just-PLL-obsessed

“Marlene, we can’t possibly make an 8th season. Who would be uber, big, ultimate A”

Marlene: 

This is the post I promised about all of my feelings about the finale and the show, now that it has come to a close. I don’t have many good things to say about it so I am warning you now before you start reading. If you enjoyed the finale and are the kind of person whose mood (and in turn opinions) can be affected by those of others if they don’t match their own, don’t read on. Unfollow me, because a lot of what I post or reblog from now until I stop using this account will not be positive.

I envy any of you who loved the finale, as I mentioned yesterday, because this show has been really close to my heart, and I wouldn’t want to be the person who ruins those memories for you because I know how easy it is to change your mind about how you feel about something if everyone (or at least the majority) around you doesn’t feel the same way as you. If I were you, I would guard my feelings fiercely (if I were content with the finale) and keep away from all accounts that might make me second guess my views. However, if you are interested and can tolerate diverse views, or if you share the same frustrations as me, you’re welcome to read on!

Now, I know that these can be edited but who thought that it was Wren who visited Mona. We never got an answer as to who exactly went to see Mona. I just assumed that it was Alex Drake. 

I’m really disappointed that there seems to be a general consensus (mostly by journalists and the cast/crew) that we’re not ‘allowed’ to be unimpressed with the finale. And I am speaking mostly to Troian’s quotes here. I love the woman but I think that’s an unfortunately really narrow way to look at fandom and the array of different emotions we all have. And we’re all upset for different reasons and to lump it all in with the same people who were sending her death threats about SpaIeb is really shitty. 

I can be upset by a result and not send death threats. The majority of us can. 

First, not everybody was in it for the same things. A lot of us were in it for the mystery. We were there to look at every single clue. We were there when they all said “everything is a clue in Rosewood” and took it to heart and wasted spent seven years theorizing, there were even Twincer theories that linked back to the earlier seasons! A lot of us were in it for the friendships and for the feminist undertones or the wlw rep which in the end left a lot to be desired. A lot of us were in it for the ships and romance. A lot of us were in it for more than one of those things, but a lot of us also weren’t and that’s not a bad thing.

The idea she’s pushing is that if you didn’t like the mystery, then look at the ships because yay endgame! But what happens when the mystery was unsatisfying, and you don’t care about the ships? What happens when the girls spent most of the time not together in the finale?

I don’t think it’s her fault for saying these things, I don’t think you can possibly understand fandom unless you’re in fandom and it’s very clear that’s never been something she’s been interested in and that’s fine. 

But this idea that we all wanted the same things is really just a sad view of fandom. I agree, not everybody was going to be happy. That’s going to happen in any show no matter what. But this whole narrative about how we should only care about the work that they put in and the time they invested is hypocritical at best. Like, sure, I concede the writers did probably try to make us as happy as possible, but when you’re only listening to a select few people on twitter who kiss your ass 24 hours a day, that’s not really fair and is really just the beginning of a deeper fan-service fandom issue.

And to that, I also say, what about the time fans invested? For years, we were told that “that night” was important, and we held on to that, only to have it mean nothing.  There were so many things that kept us holding on to the end because we thought we were going to get a a seven year reveal. Something that, after seven years, would knock us on our asses. Something that connected back to “that night”, to Alison, to the barn, to any of the original lore of the show. They kept that going because that was the only way to keep people holding on after Charlotte, and that does become a manipulation at some point. 

The complete lack of acknowledgment for a huge part of this fandom is really disheartening. I mean, take the classroom scene. They hyped that scene up for two years. People literally spent two years theorizing about something that in the end meant nothing, that they had no idea what they were going to do with. Somewhere along the way, the ships were the only thing that mattered. They sacrificed everything else for the ships, not realizing that some of us didn’t care about them. Having ships is fine, loving them is fine, but it took over the show, and I think, in many ways, the ships are what sunk the show. 

Did they come up with this twin thing the moment people thought it’s Spencer’s twin in Hanna’s dream? Because that’s how it feels like. If you have known since the beginning of season 7 that you were gonna have an evil Spencer twin, then why on earth would you not tie it into the ENTIRE show from beginning to end? It could have worked if they had tried. They had enough time. And the twin should have been revealed way sooner. And the liars should have noticed. Not a blind girl and a horse.. Nothing adds up. Not even the last 10 episodes add up…there are plot holes and unanswered questioned even with these last ten episodes. This is what baffles me the most. So ok fine, you were too lazy to make the twin be a thing since the pilot, but that you can’t even tie up lose ends for 10 episodes??? Like, what was the point of AD giving Jenna this huge endgame book?????? Who build the game?

You are in the wrong business. Each and everyone involved in this show (with the exception of the actors) should go find a new job. I have seen soap operas that were better written like this.

Honestly, I wanted there to be a Spencer twin because I always felt like Spencer has huge potential to be A… but I knew that Marlene and Co may not be brave enough to make one of the liars A, so a twin for Spencer was the next best thing for me… but not like this. The reveal itself was amazing but the rest was simply awful. It was story time with Alex just like it was story time with CeCe. And the girls, again, were detached from their own show. They didn’t even get to solve the mystery. Spencer only found out because Alex revealed herself to her and the rest found out because blind Jenna smelled an evil bitch and called Toby, who couldn’t tell that Spencer wasn’t herself even when fucking her???? He literally needed a horse and a blind girl to help him realize something was off about Spencer. Then he goes sees the girls and has some weird explanation and they go: oh yeah, that makes sense.

This was rushed. You had 7 years to prepare this and you failed. Marlene, I really don’t understand. And I don’t understand how no one ever tells her how this is bullshit? Everyone, the cast included, lie and praise this shit.

I don’t blame Marlene alone tho. ABCfamily gets some of the blame for not making Spencer A in season 3 when Marlene wanted to do that. And the fans on twitter get some blame too. You whiny bitches and your death threats are also responsible for this mess. I hope you are happy with your ships. And Wren felt mostly like fan service too… everyone wanted Wren for 6x10, so Marlene made sure he was involved now… but it still doesn’t explain anything. His involvement feels like a joke now. Why did he draw the pic of the woman in the red coat? Was that supposed to be Mary or Alex? He was dating Melissa in season 5/6 tho…?? But was with Alex??? What did Melissa mean when she said she’s been protecting Spencer since it started?? How did Melissa know Bethany? Did Jessica want Bethany to call her aunt Jessie simply because she was having an affair with her dad?? Was this all it was?

Nothing adds up. Marlene tried to give us everything we wanted (including dark Aria) and failed to wrap up her own show because she was too busy trying to figure out what everyone wanted. She tried to please us all and lost sight of her own vision. That’s the one thing she always said she didn’t lose… but yes, Marlene, you did. The show is even more messed up then it was after 6x10.

You shouldn’t have tried to please the fans. You should have stayed true to your own vision.

And I loved the idea of an evil Spencer twin. I even loved the character of Alex… but we literally only got to see her for one episode. And it was poorly executed.