#pll post

Doing some rewatching has made me really consider the friendships between the individual Liars, and I thought it would be interesting to dissect each one, discussing their dynamics with each other and who I feel had the strongest and weakest bonds. I’ll start with the core four, and may make a separate post detailing their relationships with Alison and Mona.

Hanna & Emily

If I had to label one friendship between the girls’ as the strongest, it would have to be Hanna and Emily. Not only did they never seem to get into the big blowout fights that some of the girls did, they showed each other support and love during some of the biggest moments. When Hanna found out that Emily was gay, she provided compassion and reassurance that it wouldn’t change anything between them. Emily’s first reaction to Hanna’s dismissal from the pageant that she needed to win to pay for college was to enter it and win the money for her. It’s undeniable that all of the Liars supported each other, but Hanna and Emily always seemed to go the extra mile.

Spencer & Aria

There’s always seemed to be a bit of discourse surrounding Aria and Spencer’s friendship. Are they truly the strongest friendship in the show? Is “team Sparia” overrated? Having watched their friendship play out, I think it’s indisputable that they had a close bond. There was sort of a “big sister, little sister” vibe going on in their scenes that adds to that closeness. I can’t say they had the most significant friendship as far as bigger moments and storylines, but their friendship often felt like the most normal bond between teen girls, and they tended to be the duo that “got things done” as far as the mystery and investigation.

Emily & Spencer

It seems like fans tend to fall into one of two camps when it comes to this friendship: Those who believe they were the closest out of the girls and will die on that hill, and those who don’t think they were particularly close at all. I fall more into the second group than the first. While they certainly had their great moments together and I do believe they cared for each other, their similar personalities (protective, headstrong, with a tendency toward judgmental attitudes) led to more fights between them than any other combination of Liars. They also didn’t seem to have the compassion toward each other’s problems that they often did for others (there was a coldness that permeated Emily’s attitude toward Spencer spilling her guts about Caleb, and Spencer’s reaction to Emily lamenting her stolen eggs). 

Aria & Hanna

This friendship is unique in that it seemed like they were perhaps the closest out of the girls in the first season or so (even referring to each other specifically, multiple times, as “best friends”), but drifted apart as the seasons went on. Maybe this just had to do with the writers determining which combinations of Liars worked the best together, or maybe it really did have to do with the rumored tension between Lucy and Ashley starting around season three, but the fondness between Aria and Hanna seemed to diminish as the show went on, aside from a few sweet moments in later seasons.

Hanna & Spencer

I’ve always maintained that while entertaining on a show, Hanna and Spencer’s friendship would never last in real life. Between Spencer constantly correcting Hanna’s pronunciation and Hanna making snarky comments about Spencer’s intelligence and ambition, at times they almost seemed more like frenemies than friends. I would however, say that despite the snark and bickering, they seemed to have one of the most genuine and consistent relationships on the show, ignoring, of course, the love triangle disaster. Between Spencer seeking out Hanna for support after her parents’ separation, and Spencer comforting Hanna during Ashley’s time in jail, they were consistently there for each other.

Aria & Emily

Undeniably, for me, this is the weakest relationship between the four girls, which is ironic considering they were the first to reconnect at the show’s start. It always felt like the writers just...forgot to establish a deeper friendship between these two when they did all of the others. While they tried to make up for it later in the show by pairing off Aria and Emily for a good amount of storylines in season 5B and beyond, and they had their fair share of fun moments together (the stand-out being their conversation about prom in “FrAmed”), they never seemed to have the big scenes together that all of the other Liar combos did, and my perspective of their friendship weakened as a result.

Hi guys! It`s been forever since I posted on Tumblr or even scrolled through my Tumblr feed. Adulting got in the way, but if I`m being honest I`ve also been in denial that my all time favorite TV drama is coming to an end. Yes I`ve complained about the plot holes, yes I`ve not been happy with certain reveals and chose to document it on my YouTube channel, but with only 10 episodes left I love the show as much as I did when I sat down in front of my TV on a Tuesday evening and watched the first episode. It`s just...special. There`s no other way I can describe it.

So, I intend to end this crazy PLL journey the right way. The laziness ends now! Check out my Tumblr and/or YouTube channel this upcoming Wednesday because I will be posting a Pretty Little Liars Q&A video - there will also be an exclusive PLL giveaway announcement at the end of the video. Trust me, you don`t want to miss it! 

