S06.E10: Game Over, Charles

[itainttippithebird]

 

I can't even. I just... there should be more transgender characters on TV, but not like this. Not when they're evil because they're mentally ill. I can't believe the show went there. I can't believe they had CeCe date her brother (at least they didn't have sex, but still, ugh). I can't believe they used a sob story involving CeCe's gender identity to try to downplay every legitimately evil thing she did to the girls. We've waited years for this, to see A's story and find out how they pulled all of this off. It was supposed to be fun. We were supposed to get another villain we could all love to hate. This was just depressing and infuriating and I wouldn't be surprised if it causes a massive shitstorm in the LGBT community. I can't wait to see what Heather Hogan has to say.

 

Couldn't agree more, Cranberry. Not only is it "CeCe is crazy and trans," there were several moments that seemed to directly link "CeCe is crazy BECAUSE she's trans" - the staring creepily into the mirror at her own reflection to admire her beauty, pasting her face on Ali's childhood pics, etc - this is depicting her gender identity as part of her obsessive, controlling Alison fixation. Disgusted.

 

I'm SHOCKED that the #booradleyvancullen hashtag isn't just a pile of queer rage fires - everyone seems to be trying to justify this, even though we all spent a whole half season wringing our hands at this worst possible outcome?! Even HH has been mostly silent on it, save for saying this is more nuanced than 140 character can allow. I dunno, "FUCK. THIS. SHIT." fits quite nicely into twitter form for me. I can't believe we just got practically every answer possible but I could barely focus on it through my cloud of rage.

 

I LIVE for this show, truly. I spend hours a week obsessing over podcasts and forums and timelines. But I can't just hand waive this massive misstep. I feel truly a bit bereft, y'all! I know it's probably a bit overwraught to feel this way, especially as I am a 35 year old GROWN ASS WOMAN, etc, but this has show has been giving me LIFE through a really really shitty year - my little brother killed himself, my parents are now divorcing in the aftermath, my siblings are having all kinds of emotional and drug problems in the fall out, and I'm barely keeping it together. Revelling in the joy of this show was a little silly something that was keeping me sane. And now I feel like it's dead to me.

 

Sorry for unloading, but god.damn.

Edited August 12, 2015 by itainttippithebird

[WhosThatGirl]

Yes, cranberry said it. There should be more transgender characters on tv shows. There should. That is a story no one is telling very much of. However, it was used badly for this show. I feel like it was used so that we felt for Cece. It's totally okay she did all those bad things to the liars because she's transgender. No, she is still a bad person, to me anyway. This is not the way you should write a transgender character and I hope the community for them speaks up on this.

 

(In a note:  I am someone from a certain community that tv doesn't have enough of representative on tv, we have a few here and there but not many, anyway, if a person from that community was killing people or hurting people but it was because of this community, I wouldn't think that was okay just because they were misunderstood)

[KaveDweller]

And Sara kidnapped herself if Cece was in Radley still?

 

I was wondering that, it is one thing that wasn't really explained at all.  Maybe CeCe was still sneaking out?

[ottoDbusdriver]

So where did CeCe/Charles/Charlotte get all the money to run her criminal enterprise ?

[jjjmoss]

So where did CeCe/Charles/Charlotte get all the money to run her criminal enterprise ?

We were supposed to think A got $ from the family suing the asylum for Cece being dead even though she's not, I think? But then, even if that's true, Jessica clearly would not be forking over that $ to her crazy daughter, so...it's a mystery.

[Cranberry]

Spender said that CeCe was "the real Wolf of Wall Street" who never made a bad investment, so I guess that throwaway line was supposed to explain A's infinite funds.

[Perfect Xero]

Honestly, after that mess, I was completely expecting the end tag to be a replay on the original Mona/Red Coat tag. Someone would walk in to her room and Cece would say that she did everything they wanted and that the girls completely believed that she was responsible for all the things that the other person had done. Maybe they'd even pull back to reveal their identity just so it would actually be an answer.

[fitzcarraldo]

When did Cece get in Ali contact again? If she only knew she wasn't dead after the lodge fire. And HOW ? Who was helping Ali before then? Shana? Wouldn't Cece buddy up to Ali then? What was the prison thing about?

[kissedbyarose]

And this is WORSE than the Dan as Gossip Girl reveal!

