impy: tori from jackie's strength video (prettyliars: hanna)
[personal profile] impy
I think my headache is slowly stabilizing, so let's chat about Pretty Little Liars and the big A reveal. I'm not sure any of you watch PLL (it's on Netflix so you can binge if you want to) and it's been eons since I did a PLL roundup but I'm pretty sure the reveal of the ultimate big bad deserves some discussion.

Obviously this means there will be spoilers. And ranting because holy mackerel, does this show runner make Brad Kern look completely trustworthy. Almost, anyway.



If you're peeking because you love me and want to support my insanity but have no idea what PLL is about, let me give you the crash course.


 photo Facts_Alison_zpsyqpv6fvj.gif
This is Alison DiLaurentis. A year prior to the show starting, she goes missing over Labor Day weekend. The series begins with her friend/minion, Aria, moving back to Rosewood, PA and dealing with the shock of how quickly everyone and everything she knew has changed and how much has managed to oddly stay the same.

The pilot opens with Ali's body being discovered in her backyard when the new owners of the house try and install a pool. We end with a mysterious text being sent to Ali's friends, and stars of the show:


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Left to right:
Hanna Marin, former fat girl who transforms herself into an It Girl in Ali's absence. Has a heart of gold and forgives more than is strictly necessary, but once you piss her off, beware. Somehow manages to be both the 'dumb' one of the group and freakishly smart, though the latter is almost always shown to be a fluke... even though it keeps happening. :P She's my favorite.

Emily Fields, jock and resident sweetheart. If Hanna forgives too easily, Emily's even worse. Starts the series off with a boyfriend but it becomes very clear, very quickly, that Emily's a lesbian and has the best and worst luck dating of the bunch. She's almost never single even when she should probably be. Emily's been targeted as the weakest of the PLL bunch by A numerous times, probably due to her being the most believable in terms of how she deals with being stalked by some unknown psychopath who keeps trying to kill/maim/destroy her as well as her friends and family. Used to be in love with Ali, for those keeping score.

Spencer Hastings, the brain who is dangerously focused. She used to butt heads with Ali the most back in the day and has more than a few skeletons in her family closet. Spencer is the most high strung of the group but if you knew her family, you'd understand why. Briefly a member of A's team (but not really) and a former resident of Radley, the local nuthouse, she's also the girl who cried A too many times. Seriously, if Spencer hasn't accused you of being A, you haven't been on the show long enough. :P Spencer is probably my second favorite of the bunch, this crappy write-up notwithstanding.

Aria Montgomery, the artsy one. Aria's biggest plot on the show has been her romance with her (former) teacher, Ezra, and possibly her pink extensions in flashbacks. Of the Liars, Aria's had the least damage inflicted upon her over the years, leading many fans to wonder if she was actually working with A or was A. Aria's got the worst luck in dating whenever she ventures outside of Ezra, as the rule of the show seems to be that if you're interested in Aria, there's something wrong with you. If Hanna has moments of incredible insights, Aria has some fun quips and works better when paired with Spencer or Hanna.


I got a little lost there, sorry. Anyway, you should probably also know:


 photo 59aa68c0-beff-0132-4590-0ebc4eccb42f_zpsvzmdehzv.gif
Mona.


Seriously, if you had any hopes of watching this show and didn't want to be spoiled and you'd made it this far without really reading/hearing much about the show, turn back now because everything from now on is definitely spoiler territory.


Ready?

Okay.