Also, if you have any PLL news/plot lines/theories you`d like me to discuss feel free to message me, tweet me, or comment under one of my videos and I`ll make sure to get back to you. 

It’s been a long time since I’ve done an in-depth analysis like this, but after editing this scene for a recent video and watching this clip a million times, I need to talk to you all about how masterfully directed all of the Liars’ reactions in this little two second moment are, when the popular boys roll up at the start of the Halloween episode. (Sorry for the potato quality, I had to zoom in quite a bit.)

First we have Ali, who of course is cool as a cucumber. She’s clearly pleased at the guys’ arrival, but she smiles at them the way you would friends who you’re also mildly amused by. She’s the only one who stays totally calm and collected, which makes sense - she’s Ali D. Of course she’s friends with the popular guys (some of whom must have been older, considering you can’t drive as a freshman in high school). She knows they really only care about her and she owns it.

Then, all the way on the other end, there’s Spencer. Notice how she immediately looks at behind the other girls at Alison to gauge her reaction to the guys pulling up. She then attempts to play it cool by copying Ali’s demeanor - hands to her sides, hip out, playing it cool. It’s that same competitive streak that proved to be one of Spencer’s major traits and, arguably, flaws. She wasn’t about to let Ali be the only one who wasn’t affected by the guys’ presence: “See? I’m just as cool as she is.” Of course, the giddiness in her face gives her away - she’s not the natural that Ali is.

Next we have Hanna. She has the same instant giddiness and interest on her face as Spencer, but the most interesting and specific thing about her reaction is what she does at the very end of the clip - tugging her cardigan further in front of her chest. Just in that small moment, all of Hanna’s insecurities regarding her weight come to light. Even amidst her excitement, she still pauses to remember to try and conceal her stomach.

Aria’s reaction is perhaps the most obvious. Notice that she’s the only one of the girls who doesn’t smile once as the guys pull up. While Spencer and Hanna are just thrilled to be in the presence of the “cool” guys, Aria veers far more into the side of full-on nerves, because that car also includes Noel, the boy she specifically has a crush on. Her response to their appearance is far more anxious because she has a more personal connection to them than any of the others.

And finally, Emily. There is a noticeable difference between Emily’s reaction and the reactions of the other girls. She seems startled by Hanna forcing her way between her and Aria to get a better look at the guys, but there’s almost an annoyance to her posture. As the car pulls up, you can see her face visibly fall - as the other girls’ smiles grow, hers drops into an expression of what seems to be disappointment. It’s only once she takes in the expressions of Hanna, Aria, and Spencer and senses their excitement that she turns to Ali and forces a smile of her own, albeit one that seems far more hesitant that the others. Of course Emily wouldn’t be excited about the arrival of the popular guys. Not only was she unaffected by their looks, but Noel and Ali’s friendship was flirtatious, to say the least. That likely combination of jealousy and annoyance at the boys interrupting Emily’s time with Ali and her friends was quickly hidden as Emily realized that she needed to fake the same excitement as her friends in order to fit in properly.

**WARNING SUPER LONG IM SORRY**

Recently a fan tweeted Marlene asking if mayas storyline was over and she replied saying their may be a bit more to it. So I went back and tried to see what I could make out of the maya clues and how she fits into everything. 

I always love maya and emaya but her character always seemed a bit sketchy at times kinda like alison. (remember this)

when her and emily first meet she seems REALLY interested in getting to know emily, she was asking tons of personal questions about ali and herself, answering questions with a question, and she was being super friendly and almost choosy with her words, almost as if she had other intentions when she met her. What if she was told to get close to her? (Kind of like ezra & cece already knowing who all the girls were and jenna already knowing alison) 

In S1: “The jenna thing”, maya meets spencer and when her and emily go back to her house she says “I get your connection to spencer, you both like to win.” and emily replies “well winnings great but usually if I do my best im happy with the outcome.” and maya chooses to move the topic to spencer by asking how she feels about winning which always kind of stuck out to me. Emily tells her spencer HAS to win.

I just never quite understood why Maya only really asked questions about spencer, I know you could argue she was just trying to get to know emily but throughout the episodes maya’s in we don’t really see her interested in knowing about all the liars to me it seemed like she asked about spencer only because she reminded her the most of Ali.

