#and also it was hard to not do more than one character from pll

[sergeantpixie]

top 5 Grimm’s fairytales, top 5 mean girl characters <3

you really get me tbh <3

Grimm's Fairytales:

Little Red Cap

Cinderella

The Robber Bridegroom

The Juniper Tree

The Shoes That Were Danced to Pieces

Mean Girl Characters:

Alison DiLaurentis from Pretty Little Liars

Blair Waldorf from Gossip Girl

Jennifer Check from Jennifer's Body

Chanel Oberlin from Scream Queens

Addy Hanlon & Beth Cassidy from Dare Me by Megan Abbott

[pllat30]

Pilot Rewatch

A warning that my posts may contain spoilers for FIRST time watchers!!

I'm going to be sharing my original thoughts during the first time watching this when I was 17, and my current thoughts rewatching at 30. Some things have changed a lot for over the years lol

I'd also like to add that I may talk about characters being attractive or whatever, but I'm most likely talking about the ACTORS. **For example, Ezra, when I first watched PLL I fell in love with him. Of course, now things have changed with how I feel about the character, but I still find the actor, Ian Harding, incredibly attractive. So if it seems like I'm complimenting Ezra in my current thoughts, I'm talking about Ian.

The Barn Scene:

Right off the bat, the song, DONTTRUSTME by 3OH!3 throws so much nostalgia in my face!! I loved that song so much when it came out!!

Do they really only have the one glass of alcohol they're passing around? Why not a whole bottle?

I know the girls seem really cringy a lot of times but really, that's how a lot of teens are lol so cringe. I definitely was!

First Watch: Hmm. What was Spencer doing awake first??

Rewatch: My poor baby Spencer! :(

Present time, Aria moved back:

I fell in love with Aria's style right away! And her storyline with the secret between her and her dad, Bryon, got me hooked for sure.

Even now, I find it hard to see a teen girl going into a bar alone and ordering food. Unless it's more of a bar and grill?? I'm not sure.

First watch: Ezra is so cute! Just a regular guy thinking he found a cute girl his age. He seems so sweet.

Rewatch: OMG noooo Aria! RED FLAG! He even mentioned writing a BOOK!! OMG!

DANG girl! Aria, you used to just kissing guys who you JUST MET???

Hanna, Mona, and Spencer at the Mall:

I did not like Hanna, Spencer, and Mona at all at in this scene. They seemed so bitchy and snobby. I could not relate to them at all at 17. Now I see awkwardness between Hanna and Spencer, they used to be so close and now they're not. I get that now whenever I run into people I went to school with lol still think Mona is a bitch.

First Watch: OMG Hanna is going to get caught! I can't watch! Rewatch: OMG Hanna your mom is going to hook up with that pervy detective now! I mean I'm not blaming you but damn it's going to suck for you!

Back to School with Aria:

Bryon and Aria are so tense in their scenes together talking about his stupid affair. With a student... I don't fail to see the irony. I actually love how that is written.

I love Emily and Aria's friendship. And I totally get falling out of touch with people.

Oh no... the new teacher... LMAO

Yuck, how Hanna and Mona walk into the classroom. Aria is shocked lol

First Watch: NO FUCKING WAY!! THE GUY FROM THE BAR IS HER TEACHER!! THATS HOT!

Rewatch: EW... OOOH OMG! Mona is at her desk kinda looking away and down like she's discreetly TEXTING under her desk! OHOHOHO!

Emily's House:

OMG I still hate Emily's mom, Pam. At least in the early parts of the show.

Not going to lie I almost forgot about Maya lol I wish her character lasted longer. Just meeting someone and hanging out in their room is wild to me now lol but at 17, totally normal lol but still a little awkward at first.

Spencer's House:

I HATE MELISSA SO MUCH!! ALWAYS HAVE AND ALWAYS WILL!! This is when I started liking Spencer, I felt so bad for her. She's such a hard worker.

First Watch: Oooh who is the hot British guy?? He deserves someone better than bitch Melissa. He's seems so sweet with Spencer. They should get together.

Rewatch: UGH, Wren is still so cute but... UGH I can't remember how exactly he ties into everything with the endgame. But now realizing that he's older and with Spencer's sister, he turned into a creeper.

Aria and Ezra alone in classroom:

First Watch: OMG Aria and Mr. Fitz is so sad. They like each other but can't be together!

Rewatch: Ezra should have stuck with saying he can't be involved with her, wtf!?!

Emily and Maya kiss:

First Watch: Aww, Emily and Maya are cute together. I don't get why Emily can't just come out and tell people.

Rewatch: This is so sad. I know why Emily doesn't want anyone to know, but still.

Spencer's house:

First Watch: I would love a hot British guy to rub my shoulders. So jealous.

Rewatch: I mean I would still love that, but not as a minor with an older guy who is dating and having sex with my older sister!! Get away from her Wren!

Bryon and Ella:

Like, IDK how Ella didn't just stop Bryon right there and ask him WTF is going on. He's acting so suspicious!

Spencer's room:

God I feel so bad for Spencer. I would have been so PISSED with someone moving into my space that I made! I wouldn't have been surprised if she just set the damn thing on fire lmao. WHO THE HELL DID SPENCER SEE IN ALSON'S BEDROOM WINDOW?? I STILL DON'T KNOW!!

FLASHBACKS:

ALI is such a bitch, how were the girls friends with her to begin with?? WTF!

Hanna's House:

OMG that detective is such a perv. He knew walking up to Hanna's door what was going to happen with Ashley making a deal,or at least hoped for it. That pervy grin he has walking inside... I forget exactly what the detective's connections are with Alison and A and everything... but he's sus.

