#as in still obsessed with the radley place

[caffeinejournalist23]

Rewriting Pretty Little Liars - Part II

I didn't think my original post "Rewriting Pretty Little Liars would get as much interaction as I did (thanks btw! I'm not necessarily writing to get some kind of interaction as much as I'm writing to improve my own writing skills, but getting likes and "reblogs" helps me feel not so alone in the Tumblr community!) So, with that in mind, I thought I'd follow-up with a better fleshed-out explanation - with scenes! This post is gonna be a long one folks, so grab your popcorn and your teA, And pretend the unsAtisfying reveAl in the show never hAppened.

!! SPOILER WARNING FOR TV SHOW & BOOK PLL!!

Hate is not a vice; it's a coping mechanism. Lying is not a crime; it's a game. Mona is not a stable girl, but is her instability more excusable than the evil and torment Aria and Alison chose to exert on their supposed friends?

Allison got in deep shit with members of the N.A.T. club, along with pretty much everyone in Rosewood. The result? Mona hit Allison over the head with a shovel - and Melissa Hastings buried her. But Aria came to the rescue; Aria was planning to say goodbye to Allison before she ran away from Rosewood as Vivian Darkbloom.

"Oh my God are you kidding me?" Allison sulked, dirt staining her yellow top as she held her hands to the sore spot on her head. "Loser Mona?! She really thought she could just get rid of me like that - when I tell my parents our lawyers are gonna make the rest of her life a living hell -" "No, Alli," Aria interrupted sternly, gently wiping dirt from Allison's shoulders as they quickly sashayed through the yard between the DeLaurentis' and Hastings' households. "We can use this, we need someone to take the fall when we take our game for a test run." Allison rolled her eyes. "Jeez Aria since when did you find something to obsess over besides Noel?" Allison asked asked curtly, clearly annoyed. "Trust me on this Alli, this will work. It's what Doctor Sullivan calls 'Refocusing my rage into something productive.' And besides," Aria stared glassy-eyed into the stormy sky for moment, her eyes seeing fantasies she couldn't disclose to anyone other than Allison. "They deserve it," Aria continued. Allison scrunched her lips, not sure exactly what to think. "I like this side of you as much as the next bitch, Aria, but I'm starting to think maybe you're taking it too seriously - it's just a game, and yeah the other three aren't as cool as us but that crazy bitch Mona just tried to kill me!" Allison shouted. "And that bitch took my phone." Aria felt for the pink flip-phone snugly buried in her back pocket before she stopped suddenly and gently gripped Allison's arm, causing her to stop also. "It'll all go according to plan," Aria chided, "and it's gonna be so worth it." A dark car pulled up their street suddenly. Aria looked to try to make out the driver, but it was too dark for her to see who it was - perhaps the driver was wearing a hoodie or something. "Do we know this person?" Aria asked looking between the car and Allison. Allison smoothed down her hair a bit. "Not 'we' - just me; he's a friend," said Allison softly. She turned to Aria, who passed her the brown wig and red coat. "This is where we say goodbye," said Allison. "For now," added Aria with certainty. The two friends hugged briefly, Allison looking at Aria in a similar way she occasionally looked at Emily, then Allison entered the passenger seat of the dark vehicle. Aria watched the car pull away before heading back to the barn. She thought she saw another blonde in a yellow top dart behind the DeLaurentis house, but Aria assumed it was a delusion; she was starting to spiral in her head a little, like another episode was threatening to occur - maybe it was the alcohol, or the stress of watching a psycho loser hit her best friend with a shovel and then watching another friend's older sister bury said best friend. Allison's "friend" sped the car smoothly towards Radley sanitarium as Allison smoothed the brown wig over her throbbing head. "What took you so long Ezra?" Allison spat bitterly to the driver. Ezra Fitz swallowed nervously. "And good evening to you too," Ezra said; nervous and intimidated as he was by Allison, the sarcasm couldn't be helped. "Long night?" asked Ezra dryly. "I told you not to talk to me, Ezra; you do me this last favor, or I shove a sharp third-degree-rape lawsuit up your ass. Not to mention the obsessive stalking." Allison barked bitterly. She thought back to Aria and her obsession with the anonymous texting app they found; Aria had texted Allison a creepy "I'm watching you" message from the app last Halloween as a prank, and ever since Aria was obsessed with how someone could use the anonymous texting app for good or evil. Allison rolled her eyes and shook her head at the silly similarity. "You know, I have this friend - obsessive and a super writer geek. You two would be perfect for each other," Allison says scornfully. Ezra swallowed again. "I doubt she'd be as interesting as you," Ezra whispered, alluding to the book about Allison he had been drafting. Allison thought for a moment, her need to be on top competed with her curious feelings for her female friends. "People can surprise you," Allison shrugged.

So as we can see, Allison and Aria had a dysfunctional dynamic - I guess when you can't fight fire with fire, you make the whole town burn. Soon after Ezra helps Allison hide in Radley (pretending to be Aria), Aria and her family temporarily relocate to Iceland because Byron and Ella Montgomery are warned that the case regarding the death of Toby's mother in Radley has been reopened, and because the time and occurrence correlates with when Aria was there regularly before she convinced her psychiatrist that she's recovering enough to go back to school and "normal" life. Aria's psychiatrist Dr. Sullivan had been worried while Aria was in Radley; she thought that Aria's friend Allison seemed to be encouraging Aria's psychosis and erratic behavior. Meanwhile, Hanna befriends Mona at "fat camp," and together they coach each other to replace Allison - Mona is convinced Allison is dead, so she feels confident replacing her despite Hanna worrying Allison could come back any day. "There'd be hell to pay if Allison suddenly came back and just saw us trying to be her," said Hanna anxiously as Mona curled the ends of her hair. "That's 'if,' Hanna, why would she come back to this godforsaken town," Mona asks passively. "yeah, you're right," Hanna chuckled shyly, rolling her eyes. "I bet she just ran off to a boujie island or something with some hot guy." Mona paused in thought for a moment. "I bet she did." Melissa continues to work with the N.A.T. club - primarily to ensure there was no evidence of her burying Allison's body to help Mona. Mona continually annoys Melissa about it, terrified she will get caught - that it was just an accident and it just happened too fast. Melissa checks the N.A.T. club cameras - cameras secretly placed/tapped into several places throughout Rosewood, funded by Jason's share of the DeLaurentis fortune/stake in the industry company (I can't remember the name of the company, but it's the same one Cece claimed to have used as A). Melissa is certain she literally got away with murder, and fabricates a confession video for Spencer if the investigation got too close to her and she needed Spencer's help to cover herself. Emily continues to grieve for Allison, wondering if she'll ever be found, or if she just ran away with some guy - typical Alli. Spencer feels relief with Alli gone; less rivalry and competition, and the secrets Allison had on her couldn't be weaponized - right?

When Aria returns from Iceland, she's furious to find that the other friends had "moved on" from Allison; Hanna tried to take Allison's place and befriended Mona (who Allison totally despised), Spencer admitted she was relieved that Alli was gone, and Emily dated [that one guy] and disregarded her feelings for Allison. These conditions are the perfect justifications for Aria's torturous experiment; the girls need to remember Allison is still there - one day Allison will come home and everything will go back to how it was, and her friends will be who they used to be before Allison went away. Aria confronts Mona about the night she "killed" Allison, and threatens to bear witness against Mona unless Mona does her bidding. Mona agrees to do whatever Aria asks her to do. Now that "Allison's body" has been found, Aria promises Mona will never be caught for "killing Allison" if Mona uses her wits and skill in her plan to "remind the girls closest to Allison that she's still in charge" - and Mona manifests it into a game.

Who is Mona playing the game against? The N.A.T. club (and Big A). Aria and the N.A.T. do not exactly work together, but they know of each other and compete with each other through Mona. This is why later on the Halloween train members of the N.A.T. club try to murder Aria, as a means to play against the A(D) team (Aria, Mona, Cece, and Allison). Aria had killed Garrett after Allison texts her that Garett realized Aria was A, but Allison actually manipulated Aria to kill Garrett because Garett realized Cece was still feeding them (Allison and Aria) info from the N.A.T. club. Members of the N.A.T. club are slowly killed off by the A Team. Allison kills Ian for moving on to Spencer. Ian was going to make Allison the subject of a movie he wanted to make, but he moved on to Spencer/Melissa as soon as Allison disappeared, which infuriates Allison's self-absorbed ego. Jason is injured by Cece in the elevator because she's pissed he developed an interest in Aria, and he starts connecting dots together between Cece and Allison still being alive (around this time the A Team hits a fork; Cece and Allison versus Aria/Mona)..

Mona is sent to Radley sanitarium after being caught as A by Spencer; Mona thought she could reveal herself as A and convince Spencer to join the team, but Spencer refuses. When every other girl she gets tangled up with (Aria, Allison, and Melissa) is motivated by secrets, Mona assumed that the allure of secret info would be enough to convince Spencer. Mona continues playing the game while in Radley, but she realizes she rather be part of the group than win the game, so after she's released she starts victimizing herself by "A" (her accomplices Toby and Lucas). Aria finds out Mona went behind her back to recruit help for Mona's sake of winning the game and victimizing herself, and confronts Mona at the movies and whispers to her, "you'll never be part of the group, especially if they learn you killed their best friend" - which makes her cry.

After stealing Allison's diaries from Spencer (season 4?), Aria dissects the diaries and reaches out to someone recurring in Allison's diaries; Cece. Aria realizes through Allison's diaries and Cece that despite her unwavering loyalty, Allison kept secrets from Aria - and that just didn't sit right with Aria. Cece is still mad at Allison for jeopardizing her spot in the N.A.T. club - and her relationship with Jason (she was hoping to get a cut from his stake in the DeLaurentis fortune), which motivates her to spill anything she has on Allison to Aria - including Allison's secret relationship with Ezra. Aria visits Allison in Radley, who is anxious to go home, but when Aria confronts Allison about Ezra, she lies, which severs Aria's tie to her. Aria dissociates with her rage and tells Alison she'll never be able to safely escape Radley and go home. After this confrontation in Radley, Allison snaps and has a mental breakdown; she rips off the brown wig and insists she's not Aria but Allison DeLaurentis - the most popular "It" girl in Rosewood. Radley then treats Allison as a "Jane Doe" after confirming with Dr. Sullivan that Aria has been released, and Allison's body has been found so this can't be her. Allison is getting fed up with Aria for stranding her in Radley for years and works with Wren, one of the new hot doctors at Radley, to get fake IDs for her and Cece. Allison continues to pretend to be Aria and visits Mona, asking for all the info she has on the girls and the A game; Allison is ready to take over. Allison promises Cece a cut of the DeLaurentis fortune if she can help her escape. Cece agrees; Allison tells her about the A game, and if "A" kills Jason they can inherit his share of the wealth. Finally Allison can escape Radley for good and steal the A game from Mona/Aria.

Allison and Cece escape Radley and hide in New York [soon] after Mona leaves and steal the game from Mona/Aria. Allison recruits new A team members, including Shawna. Allison as A also inadvertently recruits Jenna, who has no clue A is Alison and Cece. Later, Aria realizes Allison and Cece came back are roaming around Rosewood in red coats and starts the fire in the cabin when she thinks Allison and Cece are nearby to kill Mona - yes, Aria used Mona as bait to bring in Cece and Allison and planned to kill them. She rescued Emily, Spencer and Hanna because to take Allison's place she needs them - the group; Hanna saw Aria in a red coat and an Allison mask. This is why Aria and Cece fight in the warehouse; Cece and Aria used to be chill but now Cece is team Allison (for the money obvi), and Aria tries to save Cece saying she can "be Allison" and give Cece the same money when she fully becomes Allison, but Cece slips and Aria leaves her for dead. Cece resents Aria for leaving her for dead and plays A against Aria.

Allison reveals she's alive to the rest of the girls but she can't come home yet; it's not because of A she can't come home, because as far as she thinks she stole the A game from Aria - she can't come home because of her mom and the family secrets. Jessica DeLaurentis did not want Allison to come home - by assuming Allison was dead she inherited Allison's share of the DeLaurentis company stake, and Allison blackmails Jessica when she learns of Mary Drake - Jessica's deranged twin. To free herself from the restraints her mother poses (she thinks her mother really would kill her), Allison kills Jessica as A. The group is still suspicious of Allison being A, and because she's running out of cards to play, Aria relies on these suspicions to get the game back from Allison.

However, Allison throws a curveball (to Aria) and convinces Cece to reveal herself as A to the girls; Cece is guilty of killing Wilden for Allison and of course Allison has proof. This lands Cece in Radley. Cece learns Allison killed Jessica through the N.A.T. club cameras (because she was allies with Jenna and [Allison's fiance (can't remember his name)] while in Radley), so she threatens to convict Allison with the video footage if Allison does not advocate for her release from Radley. So Allison fights to get Cece released by creating this narrative that they are deranged relatives/half-siblings. Cece is released but Allison hates that Cece has the footage of Jessica's death on her, so she kills Cece. Aria uses this as the perfect means to steal the A game back, but this time she plays it as AD; AD for Alison DeLaurentis, and Aria believes she is Alison DeLaurentis. They play the final game and Aria shoots Spencer near the heart because she's Allison now, and Allison was "heartbroken" Spencer stole Ian from her. Aria/AD abducts and tortures Hanna for trying to take her/Allison's place as HBIC. And the eggs with Emily? That was because Aria was jealous she and Ezra couldn't have kids, and she believed Allison and Emily were supposed to be together in the beginning anyway; Emily did nothing wrong, so Aria's rewarding her by getting her with Alison.

Damn that took me almost 3 hours lmao. Any unanswered plot points this rewrite fixed? Let me know your thoughts! Who do y'all think would've made the most sense to end up as AD? Thanks for reading this far lmao. Wishing y'all the best.

[ashleyinwondrland]

I rewrote the ending of PLL with A as the capital A!

So I rewrote my dream ending for Pretty Little Liars.  Its stupidly long.

After Mona went to Radley, Ezra was mad about which direction the book was going in (he was obsessed) so he became A so he could control the story and found it to be more exciting than just writing. It was like he writing everyone's lives, he was the ultimate writer. Every writer wants to think their words will influence people, Ezra got to see it first hand. And he would get to write his own ending.

He used it to track down Ali and hired Charlotte, and made her think that she was actually Uber A and was the master mind when he was really pulling the strings.

He was obsessed with Aria more than the others and wanted to be able to keep her if everyone found out which is why he was slowly trying to isolate her from her friends. If he was the only one who Aria had to turn to, then he would never lose her. The perfect romantic ending, the two against the world. Romeo and Juliet but with a honeymoon.

When she found out about the book Ezra had to take a break from being A or else they would connect the two, so he hired Shana and handed the reigns over to Charlotte for awhile and orchestrated himself getting shot (tho it wasn’t aimed well) to get back in Aria’s good graces.

During the time he gave Charlotte, her working from France at first with Shana, Jenna and others doing her bidding, Charlotte became more obsessed with the power and Ezra lost control of the game. Charlotte went off the rails, and took it too far. She was writing chapters that Ezra wasn't able to edit.

He couldn't just rip out the pages of the dollhouse, the family connection or Charlotte turning herself in. She wrote an ending to the book that didn't satisfy Ezra. Even though he was now in clear of all charges, and he could technically move on, his book, his life's work was now no better than a paper back in the bargain bin at a pharmacy.

Ezra spends the next 5 years trying to recreate the magic he had with that book. Everything he writes is meaningless compared to the story that slipped out of his hands. Every bottle he drinks he prays has the answer at the bottom. But then his prayers are answered when he hears Charlotte is being released.

He realizes now it’s time to get back in the game but first he has a loose end to tie up. A perfect way to bring the game back and get rid of the person who ruined it. He called Charlotte, under the pretense of talking about bring A back. He knew the hospital would never be able to really cure her, and she took the bait. They met at the Church where only meant to push her out of the window. But once she got to bragging about being a better A than him he lost control and strangled her before tossing her out.

Now the game was his again. Which mean he would have to call on another old helper.

He had to call on the person who else who was just as invested in the girls lives and had access he didn’t (to Radley specifically). Someone who knew everything but like him had never been implicated, which is where Wren came in. Ezra knew about Wren and him flirting and kissing Spencer. So when Ezra sat down to an unsuspecting Wren they got to talking. After buying a few rounds Ezra slipped in that these Rosewood high school girls are such teases. Wren took the bait, going on about Spencer and how she was always playing him hot and cold.

