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Pretty Little Liars Is Messing With My Mind

Posted: 03/18/2013 11:39 am

When it comes to TV, we all have guilty pleasures. Sure, sure, many of us are obsessed with acclaimed series like Homeland, The Walking Dead and The Good Wife, but then there are those shows that you would never admit out loud to anyone that you watch them. You know the ones I'm talking about: America's Funniest Home Videos. Snooki & JWoww. The Client List. Anything on TLC.

For me, I'm not ashamed to admit that I love Dancing With the Stars (Season 16 premieres tonight, woo hoo!), The Young and the Restless (Adam Newman, will you marry me?), and even though I'm not a 15-year-old girl, Pretty Little Liars. I've come to to terms with my love of shows that aren't particularly cool (really, it's OK to admit that some bad TV is just so damn good), but while DWTS and Y&R almost never fail to disappoint (though Victor and Nikki's recent hospital weddings have been way too hokey), PLL has confounded me all year.

It's been a long Season 3 for Pretty Little Liars, which began last June. Spencer's unwashed turn into Mehville has been like spiralling down the saddest, muckiest, most depressing rabbit hole ever. And, sorry to be heartless here, folks, but I don't get why.

Yes, I know that Toby was her great love, and the revelation that he is part of the "A" Team (now that was a great show) would devastate anyone, but that still doesn't explain how a strong, independent young woman like Spencer would devolve into the scraggly mess she's become. This unkempt zombie may have learned her boyfriend, whom she confided everything in, is one of the bad guys, but unless I missed an episode, she just took it, accepted it, and never confronted him about any of it. Everything's been about assumptions (albeit, most of them correct), but for Spencer not to lay a verbal smackdown on Toby has been the most baffling. I guess we're supposed to beieve Toby's dead now, thanks to the tattoo on the corpse, but one of the lead characters' boyfriends warrants an on-screen death, so I'm not buying that that's him in the morgue. Not yet, at least.

I have so many unanswered questions. This season has been so convoluted it's like the teenage version of Lost. So, Spencer has since joined the "A" Team, and is (reluctantly?) working with her nemesis, Mona. She even took Ezra's son. What I don't get is why would she join the "A" Team? Spence probably has her reasons, and I'm hoping it has to do with Aria, Hanna and Emily and keeping them safe, but I don't know what she gets out of it.

I also don't understand why the A team is so dead-set on torturing Spencer, Aria, Hanna and Emily. What did they do that was so bad that they deserve even more being thrown at them? Is it just their association with bitchy Alison, or is there more to it? The girls' torturers have already done so much to them, so when will enough be enough? When all four are dead? Because that's likely not going to happen.

Also, who's the girl in the red coat? Some past and present characters spring to mind -- Maya. CeCe. Jenna. Melissa. Alison. Alison's twin? Lucas? (OK, I don't think it's him, but I do wonder where he's been and think he can provide some answers.)

My biggest question, though, is how have the four girls never checked to see if their phones or rooms are bugged? As soon as something, anything happens, one or all of them receive a text from that pesky A. I just don't get how in all three seasons, it's never come up as to how they always get contacted at just the right times.

OK, I've vented. Anyone have answers? What have I missed? Help. Please. I want to be as well-informed as I can before tomorrow's finale. Because if the show's history has showed me anything, I'll be lucky if even one of my queries gets an answer.

The Pretty Little Liars finale airs Tuesday, March 19 at 8 p.m. ET on MuchMusic in Canada and on ABC Family in the U.S.

Loading Slideshow...
  • "Pretty Little Liars" Season 3

    "Out of Sight, Out of Mind"

  • "Pretty Little Liars" Season 3

    "Out of Sight, Out of Mind"

  • "Pretty Little Liars" Season 3

    "Out of Sight, Out of Mind"

  • "Pretty Little Liars" Season 3

    "Out of Sight, Out of Mind"

  • "Pretty Little Liars" Season 3

    "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?"

  • "Pretty Little Liars" Season 3

    "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?"

  • "Pretty Little Liars" Season 3

    "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?"

  • "Pretty Little Liars" Season 3

    "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?"

  • "Pretty Little Liars" Season 3

    "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?"

  • "Pretty Little Liars" Season 3

    "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?"

  • "Pretty Little Liars' Season 3

    "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?"

  • "Pretty Little Liars" Season 3

    "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?"

  • "Pretty Little Liars" Season 3

    "I'm Your Puppet"

  • "Pretty Little Liars" Season 3

    "I'm Your Puppet"

  • "Pretty Little Liars" Season 3

    "I'm Your Puppet"

 

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When it comes to TV, we all have guilty pleasures. Sure, sure, many of us are obsessed with acclaimed series like Homeland, The Walking Dead and The Good Wife, but then there are those shows that you ...
When it comes to TV, we all have guilty pleasures. Sure, sure, many of us are obsessed with acclaimed series like Homeland, The Walking Dead and The Good Wife, but then there are those shows that you ...
 
 
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yeswecanjane
Top 2% should create more jobs or pay more
08:34 PM on 03/19/2013
The best part is the tweets on Twitter from the PLL twerples! The " OMG! I am going to jump off the bridge if so and so break up!!! I am!!!" AND" My heart is breaking,I think I am l loosing my mind" etc. But from what I remember from high school as a former victim of school bullying.is that they (the A Team) do not need a reason to pick on someone. Nothing quenches their thrist for hurting people.. They have the mentality to even declare that you had it coming. Also the parents are perfectly portrayed! Self absorbed lip servicing and could really care less or missing in action. The writer of the series knows what she is taking about and the writers of the TV series are also very good:)
04:09 PM on 03/18/2013
Well...Spencer confronted Toby with the key and he simply asked, "How long have you known?" before ducking out of her house. He then disappeared and stopped returning Emily's and her calls. Maya is dead. We know this because crazy Nate tried to kill Paige and Emily and admitted to killing Maya for leaving him; she's not the "red coat". Spencer said she didn't want to be a victim anymore, so I think there are at least a couple of layers to the reason she decided to join the A team, and those are, A) she doesn't want to be tortured anymore, and B) she wants to be in on why she's being tortured. The girls have figured out a couple of times that they're being watched and recorded in certain places, and made attempts to stop it, but with Spencer telling Toby a lot, and Mona being an ace hacker, being spied on is kind of impossible to avoid. Almost each time they get a text or note at the exact moment they've said or done something, they do look around confoundedly trying to figure out how on earth someone could have known what they were just doing. Also...if my first love turned out to be the guy that was literally torturing me to the point of insanity and that I'd cashed in my v-card with him, I would stop brushing my hair or putting on makeup for a while, too. Just sayin'.