I feel bad for Hanna, I had problems with my body and weight as a teen too... You don't need your father Hanna!! He's a little bitch.

OMG EWW the detective making out with Ashley right in front of Hanna, GROSS that Ashley knows Hanna is right there... WTF

Finding Alison's Body... This song… Suggestions by Orella Has Orchestra. It hits me RIGHT in the feels!!

LOL the recasting of some of the characters seen at the funeral.

First Watch: OMG Ezra and Aria are so cute! He stops her and they kiss again! Maybe things will work out.

Rewatch: Aria, STEP AWAY from Ezra!!!... EZRA!!! STOP!! POLICE!

"Popular in life and death." I love Spencer Quotes lol

OOOH the phone text notification!!

I'm still here bitches!!!

I was very entertained watching this again. I started to remember some things that are connected. I look forward to continuing watching and seeing what else I can catch! I love foreshadowing!

[phantomoftheorpheum]

PLL: OS (Summer School) 2x04 thoughts

*Spoilers for 2x01-2x04 of Summer School

okay y'all, I've done my nails, washed my hair, I've got my under eye masks on, and a box of old fashioned butter fudge, let's watch 2x04.

EDIT: just a fair warning, I'm absolutely overthinking (I like overthinking) and if you aren't interested in someone overanalyzing a tv show down to the tiniest detail, this post is not for you.

We're officially halfway through the season!

In the "previously on" recap, they play that clip of Mrs. Beasley saying, "we must all do our part to save those who are worthy," (<< or something very close to that), which certainly plays into my "sinners" being punished Mrs. Beasley/Pastor Malachi "Bloody Rose" theories, but I also worry about the show specifically bringing our attention to it this early on.

One thing that I've been thinking about more and more, which makes this season a little difficult to predict, is that we don't really know what "Rose" wants. We have really 0 concrete motivation at this point. In season 1, while we didn't know how all the pieces fit together, we knew the A storyline was centered around Angela, her death, and the role the moms played in it. Since "Bloody Rose" isn't actually Rose Waters (or certainly doesn't seem to be), we don't really know why she's tormenting the Liars, or why she's killing other people. While I've been working on my "sinners" theory, and this episode definitely has some elements that play into that, the lack of a defined "goal" keeps us guessing a lot more this season.

Rose Waters - Are we convinced that the "actual" Rose Water IS Rose Waters? While I've never really thought "Bloody Rose" is Rose, it does put my guard up that the girls immediately buy in to her being the real Rose. I'm not sure rn.

I’ve taken note of the SpookySpaghetti Waters Family films, and I haven’t talked about them at all before, because they’re pretty much just going over stuff (in an incredibly dramatized way) we already know, and I could honestly go the rest of my life never hearing Mouse say “SpookySpaghetti” again, like we GET it, but considering how much screentime they’re giving the plot line, I do have to consider the fact that the films & website may be more important than just a convenient place to dump info & have "Rose" contact people. One thought that comes to mind (despite the character being largely absent so far this season), is that Wes told Tabby in 2X01 that the film festival she was rejected from had rejected him 3 times. We know he’s obsessed with horror, and he’s the one who talked Tabby into posting her film online in order to get it out there. Could the films we’re seeing be Wes’ rejected festival films? Does it matter? This is what I mean when I say I overthink things.

The fact that ROSE is using the “final girl” terminology does immediately make me think of Wes & Christian. It’s kind of hard to imagine Mrs. Beasley (who has been my top suspect since 2x01) knowing/using the “final girl” label, and Wes did quite literally call Tabby a final girl at the beginning of the season, but I don’t feel I can draw any strong conclusions on this one, just taking note. 

In that vein of thought... Chip/Christian - I know I was not initially sold on the “Christian is connected to Chip” theories, because it feels like a retread of old ground, BUT I’m a little suspicious that they haven’t really brought Chip and his mom up since the first episode, other than Tabby having flashbacks of him & seeing similarities in Christian. I also noticed Christian referred to Tabby as a final girl (though he does so in relation to her potentially starring in the film), which is terminology I am keeping my eyes open for from anyone other than the main girls. I’m still not completely sold on the suspicions of Christian, but the fact they AREN’T pointing at him right now (which I expected them to do as soon as they realized the Bloody Rose situation was an actual threat since he literally has A and Rose masks in his basement) has me re-evaluating his threat level.

Dr. Sullivan - This character has been a tough one for me. I know she’s from the original show, and a lot of people think that rules her out. I’m not so sure about that (if they’re willing to take jabs at Ezra, a main character from a very popular [but also despised] ship, then I wouldn’t be surprised if they took other characters from the original show and changed the perception of them), and honestly I don’t remember her. It’s been a LONG time since I watched the original show, so I’m missing some of the context with this character. It’s also difficult to know what her motivation would be- yes, it seems Rose was one of her patients, there is a connection, but if she IS behind things, I think we’re missing some really vital information, presumably about the “loss” that is hinted at when Imogen is talking to her this episode. Surely that’s coming back around at some point (is this info we have about her from the main show and I just don’t know it? Someone help me out here). It feels like Dr. Sullivan's past has a part to play, but is she a bad guy? IDK. That being said, we have no proof that Dr. Sullivan was actually pushed down the stairs. She could have just as easily injured herself escaping the fire during Mouse’s test. 