& then maya moves the conversation to Alison again saying how she seemed like she was always the center of attention. Then tells emily she usually runs from those girls. Em says “you don’t look like the type of girl who runs from anyone” and Maya moves the convo to something else. (WHO U RUNNIN FROM MAYA)

Also later in the night when emily turns around maya immediately goes and cuddles with her almost like she KNOWS emily was in the closet. She said she had a boyfriend & i dont think it was something she just did in her sleep. + the A alerts afterwards were right on time, something was up. 

this also happens again when they kiss in the photo booth and A steals the strips right away. & maya tells emily not to worry about it that it there was probably just no more paper & drags her away. MAYA WAS IN ON IT THE WHOLE TIME. She was used to bring em out the closet and let A use it against her. 

Also in S2: “I must confess” Maya is scene wearing the exact same tory burch boots -A ordered online. (couldnt find a pic though)

But I think somewhere along the way maya started to really develop feelings and wanted out but A/AD or someone connected to them had stuff on maya forcing her to stay in it so she chooses to run away but A gets her first and kills her before she can get far.

Now lets go back to what I said earlier about her kind of acting like Alison

In the pilot maya asks emily if shes ever smoked and em replies No. Maya says this and the way she says it for some reason really just reminds me of something Ali would say. 

& then later in the episode Spencer sees who she thinks is Ali in Mayas room (ali’s old room) 

But what’s odd is that this person is wearing the same tank Maya was wearing the whole episode.

now this can be explained in a couple ways, either:

1. maya found a blonde wig while looking through the dilaurentis house and tried it on to pretend to be ali.

2. that was really or ali or maybe an ali twin and she was talking to maya & wearing a similiar top? (this one seems too much but wouldnt be surprised if the writers went this way.)

3.maya bought a blonde wig & was really trying to pretend to be someone maybe a trick she learned from a real blonde she knew who liked to wear wigs & be someone else.

       - i’m thinking its this last one! (or i hope it is)

In S2E12: “eye of the beholder” Jason tells em & spencer that maya found some of Ali’s old things in the attic, “Like they were hidden” he thought they threw everything away but maya kept some things, maybe b/c she knew what they were for.

Another thing I wanna point out is maya has mentioned on more than one occasion (1.02 & 1.12) that she has trouble sleeping. I mean I would have trouble sleeping too if I was worried my secrets may catch up to me.

Now I know there a lot of maya theories & some have even said they think she’s A. I don’t think I could really hop on board with maya being A but I do think when mona said “MAYA KNEW” she really meant maya fucking knew, like she knew the game & knew what was going on & just how dangerous A could really be. 

Okay so, we all know there seems to be a couple different teams when it comes to PLL and their alliances. Theres, 

AD & Cece (& maybe someone else? idk yet still looking into this)

Theres the Liars 

Then theres AD’s pawns (Jenna, Noel, Lucas, Shana, Alison (sometimes), Garrett, Mona etc.)

Well i think maya started off as one of these pawns but like all the people above at some point they wanted out and like I said above its likely so did she. 

It’s possible that maybe Ali and Maya knew eachother prior to her disapperance maybe they met on vacation… at cape may.

I saw this picture when I searched up maya clues on google and I almost screamed! I think this Analyzing A tumblr acct found it so i’ll put her link:

http://analyzinga.tumblr.com/post/44225287853/major-clue-possible-spoiler-alert

Could this mean this is Maya’s unnamed brother? Did she also hang out with Ali, Cece, & Melissa during that summer? Or was she scared of them like she mentioned to emily about attention seeking girls like Alison?

Now I heard from twitter it may be fake but still why would they make the mistake of putting it in the credits? Idk I just think it would be a nice twist for maya to have a deeper connection to Ali than just living in her house. 

UPDATE: MARLENE SAID WE’RE MEETING AN UNKNOWN RELATIVE OF MAYA’S! Some people meationed that reporter Aria went off on in 7.12 may be her brother but I couldn’t find a pic and I didn’t wanna sit through hulu commercials to find out so if someone finds the pic reblog it cause I wanna knowwww!

I mean we find out they had to have known each other either way or at least met before b/c they were both staying in the kahn cabin around the same time!

Also when Ali and Maya’s body are found the scene is so similar they even play the same song.

I think at first Alison gave Maya the idea to fake her death & Noel, Garrett, & Jenna helped her carry it out. 

Marlene also posted this pic on insta w/ 2 dolls that w/ the hashtag #emison but to me the 2 dolls look more like ali and maya then ali and em. Idk I just think there’s alot more to their relationship than we know right now. 

Now lets talk about the night mayas body was presumably found:

Maya trys to call emily but she cant get service so it never goes through, I don’t think this was maya b/c her phone was already stolen by this point. I think A just was trying to distract emily to mess with hanna.