Wren joined team A and gave Ezra access to whatever Radley files he needed and helped Charlotte be able to get in an out without questions. Wren also gave Ezra access to his cabin to be used for backup A head quarters just incase Ravenswood got found.

Ezra had the perfect partner in his British friend. Wren also had his own help, Melissa, who didn’t know quite what she was involved with but she knew it would protect Spencer and Ezra having found out about her burying Bethany when Melissa accidentally confessed it to Wren used it to blackmail her into becoming the Black Widow. As far as Melissa knew, Wren was also being blackmailed because he wanted to protect her and she had no idea Ezra was behind it

Jump forward to when Ezra finally got back with Aria and everyone was happy, he knew it was time to finish the game, the last chapter. Which is why he proposed to Aria and tried to rush her into getting married.

But he had to be sure he could truly trust her, over all of her friends. That if everything came out that she would side with him, even if it meant silencing her friends. He gave her the file, and tried to get her over to team A. Watching her choose him made him fall in love with her all over again. She didn't need her friends, and now he knew if something happened to them then she wouldn't fall apart. Because she had him. And he would always have her.

During the game Mona started to feel her A addiction again. She needed to focus and win this time. Her medication was just getting in the way. She went off it and started to recall things from Radley, visitors who came to see her, who came to see Charlotte, and who came to take the game away.

She doesn’t have all the pieces together when she accuses Ezra in front of everyone of being AD, and no one believes her but finding out she is off her medication they decide to get her help and don’t think twice about her accusations. She screamed they were in danger but none of them, especially Aria would listen.

Jump forward a year and Wren goes back to hospital to take care of Mona. But Wren doesn’t have the strongest will and Mona convinces him that they need her. She started the game, they needed her to end it.

Ezra and Aria are about to get married and be all happy so Ezra surprises her with a new house, the one Toby built. He told her it was poetic, that they live and love in a house their friend's love built. It was a house meant for love. Aria is so excited but what she doesn’t realize is the under ground bunker he built, where all his AD stuff is and also would be a comfy place if say your wife finds what you have been up to and you have to keep her somewhere.

Spencer goes to the brew and finds Wren there arguing with Ezra in hushed tones (about not killing Mona, leaving such a giant loose end) she had no idea they knew each other. She confronts them and they make a stupid lie about Ezra spilling coffee on Wren.

She asks Wren what he is doing in town and he just says business and tell her he has to leave but they should catch up soon. Wren, being the flip flopper that he is, still didn't know which Hastings lady he would take down to the bunker, should the time come. But seeing as Spencer was standing in front him, gorgeous as ever, he was leaning her way. Part of the deal Wren made with Ezra when he explained about the bunker was that Wren got to also bring a “friend” down. Ezra starts to get panicky, he knew Mona was out and about. He knew that she wanted the game back but he couldn't let her ruin his ending. Aria dismisses it as pre wedding jitters.  

A day before the wedding Aria goes to the new house to take some pictures as reference for when she is furniture shopping and to sending little photos to her friends. Ezra suggested they not bring visitors by until after the wedding and they get some furniture. She goes out back to the tool shed, notices the ground is uneven and finds a secret door in the ground. She goes under and finds everything, but what she doesn’t know is Wren is already down there and he hits her over the head, then calls Ezra and tells him they have a problem.

Ezra planned to tell Aria everything about the book on their honeymoon and if she reacted badly was going to claim and accident happened where she goes missing but keep her in the bunker (he had practice making someone go missing) but now Aria was in the bunker and he couldn’t just let her out. He goes to the bunker where Aria is terrified and won’t go near him, he thinks she just needs time to cool down. He tells her that she will understand everything soon, and they will be happy. That if he trusts her as a writer then to trust the love story he has written for them.

He takes her phone and sends a text to everyone saying “we can’t deal with the wedding stress and our parents constantly arguing over useless things like table cloths, we decided to leave for our honeymoon and elope. I’m sorry and we love you all.”

He figures that will keep everyone busy for awhile while he tries to convince Aria to get on board, reminding her how she betrayed her friends for him and how their love story would go down in literary history. She already chose him over her friends more than once, what would make this any different.

In the mean time, the girls are hurt Aria left to get married without them but they understand, except for Spencer who feels like things don’t add up because she had spoken to Aria just a couple hours before and she was excited for the wedding. Spencer looked back through her texts with Aria and looked at one of the house pictures to realize she knew the house. Toby had built that house. She decided to go over to make sure that everything was alright.

The girls all disperse, Emily and Ali talking about how they need to get home to the girls and Hanna to see if she can refashion the bridesmaids dresses into something she can show to a client, though after they leave Spencer realizes Emily’s Fitbit fell off and sends her a text that she will hold onto it til they see each other again and put it in her pocket. Spencer gets to the house to see all the lights out. She goes up to the porch to peak in, but figures they must have left for their honeymoon. She turns to go only to come back to face with Wren, but before she can question him she feels something slam into the back of her head and everything goes black.

Spencer wakes up in a cell across from Aria, her phone missing and Ezra & Wren are just standing there, both looking concerned. Ezra apologizes for hitting her so hard. They explain they didn’t want things to work out like this, and once they calm down it is very comfortable and nice in the make shift home they built down in the bunker and when things were settled they could all move away to a much bigger place so the girls would have more room. Ezra knows that they will still have questions so he leaves them both with his manuscript, detailing all the events, with a little creative editing and with the ending that has yet to unfold.

They jump to the end and read that Ezra plans to be the hero, and pin the entire thing on Spencer, who became AD as a way to keep the girls together after realizing how much she missed them when they came back for Charlotte’s trial and used Charlotte’s death, who she killed, to keep them in Rosewood

He planned to make it seem like Spencer followed them on their honeymoon, making use of Melissa by having her getting on a plane as Spencer so they had her on the flight manifest, and tried to kill Ezra for taking Aria away while confessing she was AD and Ezra, in self defense, pushes her off the side of a cliff. Aria freaks out how the man she loved could even think about her best friend while Spencer keeps flipping through looking for clues.

Meanwhile, the others grow concerned they haven’t heard from Aria, who should’ve landed and always texts after a flight or Spencer, who wasn’t at home when they checked and wasn't answering her phone.

Mona shows up and tells them AD is back and is ready to end the game, for good and she knows at least one person helping is Wren but she doesn’t know who AD is yet. She knows if she says Ezra again they will try to throw her back in the hospital. They assume at the very least Spencer was probably kidnapped and after Caleb can’t pin point her cell phone Emily remembers Spencer has the Fitbit and maybe they can track her with that (might have to bend reality) and Caleb is able to find a location, the house Toby built. They make their way there.

Spencer and Aria try to break out, Aria manages to toss a bobby pin to Spencer. Ezra comes back asks how far they are in the book and what they think of it so far, he actually sounds genuine for their feedback. Realizing this is the only chance they might have, Aria tried to distract him by asking him questions like what will happen to Melissa after. Ezra thinks for a moment and then goes into that why they were perfect for each other, because even after everything she wants to help him with her writing. He then admits that Melissa would end up being the one he actually pushes over the cliff. While Ezra is still facing Aria, Spencer gets the lock open and  uses her copy to knock him over the head though she knows he won’t be down for long so she opens Aria’s cage and they run not realizing they have no where to go.

Above ground, the others get to the house and start to look around when Toby sees the shed and mentions he didn’t build a shed. When they open the shed they see Wren inside who is starting to open the trap door who tries to make a run for it but Hanna manages to trip him and he hits his head on a rock. The guys work on tying him up while the girls look for Spencer, thinking Wren is AD and the bunker would be safe now and they come across Ezra who looks dazed and convinces them that AD kidnapped Aria and himself and that the girls have to get out of the bunker before AD comes back.

He starts to lead them out when they run into Spencer and Aria who yell that he is AD, Ezra acts quickly and grabs Ali as a hostage while pulling out a knife. He tells Ali that this whole mess started with her anyways, it should end with her.

Behind him is the sound of a gun cocking, aimed right at his head, Mona says “Actually this started with me, and I am going to be the one to finish it.”

Ezra and Wren are taken into custody, where the both face charges of extortion, stalking, kidnapping, murder, building a creepy bunker without a permit and statutory rape

The girls all agree it’s time to finally leave Rosewood, for good

I don’t get paid for it nor have years to plan it out but thats another story and please write your opinions at the very least in the tags !! Also if you add your opinion in the discussion comment thing or in your tag, a calorie free cookie is in your future !

[theleagueof13]

I Don’t Really... Like Agatha? Sorry. This will be explained, I promise. I do like her, just in a different way.

This is going to be super controversial, I know it. 

Surprisingly, this started in Book 1. 

My first thought when I was introduced to Agatha was: I would not be friends with her. 

Like, okay, you’re goth and edgy and ugly and different. That’s cool. But, 

Let Sophie Go. 

Clearly, Sophie wants to become a princess and have a fairytale. That’s all she’s ever dreamed of, it’s in the first chapter. And Agatha wants a normal life in Gavaldon, which is understandable. 

So, she tries to “save” Sophie from being taken by the School Master. But the way I see it, Agatha is clinging on to Sophie because she’s the only friend that she’ll ever have, and if she leaves, Agatha will have nothing. Agatha even SAYS that Sophie is the only one who makes her feel accepted. 

This turns out to be a theme for the rest of the plot: Agatha wants her old life back with her friend. She even achieves that at the end, kind of. I don’t have a problem with that, you know? However, it’s not like Sophie was the darling of Gavaldon and her popularity transfers to Agatha in their friendship. Radley points out that Sophie is hanging out with a witch, so Agatha still has the same reputation. 

So, Agatha just plans on living the rest of her life as an outcast? Sophie makes her FEEL normal. She’s not actually normal in Gavaldon terms. In fact, she’d probably be scapegoated for a famine or wildfire or kidnapping the children, and then sentenced to death by The Elders. 

When she gets to SGE, she wants to return home... for WHAT? Sure, the students at School for Good tease you (and this time, you don’t have Sophie to back you up), and the teachers don’t have much faith in you.  I know what it feels like to be alone and doubted by everyone. Still though, this is a magical school, and Agatha can learn magic. Literally who would turn that down? Granted, Ever Girl classes are about beauty and grace, two things Agatha would fail in, but she is so smart.  If she focused on magic and spells and put her mind to it, she could easily become powerful. Just talk to Dovey, talk to August Sader, ask them about improving your skills beyond posture or smiling (also this could’ve been an amazing opportunity for Agatha to have scenes with her so-called mentors, but no, she speaks two words to them, they wink at her knowingly and when they die, we’re supposed to cry? Bullshit.) 

 Agatha has shown that she’s badass already. Why not become more powerful and prove the Ever Girls wrong? Instead, she wants Sophie to kiss Tedros so they can resume their friendship in Gavaldon. 

By the way, neither girl LIKES their school. That’s why Sophie was convinced to go to the School Master. She was like, damn, if we can’t switch schools and I can’t go to the Snow Ball, what’s the point? Fine, I’ll settle for Agatha. 

I don’t know, I think Agatha was selfish in holding back Sophie. Just let her flirt with Tedros, what’s so hard about that? Oh, you feel inadequate because you’ve lost Sophie’s attention? Grow a backbone (yes, I know that’s the point of the book). 

 Anyways, if you only saw through Sophie in the beginning, you would have known that the faster Sophie chases after her fairytale, the faster she’ll fail and put it to rest (after a world-ending tantrum, but it would’ve cut the page count in half. So I don’t need to read this much boy drama). 

The Glow Up

Everyone raves about this damn scene. Agatha becomes confident, yay! Inspiring to young girls everywhere. That’s established. Let’s move on. 

SGE is about subverting expectations, appearances vs reality, friends vs love. We know that. Except Agatha is just... 

When Agatha became “pretty”, and then realized her inner beauty shines past her looks, I thought she would KNOCK BITCHES DOWN. I was rooting for her. I thought she’d finally put Sophie in her place. 

This was destroyed when Agatha became like the Ever Girls she hated for the first part of the book. She develops a crush on Tedros, which was the defining feature of the Ever Girls: liking boys. Nothing wrong with that, it was just out of place. I understand that Tedros might have caught feelings after Agatha saves his life, that’s a trope we’re familiar with and it makes sense. 

What doesn't, is that Agatha reciprocates? She’s been grossed out by boys the whole book, what makes Tedros different? Literally what switch flipped in her brain. That she’s worthy of love? Girl, if you're “confident” now and suddenly dating a boy that you never genuinely got to know... Also, was Tagatha even considered a relationship? They don’t hang out until TLEA. I feel like Agatha was just excited to have a guy like her for once. They call each other “true love” based on what? We BEEN KNEW Tedros is dumb (okay, you picked her in all the challenges, that’s not real proof), and Agatha, do you even know his last name? 

^ if anyone’s watched the Witcher, Yennefer is very similar to Agatha and she gains her physical beauty after she’s finished with her training as a mage. Also, Yennefer is dating a hot guy with authority WHILE she’s still ugly. Love that for her. (This situation is different because Yennefer is morally grey, maybe evil, but I like this arc better than Agatha’s).

Lesbian Agatha? Simp Agatha?  What’s going on??

This started when I noticed on Goodreads that some people genuinely thought Agatha was lesbian. (Me being me, this went over my head).  

Like, okay I get it, Agatha MIGHT be a simp for Sophie. I do kinda get it. 

Throughout the book, Agatha repeatedly is there for Sophie even when Sophie treats her like shit (I don’t have to explain each example, right? We been knew.)

What stands out to me most was when 1. she literally turned into a cockroach and stayed up all night for weeks to help Sophie study 2. cheated and guided her in the Trial By Tale  (risking her life several times in the process). 

That wasn’t because she had a Good heart (though it contributed). It was because Agatha wanted to protect Sophie. 

The only reason I didn’t include all the times Agatha helped Sophie make Tedros fall in love with her was because she thought that Sophie’s kiss would send them back home, so that was theoretically for her own benefit (although we know that Sophie was just using Agatha). 

Also, I distinctly remember Sophie having a Regina George moment with Agatha where she was like “why are you so obsessed with me?!”. Because Agatha was being all “😔👉🏻👈🏻 we’re friends” and Sophie was like GET YOUR OWN LIFE YOU’RE RUINING MINE!!! 

Nitpicky Shit

This is irrelevant, when you come for me don’t mention this part because I’m not all that pressed. 

Agatha comes off as Not Like Other Girls. She says that everyone at School for Good are stupid/shallow RIGHT OFF THE BAT. Obviously Beatrix didn’t make a good impression, but come on. 

She hates that all the girls are obsessed with boys and looks. Just because you’re not interested doesn’t mean others can’t be. It came up several times and I was so irritated. Not to mention that Sophie was basically a carbon copy of Beatrix except that she’s nice to her. 

This is extremely SJW of me but I had to say it. Sophie is a typical bratty blonde. Agatha is said to be hideous, then finds out she was beautiful all along. I felt like this would’ve been better if Agatha had Real unconventional features. 

She’s tall, skinny and pale with big eyes. That is a textbook runway model and fits Eurocentric beauty standards. It’s not like making Agatha fat, short, and dark-skinned with acne is going to enhance the book, although it would be so, so nice.  

Might be editing this later on! I don’t know!

Disclaimer: Agatha’s still a good character, I still like reading about her. 

[jessystardust]

You don't seem as interested in the Libertines any more, are you still a Libs blog? Also can you recommend any other Libs related tumblrs?.x.

Hiya! I have never really claimed to be a Libs blog. Just over 2 yrs ago, something wonderful happened, when I saw them at a festival and fell head over heels. It changed my life. I began seeing the world in a totally different way. It led me to try new things and visit new places, it brought me lots of new friends, it gave me my first relationship. Honestly, it was one of the best things that ever happened to me...

But that being said, you know, life moves on. I've always been a very obsessive sort of person and ive been in and out of fandoms for 15 years. So while i adore them, and i still have them in my heart, my life no longer completely revolves around them. It's just a different way of doing it. I'll be at the first Hackney gig in 15 days, and I'm also going to see the full band on tour, in 113 days (and possibly 121 days if a spare ticket comes up for the London gig). I love them still 💖

As for Libs tumblrs, here are a few (pls don't hate me if i miss you out, im tired): @suchasinistergame & @missoneminute 💜 @westolethelight @Liza-radley @albion-sails-on-course @albionsolutions @flowersfromtheoldvic @doherty @ioioooio @lookthemoonissinging @azurfemme @jon-is-my-lord @bergamotandbiggles

[scout-galapagos-finch]

No, Dill, Boo Radley is not going to come out if you leave him a trail of lemon drops going out the front door.