Mona was the first A*, terrorizing the group for shits and giggles and to also make them pay for stealing Hanna from her. You see, Ali was a terrible person prior to her disappearance, and she made Mona's life a living hell. To be honest, I'm not sure you could find one single person in Rosewood who didn't wish Ali had disappeared earlier than she did, even if they might not have wished her dead. Which was the point, btw. You had a million suspects because this girl was awful.

 photo Hanna_amp_Mona_zpsx0z4pmim.gif
Anyway, Mona transforms herself into one of the most popular girls in school in the wake of Ali's disappearance and she and Hanna are a fantabulous duo until Aria moves back to town. Mona does not take being overshadowed well and uh, craziness ensues. Literally since she winds up in Radley for an extended stay.

 photo tumblr_nsz2m4MOel1ror1qao1_500_zpsszwbrfu9.gif
If Spencer is smart, Mona is the Janine Kishi of Rosewood, only she hides her smarts for a very, very long time because she's smart enough to know that an incredibly intelligent woman scares the shit out of people. Also, when you're running around stalking people, it's best if they don't think you're anywhere near bright enough to pull such a thing off. Never suspect!

When Mona is revealed as A and goes to Radley, someone "steals the game" from her. Someone in a red coat. DundunDUN.

And we're off, trying to figure out who redcoat is and if they're Ultimate A. Because Mona as A didn't kill Ali. Except... well, we'll get to that. Anyway, we eventually learn that the body found in Ali's backyard wasn't Ali, she was a girl named Bethany Young. Who was a patient at Radley.

With Ali's body not being Ali, that opens the door for Ali to be alive and she is. Turns out that someone did try and kill her the night she went missing. Hit her upside the head and then her mother (gasp!) buried her alive, though to be fair, Mama D did think Ali was dead at the time. But who could Mama D be protecting? The obvious signs point to Ali's older brother, Jason, who has been rather sketchy over the years and also had an affection for Aria and we all know that means he's not right. But no, that's also too easy. Turns out he's only Ali's half brother and by the time we're done with this series, Jason is probably going to need to fund the reopening of Radley because he's going to be in desperate need of psychiatric help.

Anyway, so Ali's not dead and we spend a season suspecting this and then it's confirmed, and then she comes back and everyone knows she's not dead and then Mona goes missing and we think she's dead and it all just gets very, very complicated.

Then we find out that A is Charles DiLaurentis, Ali's brother. Who is not Jason. But who the fuck is Charles?

As we're trying to figure out who Charles is, the show runner tells us that A was around at the beginning. A as in Charles.

Which is a big, fat fucking LIE. Because do you know who Charles is?

 photo 3b9830d0-a34c-0132-a2d7-0e6808eb79bf_zpst6mqvrzs.gif
Haaaaaaaaaaaave you met CeCe?

CeCe Drake was introduced in Season Fucking 3 of the show. We're in the middle of Season 6, btw. CeCe's always been sketchy and is initially shown to be a LOT like Ali, but somehow worse and better all at the same time. Anyway, CeCe is also a girl.

Which means in order to be Charles, CeCe must be transgender.

Good job, show. You liiiiiiiiiiiied to me and then tried to get around it with Mona realizing she's the one who killed Bethany (really, your smartest character is going to just realize this shit NOW?) so I'm guessing that's your A who was around at the start, but I don't even know at this point.

Thing is, CeCe makes sense for a lot of things. Until they start with flashbacks that directly contradict things previously shown. Charles is shown as a child wearing a dress on the roof at Radley, when Toby's (Spencer's boyfriend) mother, also a patient, appears and instead of just staying hidden, little Bethany Young (her again) shoves poor Marion off the damn roof and then blames Charles.

Only guess what? We'd already had a flashback of Toby and Ali, both much older as in maaaaaaaybe the year before Ali disappeared, talking about Toby's mother and how she'd only recently died. And it still could have worked, all you needed was better writing on the finale's flashback. Jesus. But then she tries to spin it as an artistic choice because the characters would see themselves as they are now or something. Uh, no. When I think about kid me doing something, I see kid me. Perhaps an idealized version of kid me, but I am still a kid in my flashbacks, lady.

Why create unnecessary plotholes? Sigh.

