Pretty Little Theories

[superman1204]

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.

 

Was Jenna ever officially revealed to not be A?  I feel like the writers are going to go with Jenna, simply for the reason she is the only who has been there from the beginning who isn't dead, already been revealed or "revealed" as A, or one of the Lairs.  It would also explain why she  is never on the show, because the writers are trying to avoid telling us anything else about Jenna before they enter into the show's endgame. 

 

That or Alison has a twin.  I am not saying the twin theory is a good way to end the show, but with so few options left, I would prefer that over the writers pulling a name out of their asses and saying Cece or Lucas being big-A all along.

[mercfan3]

Other then it seemed like someone kept trying to kill Jenna. Back when they had the actress available, I thought they were going to go with Jenna and the liars were both getting A messages. 

[superman1204]

Very true.  The writers did flirt with the idea back in seasons 3 and 4.  Also they showed that Wilden was getting messages from A.  For a little while it looked like they were going to reveal that A was manipulating a bunch of people in Rosewood, and then the storyline was just dropped.

[DigitalCount]

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>

That's actually a good point. Also, she's around a thousand years old, and her vampire powers would make it relatively easy to get around quickly and spy on people. Plus, there's all that cash she can just compel out of people, so the only thing she'd need to get around is the invitation issue...oh wait

[dwmckim]

Was Jenna ever officially revealed to not be A?

No.  The common thing that happens with Jenna (essentially the Liars' very first suspect) is the PLL's think of her as A until something happens that throws their suspicions on someone else.  This same pattern also happens with Melissa.  After being on the PLL's radar they later get caught up with their shiny new toy and when that ends up being a dud they forget to go back to the person their attention was diverted away from.

 

"I feel like the writers are going to go with Jenna, simply for the reason she is the only who has been there from the beginning who isn't dead, already been revealed or "revealed" as A, or one of the Lairs."

 

Actually, Jenna did have a "semi-reveal" - the season 2A finale where the PLLs got successfully pulled into jail after being tricked into digging up "Dr. Sullivan" and Jenna turned up at the police station to gloat to Garrett that she wished the PLLs knew "they" were doing this to them.  It wasn't 100% concrete and like every other "answer" on the show had a degree of ambiguity.  But indeed, this is the part of the entire PLL storyline that bugs me the most; that the show never got back around to the nature of that reveal and just how involved Jenna actually was with the events up to that point.  I guess you could also say there was the reveal at the end of 4B where Emily discovers the alliance between Jenna, Shana, and Melissa - of course that was even more ambiguous since it showed they could have either have been a part of "A" or some counter-group (fans had been calling them "the B team" for awhile around then) 

 

One of my biggest wishes for the show's last two seasons is that there are enough shady characters who - whether they're A or not - obviously have secrets and agendas and after we learn who A is, I also just as much want to know what the deal has been with those characters that don't turn out to be A.  Jenna and Melissa chief among them.  It annoys me no end that the show hasn't given any answers and that the PLL's themselves get so caught up in stuff that they forget to go back after dust has settled and try to get answers about "what was Jenna doing there?", "why was Melissa involved with that?" and so on.  Even when the liars do confront them on rare occasion, they don't get straight answers and let them get away with it.

 

I think the main reason the A reveal will be a disappointment is because the show will most likely opt for surprise/shock value as opposed to going with something that makes sense.  And even if the show devotes a large amount of time to explaining A's motives once we learn who they are, it will still feel unfinished and like a let-down if we don't also get explanations about the other various red herrings.  Besides A, there are obviously enough people who either was a minion in some way or had some knowledge themselves of A or the A game and I want to hear their stories just as much as I do the actual A's.  I want to know more about the history of the NAT Club and how their and A's paths have intersected.  You have two years to wrap up those loose ends, Show.  Go.

Edited March 2, 2015 by dwmckim

[lion10]

In the PLL opening, all the Liars turn briefly to look at Hanna.  Hanna also seems curiously nonchalant about Alison's death compared to the other Liars, except for Spencer.

[AmandaPanda]

If the phrases on the card are all anagrams of

Charles DiLaurentis

, I'm starting to wonder if Andrew could be Ali's twin brother. We don't know much about Andrew and twins don't have to be the same gender. 

[Crim]

^ That would be an interesting idea and it would mean we did see the twin in an earlier season (albeit briefly), but I assume the twins were not separated just for kicks and giggles, so why raise them both in the same small town with one school? The parents would have no idea how strong the resemblance would be when the babies grow up. Granted, this is a show where CeCe and Ali could pass for each other though they are not just related (presumably) but also of different age, so maybe uncanny resemblance is normal - also Ali and Hanna, though that is too obvious due to the actresses to just ignore.

 

I would read nothing in an opening that wasn't changed since the pilot. Even ignoring the fact that the show followed the books more at the time, that the writers claimed A was different from the books yet it was still Mona and the reveal played out similar to the books except for Mona being arrested (Imo, if they got no third or fourth season, they could have still had Mona be A and wrap things up.), the core issue here is that the writers had no idea they'd get 7 seasons. So either A+ changed or the writers introduced A+ in early seasons when they didn't know they could drag it out for so long. They claim it's the first. Btw, Andrew's first appearance is in season 3, episode 15.

 

ETA: From people that used the "when we said our A was different, we didn't mean MonA" line, I would not be surprised if "we knew who A+ was from the start" actually meant "we knew it was a twin, but we decided who the twin was in the final season." or whatever else will apply. Basically "we knew how A was related to everyone else, so what motivation s/he had, but we decided which character this is only when we had to."

Edited March 13, 2015 by Crim

[Preity]

Andrew doesn't necessarily have to be Ali's twin, he could just be her half brother or something.. Mrs D. got around quite a bit, maybe Mr D did too. And Andrew got jealous of what his sister has and he doesn't. I'm guessing he's supposed to be Ali's age, although he looks so much older, otherwise he could have been Jason's twin. That would have been weird for Spencer! I still want to believe Bethany has to be Ali's sister though. Why would Jessica go to so much trouble for the daughter of a man she's having an affaire with? But I guess it would be pretty difficult to hide being pregnant from everyone including your husband... Actually parents always seem to be out of town so she could have just left for a couple of months I suppose and no one would have cared.