He’s not that stupid, I think. Besides, how will you get the lemon drops or put them there without Atticus killing us all in the name of privacy?

[smoaking-greenarrow]

Oooh hello! #5 pls! :D (also in the post you said season 2 but I think you meant season 3 ;) Thanks!

A/N: This little nugget is a bit darker than what I usually write, so I want to put a warning here (please note tags). It’s the result of a binge of Netflix’s You, especially Beck’s poem in the show’s finale that I’ve been obsessed with for weeks now (there are pieces of the poem in the story, italicized as Felicity’s inner thoughts, so credit to the You writers!) This fic will have elements of abuse and unhealthy relationships. It is not graphic, but it is referenced. And it is Olicity. And it’s me. You can count on a happy ending. I’ve been calling it my Dark Notebook AU, so there’s that. :)

p.s. Thanks for catching that typo @allimariexf :p

Kerosene and Desire

How the hell did you end up here?

Felicity’s hands shake as she grips the steering wheel in front of her. The dark trees race passed her window, and light from her headlights bounce off of them in a menacing sort of way.

It isn’t just the sinister looking forest that sends shivers down her spine. The scene she’d fled from was just as sinister.

You knew somewhere deep it was too good to be true. But you let yourself to be swept.

She shakes her head at herself, her eyes flickering down to the heavy ring on her finger.

She’d always thought that a diamond ring, a beautiful house full of beautiful kids, and climbing the ladder of success in her career, were her life goals. It’d been the dream. The fairy tale. And she thought she had finally found the man to give her everything she wanted.

And maybe she had…but a long time ago.

Felicity sucks in a deep breath, releasing it slowly and blinking back tears when they threatened to fall.

The closer she gets to Central City, to him, the more anxious she becomes. The road in front of her is unknown and terrifying. It could break her heart all over again. But the life behind her is so much worse.

Disgusted at the thought of him, Felicity pulls the cumbersome ring from her left finger, hurling it at the floor of the passenger seat and hearing it ding against the car door. She already feels like a piece of her burden is lifted, her finger and her heart feeling lighter.

Still, Felicity knows that it isn’t too late to undo all of it. She doesn’t have to blow her entire life up. She could turn the car around. Fix it. Go back to the monster she’d once called a man.

You needed to be saved.

She could forgive him, pretend it never happened, take it all back. She could bury it the way he buried every horrible part of himself. She could smile. Even when she felt like screaming.

Knowing Adrian, he’d end up exploiting an apology from her one way or another. Somehow. With trembling lips, she always relented. He always seemed to win, always got his way.

It’s something she will never understand. And she doesn’t want to understand someone so twisted and hurtful. She doesn’t want to think about the fact that she had met him while her heart was broken, and he had put the shattered pieces back together…but he’d done it all wrong, to the point where she wished he’d never touched them at all.

Yet, she’s afraid. Is she really ready to throw everything away? Be the girl who calls off her wedding before she makes it down the aisle?

Didn’t you want this? To be loved? Didn’t you want him to crown you? Didn’t you ask for it?

A harsh shiver runs through her, bile rising in her throat that she swallows.

You could go back. Say you love him. Say you can live like this…anything but the truth…. What if you can’t love him back?

The thoughts make her stomach churn even more, her head filling with fears. What will her friends think? Her mother, who is more excited for this wedding than she is? What will they say if she tells them the truth? Will they even believe her? She knows the man she almost married. He’s charming and persuasive. He’d done enough to fool her, how could she blame everyone else for believing the devil’s tricks, when she’d done the same for nearly two years?

Tears spring in her eyes that she can’t hold back this time. So much change all at once. Too much. Her world is being turned upside down, and she feels like she just needs to keep her head above water but there are too many waves crashing around her and she doesn’t know how to swim. It’s overwhelming.

Felicity huffs, moving to roll her window down, letting in the chilly breeze of a fall night. The air stings across her wet cheeks, and her hands tighten on the wheel again, her knuckles turning white as she drives towards one of the safest places she’s ever been. Him.

There is no going back. You don’t love Adrian.

She glances down at her hands, seeing her finger bare. Its unchained from the ring that had felt wrong ever since the day she let Adrian slide it on.

Suddenly, the wind feels exhilarating. She never has to look down at the thing again. She never has to feel it weighing down on her hand, more like a burden than a promise. Now, she knows where she was going, or rather to who.

And Felicity feels free.

For the first time in two years, she feels free.

And she laughs.

She laughs and cries and lets all of the emotions mix together, allowing herself to feel them. There is no point in biting her tongue anymore. No point in swallowing down how she feels. The problem had never been her. It had always been Adrian Chase. And it is such a relief for her to finally accept that.

With her window down, Felicity screams.

She screams for all of the times she’d felt like less of a person because Adrian had told her that she was. And she screams for all of the moments she’d actually believed that, keeping her mouth shut instead of speaking her mind. She screams for every skeleton she’d found in his closet. For every inch of her he’d stolen while she’d had her back turned. Every tear shed, hating herself for things out of her control. Things about him that she can’t fix. That no one can fix. For the nights she fought for a relationship that is unworthy of her. Simply because she’d seen it as something to be saved rather than the wreck that it is. That he is.

When the sign for Central City appears, Felicity finally quiets, her throat raw. She wipes at the tears on her face, sniffling as she tries to gain her composure.

He is only minutes away.

The fact that she’d found and remembered Oliver Queen’s address since the day she found out he moved to Central City probably should’ve told her something.

Maybe somewhere deep down, she’d always known she’d end up here. Running. Maybe he had always been the one she wanted to run to.

Continue reading on AO3.

Tags Below:

@embroidered-fiction // @seaolicity // @smoak-me //  @dopecycleblaze // @mrsd923 // @flailykermit // @niki-is-amazing //  @bandanab310 // @felicityqueenforever // @alex-wesley // @smkkbert // @myhauntedblacksoul // @mrsbubblelee // @nuksu // @not-done-fighting // @hopeful-warrior // @pleasedontletmedownx // @hear-the-banshee-screaming // @siriuslyobsessedfangirl // @coal000 // @alwaysmyownvoice // @morganmaybaby // @marniforolicity // @olicityfluv // @motoughismylife // @velvetsteel // @almondblossomme // @hope-for-olicity // @charlinert // @geemarie // @olicityforeverqueen // @newyorkinlove // @adiwriting // @boo-ritz-radley // @bytemegeekette // @sarcastic1515 // @sandycakes24 // @glittercupcakedreams // @standingontheedge-ofme // @ymeanidem // @oliverfel4 // @iloveyourintimate // @ma-rion-nette // @blondeeoneexox  // @it-was-a-red-heeler // @cinfos // @1106angel // miriam1779 // @memcjo // @jules85 // @olicitys-arrows //  @emw751103 // @soaring-cities // @kathrynelizabeth89

[plotholes-and-paradoxes]

I should have read that - tag

Rules:

Thank the person who tagged you and link back to their post

Link to the creator’s blog (booksnest.co.uk) in your post

Answer the questions below

Tag 10 others

I was tagged by @dove-actually, so thanks :) 

1. A book that a certain friend is always telling you to read

One of my friends really wants me to read Leah on the Offbeat, but I honestly think my Simon Vs. time has come and gone and I was never really into contemporary in the first several places. 

2: A book that’s been on your TBR forever but you still haven’t picked it up yet.

My oldest book on my to-read list (that isn’t part of a series) on Goodreads is from 2016 and is called And I Darken. I don’t know if I’m even interested in it anymore, but that’s the oldest I know of! 

3: A book in a series you’ve started but haven’t finished yet.

Skeleton Key, the third book in the Alex Rider series. I could never find it at the library so I kept rereading the first two and never finished the series. 

4: A classic you’ve always liked the sound of, but have never actually read.

The Picture of Dorian Gray. I’ve read a lot about Oscar Wilde and it seems really interesting so I’m definitely planning on reading it this summer! 

5: A popular book that it seems everyone but you have read.

In the true crime community, it seems like absolutely everyone has read I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, which I haven’t gotten around to yet. In general, I don’t know, I never read Lord of the Rings. 

6: A book that inspired a film/tv adaptation you love that you just haven’t read yet.

I mean, I never read the comics for The Umbrella Academy and I adore the show? I’ve read most books that adaptations are based on. And a quick google just told me that Mindhunter (the Netflix show starring my boi Jonathan Groff) was based on a true crime book. 

(Funny related side note, I became obsessed with Wicked the Musical when I was in fifth grade so I read the book the musical it was based on that summer and it is NOT appropriate for 10 year olds. I then proceeded to the other book in the series and another one of the author’s books.) (Side note to the side note, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister is really good, or at least it was when I was 10/11.)

7: A book you’ve seen all over Instagram/Tumblr/other but you haven’t picked up yet.

Turtles All the Way Down and An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, mostly because I watch vlogbrothers. 

I’m tagging @masksandmadness @gingerly-writing and @radley-writes :) 

[news-mashable-yahoopartner-blog]

How SparkNotes' social media accounts mastered the art of meme-ing literature

Most millennials know SparkNotes as the ultimate no-nonsense study buddy, but today’s students not only receive help with schoolwork from the website, they get high-quality entertainment, too.

SparkNotes remains a crucial tool for text comprehension — full of study guides and supplemental resources on english literature, philosophy, poetry, and more. But over the past two years it’s also become a source of some of the internet’s most quick-witted, thought-provoking, and ambitious memes.

SparkNotes' Twitter and Instagram accounts have carved a unique niche for themselves online by posting literary memes that find perfect parallels  between classic works like Macbeth, The Great Gatsby, Lord of the Flies, and Frankenstein, and present-day pop culture favorites like The Office, Parks and Rec, and more.

It may come as a surprise to those who once frequented the site for the sole purpose of better understanding Shakespeare plays before a final exam or catching up on assigned chapters of The Catcher in the Rye before the bell rang, but SparkNotes is cool now, and absolutely killing the social media game.

SEE ALSO: The magic of Book Fairies

As someone who spends the majority of her workday on the internet and splits her leisure time almost exclusively between reading books and re-watching episodes of The Office, I fell in love with the account's near-perfect meme execution after mere minutes of scrolling through posts. 

In a world with so many bad brand tweets and tone-deaf memes, I felt compelled to seek out the well-read meme masters behind SparkNotes' social media to learn how it is they manage to make each and every post so good.

How SparkNotes' social media became LIT ✨📚

Chelsea Aaron, a 31-year-old senior editor for SparkNotes, is a huge part of the success. She started managing the site's Instagram in September 2017, and her meme approach has helped the account grow from 5,000 to 134,000 followers.

"When I first started managing the account, I tried a bunch of different things," Aaron explained in an email. "I ran illustrations and original content from our blog, and I also borrowed memes from our Twitter ... The memes seemed to get the most likes, so I started making and posting those on a regular basis, and now I try to do four to five per week."

Image: screengrab / Instagram

Aaron discovered the account's recipe for success by not only making memes about some of SparkNotes' most popular, highly searched guides — which include Shakespeare's plays, The Great Gatsby, and Pride and Prejudice — but by mashing them together with a few modern television shows that she's personally passionate about, such as The Office, Parks and Rec, Arrested Development, and John Mulaney's comedy specials. She's also known for hilariously retelling entire works (SparkNotes style, so, abridged versions) using the account's Highlight feature.

Image: screengrab / instagram

The brilliantly sharp, comical posts seem effortless, but Aaron explained the process takes some serious concentration. Essentially, she stares at a large collection of collected screenshots "in a state of panic" until an idea strikes. "It's wildly inefficient and incredibly stressful, but I haven't figured out another way to do it," she admitted.

Luckily, Aaron always has the SparkNotes Twitter account to turn to for inspiration, which is managed by Courtney Gorter, a 26-year-old consulting writer for SparkNotes who Aaron calls "a comedic genius."

Gorter has been managing the Twitter account for about a year and a half now, and joined the SparkNotes team because she utilized its resources growing up and wanted to help "make classic literature feel accessible" to others.

"I wanted this stuff to seem slightly more fun (or, at the very least, less intimidating) to the average stressed-out student who's just trying to read fifty pages by tomorrow and also has a quiz on Friday," she said. The memes definitely help her achieve that goal.

Scrolling through the SparkNotes Instagram account, you notice it generally uses a recurring but reliably satisfying meme format. Most of the posts consist of a white block filled with introductory text and a screenshot from a television show, like so.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by SparkNotes Official (@sparknotes_) on Apr 16, 2019 at 10:25am PDT

Gorter, on the other hand, ensures the Twitter account showcases a far more widespread representation of the internet. She posts everything from out-of-context screenshots, GIFs, and videos, to altered headlines from The Onion and trending meme formats of the moment, like "in this house" memes, "nobody vs me" memes, and more. The account is full of variety and gloriously unpredictable.

Hades: Orpheus I’ll let you bring your wife back from the Underworld, but if you turn and look behind you she’ll be lost to you forever. Orpheus: pic.twitter.com/FWD9P2nO0m

— SparkNotes (@SparkNotes) April 16, 2019

Normal heart rate: /\⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ /\ _ / \ __/\__ / \ _ \/⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ \/ The old man you just killed, whose heart lies hidden beneath the floorboards yet continues to beat: ⠀/\⠀ /\⠀ /\ _/ \ /\_/ \ /\_/ \ /\_ ⠀ \/⠀⠀ \/⠀⠀ \/

— SparkNotes (@SparkNotes) April 12, 2019

Gorter, who describes herself as "constantly on the internet" feels a lot of her ideas are the result of "cultural osmosis ... our collective tendency to consume references and jokes without realizing it just by being on the internet a lot."

"Sometimes I’ll be reading a book, and I’ll remember a joke I saw earlier that fits. Sometimes a new meme format will crop up over the weekend, and I’ll think, 'That could work for Macbeth,'" she said.

Though the two accounts are clearly distinct from one another, they both give off the same hip English teacher energy and running them has become a truly collaborative effort. "I constantly send her [Gorter] emails asking stuff like, 'Can I still say 'big mood' or is that over?' and 'What's the deal with this whole 'wired vs tired' thing?'" Aaron said.

Together, the two women spend their days discussing iconic works of literature, making pop culture references, and keeping up with the latest memes. (A dream job.) Their separate styles fuse together to make each other's posts the best they can be.

The meme approach works wonders

One might not initially think that Boo Radley and John Mulaney have much in common, or that Michael Scott could effortlessly embody Romeo, Julius Caesar, and Holden Caulfield if you simply alter your perspective. I certainly did not. 

But Aaron and Gorter's work will convince you. Once you start merging the worlds of classic literature and modern television series, you won't want to stop.

The SparkNotes instagram is my favorite thing pic.twitter.com/FCc6sXjJly

— Jessie Martin (@jessie_martin97) March 29, 2019

Fun fact, the official Sparknotes Instagram account is probably the best one: pic.twitter.com/sIR6tsw7ZP

— Tommy (@tommy_jacobs92) February 28, 2019

When describing why the posts work so well, Aaron explained that Hamlet, Mr. Darcy, and Gatsby — three of her favorite characters to meme — have super relatable personalities, which makes the process so simple.

"They're dramatic, and awkward, and obsessive, which makes them identical to about 97% of the people on The Office," she said. "I've learned that you can use Michael Scott as a stand-in for pretty much any classic lit character, and it isn't even hard. (That's what she said)."

What wow the @SparkNotes Twitter is extremely good???? It all appears to be this good!!! https://t.co/PyEqTdQ3Ly

— Rachel Kelly 🥛 (@wholemilk) May 2, 2019

Why is @SparkNotes's Twitter so good it has no right to be this good https://t.co/eFBQpLMpe3

— Kelsey [Version 2019.05] (@flusteredkels) May 2, 2019

Gorter thinks the accounts are so appealing because they create a deep sense of community — an online space that isn't so isolating, rather a place where where bibliophiles, television enthusiasts, and meme lovers can all come together and geek the hell out. There's really something for everyone.

"When Steve Rogers said, 'I understood that reference,' I felt that deeply. I think people enjoy being in on a joke, especially when the source material (classic literature, for instance) isn’t particularly hilarious," Gorter said. "There’s a delicious juxtaposition there. I know that I personally get a secret little thrill when I understand something as contextually layered as a really niche meme, and a slight sense of frustration when I don’t."

