OPEN THREAD: Pretty Little Liars Season Finale “A is for Answers”

The season finale of the shiny-haired teen-lesbian mystery/comedy/drama Pretty Little Liars is finally here and “A is for Answers,” promises to finally put a couple pieces together. And thank fucking god too because I’ve been scratching my head trying to figure out what the hell happened to Alison ever since she popped up all not dead. Wait. No. I’ve been scratching my head since EzrA turned out to be even creepier than we thought and Spencer suddenly had a history of drug addiction that we never knew about. Actually I’ve been pretty confused since Jenna was not blind but then blind again but also a lesbian. Except for I was really confused before that because MonA was A and totally psychotic and then she all of a sudden wasn’t A and she was totally lucid. Well actually things have been pretty confusing ever since Maya died and left behind a video journal everyone forgot about. And since Samara and her gaggle of teen lesbians disappeared into thin air. Whatever happened to her anyways?

Okay. Hold on. I think, really, I’ve just been confused ever since the Liars got that goddamn text in the first episode:

Even what color panties you're wearing. Blue. I was totally right, right?!

Even what color panties you’re wearing. Blue. I was totally right, right?!

Well now, supposedly, we’re going to know everything! Or at least a part of everything as the promos promise that, finally, “Alison tells all.”

Is it just me or is it sort of awkward that after all this time we're just hanging out in a bar?

I understand why you wanted to meet us in secret, but why did we have to wear leather jackets?

I can’t say exactly what this episode will hold, or what crazy shit Alison will reveal, but I definitely think some serious lesbian shit is going down. Between Paige’s little tip to the police and Paily’s subsequent breakup, it’s obvious that something is going to happen with Paige. Besides, we already know she’s kind of a loose cannon. Plus the other Liars have already been betrayed by their significant other. Well I guess not Hanna, but that’s only because Caleb had to leave for a magical ghost world; America was just not prepared for a character as lesbian as Caleb. What I’m saying is that something’s happening with Paige. I don’t know if she killed Ali, or is getting real dead herself tonight, but I feel fairly confident she will be prominently featured in all of her shaky, shady eyed, needy, neurotic, obsessive, moody, baby gay glory.

Here are some more predictions/conspiracy theories just to get you guys warmed up:

  • Mrs. DiLaurentis accidentally (thought she) killed Alison after slapping her because Alison said she was pregnant
  • The girl who went missing a few towns over is the one they eventually found in Alison’s clothing and buried in her grave. Alison arranged all that.
  • Spencer put on a blonde wig the night Alison went missing and that’s who everyone saw.
  • Spencer actually has a twin sister no one knows about which is why her behavior doesn’t make any sense and she doesn’t remember things people say they saw her doing.
  • Spencer and Jason hooked up while they were both messed up which is why their parents never want them speaking (this show does love incest).
  • All of the things Spencer is remembering are actually implanted hallucinations.
  • Wren is A. I just really think he is.
  • Prior to writing his manuscript, Ezra was already involved with the Liars as one of the guys involved with Jason and Ian distributing videos of the underage girls.
  • Paige is A and she did it all for Emily’s heart.
  • Jenna is A and she did it all for Emily’s heart.
  • Shana is A and she did it all for Emily’s heart.
  • Samara is A and she did it all for Emily’s heart.
  • Emily is A and she did it because, fuck it, why the hell not.
  • Samara is the girl buried in Ali’s grave.
  • Samara and her gaggle of teen lesbians from one town over finally show back up, they were just at a really long Tegan and Sara concert.
  • Finally getting the chance to prove her worth as a lawyer, Emily proves that Chutney killed her own father by revealing her alibi is a lie because everyone knows that you can’t shower after you have a perm.
Where did they even find a pair of underwear that large?!

In which we discover that A is just, like, Mona again.

Well if any of these things happen, I’m not going to be the one getting all the good moments spoiled by Tumblr. I’ll be right here in on my couch at 8pm EST savoring every juicy moment and back here later tonight with a lesbian feelings update!

Update [spoiler alert]:

Well guys we’ve been hoodwinked again. Yup, another episode promising answers and for every one answer we got a hundred new questions. Plus no lezzie action! No Samara back from wherever the hell she’s been. No Maya from the dead. Not even a heartbroken Paige riding in on her bicycle with a tupperware of kale. L’sigh.

