Pretty Little Liars

[frelling_tralk]

CeCe being A really didn't feel earned to me, it wasn't anywhere near as emotionally devastating as I'd been hoping for (I was rooting for a really shocking reveal like Toby, someone that the girls knew and trusted). CeCe was a pretty random choice for A as she barely had a connection with the main four, only with Allison really. But then the whole twist of her really being Allison's sister was tied together pretty well in the end I guess. I'm not sure that it really was planned since season 3, it seems more like something that they started laying hints for in season 5 with Allison's return leading to all of the flashbacks with her and Mrs D and the hints of there being another little blonde girl? It seems so obvious in retrospect that Charles was transgender when you think back to moments like the Xmas episode and the two dresses that Allison was warned not to tell her father about, so that was well planned I guess. I think that everything was more or less tied together, but there were some major plotholes too, like Charles/CeCe witnessing Bethany killing Toby's mother as a young girl, even though Toby's mother didn't die until Toby was a teenager? The timelines on this show have always been a mess though lol. (And are they ever going to let the poor Mom's out! :P I don't know why they bothered showing them trapped in the previously's when they did nothing with it in the episode itself)

I wasn't really sold on trying to make CeCe sympathetic. Fair enough that she had reason to hate her father, but her motives were basically 'oh Mona said that Allison's friends were happy that she was gone', and that was enough for her to spend months tormenting them? I buy that Allison would have been touched by CeCe's story, especially as they were already close and acted like sisters, but the other girls appealing for CeCe not to jump because they know her story was pretty lame. They barely knew CeCe, and who would really want to save someone who had kept you locked up in a dollhouse and subjected you to months of trauma? It seemed like the writers wanted to start pushing 'A has a soul' and giving CeCe a tragic backstory, just because they were panicking about the reveal of A being a pretty minor character in the show and having no emotional payoff? A's actions against the girls always felt so personal, i.e recreating the night that Ali went missing and giving Aria back her old haircut with the pink streaks, so it didn't work for me to have CeCe have such impersonal motives and just talking about getting addicted to the game. It only really made sense for her to be obsessed with Allison and her family, not Allison's friends, and having her claim that she hated them because they didn't mourn Allison enough felt like such an afterthought

Sara being red coat AND black widow was incredibly underwhelming, wtf the character was only introduced this season??? They should have just had be CeCe black widow as well as being A, it ruins the impact of those scenes for me completely now to know who was really underneath that veil. I don't get what Sara's motives were at all, they never really explained that. I did cheer when Emily punched her though lol. But yeah, everything was so rushed that they should have just made the finale two hours long

And to change topics for a moment to talk about the flashforward, it's interesting making Allison a teacher, but lately I'm feeling like the writers aren't sure what to do with Allison since she's reformed? Her flashbacks were always so much fun when she was playing the ~mean girl~, and then season 5 also kept things interesting as everything about her was so ambiguous with the girls unsure of whether they could trust her or not, and she was clearly fighting against her worst instincts when it came to dealing with Mona and slapping her back. But since the show has made it clear that she has genuinely reformed and changed for the better, something about her seems really subdued compared to how she used to be, the writers even seem to present her as much older than her real age when it comes to her personal style. I guess her appearing older than her years makes sense with everything that she's been through, but I wish that they would give her some of her old spark back...

Comments

[frelling-tralk.livejournal.com]

I think there was some confusion with A being there from the pilot, because apparently Marlene said that back in season 2 when she was talking about Mona, but fan lore spread that it was a more recent interview that referred to Big A, whereas Marlene was always more vague about whether Charles might be a character that we've seen before or not. (The clue that she couldn't believe that people didn't pick up on in the first 20 minutes of the pilot was Mona's hand being underneath the desk when Aria receives her first text).

And yeah, there were so many red herrings like Melissa, Lucas, Noel, Jenna etc that they never really dealt with, even though there were so many hints about A being a team of people working together. To have it just be CeCe with Sara helping her seemed so underwhelming when Sara was only introduced for that, and was made to seem sketchy from the beginning ETA I guess that was the shows attempt to have one of the four main liars feel really betrayed, by having red coat be Emily's latest love interest, but literally who cared about Sara and was invested in that relationship? It felt like a poor attempt to have the kind of shock reveal and emotional impact that viewers had been hoping for with characters like Ezra and Toby, but it fell really flat to try and go for emotional impact with CeCe and Sara when both were newish characters that had been introduced as clearly shady. It still worked to an extent with CeCe because of Ali's friendship with her, but not with Sara at all, and certainly none of the four main liars had any real reason to care that much that it made sense for them to plead with 'A' not to jump. They must have already known how screwed up A was as a person, I don't see why knowing about CeCe's sad childhood should have made a difference when they were kidnapped and tortured by her

And I didn't realise that Marlene was connecting the negative response to transphobia, most of the responses I've seen addressing that issue are more disappointment with the show because of villainising a transgender character, so it's rather unfortunate that Marlene seems to feel really proud and that they did something very progressive in making CeCe transgender, yet fails to recognise that it was not a flattering portrayal. I guess she felt that it was very sympathetic because of the childhood flashbacks, like the one on the roof with Bethany? But they made A so twisted in how the girls were treated as dolls and playthings (I mean heck Allison herself was framed for murder by the sister that supposedly loves her!), so it's hard to separate all of that from CeCe's childhood

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

And yeah, there were so many red herrings like Melissa, Lucas, Noel, Jenna etc that they never really dealt with, even though there were so many hints about A being a team of people working together.