[lorikauai]

I've always speculated that Ezra's family is somehow connected to the DiLaurentis family or Hastings family, most likely through Mama Fitz. I will die of happiness if Ezra's full name is actually 

Ezra Charles DiLaurentis Fitzgerald

. If they go with the creepy guy playing with the girls I'd rather they stick to the creeper we know instead of adding yet another one. 

[Crim]

Please no. The show should stop trying to make Ezra relevant because it'll be half-assed again. Also, more Ezra family drama sounds awful, even worse than Toby's mother.

[sneakyviewer]

I think it would be cool if Meredith was A. After all she tried to kill Aria and just disappeared. Also as a character she is expendable. And no one would see it coming.

[NeenerNeener]

I've briefly wondered if Jason has a twin we've never seen, or Multiple Personality Disorder, but neither of these theories is wack enough for this show.

 

 

Well what do you know, I actually guessed right for once. Now I'm going out to buy a lottery ticket.

Edited March 25, 2015 by NeenerNeener

[luleetuni]

Probably wrong cause this show always proves me wrong... i think ezra is charles. They sent him to radley, that's where jessica met bethany and her dad, had the affair, etc. They allowed ezra to be adopted by the fitzs who changed his named and spoiled him rotten. He was always angry about being abandone by his real family and became obsessed with them.

This would explain the aria stuff, the board shorts stuff, the jason/ezra death glare back in season 2, etc. He has been "out of town" pretty much since mona went missing.

Also iirc from last night, he wasn't around when tanner and the cops were at the farm.

I also think Andrew is onto him and trying to stop him. Hence the spying and creepy behavior.

[dwmckim]

I'm calling it now.  If indeed A does turn out to be either Jason's twin or Jason himself, I'm speculating that a pregnant Ashley storyline is coming up.

 

ETA:  Actually, even if it isn't Jason/his twin, i bet they do such a storyline anyway if Jason is just a red herring just for the drama of Mama Marin maybe having a lower case A growing inside her.

Edited March 26, 2015 by dwmckim

[insubordination]

 

maybe having a lower case A growing inside her.

 

Heh! That is all.

[Giuliano Lanzilli]

The last episode begs a question (which I don't know if anyone else has already asked before): why didn't Mona budge at all when Spencer revealed to the girls that A's name is supposedly Charles? Shouldn't she have said something like "Yeahhhhh, I know! It's actually Charles Di Laurentis! I wrote that down three times as an anagram on that note you found in my room, Spencer! How come you never figured it out? Aren't you supposed to be the smart one?". Are we to assume A planted it there (seeing as they seem to plant EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE)???

Also, how come the girls never asked Mona who attacked her in her own room and possibly drugged her before stuffing her in the trunk of their car? 

 

Why can't I stop watching this train wreck of a show when it's beyond blatant they're making shit up as they go along (dropping important characters off the face of the Earth in the process)??? :/

Edited March 26, 2015 by GiulianoLanzilli

[Spencer Hastings]

Today my students were talking about PLL and debating on who Charles could be. One mentioned that Marlene said A has to be a hyper genius and started mentioning the geniuses on the show--Spencer, Mona, and Andrew. Just like my namesake, my brain started Spencering.

She conveniently left one genius out and it kills me to say it: Caleb. We all know he's a genius and is the only one who can break through A's crazy technology. If he can break through it, couldn't he create it? Also, have we ever seen his mom? He says he's been accused of murder. We met him because of Jenna. He spent most of his childhood in foster care so that leaves a big window open for resentment toward his biological family if he isn't who he says he is. We have seen his dad and his crazy Ravenswood family, but couldn't his biological mother still be Mrs. D? He could have created the whole backstory about his dad and his Arizona mom....and I sound crazy. I hate this show. The only thing saving him in my mind is Ravenswood and the fact that Haleb shippers killed it before it began. They would burn the studio down and I think Marlene is too chicken to go there.

Edited March 27, 2015 by Spencer Hastings

[Giuliano Lanzilli]

Today my students were talking about PLL and debating on who Charles could be. One mentioned that Marlene said A has to be a hyper genius and started mentioning the geniuses on the show--Spencer, Mona, and Andrew. Just like my namesake, my brain started Spencering.

She conveniently left one genius out and it kills me to say it: Caleb. We all know he's a genius and is the only one who can break through A's crazy technology. If he can break through it, couldn't he create it? Also, have we ever seen his mom? He says he's been accused of murder. We met him because of Jenna. He spent most of his childhood in foster care so that leaves a big window open for resentment toward his biological family if he isn't who he says he is. We have seen his dad and his crazy Ravenswood family, but couldn't his biological mother still be Mrs. D? He could have created the whole backstory about his dad and his Arizona mom....and I sound crazy. I hate this show. The only thing saving him in my mind is Ravenswood and the fact that Haleb shippers killed it before it began. They would burn the studio down and I think Marlene is too chicken to go there.

Why would your classes be about PLL (regardless of the subject you teach)?? Or did you just hear them talking about it over the break? XD

Edited March 30, 2015 by GiulianoLanzilli

[Spencer Hastings]

Why would your lessons be about PLL (regardless of the subject you teach)?? Or did you just hear them talking about it over the break? XD

We finished early and they had the last five minutes of class to themselves.  They know I watch, so that's how they chose to use their time. ;) 

[scarynikki12]

The one thing I am confident about is that Caleb is not A.  Had Ravenswood been successful, he wouldn't have returned to this show and even these producers aren't dumb enough to expect the audience to buy that A has been on another show the entire time. 

 

I think they are dumb enough, however, to introduce Big A at the eleventh hour and expect everyone to be satisfied. 

 

No matter who ends up being Big A, I do think that the show has to flash back to select moments of him/her terrorizing the Liars and show us how it was all accomplished.  Exactly no one is going to buy it if we get the reveal and a half hearted explanation as to why/how.  We bought it with Mona, because most of what had happened up to that reveal was believable.  Now so much crazy has occurred that any single reveal will need a lot to back it up.  My personal top picks are still Ezra and Aria but I will need to see how either would pull off the terrorizing. 

[hqtextbook]

The last episode begs a question (which I don't know if anyone else has already asked before): why didn't Mona budge at all when Spencer revealed to the girls that A's name is supposedly Charles? Shouldn't she have said something like "Yeahhhhh, I know! It's actually Charles Di Laurentis! I wrote that down three times as an anagram on that note you found in my room, Spencer! How come you never figured it out? Aren't you supposed to be the smart one?". Are we to assume A planted it there (seeing as they seem to plant EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE)???