Mothers and daughters, mothers and daughters, mothers and daughters, this is haunting me. Everything is about mothers and daughters- basically all of season 1, Rose’s lore, Imogen’s plot, Kelly’s plot, etc. Mothers betraying daughters (Rose’s abuse of Angela, Noa’s mom letting her take the fall for her drugs, Faran’s mom causing her permanent injury/pain with unnecessary surgery, infantilizing/stunting Mouse, failing Karen & isolating/abusing Kelly, etc. etc.), Mothers protecting daughters (Davie’s support of Imogen, Imogen’s fears for Estelle, Tabby’s mom threatening Wes, etc.). This feels so central and so important to the identity of this show, but I feel like I’m missing an important puzzle piece here.

Not important, but like, y’all where can I get one of these jobs where you can just leave because things are “slow” or take a nap in the office because you’re tired and still get paid? 

Henry - The Henry/Faran relationship still feels very tenuous/on the rocks. We know so little about Henry, and sometimes he does feel just flat out obsessed with Faran (which, like, I get it, but you’re in a slasher/murder mystery, so…) like, “I just wanna be close to you,” sounds nice, but feels weird. IDK. I have the same problem with being suspicious of Henry that I do with Ash, which is that we’ve never been given any indication of what their connection could be to the larger events at play and we’ve also never been given a particularly good motive for why they might do terrible things to terrorize their girlfriends (Ash more than Henry because I GUESS Henry could be super mad at Faran for the dance stuff, but that feels like it’s pushing it quite a bit) and most, if not all of their scenes, revolve around their girlfriends. Speaking of-

Ash - I don’t have a lot to say here because we get very little new info to work with here. He’s done nothing particularly suspicious (other than being by himself during the Rose search scene, meaning he could have called Faran as "Rose") and I have no idea what his motive could be, so I don’t have a valid reason to put him on my suspect list. He currently has no known connection to Rose, Archie, Angela, and the Millwood past. He currently has no known connection to the church (and considering some of the other topics we see the church condemn, it seems unlikely they are accepting of trans identities). Also, I like him, so until he says or does something that triggers suspicion, I’m gonna allow myself to think the best of him. BUT-

Um. Are we gonna talk about Red Right Hand playing over Mouse & Ash’s search scene or…? Like I said, I have no solid reason to suspect Ash, but you cannot play that song without invoking Scream and NEVER TRUST THE LOVE INTEREST. Are they fucking with us? Is that what this is? Also, from a production standpoint, why was Jordan Gonzalez upgraded to a main cast member this season when this is all the screen time he’s had so far? It doesn’t feel like more than season 1 yet, so does that mean he’ll have a heftier role in the back half of the season? I am spiraling, y’all. 

Idk that calling the somewhat obsessed mom (not that I blame Imogen for her overprotective feelings) of your infant daughter to come babysit when you’ve been trying to get her to leave you alone makes ANY sense, particularly since Imogen implied earlier that they don’t even know about the Millwood stuff that could make Estelle a target, but okay?

Johnny - We really don't learn anything about him this episode. Imogen has been through so much, and last season Shawn, Henry, and Ash all turned out good (within the context of that season, who knows this season), so I'm just going to hope this is a good thing for Imogen. That's really all I have to say about this right now. My judgement of him is pending.

Okaaayyy, let's talk about Shawn/Noa/Jen - I've said my piece before about my dislike of infidelity plots and love triangles, there's no need to go further into that here. If there's one saving grace of this plot, it's that I think it could have very important ties to the overall plot of the season ("could" being the operative word here). As I've mentioned before, if Shawn actually learned about Noa & Jen's relationship at some point in the past, he absolutely could be plotting longterm revenge. It almost seems like he almost has to be bad to somewhat soften the blow of Noa's actions, but... maybe they just are working up towards him dumping her. If he's done nothing wrong, then holy hell this is awful for him. I mean, not only did your girlfriend cheat on you (presumably more than once, since Shawn & Noa were a couple when she was in juvie, too), but she also convinced you to give her $2,000 dollars to bail out her "friend" (which, by the way, she also lied to you about why that friend was arrested) who she immediately cheats on you with. Regardless of Shawn's role in the story, that is seriously messed up of Noa. If Shawn is bad, she doesn't know it, so wtf. I'm also really curious about Jen as an individual. She brings up her mom a lot (and uses that connection she has with Noa with her mom being an addict) and the need for money for her mom's rehab (is that even why she needs money?) and with the themes of this show, that doesn't feel like a throwaway thing. We never see her father (also she never mentions a stepmother or a relationship for her father, but there's loads of women's clothes in that house, so are those Jen's clothes? Her mom's old clothes? A partner her father has that just wasn't mentioned?) so we can only take her word for who he is and what he's like, and that's kind of hard to do, considering everything. And was that even her Dad's house? I can't help but wonder if Jen has deeper ties to the main plot than we realize. If not, I think it's certainly a good bet that Noa's "test" will involve her love triangle. She's definitely the most "mysterious" of the new love interests so far this season. While I don't love infidelity plot lines, I'm interested to see where all this goes.

“Rose” - I’m going to make an assumption here (maybe I shouldn’t), that much like Ghostface, Rose’s strength/agility is not necessarily realistic to the character under the mask. And because I think this, I’m not going to waste time comparing her size/strength/agility to Faran. 

Quick Note: Of course I was screaming at Faran not to go and play along with "Rose," but regardless I love her and she's strong as hell.

Alright. It's time for the Kelly/Mrs. Beasley/Pastor Malachi/Church plot discussion.

First of all, obviously everything about Kelly's plot/scenes in this episode are massive red flags, and I'm not sure whether to feel validated or like that's massive distraction technique. We are halfway through the season, maybe it's not too early for this. Or maybe the church being involved in the Rose plot (if they are) isn't meant to be a twist, but some of the characters involved are? It does bother me that the show is leaning so hard into the cult-like aspects of the church, because obviously that makes them incredibly suspicious. And what the hell is happening to Kelly?? Like what did we not see?