Engaging followers and changing with the times

SparkNotes as a whole has come a long way since it was launched as TheSpark.com by a group of Harvard students in 1999.

What started out as a budding web-based dating service quickly transformed into a trusted library of online study materials, and over the years, as the publishing industry, technology, and the internet evolved, so did SparkNotes. 

Like the social media accounts, SparkNotes'  SparkLife blog — full of quizzes, artwork, rankings, advice, and trendy posts like "How To Break Up With Someone, According To Shakespeare" and "Snapchats From Every Literary Movement" —  perfectly encapsulates the site's commitment to catering to its audience.

Whoever runs the Sparknotes twitter and Instagram pages deserves a raise

— louise���� (@_Fallxn_) February 21, 2019

SparkNotes does a remarkable job of shifting with the times to stay relevant and interesting in the eyes of its readers — and the quest to balance fun and education really seems to be paying off. Recently, the Instagram account tested out a post that called upon students and teachers to request custom-made memes by reaching out via email with the title of a book or subject they want meme'd, along with a message for the intended recipient.

"The response was amazing!" Aaron said. "We got almost 250 emails, and it's so great to see the genuine affection and admiration that teachers have for their students, and vice versa." 

Thanks to the social media accounts, SparkNotes is not only helping students learn, but helping entire classrooms bond with their teachers. (And hopefully teaching educators who follow a thing or two about good memes.)

Print isn't dead, it's just getting some help from the internet

Aaron and Gorter are having a blast running the accounts, but ultimately, they hope their lighthearted posts will inspire people to pick up a book and read.

"I hope what our followers take away from this is that classic literature doesn’t have to be totally dry," Gorter said. "If our memes encourage our followers to engage with classic literature and be excited about reading, that's so rewarding," Aaron added.

The present-day approach to selling classic literature is undeniably unconventional, and the crossovers are absurdly ambitious, but they work so damn well. What's great about the memes is they're created in a way that doesn't diminish the literature plots, because in reality, one would have to have such a comprehensive understanding of the text to make such good jokes.

The memes are actually pretty high-brow when you think about it, sure to delight intellectuals with great taste in pop culture. I have no idea how the legendary writers would feel about their greatest works getting the meme treatment, but people online are definitely loving it.

It's refreshing to see a brand account succeed at such a genuinely funny level, but perhaps even nicer to see it thriving off of wholesome content that doesn't drag other accounts or get its laughs at the expense of tearing others down, as we've seen accounts do in the past.

SparkNotes social media accounts are genuinely just nice corners of the internet dedicated to making people laugh and hopefully igniting a love of literature.

WATCH: Steve Carell to reunite with 'The Office' creator for Netflix's 'Space Force'

[sikhyes]

bitchcraft ━ yeri

a/n: i’ve been wanting to write this for so long (esp since i feel really proud of the title lmao) but i hope you guys enjoy!! genre: supernatural!au , witch!au , college!au , fluff pairing: yeri x reader (red velvet) word count: 2,023 summary: they said that every pizza boy that walks in never comes out. that’s why they sent you, a pizza girl. warnings: none

bitchcraft (n.) - a specialty of witchcraft only perfected and practiced by a supreme ‘bitch’

It was particularly rare finding a decently priced house only a few blocks away from campus (not counting the glorified suburban homes that housed the frats and sororities) so you knew that there had to be a catch to the entire ordeal. Whether it be a creepy landlord or inescapably loud parties, you and your friends braced yourself for the worst once all of you had signed the lease.

However, one month in and the only weird thing about the entire block had to be the eerily decorated house across the street. It was the biggest one compared to the rows of the picket-fences, two tall trees bordering the left and right corner of the front yard with three sets of stairs leading up to the mahogany double doors. While the rest of the houses were painted a fresh spring color, the house across was a dark shadow amongst its sisters on the block. With only grey tiles that covered the roof, everything else was accented with darker wood and ledger stone tiles as pillars that held up the porch.

No one really spoke much about it at first. Your next door neighbors situated on the right was a sweet couple, living the longest on the block compared to the rest of the street. When you and the other three people living with you now (Chaeyoung, Taehyung, and Jimin) went to drop off french macarons (instead of the usual rice cakes) out of courtesy, mostly everyone gave silent warnings to not approach the dark house. It wasn’t until Taehyung’s curiosity got the best of him and finally asked the other college students that inhabited the apartment complex a couple houses down yours.

“Is it like a ‘Boo Radley’ situation?” Jimin asked as he handed the delicately wrapped boxes over to the guy named Hoseok.

Namjoon, the taller one, shook his head as Hoseok retreated in their home to set the gift aside. “No, not necessarily. At least, the rumors haven’t reached to murder yet.” At the sight of yours and Chaeyoung’s expression, the boy quickly hurried on to explain. “The most popular one is that anyone that enters that house never comes out.”

Taehyung’s laugh bellowed, carefree as he flicked a few loose strands of his bangs aside. “I call bullshit. This is LA, dude, not some shitty town in the middle of nowhere.”

“It’s your choice to believe it or not,” Hoseok shrugged. “But there’s one piece of evidence that can actually support that rumor.”

“What is it?” You found yourself asking.

“Any pizza boy that comes by that house goes missing.”

“So there’s five of them?”

You didn’t bother rolling your eyes - the world seemed to spin with how often you’ve done it in the past ten minutes - and kept your attention on your notes. With your frame curled up on the left side of the couch and Chaeyoung’s slender legs stretched out on the rest of the piece of furniture, Taehyung occupied the armchair closest to you with his gangly stature sprawled all over it. His head dangled off the edge of the armrest, his hair comically standing on end as though he was electrocuted, as he tossed a baseball only to catch with precision a few seconds later.

“Yes. There’s five,” Chaeyoung answered kindly, her voice never betraying the hidden frustration that was growing beneath her expression. That had to be the tenth time Taehyung had asked to reiterate what Namjoon told them only moments prior. “And before you ask, we don’t know their names. All we know is that they attend our university, appears to be filthy rich, and likes to order pizza.”

“Which is how they lure in their prey,” Jimin cut in as he padded from the bathroom with only a loose towel tied haphazardly around his lean waist. The sight of the shirtless male would’ve made you blush but you’ve lived with him (as well as the other two) too long to feel any surprise at any state of his undress. “They’re like black widows, hot and dangerous.”

You couldn’t bite back the snort that escaped you. “How do you know they’re hot?”

“I just do. It’s a vibe thing.”

At this point, you were sure that your eyes would’ve fallen out with how much you’ve rolled them.

Two months in and still no sign of the mysterious five that lived in the house across the street. Every morning, you stuck to a serious and sharp routine that you followed religiously. Wake up at 6:30 AM, jog a couple laps around the street, return back by 7:00 AM to start on breakfast with Jimin and be ready by your first class (regardless if it was a nine am class or a two pm class). With how often you’re actually out and about, you were positive that you’d have at least bumped into them once.

But you were just as unsuccessful (you were ashamed to admit that you even took an extra lap one morning in hopes of catching a glimpse of any one of them) as the rest of your housemates, despite being placated that you weren’t the only one obsessed with finding more about your secretive neighbors.

“Y/N?” Chaeyoung came bounding into your shared room, her orange hair askew beneath a large tacky trucker’s cap that advertised ‘Pizza Palace’ in a fading red font across the yellowing white fabric. You tore your attention away from the bright screen of your laptop, a little disoriented from writing an essay, and took in your roommate’s appearance in completely. With her cheeks flushed and her chest rising and dropping in unsteady intervals, you immediately jumped off the bed and led her to her own.

“Hey, you alright? What happened?” Your mind instantly jumped to the worst-case scenarios, kickstarting your anxious heart as you waited for Chaeyoung to fill you in.

“I’m fine,” she wheezed, trying her best to catch her breathe as she removed her cap to place on your head. “I need you to do me a favor. Can you fill in the rest of my hours for tonight at the pizza place a few streets away? I got an email from my TA reminding me of my paper that’s due tonight, which I completely forgot about so I-”

“Hold on, slow down, Chae… slow down. Don’t tell me you just ditched your shift! Did you tell your boss at least?”

“I did, but I need you to cover for me.”

You scooted backwards to shoot her the most incredulous look. “Chae, I don’t even work there! How am I supposed to cover your shift?”

“You’re not making any pizza,” she hurriedly answered. “Just deliveries! Please, please, please!”

No matter how long you’ve lived with Chaeyoung, you just didn’t seem to have the kind of immunity against her pitiful expressions you thought you might’ve acquired by now. “Oh, fine. Give me the stupid hat.”

It must’ve been a regular occurrence for random strangers in employee gear to show up at the pizza parlor because Chaeyoung’s supervisor didn’t bat an eye when you arrived behind the counter in her uniform. Your own hair was pulled into a messy knot at the nape of your neck, loose strands of hair framing your face as you pushed up the large cap up to properly keep eye contact.

“Here are the orders, here are the addresses, and here’s the keys to the pizza car. Not a scratch,” she ordered firmly before sending you on your way. Once you found the designated vehicle, you scoffed as you remembered her last piece of instruction.

A scratch would’ve actually been an improvement with how shitty the car’s state was.

The first few addresses were simple enough; the entire area was mostly separate houses rather than confusing apartment complexes, making your temporary job much more easier. The list of orders began to decrease and the monstrous amount of boxes in the backseat disappeared one by one with each stop. Reaching the end of the list, your heart nearly dropped to your chest once you recognized the address.

It was the house across the street.

“When’s the pizza coming?” Yeri’s whining echoed throughout the spacious house as she lounged on one of the chaises in the sitting room, a picture of relaxation as she fiddled with a pistol crossbow. Irene wrinkled her nose at the mess she caused when she passed by. Stray arrows scattered the area around the youngest as grease-stained rags laid upon her mahogany tables where the tools were placed on.

“Soon.” It was Wendy who answered from her position by the window seat at the east side of the house once she noticed the displeased look on the eldest’s features. It’s been a couple months since their last ‘order’ and whenever Irene hasn’t had her appetite filled, she became cranky enough that Seulgi and Joy would retreat to their room until her ‘hangry’ phase subsides. “Be patient. It should be here any moment.”

Although they barely entertained any guests, the five women were dressed in their finest. It was a bland Thursday evening but with the high-end cocktail dresses that adorned their ideal figures, you’d think they’d be off to attend some VVIP, private gala in the city. Irene was dressed in a sequined long sleeve dress with bloody red heels. Yeri kept things simple with a crochet dress and flats while Seulgi chose a lace blouse and leather pants. Joy loved her little black dresses that accentuated her curves. Wendy opted for a vintage velvet blouse and leather skirt.

Despite their oddly fancy attire, it blended well with the artistic pieces carefully placed around their home. Irene had picked up art curating as a new hobby, a way to pass the time as they juggled their unorthodox lives.

Right when Seulgi finally slid down the tall flight of stairs by the banister, the doorbell chimed around their house. “Dinner time,” she hummed as a devilish grin crossed her scarlet lips. She stepped aside and retreated to the living room with Joy at her tail when Yeri bounded up to open the door with a grotesque teddy bear tucked in the crook of her arm. As her hand reached for the doorknob, an adorable expression settled upon her visage as she prepared herself to come face to face with another pizza boy.

The door swung open and her practiced smile was what greeted you… only for it to fall in surprise only seconds later when Yeri realized you weren’t a pizza boy.

“For… Yeri?” You read the post-it note on the top of the box as you stretched your arms out to hand the pizza over. “That’ll be fifteen-”

“Excuse me,” the pretty girl cut you off before she slammed the door in your face.

“Wait… repeat that again. They just took the pizza and paid you…?”

Your swung your legs as you sat on the counter, munching on a leftover pizza as you nodded. The closing crew had asked you to retell the story for the tenth time now but you didn’t really mind repeating it, not when you had a slice of pizza in your hand. Although it was a good half hour since you’ve finished the rest of Chae’s shift, you’ve befriended her coworkers when they realized you made a stop at Hell House (a funny little nickname they dubbed the creepy place). While you sat on the counter, the four others had grabbed chairs to circle around you with their own late dinners in hand.

“Yeah, they seemed a little confused but that’s it,” you answered patiently, nibbling at the crust as the youngest coworker tentatively raised his hand.

“Really?” Mark asked, dropping his hand with a little bashful chuckle. “That’s it?”

You nodded and they all finally dispersed, somewhat content with the first witness story of the odd happenings in hell house. “Really. That’s it.

Yes, that was it… and the slip of paper that held the pretty girl’s number in your pocket.

[spence66]

Jessica and Mary were twins. Jessica’s actions put Mary in Radley. Jessica had an affair with Peter Hastings. Melissa was born and Jason was born AND GOD ONLY KNOWS HOW, but Charles was born too. I guess Pastor Ted were having sex with his mental high school girlfriend or something. Mary (WHILE BEING RADLEY PATIENT STILL!), pretend she was her sister and she seduced Peter and she had twins. She sold one of her daughters AND THEN SHE GET OUT OF RADLEY… Around this time Jessica and Kenneth send Charles to Radley, so at least we know that Mary and Cece wasn’t in Radley at the same time. At least. But I’m still curious why Jessica took Charles in a first place. But who cares about Charles.. It was only big deal in like two or three seasons, season 7 have nothing to do with previous seasons, let’s make that clear.

Ok, so Charles become Charlotte or Cece or whatever and transforming from boy to a girl haven’t really changed her twisted mind and she was jealous of Alison or Spencer or.. who cares? But it’s fine, she take the game from mona even when mona never had any real motive to start the game with, but let’s forget about this. Wait, no. I won’t forget.

Mona always wanted to be friends with Alison and she was obsessed with her. She even made herself a creepy room in Lost woods resort, and then she helped Alison to run away. And then she was popular and best friends with hannah, and then after a year Aria came back and she started blackmailing them and only explanation we’ve got was that SPENCER, EMILY AND ARIA TOOK HANNA AWAY FROM HER.. WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!

And then Cece took the game, and we should just ignore all time gaps and wholes, and all unanswered questions we’d ever have about Cece and how she used to kiss her own cousin.

But then she was blamed for Wildens death and she used Alison passport to get away from the country. And as we know now, she did it because Wren called her and told her that she has a sister. And then she met Archer Dunhil on the plane and they fall madly in love. Sure.

And ok, I’m willing to believe it. All of it. Alex as Spencers secret, evil twin, and Cece as transgender older sister. And I can believe that Cece and Alex felt like that because they were having some rough time and were jelaous. I’m willing to believe that all the clues were there only to hide the biggest secret what was left till the very end.

I’m going to forget about Maya, Ian, Garrett and Wilden.

I’m not going to ask why they never explained what was Jenna doing, I’m not going to ask about Lucas, Paige, Melissa and Jason anymore. NAT club? Forget about this! It was never important. I won’t ask why Archer was flirting with Alison and having an affair with her even when he was in love with Charlotte. Alison wanted to get Cece out, so he never had to persuade her to help her. I don’t care why you can’t turn your back on a Hastings, or what happened to Tippi the bird. I won’t even bother to ask for how long Mary was with Alex, was she with her while she was living in London? Or was it actually Alex dressed up as a guy in a dollhouse? That’s why spencer felt like she knew this person?

But tell me just one thing. Only one thing I need to know now..

   HOW THE HELL ALEX BUILD THIS BUNKER UNDER ALREADY BUILT HOUSE?

  I’d like to think that this show was special for me, and all journey was just great.

But let me say this, that since season 4 it was just different. It was tiring, because all we could get out of it is more questions.

And this whole Addison story was like a slap for me.

There were s omany ways to end this show. With Ezra, Melissa, Lucas and Cece together, even with Jason. But it’s not only the finale I’m pissed at. I’m pissed on whole last 3 seasons. It was like in season 4 all the writers decided they don’t give a fuck anymore. They were like:

Oh shit, look what all the fans are doing on Tumblr, all these theories and how they pick up the smallest things (WHICH WERE TOLD US TO BE IMPORTANT! JUST HAVE A LOOK ON ALL MARLENE PLL TWEETS AND CLUES………….) and making bad ass theories.

You know what, I’m just …

Just…

Disappointed.

Thank you all theorists here and fans who made this pll journey so great. You guys are the only reason that this show was special. Ok, you and Troian.

Thank you,

S .

[pllriverdale-blog]

What I wish was revealed in the finale- Alex is involved in 'that night.'

Alex was was hit by the girls and buried that night, that’s why she wants revenge. She was buried by Melissa before Alison, hence the shallower grave. Bethany Young was buried afterwards.