 

Yeah I mean right before Mona was kidnapped she was calling Aria CONVINCED that Alison was A right? So I guess she didn't know about Charles. So yeah, who the hell planted that note and why?

[Giuliano Lanzilli]

I'm not sure if this is a theory thought or what, but I'm not sure where else to put it but remember when a few of the end A tags featured people saying things about how As eyes were, "pretty" ?  I used to think whoever the big A is would have remarkable eyes because of this. No one who has been on an A team or an A or whatever has had remarkable eyes, at least to me anyway. So, I don't know. Just another theory that whoever is the BIG A, has to have pretty eyes or something.

 

Well, Toby's eyes are STUNNING! They're pretty much the only good thing about his face! XD

[Spencer Hastings]

Ha, we've never actually seen Toby's parents either...

[dwmckim]

We've seen Mrs Cavanaugh in a flashback (who interestingly looked enough like Mrs DiLaurentis to where many show theories include the two characters being related) but never his father or stepmother/Jenna's parents.

[Spencer Hastings]

I still hope that in the end, Marlene gives a big middle finger to the teenyboppers and the network by making one of the love interests Uber-A. There have been interviews where she clearly wanted to go one way with a story but was held back by the big wigs who bank on what teenage girls want. One example of this is

Ezra and Toby still being around, whereas in the books they made very early exits.

I know that they don't follow the books but season 1 was more or less very similar. I wonder where she would have taken certain stories if she'd had her way, and how many of our initial theories were correct.

Edited March 30, 2015 by Spencer Hastings

[raytch]

I'm not sure if this is a theory thought or what, but I'm not sure where else to put it but remember when a few of the end A tags featured people saying things about how As eyes were, "pretty" ?  I used to think whoever the big A is would have remarkable eyes because of this. No one who has been on an A team or an A or whatever has had remarkable eyes, at least to me anyway. So, I don't know. Just another theory that whoever is the BIG A, has to have pretty eyes or something.

 

I feel like the fact that the Thanksgiving/Mona's not death episode is negated because Mona made the phone call to tell Aria, "Ali is A, I can prove it, come over" to the fact that Mike tells Aria that Mona knew Alison wasn't A, she was planning a faux death to be kidnapped to frame Ali and save Ali and the others. It's confusing. Unless calling Aria was put of Mona's plan to get all the liars to her place? That's the only thing I can come up with. I get that the show wants to be twisty and turning but sometimes they do certain things that make no sense and write things that make the show be kind of like, "wait.. what? That totally conflicts with what you said before". 

 

The pretty eyes reference was to Toby indeed when he was working with Mona. He met A!Spencer at a diner that one time and we saw his face after the waitress told him "hello pretty eyes"

 

I still hope that in the end, Marlene gives a big middle finger to the teenyboppers and the network by making one of the love interests Uber-A. There have been interviews where she clearly wanted to go one way with a story but was held back by the big wigs who bank on what teenage girls want. One example of this is

Ezra and Toby still being around, whereas in the books they made very early exits.

I know that they don't follow the books but season 1 was more or less very similar. I wonder where she would have taken certain stories if she'd had her way, and how many of our initial theories were correct.

 

Oh me too!

[raytch]

Ok. Y'all. I binged the 5 episodes Oliver Goldstick gave as key episodes to figuring out who Charles is.

I need to crack this for my own sanity because I hate it when things don't make sense.

 

So, please bear with me... I didn't get to a theory but here are all my notes on those 5 episodes. 

Also, Oliver Goldstick said we should look for someone strong. Someone with both inner and physical strength.

 

S3E01 It Happened That Night

Main Plot:

Emily gets drugged in Spencer's house, and disappears. The liars find her standing with a shovel(!) over Ali's grave. Only her grave is empty. Spencer realizes it's a set up and they leave. The entire episode is mainly focused on how they lie to the police and hope that this is just a prank of some sort. Then they realize A never left.

Details:

1. Lucas makes a small appearance, when the liars are going back home from the cemetery they spot lucas getting into his car and looking fishy. Then they see him at school registration and he barely talks to them and acts fishy some more.
2. Hannah is still processing what happened to Mona. She goes to visit her several times while pretending that she is seeing Dr. Sullivan (the shrink). Mona is completely phased out, and the only time she responds to Hannah is when Hannah asks her "the doctors say I can keep coming. Is that something you want?" then Mona smiles to Hannah (though really through her, to the chair behind her where Ali is sitting reading Lolita in a red coat). Hannah also interacts to Wren this episode as he is a volunteer (?) at Radley now. Something interesting he mentions is that he has spent his entire life trying to reason and to get answers from a mental someone. (which later turns out to be his dad as he tells Hannah in a later episode.)
3. Spencer is still investigating MonA's lair at the Lost Woods Resort. No creepy Harold in this episode but he ends up working as the janitor at the school.
4. Aria is the absolute worst. Seriously, in the span of the episode she: talks about taking up photography classes, reminisces and re-acts how exactly one year ago, Ezra Fitz statutory raped her in a bathroom. Then they decide to celebrate this great memory, which also happens to be the same day her missing best friend was found dead and buried in the Hastings' backyards. She manages to make a conversation ALL about her in less than 5 seconds. While her mom is talking about her divorce with Byron, she literally responds by saying "by letting me see Ezra you are allowing me to be myself". She also has a panic attack because of A PTSD.
5. Aside from getting drunk then being drugged and digging up Ali's body in a black out, Emily starts remembering something when she spots Jenna's car on the street. What she remembers at this point is that she saw or was somehow in that car.
6. "Mona played with dolls, I play with body parts. Game on, bitches. A" A was golden this episode.

 

Hints and Clues:

1. Garett says he knows who dug up the body. 
2. "Who would do this?" "A complete psycho is who" "The only psycho we know is locked up in Radley"
3. Maya kept belongings of Ali's. One of which might be connected to Ali's murder. Ezra says that maybe Maya was trying to tell Emily about it the night she died.
4. Aria says Lucas is still acting like Boo.
5. Someone cleared Mona's lair the same night the liars found out about her. (Ezra or Charles?)
6. Jenna is mentioned and we see her car, but Toby says she's still out of town. The liars mention the Lucas/Jenna/Black Swan (Melissa) at the masquerade ball.