Or scissor you with my legs in friendship

Or scissor you with my legs in friendship

But don’t worry, we did get a hefty dose of Alison just as promised. While she didn’t exactly tell all, she definitely tied up at least a few loose ends.

So exactly what questions got answered? Let’s recap, in no particular order, some answers we got tonight:

  • The trip Alison was on was with Ian for a little romantic getaway. Snooze.
  • Ezra and Alison never hooked up, but he did find out that she was still in high school the night she went missing.
  • Alison drugged her friends with sleeping pills.
  • Noel Khan knows Alison is alive and is one of the people who has been helping her.
  • Jessica DiLaurentis knows who (she thought) killed Alison.
  • Jessica DiLaurentis buried Alison.
  • Alison was the dark figure who pushed Ian off the bell tower.
  • Mona always had a creepy Lair
  • Spencer didn’t kill anyone. She’s just a girl who likes to tote around a shovel sometimes.
  • Melissa knows who killed the girl in Alison’s grave.
  • Cece knows Alison is alive and who killed the girl in her grave.
  • Hanna doesn’t think quickly enough to shoot a guy in the foot.
  • No one cares about lesbians on TV.

I’m most excited to finally find out that Alison pushed Ian from the bell tower. That question has been haunting us since the first season! I was also quite pleased to hear that Alison drugged Aria and Hanna. I always wondered how they slept like rocks all night long while the rest of the town went to shit.

Other new developments included Cece finally getting arrested, the whole Hastings family (including Melissa) getting interrogated and Jessica DiLaurentis getting killed, dragged and buried!

Girls got guns.

Girls got guns.

Wait. Did I forget to mention the biggest cliff hanger of them all?! Ezra was shot in the stomach!

Did I spilled tomato sauce?

Did I spilled tomato sauce?

This is NEVER going to wash out!

This is NEVER going to wash out!

Just fulling the PLL season finale quota for a Liar’s significant others in mortal danger! There’s gotta be one each season or abcFamily loses their Shocking Conclusion Cred.

Don't worry, there are always flashbacks!

Don’t worry, there are always flashbacks!

In other news, Ravenswood got canceled so Caleb’s coming back! Get your Home Depot gift cards and matching cat snuggies ready because that between the Paily breakup fallout and Caleb’s return next season is bound to be fun for the whole family! As long as that family is comprised exclusive of teenage girls or fully functional adult lesbians.

Next season, I’m predicting we’ll find out Jessica DiLaurentis was killed by her own evil identical twin sister. An evil twin sister who lived at Radley thus explaining why Jessica DiLaurentis is on the board. An evil twin sister who tried to kill Ali. An evil twin sister who also had a daughter who would look a hell of a lot like Alison who eventually got murdered and ended up buried in Alison’s grave! What can I say? Just my latest theory! See you next season!

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Lizz

Lizz is a consumer, lover and writer of all things pop culture and the Fashion/Style Editor at Autostraddle.com. She is also full time medical student at Brown University in Providence, RI. You can find her on the twitter, the tumblr or even on the instagram.

Lizz has written 261 articles for us.

34 Comments

  1. LIZZ! I’ve missed you :)

    my prediction is we will not find out who A is and this show will go on for another 3 seasons

  2. I wish I had real tv!!! I can’t wait to see what ridiculousness they devised for this episode.

  3. I think Wren is A and accidentally killed Alison’s doppelgänger that night instead of Alison. Melissa knows it and that’s what she whispered to her Dad. (But she doesn’t know all of it. Or else she’s just the worst sister everrrrr.)

    Really hope Ezra stays dead.

  4. I think jason is A. That is who Alison’s mom was trying to protect. That or Wren could be A.

      • Yeah so was I! But then I thought maybe it was Melissa. Because she was mad that Allison had hooked up with Ian. BUT maybe Melissa was also hooking up with Jason because they were all in Chess Club together and then Jason killed Allison for Melissa?

  5. ARGH! I can’t watch this until tomorrow. Very sad.

    But I can already tell you what happened to Samara: She got dragged back into her vampire family drama and had to move back to Mystic Falls so she and her brother could get wildly, hilariously jealous of each other’s romantic partners. Vampire Diaries might love incest even more than PLL (remember when Damon invited his brother to the threesome he was planning? Amazing).

