have found about Aria is that, in the midst of an increasingly ridiculous web of omniscience and insanity, Aria does not act like a person in a murder-mystery thriller. She fancies herself in the wrong genre (and is written as such). People in Rosewood are killed at an alarming rate as a result of mere association with certain people. And these people are not just randoms; they are people intimately associated with the four mains. This is all information we know, and it is also information the Liars know.

In spite of this, Aria continually acts as if anything else is more important than the very real and present danger the other Liars fear all the time. In the old forum (sniff) there were jokes about various episode descriptions where Aria would be doing some mundane thing (usually re: Ezria) and the other Liars would be in some hilariously dramatic life-or-death situation. It's hard not to feel this way when Aria's eating cake while Jake gets stabbed a billion times, or worrying about her status as fake stepmommy while Spencer descends further into a fractured world of catatonia and drugs. It is somewhat profound that when she found out that Ezra was not A, she was more concerned with his creeping than finding out who actually is A. Furthermore, A has been shown to act in a specific manner where s/he uses the secrets the Liars keep to bury them. Not only does Aria continue to lie and keep secrets, but she doesn't even act worried about having these things revealed--perhaps because she tends to end up better off in terms of her position.

Aria is also pretty often associated with the letter A. Yes, this is because her name begins with A, but these are fictional characters; every situation is a construct created by the author. Why make one of your characters have the same first initial as the main villain who goes by that first initial? Related to this is the fact that she:

• wears the letter A
• has been referred to as "Big A"
• has posed as Amy, Anita, Vivian Darkbloom and the real actual A
• was an Allison-in-training.

On the subject of associations, in a show where costuming and mood are just as important as actual plot, Aria has worn shirts with kisses and red/black color patterns, both things associated with A.

My personal opinion on how this jives with the show: I have seen many posts to the effect that making Aria A would ruin the relationship between the mains. I do not see it this way; I don't actually consider Aria a great friend to begin with, so it would be difficult to consider anything irreparably damaged by Aria's lack of trustworthiness. And in fairness, this theory generally considers Aria to suffer from dissociative identity disorder, so it is likely that some part of Aria truly cares for her friends while her dark passenger plots their doom.

I'll get into reasons for why I think she has DID when I start discussing specific strange events in Aria's character. Annnnnd...if I continue on this now I'll probably start rambling, so this is probably a good stopping point for now.

[kiddo82]

Since it is believed that whoever was buried under the gazebo was pregnant, any chance that that tidbit comes up again? Aria even made it a point to say "you got her pregnant" in her confrontation with Fitz on the ski lift. It's made pretty clear that Ali didn't do it with Fitz or Ian but clearly somebody had sex with somebody and since I doubt that body that was actually recovered will be a random, someone will still have had motive to cover up something.

[DigitalCount]

Kiddo82, I think you may be right. This is at least one plot thread that does not seem to have been dropped.

That's actually part of the problem with making these theories based on things that were seen a season and two seasons ago; PLL practices a sort of canonical abrogation where later seasons are more in-continuity than earlier ones. That's why, when I do my post on specific events, I'm going to try to focus more on more recent seasons, although there will definitely be citations to earlier episodes and especially the Pilot (which seems to be the one early episode that escapes the abrogation treatment).

Edited April 7, 2014 by DigitalCount

[FineWashables]

I wouldn't have believed that was remotely credible but having read your post, I have to admit it's intriguing.  I wonder why she'd do all this but you're right, it could be true.

[DigitalCount]

I'll probably come back to this tomorrow (later today, actually...!) but someone on tumblr pointed out the straight-vs.-wavy relation to AriA coming out to play. The most recent episode had Aria with straight hair telling Mona something that made Mona re-evaluate her danger level, and I distinctly remember that when Aria had that physical altercation with Ezra's NOT!babymama her hair was straight then too. More research is necessary...

Edited August 20, 2014 by DigitalCount

[Anisky]

Why did the DiLaurentis family move from Georgia to Pennsylvania to live next door to the family of the man Mrs. DiLaurentis had an affair with, especially when by all evidence we’ve seen both Mr. and Mrs. DiLaurentis completely distrust and dislike the Hastings? Why did they move so close, if both sets of parents want their children to stay far away from the other family (as they’ve kept saying)?