 

S3E24 A dAngerous Game

 

Main plot:

Spencer is out of Radley and on the A team. She makes a plan to gather the liars at her parents' lakehouse for a party where Redcoat (or whoever is in charge will come and do what exactly? I never understood that).

 

Details:

1. Hannah babysits Malcom (Ezra's non-child) and figures out that it was Spencer who kidnapped/took him to the carnival. Then the liars make a trap for Spencer to see who's side she's still on. It turns out Spencer had sent her photo to Hannah's phone all along. She wanted the liars to catch her so she could tell them all about the A stuff.
2. Ezra gets offered a job as a substitute teacher at Rosewood High. Aria breaks up with him so he can take it. There's a scene where they stand at the window / stairs, very similar to the scene at Ali's funeral. Aria walks away then he grabs her and they kiss, she walks away though, eventually... ( Could this callback be just for epic romance? Or is it saying something more? Like preparing to S4's EzrA?)
3. Jenna and Shana are together
4. Jenna and Shana and Melissa are working together. Something that has to do with "they have the tapes" "those bitches are gonna be at the lodge at 9"
5. Spencer and Toby are reunited under the A hood. They have sex in a motel, and the whole time the camera keeps panning to the MO in the motel sign.
6. The liars get to the lodge while Spencer and Toby are outside, trying to get a good look on Red Coat when she arrives. The liars surprise and corner Mona. Someone starts the fire, using an invite of the party. Mona starts freaking out about how she's never gonna know who Red Coat is now. Toby is wandering off somewhere when he gets hit in the head by a shovel (!) and someone plants a lighter next to him (the Nigel Wright lighter from S4).
7. Red Coat comes in a plane. Though the fire has already started when she arrives. The RC we see is wearing heels and looks like a girl. Spencer sees RC and is convinced she's Ali.
8. The girls are pulled out of the fire, presumably by Ali herself. Hannah sees her while still waking up from her black out.
9. The girls are all in the car, Mona says she started with Red Coat at Radley who gave her an in and out of the place. At first it was fun, having a partner, then the game changed. As in RC stole it from Mona and Mona became a minion. She lured Red Coat to the lakehouse to finally see her face.

 

Hints and Clues:

1. According to Mona, RC always wears an Ali mask.
2. Also, it was Mona and RC with Emily the night Ali's body was dug up.
3. The lakehouse is at Thornhill Lodge, next to the Tornhill Landing Strip.
4. At the diner where Spencer meets Toby, The shot opens on a Mount Rushmore postcard, then there's a long shot at the clock on the wall which says "TIME TO CHANGE to coffee"
5. The book mentioned in English class is A Farewell To Arms (Hemingway). Quote mentioned by Ezra "All things wicked come from innocence".
6. Toby got beaten with a shovel on the head the same way Alison did (later we find out it was Bethany, and Ali was hit with a rock)
7. The masquerade ball is mentioned again.
8. The episode ends with someone being pulled out of a grave (Grunwald and Ali).
9. In the video playing in Wilden's car. After he'd run over by Ashley, Shana and Jenna pull him out of the road and take him.
10. You're mine now. Kisses, A.

 

S4E24 A is for Answers

 

Main Plot:

The liars go to Philly to see Ali. Noel Kahn picks them up and takes them to another location, a coffee shop called The Mockingbird, where they see Ali. They decide to put the pieces together to figure out who A is once and for all.

 

Answers we get from this episode:

1. Ali was threatened by A long before the liars.
2. She dropped Ian from the bell tower but he wasn't dead as she saw him again when she was leaving.
3. She used the videos she got from Ian as leverage to stop A. Her suspects were Jenna, Toby, Byron and the N.A.T club.
4. She has 2 encounters that we hadn't known about: Toby and Ezra. Toby thanks her for putting him in jail and away from Jenna. Ezra breaks up with her because she is a pedophile. 
5. Ali and Ezra did date briefly. He figures out how much of a crazy little liar she is and kinda digs it.
6. In the flashbacks, Mrs. D is freaking out about something over the phone and tries to get Ali to stay home in her room. She keeps saying "no no how is this possible? Please send someone over here right now. I am very worried".
7. Spencer did not kill Ali. She dropped her meds as she was about to attack her with the shovel and they had a sweet moment where Ali promised to keep her secret and help her.
8. Ali goes back home, and sees her mom worried sick in the window. Then her mom's face turns horrified, and Ali is knocked out on the floor by someone who hit her with a rock. Next time she wakes up she's being buried alive by her mom who keeps yelling at someone "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?"
9. A finds the liars and breaks into the shop with a gun. He follows them to the roof where he fights Ezra (who just showed up) and shoots him, then when the liars manage to take his gun from him and threaten him to take off his mask, he jumps to the other roof and gets away.
10. Mrs. D is killed and being buried in the Hastings' backyard.
11. Holbrook has Cece arrested to tries to go for a deal because she has important information on who wants to hurt Ali, who killed the girl in Ali's grave etc... She doesn't really confess to killing Wilden (She says "if I were to admit...")
12. The Hastings have a new secret, as Melissa whispers in her dad's ears
13. There's conversation that goes on between Peter and Jessica D. He asks her if they still have an arrangement. She tells him her daughter is alive she does not know what to think right now.

 

Hints and Clues:

1. Ezra reads Tender is The Night when he meets Alison. Alison is holding a book when she starts talking to him (Lolita I think?)
2. Mrs D to Ali: "You don't know what they're capable of. NEVER turn your back on a Hastings"
3. Ian to Ali: "Those videos can bring a lot of people down. Including your own family"
4. For the first time we see the scenes we've seen before from Ali's perspective. We see her as a scared teenager for the first time. She does confront everyone, but most of the time she shivers before and can barely keep her tough face on until she walks away.
5. Ali says Noel has secrets of his own.
6. Something worth mentioning though has nothing to do with this episode. Ali and Cece were Red Coat, and were trying to help the liars all along.

 

 

S5E12 Taking This One To The Grave

 

Main Plot:

The liars ask for Mona's help to prove that Ali is A. The episode ends with Mona dead.