Was there any reason at all for Cece to be transgender or was it just a reason to make her crazy? I have so many thoughts but my mind is going faster than I can type on this stupid phone!

[Bort]

I really loved that of course Spencer can disarm a bomb.

[Perfect Xero]

Honestly, I believe that the point of Cece being transgender was supposed to be to 1. Make it a SHOCKING TWIST!. and 2. To make Cece/Charles/A sympathetic to the audience. See, poor Charles was just misunderstood and if Mr. D had just accepted Charles, none of it would have happened. It seems that they obviously missed the mark and failed to understand what doing the crazy transgender villain would mean to people.

 

Here's the biggest plot hole off the top of my head. Alison was the one writing to Bethany, sent her clothes, and asked her to meet her that night, IIRC.

[Lady Calypso]

Honestly, after that mess, I was completely expecting the end tag to be a replay on the original Mona/Red Coat tag. Someone would walk in to her room and Cece would say that she did everything they wanted and that the girls completely believed that she was responsible for all the things that the other person had done. Maybe they'd even pull back to reveal their identity just so it would actually be an answer.

 

Honestly, I would have been THRILLED if that happened. 10 bonus points if it was Wren or Wilden.

[jjjmoss]

This was ep 130. Cece's been in 12 eps...that's less than 10% of the show, and she's supposed to be the big bad of the last 3.5 years?

 

So who all has she killed in the course of the show, just Wilden?

[fitzcarraldo]

Sara is pissing me off the most. They didn't give a motive at all. And why date Emily?!

[HawkeyeLo]

I really loved that of course Spencer can disarm a bomb.

This was the only part of the episode I enjoyed. Well, that and Mona's shoe-weapon.

[Cranberry]

You're right, kissedbyarose, they could have done this entire storyline with A as Charlotte from the beginning. It feels like they made her transgender just to force us to be sympathetic. I don't want to be sympathetic to A!

 

(Or worse, they made her trans to give her a reason to go "crazy" when her dad wouldn't accept it.)

[ajm1234]

After years of waiting, I think I am satisfied with this outcome.  There are defiantly a lot of questions still unanswered but a lot of them were.  I think they tied the stories together as much as they possibly could.  I understand people will take this transgender -A personally, but at the same time are we never supposed to tell a story about any demographic that could potentially be offended.  I think kuddos to the writers for going there and not being afraid to do it.  As to why they couldn't just make Cece, Ali's twin as they did in the books...they have said from the beginning they wanted it to be different from the books.  This outcome gives them that opportunity without technically straying too far from it.  

 

With all this said, I do still wish Ezra was Uber A. :-)

[Perfect Xero]

Honestly, I would have been THRILLED if that happened. 10 bonus points if it was Wren or Wilden.

Oh, I'd have been much happier with that than what we got.

[dohe]

The thing is that twice they had possibilities of people who could have been A, would have made sense they were A, and would not have been cheats or offensive.  Yet the show didn't go with Toby or Ezra because it was too busy pandering to audiences. 

[itainttippithebird]

People like Norbuck are on twitter saying "no, you guys just don't get it, it's not about being trans, it's about parental abuse" and NOW I NEED TO GO BURN SOMETHING DOWN.

 

Listen, WE GET IT. It's you who doesn't get the cultural baggage of this moment. You can't just shrug it off by saying we're all missing the point. The POINT is bigger than your intention.

 

ACK

[tennisgurl]

I was SO CONVINCED it was going to be Wren! My friend I watch with and I were just starring in shock the whole tine. We thought we knew for sure!

[WhosThatGirl]

You're right, kissedbyarose, they could have done this entire storyline with A as Charlotte from the beginning. It feels like they made her transgender just to force us to be sympathetic. I don't want to be sympathetic to A!

 

(Or worse, they made her trans to give her a reason to go "crazy" when her dad wouldn't accept it.)

All night you have been speaking my thoughts when I cannot!  The Transgender thing isn't what I have a problem with. I have a problem with the fact that it seems to be what the show did to make us feel bad for Cece/A. Which to me is not okay. We shouldn't feel bad for A. 

[Bort]

As I've now processed... I liked that we got answers. I'm not really that up in arms about the transgender part of it. I think what disappointed me the most is that the episode was all exposition with flashbacks using actors we're unfamiliar with. That's not what I'm here for. I want to see the characters played by the actors I've been watching for over half a decade now.