 

I think there’s some kind of connection between the DiLaurentises, the Hastings, and Bethany Young. And I have a feeling that both Mr. Hastings and Jessica have (had) a vested interest in making sure that Bethany never speaks to the police. I think Mrs. DiLaurentis was on the Board at Radley to keep an eye on Bethany. It was she who convinced them to lie about what happened to Toby’s mother. Mr. Hastings wanted to close down Radley for some reason, but had an abrupt change of heart when he learned Bethany was involved in the case concerning Toby’s mother—which would cause investigation into Bethany Young. Of course, since she was dead at this point (Mr. Hastings probably just thought she was missing), she couldn’t TALK to the police, so the big secret would be something that might also be discovered by digging into her backstory. (Unless he was just worried she told people in the asylum, or that it would draw attention to her disappearance and there’d be a search for her.)

 

All of this suggests, to me at least, the possibility that Jessica saw BETHANY hit Ali over the head with the rock, and buried her body not so much to protect Bethany, but to keep Bethany away from the police. Let's assume she really believed her daughter was dead (which seems like a crazy mistake to make, especially with two people in the same place making the same mistake with two different girls on the same night-- I have a theory about that, but that will have to wait for another time). Whatever secret surrounds Bethany is important enough to lie and claim an accident [or murder] was a suicide; for the DiLaurentis family to move halfway across the country to live next door to people they hate (this is of course speculation that this is the cause of their move); for Jessica to spend all that time and money on Bethany. Maybe it was important enough that keeping Bethany away from the police was more important than giving her daughter a proper burial, or making a mentally ill girl (or worse, a girl who is not mentally ill but who the Hastings/DiLaurentises locked in an asylum anyway to keep her quiet) pay for her crime.

 

Come to think of it, if that last bit IS true-- that Bethany was "framed" as mentally ill and locked away to keep some secret quiet-- that would fit perfectly as the terrible thing that Jessica saw the Hastings being capable of. Maybe Jessica had to go along with it because she had too much to lose if she didn't, but did all those things for Bethany because she felt guilty that she was complicit in an innocent girl's wrongful lockup.

Edited August 22, 2014 by Anisky

[Sakura12]

I was just reading an article about the Silent Twins, which are these British twin girls that spoke their own language, and rarely spoke to anyone else. But their love for each other sometimes curdled, resulting in one trying to murder the other and vice versa. As they got older, they went on a crime spree of theft and arson that got them branded as psychopaths. They were committed to Broadmoor Hospital for the criminally insane when they were just 14 years old. When they talked to a journalist they told her with remarkable self-awareness that they could never be individuals as long as the other lived. One of them said, "I'm going to die. We've decided." And as they were being transferred to a lower security facility that would give them more personal freedom, The one that said that did die. 

 

If they do the twin story on this show, that could be a way to do it. Alison and her twin are psychopaths that are playing a game with each other and everyone else is getting hurt in the crossfire. 

[AmandaPanda]

 

If they do the twin story on this show, that could be a way to do it. Alison and her twin are psychopaths that are playing a game with each other and everyone else is getting hurt in the crossfire.

 

I so wish they would do that. Alison is most definitely a sociopath and just views everyone as little pawns in her game. I think this would be the only way I would be happy with Ali having a twin.

[kiddo82]

Theory sure to be wrong: Ali lures Bethany to the house on the night that never ends. (I think it's still actually Labor Day 2009 in some parallel universe) Perhaps, Ali was jealous of Bethany for monopolizing her Mom? Or she just wanted a look alike? Anyway, Ali knows someone is trying to kill her and she somehow manipulates the wearing of the same outfit to fool the killer. Even if Ali's original plan was not to fake her own death, having someone kill her doppleganger would still expose the threat and in Ali's mind, better Bethany die than her. In any event, Bethany gets there and conks Ali on the head. Mrs. D buries Ali to prevent Bethany from being questioned by the cops thus exposing Mrs. D's secrets (her affair? Something worse?). The Grunwald saves Ali. Alison's killer (the entire town hated her) mistakes Bethany for Alison and conks Bethany in the head believing he or she is riding the world of the evil that is Alison. Melissa buries Bethany fearful that it was Spencer that killed Alison/Bethany. Years later, Bethany's father, blaming Mrs. D for Bethany's death kills Mrs. D?