 

Details:

1. Ali takes the lying test at the police station. She does not say anything that particularly incriminates Spencer.
2. However, the liars find out that Spencer will be arrested as a suspect in Bethany's murder. Mona says the arrest warrant request came after the police went to Radley and went through the Bethany files. She and Spencer break in and find evidence that Mrs. D was having an affair with Bethany's dad. It made Bethany angry. They take everything and get out.
3. Meanwhile Holbrook comes to Radley as well and acts super shady with Aria. He questions her about how long she's been a volunteer (before or after they discovered Bethany was a Radley patient).
4. The liars discuss the Melissa video confession from the previous episode. (She buried Bethany alive thinking it was Alison and that Spencer killed her with a shovel (!)
5. Holbrook visits Ali at home to discuss something tho we never see what.
6. Lucas is also in this episode, on team Mona.

 

Hints and clues:

1. Mona is reading Le Grand Meaulnes this week (which is one of my favorite books ever). I won't get into the details of the story, but the book did inspire Scott F. Fitzgerald deeply.
2. Mona: "Do you think you can be crazy and not know it?"
3. Mona: "One of you would have been too easy for her. But the four of you together?" Spencer: "That's a challenge."
4. A wears a wig a la Ali.
5. Mona doesn't seem to recognize her attacker. Maybe they were wearing an Ali mask?
6. The attacker at Mona's house seems a bit like a guy. His shoulders are kind of large.
7. Mrs. D has had 2 affairs that we know of so far...
8. When Spencer is looking at an old photo album. There are 2 pictures i which we don't know the people posing. THis might not be telling much but I thought it was a bit weird as it's supposedly an album Spencer had made with pictures of her and her friends.

 

S513 How the A Stole Christmas

 

Main Plot:

Spencer is out on bail. The liars receive drawings of Ali's house with all her hiding places and decide to break in there trying to find something to link her with the Bethany Young murder.

 

Details:

1. Ali is haunted by Mona's ghost. She has dreams within dreams. Mona shows her the first time Mrs. D taught her how to lie.
2. 2 yellow dresses. Yellow is the same color Ali and Bethany were wearing the night it all started.
3. In Ali's dreams, Jessica D is the Black Widow.
4. Ali is seen kissing a Santa and they liars assume it's Holbrook who is still acting extremely shady.
5. Cece is in this episode, she doesn't do much though except give Alison an "Alison" perfume from Paris, and tell her to not let her guards down. That the liars are obviously plotting against her.
6. Spencer finds ads Ali has collected and kept from the news paper. 
7. Hannah finds an Archery certificate inside Ali's boxes. She finds a letter from Bethany hidden inside a Mad Hatter toy.
8. A attacks though he just scares the girls.
9. The whole time Toby is watching with his camera lens from Spencer's window seat. 

 

Hints and clues:

 

1. The Mad Hatter refers to many things. Though here's a little part I found on the original Mad Hatter from Alice In Wonderland
   

   "The Hatter explains to Alice that he and the March Hare are always having tea because, when he tried to sing for the Queen of Hearts at her celebration, she sentenced him to death for "murdering the time," but he escapes decapitation. In retaliation, Time (referred to as a "Him") halts himself in respect to the Hatter, keeping him and the March Hare stuck at 6:00 forever. The tea party, when Alice arrives, is characterized by switching places on the table at any given time, making short, personal remarks, asking unanswerable riddles and reciting nonsensical poetry, all of which eventually drive Alice away."

2. which if you add this to what Mona says in a flashback to Hannah about wanting to freeze time... There's definitely something there. 
3. Also, Matt Hatter disease, which could be a reference to how sick A is.
4. Jenna and Sydney are only helping Ali because they're afraid with her. "When she asked again, I made sure to give the right answer this time".
5. The letter Hannah found shows that Bethany was purely excited to come see her on Labor Day. 
6. Ali sent Bethany that yellow top. Was she initially plotting a silly prank on her mom? (Like she used to borrow Cece's soul) or did she actually know she might get killed that night and needed to make sure that Bethany dies instead. From what she says in 4x24 it seems like she really thought she had taken care of A. Did A plant that letter there with Ali's stuff and fake the whole thing?
7. When A ran out of the window at Ali's house, the camera panned to the side and we saw someone wearing the baby mask we had seen in The First Secret, and watching Spencer and Hannah.

Edited March 30, 2015 by raytch

[Giuliano Lanzilli]

I need to crack this for my own sanity because I hate it when things don't make sense.

 

 

And you're watching this show because...? XD

[mercfan3]

Just so you know, last time they said there were hints for A, the hints were visual clues not plot clues. (As in, the camera shot right to mona when they were talking about A or someone they couldn't trust or something like that..) So although I haven't gone back yet, take that into consideration for figuring his out. 

[raytch]

And you're watching this show because...? XD

 

Hahaha touche!

[raytch]

She's just stupid.

[Preity]

Every time I rewatch the show she seems to get more stupid xD

I admire anyone who goes back to look for clues, that takes real dedication (or huge boredom probably)...

[Falafel]

Theories I've seen that are popular on other forums center around the idea that Charles was Jason and Ali's brother, but he had issues and was sent away while very young (some speculate he broke Alison's arm, as was discussed during the trial). While he was gone, he underwent gender reassignment surgery and became Cece Drake, and Cece is "Big A." Here's one such example that I've read. Despite what Marlene King says, I'm convinced everything has just always been made up as they go along, and they don't actually care about continuity, so who knows. Haha.

[raytch]

I admire anyone who goes back to look for clues, that takes real dedication (or huge boredom probably)...

 

Noooo I swear I am a very productive person! I've been squeezing the rewatch into my schedule (like, one episode over lunch break, one while having dinner etc...) but it's just that A is like every single nightmare I've ever had compiled into one, I thought the entire episode very disturbing. Also, of all the liars I'm a lot like Spencer. I'm very intense when in work mode. I work as an archivist, so whenever I'm working on a new collection I have all these lists hanging on the walls trying to figure out how the collection was built, so... yeah. I need to crack this open. CAN'T STOP WON'T STOP

 

Theories I've seen that are popular on other forums center around the idea that Charles was Jason and Ali's brother, but he had issues and was sent away while very young (some speculate he broke Alison's arm, as was discussed during the trial). While he was gone, he underwent gender reassignment surgery and became Cece Drake, and Cece is "Big A." Here's one such example that I've read. Despite what Marlene King says, I'm convinced everything has just always been made up as they go along, and they don't actually care about continuity, so who knows. Haha.