Kairos - Okay, this was something I had to look up, because wtf. They just dropped this so casually in with Kelly mentioning group therapy and trauma bonding, but this is a really specific bit of terminology. So, it’s safe to say that I waded through some religious stuff I was not familiar with in order to try to get a better understanding of this. Kairos (Caerus) is, in Greek mythology, the personification of opportunity. He is associated with the “fleeting moment” where the scales may tip in one direction or another. “Kairos moments” refers to the right moment for decision/action. In Christianity, Kairos is “the appointed time in the purpose of God.” So anyway, I ended up reading a bunch of Bible verses picked out by various “Kairos” groups, and basically it seems like the Christian interpretation and usage of “Kairos” is often related to the concept of conversion. Kairos is a dangerous time, a moment where you have an opportunity that you will not have again, but one that can lead to positive transformation and, if you miss it, immeasurable loss. There was also a section about submitting to the judgement of authority and how rebelling against this authority is an affront to God (and if that doesn’t feel related to Kelly’s storyline idk what does) and how you can bring ruin and judgement on yourself through things like “adultery” “murdering” “stealing” “coveting”. All of this fits in very much into the concept I’ve had of “Rose” punishing “sinners” and viewing herself as God’s Judgement. BUT is it too early for us to have all this stuff just pointing straight at the church?? It seems too early. Oh, and don’t think I didn’t notice how many of these “sins” Noa has committed in this episode alone. 

The constant bombardment of religious iconography, the church plot line being so present, Rose's backstory being directly linked to religious abuse, "sins" and "tests" being central to the plot of the story, the entire concept of the redemption house, the mention of kairos... At this point if the church stuff is a side plot and not directly related to Rose, I'm going to be disappointed, because I'd rather have coherent, well supported motive than a shocking "gotcha" moment. But we'll see.

OKAY, I think that's it from me tonight, y'all. Also I'm sorry for how many times I've written "y'all" in this post (I grew up in the south, I come by it naturally, I promise). Send me an ask or something if you want to spiral & overthink with me. 💜

[jaggedwolf]

pll rewatch 2x05

2x05 gives us Emily leading an investigation while Spencer would Like To Rest (“can we please slay one dragon at a time” is an actual line she says) 

Very fair of Spencer to have been more scared of Ian than A. She still suggests that her parents give Ian a funeral. She can’t help these bursts of sentiment, as vulnerable as they make her

Oh, this is the episode in which Spencer accidentally yells at her maternal grandmother on the phone! I hope at least her nana is nice to her :/ Also still waiting for Spencer to get a threat-free sleepover :/ 

“Pookie Bear” and “Z”. I would ask which nickname is worse except Aria’s is a cute kiddo family thing and I bet Ezra felt soooooo cooooooool being called Z in college. I would forgive this in another character but not in him. 

Ashley’s spiel that the year after Ali’s disappearance she was terrified every time Hanna went out the door - it recontextualizes her panic the night Hanna went camping with Caleb, yes, but I wonder if she’s the only parent this was true of. It would be easy for all the other parents to think of their girls as immune to whatever happened to Alison but Ashley seems the least likely to fall prey to the just-world fallacy. 

Pam is out of town, likely visiting Wayne. I idly wonder how their marriage is doing with the distance. I mean, look, this is the only parental marriage I’m going to care about, y’all understand that right?

Ashley and Hanna discuss Ashley leaving home when she was 17 and not going to her dad’s funeral but paying for it. Ashley is also the parent most likely to be honest about her upbringing to her kid, with Hanna clearly comfortable asking her questions about it, and I think it gives her a better understanding of both her mom and Caleb.

...I don’t think Wilden was the first time Ashley engaged in quasi-transactional sex

Emily scrapbooked her way through an investigation. Emily is absolutely the kind of kid who grows up to be quite similar to her mom (and be annoyed by anyone pointing it out) and I would find the idea of Emily as a mom endearing if it was not for uh....canon....

Best A message of the episode: Hey, Em. Is it just me? Or does that suicide note look familiar?

A is like, Emily is not the solo deranged investigator type that Spencer is, I need to give her helpful prompts

Emily and Pam watch Wheel of Fortune together. I bet the Hastings watch Jeopardy (the rare times they are in town) and are very competitive with each other, the Marins watch the trashiest dating shows and the Montgomerys Do Not Believe in Reality TV (Mike watches Jackass)

Emily wants justice for Alison. Spencer wants safety for the living. Her living, which boils down to: the Liars, her family, Toby

Logan Reed yells “I don’t know how to describe voices!” Same, bro, same. 

Veronica apologizing to Spencer....I forgot this scene entirely. Veronica says “You work so hard. You always have.” and apologizes for letting a monster into their home and you can see something light up in Spencer and it is so sad even if I cannot remember how/if/when/where Veronica betrays her promise here in the future

Caleb once went without a meal for four days and has seen a dead body before :( He says it’s a short trip from Eat, Pray, Love to Drink, Snap, Slap :( 

I’m glad Hanna’s absurd “Erin Brockobitch” ploy worked to get him cash, even if I don’t understand why the Marins buy ice instead of using their freezer to make it.

Do like that the way they get back together is Hanna seeing him have a bad time and basically going ok I’ve got to do something about this. Hanna ends up going to a graveyard after this so maybe Caleb did not ditch his Goonies date with Lucas.

