Melicious

Previously, I have argued that Bethany Young is A, and also likely to be Jason’s twin sister. Then, I argued that Charles was Jason’s twin brother – but also Bethany. 

Now, I’m going to argue that Charles DiLaurentis is Toby Cavanaugh’s brother (not twin) – and that his father is Mr DiLaurentis, and mother is Marion Cavanaugh. 

Let’s try to take this a little deeper. 

Q: Who is Charles? A: The son of Mr DiLaurentis and Marion Cavanaugh

DiLaurentis and Cavanaugh are Jessica and Marion’s married names, respectively. Their maiden names have been kept secret from their children, because of everything that followed. 

Marion Cavanaugh and Jessica DiLaurentis were twin sisters. Their families were close. But then, Mr DiLaurentis had an affair with Marion. 

This drives a wedge between Marion and Jessica, who don’t speak to each other for many years.

Charles is the product of the affair between Marion and Mr DiLaurentis. Marion’s next child, Toby, was from her relationship with her husband Daniel. While the boys are very young, Charles plays with Jason DiLaurentis. Mr DiLaurentis allows them to have some contact because he believes that they are brothers; and Mrs DiLaurentis allows Charles to come over because of her own guilt surrounding her own indiscretions. 

Q: Why does Charles hate Alison? How is Radley involved in all this? A: He resents that she had the ‘perfect life’. And EVERYTHING goes back to Radley.

So, Toby and Charles are brothers. When Marion has a breakdown while the boys are still young (she has a history of mental illness, remember), Charles is adopted out – two boys is too much for Marion to handle. Even though Charles is his biological son, Mr DiLaurentis refuses to take Charles in – this is why Charles hates the DiLaurentis family later in life, and resents Ali.

Charles bounces around from foster home to foster home. The constant instability in his life leads to him developing various personality disorders. Marion Cavanaugh is never mentally well enough to consider bringing him back home, and Mr DiLaurentis will have nothing to do with him. 

Eventually, Charles ends up in Radley – and so does Marion Cavanaugh. Jessica DiLaurentis – who is upset that her relationship with her sister has deteriorated so much over the years – becomes a member of the board at Radley, so she can have some contact with her sister. 

That’s where she meets Bethany Young, and starts having an affair with his father. Bethany befriends Marion Cavanaugh and her son Charles, without even knowing they are related. One day at Radley, Bethany witnesses something horrific: Jessica DiLaurentis accidentally pushes Marion - her sister – out of the window at Radley. They were fighting – perhaps Marion also knew about the affair between Jessica DiLaurentis and Peter Hastings? – and it got out of control. 

Bethany’s mental strength is further weakened by this shock, and she goes to Charles for support. This is when Charles starts to manipulate Bethany – he starts conditioning her through forms of mental abuse, just as he started shaping the Liars while they were trapped in his lair. 

Q: Who is A? A: Charles (and Bethany as his pawn)

So, both Charles and Bethany were in Radley – but were relatively safe and harmless. Until, that is, Alison decides to interfere.

Alison knew that something was up with her mother’s visits to Radley, and discovers the affair between her mother and Bethany’s father. Ali decides to ‘destroy’ Bethany, like she has so many other people. Perhaps she doesn’t like the idea of her mother paying so much attention to anyone else (i.e. the horse-riding visits). 

Alison gets in contact with Bethany by writing to her, and tells her that she needs to stay away from her mother, or she will makes her life hell. But Bethany decides to strike back. Jessica DiLaurentis has been kind to Bethany – giving her extra attention, and taking her out of Radley for horse riding – and that will stop if Alison has her way. And so Bethany breaks out of Radley – goaded and assisted by Charles, who has realised that Ali is living the life he could have had - and plans to attack Ali. However, throughout the events of the evening, it ends up being Charles who attacks Ali and hits her over the head. 

Mrs DiLaurentis sees the whole thing, and decides to protect Charles out of fear and guilt. Partly because she feels guilty that she never assisted her own sister’s son; and and partly because Charles knows she is guilty of murdering his/Toby’s mother.

Charles disappears, but when he realises that Ali is still alive after Mona is caught playing the A Game - he steals the game back. 

Q: Is Bethany Young really dead? A: No, Sara Harvey is in the grave. 

Bethany Young isn’t dead – but there was still a body in that grave. And that person is… Sara Harvey. Someone, likely to be A, switched their dental records. I can’t think of a reason that both Bethany and Sara would have been introduced as characters, unless they were both going to be relevant. 

So who killed Sara? I think Allison and Mona may have accidentally hit her with a car when they were driving Allison somewhere out of town, when she decided to ‘die’. (After Ali was rescued by Mrs Grunswald.) Realizing that they needed to replace Allison’s body with someone else’s, Ali dressed Sara in her yellow top and they buried her. Both Allison and Mona have carried guilt over the death ever since.

Bethany Young is pretending to be Sara Harvey. 

Q: Why is Bethany Young saying she is Sara Harvey? A: Because Charles has basically brainwashed her. 