That's the thing that confuses and bothers me, because we've always had clues that there were more people involved, if not directly then definitely indirectly from their own motivations for doing whatever was asked of them by others involved with the "A" Team. Unless this is all something for the second half of the season with whoever they have after them five years later, they definitely retconned most of what has happened to the girls from other characters. At least, that's how I see it, since they never included any of the other suspected people involved in anything. I mean, what about Shana and Jenna and Melissa? Lucas and Noel? About about the entire NAT Club situation? So many loose ends still.

but literally who cared about Sara and was invested in that relationship? It felt like a poor attempt to have the kind of shock reveal and emotional impact that viewers

Exactly. Nobody really care about this new girl who seemed to have no other purpose than to be a pointless new love interest for Emily. Plus, this fandom isn't stupid. Most people knew immediately something was up with Sarah, simply because we knew nothing about her character and the show as actively forcing this random "romance" between her and Emily with absolutely no build-up whatsoever. And it just seems really random to have this girl be involved but then do nothing with her aside from that reveal. I mean, really. It was rather sloppy on the show's part. It would've been better if it had been someone the girls had known and never would have suspected would ever betray them. Someone that had already been established within the show and not just some random person like Sarah. But all-in-all, I feel like that character was wasted. We didn't even get a reason why she had joined Cece, it was like a "just because" non-explanation and that really sucked.

it's rather unfortunate that Marlene seems to feel really proud and that they did something very progressive in making CeCe transgender, yet fails to recognise that it was not a flattering portrayal.

It makes me kind of angry, in a way, because while I would love there to be a transgender story on the show you could tell that they probably decided to include this very recently due to the stories of transgender youth in the most recent years. And when there are so few transgender stories in fiction, let alone on television, it is kind of horrible to have one where their story is literally them being absolutely psychotic, worse when you have a moment where Cece was planning on committing suicide (twice, once with wanting to kill herself and murder her remaining family, and second after that plan failed to jump off the roof). I don't mind there being more LGBTQ inclusion, but only if it makes sense in the narrative and done in a respectful manner, and having a transgender storyline just thrown in there for the sake of adding an emotional aspect of the "A" story is, well, kind of cheating and also manipulative, especially if Marlene is going to be accusing anyone of not liking the reveal to being transphobic. Which seems like such a cop-out excuse, tbqh (but Marlene has always been kind of messy with her vague answers in tweets and interviews, I never listened to much of what she had to say anyway, but this was just a reaction I couldn't believe she had; I mean, like I said there are probably transphobic comments being made from some, but when it comes to the fandom I've seen nothing but legitimate complaints).

I don't know, it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth how it was all handled, my overall impression of that mid-season finale was underwhelmed and wishing it was done differently.

[frelling-tralk.livejournal.com]

I felt like Marlene really wanted this to be the episode that answered every question, so it ended up feeling quite cold and inpersonal the way that she threw a bunch of exposition in there, except not in a way that really fit and made sense. Like that whole mystery of two blonde girls being buried alive on the same night and wearing the exact same yellow top, oh that was just a case of mistaken identity from both Mona and CeCe, and both Mrs D and Melissa mistakenly assumed that two different girls were dead and buried them alive at the same time without checking for a pulse. None of it really led anythere that suggested that anything was planned from the beginning, it was just last-minute trying to explain the mystery that they laid out with explanations like oh Allison just happened to be wearing the same outfit that Bethany stole from CeCe. But with a mystery show it doesn't work to not have all the clues lead somewhere that fit together perfectly in retrospect, I'm still wondering about plot lines from just this last season, like why did we spend about five or six episodes on the mystery of who was in the barrel when Mona wasn't even dead?

If A had at least been someone with a really understandable notice for torturing the girls then okay, but CeCe's motives were always about having her family back, it just didn't make sense for her to go to such extremes with the other four girls, and throwing in that she got addicted to playing with her dolls just made her seem like she had randomly crazy movies for the bulk of her actions, yet Marlene and the cast have been talking about how we will understand and have sympathy for A after the reveal? Well no, I still don't understand why CeCe went to all that trouble with the dollhouse when it had literally knowing to do with her explained motives of wanting to keep Allison with her. And why was A sending Allison notes claiming responsibility for killing her Mother?

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

I'm still wondering about plot lines from just this last season, like why did we spend about five or six episodes on the mystery of who was in the barrel when Mona wasn't even dead?

Oh yeah, especially since it seemed that Tanner knew something was inside of it, but it was never talked about again after the fact?