Other Caleb facts: clearly does not like Goonies, does like kung fu flicks

The note Jason found in his pocket has the same odd capitalization of “T” that Ian’s fake suicide note does, huh

Garrett pays off Logan Reed and reports back to Jenna. I ponder the times that PLL departs from our protagonists’ perspectives/immediate contexts and to what degree the show succeeds in playing with that.

Ella is spooked by Ian having been a regular adult at her kids’ school, someone she said hi to on the hallway and someone she trusted as a fellow authority over kids. ....are they trying to make Ezra seem terrible here or what???

Spemily are united in the graveyard hunt bc Spencer is back in bulldog mode after getting yelled at by her sister, and it’s a good look for them, while Team Haria is like :/ the ground is squishy whyyyy :/

Boom, Alison was alive after Ian left her. What the fuck else did she do that night huh.

[soul-music-is-life]

PLL: Summer School Random Recap Ep 1 & 2

*read at your own risk: THIS HAS SPOILERS*

Tag spoilers if you're going to share.

Just a few of my favorite moments from the first two episodes of PLL: Summer School (PLL: Original Sin, Season 2):

Faran being right all the time:

Ripped out of the headlines. Faran...PREACH, girl. (side note: Sullivan really annoys me. I'm salty AF that she still has a license to practice psychology after not being an adult for the girls in PLL. I get it...A apparently threatened her kid, but woman...YOU ARE THE ADULT!). Also I don't trust her. And I don't like her.

Noa also being right, but in a more blunt manner:

Ah, Noa. Still my favorite. Perhaps it's her characterization or perhaps it's the way Maia portrays her...but I feel like she steals the screen when sharing it and when alone. No surprise given she was my favorite in the first season (still get chills watching that scene with her running through her complex to the roof with A chasing her). But she's upped the game this season. She comes across as so natural in her delivery. Nothing against the others. But sometimes I can tell I'm watching an actor play a character with them, but Maia is Noa. A+. No notes.

Imogen Emison reference?

Wait...wait WAIT...was this an EMISON reference? Am I the ONLY one who saw this?! "Pip gets Estelle in the end." Plus it was an LGBTQ couple who adopted her baby!!

Mouse is coming into her own and I love it:

Mouse and Ash are my OTP. And they play well off of each other.

Calling out the OG PLL:

Was this a shot at PLL and how easily Mona and Charlotte just cruised out when they wanted? Because I love it.

Greg is so not here for this shit:

The first time I laughed so hard I had to pause. Greg is an asshole, but I feel his frustration on the cult shit. And Kelly's "Quiet!" afterwards...peak comedy.

Kelly channeling her inner Alison DiLaurentis:

Oh my GAWD. This was some straight up Dark Alison DiLaurentis on crack shit (or Mona, since..ya know...she ran her best friend over with a car). I'm developing this theory that perhaps Kelly is in on Bloody Mary (goddamn, am I blanking on the Big Bad's name? I think I am). I'm fairly certain her mother and the pastor are evil. I paused when Mouse was reading something on the Spaghetti site and it was word for word worship talking about Bloody Mary being the second coming of Jesus. Also, I just hate religion as a whole. Like Greg, I too, am an atheist.

Mouse's Grandma being the "fun" Grandma:

Okay, so I was super excited that we might have been getting a semi-Grandma Marin character, but after watching I have this awful feeling that this might be a dementia story in the works (I don't know if I believe the "sleepwalking" bit). But she seems like she's going to be a wonderful addition.

Tabby's very pointed reference within a reference:

Tabby out there breaking the 4th wall. And I'm here for it. Given that the writers retconned/rewrote the Ezria adoption due to backlash, I'm kind of glad they read the criticism of Tabby making too many references that piss the viewers off and basically flipped a middle finger at the people who will find positively anything to bitch about. I think it's funny writing. Trolling AF, but still funny.

I hate it when writers cave to the viewers. And as much as I hated the idea of Ezra getting Imogen's baby...I thought it was so dumb to cave to the viewers whining about Ezria getting the kid. People harped on that so much. Ezra can die in a fire for all I care, but I'll go to my grave thinking that the people who complained about Marlene caving to fan service in PLL with the couples in the end are the same people praising the fan service here. And I hate hypocrisy more than I hate fictional characters. I'm a cynic.

Noa being real:

Noa complaining about the fitted sheet was ironic given I was trying to do laundry while watching. Accurate. Side note: I don't know how I feel about this Jen character. I feel like Shawn (Sean? How is it spelled?) is one of the few non-toxic partners in the show (Ash is still bae). I'm all here for bi-representation, but I don't like love triangles and I don't want them fucking with Noa and Shawn/Sean.

And speaking of love interests:

I love this kid and want to protect him:

I've seen buzz of people not trusting Christian...and I get it. First of all...this is PLL. And second of all Christian is a very...themed name for a show that is most likely going to have the faith-based cult be psychopaths.

But I am going to be pissed AF if they make him a bad guy after everything Tabby went through. Also, let's not make the first prominent black male a problem please (not counting the Dollar Store fake Eddie Lamb or Faran's dad, who hasn't really been villainy).

Final thoughts: Goddamn, Sandy ate it hard, bruh. I was kind of excited to see that rivalry between her and Kelly.

Loved seeing the power of speaking up about the sexual assault. HATED Wes still being a character and also telling Tabby to have sympathy for her rapist's mother? No. Sorry. She raised a rapist...who raped TWO girls. And she was victim-shaming Tabby. Where is that Bloody woman with the knife when you need one?

Speaking about someone I hated seeing: Sean's mother is a raging thundercunt.