Either Charles has convinced her to pretend to be Sara Harvey; or he has convinced her she really is Sara Harvey. Remember, Bethany was already in Radley, and in a mentally and emotionally vulnerable position. Charles has been using her as a pawn, and tormenting her ever since. Perhaps she looks just enough like Sara Harvey to pass an inspection by the police. Perhaps Charles even gave her plastic surgery… But when she went home, her ‘mother’ began to suspect that something was wrong, and that’s why she ran away again. 

Q: What the frick is up with Andrew then? A: He knows Charles from their years in foster homes.

Andrew is so obviously not A. But The Dollhouse is positioned on his family farm, and he was tapping into the phone call between Melissa and the Hastings parents. He’s involved. But how?

Now we know that Andrew was adopted. It’s possible he met Charles during their years bouncing from foster home to foster home. He became friends with Charles when he was young, and Charles was his only real friend – he always got bullied at schools because he was the ‘new’ kid. It means that he’ll do anything for Charles, because their bond runs deep. 

So, what did we learn in Welcome To The Dollhouse? Mona isn’t dead (predicted!), Alison isn’t A (okay, we knew that a few episodes ago – but predicted!), but I seem to have been proved wrong with my Bethany Young is A theory. Then again…

Previously, I have argued that Bethany Young is A, and also likely to be Jason’s twin sister. But what if ‘Bethany’ is actually Charles, and Jason’s twin brother? Very soon after the final episode of season 5 aired, this particular theory started gaining serious traction across social media.

Let’s try to take this a little deeper. 

Q: Who is Charles? A: Bethany

Charles is Jason’s twin brother, but grew up wanting to be a girl. He wanted to play with dolls, wear dresses, and put on masks. For a while, Mrs DiLaurentis tried to help her son feel accepted – remember the two yellow dresses that Allison found when she was young? But perhaps due to pressure from Mr DiLaurentis, eventually the parents made the decision to send their son to Radley to be ‘cured’ – or kept away from the rest of their family. Which basically makes them horrible, prejudiced, bigoted people who couldn’t accept who their son for who he really was.

Mrs Di Laurentis does, however, become a member of the board at Radley, so she can still have come contact with her child. Once at Radley, Bethany/Charles witnesses something horrific: Jessica DiLaurentis accidentally pushes Toby’s mother out of the window at Radley. They were fighting – perhaps Toby’s mother knew about the affair between Jessica DiLaurentis and Peter Hastings? – and it got out of control. But that’s one more thing that Bethany/Charles knows. Once they’ve escaped from Radley, Bethany/Charles is out for revenge because they were horribly mistreated by their family, and have watched their siblings – Jason and Alison – grow up and live full lives.

If the ‘Charles is Bethany’ theory turns out to be true, I’ll be quite disappointed. Transgender people are misrepresented in the media enough as it is, without being cast as psychos who have tortured a group of teenage girls for the entirety of their high school career. But at this stage, I don’t know what else the writers of PLL can really do.

Here are two more theories that argue Bethany is Jason’s twin sister – which can still pretty much work if we assume that Bethany is Charles. Read this and this.

Q: Who is A? A: Bethany/Charles

Bethany/Charles was unfairly placed in Radley – but was relatively safe and harmless. Until, that is, Alison decides to interfere.

Did Alison know about Bethany/Charles? I believe that Alison knew that something was up with her mother’s visits to Radley, and knew of the existence of a person named Bethany Young. Ali decides to ‘destroy’ Bethany, like she has so many other people. Perhaps she doesn’t like the idea of her mother paying so much attention to anyone else. Perhaps she finds out about the affair between her mother and Bethany’s father, and assumes it’s a current affair – not one that occurred years previously.

Alison gets in contact with Bethany/Charles by writing to them, and provokes them. She tells them that they need to stay away from her mother, or she will makes their lives hell. But Bethany/Charles decides to strike back. Jessica DiLaurentis has been kind – giving them extra attention, and taking them out of Radley for horse riding – and that will stop if Alison has her way. And so Bethany/Charles breaks out of Radley, and they attacks Ali. Bethany is the one who hits Ali over the head.

Mrs DiLaurentis sees the whole thing, and decides to protect Bethany/Charles. Partly because this person is still her child; and partly because they know she is guilty of murdering Toby’s mother.

Q: If Bethany is alive, who is in the grave? A: Sara Harvey

Bethany Young/Charles isn’t dead – but there was still a body in that grave. And that person is… Sara Harvey. Someone, likely to be A, switched their dental records. I can’t think of a reason that Sara would have been introduced as a character, unless she was going to be important.  

So who killed Sara? I think Allison and Mona may have accidentally hit her with a car when they were driving Allison somewhere out of town, when she decided to ‘die’. (After Ali was rescued by Mrs Grunswald.) Realizing that they needed to replace Allison’s body with someone else’s, Ali dressed Sara in her yellow top and they buried her. Both Allison and Mona carried guilt over the death ever since.