One of the main problems this show has is introducing so many little subplots and storylines into the seasonal and main arc, spending so much time on it for some episodes, even half the season, only for it to be left behind as a trivial thing. At this point, the show has become so convoluted with unsolved and incomplete storylines and questions that I sometimes feel like it's deliberate to confuse the viewers that once it's time for any "big reveals" we would feel compelled to just accept anything they give us just to move things along. I mean, I really had to think back throughout the seasons to pinpoint exactly how the timeline went again, and for something of a mystery show it shouldn't be that complicated.

I still don't understand why CeCe went to all that trouble with the dollhouse when it had literally knowing to do with her explained motives of wanting to keep Allison with her.

Exactly, that dollhouse was so elaborate and deliberate, everything that "A" has done has always centered around Alison and her friends, about revealing their secrets. If Cece was all about seeing her family again, why go through all that trouble? Why was she so angry with the girls? Just because they weren't exactly happy with the way Alison had treated them? Cece knew what Alison was capable of with her mean girl status, they hung out together and did mean things to others together. Cece was practically like a mentor for Alison, in a way, as I recall a lot of the flashbacks in previous seasons. And remember "The First Secret"? Alison had been getting threatening messages since Halloween. Someone was intentionally threatening her, so much that she tried tracking down who was sending her those messages. If Cece was the one doing that, why? She was already friends with Alison at that time. I mean, none of it really makes sense, even with the familial connection.

And why was A sending Allison notes claiming responsibility for killing her Mother?

Yeah, that also doesn't make sense, either. Remember the picture/video that Alison received of her mother being buried? Why would Cece torment Alison like that if she truly loved Alison and their mother? None of it makes any logical sense given the information dump the finale gave us. It further proves that Marlene and the writers don't think these things through, and just do whatever they think people may buy.

(I'm not normally this pessimistic about this show. I acknowledge that it's ridiculous and nonsensical at times, but it has been mostly enjoyable for me throughout the seasons, and despite people being tired of the "A" guessing game I liked the ongoing mystery of it all and have been entertained by what we got....until now, that is. It's one of those moments where I wished they had kept with the book reveal instead. With all that build-up, all that anticipation, they could have done much, much better.)

[frelling-tralk.livejournal.com]

Honestly I think that they wanted to do something similar to Allison's twin from the books, and assumed that the sister in this case being transgender and telling us all to look out for a male character called Charles would be a shocking enough twist to impress everyone with the A reveal, but one big twist just isn't enough when you've spend nearly 4 seasons building up to that mystery. I think that they were banking a lot on Charles really being a female character being enough to induce huge gasps and get talked about as being something that nobody saw coming. But then the episode just felt like such an exposition dump with the writers straining to reach for emotional pathos. I mean I've brought it up a couple of times now lol, but it was a big let-down to give us no interesting motive for CeCe targeting the main characters. It seemed like they should have been incidental in her goal to establish a connection with Allison and Jason, yet she spend way more time on her sisters friends for some reason, apparently she didn't even know that Allison was still alive until the season 3 finale!

To defend the show for a moment though, wasn't it Mona who was the original A from the Halloween flashback, sending the notes on it being my turn to torture you? As far as I'm aware A was just supposed to be Mona for the first two seasons, hence the irony in Mona convincing Allison to run away for protection when she was A all along. They only introduced the new A mystery in season 3, they just made it seem in the season 2 finale that there was an uber A that Mona was taking orders from. That was another slightly disappointing reveal though to just hand wave it as oh Mona was really drugged up at the time and didn't know what she was saying , although I suppose it was a good twist that makes sense in retrospect that she believed that she was really talking to Allison when it was actually CeCe.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

To defend the show for a moment though, wasn't it Mona who was the original A from the Halloween flashback, sending the notes on it being my turn to torture you? As far as I'm aware A was just supposed to be Mona for the first two seasons, hence the irony in Mona convincing Allison to run away for protection when she was A all along.

Hmmm, I'm not entirely sure. It's highly probable and it makes sense, though the confirmation about that has been rather vague.

Although, it begs to question who had been stalking Alison during her time in hiding? Was it Cece basically wanting her to come out of hiding? Unless that is the Uber "A" that has been said will happen at some point. There's just a lot of unanswered questions about the series of events throughout the timeline who "A" tormenting them all, from Alison to the rest of the girls. Some of it was Mona, then it was Cece, but then there were other instances that I'm just scratching my head about.

[frelling-tralk.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure that it was all Mona sending Allison the notes originally, and then Allison ran away convinced that she was in danger after the whole being buried alive ~misunderstanding~. But hmm I'm not sure who was stalking Allison after that, it couldn't have been CeCe as she still believed that Allison was dead until the season 3 finale, right? Could that all have been paranoia on Allison's behalf after her being so shaken at what had happened to her? Or I guess that it could still have been Mona, she did know that Allison was still alive all along, and obviously had motive in wanting her to stay gone

When I have time I'm going to try rewatching from season 3 I think, and see how many clues or nitpicks I pick up on this time around *g*