Also: I've seen mixed thoughts about the couple setting a firm tone with Imogen about the baby, but I'm not going to lie...I get it. Most likely they know the shit going on in their town (move, MOVE NOW WHILE YOU STILL HAVE THE CHANCE!). I do think they were kind of snappy with her, but as viewers we have no idea how often she shows up after having signed a legally binding document about the adoption.

Love interest wise: Don't know how I feel about Ash following the girls to that cabin, but also...why TF would they even GO there?! I like this Christian guy for Tabby. Henry kind of annoyed me crossing Faran's boundaries, but Faran punching Greg out was *chef's kiss*. And Shawn(Sean)/Noa are adorable.

Parents: I'm shifting to Tabby's mom being a favorite just because I think she's going to have the most screen time. It was nice seeing Lea Salonga again though. I still hate Faran's mom and I hate that they are all buddy-buddy after everything she did to her child.

New characters: Please don't let this swim coach turn into a creep, please don't let this swim coach turn into a creep. Also curious about the guy Imogen met at the Ice Cream place. And well...I'm already in love with Christian (but then again I love Noah Alexander Gerry). Jen is a bit wooden. Can't tell if it's the character or actress.

Curious about everyone's thoughts.

Honorable mention I forgot to screenshot and caption:

Mouse: "You're like Linda Hamilton from the Terminator movie. Don't ask me which one, I'm not Tabby. And you (Noa) are basically the Flash." Faran: "Fair." Noa: *shrugs* "Okay."

[jennifersminds]

People hate on Elena for what Damon does and not redeeming him, but it’s not someone else’s job to redeem somebody, and also, Elena cannot leave Damon. When Katherine!Elena broke up with Damon, telling him that she doesn’t want to be worried about him killing someone every time they have a fight, Damon responded by killing her friend, and then nearly getting Jeremy killed, knowing that Elena would never recover from Jeremy’s death. Elena now has proof that if she ever leaves Damon, people she loves will be in danger, so she cannot ever leave now. Damon specifically went after Elena’s loved ones to hurt her, so Elena can never and will never leave him, not when it might lead to her standing over her brother’s grave again.

okay but this,

there’s definitely a huge problem not just with elena’s character but with all of tvd (and like the world but that’s another thing) of like- women being held accountable not just for things they do but for things the men around them do. It’s a huge thing with the klaroline fandom and forwood too tbh.

It’s obviously a lot more present in Elena’s character and character arch bc she was essentially made the primary support system for the Salvatore brothers. (fully intentionally at least on Stefan’s part might i add). Elena is held responsible both in the show and fandom for stefan’s blood addiction, with her spending all of season three performing insane emotional labour and literally feeding him from her own vein in season 2 (I really don’t think we talk about the symbolism of that plotline enough btw).

She’s also made directly and p much solely responsible for ALL of Damon’s actions. The amount of times he responds to her being rude, or disregarding or even just slightly emotional with devastating and horrifying acts is insane.

Small list

- killing Jeramy bc Elena turned him down

- raping Andy for months!!! (literally the most horrifying subplot in all of tvd btw) bc Elena doesn’t love him (she might not know ab this but this but there’s so many scenes of him just like… talking to andy ab Elena, there’s literally a scene right before he drinks from her where she’s compelled and is like “why are you doing this?” and he says “i’m in love with a women i can never have.” like it’s some great tragedy that justifies what he’s doing.)

-breaking Alarics neck bc Elena got mad at him for attacking Caroline’s father

-sleeping with a women who tried to kill elena less than 24 hours ago bc she was mean to him (also can we talk ab how the show/fandom paints that as Elena being self absorbed and selfish? i cannot think of a more reasonable reason to get upset than a friend sleeping with someone that is actively trying to kill you like??? anyway stan beklena)

- killing a women on the side of the road bc he’s sad a teenager doesn’t love him (another scene that ppl ‘uwu poor damon🥺🥺’ too all the time which is odd to me)

- and ofc the season 5 drama

what’s insane ab that last one, and i’ve mentioned this before, is that katherine isn’t mean when she breaks up with damon. She doesn’t even make up a reason she whole ass says ‘i’m afraid you’re going to kill ppl i love- i cannot trust you- peace out’ and then he KILLS PPL SHE LOVES LIKE. you could even argue ELENA has been crueler to damon in the past like kats so chill.

this definitely does come down to that whole ‘women are not rehabilitation centres’ thing but the fandom dialogue is so twisted and women hating it’s v hard to imagine it’ll ever be fully undone. hopefully we have a moment like ppl redescovering ezria on pll but tvd really put their whole pussy into this shit so idk.

[pllguy]

My Pre-release Thoughts/Mini-Theory of PLL: Original Sin

Now this theory (the first of many) will cover what I assume will take place or be relevant to what will be happening in the Pretty Little Liars reboot Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin.

Based off of what has been released so far as of date of posting (August 19th, 2021) the reboot’s details that have been released are few but already say a lot about what will take place.

The synopsis of the show, in a statement released by HBO Max, follows below.

“Twenty years ago, a series of tragic events almost ripped the blue-collar town of Millwood apart. Now, in the present day, a group of disparate teen girls—a brand-new set of Little Liars—find themselves tormented by an unknown Assailant and made to pay for the secret sin their parents committed two decades ago…as well as their own. In the dark, coming-of-RAGE, horror-tinged drama Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin, we find ourselves miles away from Rosewood, but within the existing Pretty Little Liars universe—in a brand new town, with a new generation of Little Liars.”

