Hello, Little Liars & welcome to my first post on the Making A Pretty Little Liar blog! In lieu of making recap videos, I thought that a blog might be a better medium for me to delve into my feelings & theories—so we’ll see how it goes! This week I’ll be discussing the Pretty Little Liars Season 6 Winter Premiere “Of Late I Think of Rosewood”. This should go without saying, but if you haven’t seen the episode yet this is your official SPOILER ALERT. Cool? Cool.
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I’ve gotta say, they had me from the very first minute with all of those throwback quotes as the camera pans through the familiar halls of Rosewood High School—it felt like the perfect nod to fans of the previous seasons while clearly establishing the fact that time has passed & these girls have changed. We start with a pretty obvious change: Alison DiLaurentis is INSIDE Rosewood High School. (I know, weird!) Crazier yet? She’s. A. Teacher. Then again, I guess they do have a tendency to hire borderline too-young, ridiculously attractive teachers at Rosewood High School…at least she’s not writing a book about her students or dating them! (…right?)
Dr. Rollins, Charlotte’s ridiculously attractive doctor, comes to see Alison after her class to tell her that Charlotte has a hearing for release…in 4 days. Now most people would panic, but not Alison DiLaurentis; 4 days is just enough time for her to wrangle up her friends, get them to put their lives on hold, & come back to their hometown to speak on Charlotte’s behalf! The court will be contacting the girls & asking them to be at the hearing, but Alison chooses to add her own letters to them. This bothers me, because it feels like something that a younger Alison would have done. The girls have to show up by order of the court, so why does Alison feel she needs to write them? How well has she actually stayed in touch with them over the years? Has she ever once asked how their recovery was going? (I’m going to go out on a limb & say she hasn’t.) Even though 5 years have gone by, it seems like Alison still doesn’t have a strong grasp on what it means to be a good friend.
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So Alison is a teacher at Rosewood High, but what are the other girls up to? Aria works in publishing, seemingly in Boston at the moment. Hanna is based out of NYC & working in the fashion industry. Spencer is involved in politics in D.C. & Emily appears to be a bartender somewhere very warm. We get to briefly see Charlotte in the mental hospital that she’s spent the past 5 years in; she seems genuinely worried about whether or not the girls are still upset with her. I appreciate her concern, because it says that she recognizes the weight of what she did to the girls. Alison completely brushes Charlotte’s concerns aside, assuring her that they’ll be fine. Again, Alison is speaking for the girls instead of listening to them & finding out how they really feel. I don’t think her intentions are malicious (because all she wants is to see Charlotte come home & be well), but Alison is still thinking predominately about herself & what she wants.
The girls all arrive back in Rosewood, but it’s very clear that it no longer feels like home. As you get older, returning to places that were once such a huge part of your life can be emotionally confusing. There’s a sliver of you that feels nostalgic, but there’s a bigger part that knows you’d never go back for all the money in the world. Places where terrible things have happened to you are particularly difficult—especially when you see other people there who are completely unaffected by the awful thing that never seems to leave your mind. Take Spencer seeing that group of girls outside the cupcake shop; all of the girls phones ring at once & we watch as Spencer seems to hold her breath with these girls. As sick as it sounds, it might be almost comforting for Spencer to see them going through the same thing—that would make what happened to her more normal, less traumatic. It’s only when they all start laughing that Spencer releases her breath, coming to the realization that she doesn’t connect with these girls at all. What happened to her wasn’t normal & neither is she.
Despite the nostalgic parts, a few things have changed in Rosewood since we last saw it—Radley Sanitarium has become The Radley, a luxe hotel renovated by none other than Ashley Marin & Pam Fields is dating…sort of. (I don’t know about you all, but I’m just glad that the PLL Moms definitively made it out of the DiLaurentis basement!) Hanna is drinking wine with Ashley at The Radley & Ashley wants to know why Hanna didn’t bring her fiancé with her. (Yeah Hanna, where is this mystery man? We’re ALL anxious to see him!) Ashley also mentions that Hanna hasn’t been to see her in Rosewood since she opened The Radley, but the minute that Alison writes to her she’s on a plane here. Hanna states that it was the court that really asked her to be here, but Ashley astutely points out, “It’s still Alison.” Alison is the one who’s been petitioning the court, she’s the one who wants this release for Charlotte. This IS about Alison, just like it always is. It’s not really even about Charlotte at this point, but what Alison wants for her & their relationship. Never once do we hear Charlotte saying she wants to go home, but it’s all Alison ever talks about. This is the fantasy, the story that Alison has crafted in her head that she will now fight tooth & nail to make come to fruition. Has Alison grown up in these last 5 years? I think her fantasies have. Her commitment to her stories has. But her bottom line is still seemingly the same—it’s all about Alison.