Anyway, show runner is also clueless as to why people are flipping out over CeCe being Charles. It's not that the show is hopping on some nonexistent trans bandwagon, it's that in revealing their first transgender character, they also made them the biggest, baddest character in the show. CeCe/Charles isn't some innocent bystander in all of this, she didn't just take over an actual game from Mona, she murdered someone and tortured others. Literally tortured other people. And when asked why? She says she was good at it.

If there were more trans characters out there who didn't get the short end of the stick, then yeah, this would be kind of brilliant. But we're not there yet, and for all you try to say that CeCe's villainy isn't tied to being trans, it is.

Charles was clearly caught being different by his father, so when Charles put his baby sister in a tub with hot (warm? does it matter?) water to try and calm her down, Daddy jumped to the conclusion that Charles was trying to kill Ali. CeCe, an unreliable narrator at best, tells us this isn't true and that she loved/loves Ali and would never hurt her. Just torture her. Daddy D had Charles locked up at Radley so he wouldn't have to see his son being most un-son like again.

Which sucks. Daddy D, you are officially the worst parent in Rosewood, and that's saying something.

Had Mama D been able to walk away from her husband and take the kids with her, then no, I don't think Charles/CeCe would have turned all stalker crazy on us. But that wasn't to be soooooo... Charles grows up inside a mental hospital (and not a good one at that) with no real life. The moment she gets to be who she wants to be, what does she do? She starts dating her half brother. And yes, she knew who he was. She went after him, knowing that. Y'know, in order to get back in with the family. Which is just... really? Mama D did keep in touch with CeCe so it's not like she could just go, "Surprise!" because Mama knows who you are. Daddy, on the other hand, completely clueless. Ali was also clueless.

Soooooooooooo... yeah. This storyline manages to make a certain amount of sense and is still so massively off that I still cannot find the words.

It doesn't help that we're left with unanswered questions, like how did CeCe manage to cart these girls around like rag dolls, or why was Sara (long story, but a girl CeCe kidnapped) working with CeCe and did she kill Mama D or was that someone else?

I'm half tempted to start a rewatch of the show just to try and get these answers.

 photo tumblr_static_568gjtjeca88sokowgosg0cw4_zpstboee6ij.gif
But the more I think about things, the more I feel like this. You tell her, Spencer.

Oh, and Jason's therapy issues would include the dating CeCe thing, he dated Melissa Hastings who is also his half-sister (Mama D got around), his father convinced him that his childhood friend Charlie was an imaginary friend instead of his brother, his sister (CeCe) drugs him and leaves him lying on the floor as she admits to a thousand awful things, all while basically saying that the only living member of her family she cared about anymore was Ali. When Jason was the one who tried desperately to find and help Charlie. Seriously, kid, if you're the He they talk about coming after Ali in a presumed attempt to kill her, I wouldn't blame you.

(no subject)

Date: 2015-08-25 02:19 am (UTC)
luxken27: (SVH - Evil Elizabeth)
From: [personal profile] luxken27
Wow, that sounds twelve kinds of twisted, and none of them good :( Even without the whole awful Charles/CeCe trans thing, you have the villainy of the mentally ill. Right from the start, it seems, if the local nuthouse plays this big a role in it all.

Wasn't this based on a book series? How far off the beaten trail did they go with this mess?? Because it sounds like they plotted out one season of a show and then when it got renewed they started flying by the seat of their pants o.O

(no subject)

Date: 2015-08-25 09:56 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] snarky-imp.livejournal.com
The TV show has managed a weird little trick in that it keeps very close to the books in some ways while veering off dramatically in others. I couldn't tell you anything that happened after the 8th book which is essentially the second arc, because I just couldn't get past the big A reveal there, either.

The books are a bit different, in that Ali goes missing when she's 13, I think? So more time has passed. Also, I think the girls were only 'friends' with Ali for about a year or so before she went missing. Which comes into play later.