Edited August 27, 2014 by kiddo82

[mercfan3]

So here's a picture of Ali's killer
https://38.media.tumblr.com/d83df9345003b8aa19a4cd4ffa8b6d97/tumblr_naxz5ktoH31s5u88so2_1280.png

And here's a picture of Mona (look at her neck)
https://38.media.tumblr.com/6b41aef0760902fa8216c6e1c0c400e3/tumblr_nay080baqS1shdbazo7_250.gif

Maybe Mona is the one with the twin?

[bettername2come]

Mona has an identical twin. Her twin tried to kill her, there was quite a struggle, blood was spilled from both parties, Mona killed her evil twin and ran away, deciding to fake her own death. A, for once, doesn't know everything and scooped up the body thinking it was Mona's.

[Cranberry]

Despite my opposition to the twin idea in general, I would be completely okay with that.

[Oholibamah]

Could Bethany and Jason be twins?

 

I tend to not keep very good track of the show's minutiae, but this could explain a lot of loose ends, including Alison's jealousy and Peter's interest in the situation.

[AmandaPanda]

I really do think Mona might have a twin. I've thought that since Ali described her encounters with Mona that night. I think there was one twin who was seriously evil and the other who was obsessed with Ali. I haven't figured out which Mona we've met yet, unless we've met both already.

[Sakura12]

I think any other character having a twin makes even less sense than Alison having a twin. 

[KatWay]

I think if this show actually reveals an evil twin (no matter whose), that'll be the last straw for me and I'll dump it. That's just too stupid and soapy even for me. Although I do wish Janel Parrish wasn't gone from the show (flashbacks etc notwithstanding).

[mercfan3]

I don't want a twin at all, I'm just preparing myself to  get one..and I really don't want it to be Ali's. The only person I'd be okay with it being is CeCe. And please god name her something like FeFe. 

 

I have thought that maybe Sydney is Jenna's twin, just not an identical one. 

Edited August 31, 2014 by mercfan3

[krimimimi]

You gice, I had a bad thought...
Or maybe it was just the usual "we're making no progress" thought (although I still find that bad, just that it's SNAFU), but I think Melissa's confession may well turn out to be less sound than I'd hoped. Really, the way stuff goes here, if it sticks, it'll just mean nothing, coincidences happen, and probability is for the obsessive compulsive ("losers" is surely implied, thanks IMK), because Bethany won't matter and it'll clear up bugger all. And if Bethany matters, then we still don't know who attacked her.
 
So there I was, reading some of the attempts to interpret what Melissa's confession tape means for us in the 5x11 episode thread and had a bit of a "duh" moment... Assumptions on my part: 1) I believe(d) Melissa's confession because it isn't in her interest, and even if you could think she'd been blackmailed into it, there's not a lot of threats you can make that would make putting the confession on tape an attractive alternative. Melissa was there that evening, it was a long time ago, she'd now have a bear of a time proving her admission was false. (And within hours of hearing about it, Spence had told everyone in passing a secret Melissa had revealed just once (to her father, um - but what about Ian?) in the past several years... Go Spence! Bless.) 2) I've never believed Ali's "I was buried alive" story, because we knew from the autopsy that that was how the body that was found under the gazebo had died. For me, that means something is wrong with Ali's story, although I think the what part of that may be up for grabs. I will not ever believe two similarly dressed girls were both koshed on the head, both buried alive, by two different people (yeah, right), who both failed to notice the respective individuals being buried were alive, all on the same night. And it was a coincidence to boot, because Melissa and Mrs. D weren't in cahoots. 3) If we believed the autopsy, then the only things new for us in Melissa's confession are: she says she was the one who put Bethany in the ground, she tells Spencer that Melissa believes/d Spence was capable of/had committed the assault (which we sort of figured anyway), and whoever attacked Bethany had left her lying out in the open. Crim came up with some interesting points on that last bit:

About who hit Bethany, I've been thinking. Maybe I was too hasty when I dismissed the Melissa reveal as extraneous. Maybe the new significant piece of the puzzle we found out is not that Melissa was the one to bury Bethany, but that whoever hit Bethany did not bury her. Because why would that be? Bethany was dressed in Ali's Yellow Top of Death, so she could be mistaken for Ali, and that had been relevant in the identification of her corpse, but Melissa put the corpse there without the intent to pass her off as Ali. What if Bethany was dressed as Ali not so that she could replace her in the grave but so that the killer attacked her? But whoever hit Bethany noticed it wasn't Ali, so s/he just left her there. We know Ali had Garrett lie to Jenna about hitting her - why would she bother if Jenna would find out she was not harmed in the next days? But if Ali knew she'd have to leave that night, it does make sense.

