PRETTY LITTLE LIARS: The Big A Reveal Was…Underwhelming

In 1976 there was a great little movie called “Murder By Death”, in which the concept of the film was about getting revenge on mystery writers for deceiving their readers  for decades. Famous detectives are invited to a mansion for “dinner and a murder”, hosted by a millionaire who was tired of mystery writers leaving out key clues in order to keep them from solving the mystery themselves. “You tricked and fooled your readers for years. You’ve tortured us all with surprise endings that make no sense. You’ve introduced characters in the last five pages who were never in the book before! You withheld clues and information that made it impossible for us to guess who did it!”

Last night’s “epic” Pretty Little Liars season finale was just like that. We were all lead to believe that there would be a “Big A Reveal”. We’d finally get answers to questions that have been building for five seasons. We’d be shocked and amazed. Well we didn’t and we weren’t. Unless it’s to say that we were shocked at being deceived yet again, and amazed that the only thing that was revealed was “A’s” name.

What happened

The girls are being transferred to the jailhouse when suddenly “A” seizes the truck, knocking out the driver and gassing the girls. When they wake up they are in “A’s” dollhouse, each room resembling the girls’ bedrooms. As their doors open they are instructed to follow the flashing lights which leads them to a room where there’s a girl in a mask playing a piano. It’s Mona. She’s been brainwashed to act like Alison. She’s been held there by “A” who has tortured her until she complies.

Meanwhile, Peter and Veronica Hastings have been alerted by Toby that the girls have gone missing and they immediately assume that Ali is behind it all. They go see her in prison and she tells them all about “A”. At first they don’t believe her, but after she tells them that she’s got nothing more to lose but they do, they finally start taking things seriously.

The Hastings go find Caleb, Toby and Ezra, and together they all try to figure out where “A” could have taken the girls. When Tanner learns of the missing girls she believes that Caleb is the one who took them and is hiding them away. The Hastings are representing Caleb as his lawyers when he talks to Tanner and tries to get her to believe what they are saying about “A”. It’s not until they find “A’s’ lair and see video of all five girls, that Tanner finally begins to see the light.

After a bunch of crazy stuff happens in the dollhouse, and the girls finally seem to have escaped, Spencer finds “A’s” room where she plays a home movie of Mrs. DiLaurentis holding Ali as a baby, with two little boys running around her. With her dream of rearranging toy blocks that spell out ‘Charles’, Spencer figures out that “A” is Charles. Ta-da!

Review

“Welcome to the Dollhouse” may have surprised some by revealing that Mona was really alive, although many of us had already guessed that part. Perhaps it’s a plus that the story of how “A” had been torturing the girls for so long, is finally out there. Also a plus is that the two most prominent lawyers in Rosewood are finally convinced that something is terribly wrong, that Alison is not the villain and that the girls are and have been for a long time, in real danger. Veronica Hastings even says, “How could we not have seen this happening?” or something like that. Now Tanner is also a believer.

This episode also had the thrills that we have come to love about the show. Those nail-biting moments were part of the draw that fans looked forward to. But that’s about all I can say that was good about it.

I think if ABC Family and Marlene King and the cast members hadn’t all been leading us on for the past month with promises of having all our questions answered and finally seeing who “A” really is, this wouldn’t have been such a disappointment. The only question that was answered was what happened to Mona’s body. Finding out who “A” was only left us all scratching our heads. Absolutely nothing was explained. Who the heck is Charles and why should we care? If we had found out that one of the girls was “A”, or Melissa or Jason or anyone else, it would have been more satisfying and might have made more sense, especially if the show is going for the psychopath scenario.

Keegan Allen said in an interview that when we find out who “A” is, it will all make sense. It doesn’t. Maybe to him because he knows a lot more than we do. But to us poor peasants out here trying to put this all together it makes no sense whatsoever.

Sasha Pieterse said that the big reveal is sad and heart wrenching. Oh it was that, alright! Sad because it was senseless and heart wrenching because I had expected so much more from this crew of fantastic writers. What a let down.

Closing thoughts

In the past few years we’ve had the carrot dangled in front of us a couple of times. We’ve been told that all will be revealed and our questions will be answered more than once. Up until now it has all been fun. (Heck, Ezra’s reveal was more exciting and shocking than last night’s.) But now we’re tired. And many of us are done. And not many believe Marlene King when she “promises” that all the answers will come in season six. I know I don’t. And I no longer care. You know the saying, fool me once, shame on me; fool me twice…

Pretty Little Liars used to be the show that I looked forward to watching live each week. Tuesday nights were the only nights in my house where I had one hour in which no one was allowed to talk to me, so invested and sucked in was I. Because I’ve been so vested in it, I’ll probably watch it next season, maybe the next day, maybe a few days later. I don’t know, whenever I get around to watching the DVR.

Remaining questions

• If we are to believe that Charles is a DiLaurentis offspring, why didn’t Mr. D say anything in all the times we’ve seen him?
• Is Charles the secret between Peter Hastings and Jessica DiLaurentis? The one that Melissa found out about?
• Why was Charles kept hidden all these years?
• Why would he kill his own mother if she was the one protecting him?
• When did Charles take over as “A” and why did he target Aria, Spencer, Emily and Hannah?
• Why dress Mona up as Alison instead of taking Alison from prison and keeping her in the dollhouse too? Charles had the real thing, why leave her in prison?
• I thought Mona knew about Charles, she left that clue in her mirror on her dresser. Yet in last night’s episode she didn’t seem to know at all.
• What the heck does Andrew have to do with anything at all?

There are so many more questions that I assume will be answered next season. Or maybe that’s just another carrot.