First Arc has Mona being A, which is what the show did, too, after swearing up and down that they weren't going down that road. :P But then TV Mona lives and book Mona dies. In fact, a lot of the important characters on the show died in the books (I'm looking at you, Toby) or didn't exist in the books at all. I don't think CeCe's in the books, or if she is she doesn't show up til after I stopped reading.

Anyway, Ultimate A in the second arc is Ali's twin sister, Courtney. Courtney was the unstable twin and wound up at Radley until it closed. Between Radley and Institution #2, Courtney was home with her family. She pulls a twin switch and her mother takes Ali to Radley 2, leaving Courtney to assume Ali's identity. A year later, the real Ali's home for a weekend and she's so pissed at what Courtney's done with her life that she kills her sister when she's unable to convince her to twin switch back.
Anyway, Mama D notices that 'Ali' (who is actually Ali, but Mama didn't realize she'd spent the last year with the wrong daughter) is missing her friendship bracelets and her A for Alison ring and figures out that her daughter has done something horrible to her other daughter. Half right, Mama D! So Mama (who has never acknowledges in Rosewood that she has three children) takes Ali back to Radley 2 and Ali begins to plot her revenge.
Courtney's body is found when the new family goes to put in a tennis court and eventually the DiLaurentis family has "Courtney" come home, not realizing that she's actually Ali. Real Ali hates the Liars and has a much higher body count (people die on the show but they tend to come back but in the books dead is dead is dead) and tries to kill them because, and this is the part I cannot wrap my head around, she blames them for Courtney being able to switch their identities and convince her mother she was the crazy twin.

Reading the wiki makes more sense than reading the book in which she kidnaps them all and tries to kill them all, honestly. I remember throwing the book in frustration and you know I love a good evil twin story. :P

The show hints at Ali having a twin (based an entire Halloween episode around it, actually) but went with CeCe instead. So it was less convoluted...sorta? CeCe's easier to explain than Courtney, especially when you factor in the whole book!Ali was always the bad twin the whole time (after my time) but then you've got TV!Ali on the run for two years and part of that was spent with CeCe 'helping' her.

(no subject)

Date: 2015-08-25 12:41 pm (UTC)
luxken27: (SVH - Evil Elizabeth)
From: [personal profile] luxken27
Heh - I actually went looking last night after reading this post to see if I could find any more info on the books, and yeah. The books even up even stupider than the TV series, if that's even possible, LOL. Apparently the series was originally supposed to end with Book #8 but someone convinced the author ($$$) that she should extend it and it went to Book #16, with lots of people thinking it's not really going to end there.

In reading the Wiki summary and then the book reviews/Goodreads stuff, I just can't with people thinking its such an amazing series because it is full of absolutely stupid shit. I mean, at least with SVH we acknowledge that it's batshit insane, you know? I mean, Margo was brilliant but the series went downhill after that and bringing back Margo's own evil twin was just - I mean, who even took that seriously, you know? It was campy good fun and, barring the whole Nina thing, didn't overextend its welcome in the series.

These fans seems to think this was the greatest thing ever written, when it has so many plot holes and so much brain-breaking unbelievable stuff that only stupid teenagers would buy as being remotely plausible...I just. Weep for humanity, I guess.

I don't know which is worse, the whole CeCe thing (which does not exist in the books as far as I can tell) or the fact that Ali is finally caught in the end of the book series basically because she's gotten fat and ugly, which apparently makes her slow and stupid. IDEK o.O

(no subject)

Date: 2015-08-25 03:32 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] snarky-imp.livejournal.com
I'd imagine there's no use for CeCe in the books since she really does seem to have existed as either a setup for the Charles reveal or as a bad influence on Ali, depending on whether you buy the story that they've been building up to this since she was introduced.

I want to say that the second arc of the books ended about the time the tv show was airing, maybe during the first season somewhere? And when that blew up, I'd imagine that it didn't take any convincing at all to have the author go back for more.