    I very much wish Caleb would come back. He really was the biggest lesbian on this show, if not the prettiest (Emily!)

  6. questions,i’m filled with questions. i’m trying to think of who mrs.D would lie to protect and the only one can I come up with is Jason? Why would he kill Ali?Also like you said, the body was from the girl that disappeared from a town nearby so who killed her? Who killed Lucas? Who was Ian so scared of and why the hell did he have a bunch of videos of people, was he and “A” blackmailing people? When he was trying to kill spencer he said he was doing this for Melissa, is she involved? and Cece killed Wilden? Also, who killed Garrett?

    • In an earlier episode Jason said that he was loaded the whole summer and when he got loaded he got mean. So if they go the Jason route, there’s already a good setup for it, and it does make the most logical sense because, yeah, who else would Mrs. D protect, but it’s also a bit of a cop out in my opinion. Like Ali really got fake killed by her drunk/high brother for no reason at all? And because of that, even though Jason doesn’t actually have any real reason for wanting his sister dead, Ali’s been running this whole time. It makes no sense.

      • I think it would make sense for Jason to have “killed” Ali since he also told Aria he didn’t remember anything about that night….but I still can’t see him being A.

  7. That was actually a pretty satisfying episode! I enjoyed all the flashback hair especially. I also liked the Liars/Ali united, and creepy flashback Mona.

    Considering re-watching everything between now and the season 5 premiere, and making a list of all my unanswered questions. The biggest one nagging at me right now is why did Ezra make 2 payments to Cece!

    • Made Ezra paid CeCe for information? That’s the only thing I can think of to fit the bullshit writer story…

    • I am now annoyed at myself for procrastinating from my finals revision to watch this. Although the recap and open thread were totally worth it! I’m also tempted to start my own A Lair until I finally come up with a plot that makes sense and can stop my love / hate relationship with this show…

  8. I really liked this episode. It did answer alot of question and actually made it seem like there was at least some logic to our long litany of A suspects. I’m really glad that they explained everything with Ian and Ali. It always bugged me how they made him out to be the number 1 A suspect for so long and then the moment he died, we don’t really hear anything else about him. It seems like they’re actually pulling at least some of their crazy shit together for some semblance of a cohesive storyline.

    That being said: I am so incredibly pissed off that they allowed Ezra even the slightest sliver of redemption!!! It’s always bugged me how incredibly nonchalant this show has been about the whole teacher-sleeping-with-teenage-girls thing. And the fan base is so crazy about rooting for them together. So I was thrilled when Ezra seemed to be a total psychotic creep. Also, he made such a great villain (even though his “villain face” was just eating his own lips constantly). But now, especially if he dies, you know Aria especially (and all Ezria fans) are going to try to rewrite every creepy thing he ever did as some twisted form of seduction. I was ok with them redeeming Toby and even Mona, but I honestly think that Ezra is a predator and a total creep so I’m not ok with them redeeming him in the slightest.

    And how the hell did Spencer or Ali not quiz Ezra before he passed out about who he thinks A is? I get Aria and even Emily being too distracted by the whole bullet wound thing to ask, but not Spencer, Ali, or even Hannah.

    And finally, I don’t think that Jason was the one who almost killed Ali, but if he did, I can’t see him being A at the end trying to shoot them. So, assuming the person who Mrs. D was protecting and the A at the end are the same person (which is a big assumption), the only people who I can think that she would protect like that would be someone else in her family (i.e. Mr. D) or anyone in the Hastings family. Mr. Hastings would make sense considering he’s Jason’s baby daddy, but there hasn’t really been any build up to that. Or I guess it could be CeCe or someone else entirely who has some connection with Mrs. D that hasn’t been explored yet.

    Anyways, I really liked this episode and hope that we see alot more of Ali next season.

  9. Oh, and does it bug anyone else that there has been zero explanation as to why Toby would fly all the way to London (and how does a sometimes employed carpenter afford that; is email too complicated for him?) just to get Melissa to come back? Does Toby know something about Melissa from his A days? And, if so, why hasn’t he already shared it with Spence? Did his letter to Spencer tell her that’s why he went to London? I hope they actually explain that next season. It’s gonna bug me.