So what does this tell us? The reboot will be set in a town near Rosewood which could potentially allow cameo appearances from the original show’s cast, though if that happened, it would need to feel organic. I’d love seeing the old cast reprise their characters for a special appearance but I think it would be best to keep the two separate from each other so as to not mess with the original show’s characters and what those writers and creators intended versus the new creators. Also this tells us that not only will this new group of Liars be getting into trouble and keeping secrets, but that their parents previously did something that someone is out for revenge for the past and present.

Ok, so what are sins? In view of the Christian faith, there are Seven Deadly Sins and also what some view as the “Original Sin”. The Seven Deadly Sins are pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, and laziness (sloth), while the Original Sin refers to the belief humans are born to sin through their genetics they inherited from the first man and woman, Adam and Eve who first sinned against God in the Garden of Eden. *(Other religions/faiths have sins but since this story will be set in modern-day Pennsylvania, I believe that if it has any religious allusions, it would be to the Christian faith - no disrespect to the others!)

It has been revealed that Bailee Madison, Maia Reficco, and Chandler Kinney, have been cast as Imogen Abel, Noa Oliver, and Tabby Hayworth, respectively (pictured below left to right as mentioned).

Now THIS is what stood out to me… In a show entitled Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin, they created a character whose last name is Abel. In the Bible, there is the famous story of Abel and Cain, where one brother kills the other. To sum it up, Cain and Abel are the sons of Adam and Eve - Cain born first and Abel second. So Cain grows jealous of Abel for the favoritism being shown to him by God, so Cain murders his own brother, Abel.

*Note: the original Pretty Little Liars books even alluded to the story of Abel and Cain as that is the basis for the twins storyline of Alison and Courtney… notice the names have the same first letters, except Courtney is Abel and Alison is Cain (since she murdered Courtney).

Now how does this tie into my theory?

Well I believe that the original sin committed by the Liars’ parents was murder of a classmate/friend/enemy for one of the 7 deadly sins (or maybe it was self-defense?). Imogen Abel will either be killed by her (secret/twin?) sibling (like Abel) or she will end up the killer (like Cain). Since the books twisted the Abel/Cain story to make the killer’s name start with “A” (and ultimately be known as “A”), I think it’s fair to guess that Imogen could be the real killer and “A” in the reboot. Also her parents will definitely be involved in the “original sin” since their last name is Abel and Abel’s parents were Adam and Eve who committed the original sin.

I’m unsure how much material the reboot will pull from the books and the original show in terms of storyline ideas or plot points, so who knows what to really expect! However, a few key staples of the Pretty Little Liars brand are things that some fans may be tired of but they are what have made the show and the books the phenomenon they are. They are:

1. a group of characters being targeted, harassed, stalked, and tormented by an unknown foe who is always a few steps ahead of their prey

2. the unknown stalker being connected to the group or a specific member of the group, and having their reason for their actions being tied to the group/individual in some twisted/straightforward way

3. the one thing some fans will be tired of but I personally *love* … TWINS. Yupp, there HAS to be twins at some point in the show, and it has to be crucial to the plot. It was the premise of the books’ storyline, and then in the last A arc storyline in the original show.

For the PLL reboot to feel like I’m watching a PLL-inspired show (since I know it’s all new content), there HAS to be the 3 plot points I just mentioned and I believe that will be factored into my earlier points about Imogen and her family. Imogen will be the new Alison, and she will be the one to have a twin or even be the new A.

Final thoughts/mini-theories:

- I’m pretty positive that twins will be involved in the mystery, to what extent I am unsure but I have strong feelings Imogen will be featured in that storyline.

- It’s possible that Imogen may be a twin, and if it’s not her, I believe it will be one of her parents, since their last name is Abel, tying back into what I explained earlier.

- The Liars in the reboot will be more proactive in figuring out the identity of their stalker and the underlying mystery, than their predecessors in the original TV series. *No hate to the OG Liars but it always felt like they never tried hard enough to get law enforcement or anyone to help them out until the later seasons instead of from the get-go.*

- I don’t want this reboot to be a faithful adaptation in the sense of using all the material from the books but applying it to new characters. I have mixed opinions on it being set in the same universe as the OG show but I’m glad they will have a new setting, characters, and plot. I do still wish they utilize the twins storyline because I personally LOVE twins and have always found the PLL Alison/Courtney storylines one of the best ever written in terms of the buildup to the reveal, the details dropped along the way, and just the way my mind was blown apart reading it the first time.

So that’s pretty much all I have at this point based off what has been released. Hopefully this show will bring back old fans, bring in new fans, and we can rebuild the PLL community here again! Let me know your thoughts/theories/comments about the reboot, or even about the original show(s) and books! ❤️

[terrifyingstories2]

i just love that pll has a place for emily’s anger. emily is viewed and soft and sweet by everyone and is precious to liars and adored by all of them, but she has so much righteous anger and bitterness. and like many things it can both be this positive strengthening thing for her fueling her to take on injustice and this coiled tight miserable thing, but there’s always room for it to exist, even when emily is at her kindest and most protective.

emily is the first character to verbalize a true desire to get out of rosewood and a sense of bitterness over the town’s oppressive expectations and scrutiny. just a handful of episodes into season one emily says, “not everyone dreams of making it in rosewood, mom. some people dream of making it out.” it’s one of my absolute favorite lines for her because it tells us so much. like spencer, emily feels extreme pressure to conform to the mighty expectations of this awful tiny town. and not so different from spencer, much of this pressure comes from within her own family, and it’s enough to swallow her whole.

but it’s also very different, because while you can see that both girls come from these families that have the capacity to be very rigid and uncompromising, leaving both spencer and emily immensely burdened, the need for perfection within these families stems from different things. the hastings seek to be the best, the most elite of the elite, and so they are vicious about ascertaining power and opportunity. it’s ingrained in all of them that they have to strive to be the best they can be and every move must be calculated and in service of achieving that goal.