1. Your username is awesome.

2. I really hope they don't go with the transgender route. I think I have something coming together. I'll post it later today.

[Spencer Hastings]

I can't tell you how much I hate the transgender theory. My friend is obsessed with it and thinks it's the only way to go but I would be so disappointed. I feel like it's such a sensitive topic and that they'd be going there just to be edgy and say that they did. They did the lesbian thing relatively well and got lots of praise for it from the LGBT community, which is why I'd be fearful of CeCe being Charles. I hate it when TV shows do one issue well and try to take it a step further. I'd feel like they were trying too hard to be cutting edge.

Edited April 1, 2015 by Spencer Hastings

[Falafel]

Full disclosure, I have watched this show on and off and have missed very large chunks of it (I don't know what happened to Cece or why she isn't on the show anymore)... However, I think the trangender theory is popular because it seems like without it, we should've seen Charles before. I think Marlene (who apparently has lied and trolled about stuff in the past anyway) said we have seen Charles' face before. I guess it's possible Charles is just someone else by a different name, but there wouldn't be much of a plot twist if it turned out that Wren's name is really Charles or something. I wouldn't mind the transgender theory, but it seems a little outlandish, even for this show.

 

As a side note, I think it's a little dumb that Spencer sees some child letter blocks while locked in the dollhouse, finds they spell Charles if moved around, and now it's assured that this guy's name is Charles. Does that seem kind of weak to anyone else? I don't know why anyone would take that as a clear piece of confirmation on A's name. I get that the show is treating it as such and have been clear that Charles is A -- I just think it's a dumb way to divulge his name.

Edited April 1, 2015 by Falafel

[Preity]

As a side note, I think it's a little dumb that Spencer sees some child letter blocks while locked in the dollhouse, finds they spell Charles if moved around, and now it's assured that this guy's name is Charles. Does that seem kind of weak to anyone else? I don't know why anyone would take that as a clear piece of confirmation on A's name. I get that the show is treating it as such and have been clear that Charles is A -- I just think it's a dumb way to divulge his name.

That's what I thought... It's consistant with what we've seen of the liars up until now that they would just assume Charles is A, but it's still really weak. I was also wondering why those blocks spelling out the name Charles were in Spencers room at all. Why would Charles choose that particular way of telling them his name? It seems weird. Maybe Spencer couldn't think straight while in the doll house (although she did figure out how to build that camera thing...), but after all the wrong people she thought to be A shouldn't she be more sceptical?

[ottoDbusdriver]

That's what I thought... It's consistant with what we've seen of the liars up until now that they would just assume Charles is A, but it's still really weak. I was also wondering why those blocks spelling out the name Charles were in Spencers room at all. Why would Charles choose that particular way of telling them his name? It seems weird. Maybe Spencer couldn't think straight while in the doll house (although she did figure out how to build that camera thing...), but after all the wrong people she thought to be A shouldn't she be more sceptical?

 

Re-arranging the letters in 'Charles' you also get 'Rachels' -- so I'd be looking for someone named Rachel S.  </snark>

[dwmckim]

I thought Spencer coming to the conclusion A's name was Charles from the blocks was silly before the show aired and it was revealed in the reddit spoilers. (1) What if Spencer figured out the wrong anagram? (Could be Rachel S. for example) (2) What if the blocks actually weren't an anagram - maybe they were an acronym (You'll note the four liars' first initials are all in there) or some other code...or just random blocks. (3) The blocks like everything else in her room was put there deliberately by A.  A knows that Spencer would figure them out if it were an anagram.  Would A give her this info willingly knowing ahe'd most likely come to the conclusion she did.

 

Re: transgender theories.  I do think there's some validity to them.  I've also seen the criticisms of them but what people are missing is that it wouldn't be a story about a "bad evil transsexual person" but more likely rather the effects that parental misunderstanding and intolerance begat.  As a gay man who's seen decades of gays represented as villains of they even got any film representation before things finally changed in the 90s i can see where people could be sensitive about this but ultimately i think if you're looking at this to be a PSA storyline or representative of the trans community as a whole, you're reading too much into things. 

[Giuliano Lanzilli]

That's what I thought... It's consistant with what we've seen of the liars up until now that they would just assume Charles is A, but it's still really weak. I was also wondering why those blocks spelling out the name Charles were in Spencers room at all. Why would Charles choose that particular way of telling them his name? It seems weird. Maybe Spencer couldn't think straight while in the doll house (although she did figure out how to build that camera thing...), but after all the wrong people she thought to be A shouldn't she be more sceptical?

 

THANK YOU!!! But it does seem consistent with what we've seen of the liars so far for them to jump to conclusions like this.

Anyway the alphabet blocks WERE NOT in Spencer's room but in the playroom where they had been playing that stupid "mystery date" game with Mona earlier. If you rewatch carefully, you can see Spencer laying down in her bed and all of a sudden sitting up and re-arranging the blocks in her head to spell out Charles. I'm pretty sure someone even pointed out it was all in her mind in the episode topic.

Edited April 1, 2015 by GiulianoLanzilli

[raytch]

OK

 

Let’s go back to that night where literally the entire town kept murdering Ali and she kept not dying.
We know A had been harassing Ali since that Halloween (2009), first time we see him is when he’s wearing the creepy baby mask. The creepy baby mask reappears in all of A’s lairs, and in the Christmas episode, when Hannah passed out from the black hoodie’s attack, we see someone looking at her from behind that mask. I paused the screen there and you can definitely someone with blond hair and blue eyes.

 

The night Ali was ‘murdered’, there were 3 blond girls in yellow tops. 

1. Ali was wearing the top her mom had gotten and left on her bed with a note (UNLESS).
2. Behtany was there and Ali had sent her a similar top (UNLESS). 
3. Cece was there also wearing yellow possibly because she felt like it (UNLESS).

Ali had lured Bethany to come visit that weekend. Bethany seemed excited to see her and Mrs. D. Except; from the recordings of Bethany’s sessions we really don’t get the feel that she’d be excited to see any of them.
This is where things don’t add up. Why have 3 girls running around a backyard looking like doppelgangers?