    • I feel like the school schedule for these girls is so fucking insane and incoherent that questions like how a carpenter is flying to London I have just been like “eh, okay, and also swim season is kinda always but also never?”

  10. Lizz!!! I missed you! I want to say sorry i defended pretty little liars as much as i did. Remember my last post on your last post? :)
    I was in love with pretty little liars, I was blind. I was deaf. I was a fool for believing “lesbians can have happy endings on a family based television network.” Queer to queer, Lizz, forgive me with a wink? ;)

    Shall we? Out of all the inconsistencies. “Who’s a plot” is as dry as the beef jerky on my fridge. Started good but let it die. Pop that brainfart of yours and invent a new plot. First season was a top-notch, Second season was a hit, Third season was flat but quite tolerable, Fourth season is too lame for my queer brain. The liars’ boobs in their skimpy outfits can’t cure the lameness emanating through my lcd monitor.

    “In other news, Ravenswood got canceled so Caleb’s coming back!”
    (running out of smileys) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

    Marlene king and her minions got a bit greedy. There i said it! Juggling two shows at a time? Make some money and stay humble. Don’t grab the whole buffet when your plate is already full. Finish eating the main course and leave some space in your tummy for desert.

  11. I didn’t see you mention that they were supposedly in Philly, yet that last scene had them on a roof in Manhattan. Yes I know, obvious misdirection since they met noel in Philly then he took them to looked like Chelsea – Or tip top of W. Village, which if so obvs Emily went to cubby hole w/ a good fake ID and drowned her sorrows while threatening to kill the bartender/possibly herself every time love shack or a folksy but rockin guitar and woman singin’ song came on, obvs played by the Middle aged couple happily tappin their feet next to her.

    Whoa sorry, think i had a stroke or something. Flashback. Idk. i DO know that the love shack thing was almost as traumatizing as this episode was.

    I know Hanna’s mom used tom mention going to NYC often a while back. I always assumed it was to covertly audition for Broadway shows, building up to when they finally get it over with and have a horrible campy musical episode we all hate but also secretly love. Whether her trips were was just coincidence/an excuse for whatever, she always clearly said new york, not just – out of town. I dunno if there’s a for real connection there though.

    There was def weird Hanna’s/Ali’s mom stuff going on in the previous ep.

    These last two episodes were tense. This one, my heart is still fluterring. Some great writing going on. And I love how they tied in the “evil twin,” Spencer instead of Ali.

    I think Jason is way too obvious. Not saying he’s innocent of anything else.

    I thought Ali was going to die and I was almost freaking out, but then Ezra! Nooo. I know I’m like the only one around here that doesn’t mind him, granted he’s got his creepy-ness, but I would seriously lose it if he went. It’s been clear to me that his character loves Aria, and when they started implementing him as A I knew that the super secret “protecting the liars,” club I’d always suspect was probably going to be him, but then…it kinda wasn’t. And now we know it was Ali. huh.

    Imma go back and re-watch and focus on wtf was going on with the phone call Ali’s mom was having when she was begging Alison to stay home. ARGHHH. My brain hurts! But I love this show and I am very much looking forward to it continuing on. Serious applause all around for those girls’ acting skills!

    And whoever the masked person was on the rooftop was, is one seriously fit, flexible, insane person. I’m guessing there was someone in that group of girls that made them hesitate just spraying endless bullets into them. Which would make me rough guess Tony or yes, Paige. Both very fit, possibly more mentally unstable than it seems. They were both kinda vaguely referenced too.

  12. I completely forgot about Paige and Wren for this episode. Shit. Hmmmmmm…

    I hope Ezra is dead and stays dead. It’s revolting that they tried to redeem him. Fine, he didn’t sleep with Ali and freaked out that she was in high school, BUT OH IT’S OKAY TO SLEEP WITH A DIFFERENT TEENAGER BECAUSE ~*~LOVE~*~ give me a fucking break.

    I have no real idea who A is, and I’m kind of flummoxed that Jessica is dead. Like, if A knew that Jessica knew who A was, then why wait till NOW to kill her, especially if she was protecting A this whole time?