Jumping ahead to when Mona falls off the cliff, we get a zoom in on her watch that says its 12am. The girls then go back to their houses and the cops have a body they think is Mayas.

BUT we later see this video of Maya at the kahn cabin at 1:14am

So are we just really gonna believe it took the liars OVER 1hr & 30m to get to thier houses?? B/c maya had to have got kidnapped and then dragged over to emilys back yard from the cabin and murdered. Which just in my head doesn’t add up with the timeline.

In addition to this I noticed when Maya gets pulled out of the cameras view it doesn’t necessarily mean she was captured by A, I think theres a good chance it was Ali who pulled on her to take her out of view and talk to her. We know Ali was staying there too so maybe she already knew where the cameras were and didnt wanna take any chances being seen seeing as this was before A supposedly knew Ali was alive. 

Now lets talk about after her “Death”:

We find out Maya went to the kahn parties often and met holden before, she was also friendly with Jenna, we see her get into a car with garrett the night she died (But we know he didnt kill her because he was arrested at 12am) & its when Nate (lyndon) is introduced and he is accused of being the one who killed Maya. 

Nate never openly says he killed Maya, in fact some of the things he says when he tries to kill paige kind of indicate he thinks emily has something to do with her death. 

He says “Im gonna do to you, what you did to me. Im gonna take someone from you & you are gonna watch me do it.” 

Its also been speculated that Maya was involved in the night em dug up Ali’s grave b/c they used her bottle of pills to drug her (which was also prescribed after she died) & flashbacks she remembers having + jenna lies to her saying she found her on the street drunk when spencer asks why she lied she says b/c she’s protecting a friend.

This was also one of the flashbacks she remembers having,

LIKE COME ON WHO ELSE WOULD WRITE THAT???

Most of me really does believe Maya did end up really dying sometime later before the end of season 3 or in the beginning of season 4 

The girls do find this carved into the dollhouse in S6 maybe AD found maya & took her to the doll house to be his Ali for a while before Mona got there.

But idk i’ve also read alot of theories w/ extra clues and reasons she could indeed still be alive helping out emily and hiding from AD or might even be bethany young herself. So theres that lol. I’m just excited to know that Maya still is relevant b/c her character had so much potential, hopefully mar doesn’t fuck it up!!

*WARNING SPOILERS*

"Hanna monas AD." GIRL U ARE FARTHER FROM THE TRUTH YALL GOTTA STOP JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS SO QUICK EVEN WE COULD SMELL THAT RED HERRING FROM A MILE AWAY

"I'll convince her" ok yea Caleb cause y'all are secret agent friends we all know it just admit it already    

Ezra talking like he knows AD personally or something, like he's been the one getting texts or something. I see u Ezra u can't fool me.

But he was right about everyone in the room making mistakes & the look on everyone's face when he said it HA I loved it

Ooooo looks like AD stole the game back "time for pie"??? Is that not screaming EzrA to anyone??? especially the crows.

Mary really does seem like she's the nice twin but I can't help but think she's still more involved than we think

"It took me so long to finally get here w/ you, I'm not gonna loose it now." MY EMISON HEART UGH EMILY YOU DESERVE THE WORLD ALI BETTER GIVE IT TO YOU

 AD PUT A GAS LEAK (But nothing ended up happening so i’m confused wtf marlene)

Did anyone else notice how when the video of ali kept playing on a loop she wanted emily to quickly turn it off, almost like she didnt want anymore questions raised about ‘That night’

"I'm not interested in you doing anymore sacrifices for your friends" BOYYYYYY IF U DONT GTFOH WITH ALL THAT THE ONLY SACRIFICES SHES MADE SO FAR ARE FOR YOUUUUUU OMG I AM DEAD I HATE EZRA I LOVE IAN HARDING BUT I HATE EZRA 

YEAH OF COURSE MONA LOOKS NERVOUS SHE STOLE ADs GAME AND THAT ASSHOLE KNEW & STOLE IT BACK I WOULD BE NERVOUS TOO SHE ONLY GOT INVOLVED IN THIS CRAZY SHIT AGAIN B/C HER POOR LIL HEART STILL WANTS TO BE ACCEPTED BY YALL UGH IM SO MAD

Hanna the only one who ever gives Mona the benefit of the doubt now that's a somewhat real friend lmao

"You two are fighting like a married couple.." AWKWARD we are. Spaleb who??