I enjoyed the first 7 or so books and if she'd given me a reason for Ali to be trying to kill off her sister's friends at the time (not going back and trying to retcon that in), I might have enjoyed that one as well, all while knowing it was insane. Seriously, every chapter ends on a cliffhanger and every time one of the girls was given a choice, she always chose the one that made the most amount of trouble and least amount of sense. Which works in moderation, but not literally every single choice. It's like a Choose Your Own Adventure where you're trying to die as quickly as possible.

As cotton candy books, they work, but the show is better. The characters are more likable and even when things are just so over the top that you want to throw your hands up in the air and scream, at least the actors can usually carry things along. Except Sara. She's just awful.

Annnnnnnnnnnnd I'm glad you added that bit about Ali at the end because that should keep me from reading the rest of the books. WTF?

(no subject)

Date: 2015-08-25 07:00 pm (UTC)
luxken27: (SVH - Evil Elizabeth)
From: [personal profile] luxken27
I want to say that the second arc of the books ended about the time the tv show was airing, maybe during the first season somewhere? And when that blew up, I'd imagine that it didn't take any convincing at all to have the author go back for more.

Apparently it is obvious in the books that these last 8 were tacked on to what was more or less a complete series. It certainly seems to have gotten less plausible in the last two arcs - I mean, one crazy twisted reveal in Mona followed by an evil twin story - how can you possibly top that??

There are people who apparently cried at the end of the book, and not tears of shame for having hung on so long, LOL. I totally get cotton candy for the brain - hello SVH - but I don't know that anybody cried over the Evil Twin or Return of the Evil Twin arcs. They are fun but not life-changing.

Seriously, every chapter ends on a cliffhanger and every time one of the girls was given a choice, she always chose the one that made the most amount of trouble and least amount of sense. Which works in moderation, but not literally every single choice. It's like a Choose Your Own Adventure where you're trying to die as quickly as possible.

LOL, that's what it sounded like, only magnified x1000 by the end :P

Annnnnnnnnnnnd I'm glad you added that bit about Ali at the end because that should keep me from reading the rest of the books. WTF?

Check out the GoodReads reviews for the last book (#16, forget the title). Someone on there did just what I wanted them to and spoiled the whole thing, because I was like, "seriously, Ali getting caught in the end is the big reveal? LOL okay." And then I saw HOW she was caught and was even more incredulous. I get the whole "mastermind foiled by the obvious" but that was just ridiculous.

The first arc sounds like it was a solid idea, and probably should've wrapped up then, but I definitely understand the lure of an evil twin twist. But after that I find it very difficult to justify this series going on (and apparently the TV show has at least two more seasons?! of what?!) after that, beyond wanting to milk the audience for all it was worth.

(no subject)

Date: 2015-08-25 10:53 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] snarky-imp.livejournal.com
I don't think I ever cried at the Evil Twin or Return of, though I did cry at the end of A Night to Remember. Which is kind of the point of the book, aside from being a set up for the fantabulous Margo to appear.


I'm definitely going to have to poke Goodreads sometime soon for the reveal and save myself the curiosity of reading the books. Because this sounds like a throw the book against a wall kind of thing and I don't want to kill my walls. :P

Yup, arc 2 basically wrapped up a lot of things and I could see maybe doing a book from Ali's point of view since as they stood, the books still hadn't made it clear why she'd bother to murder anyone other than Courtney (and anyone who realized Courtney was a possibility), but not drag another arc out of the whole thing, let alone two.

TV wise, we're getting a time jump wherein Spencer gets unfortunate bangs and a mysterious He is coming for Alison. I'm saying right now that it's the original actor for Jason, coming back for his revenge after being replaced by prettier Jason. Revenge shall be his, muhahaha!

I'm still sad that I won't be getting my holiday episode for the show. We used to get Halloween episodes and last year we got a Christmas one. I'd have been okay with a Thanksgiving or New Year's ep, show.

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