And there were a number of good ideas and objections that followed.
 
So then I began to ask some questions, and I came up with this:
What if Melissa thinks she's telling the truth, but is mistaken? What if she buried Ali by mistake, and then the "Grunwald saves Ali" part of Ali's story could be true? (I wasn't entirely pleased with just saying the Grunwald is nuts/bought off/mistaken, so this seems more satisfying. OTOH, Ali had no trouble coming up with Cyrus to back up one of her heftier stories, so Grunwald = "unreliable witness" isn't off the boards. And I'm comfortable with Ali clawing her own way out, really.) Then Ali's "my mom buried me alive" bit is false, and the argument there is she would have had to worry about Mrs. D contradicting it, but interestingly enough Mrs. D was getting murdolated as this reveal was made. Now IIRC, Ali wasn't supposed to have known that tidbit yet, but it makes for some juicy speculation if she felt free to accuse her mom of just any old thing at the time. Hmmm...
 
So that would leave us with: Someone bats Ali (Spence, for all I care - the wound was clearly non-fatal. And lordy, I've wanted to whack Ali more than a few times myself...), Melissa buries Ali (and Ali later lies about this, accusing her mother instead), the Grunwald unburies Ali (because Melissa severely fails at burying, girl: go ask Pepe for pointers and please take notes), Ali was planning on splitting anyway (so the scene at the motel with Mona is disingenuous), and the only way it makes sense that Bethany ends up in the grave in Ali-esque clothes with wounds matching/trumping Ali's is if Ali or a cohort puts her there. Timing isn't an issue, because a year after the fact, you won't be able to place the time of death within an hour or ten on that night. It's not like the body was left out in the open; it was fairly well hidden. And that, my lovelies, totally removes the irksome coincidence angle. Bethany (whack/bury) happened because Ali (whack/bury) happened, and not coincidentally in spite of it. This then also gives Ali leverage against Melissa, who will actually believe she herself (and maybe Spencer, depending on autopsy results and/or viewpoint) is responsible for Bethany's death when the body is found, giving Ali incentive to lie re: my mom buried me. Hastings(es) on the hook for murder is clearly a better set up than accusing Melissa of attempted crap!burial, the occurrence of which can't even be proven in the least, and probably isn't even illegal in Rosewood. Now owning the shovel that was used is another matter.
 
Alternately, someone else sees the Melissa/Ali thing and decides to capitalize on the opportunity and get rid of Bethany that way, but then what incentive does Ali have to accuse her mom instead, and why would she feel free to falsely accuse her if she didn't know her mom was safely out of the way? And if Ali's evil enough to be involved with de-momming her family, then surely we don't need yet another murderer to be responsible for Bethany? This show has way too many people killing way too many other people as it is.
 
So I haven't yet found the flaw. If your memory is better than mine, could you help point it out to me?
 
One question I'm fuzzy on - was Jason the only one who said he saw Cece in a yellow top, or was that backed up by someone less blotto?

[mercfan3]

crack theory. 

 

They are all dolls. Like, actually dolls. Played by a crazy little girl. 

 

A is the crazy little girl..who is the young twin that killed it's other twin. 

[Cranberry]

I would actually love that. I'm one of the (apparently) few people who wasn't bothered at all by the BTVS episode "Normal Again."

[mac123x]

Bethany (whack/bury) happened because Ali (whack/bury) happened, and not coincidentally in spite of it. 
 
So I haven't yet found the flaw. If your memory is better than mine, could you help point it out to me?

 

It's a good theory.  Do you think Ali set up Bethany's murder before hand, or just took advantage of the opportunity that Melissa's accidental "buried someone alive" situation provided?  There are problems with either of those.