Alex has been leading this from the beginning- Mona and CeCe were working for her. Mona's reasons why were the truth, CeCe’s were a vast exaggeration. She was actually a lot older than she said she was on the roof in 6x10, fixing a lot of age-related plot holes.

Here’s the story:

Alex found out about Spencer online and decided to go and meet her, buying a blonde wig so she wasn’t mistaken for being Spencer. CeCe was currently annoyed about being RECENTLY accused of pushing Marion off the roof, so was heading to Rosewood to see Mrs D and finally meet her sister and cousin. She had met Mary Drake in Radley and had seen pics of Spencer (as Mary had been in and out of Radley several times, and had already snuck into the Hastings house before the events of that night), so knew who Alex was as soon as she saw her due to being told by Mary that Spencer had a twin somewhere. She had 2 yellow tops as Mrs D had been uncertain of the size, though both fitted so she took a spare one incase one got dirty and she wanted to take pics of this family reunion. When she saw Alex on the bus, she gave her one of the yellow tops, and planned to ask Alison to put hers on when she got there. Bethany also had a yellow top as Mrs D had been having an affair with her father, and nothing says love like bulk buying clothing for all your potential teenage relatives.

So CeCe and Alex both wanted to meet their families. Sounds innocent enough right? This is where the girls come in.

It was already dark by the time they got to Rosewood, and they were unaware that Alison, Spencer and their friends were in Spencer’s barn. They decided that CeCe would find Alison, Alex would find Spencer and then they’d meet up. On her way to find Alison, CeCe ran into Melissa and, recognising her from the pictures, explained who she was and asked if she knew where Alison was. Melissa said they were in the barn and then went on a rant about Ian.

When Alex found Spencer, she was fighting with Alison. Alex watched and then followed Spencer about halfway across the DiLaurentis-Hastings backyard area before trying to talk to her. Spencer got freaked out, hit Alex with the shovel, and went back to the barn. Melissa saw all of this, realised Alex must be Spencer’s twin (she had already been told Spencer was Peter’s but not Veronica’s, as she had initially thought Spencer must be adopted due to being old enough to know Veronica had not been pregnant). Melissa buried Alex, and when CeCe came back across that part of the garden, she saw Alex’s hand and pulled her out. Both were now angry at Spencer.

Alison had planned to fake her death in an attempt to find out who A was (at the time, Alison’s A was Mona), and enlisted Grunwald to come and pick her up at a certain time.

CeCe found Mrs D, who informed her that Bethany had found out about the affair and escaped from Radley. CeCe knew that Bethany loved that yellow top, despite hating Mrs D, but didn’t know Alison was also wearing it that night. When she saw a person wearing that top from the back, she hit them to protect Mrs D whilst Alex hid and watched. Mrs D buried Ali and Wilden came to take CeCe back to Radley, though Alex was still hiding.

Mrs Grunwald showed up at the dedicated time, saw Alison’s hand, pulled her out and took her to the hospital.

Whilst this was happening, the real Bethany showed up, as did Mona, who saw her from behind and hit her thinking she was Alison. Alex saw this, and buried the body for her as she knew this was the person CeCe actually wanted dead. When she was talking to her, it became apparent that Mona thought this was Alison, and Alex didn’t tell her otherwise. Alex shared her anger at Spencer with Mona, and Mona told her about how Alison and the girls bullied her, and offered to share her revenge game. When Mona was driving home, she saw Alison, who had run from the hospital as they’d wanted to keep her overnight and call the police about what happened when she really just wanted to escape, and so Mona helped her escape and phoned Alex to tell her that Ali was alive (which Alex already knew). Before going back to London, Alex switched Bethany and Alison’s dental records to ensure that the body would be identified as Alison’s should it ever be found (as Mona didn’t actually know there was another body, she thought the only person to get hit was Ali and that she’d got out).

Mona and Alex told CeCe about their revenge plan, and CeCe wanted to join in because of what Spencer did to Alex. She then started receiving emails from Lucas, who she used to be friends with, detailing the bullying he received at the hands of Alison and the girls, and her wish to torment the girls increased further.

They offered Melissa the chance to join them on multiple occasions due to knowing she was angry that Ali kissed Ian, and then after finding out about Spencer kissing Wren and Ian. Melissa always declined due to her love for her sister, but was occasionally blackmailed into doing what they wanted. She couldn’t tell the police what she knew as she had found out that the police were corrupt and that Mrs D had paid Wilden to protect CeCe multiple times, so she knew that if she went to the police, the A Team would make things worse for Spencer and the girls. The A Team also knew that she’d buried Alex to protect Spencer, so didn’t want to get herself or Spencer into any legal trouble. She therefore had to find a way of protecting Spencer without turning the A Team in, which often involved following them around and sending people to spy on them, or even doing A-Team jobs which would hurt the girls, but not as much as if an actual member of the A-Team had done it. This is why Melissa said she’d been protecting Spencer since before it started and that ’[blood] can also be VERY slippery.’

Speaking of Wilden, making CeCe older on the roof means it’s possible that Wilden was a police officer at that time. CeCe lied about how old she was when Marion was pushed to make Ali feel sorry for her. Additionally, (and all credit goes to a Reddit user for this, I can’t remember who it was but it’s brilliant), Wilden was both in the class of 1996 as Hanna said in season 1, and went to high school with Melissa, as he graduated in 96 but went back when Melissa was there as an undercover cop to investigate something else (maybe something relating to Jason and drugs?) and this is how he became acquainted with Melissa.

Mona, CeCe and Alex had planned to start the A Game immediately, but then Alison helped Mona become popular, and Mona became friends with Hanna, so Mona asked them to leave it because she wanted a chance at being popular and having friends like she’d always wanted. CeCe and Alex couldn’t do anything without having Mona on board, as CeCe was locked in Radley and Alex was living in London, so they needed Mona’s inside knowledge. However, when Aria returned, Mona was reminded of all the bullying, saw the way Ezra looked at her in class and sent the first text. She then found a reason to text the others, both as revenge and in an attempt to scare them away from each other so she could keep Hanna to herself. However, her actions had the opposite effect, Hanna got closer to the girls, Mona got angry and her A actions escalated.

After a year of Mona keeping CeCe and Alex up to date on how it was going, Alex decided that she wanted to give Spencer another chance, as she was understandably confused when she saw another version of herself looking back at her. So she asked Mona to reveal herself to Spencer and offer Spencer the chance to join them. She did, and Spencer refused. Mona was committed to Radley, where her and CeCe were able to plan more easily and where Alex came to visit on a regular basis. It was Alex who Mona spoke to at the end of 2x25, as it was her that asked her to reveal herself to Spencer.

Whilst this was happening, Alex met Wren in London, fell in love with him, and realised that he knew Spencer and Melissa and often volunteered in Radley. She convinced him to talk to her and CeCe, and they convinced him to create a visitor’s pass for CeCe, which she could use with certain members of staff who didn’t know her as Charlotte in order to get both in and out of Radley as a visitor, as it is likely that not every member of staff knows every patient. This allowed CeCe to watch and interact with the girls, gaining more information for their revenge game.

After a while, the game became too dangerous, as CeCe and Alex kept wanting to pull bigger stunts. Mona realised that actually she just wanted to be friends with these girls and didn’t want to put them in danger any more. She left the game, and CeCe and Alex made her another of their victims.

Eventually, CeCe and Alex decided that the girls were getting too close, as the trail of people they’d paid to do things for them had started to backfire as the Liars began to discover the truth. They decided that if one of them confessed before they were discovered, then the subsequent apology and sob story would seem more believable, allowing one of both of them to pick up the game again when they were least expecting it if they deemed it necessary. CeCe exaggerated her story, making herself seem younger as a victim rather than the 20-something year old woman she actually was when Bethany pushed Marion off the roof. It worked, and the game ended until Alex got angry that CeCe was killed and wanted to know who did it, and then became obsessed with Spencer’s life and wanted to take her place.

All the money came from CeCe’s investments and money Alex stole from the rich adoptive parents who gave her up again (she went back years later and stole it out of anger).

The stuff done to Spencer when she was in London (such as the blood in the bag) was Alex.

Anyway, that’s just what I’ve come up with for now, I’d like to figure out a way to include things like the NAT club and suspicious actions of other characters at some point, but the main thing I wanted to do was find a way to link Alex back to the beginning and the other As, cover up some of the plot holes created by 6x10, and make it so at least one of the girls actually did something to warrant her getting so angry (I think being hit over the head and buried alive is enough to make a person pretty angry). Hope you liked my version of events anyway 😊

[immortalpramheda]

PLL ‘Till DeAth Do Us PArt’

Well, this is it. The final episode of Pretty Little Liars. I'll be honest, I had very low expectations for the finale. And I was even more disappointed than I expected to be. I guess some part of me hoped that we'd get lots of answers, and I’d be able to go back and rewatch from the beginning and piece it all together. But of course that didn’t happen. I’ve had some time to process it all and I didn’t hate it as much as I thought I did. The finale was a ridiculous mess but I did enjoy it. It was just a bit unsatisfying. I don’t know what else I expected from the show though. And don’t get me started on the full circle ending. So, here goes. The final ever analysis of a new PLL episode.

The beginning of the episode was so… odd. The Liars are just chatting. Their conversation was really weird. About frozen panties or some shit. Then Lucas comes along tap dancing. Umm??? I did not expect that to be the last we saw of Lucas. And then Jenna comes along riding on a horse. Okay?? And then it starts snowing… and it was just Mona looking into a snow globe. Imagine if the episode had ended like that??? If it was all Mona’s imagination. That would have actually been amazing! Anyway, the person in the back hoodie comes to visit Mona (in Welby I think she was) and she says she never would have guessed it was them. It must have been Wren!

All of the girls doing the shhh in the opening credits was amazing!! The perfect way to end the beginning of the final episode.

The first half of the episode focused on all the ships. I found myself getting bored for the majority of it. It was pretty much just fan service. And it felt different. It had a very different vibe.

Ezria were planning their wedding. I am so happy they acknowledged Aria’s ugly cry!! That was amazing! Aria can’t have kids. It was heartbreaking when she broke down and told Ezra. And they had that song that was playing when they found Maya’s body. Why are they messing with my emotions like this??

A year later, Emison have twins. Twin girls. Seriously, how many twin girls are there in Rosewood?? Okay, they’re just acting like a family and forgetting the fact that A.D violated Ali like that. Ali proposed. Which was pretty sweet, but I still don’t care. They do make a cute family, but I'm sorry, I just cannot support their relationship after everything that has happened.

I am so happy that Melissa was back!! I was so, so excited to see her in the black hoodie! That was everything I ever wanted! But… my heart sunk when it was revealed it was only Mona wearing a very realistic looking mask. Anyway, it was great to get to see Melissa in a black hoodie at least once. It really suited her. It was a missed opportunity not making her A.

Spoby! Spencer and Toby have always been my OTP and we got some great Spoby scenes. Or so I thought. I got so emotional when they were playing Scrabble. My Spoby heart! That is how they first bonded. That was the beginning of Spoby. They had their first kiss the morning after the first time they played Scrabble. And the S scrabble piece necklace that Toby gave her. Scrabble is their thing. I got really emotional watching that. ‘Limerence’. That was the final word of their game. The kind of unrequited love. My heart!! There were so many great Spoby scenes on the episode. But to think none of them were actually Spoby.

Haleb. I’m so bored of them. Don’t have much to say about them. Mona caused some drama in their relationship. Hanna was trying tog get pregnant. And in the end she did. Pretty boring typical stuff. So much unnecessary drama. We all know they’re going to have happy endings.

Umm, the HBO level sex. Okay… Lol I was cringing so hard at those scenes. And the music… Just, I was questioning what I was watching?

The Lost Woods Resort has been remade. It’s no longer a creepy place. It was nice to see them all chatting like adults for once. All of them together.

So, Addison is the new Alison. A bitchy mean girl. She is exactly how Alison used to be. And she has her own clique, with 4 other girls. It’s literally the Liars all over again. And a new A for their generation. I’m not sure how I feel about that whole thing. One of them is Maya’s niece. Jenna though. I love her! “I can smell a bitch a mile away.” ICONIC!

Mona! So, she has been working for A.D. She was told to wear the Melissa mask and spy on the Liars. And this whole time she’s had no idea who A.D was.

Mary is still in prison. When Spencer met with her it was so weird. That’s when I started to suspect that maybe that wasn’t Spencer. Their conversation was odd and full of twin clues.

The Wine Moms!! They mentioned the basement but we still don’t know how they got out! So good to see them get drunk together again. They need a spin off show!

So Spencer just threw herself at Toby. It made my Spoby heart happy, but none of this was actually even Spoby! I am so mad. Spoby shippers were robbed by this ending.

When Spencer was back in the barn, when just a second ago she was with Toby, that’s when I knew for sure they were going there. And when Mona slapped her. “De ja vu bitch!” OMG!!! And then she woke up in the strange room. It was like the Dollhouse all over again.

They went there!! They actually went there! Twincer/Spencerietta is confirmed!! Spencer was staring at her reflection and her reflection did something different and I was shaking. I can't believe they actually went there! I knew it, but I still hoped it would be something better.

Alex Drake. Spencer’s twin sister. She lived in London. She happened to meet Wren one day when he came into the bar she worked at. He was convinced it was Spencer. He’s always had a thing for her. He ordered a vodka soda which is what Spencer ordered back in S1. Omg I was dying at this point!! Wren has always had a thing for the Hasting sisters. Omg.

Alex didn’t know about anything. She didn’t know she had a twin sister. She didn’t know she had another sister Charlotte. She didn’t know her mother was Mary Drake. Wren told her everything and that’s when it all started. When A.D began.

Okay, so wasn’t Wren living with Melissa in London?? How did Melissa have no idea about Alex?? Remember when Spencer visited Melissa in London. Was that actually Alex?? I am so confused.

Okay, so to get this straight. Alex Drake is Spencer’s twin sister. She’s British (Troian did an amazing job but her accent sounded a bit off at times). She wanted revenge for her sister Charlotte’s death. Wren helped her. She is A.D.

When Hanna saw Spencer when she was locked in that barn, that was Alex. She was one looking at the Hastings photo albums. She was the one who kissed Toby when he was about to leave. She’s the one who seduced him in the cabin. And she was the one at the airport with Wren. They were arguing. That’s why that scene was so awkward when they saw Ezra.

Alex was jealous of Spencer’s life. She wanted to become Spencer. She wanted her life. Very similar to Ali and Courtney in the books. Alex wanted a friendship like what Spencer has.

I have always loved Wrencer. I always kind of wished they’d get back together at some point. But this is not what I expected. I loved it though! Alex is a crazy bitch and made Wren shoot her in the same place Spencer was shot. Fuck this is what I always wanted in a villain on this show. I love it!!

I AM SO FUCKING MAD THAT THEY KILLED WREN!!! Alex that crazy bitch killed him and turned his ashes into a diamond! OH MY FUCKING GOD!!! That was the final straw. She is a fucking psychopath and I love her but I can’t believe she killed Wren. He’s now a fucking diamond I want to cry.

She kidnapped Ezra as well. And Ezria’s wedding was almost ruined. Aria’s wedding dress was so ugly. Who decided on that ugly dress??

Wren is the father of Emison’s babies! I fucking knew it!! Well, I guess the only good thing is as well as living forever as a diamond, he will also live on in the twins. Alex always knew he’d make beautiful babies.

So, what was Mary’s game? Whose side was she on? She says she didn’t know if Alex was even alive. She was taken right after she was born. Well, Mary sold her to get out of Radley. I love Mary and Spencer’s relationship and I just hope that it really was real. After everything Spencer deserves a real mother.

So, Ezra and Spencer are locked in ‘some do it yourself dungeon’. I was laughing at how ridiculous the whole things was.

So, now that Wren is dead Spencer wants Toby. SHe’s obsessed with him and wants to be Spencer so that he will love her. That’s some messed up shit and I love it!

So Sara was basically irrelevant?? We never got to know her motive. Was she kidnapped or not? Where are the answers??

Charlotte met Archer Dunhill on the flight to Paris. She’d been in contact with Wren and met Alex at the airport. That flashback was great! So, that was how they met and how they became such good friends.

Okay, so the whole thing with Archer marrying Alison was nothing to do with Alex or A.D or any fucking thing. This is just leaving me with more questions. I am so confused.

