PRETTY LITTLE LIARS REFLECTION

As I write this, it has been two days since Pretty Little Liars (aka my favourite show of all time) ended. I'm writing this post almost as a reflection upon the show and a collection of my thoughts and feelings about it. If you didn't know, I've been watching PLL for seven years now - since it began, and way before it became popular in the UK. In fact, I remember being in year 7 and 8 at school, begging my friends to watch it just so I had someone to talk about it with but nobody did, until probably around year 10 when it became this huge craze and everyone was watching it. It's been this huge part of my life for seven years and, as cringe as it may seem, it is upsetting seeing it end. While I haven't felt an incredibly strong investment in the show over the past two seasons and I will stand by my opinion that they should've ended the show at the end of season five, it has been my favourite show for an extremely long time and, though I do believe it needed to end, I'm obviously sad that it has.

* This is not my image

* spoiler warning - this is a reflection of PLL as a series and the finale and so there may be spoilers * 

Pretty Little Liars has kept us all on our toes for the past seven years - the writers just kept whacking out new questions, answers and mysteries and I genuinely feel that these questions have been fulfilled and we have the answers we need. Towards the second half of this final season, I have had my theories and thoughts about who I wanted AD to be (obviously) but the closer to the finale we became, the less my own theories and opinions mattered. I just wanted Marlene and co. to give us a story that answered our questions and explained why things played out the way they did - I cared less about the who and the what. I just wanted a WHY. I won't lie to you, there have been a few instances where I've been far from impressed with what's happened and the why - for example the whole Cece / Charles / Charlotte situation - that is one example of where I was very disappointed with the show. I wasn't shocked like I wanted to be and I genuinely think that there were so many other potential plot lines that would've been better. With that being said, that storyline is one that characterises Pretty Little Liars - it's the central issue, the essential reveal of the show, and it wouldn't be PLL without it.

Let's flashback to a few years ago - 2013 and 2014, in particular. I was at the height of my Pretty Little Liars obsession. In fact, and some of you may already know this, Pretty Little Liars was the reason for me getting into blogging in the first place. Back in 2013, I began my own blog - a PLL themed blog, naturally. It was called prettylittle-theories.blogspot.co.uk (imaginative, I know) and was all about PLL - weirdly, though it was entitled Pretty Little Liars Theories, I didn't post that many theories on it - perhaps because I was never fully sure about my theories. I didn't think I had enough evidence to back my theories up or I just wasn't confident enough in my theories to post them on the internet for everyone to see - who knows. I made a lot of PLL edits - I even had my own PLL themed Instagram account (it was quite popular, too) though I stopped using that in 2015 and ended up deleting the account probably around a year ago. It's so incredible to me that on TV show can bring people together in the way that Pretty Little Liars has done - I mean, it's the most social show in TV history for goodness sake. It's created a culture and a million mini subcultures within that culture - people experience the show in so many different ways, it's brought people from all different backgrounds together, it's helped people deal with issues in the real world - it's genuinely been so influential all across the world. That's incredible.

Regarding the finale, I wasn't a fan. I'm not happy with that final episode - I didn't like the AD reveal, I didn't like the way they ended the episode, I generally didn't like it. I was praying that the writers didn't actually do the whole twin thing, especially not with Spencer, but not only did they do so but they made her British. I just can't wrap my head around why anyone would think that's a good plot line (obviously so many people do, but I don't). I feel like I've wasted seven years of my life on a show that has now ended so carelessly and pathetically. I wanted an episode that concluded the show in a way that left viewers shocked but satisfied. I wasn't shocked nor satisfied. I hate the plot that Spencer's twin (Alex) was AD and, to be completely honest, I don't think the motive was good enough - or even explained properly. It was basically Spencer has a twin and she hates everyone so she's AD. Stupid. I'm so annoyed about the entire thing. There are so many more theories and potential plot lines that would've been one hundred times better. I wanted Melissa to be AD (not just a mask) or, even better, Jason to be AD. That would've been shocking - it would've been satisfying. Don't get me wrong, Marlene and the PLL writers did a great job overall but I am far from impressed with the reveal. As I've mentioned, I genuinely feel like I've wasted seven years of my life - this reveal was even worse than the Charles / Charlotte / Cece reveal. Awful. Mona's A reveal will always be the best reveal - it's the reveal that I think characterised PLL. It was shocking, exciting and satisfying - genuinely one of the best moments of not only Pretty Little Liars as a show, but on TV itself. I'm having mixed feelings about the very last scene of the episode. I like the fact that the show went full circle but I don't think it was necessary - what was the point? I would've definitely preferred Mona being AD and the show going full circle in that way. Let's face it: Addison and co are irrelevant. I don't think that storyline bought anything to the show, in any way - it was pointless. Yes, I get that it's like foreshadowing etc but I wish the writers had just stuck to the liars - forget Addison.

I'm sitting writing this and, as much as I love the show, I was so incredibly disappointed with the ending. I genuinely believe that the writers could've made it into something great - something that satisfied long-term viewers, something that was shocking and thrilling. I was angry about the A reveal  but that was TV gold compared to this reveal. I feel like the whole sibling / Drake family / twin thing had been done with the Charlotte / Cece / Charles situation, I don't think we needed a Spencer Hastings twin. Not necessary. Don't get me wrong, Pretty Little Liars has and always will be one of my favourite ever shows, but I will always stand by my opinion that it should've ended back in season 5 - the whole thing had been exhausted and the more the show dragged on, the more ridiculous it became. On the whole, the series has been amazing - seasons one to four were addictive, shocking and exciting. Season five answered so many questions - it would've made a great conclusive season. Season six and seven, however, were disappointing. Of course, it wouldn't be PLL without these seasons and some moments were great - I just wish that the writers had taken the show in a different direction, a direction with no twins or bad British accents.

Pretty Little Liars has been my favourite show for seven years. It's been a show that I've religiously watched, a show that I've been completely invested in, a show that's promoted so many incredible things, a show that has helped so many people deal with so many issues, a show that has created a community, a show that has encouraged not only me, but millions of others around the globe to pursue various different things. It's broken records and created a culture. It is a show that, despite my opposition to some of their storylines, will remain one of the best shows of all time - it'll go down in history as a cult classic. A show that will be hard to let go of - the cast, the plots (as ridiculous as some may be), the settings and the characters. As angry as I am about the finale, I will always have a soft spot for the show itself. Kudos to Marlene and the rest of the PLL team for creating a show so great. Kudos to the cast for bringing it to life. But most of all, thank you to Sara Shepard (aka my favourite author of all time) for initially creating the world of Roswood and Pretty Little Liars. The PLL books will always be my favourite - I'm not even going to lie, I would even go as far as saying that I prefer the books to the show. They're incredible - masterpiece after masterpiece and I'm so in love with them. On that note, I want to say farewell to Pretty Little Liars: you've been a huge part of my life for the past seven years and, no matter what, it will be hard to let that go. I'll always love it - just maybe not so much the last couple of seasons.

* Disclaimer: obviously this post is entirely opinion-based. I completely understand that everyone is entitled to their own opinions, and that these will not be the same as mine. I am purely writing this post in order to express my own thoughts and feelings towards the finale episode and series in its entirety.