I can only imagine Vanessa Ray's reaction when she got the script and she had lines on EVERY PAGE. I applaud her memorization skills, especially after listening to that interview by Troian where she said they don't get the script until the day before they start shooting.

[Amelia]

I hate how manipulative the episode felt. I don't want to feel bad for the person who has been tormenting these girls for years. It's not like it was a simple bullying incident; there was literal, actual danger. It was also boring; the PLLs just watched TV for a half hour and reacted to it. For a show that exists in hyper reality, this was awful.

 

Also, didn't Melissa think she was the one who killed Bethany? 

 

These girls never get a win and in this episode "of answers" they still didn't. It's awful.

Edited August 12, 2015 by Amelia

[dohe]

Sara is pissing me off the most. They didn't give a motive at all. And why date Emily?!

You can't have a longtime male love interest of one of the straight women be bad.  Not when dealing with an audience where many fans obsess with a pedophile teacher having sex with a high school student.  On the other hand, Emily does not get longtime love interests and dates women.  She and her romantic life are also a distant 4 in that group of 4.  Therefore, when the show decided at least one of the 4 has to find out the person they love is bad, Emily was a foregone conclusion for that betrayal of being betrayed by a lover. 

 

BTW, I have already had two friends email me how deeply hurt they were in how it depicts them and how this show adds to the trope of trans women being evil.  It is easy to say one is not bothered by that but when a minority has had to deal with such horrid representation over decades, this is not some minor matter. 

Edited August 12, 2015 by dohe

[lion10]

I can't believe that Marlene decided to make Cece trans.  That seems fairly offensive.  And that control room was straight out of a scifi show.  I actually said out loud "Okay, WHAT THE FUCK?"  Highlight of the episode was Emily punching Sara dead in the face and knocking her out.  I'm guessing Sara got caught in a partial Radley explosion.  I wonder who Ali married in the flashforward?

[Cranberry]

Vanessa Ray sold it, she really did. I believed that she was right on the edge of a breakdown the entire time. I'll have to rewatch later and pay better attention; I was too busy being horrified to catch everything during the liveblog experience.

[Giuliano Lanzilli]

I'm just happy because Vanessa Ray is just too much of a hot chick and her voice is so darn sexy! *__*

[jay741982]

I didn't see Charles/Charlotte as accidentally putting Baby Allison in the tub. No one saw the smirk on his face when he told his dad it was an accident? I did.

[Chairperson Meow]

I'm just going to pretend like A is Wren or Ezra. Because that was lame. The best part was Emily punching Shower Harvey because it felt like, well, someone needed to be smacked for that "reveal".

Oh let me guess... there's a new A in the time jump?

I feel sorry for Jason the most tbh. Dude was told his brother was his imaginary friend, then his brother dated him. No wonder he drinks.

[jjjmoss]

Someone pointed this out on another forum:

 

How could Mona have just realized she didn't kill Ali, but Bethany instead? Did she just forget about hitting some girl in the head when she picked up Ali LATER THAT NIGHT and took her to the motel?

Really.

 

Also, with their nonexistence this year, we better see the returns of Jenna, Lucas, and Noel in the 5 year jump. Oh and Melissa who only got 1 ep in 2015. All are much, much better characters than Shower and Cece and way more present in the course of the show.

Edited August 12, 2015 by jjjmoss

[Cranberry]

The poor Emison fans over on Tumblr are trying to explain away the "Mrs. Rollins" that Ali wrote on the board.

 

(Hey, I'll give it a shot. Maybe Ali is a teacher's assistant and she's writing the actual teacher's name on the board. Or maybe Mrs. Rollins is going to be a special guest speaker that day.)

[Chaos Theory]

I said this in the live thread, and I'll say it again here. Pretty Little Liars has done such a beautiful job with the LGBT community. Ok, really more just the LG community but what they did with representation was well done, and done in a positive way. But now? Marlene just screwed up ALL of that work and that progress and shat on the one community that needed good representation the most. Marlene has to see the risk she took to present this storyline, right? I guess it could have been much, much worse, but....yeah, no, this may have just ruined the show.