Now to focus on one of my favorite characters: Ezra Fitz. According to Byron, Ezra is back from South America & living in the apartment above The Brew. Apparently Ezra “got sick & they sent him home”—the question is, what kind of “sick”? Of course upon hearing that Ezra is potentially a broken human being at the moment, Aria thinks it’s a good idea to go see him! (Because if there’s one thing Ezria can’t resist, it’s their other half at their weakest!) During their conversation at The Brew we garner a few important bits of information: Nicole is missing, Ezra got sent back from South America, is writing a second book(?!?!?!), & is really angry. This is not the angry that we saw back in earlier seasons when we thought Ezra might have been A, this anger is much darker. I’m not sure how to take this, quite honestly. I love Ezra, but my gut feeling was that he was putting on some kind of act. The words he was saying didn’t reach his eyes & although his anger felt very real, I wasn’t so sure that he was really angry at revolutionaries for “kidnapping Nicole”. Who knows, maybe this situation has really impacted Ezra’s perception of the world & as a result he’s coming off more detached, but something is weird here. You’re on my list, Ezra Fitz…I’m watching you.
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Things are essentially what you would expect in the House of Hastings—Veronica is running for State Senate, Peter is off doing grunt work for Veronica, & Melissa is nowhere to be found/not even mentioned. Of all the families, the Hastings seem to be the ones who’ve undergone the least change…at this point. Spencer & Toby get to have a little reunion, highlighting the fact that they are no longer together either. Toby is building a house, a la Noah Calhoun in “The Notebook”. For who, we don’t know. All I kept thinking was, “Where has Toby been living these last 5 years? Did he really wait all this time to rebuild his blown up house?” (Maybe he’s been building it for 5 years already? Who knows.) Point being, Toby is trying to build a house & there’s something really hysterical/sweet about it. I’ll go ahead & say it—that chair he built for Spencer would look really nice inside a house he built for them. Just sayin’. Toby is the second person to point out how the girls all came running when Alison called & Spencer tries to deny it, but doesn’t fully succeed.
Why does Ali still have so much control over the girls? I’m not entirely sure. In previous seasons it always seemed like the girls stayed close to Ali because she knew their secrets, but that can’t possibly be the case anymore, can it? They’ve all drifted apart & it’s unlikely that Alison knows all of their secrets from the last 5 years. Unless of course it has something to do with my favorite untrustworthy bitch—Sara Harvey. Several times in this episode Sara Harvey is brought up as a potential threat, that the girls did something to her that night at Radley that they don’t want anyone else to know about. All we saw was Emily slap/punch her in the face, but there’s got to be more to it than that…right? Apparently criminal charges were pressed against Sara, so she won’t be allowed to testify at Charlotte’s hearing. CRIMINAL CHARGES? What do they have on Sara Harvey? Sure, she was gonna blow up Radley…but wasn’t Charlotte in on that too? Why is Charlotte having a release hearing while Sara Harvey isn’t even allowed to speak at it? Sounds like there’s a lot we don’t know about Sara Harvey & I’m eager to find out more.
When Ali meets with the girls she essentially asks them to tell the judge that they aren’t afraid of Charlotte. When the girls seem hesitant about this, Ali immediately starts guilting them into agreeing. She argues that they have nothing to be afraid of, that they should trust her. (Her being Alison, not Charlotte.) Essentially Alison is saying to the girls, “I know you went through some terrible things, mostly because of me, but I need you to set all your feelings about that aside because of MY feelings, okay?” Alison tries to play the victim, saying that she needs their help to have a chance at having a family. This really irks me. I’m all for forgiveness & if Alison wants to forgive Charlotte, fine. But you don’t get to ask someone else to set aside their own feelings for yours. You just don’t. Especially when these girls would never have been in the situations they were in if it weren’t for Alison. As Ashley noted, Alison is the reason for all of the problems these girls have had. It’s not just the Charlotte thing, it’s everything. These girls lost their childhood because Alison decided to run away & pretend to be dead. They lost their sense of security in their own homes & eventually their own heads. Alison should be offering to help these girls in whatever way she can, not once again asking them for favors. At this point they aren’t even favors, because Alison has no intention of repaying them. She asks others to do things for her that she would never do for them. I guess that’s the crux of my issue with Alison DiLaurentis at this point—she takes way more than she gives. These girls barely have anything left to give, but here they are holding out their hands to her, offering themselves up once again. In the end, the girls do assert themselves more than we’ve previously seen them do with Alison–they call her out on asking them to lie to help Charlotte. The bigger question is, will they stand behind their words in court when it really matters?