    • I didn’t think Mrs. D was necessarily dead. I thought it was possible that she was being buried alive just like what Mrs. D did to Ali. But then, why would someone do that to Mrs. D? To get revenge for Ali? If that’s the case, it can’t be A, who seems to love torturing Ali and all of her friends, right? Idk. Honestly, Lizz’s two twin Mrs. D’s theory is exactly what I thought at the end of that episode. It makes about as much sense as anything else that happens on this show.

  13. This show pisses me off and yet I still watch it because I want to know how it all ends.

    At this point, I’m willing to guess that the spirit of Bob (from Twin Peaks) has at some point in time possessed the following characters:

    -Mona (being Bob’s longtime favourite)
    -Ezra
    -Jason
    -Ian
    -Melissa
    -Jenna
    -Paige
    -Wilden
    -Toby
    -Noah
    -Aria’s dad
    -Hannah’s posh, but irrelevant almost step-sister
    -Alex Mack
    -Pretty much everyone else I’ve forgotten
    -Shana

  14. I think Ezra getting shot is just a ploy to get him and Aria back together. I really hope that’s not the case.

    Also, even if Ezra isn’t A, it still doesn’t explain his anger issues – was he really just that attached to his book? So much as to put knives in Aria’s ex’s punching bag (okay, I guess if a guy hasn’t been on the show for more than a few episodes I just forget his name). Also, who was the blond woman he was yelling at? What was that about?

  15. maybe Mona killed “the other blonde girl” because Mona wanted to keep up the illusion that Allison was dead, so she found someone else to kill and bury so the body could be found and mis-identified as ali’s.

    • Yeah, the fact that there is a dead blonde girl who is not Ali keeps confusing me. I like this theory and it fits with the picture they painted of Mona in that episode.

  16. Okay, I’m just going to share every thought I had about this episode in an incredibly disjointed fashion. Ready, go!

    “America was just not prepared for a character as lesbian as Caleb.” I generally try not to make jokes about guys who could be perceived as more feminine being lesbians, but I can’t help claiming Caleb as one of our own. Between all of his feelings and his gay hair, he’s definitely a member of the club.

    I agree that Paige is a loose cannon and will def do something crazy now that Emily broke up with her.

    Idk wtf Noel Khan is doing back on the show or why he knows Alison is alive, but I care about him even less than I did the first time around, so I hope he goes away soon.

    It’s funny that the two people who have any answers to our questions both get incapacitated (if not killed) at the end of the episode. Ezra knows who A is and gets shot and Mrs. D knows who tried to kill Allison and gets dragged into a grave and buried. (BTW, all future Rosewood murderers: burying the body in an easily accessible place is really stupid. Let’s be real, the police will never find the body cause they suck, but random teenage girls and/or old ladies from Ravenswood will absolutely walk by and find it. Maybe consider cremation, dumping it in a river, or asking Mona for help, cause that girl knows how to handle a dead body.) Anyway, Ezra’s silly reaction to being shot made me laugh and I don’t get why Mrs. D was in that grave at all, so hopefully we get some answers there. Also why was Mrs. D in Spencer’s house? Or was she just hallucinating? That creeped me the eff out.

    From what I can tell, we’ve eliminated Mona, Mrs. D, Ezra, Noel, Ian, Jenna, Spencer, Wilden, and Aria’s dad from the list of A suspects…those who are left: Melissa, Jason, Wren, Paige, Travis, Toby, Caleb. I kept forgetting about Wren during these last few episodes, but I agree that he could definitely be A. Especially since the person who was chasing the girls at the end of the episode seemed to be a man. I kind of wish it would be Toby because I just really hate him and don’t think the girls should trust him so easily when they still hate/distrust Mona and the two worked together.

    Lingering question of the night: what does Melissa whisper to her dad?!?! Also, what happened to the videotape Ian made of Ali the night of her disappearance? Didn’t that exist at some point or am I remembering wrong? They didn’t show that in this episode…

  17. I think Ali has a secret evil twin sister, which is why she told that creepy story about the twins in that one Halloween episode. And her evil twin is either the person that killed her, the girl in the grave, or A. Or maybe they are just going to merge Ravenswood with PLL now and A is really a ghost, it would make the most sense at this point.

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