 

1.  Ali set it up ahead of time.  This would explain the red herring Yellow Top of Deaths; she arranged CeCe and Bethany to be wearing the same clothes to provide disctaction and confusion.  The problem is, how would Ali know ahead of time that Spencer (or whoever) would physically attack her that night, and that Melissa would idiotically try to bury her.

 

2.  Ali improvised after Grunwald exhumed her.  That would work if she left Grunwald's car and liberated Bethany from Radley, put the YToD on her and buried her alive.  The problem with that is Bethany escaped Radley much earlier.  Mrs. D was upset on the phone with the authorities prior to the PLLs meeting up at the barn.  Granted that was an Ali flashback so is horribly unreliable, but there would be records that could prove or disprove if that phone call happened.

 

I think the writers would paper over the "Bethany escaped Radley" plot hole in option 2, and even in her unreliable recount of that night, Ali would have had time between ditching Grunwald and meeting up with Mona, because she can do 100 things in the space of an hour.

 

Another potential problem is that Melissa's flashback showed her rolling an unconscious body into an open hole.  The burial site was under the gazebo; the foundation was being poured the next day.  There wouldn't be a gaping 6 ft x 3 ft x 4 ft deep hole if the contractors were pouring concrete the next day. 

 

Someone had to dig the hole.  Melissa's flashback indicated that she didn't do it, so it was likely the pre-existing hole that Ali was in.  According to Ali, her mother would have had to dig the hole. 

 

Alternatively, we're putting WAY more thought into this than any writer or producer of the show is.

[elizacat]

I would actually love that. I'm one of the (apparently) few people who wasn't bothered at all by the BTVS episode "Normal Again."

I loved that Buffy episode. I honestly though it was exceptional and loved the idea of it.

[GlamDiva]

Since none of this "A" business makes any sense I've come up with my own crazy A theory. What if A was like corporation and that's why A always has so much money, the big A's sit in a boardroom and strategize new A tactics, and employ other A's to do the dirty work. Big A's get paid by people who want someone to be harassed by A. Someone who signs up to be an A has to have hacking skills and ninja skills, and they get a big bank account to pull off A activities. A's could employ jr A's (like Toby) to do some stuff but they are never fully in the loop. A's could be all over the world so for example, when the liars leave Rosewood (like Spencer going to London) there is an A there waiting to fill in for the local A. Nothing makes any sense and this is really the only thing I could think of.

[bettername2come]

So A is basically Moriarty? Pretty sure I read that fanfic once.

[GlamDiva]

I don't read the fan fiction I was bored at work and thought of it.

[lorikauai]

Trying to sum up some of the theories.

Shutter Island theory - everything is happening at Radley and is the delusion of a single character or group

St Elsewhere theory - it's all in the imagination of a child, maybe a Radley patient, hence the doll theme

Book theory - this is all Ezra's great American novel

Murder on the Orient Express theory -everyone is A

Truman Show theory - the girls are unwilling participants in a reality show

The Game theory - girls are unwilling participants in an elaborate game.

Twin theory - Ali has a twin (or Mona or Spencer or Mrs D or Jason or ?) and the evil twin is the mastermind and has manipulated the other A team members

 

Multiple personality theory - Instead of a twin, someone has an alternate personality and that personality is A. 

What else?

Edited February 28, 2015 by lorikauai

[scarynikki12]

I'm still getting more and more convinced that Aria is A.  I just don't know how she could pull any of it off.

[dwmckim]

I'm still getting more and more convinced that Aria is A.  I just don't know how she could pull any of it off.

...especially financially which is my biggest nitpick with all the AriA theories.

[Crim]

Yes, if they go for AriA or any of the Liars (maybe as a dissociated identity or something), financial issues are one aspect, and time is the other. Unless A delegated almost everything to minions, some things s/he did would require a lot of time spent away from anyone else, and some trips outside Rosewood that none of the others know about. When MonA was revealed, there was just one instance where she couldn't have acted as A and it was an easily delegated task (Emily's massage while Mona was with Hanna). But I doubt the writers started out with the idea that one of the Liars is A, so that reveal would just blast craters in the entire show.

[lion10]

The A reveal is going to be an unsatisfying one no matter who it is. So much crazy shit has gone down with so many shady side characters that it won't make sense who A is. I hope A is a woman though.