On the day of the hearing, most of the girls fall in line with what Alison wants them to say. Spencer states, “I’ve learned that people are not always the things that they do.” Hanna simply says she isn’t afraid of Charlotte. Emily talks about how her father taught her that fear is a natural reaction, a good one, but also a choice & that she has decided she is not afraid of Charlotte DiLaurentis. Alison looks pleased, seeing all her dolls do as she asked of them. When it’s Aria’s turn, she struggles. Aria tries in vain to read from what she has written, but the judge tells her that she wants to know how Aria feels, not what the doctors think. At this point Ezra bursts into the room, interrupting Aria. Why? Who knows. (It’s probably for his next book guys, okay?) Aria resumes her statement, saying that she would not feel safe if Charlotte were to be released. Ali is clearly not happy with this, which immediately makes me concerned for Aria’s wellbeing. Lucy Hale does an amazing job here with this monologue, detailing a panic attack Aria has on the subway, remembering all of the dark boxes that A has trapped her in. After Aria’s testimony, Mona comes forward. After her conversation with Spencer about still having nightmares, seeing several shrinks, & taking multiple prescriptions we all probably thought we knew which direction Mona’s testimony was going in. But as per usual, Mona throws us a curveball. She goes the sympathetic route, saying she understands Charlotte because she spent time in Radley herself. My question is, did Mona change her testimony after hearing Aria or was this her plan all along? Is she hoping to gain Alison’s trust? Or is it something more sinister?
The girls meet up for drinks at The Radley, which is somewhat weird considering their history with the place. But as Spencer puts it, “If you’re gonna chase away the demons, you’ve gotta go where the demons are.” Emily confides in Spencer that she was really worried about Sara Harvey showing up at the hearing. She says that she could have walked in & “shown everyone what we did to her.” Now all the alarm bells are going off in my head—what did these girls DO to Sara Harvey? (The way Emily is talking it sounds like something very visible, so what could they possibly have done?!) While they’re at The Radley, the girls receive a text from Ali thanking them—Charlotte is getting released. As they continue to drink, Spencer admits that she thought they could get away with lying for Ali one more time because she never thought they’d actually release Charlotte. This highlights a very important lesson for the girls (and the audience)—you have to say what you feel & you have to stand up for yourself because no one else has to. All too often we convince ourselves that we can avoid saying things that are difficult, but still get the result that we want—because hey, our feelings are too obvious to even need to state, right? Wrong. I’ve learned that you can’t assume that anyone knows what you’re feeling/thinking unless you tell them. People can’t read minds, so we shouldn’t expect them to. The moment that Spencer assumed she could avoid saying how she actually felt so that Ali wouldn’t get hurt, she made a huge mistake. Everyone but Aria made a huge mistake in that courtroom–if they didn’t want Charlotte out in the world, they should have said so. If every single one of them had spoken up & said their truth, despite the fact that it was uncomfortable, maybe Charlotte wouldn’t have been released. People listen to the words you say, so you have to be very careful what you choose to tell them.
The next morning, Hanna receives a call from Alison saying that Charlotte is missing. Ali asks Hanna if Charlotte came by her hotel room, but Hanna says no. Alison asks Hanna to call the other girls & come to her house. I find it interesting that Alison chose to call Hanna first & that she assumes that the girls aren’t together—despite all these years, the four of them are still a unit & Alison is the one on the outside. We don’t have to wait long to find out what’s happened to Charlotte…she’s dead. Her body is found below the bell tower at the church, initially appearing as if she threw herself off to commit suicide. (Let’s be real, none of us really thought this was a suicide, right? There are never suicides in Rosewood, only murders.) Another guilty admission? My first thought when we didn’t initially see Charlotte’s face was—“She’s faking it! Charlotte faked her death & ran off & we’re totally gonna see her again!” (Obviously that thought was pretty quickly squelched by the open casket at the funeral very clearly showing Charlotte inside, but you can’t blame a girl for crying “hoax death” in Rosewood…can you?)