I really don't understand why. CeCe was handled extremely well in my opinion. Is it because she is a villain?! If that is the case then I disagree whole heartedly. I honestly would love to see a gay supervillian. One of my favorite horror stories is Candyman which is basically a black ghost slasher. It's not equality until you have a villain and it's not completely about the transgender which it wasn't in this case. I thought CeCe story was a good one. A father who threw her away the first chance he got. A friend who blamed her for her own insanity. Every time it looked like CeCe was going to get a piece of happiness it was ripped away from her so she became 'A as a way to get close to the only person she has left....Alison..

I am not explaining it perfectly but I liked the reveal. I do understand why people's first reaction is to be offended but I cannot see any real offense overt or implied in the story.

Maybe it will be an unpopular opinion but it is mine.

Edited August 12, 2015 by Chaos Theory

[allonsyalice]

Who was the girl the revealed as Black Veil? I can't place the face at all.

[itainttippithebird]

 

Who was the girl the revealed as Black Veil? I can't place the face at all.

 

It was Sara in a dark wig.

[Peanut6711]

This is slightly off topic of the previous comments but...Spencer's hair 5 years in the future??? I'm not a fan of the bangs. And did anyone else think it made her look like the actress that plays Ana in Fifty Shades of Gray???? ;-)

[Amelia]

From tumblr: 

 

"S4 ep 1 A is alive. Flashback scene with toby and Ali. Toby’s mom walks in. How do you explain Bethany pushing her when that had to be at least 6- 7 yrs prior??"

 

The continuity on this show is literally the worst thing I've ever seen in my life.

[jjjmoss]

People being psychotic and/or evil because they're queer is actually not uncommon.

See: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DepravedHomosexual

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PsychoLesbian

 

The intro line says: 

 

For years, an unfortunate cocktail of censorship and bigotry rendered all lesbian characters on screen exclusively psychotic and villainous. The Hays Code-era requirements that "deviant" characters (and that included all gay characters of either gender) must not be made sympathetic or rewarded meant that such characters would almost inevitably be toast before the final credits rolled - and this convention has persisted long after the demise of the Code itself.

So, no, this show having queer people be crazy and evil is NOT a step towards equality or refreshing or anything good at all.

[allonsyalice]

It was Sara in a dark wig.

oh. now i feel dumb. thank you!

[raytch]

Who was the girl the revealed as Black Veil? I can't place the face at all.

That my friend is Shower Harvey with a dark hair wig.

Yeap. They went there.

[Kate213]

Sigh.  Luckily my expectations going in to this episode were already low so I'm not exactly disappointed, I just hoped it'd be a reveal not done strictly for shock value. I really, really, really wanted A to be Ezra, that would have been amazing.  

 

So CeCe is trans why exactly?  To make the audience sympathize with her?  A is evil and there's no way I'm feeling sorry for her.  CeCe as Charlotte, the long lost crazy sister would have worked too.  But at least Vanessa Ray was great.

 

What is Shower Harvey's motive?  Why pretend to be a victim and date Emily?  My favorite part of the episode was when Emily punched her in the face, finally!  Emily's off to California so I'm guessing Paily will be on again at some point?  Especially if Alison is 'Mrs. Rollins' after the time jump haha.  I'm sure the Emison shippers will explain that away.  Hopefully Emily is done with the revolving door of love interests.  

 

Also, if CeCe was a child when Marion died, then that means Toby was a child when she died.  So how was there a flashback with a teen Toby, teen Alison and her?  

Edited August 12, 2015 by Kate213

[Cranberry]

Chaos Theory, for me it's mostly because it seemed like we were supposed to believe that CeCe is "crazy" partly because she's trans (the obsession with her appearance and the pasting her own face onto pictures of Ali)... and also because it's manipulative storytelling; it feels like if we don't forgive all of the evil things she did to the girls, we're somehow being transphobic. Basically, it feels like they could easily have done this story without "Charles" at all, but with her being Charlotte all along, and they made her trans just for the shocking twist and so that they'd have an easy way to make her sympathetic. I didn't want a sympathetic villain, though; I wanted a fun/evil mastermind, like Mona. I'm just really disappointed.

 

Aside from that whole thing, the episode itself was boring. We got a throwaway line to explain how A funded all of this (she made excellent investments), and the liars were sidelined for almost the entire episode, simply watching a screen and reacting to the things they saw on it. 