I think it falls back to two notable moments on the show:

1. The 2 yellow dresses flashback.
2. The Mirror Has 3 Faces.

 

Mona was A back then and I guess she was sending Ali the texts. Though the “tonight is the night I kill you” doesn’t seem like Mona really. What if there have been two sides to this all along?

What the show has been hinting at for some time now, is that there has been someone from the start, pulling the strings, with a much bigger picture than Ali or Mona could ever imagine. The fact that another girl went missing the next day after Ali, and the fact that the writers said there will be another missing girl storyline in the next season further proves this.

 

Ali ‘died’ because she realized something very early on, that anything can be turned into a weapon if you hold it the right way.

 

I honestly didn’t find a lot of clues in the episodes mentioned in my previous post, though I did find myself connecting some scenes to other scenes from different episodes. The first one that came to mind:

After watching A is for answers, I noticed the liars sitting all together for the first time. This threw me back to that Halloween episode with the twins’ story. I always felt like that story had more to it, but never really understood how since the show made it so clear that they weren’t going with the Ali twin story line. I went back and saw the scene. The 2 blond twins are playing with 5 dolls, and they fight about one of the blond dolls (the one with the long hair which could be a reference to Ali).

Another thing that felt crucial in A is for Answers, was the look exchanged between Cece and Mrs. D. Even when I saw the episode the first time, I felt like there was something there and that we hadn't seen the whole lot of the Ali/Jessica/Cece dynamic.

 

Mrs. D knew something was coming that night, and she tried to stop Ali from going out.
Mrs. D buried Ali because she was protecting someone. The show has been clear on that. But what if she was forced to protect someone? We never saw who she was talking to, and for all we now, the person who hit Ali on the head could have been pointing a gun at Mrs. D or someone who had real leverage on her. Someone who knew a secret about Mrs. D, so horrible, that burying her own daughter seemed like a better option than letting that secret out.

This is someone who knew that secrets could be the most powerful of all weapons.

 

Later in the night, Bethany Young was beaten with a shovel on the head and left lying on the ground. Melissa found her and buried her because she thought Spencer had killed Ali. Melissa buried her in the same hole Ali managed to get out of.

 

Mona wanted the world to believe Ali was dead so she could start the game of emotional warfare that Ali had started herself a long time ago. But someone else wanted Ali dead to change the status quo and start a domino effect, where secrets were not just a way to get what you want, but instead a way of controlling as many people as you can, forcing them to do things to protect those they love, while you make sure no one ever talks about it... sort of like an emotional Hunger Games, except, people do also die.

 

Which is making me more and more convinced, that maybe the NAT Club was never a choice. Maybe Ian, Jason, and Garett were bullied and forced to do it to some extent. Maybe A has been up that generation's ass all along, and later expanded and moved on to the liars.

Which would make sense concerning the Jason elevator shaft incident and how he disappeared after. The fact that A tried to kill him scared the shit out of him and so he ran.

It also makes sense with everything Melissa told Spencer when they were smashing those masks of her own face. She had been protecting her since it started, since before it started.

 

A is probably the same age as the Melissa, Ian etc generation.

Wren is not from Rosewwod clearly, the first time he came to Rosewood was when he came with Melissa. He does play a crucial role in all this but it seems more like Melissa, that he is trying to protect Spencer and the liars.

His connection to Radley makes him an interesting suspect, but it seems like he has been following orders all along.

 

Cece is the only one we feel is off. I think the writers have been very careful with how they introduce her and handle her overall story arc.

Is she Charles? Maybe. She is very sketchy. She was also the one who taught Ali how secrets are weapons. At some point Jason does tell her something along the lines of "she liked games but then you came along and took it to a whole other level".

I think from everyone we already know, she makes most sense, though Charles can be a name for a girl so I don't think she has be transgender.

The show was never very clear on her background, how she came to be friends with Ali. The earliest flashback in which she's mentioned is the one where she goes to Radley dressed as Ali. At that time Toby's mom was still alive, it was also around the time when Bethany was in Radley. 

We've seen her in a black hoodie and a Red Coat, so maybe she's been a double agent all this time, using Mona to get to Ali in season 4, then when Ali came back in season 5, she kept playing both sides and eventually when Mona decided to help the liars, she took her down. In the Christmas episode when she's supposedly back from 'Paris' (which, maybe she wasn't there all the time) she tells Ali "Your friends are here tonight and I don't think it's to say Merry Christmas".

 

While re-watching the last finale, I found myself more convinced that the guy in the vault with the liars in the dollhouse has to be a prisoner.

Maybe he's Jason twin, maybe he's just another brother because Mrs. D and Mr. Hastings went at it more than once.

It just doesn't make sense that he would be living with them when he has an operation room elsewhere. Also, when the girls clicked the shutter to initiate their plan, he seemed genuinely scared of the lights exploding, he didn't even run he just covered his head and the girls started running. When he saw Spencer and then Mona came, he disappeared, while he could have held on to her to threaten Mona or something. And most of all, because I agree why would A leave his name as an anagram from cubes in the playroom... Maybe he left those cubes as a clue for the liars to tell them who A is.

 

In case it's a twin, or a different brother, maybe that's how A got Mrs. D's silence for Ali's murder.

I don't know I feel like this would make more sense than Cece as a transgender, or Jason has an evil twin. Cece could have blackmailed Mrs. D into burying Ali and keeping quiet because she's had her son (Jason's twin)  since the night Bethany got out. In case he was in Radley too as insinuated, and Cece knew a way in and out past security (the same way she gave it to Mona), she could have easily taken him that night and kept him away all this time. Or if he was sent away elsewhere when still young, like with another family, she could have easily tracked him down, took him and used him as leverage.

 

Her motives aren't very clear, but I'm guessing she has to be connected to the Dilaurentis and Hastings. The fact that Ali and the girls got her kicked out of college at that frat party is a very week motive, there will have to be something more.

 

All this and, SHE KILLED A SNAKE WITH A MANNEQUIN LEG. Ultimate proof that she could do anything.

[Giuliano Lanzilli]

Let’s go back to that night where literally the entire town kept murdering Ali and she kept not dying.

We know A had been harassing Ali since that Halloween (2009), first time we see him is when he’s wearing the creepy baby mask.

