Pretty Little Liars will officially be over after a 10 episode run in April of 2017. The last 10 episodes are titled “PLLEndGame” which most of us understand will mean a lot of death, questions, and sadness. For the past 7 years, we’ve been on a witch hunt for who has been torturing these 5 Rosewood teens (now adults) and their family members and significant others. We’ve been through our fair share of cry fests, fits of rage, and our feelings of defeat when I. Marlene King takes us even further into this twisted story. After devoting so much of my teen and adult years to this story, I feel it’s only fair to prepare myself for my biggest heartbreak to date, by going back and looking at the best and worst of this crazy experience.
1. Ezra's "Holy Crap" Moment
BEST: Let's start this off with one of the best moments of Pretty Little Liars. In the first episode we see Ezra Fitz, brand new English teacher, sees a girl he just made out with in a bar sitting in his class. His very real reaction is one we all cherish and treasure because it was our first insight into who Ezra is and this crazy roller coaster that is both Ezria and Pretty Little Liars. Holy crap, indeed.
2. Ravenswood
WORST: Can we not talk about Ravenswood at all? Because seriously, this was a waste of my time and it was precious Caleb face time lost. Like really, it was a failed attempt at another ABC Family creepy show and it's pitiful that they couldn't even come up with a more original name. Rosewood... Ravenswood... come on you all. Overall, this show added nothing to Pretty Little Liars except for creepy Mrs. Grenwald and some red herrings that lead nowhere.
3. Mona as A
BEST: So far, Mona has been and truthfully, always will be my favorite Pretty Little Liars villain. She's smart, she's cunning, she's funny, she has a great sense of style, and most importantly, I could understand her desire for revenge on the girl who was so mean. I was always watching and thinking to myself that Ali may not have deserved to die, but she deserved some bad things to come to her. Blinding girls, being an active bully, and always making up lies (think back to how she treated Toby). I have always and will always love Mona.
4. Bethany Young... and her murder?
WORST: Think back with me to a time when we were constantly scrutinizing, trying to discover who Bethany Young was, what her story was, and what happened to her. I can remember that Bethany Young's story was long and I kept finding myself getting more invested. Then, in the course of one episode (Game Over, Charles) we find out that Mona hit her with a shovel, intending to hit Alison and that Melissa buried her thinking it was Alison and she was trying to protect Spencer (who she assumed had hurt her). And then, we never talk about her again. Plus, can we talk about the fact that we spent long hours crying for Toby because of what happened to his mother and Bethany Young killed her and nothing else came of that story? This story feels unfinished.
5. Halloween Train
BEST: I loved the Halloween episodes of Pretty Little Liars, but the Halloween Train was the best one. Starting it off with Mona's creepy Radley self just set the tone. If you can remember, this is the episode where Garrett is revealing information about the night of Ali's disappearance to Spencer. Plus, the creepy little girl hanging out with Hanna's mom. Spencer gets almost thrown off of the train, Aria is stuck inside a box with Garrett's dead body, the body inside the cooler on the train, and the ending where we see a flashback of the spot where Ali presumably was buried, with a hand shooting up out of the dirt wearing Ali's bracelet. A classic. I still get chills.
6. EzrA's Evil Reveal
WORST: This was by far one of the worst story lines. We get that sometimes you want to give some characters a little depth, but the teacher having an affair with his high school student is depth enough for an introverted writer like Ezra. Instead, they had to give him some long, drawn out storyline where we all thought he could be A but instead he was writing a tell-all book about the girls. Plus, I hate it because it makes his "holy crap" moment in the first episode fake because he already knew everything about Ali and Aria and the rest of the girls. Totally lame.
7. Toby being on the A Team
BEST: But let's be clear about what was so wrong with Ezra's "dark story" is that they did Toby's just so, so well. There was no way to compete. The fact that the girls had been hinting at another member of the A team for a long time, wondering and worrying only to find out he had always been right there in front of them. And when they finally showed his face, my heart sunk into the pit of my stomach. The writers just wrote his story flawlessly right down the scene of Spencer sitting on the stairs outside of his apartment, begging him to let her in. My heart still breaks, but it's just so good.
8. Charles is A
WORST: In my opinion, the worst moment of Pretty Little Liars was how unnecessary "Charles is A" was to the story. We could have easily written Charlotte off as Jason's twin sister and never had to go through this. But I understand that in this world where we're trying to be more accommodating and accepting. Still, I feel the story would have been more powerful if we had just kept Charlotte a girl the whole time and that she was the one who ultimately was behind all of this.
9. The A texts
BEST: The undoubtedly best part of this amazing show is the A texts. They are often mean, threatening, and just plain cruel. But they are so well thought out and witty. I've listed some of my favorites. "Lucky you, Aria! Other girls have to do their homework. You get to do the teacher. –A" "Be careful, Hanna. I hear prison food makes you fat. –A" "Poor Spencer. Always wants Melissa's boyfriends. But remember, if you kiss I tell. –A" "When students kiss teachers, someone gets HURT. That's a promise I'll keep... –A" "Cleaning up Rosewood, one mean mommy at a time. Dig we must. Kisses –A" "Watch me make a girl disappear. Kisses, -A" "Mona played with dolls. I play with body parts. Game on, bitches. –A."
While I didn't like everything that happened, ultimately, I am so so sad to see this show end and just know that a part of my heart goes with it.