[dohe]

Chaos Theory, maybe the other people posting here have a stronger awareness of how the villain turns out to be a trans woman who is driven crazy by her circumstances is an old trope.  So while you think it is something original, many others, such as myself, are going are you kidding me.

 

To you this may be original.  To many of us though it is come on this is 2015.

Edited August 12, 2015 by dohe

[Lady Calypso]

I really don't understand why. CeCe was handled extremely well in my opinion. Is it because she is a villain?! If that is the case then I disagree whole heartedly. I honestly would love to see a gay supervillian. One of my favorite horror stories is Candyman which is basically a black ghost slasher. It's not equality until you have a villain and it's not completely about the transgender which it wasn't in this case. I thought CeCe story was a good one. A father who through her away the first chance he got. A friend who blamed her for her own insanity. Every time it looked like CeCe was going to get a piece of happyness it was ripped away from her so she became 'A as a way to get close to the only person sge has left....Aluson.

I am not explaining it perfectly but I liked the reveal. I do understand why people's first reaction is to be offended but I cannot see any real offense overt or implied in the story.

Maybe it will be an unpopular opinion but it is mine.

 

Understandable. I think this whole Cece being transgender was handled a lot better than I could have predicted. It could have really been worse, and they did avoid using the transgender word and focused more on Cece being evil because of her parents and they tried focusing less on the whole 'she's evil because she's transgender'. However, the transgender community already has shit to go through. They are still not really accepted in society, and there's so little representation of them on television, in movies and even just in the media period. It's important for them to get the proper representation that they need and the show seemed to imply that because Cece is transgender, she was sick and had to be kept in Radley. I know the reason why she went was for hurting Ali, but there were heavily implications that the show chose to ignore, but something that people can easily read into. It seemed like Charles/Cece was jealous of Ali, and that became her obsession. They did what they could to sway away from the offensive portion, but it's still offensive.

 

Plus, the fact is is that they could have either kept her as Charles (as Wren/Wilden/whoever) and it would have still made sense, or they could have NOT had Charles, had Charlie instead but kept the sibling as a girl and it would have been just a fine reveal. But the fact that they went with a transgender character, have continuity problems get in the way, and have the transgender community represented and implied as evil and crazy? There's already issues lately about their community this year, especially with the whole Caitlyn Jenner debacle (sadly, still too many people thinking she's sick, she's wrong, etc), so it's just horrid timing and a HORRIBLE decision. 

[dkb]

This is slightly off topic of the previous comments but...Spencer's hair 5 years in the future??? I'm not a fan of the bangs. And did anyone else think it made her look like the actress that plays Ana in Fifty Shades of Gray???? ;-)

 

Totally agree. Hanna looked the best, and I think Alison looked the worst.

[raytch]

Pfff I swear it's like the writers don't watch their own show.

Charles should have been 21 by the time Marion died.

Someone had to kidnap Sara Harvey the next day and if Cece went back with Wilden to Radley...

If Mona thought she killed Ali how the hell was she not shocked to see her wandering on the side of the road?

What was she doing in the Ds backyard that night?

Screw this. I'm going to bed. Can't believe I stayed up for this.

[Shangrilala]

Back when I first heard the trans theory it was right around the time that Caitlyn Jenner revealed herself as trans. I figured the theory came about because of that. I'm still thinking that - I'm not convinced that they knew this 3 years in advance. The only clue they dropped that I can tell was the scene when Mrs d comes home with 2 yellow dresses. And that could have been anything, really.

The wilden theory is better. So is the A team theory.

So I'm supposed to feel sorry for cece? The girl who was so misunderstood that it drove her to run a car through Emily's house, blow up tobys house, kidnap 5 girls, starve them, mentally torture them, toss one of them in a fucking hole, a la silence of the lambs, stalk, threaten and torture them, and even staple Aria to a wall in saran wrap?

Sorry. Trans or not, no sympathy. Crazy and evil is crazy and evil. Every psychopath has a mama who loved them. It doesn't make them sympathetic.

[jjjmoss]

Pfff I swear it's like the writers don't watch their own show.

It's "like" that, sure.

[Shangrilala]

p.s. can somebody let the moms out of the basement now?

[raytch]

Just one last thought. The moms are still locked in the basement.