 

 

Bwah!!! XD

But it was actually Halloween 2008, not 2009, because that was a year before she went missing (which she did on September 1st 2009).

Besides, I'm not really sure Cece and Wren (and Jenna, Noel, Lucas and a gazillion other characters that have been sucked into a black hole of nothingness throughout the show's run) play a role in this. I mean, if they were, how come we haven't seen them in so long??? It would just feel like the biggest cop-out ever! 

Edited April 3, 2015 by GiulianoLanzilli

[Jenniferbug]

Wasn't Cece introduced as an ex girlfriend of Jason's? I thought that was how she met Ali but admittedly I don't remember for sure.

[Giuliano Lanzilli]

Could it be that they've actually revealed Charles/A's identity on IMDB? 

http://www.meltybuzz.it/pretty-little-liars-6-imdb-rivela-che-toby-e-charles-theater-59801-2694914.html

 

Never mind, it was probably an April Fools' Day prank! XD Anyway, can anyone tell me how to delete a post on here? I seem unable to :/

Edited April 3, 2015 by GiulianoLanzilli

[Crim]

CeCe was introduced as Jason's girlfriend and that's how she befriended Ali. Neither Jason not Mrs D liked this friendship, but we never saw an indication they tried very hard to do something about it. Between this and CeCe dating Jason, no one must have known CeCe was related to them. (As protective of their secrets as the DiLaurentis and the Hastings are, they didn't allow Jason and Melissa to date to prevent incest.)

 

My wtf issue with transgender CeCe theories is that she met Jason when they were in high school, years ago. When would she have transitioned? It doesn't happen all that quick. Did she start at 15? She was born in 1988, so that would be around 2003. At that age you only got hormone blockers to delay the development of secondary sexual characteristics, and the actual transition would happen only later. An older version of the Benjamin Standards of Care was in effect then; did CeCe live in a country that had different procedures? Where in the world would that have been in 2003 that allowed the transitioning of minors? Also, I'm sketchy on the timing of gender reassignment laws, but I'm not sure she would have been able to get all her papers and IDs changed to female by the time she got into college.

 

Anyway, tl:dr version: The storyline seems impossible when accounting for the fact that transgender rights are still evolving and this was supposed to happen years ago, and with CeCe as a minor. Yes, A can pull anything off, but this would be not just over the top; it would be incredibly awful because it would sweep all the real life issues under the "It can be this easy when you have the resources!" carpet. Considering the real life suicides of transgender teenagers without access to treatment, or with only limited treatment until adulthood, I really hope the show doesn't do this.

[raytch]

I don't know if Mona was the person sending Ali the texts way back in 2009. Unless I missed something. I always assumed that was someone else, perhaps the same someone who then made Mona become MonA, once the other four liars were reunited, Mona said she became MonA when Aria arrived because that's when she was approached and she worried Hanna would leave her and she'd become a loser again so she took the offer.

 

And in UnmAsked, after she was taken to Radley someone in a red coat came to Mona and Mona said she did everything she was asked- at the time, it was always assumed it was Alison but now, who knows.. Mona has always said she didn't knew who THIS person was and was totally hazy due to the drugs she was on so she hardly remembers. Granted, this could also be Cece. The girls found out later that Cece had been visiting Mona at Radley. I don't know. I just never thought Mona was sending Ali those texts before the show. I think it was someone else. But I do think it's all connected somehow. I think there's always been a higher "A", someone who has been funding the operations for all the other As. 

 

I'm pretty sure it was. At the party when Mona is in the cat woman costume, Ali asks if she knows her and she says "no but you will". I guess Mona had her plan in motion by that time. Tho, even the texts at the time were very Mona (it's my turn to torture you, dying to know who I am etc...). Tho the last message that Ali found on her doorstep when she went back home with the liars (next time it'll be your face) that sounds a lot like Big A.

I think the writers were going both ways at the time, preparing for the Mona reveal and saying that there was someone else all along (the haunted house and the Radley cab). In that Halloween episode, after Lucas bumps into Ali wearing the burlap mask, the camera zooms out and we see 2 other people in burlap masks: one is Mona, and the other standing behind her, Big A.

 

What I really want to know is whether Mona invented the game or if she was approached by someone who gave her the resources etc...

 

Bwah!!! XD

But it was actually Halloween 2008, not 2009, because that was a year before she went missing (which she did on September 1st 2009).

Besides, I'm not really sure Cece and Wren (and Jenna, Noel, Lucas and a gazillion other characters that have been sucked into a black hole of nothingness throughout the show's run) play a role in this. I mean, if they were, how come we haven't seen them in so long??? It would just feel like the biggest cop-out ever! 

 

True! Sorry I miscounted.

Wren is definitely out. I think he's strictly in the Melissa category, especially now that they are together.

Cece has been around constantly through season 3 and 4. She's always been a part of the story more than the others you mentioned (Jenna, Noel etc...)

 

But the more I think about it the more I think Cece is also doing someone's bidding while trying to stay away from prison.

Whoever it is, it's either a twin of one of the regular cast, or someone we don't know but has probably made a small appearance at some point.

 

Unless it's Ezra, and it turns out his fake reveAl was the biggest red herring of all, and that he really really is a sick pedo obsessed with these girls. Yey, the fun to be had!

Edited April 7, 2015 by raytch

[mac123x]

Theories I've seen that are popular on other forums center around the idea that Charles was Jason and Ali's brother, but he had issues and was sent away while very young (some speculate he broke Alison's arm, as was discussed during the trial). While he was gone, he underwent gender reassignment surgery and became Cece Drake, and Cece is "Big A." Here's one such example that I've read. Despite what Marlene King says, I'm convinced everything has just always been made up as they go along, and they don't actually care about continuity, so who knows. Haha.

 

CeCe and Jason dated for a while, so that just adds another level of awkwardness to the DiLaurentis family reunions. 

 

The timing of this is questionable.  CeCe was dating Jason / hanging out with Alison in the summer before Ali vanished just prior to the girls' sophomore year, which would make the PLLs around 15 and the Jason/Melissa/CeCe generation around 20.  CeCe would have had to start the process really young. 

 

Maybe she went to that Pennsylvania Twilight Zone where Toby's police academy is located, and she got a mult-year process completed in 3 weeks.

[Sakura12]

[lion10]

Interesting screengrab from episode 5x04.