Beware! Spoilers ahead!
For once the cast and production team hasn't hidden behind white lies and false promises. Veteran viewers were given the answers to questions we've asked for years. The only problem is the answers where a little too late and all around underwhelming.
The "Pretty Little Liars" season finale pulled in a total of 3.08 million viewers, a two-year high for the show, old and new viewers anxiously anticipated the reveal of the mysterious elusive A.
When the cast said at the beginning of this season that all A's secrets would be unveiled, I was very skeptical. Not because I'm cynical or untrusting, but because I have been lied to repeatedly when it comes to PLL development. I guess that's why they call it pretty little liars. Unfortunately, I was right to be skeptical, because while some questions where answered, I was left with more unanswered and a ton of plot holes.
The story of A unfolds in a weird urban fantasy meets "Star Wars" war room, better known as A's lair. The girls are spying on A in the same way that A spied on them (which is I guess an attempt at a circular ending, I don't know), via a holographic multi-view monitor in a giant chrome room with weird flashing lights. I know A is brilliant and has always had access to the girls in a really omnipresent sort of way, which would require the technology to be advanced, but how does A have access to all this super-tech? Also, why does Mona inherently know how to work said super-tech?
I expected some serious progression this episode. Especially with this season pushing the boundaries with darker content. Instead, this episode served as one big flashback to scenes better left in the shows past that were mostly unnecessary in the explanation of how A became A.
CeCe Drake/Charles DiLaurentis/Charlotte DiLaurentis better known as A. Yes, I was confused too. CeCe is a character who is in the liar's life enough to make sense as the villain, but is also a character whose lack of backstory made it easy to just plant her wherever, even if the development of her character was underwhelming.
The "big" CeCe is A reveal is thrown at the audience at a breakneck speed. Cece was born Charles, who is transgender and really Charlotte. Which causes a rift between Mr. D and his first-born child. The reason that CeCe believes that Mr. D truly pushes for her admittance into Radley Sanitarium. Not because she almost drown baby Alison, um okay CeCe. CeCe dates Jason, her brother, in order to get closer to her family. Why she didn't just befriended Alison? I'm not sure. (Side note: CeCe is the second sibling Jason has dated.) Toby's mother was killed by "that bitch Bethany" because Bethany was trying to protect a overdressed Charles from exposure.
Unfortunately I don't think these questions will ever be answered. The goal of this mid-season finale was obviously to close the door on the high school part of the girls lives. Further proven by the five-year jump into the future we're taking this winter when PLL returns.
The best part of the episode when Emily punched Sara. Here it will live forever on the internet in GIF form:
