PLL THEORIES

There is an argument to be made that PLL started to lose its way when the balance of plotlines shifted away from A-related drama to become a weird Rosewood version of the Axe Murderer’s Bachlorette.  (Will Aria give Ezra or Liam a rose?  Post-kidnapping and torture - will Hanna choose Jordan, Caleb, Lucas or Mona?)  And I agree, to some extent, that 6B and 7A so far have felt more like filler for whatever the eventual endgame is than cohesive set pieces. But after watching Bedlam, I think the bigger problem is that even the show has lost track of whatever the mystery is supposed to be about.

I don’t know if it could be “fixed” in one episode.

There are many inconsistencies and WTF situations that are perhaps too minor to address, yet leaving them unaccounted for makes it look sloppy, careless, and without direction. You can’t tell us CeCe is worth millions when we know she robbed Jason of $50,000 and bragged about it. You can’t tell us she tried to kill Jason for a picture of Cape May when everyone already knew she was at Cape May. And so on.

Things like that will likely never be resolved, but a different 6x10 ending could have worked around them. Example:

Instead of CeCe’s “game over” line, she jumps off the roof amidst the Liars’ protests.

The Liars race to the edge, but when they look over the side, there’s no body on the ground. No black hoodie to be seen. Nothing. She’s just gone. It’s like some cruel magic trick. But perhaps they shouldn’t be too surprised, after all that’s happened.

Cut to interior of Alison’s home, same night. The Liars come to the general agreement that the game really is over; the story’s been told, and wherever CeCe is now, she has no intention of messing with them anymore.

Cut to city street, same night. A black luxury car with dark tinted windows pulls to a stop beside the curb. CeCe approaches the car and climbs into the back seat. Car pulls away.

Cut to interior of car. “I was starting to think you ditched me,” CeCe huffs, pulling back her hood.

Wide angle shot from the back reveals a Black Hood in front passenger seat, and Red Hood in driver’s seat.

“I did everything you asked me to do,” CeCe says.

“And?” a male voice echoes.

“They bought it,” CeCe answers.

Black Hood turns around, revealing WREN. “You’re certain?”

CeCe tilts her head. “You can drop the fake British charm. It’s lost on me,” she says. “I know your secret, Charles.”

“Did. They. Believe. You?” Wren enunciates, this time in a distinctly American accent.

“Hook, line, and sinker. They bought every word,” CeCe says. “So now what?”

“We wait,” Wren says. “Let them get comfortable.”

“Then what?” CeCe asks.

Cut to front seat, reveals MELISSA as Red Coat. “Those bitches will never know what hit them,” she sneers.

Cut to exterior, car speeds off into the night.

Fade to black, end credits.

The OT3 From Hell (CeCe, Wren, Melissa) seems like the ideal solution to get out of the mess and offer a universal theory that spans through all seasons.

We can work around the inconsistencies by pulling back on CeCe’s story and revealing multiple A’s who fit the part. We use characters we already know instead of Sara Harvey, who comes out of nowhere. We over deliver on the promise: we still get the big ‘A’ reveal, but it’s more than expected, not less.

With the key players revealed, the question then shifts away from the “who” and towards the “why” and what their endgame is. It’s open-ended enough to prompt new theories, which keeps the audience engaged and excited to see what happens next. It primes the pump for next season by being outrageous and screaming the message that it’s not over. Better than the boring stop/reboot we got that caused over a million viewers to tune out.

The OT3 From Hell can cover so much ground. The 'A’ doctor-like stuff could be attributed to Wren; the blood in London now makes sense; Melissa would be the Red Coat who Alison attempted to follow in Brookhaven; Wren was at the prom in the dollhouse, he’s “the one who Alison feared the most,” the “he” that Grunwald referred to, and the “he” who will come after Ali five years later; Melissa and Wren were the dark-haired couple that Seth the psychic boy talked about; Melissa and Wren arranged for CeCe to take over Mona’s game; CeCe was the double agent who did in fact distract 'A’ in Ravenswood, just like Ali said; Melissa and CeCe colluded since Cape May or earlier; Mona attempted to recruit Spencer because that was always part of Melissa’s plan; Melissa & Wren were the A-team Mona referred to in 2x25 (there was an A-team before she ever went to Radley and met CeCe); Melissa was the Queen of Hearts, Wren was the Phantom; the red & black and Mona’s house of cards begins to make sense, and so on.

I made something to express my love for you/ my disappointment in this show.

Season 1 I was talking about her “it girl” persona with Hanna which I don’t believe to be a personality disorder. It was literally shown that she was coaching Hanna on how to act like an “it girl”, she knew what to do. If it was a personality disorder she wouldn’t be able to coach someone else to adopt a second personality, she wouldn’t be able to recognize it as a separate personality at all. It was an act they put on (fake it till you make it), not a personality disorder in my opinion but that’s cool if that’s your take on it.  

As for Wilden’s death, I know it was to help Hanna’s mom but mostly to get back into Radley, I said that in my post. I was talking about her performance for the police to make them believe she did it or at least that she required assistance from Radley again. 

I agree with everything you said about Mona in Season 3, that’s what I said in my post just not anything about Big A. She still wanted to Garrett out so he could be killed because this is what Big A wanted. If Mona was doing the same thing with Charlotte she could have been carrying out the plan for Big A/Uber A/whatever they’re called now. Obviously Mona would want to carry out the plan if she was wanting to please Big A.