Charlotte wanted to keep playing the game. Playing with her dolls. Alex wanted too help. Their relationship was sweet and the goodbye was sad. (And why were there English flags behind them. We know they're in London, you don’t need to keep reminding us!!!)

That was the last time Charlotte and Alex saw each other. That’s why she became A.D. Charlotte told her all about what the Liars did. And what she did to them. And Alex wanted revenge because she blamed them for Charlotte’s death. Okay, yes. A very simple motive. That makes sense. Unlike CeCe’s motive which I still don’t completely understand. But as well as her motive, which I understand, she’s just psychopath who wants to hurt people. Which is everything I wanted A to be.

Spencer’s horse was the first one to find out that Spencer wasn’t Spencer. Animals are smart like that. Then finally Toby started to notice something was off. But Jenna was the next to figure it out. A horse and a blind girl figured it out before anyone else.

And then it took them about 5 seconds to realise that Spencer has an evil twin. Really?? They’ve been wondering who A.D is for years and it takes them 5 seconds to figure it out??

Alex with the axe was everything I wanted in a villain on this show. THIS is the A I wanted! A psychotic bitch who just wants revenge. She doesn’t want people to feel sorry for her because of her tragic backstory. She just wants to hurt people and laugh about it. THIS is what I have always wanted! As cringey and cliche as this whole ting was I loved every minute of it! When she went form British to American accent I got chills! Aaaaaaah! Remember the spoilers that said Wren was A and he dropped his accent mid sentence?? We got that but it was Alex not Wren but it was everything I wanted (almost)! I was living for crazy Alex!

So the Dollhouse 2.0 was actually the house that Toby built. The one he was building for Spencer. Alex bought it, and made the Dollhouse 2.0. It’s completely underground. There was a tunnel system and everything. And an artificial sky. It was so creepy but so cool! I wish we could have seen more of it. The others went to the house and it literally looked like Spencer’s house. Seriously, it’s Dollhouse 2.0.

I LOVED the showdown between the twins where Alex copied everything Spencer said, trying to imitate her as best as she could. And then the others arrived and Toby aimed his gun at them, but he couldn’t tell who was who. That reminded me of something but I could not remember what. And then it came to me. It’s literally a scene from Hannah Montana. When Miley’s evil cousin was pretending to be Hannah Montana and Oliver and Lilly couldn't tell which was the real Miley. Yep, very original scene haha!

When they figured out which was the real Spencer by asking what her favourite poem is I started crying. The whole thing was ridiculous and stupid, but it made me so emotional. They finally caught A.D. Finally after all this time it’s all over.

The Ezria wedding was beautiful I’ll admit. Not because I necessarily like them, but because they were all together. They were all happy. A.D was not there to ruin anything anymore. And wtf was Marlene's cameo?? I couldn’t stop laughing omg!!! And she did the shhh!?!!

The Liars right at the end ruined me. It was a goodbye to them. This is the last we are going to see of them. And they’re all happy. For the first time in their lives they are actually all happy. I was crying. It’s the end. I’ve grown up with these characters. This is the end of an era.

And Mona got a happy ending too. She is living in Paris. She has a French boyfriend/husband (who I just realised is the cop that came and arrested Alex. On my rewatch I realised he had a French accent in that scene). She has Mary and Alex in her very own Dollhouse. Mona got the real happy ending.

And then the ending we pretend never happened (I rewatched the episode on Australian TV and this scene wasn’t even in it). It came ‘full circle’, as Marlene says. It was literally word for word, scene for scene, from the pilot, except with Addison and her group of friends. What was the actually point of that??

So, overall I didn’t hate it. I actually quite enjoyed it. I was really confused and disappointed when I first finished watching the episode, but after taking some time to process it all I didn’t think it was terrible. I mean, it was still a mess. A huge fucking mess. And it left more questions than answers. But it was a fun and ridiculous ending to the show.

One thing that confused me was that Alex was the name of Spencer’s first boyfriend. Seriously, they could have used a different name that started with A. There are tons of different names! Or did they just forget about him? I always joked that Alex might be A. And hey, Alex did end up being A.D!

Troian did a fantastic job!!! If anyone was going to have a twin, I’m so glad it was Spencer. Troian is a fantastic actress and made it believable. Her accent was a bit off at times but overall Troian was incredible!! She was the saving grace of the episode to be honest.

We all knew Twincer/Spencerietta was confirmed, but a part of me wished it would be something more exciting, like Wren or Melissa. I loved that Wren was a part of it, but it was a missed opportunity not make him and Melissa working together as A/A.D. That would have been amazing! Wren has been my number 1 suspect since the beginning. The thing I’m most upset about in the finale is that Wren is dead and was turned into A FUCKING DIAMOND!! I am so mad. I can forgive lots of things on this show, but not that. That just crossed the line.

There are still so many questions though. What was Ali doing for the 2 years she was ‘dead’? That is one thing I really wanted to know. Did Sara Harvey willing help CeCe or was she kidnapped? Did Melissa have anything to do with A/A.D?? Because from the episode it seems like she didn’t but she was always so sketchy? And how did she know nothing about Alex when she was living with Wren? What ever happened to Eddie Lamb?? What did Bethany’s drawings mean? I was hoping we would learn more about Bethany. Why did Alex impregnate Ali with Emily’s eggs? Was she just a big Emison shipper? I do not understand. We still never found out who Beach Hottie was. And what was the deal with the NAT club? How did Alex make the board game?? Was it Alex with Caleb or did Spaleb actually happen? Did Wren know Archer? How did Alex kill Wren? And most importantly HOW DID THE WINE MUMS GET OUT OF THE BASEMENT??

I’m sure there are many more questions but thats all I can think of right now. Overall I’m actually sad that this is over. It’s been a part of my life 5 years. I’ve wasted so much time searching for clues and theorising. I feel like I’ve grown up with these characters and cast. I am so glad I’m free from this train wreck but a part of me is sad that there won’t be anymore new episodes. I’m going to miss this show. It has frustrated me to no end but I’m sad to say goodbye. This fandom is amazing. We’ve turned this train wreck of a show into memes and inside jokes, and written theories and fan fiction that are so much better than the actual show. This show pretty much makes absolutely no sense. I don’t even know how to explain the premise of this show to others. I wold not recommend watching this show to anyone because in the end it still makes absolutely no sense. But I’m glad I’ve watched it. It was a great experience watching each new episode live. I’ve loved discussing and theorising and making of fun of it with other fans. I feel like no one understands why I love this show. I sometimes wonder myself. But I think it’s partly because it feels like a family. The core of Pretty Little Liars is friendship and I feel like that’s what my relationship with the show is. The fandom is like one big friendship group.

So thank you PLL. Thank you for 5 years of my life I’ll never get back. Thank you for taking me on this rollercoaster of a journey that never really made any sense. Thank you for these characters and for the cast. Thank you for being something that I looked forward to each week. Thank you for being a part of my life. I’ll miss you. You will always have a place in my heart.

"How lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard."

[ashleyinwondrland]

In my heart of hearts, Ezra Fitz is still A

And this is my take on how it should’ve went down

After Mona went to Radley, Ezra was mad about which direction the book was going in (he was obsessed) so he became A so he could control the story and found it to be more exciting than just writing

He used it to track down Ali and hired Charlotte, and made her think that she was actually Uber A and was the master mind when he was really pulling the strings

He was obsessed with Aria more than the others and wanted to be able to keep her if everyone found out which is why he was slowly trying to isolate her from her friends

When she found out about the book Ezra had to take a break from being A or else they would connect the two, so he hired Shana and handed the reigns over to Charlotte for awhile and orchestrated himself getting shot (tho it wasn’t aimed well) to get back in Aria’s good graces

During the time he gave Charlotte, her working from France at first with Shana, Jenna and others doing her bidding, Charlotte became more obsessed with the power and Ezra lost control of the game

Then the doll house and all that happen

Ezra grows more angry during the flash forward because he still doesn’t have a good ending to his book, not without exposing himself, until Charlotte is released and all the girls are back

He realizes now it’s time to get back in the game but first he has a lose end, Charlotte whom he pushes off the bell tower when Charlotte threatens to tell Ali everything he did

Of course he couldn’t do all of this on his own, he needed someone else who was invested in the girls lives and had access he didn’t (to Radley specifically) and not just a minion, which is where Wren came in

Ezra knew about Wren and him flirting and kissing Spencer so when they happened to be sitting next to each other at a bar and started talking he slipped in that these Rosewood high school girls are such teases

Wren joined team A and gave Ezra access to whatever Radley files he needed and helped Charlotte be able to get in an out without questions

He was already obsessed with the Hastings so working with Charlotte was easy for Wren since she was related to them

It was Wren’s cabin that Ezra used, and also a secondary A head quarters just incase Ravenswood got found

Wren also had his own help, Melissa, who didn’t know quite what she was involved with but she knew it would protect Spencer and Ezra having found out about her burying Bethany when Melissa accidentally confessed it to Wren used it to blackmail her into becoming the Black Widow

As far as Melissa knew, Wren was also being blackmailed because he wanted to protect her and Melissa had no idea Ezra was behind it

Jump forward to when Ezra finally got back with Aria and everyone was happy, he knew it was time to finish the game, the last chapter Which is why he proposed to Aria and tried to rush her into getting married

In his mind she was as in love with him that she would forgive him for everything (which is why he brought the file into play to test her love for him) so as long as they were married she wouldn’t have to testify against him and would also be bound to him

Over time the things Mona had forgotten at Radley were coming back to her and she starts to go off her meds so she can remember

She doesn’t have all the pieces together when she accuses Ezra in front of everyone of being AD, and no one believes her but finding out she is off her medication they decide to get her help and don’t think twice about her accusations

Jump forward a year and Wren goes back to Radley to take care of Mona But Wren doesn’t have the strongest will and Mona convinces him that they need her (same as the show)

Ezra and Aria are about to get married and be all happy so Ezra surprises her with a new house, the one Toby built

Aria is so excited but what she doesn’t realize is the under ground bunker he built, where all his AD stuff is and also would be a comfy place if say your wife finds what you have been up to and you have to keep her somewhere

Spencer goes to the brew and finds Wren there arguing with Ezra in hushed tones (about not killing Mona) she had no idea they knew each other

She confronts them and they make a stupid lie about Ezra spilling coffee on Wren

She asks Wren what he is doing in town and he just says business and tell her he has to leave but they should catch up soon (did I mention the bunker as enough room for two ladies to live comfortably though Wren still isn’t sure which, Spencer or Melissa or hell even Hanna)

Ezra starts acting off, he knows he can’t trust Mona and doesn’t know what she knows, which Aria tries to dismiss as pre wedding jitters but he keeps trying to push up a wedding that’s only two days away

Aria goes to the new house to take some pictures as reference for when she is furniture shopping and such, she goes out back to the tool shed, notices the ground is uneven and finds a secret door in the ground

She goes under and finds everything but what she doesn’t know is Wren is already down there and he hits her over the head, then calls Ezra and tells him they have a problem

Ezra planned to tell Aria everything about the book on their honeymoon and if she reacted badly was going to claim and accident happened where she goes missing but keep her in the bunker (he had practice making someone go missing) but now Aria was in the bunker and he couldn’t just let her out

He goes to the bunker where Aria is terrified and won’t go near him, he thinks she just needs time to cool down

He takes her phone and sends a text to everyone saying “we can’t deal with the wedding stress and everyone arguing, we decided to leave for our honeymoon and elope. I’m sorry and we love you all”

He figures that will keep everyone busy for awhile while he tries to convince Aria to get on board, reminding her how she betrayed her friends for him and how their love story would go down in literary history

In the mean time, the girls are hurt Aria left to get married without them but they understand, except for Spencer who feels like things don’t add up because she had spoken to Aria just a couple hours before and she was excited for the wedding and Aria had invited Spencer and the others to the new house to show them, only giving them the address and not telling them the surprise

The girls all disperse, Emily and Ali talking about how they need to get home to the girls and Hanna to see if she can refashion the bridesmaids dresses into something she can show to a client, though after they leave Spencer realizes Emily’s Fitbit fell off and sends her a text that she will hold onto it til they see each other again and put it in her pocket

Spencer still goes, curious because she recognizes the address and then realizes it is the house Toby built, and even more confused when she sees Wren coming from the backyard and doesn’t even realize Ezra coming up behind her with a needle knocking her out

Spencer wakes up in a cell across from Aria, her phone missing and Ezra & Wren are just standing there

They explain they didn’t want things to work out like this, and once they calm down it is very comfortable and nice in the make shift home they built down in the bunker and when things were settled they could all move away to a much bigger place so the girls would have more room (because they can never actually leave and be free now)

Ezra leaves they each with a book incase they get bored, which is his finished manuscript including the ending he intends to make happen

They jump to the end and read that Ezra plans to be the hero, and pin the entire thing on Spencer, who became AD as a way to keep the girls together after realizing how much she missed them when they came back for Charlotte’s trial and used Charlotte’s death, who she killed, to keep them in Rosewood

He planned to make it seem like Spencer followed them on their honeymoon, making one last use out of Melissa by having her getting on a plane as Spencer so they had her on the flight manifest, and tried to kill Ezra for taking Aria away while confessing she was AD and Ezra, in self defense, pushes her off the side of a cliff

Aria freaks out after reading it while Spencer continues to read through the book, looking for clues about how to get out

Meanwhile, the others grow concerned they haven’t heard from Aria, who should’ve landed and always texts after a flight or Spencer, who wasn’t at home when they checked

Mona shows up and tells them AD is back and is ready to end the game, for good and she knows at least one person helping is Wren but she doesn’t know who AD is yet

They realize at least Spencer was kidnapped and after Caleb can’t pin point her cell phone Emily remembers Spencer has the Fitbit and maybe they can track her with that (might have to bend reality) and Caleb is able to find a location, the house Toby built

The gang minus Mona make their way over, meanwhile Spencer and Aria are trying to break out, Aria tosses Spencer a bobby pin which Spencer can barely reach but manages to get it just before Ezra comes back

He asks how far they are in the book and what they think of it so far, he actually sounds genuine for their feedback

Realizing this is the only chance they might have, Aria tried to distract him by asking him questions about the book while Spencer quietly works on the lock and manages to open it

While Ezra is still facing Aria, Spencer uses her copy to knock him over the head though she knows he won’t be down for long so she opens Aria’s cage and they run not realizing they have no where to go

Above ground, the others get to the house and start to look around when Toby sees the shed and mentions he didn’t build a shed, and why would someone build a new shed before anything else

When they open the shed they see Wren inside who is starting to open the trap door who tries to make a run for it but Hanna manages to trip him and he hits his head on a rock

The guys work on tying him up while the girls look for Spencer, thinking Wren is AD and the bunker would be safe now and they come across Ezra who looks dazed and convinces them that AD kidnapped Aria and himself and that the girls have to get out of the bunker before AD comes back

He starts to lead them out when they run into Spencer and Aria who yell that he is AD, Ezra acts quickly and grabs Ali as a hostage while pulling out a knife

He tells them all to get back to the cells or Ali dies, then tells Ali this whole messes started with her so it should end with her

Behind him is the sound of a gun cocking, aimed right at his head, Mona says “actually this started with me, and I am going to be the one to finish it”

Ezra drops the knife and let’s go of Ali as the police come rushing in and Emily rushes forward to grab Ali

Ezra and Wren are taken into custody, where the both face charges of extortion, stalking, kidnapping, murder, building a creepy bunker without a permit and statutory rape

The girls all agree it’s time to finally leave Rosewood, for good

Forgive me if this sucks, I wrote this during my lunch break on my phone so there may be plot holes by the dozen and grammatical errors but I did this quickly

And I don’t get paid for it nor have years to plan it out but thats another story

[veronicamarsbars]

So I rewrote the Reveal Scene... A ‘Wren is Charles D’ Alternate Ending

Alternate timeline where Spencer is still a Hastings, and Alex Drake does not exist. Therefore Mary Drake is not Spencer’s Mom, only Charles’, and took the blame for Dunhill’s murder because of her guilt for killing Jessica and her want to redeem herself to Alison. So there is absolutely no incest between Wren/Charles and Spencer. Alison’s babies’ Dad is not Wren in this timeline. Some of the events have changed or been pushed up in the timeline to fit better with this reveal so that most things make a lot more sense.

Also apologies if it isn’t written in correct formatting, I’ve never done screenwriting before. 

THE REVEAL SCENE:

The Liars prisons are opened, only one layer of glass screening blocks them from escaping. They all stand in each individual cell; confused, once again drugged and trying to recover from the effects of that. Things are hazy at first, but soon the light in the room becomes less blinding and the figure in the black hoodie becomes clearer.