Caleb stops by Hanna’s hotel room to make sure she’s okay, giving us all kinds of nostalgic Haleb feels. Obviously Hanna’s engaged, I’m sure the guy is great & all but…this is Caleb we’re talking about here! Apparently Caleb was “with Spencer” when she got her letter from Alison, so he wanted to see if he could help. Pause, WHY was Caleb with Spencer? What’s going on here? Are they hooking up? (I get it, Hanna isn’t dating him anymore but really Spencer? I feel like that breaks all kinds of girl code.) Hanna offers to get Caleb a room at The Radley (since, you know, Ashley runs that shit), but he says that he’s “staying in Spencer’s barn”. Uhm…okaaaaay. Hanna & Caleb discuss the fact that they are “still friends”. This was interesting to me, this concept of “still friends”…I think we’re going to be seeing this idea explored more in depth throughout this season with all of the girls & their exes. No one can deny that these couples went through more together than most high school couples do, so it seems only natural that there would still be some unresolved feelings involved. (Again I ask, who is Toby building that house for?) Who will be the first to fall back on old romantic habits? I’m not sure we can tell from one episode, but I have a feeling at least one “classic couple” could make a return.
It wouldn’t be a Pretty Little Liars premiere without a funeral & this time it’s Charlotte’s. Like I mentioned earlier this funeral features an open casket, which I’m sure is the writers’ way of saying, “Yes, she’s REALLY DEAD. This is not a drill.” Of course the Liars are there, looking funeral fabulous…like they do. And like all Rosewood funerals we’ve got to have a surprise, uninvited guest in a black veil…so in comes Sara Harvey. Finally! Our Sara Harvey prayers have been answered! Of course I’m looking this girl up & down trying to figure out what happened to her…but nothing really looks out of place. She looks at the girls, so obviously “bitch can see”. (I figured we should try & rule that out pretty quickly since they did blind Jenna that one time…) There’ve been some theories floating around online that maybe she doesn’t have hands, hence the gloves that she didn’t take off? Or maybe they’re badly burned? I’m also thinking it could be something with her leg(s), since we didn’t get to see those at all & she had that guy helping her walk. Whatever’s wrong with her, I’m just glad that Sara Harvey has picked up on the Rosewood tradition of facing down your enemies at a funeral.
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The cherry on top of all this? Once again, our Little Liars are suspects in a murder & they’re being advised to stay in Rosewood. Apparently it didn’t take the Rosewood PD long at all to figure out that Charlotte was murdered—according to the autopsy she was dead before she was thrown from the bell tower. (Way to go, Rosewood PD, doing your job & shit!) We end the episode with a shot of someone watching the girls from inside a car; it can’t be Sara Harvey since the car she was in already drove away. The window rolls up before we can see anything, leaving us wondering—who is in that car? Whoever it is most likely killed Charlotte & is now framing the girls, so we can assume that they have something to do with Uber A. I’m hoping it’s Wren Kingston. Or Pastor Ted. They both creep me out to no end & I really think either one would be an interesting/dark twist for Uber A. Whoever is in that car, I get the feeling that they are more dangerous than anyone the Liars have previously faced. But if this person killed Charlotte, they must already be familiar with the Liars. They know them. They’ve been watching & waiting for their turn to strike, playing the “long game”. Their anger has most likely grown over the years & now it’s finally their time. I’m both excited & scared to see how the Liars handle this new (old?) threat.
I absolutely loved “Of Late I Think of Rosewood”— I appreciate the ways in which it mirrored the pilot episode & other premieres/finales that came before it, but I also love how it very distinctly announced itself as a different show. The characters are the same, but they’ve grown up & so have their problems. These are no longer high school girls playing a secret game, but young women trying to navigate real careers & relationships that have very real consequences. The stakes are higher than ever before & the Liars have so much more to lose. This new era of Pretty Little Liars poses questions that are much harder to answer than the seasons before & I for one am excited to try to answer them. To me this episode was all about owning up to your feelings, even when it’s extremely uncomfortable to do so. Aria may have succeeded in being honest about her feelings, but what trouble is it going to cause her down the road? And there’s still someone out there trying to harm the Liars, but who is it? What’s their motive? Let me know down in the comments what you think & come back next week for my recap of “Charlotte’s Web”!
Making A Pretty Little Liar 