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.