WREN: Surprise! [As he says this, he pulls back his hoodie to show his face, smiling from excitement] Finally, you’re all here. Right in front of me, locked inside like rats [pause] You won’t be escaping this time.

SPENCER: Wren? [blinks several times to adjust her sight] Is that… [notices his black hoodie] you’re… You’re A.D?

WREN: [Laughs hysterically] Oh, Spencer, really? [takes a step towards Spencer’s cell, sudden shift in demeanor] Wren was always nice, wasn’t he? Kind. There for you every time you needed someone. There to put back the pieces, right? [Facial expression turns serious] You really think that I’m Wren?

HANNA: [confused] You’re not Wren?

WREN: Not anymore. I was for a few years, though. Oh he was a lot of fun, wasn’t he? [turns to Spencer] We sure had a lot of fun, Spence. Heated kisses in the middle of the night, your forbidden lover?

SPENCER: [Turns away in disgust]

WREN: By the way Spencer, I never meant for any of that to happen but… being with you gave me a little bit of freedom, something I never had growing up. It was like living the teenage years I never got to have, with you. [walks back into the middle] Melissa was the original plan, I swear, then I could keep close by at all times. Have a connection with at least one of the families so my appearance wouldn’t seem entirely unusual. [looks to the ground, tone changing, voice softer] but you surprised me Spencer. You really did.

SPENCER: [heated, angry, frustrated] So who are you then? If you’re not Wren… Who are you really?

WREN: [smiling again] You almost figured it out, didn’t you? Standing in that room in the dollhouse, I was right behind you – and you knew it too. You knew that person. You felt the connection, you just couldn’t see me, you couldn’t quite pin it down—

SPENCER: Charles…?

ALL LIARS: [Look to each other in confusion]

ALISON: You can’t be…

WREN/CHARLES: Oh Ali, but I am. [walks closer to Ali, evil glint in his eyes] It’s been so long, hasn’t it? I was waiting for the perfect time to tell you, to show you how messed up our families are, but I guess you have figured that one out by now.

ALISON: I don’t believe you. You’re not Charles… Charlotte was Charles!

EMILY: How can we trust what you say, Wren? Charlotte told us everything, she was even locked away for everything she did to us!

WREN/CHARLES: [angry] That’s what happens when you hire a psycho to do the job for you! [takes a moment to pause, breathes] That night in the dollhouse, I was going to reveal myself. But they were onto us, your friends, lovers, the police! I had to get out of there before they found me, so I left. I tried to get CeCe out of there too but it was too late.

SPENCER: So why would she just take all of the blame for you, especially if you just left her there? Why wouldn’t she have just rat you out to the police?

WREN/CHARLES: [chuckling quietly] Well, it seems she was a lot fonder of me than I was of her. She was already… under a lot of stress, mentally. She was never really quite all there, like her reality was distorted. She was perfect for the job.

ALISON: [takes a step away from the cell door] She was only lying? To cover up for you?

HANNA: Because she loved you?! That’s ridiculous!

WREN/CHARLES: [narrowing his eyes] Oh believe me, if she hinted to me at all I would have ended her. And she knew that, too. [pause] She loved me, yes, but she knew her place. She knew the things I would have done to make sure she’d never speak again.

ALISON: Did you… Did you kill her?

WREN/CHARLES: [smiling] No, no Mona definitely did all of that on her own. Funny, really. I was working hard to get CeCe out of there, because she kept me a secret and took the blame; she deserved my help. I sent in Archer to get her out of there, it was a long process but we all managed to pull through it. [shakes his head] until Mona came along. That bitch is crazy though, should have seen her coming a mile away.

HANNA: Don’t call her crazy.

WREN/CHARLES: Touche. [pause] Although, if I remember correctly, you were one of the girls that bullied her into an almost psychotic state of mind. Right?

HANNA: [swallows, looks to her feet]

SPENCER: So you’re really… Charles DiLaurentis. [pause] And you’re A.D. [shakes her head] this is crazy.

ARIA: How did you even… find the game. Did Mona tell you about us?  

WREN/CHARLES: Find the game? [laughing] Oh Aria, I didn’t find the game. I created the game.

HANNA: But Mona…

WREN/CHARLES: Mona never met me. Mona never knew the face or the name she was taking her orders from, only that they went by the initials A.D. [turns to look at Alison] For your darling name of course, Ali. [starts to laugh again] Freaked Mona out a bit when she got her first note from me.

EMILY: It was you, this whole time?

ARIA: All these years?

WREN/CHARLES: Yes. [looks to each girl]

SPENCER: But why Wre—Charles? Why would you hurt us all, for all of that time… [voice becomes angrier] You tormented us! For what, you just wanted someone to feel pain? Is that it!?

WREN/CHARLES: Spencer, you know the story. I mean, it was poorly executed. It was heavily improvised by CeCe, she had to act quickly. It was awful, but you all believed it [pause] You know a lot of the things she said didn’t even match up, right?

ALISON: How were we supposed to know that she covering up for someone else?

WREN/CHARLES: I guess you’re right, but if it was me I would have wanted to check her facts. [laughs] But why did I become A.D, you ask? [goes closer to Alison’s cell, so close in fact that he leans against it, his face inches from the glass] It was all you, Alison. You took my life away. You forced me into that Sanatorium. [glares at Alison] You took away my freedom.

ALISON: I did nothing to you.

EMILY: [tries to catch Charles’ attention by leaning on the glass towards him] It wasn’t her fault! You were the one who tried to hurt her, when she was only a child. Your actions put you in there, not Ali.

WREN/CHARLES: [laughing begins again]

LIARS: [all try to take in the information, almost too shocked to even speak]

SPENCER: So you wanted revenge? Is that it?

WREN/CHARLES: [takes a step away from Ali’s cell, voice becomes a lot more emotional] I wanted Ali to hurt just as much as I had been hurt. [grimaces] When they put me in there, in that prison, they took my name away from me. I became Drake, just like my mother. I was abandoned. [pause] but then Mona came along. [eyes light up again, taken out of emotional trance] She was my first opportunity. I was locked up of course, but Mona wasn’t. She was just visiting to get her weekly therapy, because of the bullying.

SPENCER: You met with her?

WREN/CHARLES: No, like I said, she never saw my face. That would be too dangerous. I slipped her notes. The first one I signed A.D. and she flipped out, she didn’t come back for a while. I thought I scared her off, I thought I’d just gotten rid of all chances I had to get back at Alison. But she came back, and she agreed.

ALISON: To what?

WREN/CHARLES: [smiling again] to be my minion. I couldn’t get out of Radley, but she could leave whenever she wanted. You see, she was struggling. Vulnerable. Easy to manipulate. And when she heard that I wanted to torment you, Ali, she was all in. She started sending threats to you that summer, and that’s how it all began.

SPENCER: But she was caught, put into Radley. Why not tell anyone about you?

WREN/CHARLES: She didn’t know me. She only knew that I was called A.D. She had no evidence of me even existing, I made sure of that. She couldn’t tell anyone even if she wanted to.

HANNA: You manipulated Mona, and made her obsessed with the game? [angry tone, look of hatred in eyes] You put her into Radley!?

WREN/CHARLES: She got obsessed all on her own, it wasn’t my fault that she couldn’t keep her head straight. And she was caught because she was sloppy, messy; she left too many clues around. She didn’t clean up after herself, but that didn’t matter. Because none of it connected back to me. [pause] and after Ian failed me, I knew I had to make my choices on who worked for me a little better.

SPENCER: Ian?

WREN/CHARLES: The N.A.T club. The videos they recorded were all sent to me via Ian, he was given money anonymously for every video of Alison and her friends that he could get to me. But then those videos were leaked and practically useless, I had to dispose of Ian.

ALISON: After the club, and all those threats I was getting, I left. I was gone. Why not just leave Rosewood while you could? Get out of that town and go somewhere new?

WREN/CHARLES: I wasn’t finished. You think I could just let you slip through my fingers like that, without any consequences? [pause] After you left, I knew that if I started to hurt your friends, and manipulate them, you would come back. Or they would try to find you. [pause] They were my only lead to you, and it worked.

ALISON: But I was dead. To everyone. No one knew I was alive.

WREN/CHARLES: I knew you were alive. Because I saw Bethany get killed, the one in your grave. I was going to kill her, but Mona got to her first. And then Melissa buried her in Ali’s place, none of that was part of my plan. None.

SPENCER: Melissa thought I killed Bethany, so she buried her to protect me.

WREN/CHARLES: Yes, she did. Naïve. [starts to pace] Bethany Young came to Radley during the beginning of that summer. Jessica liked her. I pretended to like her.

ALISON: My Mom?

WREN/CHARLES: [stops walking, stands in front of Ali’s cell] Jessica thought our friendship was good for me. She visited me quite a bit, she even showed me photos of you and Jason. She thought, because Bethany looked like you, that I could learn to forgive you through being friends with her. They started this whacked out therapy, dressing Bethany up like you. I feigned recovery and they thought it was working.

SPENCER: The dress.

ALISON: [looks to Spencer, realises the truth] My mom bought two dresses that looked the same. [pause] Charlotte told me it was for her when she transitioned, but it wasn’t. It was for Bethany. It was for… your therapy.

WREN/CHARLES: Bethany, Bethany, Bethany. She kept acting like she was you. I think Jessica’s so called therapy was making Bethany worse, and it definitely made me angrier. [closes eyes for a second, visibly tries to calm himself] Bethany found my plans of escape, she found out about my connection with Archer; he created Wren Kingston, my new identity to be. She found everything, and then escaped Radley; but I followed close behind. [eyes look dreamy, peaceful] That was my first night out of Radley in so long. I could breathe again. [snaps back into reality] I saw Bethany walking along one of the streets, and I followed her. She was walking up to Alison’s house, and that was when I hit her over the head with a rock I’d picked up. But it wasn’t Bethany, was it [eyes directed at Alison] it was you. You were wearing the same damn yellow shirt as Bethany was.

ALISON: That… was you?

WREN/CHARLES: Jessica saw me from inside the house, and when I saw your face I knew I screwed up big time, I knew I hadn’t killed you; the blow wasn’t hard enough. But I knew Jessica would be mad that I hurt you, so I ran for it. On my way back to Radley I saw the real Bethany… Mona was there with the shovel and then… she killed her, thinking Bethany was Alison. That night I called Archer and he got me out of Radley for good, I became Wren Kingston and for the next two years I laid low. Trying to find you, Alison. It wasn’t until Aria returned that I found out about your group of friends, and then I derived my plan. Become A.D again and use Mona to torment you all, so that Alison would return and I could finally get my revenge.

SPENCER: There’s one thing I don’t get [pause] wouldn’t people recognise you? Like Jessica? Mr Dilaurentis?

WREN/CHARLES [smirking] Archer set me up with a whole face change. I was paranoid that people would know me, even though I barely existed. I got them to change everything… except for my eyes of course; that was impossible. When I was Wren, I swear Jessica saw my eyes and shivered, but I knew she would never have guessed. [Turns to Alison] She thought I was dead after the night you disappeared. She thought you were dead Alison, and that I was dead too; that’s why she never told anyone about what she saw.

HANNA: This is all… just insane.

SPENCER: [tries to hide her emotions] all of those times I thought you were Wren Kingston… you were the tormentor behind all those masks. You were the puppet master controlling all your little minions. You tore friendships and relationships apart…

WREN/CHARLES: I admit; the game was obsessive. I understood Mona’s obsession after a while, having the power to finally control people instead of always being the one controlled gave me great satisfaction. But I never regretted a single part of it.

SPENCER: [thinks for a moment] Back when I was in Radley, you were working there. Why bother getting me on the A Team? Why work there at all?

WREN/CHARLES: [rolls his eyes] Mona was unreliable. She still did things for me but I needed more help. I had CeCe on my team by then, and before that, Toby. It wasn’t enough, things were going to get big and I couldn’t do it on my own.

SPENCER: Unfortunately for you, a lot of the people you hired weren’t on your side. Not really.

WREN/CHARLES: You’re absolutely right. But no matter, because I still got Alison back to Rosewood. And I still got you all into that dollhouse. And as for working at Radley, I went there for Mona at first. But when you were committed Spence, [he says as he turns towards her] I knew I had to stay. It was all a big risk but I was willing, besides, this game is all about risks. I almost got caught by that imbecile Eddie Lamb, but he got what he deserved.

ARIA: Eddie… Eddie Lamb was interviewed by Ezra for his book.

WREN/CHARLES: Yes, he was. He caught me up a few times, and then he started to say stuff to Ezra. You’re lucky Aria, Ezra was very close to being… silenced. Forever. But getting rid of Eddie Lamb, that was all that had to be done.

EMILY: You’ve “gotten rid of” a lot of people. Who else did you kill?

WREN/CHARLES: Nobody else, at least, not by my own hands.

ALISON: What about… what about my Mom?

WREN/CHARLES: I didn’t kill her. Even though she enabled my imprisonment in Radley… She was the only one who still cared. Whatever reason she had to visit me, some of those times pulled me through to the next day. That place… Not being able to exist as a person, to walk free; to be shunned from my own family [pause] it really got to me. [turns to Alison] I didn’t kill her, but Mary did. She had her own reasons. Now I’m sorry to be leaving you, but I have certain matters to attend to. [Presses ‘lock down’ button, all cells are now covered by a thick screening. Girls protest by shouting, but Charles ignores them].

END OF REVEAL SCENE.

[briannaslist]

Til Death Do Us Part (Series Finale)

A Pretty Little Liars Recap

We get a weird opening that’s not necessary, so we’ll just skip it. If you thought you were going to get a satisfactory answer, then you can turn back now. AD is someone we have never met; someone we didn’t even know existed. The worst twist and reveal possible, to the point that it’s taken about a week before I could even talk about it. It’s an extended finale, an hour and a half without commercials, yet nothing happened until the last 30 minutes.

It was Spencer’s evil twin. We can just stop right here.

We get a one-year time jump: Aria and Ezra are on a movie set because their book may become a movie. Which is very early for that story to be optioned for a film. Meanwhile, Ali and Emily are the proud mothers of twin girls – Lily and Grace. Spencer is getting along with her sister Melissa for a change; Toby arrives, much to Spencer’s surprise, and they’re clearly happy to see each other, complete with lingering looks. Because all the couples must exist at the end.

Somehow Addison is still a thing and she’s still as annoying as ever. The girl is still being a bully to everyone and she and her friends are likely bullying a deaf girl, but at least we get Jenna telling her that she may be blind, but she can smell a bitch from a mile away. We should just end the episode right there. Meanwhile Hanna and Caleb are having issues because Hanna is letting Mona come live with them; a decision she made without consulting Caleb.

Everyone gets together at the renovated Lost Woods Resort for a joint bachelor/bachelorette party. Apparently, Ezra has no other friends because his guests are all the guys we already know. Spencer notices Hanna making passive aggressive remarks to Caleb. They’re being watched by Mona who is in a Melissa mask. There’s no significance in her wearing the mask. I wonder if Mona still spied while everyone broke off to have sex. Except Spencer and Toby, who just leave to play Scrabble.

Hanna’s concern is getting pregnant despite only being married for a year and under dire circumstances. Her fashion line is just starting to take off, Caleb sold some software to Lucas, and they’re having problems. Why would you need to rush a pregnancy? Get yourselves a little more together.

For whatever reason, they decide that this is a good time to add even more drama even though we have a limited time frame. Aria gets a third opinion from a professional and has it confirmed that she cannot have children; Ezra is supportive and tells her there are other options and he’s there for her, but he’s a bit offended that she never told him earlier because she was afraid he would leave. All of this is dragged out for far too long.

Caleb is unnecessarily hostile to Mona when they come home; just gives her this look and doesn’t even greet her. Like it’s her fault she’s mentally ill and was harassed into having a psychological break. This behavior from the guy who, just one episode ago, said “poor Mona” because of her circumstances.

Hanna thought it was appropriate to bring Mona to the rehearsal dinner without asking Aria or Ezra for permission. Caleb didn’t want to leave Mona home alone and Hanna didn’t know what to do. Ali’s shock about it is probably the most Alison thing we’ve seen in two seasons and it lasts less than ten seconds. Hanna wants them to just pretend for one night that they’re all friends and to just treat Mona like a person.  

