Pretty Little Liars Finale Rant
This will be my last post on this show and it will be the last time I ever watch anything associated with Marlene King, because clearly, she does not understand how to write a show. She seemingly has no desire or ability to close plots in a timely fashion (which is why they remained open, forgotten, loose ends… about 5 seasons worth).
As time went on, it became glaringly apparent that Marlene and her cowriters either did not watch their own show or were less interested in a plot that made any sense. They left what they called “clues” about A’s identity in episodes when they were just winging it and deciding who A would be after most of the seasons were already written, which is why there are so many misplaced “clues.” (I.e. The mannequin family in the dollhouse being in a FAMILY frame in Aria’s room) to name just one.
The greatest faults of the writing of this show are two-fold for me.
First, Marlene seemed to be obsessed with keeping the main characters in a bubble of innocence. They were not allowed to have any faults or have any darkness to them. They had to remain pure as freshly fallen snow. This obsession with keeping them innocent was the biggest downfall of this show. After the backlash from the CeCe reveal, you’d think she’d learn that her audience was not interested in secret relatives and side characters being the “big bad.”
Common sense tells you that in a show like this, your main characters are your strength. It’s OK to allow your characters to grow and it’s OK to allow FICTIONAL characters to have a dark side. I assure you, people would have been very happy had a member of the MAIN cast (the Liars or their boyfriends) been the Uber A. It would have had shock value (which Marlene loves too much) AND would have closed some plot holes. A twin of the main cast is a cop out. Nothing but a cop out and a carbon copy of the CeCe reveal.
One thing I think Marlene just could not wrap her head around is that all these years of torment and A being one step ahead, truly only make sense if someone in the inner circle of the Liars was a part of it all along.
Another thing she could not wrap her head around was a sentiment that the character of LT. Tanner said repeatedly, “I always knew you were guilty. I just never knew of what.” It is just not feasible, in dream logic or any other logic, that someone would assume an anonymous identity and spend countless years and money to torment 4 INNOCENT girls. They must have done SOMETHING. They must have known SOMETHING. It’s just not believable. (And no, accidentally running over Archer Dunhill does not count as dark).
Second, Marlene’s OBSESSION with shocking her audience. Creating yet another twin and giving her a bad British accent just to “shock” people? Really? And she knows she left so many plot holes that she never tried to fix, so what does she do? She makes her a villain that only became a villain when Charlotte died. Huge cop-out. HUGE.
You know you can surprise your audience and have an ending that makes sense too, right?
It was the series finale. It was the time to have some guts. You could have pulled an Ezra/Aria Bonnie and Clyde. I mean honestly, the man had BOXES AND BOXES of information and surveillance on the town AND had the previous 2 A’s working for him at various points in the show. Ezra was a no-brainer. Literally, DUH!
There’s your shock value and there’s how you tie AD to the beginning! Boohoo, twitter idiots like the Ezria relationship. Then reveal Aria as an accomplice, either from the beginning or later on. You’re worried about what you will do if the show has a reunion or a reboot? Fine! Let them get away with it! The audience knows but the girls don’t! This was an ending that would’ve worked perfectly, would have made countless people happy and wouldn’t have tarnished the legacy of your show!
You wanted Spencer as the AD without actually making her “culpable?” Go the split personality route. Again, it ties in to the beginning!
There were so many things that could have been done.
Now Marlene wants to rant about how WE should be grateful. No! SHE should be grateful that people stuck with this show after all the bitter disappointment. She should never have been given all these chances.
As for Troian Bellisario and that awful accent, I can only say one thing. She’s a decent actor, on par with some of the other actors on this show. I never believed she “carried” this show as some people did. And her unremarkable performance in this finale proves me right. This season was largely carried by Lucy Hale’s Avataria and the way Aria was with her as well as by Janel Parish.
Again, I’m not saying Troian is a bad actress and I’m certainly not blaming this finale fiasco on her. I just think it may be a little too early in her career to pull off a big villain reveal.
That’s my 2 cents on this finale. Agree or don’t, who cares, it’s over. And no, I won’t be watching any spinoffs. In fact, I hope no network is stupid enough to reward Marlene King with another show to ruin with lost relatives and evil twins.
PS to Marlene and the other writers. This “dream logic” you refer to just means “fiction.” The story exists outside of the real world, in its own space, but still needs to MAKE SENSE! Jane Austen wrote fiction too, you didn’t see her leaving plot holes and writing “it’s dream logic it doesn’t have to make sense” in the prelude to her books!
PPS: If Lucy Hale wanted to be a villain for years, as Marlene claimed on her ET interview, then they should have let her. She was damn good at it!
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