BONUS THEORIES

Q: Is Jason already dead, and has Bethany/Charles taken his identity? A: That’d be fun!  Remember when Aria calls out after Jason, but he doesn’t stop or recognise his name? Maybe Jason was already dead (barrel, anyone) and that was Charles even then. 

Q: What the frick is up with Andrew then? A: Damned if I know. 

Andrew is so obviously not A. But The Dollhouse is positioned on his family farm, and he was tapping into the phone call between Melissa and the Hastings parents. He’s involved somehow.

Is Mona really dead?

Mona isn’t dead. She was drawing blood for weeks before she died, and faked her death with the help of CeCe Drake – who is the blonde who broke into her house. CeCe was also the shadowy figure Mona met while Hanna was getting her hair restyled, and the fourth person attending the anti-Alison club meeting with Mona, Jenna and Sydney. 

Keep in mind, this theory is inspired by the fact that the show’s writers clearly want us to believe that Alison killed Mona – therefore you have to assume that the exact opposite is true.

It's also likely that Mona had a camera in her room (she's tech-savvy and paranoid, remember) and her “death” was filmed. The footage will likely show CeCe sneaking into Mona’s room… right before the tape cuts out, I bet.  

Is Alison really 'A'?

Alison has been playing the role of A this season – but she is not Big A. I imagine she orchestrated the explosion in the Toby Cavanaugh house, hacked those tvs that convinced the liars not to go to the police, and has been trying to frame Spencer (if not all the liars) to get herself out of the limelight.

She’s bad, but she’s not the biggest bad.

So, what’s the end game?

Bethany Young is 'A'

Alison lured Bethany Young to Rosewood all those years ago. Ali had found out about the affair between Jessica DiLaurentis and Bethany’s dad, and wanted to break it up. Remember how her mother had taught her to lie in 5x13 so that her father ‘wouldn’t leave’? That has always been one of Ali’s biggest motivators.

(While we’re on the topic, I also quite like the Byron Montgomery is Bethany Young’s father theory. It would explain why Eddie Lamb thinks he has seen Aria before – because he’s seen someone who looks like her… Her half sister. OR I’m also partial to the Bethany is Jason’s twin theory. Read this and this. 

However, something happens the night that Alison lures Bethany to Rosewood. Perhaps Alison and Bethany fight. Maybe Alison tries to ‘destroy’ Bethany, like she has so many other people, and tells Bethany that she needs to make her father end the affair. But Bethany doesn’t want that to happen. Jessica DiLaurentis has been kind to her – giving her extra attention, and taking her out of Radley – and that will stop if the affair ends. And so she attacks Ali. Bethany is the one who hits Ali over the head.

Mrs DiLaurentis sees the whole thing, and decides to protect Bethany. Why? Partly because she has grown close to her… And partly because Bethany Young saw Jessica DiLaurentis accidentally push Toby’s mother out of the window at Radley. Jessica DiLaurentis and Toby’s mother were fighting – perhaps Toby’s mother knew about the affair between Jessica DiLaurentis and Peter Hastings.

I think Allison DID lure Bethany to Rosewood and her house – perhaps she visited Bethany earlier that day – but she did not intend to attack Bethany. She was doing what Ali always does… stirring the pot.

Who is in the grave?

Bethany Young isn’t dead – but there was still a body in that grave. And that person is… Sara Harvey. Someone – A? – switched their dental records. I can’t think of a reason that Sara would have been introduced as a character, unless she was going to be important.

So who killed Sara? I think Allison and Mona may have accidentally hit her with a car when they were driving Allison somewhere out of town, when she decided to ‘die’. (After Ali was rescued by Mrs Grunswald.) Realizing that they needed to replace Allison’s body with someone else’s, Ali dressed Sara in her yellow top and they buried her. Both Allison and Mona carried guilt over the death ever since.

Bethany Young is Big A, and still at large. 

Some thoughts are finishing Season 2. General Orphan Black theories and predictions for Season 3... 

1. Project Leda and Project Castor were aiming to manipulate clones in different ways, after being taken over by DYAD and the military respectively.

I suspect that Project Leda was interested in exploring how the mind could be altered, and personalities influenced; perhaps the differences between the clones aren’t just down to nurture, but nature.

Project Castor, on the other hand, was exploring enhancing the physicality of their subjects – i.e. creating super soldiers.

2. Deteriorating mental health, as well as deteriorating physical health, are a 'curse' of the clones.

3. The original Leda (girl!clone) and the original Castor (boy!clone) were either sister and brother, or mother and son. See those hyperlinks for some pretty convincing arguments. 

4. I don’t know how this theory could work into the above theory, but… You know how when Ethan Duncan asks Rachel, “Do you remember, not the memory, but the feeling, how much we loved you?” (referencing the videos) - she says she doesn’t remember at all?

What if she doesn’t remember… because it wasn’t her. The ‘original’ could be Ethan and Susan’s child – the child who they filmed the videos with – who died at an early age. 

5. Mrs S is revealed to have carried a clone (if not Rachel, at least one of them). Might explain her involvement a bit more. 

6. Cal is actually a military plant. See more on why his name suggests we can’t quite trust him yet.