I’m still lost on how everyone is still so sour toward Mona after all she’s done for them and how close she’s been kind to them. Like they try to use the excuse of some of the stuff she did like “trying to kill Hanna”. I’m not saying we should be super happy about that, but Emily dated someone who tried to drown her, so I’m not seeing much of a difference. This and the episodes before seemed like it was setting up everyone else finally reconciling with Mona and ending with the six of them at least being friendly. But that doesn’t happen.

For whatever reason, they had to throw in Ezra talking to Byron and Byron giving him his approval for marrying Aria. I guess they had to add it since many people are very…uneasy about this relationship. And then they spent a good portion of these last episodes with Ezra being weird about Nicole. Also an inconsequential and unneeded storyline in the end.

We get treated to the moms being entertaining (except Pam, who’s being sketchy talking to Ali). The other moms are cool though. They also remembered that Toby and Emily are friends (and have been this whole time) and they have Toby asking when he’ll get to meet the kids. But for every sweet moment like this, there’s the rest of the show, so. Some Addison drama is thrown in here too, but no one gives a shit.

Emily is in a mood because she saw Ali and Pam acting weird at the party. Emily’s stubbornness leads to a reveal that Pam was giving Ali Emily’s grandmother’s ring. Because Ali had a big thing planned, but now that the surprise is ruined, the proposal is right at this moment.

Hanna and Caleb finally talk like rational adults and Hanna acknowledges that she’s been dismissive of Caleb’s feelings and she’s going to tell Mona that things won’t work out with her living there. They kiss and Caleb asks her if she wants to make a baby. Right there, on the couch, when you still have a house guest though? Hopefully Mona doesn’t need a glass of water any time soon.

Oh, and Spencer goes to Toby’s room to have sex with him too because they weren’t part of the earlier sex sequence. There we go, all the couples are back. Everyone should be totally satisfied with that.

Then the build up to something actually happening – Spencer is at home and hears music. She goes to her living room only to get knocked out by Mona. When she wakes up, she thinks she’s looking in a mirror; however, it’s a window. And now Spencer knows that she has an evil twin. An evil twin who kidnapped her after getting Mary out of prison somehow.

This evil twin is a walking exposition machine, so may as well address everything all at once, like she does every time she’s on screen:

Her name is Alex Drake – Hence the A.D. thing. Wren saw her working in a bar in London and thought she was Spencer messing with him at first. Probably because that “accent” is horrendous. So anyway, Wren showed her a picture of Spencer and he called, of all people, Charlotte to tell her about Alex. He didn’t call Spencer or Melissa, hell even Peter Hastings would make more sense, than calling Charlotte.

Alex has been impersonating Spencer for a while now. She’s the one who gave Toby that strange goodbye kiss before he left to have his life with Yvonne; she’s the one who slept with him like a week after his wife died. She was in the airport arguing with Wren.

But why did Alex do all this? For basically no reason. She was mad because the girls “took Charlotte from her” and Spencer had an alright life with people who cared about her and that upset Alex? So, she decided she just needed to take over Spencer’s life permanently. She has Wren shoot her in the shoulder, in the same spot Spencer was shot; and Wren went along with it because he loves her… But then Wren was in the way of her becoming Spencer because he saw her as “Alex”, so she killed him and had his ashes turned into a diamond, which she wears as a necklace so he’s always nearby. Let’s just – let’s wrap this up.

Alex takes Spencer’s place and goes to get ready for Aria’s wedding. Aria’s wedding dress is about as awful as the “Cockney British accent”, so we’re lucky that Ezra sent a text saying he wasn’t going to come and everyone just took it at face value despite everything that has happened to them in the past. Caleb looks into it, only to find that Ezra never used any credit cards or moved his car. Because Alex kidnapped him when he saw her acting weird at The Radley. All of which could have been avoided had she just played coy and said she spent the night with Toby.

Meanwhile, Mary hops into the exposition machine to tell Spencer more stupid things that don’t make any sense. Stuff like, the nurse gave Spencer to Peter and he walked off, only for the doctor and nurse to be surprised by a second child. Yes, apparently, the entire time Mary was in their care, they never gave her an ultrasound. And Peter Hastings did not hear the doctor yelling about a second baby just moments later. Also all doctors in Rosewood are corrupt because he convinced her to sell the baby to a wealthy couple for a cut of the profits. And then the couple decided they didn’t want Alex, probably because she was unbearably annoying, even then, so they gave her to an orphanage and took back their name to erase all association with her. Several years later Alex ran away. And all of this while Spencer cries because we should…. feel bad? None of this justifies anything that Alex has done. Mary goes in to comfort Spencer, but she exits quickly and locks the electronic lock. But then they show us that Spencer stole a bobby pin from Mary’s hair. To pick the electronic lock.

Spencer soon learns that Ezra when he wakes up in a room across from her. She’s trying to pick the lock – no. Why is it electronic if it’s a pad lock? But then Alex comes in for a little more exposition. Like to not explain why Sara Harvey or Sydney were important; they weren’t. Jenna’s involvement was because she knew Charlotte had a sister and she wanted another chance as being able to see. So, Alex paid for surgery in exchange for a little help. Oh, and Noel Khan was helping Jenna because she was using Noel’s help to find the mysterious sister. Also, Alex only let us in on this, but Wren is the father for Ali and Emily’s kids. I’m assuming they never find that last part out. Anyway, there you go. “Answers”.

The next day, Alex goes to the ranch for the date with Toby. Because Alex is obsessed with Toby being in love with her. However, the shy horse reacts badly to her because she isn’t Spencer. And later when Spencer calls her mom a rock star in front of Jenna and Jenna sniffs out a different perfume, Jenna is clued in to Spencer not being Spencer. Jenna calls Toby to tell his as much. And Toby finds this convincing and goes to the others with one other piece of evidence – a book Spencer gave him is empty.

Everyone is skeptical for about three seconds before realizing there’s about ten minutes left and they have to just go with it. Meanwhile Mona watches all this unfold on her computer and calls Alex, who she also just learned about, and tells her to go to plan B. Then she goes to the others and tells them that Wren came to Welby to kill her, but she convinced him that she could get Mary out of prison. So, that happened, and she knows where Alex is; the house that Toby built.

Meanwhile, Spencer picked the lock and got Ezra out and they’re trying to find a way out. While Alex is hunting them down with an ax. Everyone else gets there and they have to play the “which one is real” game and the mystery is solved by true love. Then a police officer comes in and Mona says that she called the police.

Aria found a better wedding dress and she and Ezra get married. Before she leaves for her honeymoon, the girls get together again. Toby is sticking around and he’s gonna be working with Jason (who is not in the episode). It’s early to share, but Hanna is pregnant and Aria says she and Ezra are meeting with an adoption agency when they get back. Everyone is happy I guess, despite the others barely being in the episode, and they all hug.

Then we see Mona in France, working in a doll shop. She kisses her handsome boyfriend, the cop who arrested Mary and Alex, and then she goes downstairs to reveal that she has Mary and Alex captive. How she managed to get overseas with two unwilling people, one of whom is a fugitive, is beyond me, but I’ve tired of thinking of this show.

It would have been nice to end the episode right there with Mona, but they decide to do a repeat of “that night” with Addison’s friends; this time it’s Addison who’s missing. Good.

[teamendgame-blog]

WTF Wednesday (or, Thoughts after 7x12)

Hello My Darlings,

Kate here. Another WTF Wednesday has dawned... and by that, I mean my brain just circles around WTF all day long whilst I pretend to be a professional but really am solely preoccupied by trying to figure out all the pieces of the PLL puzzle! (Like my brother, I can also expect my "Employee of the Year" award any minute now!)

TODAY however, I figured I would take you all on the journey that is my crazy mind today and live-blog my thoughts as I have them! I can't promise any of this shit will make sense or be in any sort of coherent order, but hopefully it will spark theories, ideas and maybe some answers! I don't know about you, fellow Rosewood residents, but I am desperate to either figure this out before actual EndgAme or be checked into to Radley trying!  (BEWARE TO THOSE WHO ARE BEHIND - Spoilers yonder!) 

HERE WE GO:

- Going back to my obsessive rant from my last post, there is NO way Melissa could have "not known" about Spencer's grand entrance into the Hastings family... How does a 5 year old - especially a smart, precocious, question-asking 5 year old like we can only assume Melissa Hastings was - get a baby sister sprung on her with no explanation!? I don't know where to go with this line of questioning really... Is Melissa AD or involved in the whole AD game? Even if Ron-Ron and Miracle Grow Peter managed to dupe a 5 year old, at some point in her life Melissa would probably have questioned why Spencer all of a sudden showed up when Ron Ron was never preggers, so is THAT why she's such a bitch to Spencer? She knows that there's some sort of mystery or drama around her younger "sibling" and resents having had the spotlight taken off her for even a nano-second by someone who isn't a total Hastings? This could provide some depth as to why Melissa was so cruel to Spencer - or the actual secret she wanted to protect Spencer from.  Let's not forget that Melissa, suitcase in tow, gate-crashed Mona's Army against Ali meeting, all large and in charge! She's always been too mysterious and suspicious to justify simply so she must have a hand in all of this, right!?

- WHY THE BOARD GAME... or rather, what are the stakes? Is the point of the game to get the PLLs to go to jail (since there is a "Go to Jail" spot on the game board)? But they were already in jail and then poached and put in the dollhouse. That would be an awfully repetitive end goal for AD... unless of course Cece's entire "confession" was a lie and it wasn't really her that poached them and doll-housed them. But we saw the video of Noel helping torture them in the dollhouse so this is all just SO convoluted! So for argument's sake, let's cross off the purpose as being them going to jail because CLEARLY if that were anyone's top priority, these ladies (and their parents!) have done more than enough to lock them up behind bars and, always, each incarnation of A has video evidence. The only logical motive, really, is torture. Whatever AD's beef with the PLLs is, they want to torture them by controlling their lives (like they are dolls)... But what about this "Winner Takes All" thing? Is AD challenging them and insinuating that if they WIN the game, they defeat him or her? Is this a duel to the death....? For a show that has been SO clever and has managed to outsmart me every season I need to believe that there is more to this EndgAme than just the show ending. WHY WOULD AD BE READY TO END THIS!? Like, why now? Why is it all ending NOW? For this to make sense there has to be a reason.

- I've been really, really thinking about this whole feeling of letdown and disappointment that Gavin and I expressed during our live blog - a feeling that seems to be echoed as I hit the rest of Tumblr and the PLL-watching world. Yes, we were promised "answers every episode" and at first glance we seemed to get none. But the more I think about it the more I'm coming back to the WHY as well as what answers DID we get? In the past, seasons were 24 episodes so the fact that there are only 20 this season (with a 2 hour finale) lead me to believe that the showrunners are not in need of filler episodes to stretch the story out for a set number of episodes to fill a specific tv schedule. (Plus -- and here's the mid-30 year old side of my brain that is mostly suppressed given my penchant for teenage-geared tv -- more episodes = more ad revenue = more money for those in charge so its ESPECIALLY prudent to think about the fact that this season is rather short.... they COULD have stretched it out into 15 episodes and I would be just as glued and watching live, soaking in the advertisements... ahem, rant over). Back to my point! The fact that there are SUCH few episodes leads me to believe (hope? deluded hope?) that there is really important information and answers in this episode that are not beat-us-over-the-head obvious. I need to rewatch it tonight...

- So hold the blind phones a sec... can someone please remind me - when Jenna was carted off in the 7A finale and shoved in that van and had a rubber mask thrown at her, she groped around and - with fear? awe? in her voice exclaimed "You're AD!" KEEP HOLDING THOSE BLIND PHONES KIDDIES - was this the first time we got acknowledgement of Jenna knowing about AD?! And if that is the case - and even if its not - HOW DOES JENNA KNOW AD WEARS A MASK!? Like... whoever this creepo is was walking around in broad daylight without people completely realizing they were decked out in more prosthetics than Mrs. Doubtfire so how on EARTH does Jenna know?! AD must have something on Jenna (and Noel) have been using them as pawns somehow. How else would that comment even begin make sense!? So she knows about AD, and is then carted off... her glasses are removed and she's nervously drinking tea (end of episode 7x11) and then says "You promised to tell me about the game today". IS SHE PART OF THE GAME!? Why would AD revel anything to Jenna? So AD hands her a braille binder (seriously, bitch better be thankful AD compensates for her blindness) and she smiles while whispering "Endgame". So let's think for a second.... AD can't be solely communicating with her through Braille (also, how does one produce Braille at home? Some sort of special printer perhaps? Just curious) so at this point she has to know who they are, right!?! Regardless, she waltzes into the police station to chat with Marco Fury and obsess over Spencer's breathing, so clearly she's either a pawn or a voluntary player... she's not a victim, otherwise AD wouldn't let her just traipse around Rosewood with her "bookends" to guard her. I feel like these facts are important, I just can't yet piece them together.

- Emily's game piece moved.... I say again.... Emily's game piece moved. IS this like Jumanji (side bar: how Canadian did Shay sound when she said "Jumanji"!? Also, THANK YOU PLL WRITERS for voicing our sentiments!!) or did *someone* move her piece?! I think this is also a huge thing... Also, the fact that Hanna was attacked in the shoe shop (the shoe shop MONA SENT HER TO MIGHT I ADD) with a text threatening her to "wait her turn".... this game is moving them systematically, in turns, just like actual game pieces on a board. INTRIGUING!! More thoughts to come after my rewatch.

- Yes, yes we all hate the ancillary characters like Katherine Daly who appear and provide temporary relevance (*cough* weirdo Johnny I'm looking at you and your homemade paints *cough*) but honestly? Its realistic. This show started with these girls in 10th grade ("That Night") and now they are out of college. OF COURSE there are going to be random people in their lives - and not everyone we meet in our lives is there forever, sometimes we know people for only a short while. Ahem... anyways, stepping on my tangent-flavored-soap box. Clearly there is something UP with Hanna and her budding fashion career and unfortunately I can't help feeling like Mona may be involved here. It is SUCH a coincidence that Mona claimed Katherine knew her and that's how she could hook Hanna up to dress her... and conveniently Hanna wasn't around when Mona raided her closet and nabbed her personal stash of clothing... and conveniently the ONLY dress Katherine is interested in is the one that Hanna didn't totally design herself/designed when she worked for Claudia... and conveniently the only appropriate shoe choice are the shoes Hanna is having fixed in Philly.... and conveniently Katherine, though a rich Daddy's girl socialite, can't afford her own shoes? I mean, *I* get weird about sharing shoes with friends -  but a rich "it" girl who worships fashion? Yeah, sure she's gonna take some random chick's shoes to wear, I believe that 100%.... and conveniently, when Hanna goes to get those shoes she gets locked in a cage and gets a threatening AD text... and conveniently at the same time as this, dumbass Jenna is wearing the SAME dress but in white (bitch can't even SEE the beading!).... Guys, I hate to say it but I feel like Mona may still be riding the A train voluntarily... So no, Katherine as a "person" isn't important in the sense that she's endgame but she may be leading us to clues why someone else is... It was Mona's game to start with - she and Charlotte even had that weird board game in Radley so it isn't far-fetched to believe that Mona is part of the endgame too.

- There is no justifying that little bitch, Addison Derringer, though. Well, it was funny when Emily was all (to Ali): "Am I mistaken or is she -" and Ali immediately cuts her off with "Nope, she's worse". Loved that! I mean, there will always be mean girls, and clearly Emily PTSD Fields isn't cutting any of them slack... Ugh ok, I guess there COULD BE justification for this character. The PLLs are being controlled by AD, again like game pieces on a game board, and they are each being dragged into their dark side. Spencer is having to face the realities of her parentage which has lead her to a very dark place already, especially in her interactions with Ron Ron. Emily finally grew balls......but they are biting her IN THE ASS because she just can't control her attitude now. Even her friends are commenting on it... She's being dragged into a dark place and AD is exploiting her new found backbone. All Lucy Hale seemed to talk about in interviews was Aria being in a "dark place" in this last season... so I'm sensing a theme!

- Its interesting that all their game pieces have them dressed as their High School selves - including Ali in her ever-popular yellow top (on a differently shaped base piece than the other girls....) I feel like this leads us back to AD being in this from the beginning... the conductor of this roller coaster ride... the REAL A. I think Mona could have been a pawn and that her A-days were the first stirrings of this game....

I think its clear I need to rewatch episode 7x12 and compile some more thoughts once I've done so... And I think its clear I need a new hobby.

8 EPISODES LEFT, Y'ALL!

Kisses, -K