[ottoDbusdriver]

The A reveal is going to be an unsatisfying one no matter who it is. So much crazy shit has gone down with so many shady side characters that it won't make sense who A is. I hope A is a woman though.

 

My money is on Emily's old love interest from Season 2, Samara -- she has too many A's in her name for it not to be a coincidence.  <snark>

[Spencer Hastings]

Theory 1:

Seeing A all over that prison this week brought me back to Toby being A. He certainly has access to the prison now and more motive than anyone we've seen. It could easily explain why they've turned him into a jerk recently--let him piss the Spoby fans off before the relationship implodes. As for the money issue, maybe we never see his father because he killed him for his inheritance. Toby is ballin' and we didn't even know it.

Theory 2:

Spencer has a twin. This tumblr post pretty much covers it but it basically shows that the crazy little twin girl has moles in the same spots as Spencer and the body in the opening scene is wearing the same dress as Spencer in the original promo shots. Also, the Hastings family would hide a twin.

http://analyzinga.tumblr.com/post/71380853505/spencer-hastings-could-be-a-twin

I'm embarrassed at how much I want it to be Aria. I had so much hope earlier but now it seems like they're going out of their way to hurt her and prove otherwise.

Edited March 1, 2015 by Spencer Hastings

[Crim]

I don't think Toby would have free access to the prison; he is Rosewood police, not a guard. Granted, this is Rosewood, so ya never know.

 

Spencer having the twin would be awesome, and Troian would be great, but unless the Hastings are hiding even more secrets than this, I don't see why this twin would be mixed up with Ali and Bethany (was it a coincidence?). I also see A as focused on Ali and the Liars as a group (except Aria, intentionally or just the writers wanting to avoid tween outrage). Spencer got a lot of shit from A, but so did Hanna. And then there is Melissa. On one side, how old would she have been when the twins were separated? Why would the Hastings hide a twin anyway? And where(*)? And on the other side, the twin would be Melissa's sister, but I never got the impression that A had any particular interest in Melissa beyond what she might know as part of NAT Club.

 

(*) In the books, Ali's twin is in Radley, obviously, and that's when the DiLaurentis move to Rosewood. On the show, IIRC it was never mentioned that any family (except Jenna's) moved to town at some point. Maybe the twin is Jenna's.

[Spencer Hastings]

The Hastings would hide a twin because...well, they're the Hastings. Remember when Melissa thought she saw Spencer with the shovel and buried Bethany to protect Spencer? She could have seen the twin and been confused. It would also explain Spencer's blackouts and everyone remembering events that she doesn't remember. She wasn't there for those things but her twin was. They could have easily hidden the twin at Radley. Didn't Mr. Hastings fight to keep that place open or was that Jessica DiLaurentis?

[Mabinogia]

think thats the problem. The "Who is A?" thing was such a big thing and then because there's been so many false alarms, I've just stopped caring who it is, really.Something has to happen for that to change.

 

The show has cried wolf so many times that when they finally do reveal the real A, no one is going to believe them and it will lose any impact it should have had (and they probably think it will have because they'll think it's soo clever while we will all think it's just another trick).

 

At this point they've used the most likely suspects, Toby, because of the whole juvie thing, Jenna, because of the whole blinding thing, Mona because she's batshit insane, Ezra because he's just a big old perv, there is really no one left who won't feel like they got pulled out of some writers ass.

 

Toby as A was a great reveal. It made sense. OMG he's getting them back for what they did to him! Brilliant. But nope, he's a love interest so it ain't him. Then there was Ezra and I think most of us were impressed they actually went there, but nope, he's a love interest, so they didn't really go there. Now there's no one left who will be even remotely satisfied, so I'm all for getting freaky with it. They are all living dolls. There's a little girl named Courtney who is locked up somewhere, not Radley, that's too obvious and not twisty enough, so, let's say, an old WWII fall out shelter. Yeah, she was put there years ago by her parents to protect her from the "big one" and now she thinks there is no world anymore, and so she lives out her life with her little dolls. Makes as much sense as anything, and hey, dolls have been a major theme on the show so...foreshadowing!!!

 

Yes, I'm mostly kidding, but I can't imagine anything they come up with being any more plausible or logical at this point.