Lmao Caleb annoys me a lot now but I am not gonna lie dude has BALLS idk if that's a good or bad thing tho.

But like I said before him and Mona are too comfortable around each other. Look how easy she's talking to him and how calm he is with her. They have to be working together they just have to be!! (Not like as AD but idk as investigators to track AD or something, they know each other tea choices THERE AIN’T NO COINCIDENCES IN ROSEWOOD)

"There's always been someone watching, manipulating." Girl yes I been saying this since day one!!! Bethany young, twincer, wren, ezrA you may make your appearance now.

Lol I knew that waiter left a note from AD, like u said Mona, they be watching

 By the looks of Mona running they had to have said meet me in the back or something, Mona READY to see who keeps jacking her games lol

ANOTHER SECRET PASSAGE WAY GAH DAMN ROSEWOOD PROBABLY GOT THE WHOLE DAMN UNDERGROUND RAILROAD UNDER THERE

YES ARIA TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR ACTIONS I LOVE IT AT LEAST SOMEONE IS 

Come on though I knew that body was gone the minute I realized they left it in the car

I'm not mad that they reshot the classroom scene or that it ended up being a dream but I would've much rather the dream be Ali's than Emily's dream the "emma thornwald" name would be a lot more relevant b/c how in the fucking world would emily know that. & why put that scene as the cliffhanger?? That's so anticlimactic! They could've put the liars burying Rollins but not showing who it was, or charlotte clutching the rose, or fuck even the fucking girls sipping mimosas w/ Mona would've been more climatic than that shit. 

"AD doesn't get notes they give them." Finally someone has a clue, go Caleb I get points. 

Btw idk if I really enjoyed that spaleb moment or if I just really love Troian & her amazing acting, her whole part in that scene was just perfect!

Was it a little weird to anyone else that Alison was the one who apologized to aria first?? I think it's because she knows she still has her own secrets/mistakes that haven't come to light. 

Ooooo I bet this tunnel that spaleb is in is going to lead to the church and radley. 

So Mona must have a split personality disorder or something cause the way she's telling on herself to Hanna and how she's dressed just give off a total old school Mona vibe like radley Mona vibe. Hanna really fucked up by letting her fuck with that game she should've just killed charlotte and GOT GONE GIRL. lol Ali 2.0 forreal this time.

I also figured she had some altercation w/ charlotte that was the only person I could see her saying "am I supposed to be scared of you?" Too lol I love ceces sass.

I love how Mona knew everything & I also think it's funny but slightly choosy how charlotte said "you always were the smart one Mona, not spencer."

I think this charlotte flashback is the FUCKING BEST THING EVER

Ceces such a bitch it almost doesn't seem like she's the charles she explained in her story. Like literally she’s not charles.

So I guess Mona does have a personality disorder and she's even convinced one said that the liars are actually her friends wow I'm sad. I love her :(

& I think it's now clear cece was planning to start the game right back up again but this time bigger and better it seems "not only did u lose the game you lost the story, its mine, everything's mine... god I hate this town I guess I'm supposed to do something about that too."

Fuck janels performance is EVERYTHING I am loving this flashback!!!!!

But did anyone else notice how we never actually SAW mona push the body off and fake the suicide. She could’ve ran and someone else came and covered it up. Like mona said to hanna she didnt mean to mess it up but what exactly did she mess up?? she didnt cover up the murder someone else did.

I think Hanna spoke for everyone when she said "not really an answer"

I told y'all Mary was gonna take the fall

Wow andrea Parker did so well at playing both Mary & Jessica

In the end im still confused and my brain hurts

OKAY SO, obvi alot of my predictions were a miss but I did get a few, I knew mary was gonna take the fall, I did see a few ali clues not a ton though maybe ill find more in the rewatch, I was right about mona getting into a fight with charlotte and somehow being involved in her murder & the episode did feel like a lame finale so I guess thats pretty good! This episode was amazing from start to finish they really kicked it into high gear for these last few episodes i’m finally seeing a picture in this crazy ass puzzle we call PLL. I’m trying not to expect alot from the finale but I just really hope it is as satisfying as all the cast say it’s going to be.

After this i’m really starting to hop on board with twincer, ezrA, or even Toby after seeing the finale promo. I’m going out of town for the next week so tomorrow i’ll post my finale PLL theory & then ill be off til the finale! It’s been real guys and although i’m ready for closure i’m also going to miss reading everyones amazing theories and all the possibilities this show could have gone with.