the fields family is different. as one of the few families of color within rosewood, they’re under unique pressure and scrutiny. pam pushes emily not because she wants her to be elite, but because she knows that as a woman of color, she has to work extremely hard to succeed, and that she will often be judged differently. the cultural values are different. where the hastings are concerned only with getting ahead and they’ll compromise their value systems to do so, something spencer struggles with immensely, the fields are deeply concerned with honor and fairness. they don’t cut corners, and they work extremely hard for what they have. they believe in country and family and working hard to achieve success. they’re also in a different position financially than the hastings, meaning the stakes for success, and especially for failure, are different. they have to work hard to put food on the table, to maintain a place to live, to manage their dream of seeing emily pursue college.

emily also puts an intense amount of pressure on herself, perhaps more than her parents put on her, especially later on in the show. pam takes a hard look at herself after she sees how her reaction to emily’s coming out as a lesbian has hurt her, and she makes a great deal of changes in how she parents her (thank you mom). she puts genuine effort into being more supportive and accepting and sees her daughter through new eyes. she sees how much pressure she herself has put on her daughter in the past, and how much emily puts on herself, and makes a lot of changes and tries to reassure emily that ultimately what matters to her is that she is loved and happy.

ultimately, it’s emily who puts the most pressure on herself. her father and mother try to amend this, but emily struggles. it comes from a place different than the pressure spencer puts on herself - spencer may have ambitions for herself, but at her core she kills herself to succeed not for her own gain but because she’s trying desperately to be loved and accepted by a family in which love and affection is scarce (obviously i don’t write spencer so your take may be different). emily may have felt unloved by her mother in season one after coming out, but ultimately emily works as hard as she does because of what her parents have provided for her. they love her immensely and they’ve worked extremely hard to give her a good life and set her up for good opportunities. they’re proud of her and they want the best for her, and emily can’t stand to fail in that. failing to do well would feel like a betrayal of everything her parents have done for her. she has to do right for them and honor the sacrifices they’ve made. it’s her mother and father’s work ethic combined and then some. emily doesn’t just want to do well, she has to. she feels guilty about what she’s put them through - coming out, A - and is desperate to contribute. she needs to do well in school, in swimming, she needs to work to chip in with bills, etc. she gives herself a literal ulcer because of how desperate she is.

she also needs to do well because succeeding is the only way she’ll ever make it out of rosewood. she can’t stomach asking her family to burden themselves by helping her pay for her tuition, so the only answer is to get a scholarship grand enough to cover it. by season four, the prospect of getting out of rosewood and to college is so delicious she can nearly taste it. ultimately, emily’s dream isn’t being beloved or admired in rosewood or attaining elite status.

emily’s dream is getting out. getting away from all of the pressure and scrutiny and politics. going far away where the weight is lighter and she feels more free. naturally, A’s constant torture only makes that dream more intense. emily resents this terrible conservative town for how it makes people tear into themselves to survive it, and she resents A for how they’ve harmed her and her friends. and she resents alison, which is too beautiful and complicated to tackle in this post to the degree that it should be, but it was important to mention.

emily is a beautiful complex character capable of both intense compassion and condemnation for those who hurt others. she can have endless compassion for alison and how she was preyed on and the trauma she likely faced while on the run, while also simultaneously bearing resentment for how she’s toyed with her feelings in the past. alison toyed with emily relentlessly and without remorse, and emily has some really wonderful, righteous anger about that. about A, about rosewood, and i just love that about her so much.

i love how angry she is, and that it never makes her callous or cruel. she uses it productively - it pushes her to be a more fierce protector and go after what she wants with immense passion. it helps her set very necessary boundaries with someone she cares deeply about even though it’s the hardest thing in the world. she’s mobilized by it and often in service of other people. she’s a protector through and through.

she’s just so very wonderful and complicated and feels so very much. she’s kind and compassionate and capable of intense empathy for people who have been wronged or hurt or misunderstood, but she won’t allow herself to be used and toyed with; she’s grown beyond that. she’s not just the ~sweet liar and she’s the farthest thing from boring in the book.

[bixqueen]

so thanks to hboMAX my pretty little liars obsession has started up again and when i watched pll the first time all the way thru (yes sadly it’s been more than once i have a life but also don’t) my favorite character was alison. as i’ve watched it more it changed (emily or spencer is prob my fav now) but going through tumblr, instagram, and even pinterest, i feel alison gets too much shit/hate from the fandom. so here i am, making a justification for her. if you really don’t want to see my side or pov then just keep scrolling because i don’t really want to see negativity in the comments (unless you’ll actually say something, a rebuttal?)

so let’s start off with alison being a small child and her household/family. we know how her parents would manipulate her and tell her lying is better than telling the truth. she’s had these really bad influences on her at such a young age (with secrets overflowing her house) and when you continue to have these influences on you as you’re mind is maturing, of course you’re going to eventually go through with them. now yes i know the other girls also had lying parents but were any of them as bad as alisons? i mean some things spencer’s parents kept and arias but they were also older at that point (middle of high school and up). i’m not saying it’s okay but they knew at that point in their life what’s wrong and right and for the most part they had been raised to not lie. alison wasn’t. eventually her lies caught up to her as well so even though she learned the hard way to tell the truth, she eventually did.

now we’re getting into the high school stage where there were MANY points as to why she would’ve ran away. if the writers wanted a better redemption arc for her i feel they would’ve shown her a little more broken in some scenes and such but anyways. freshman year isn’t absolute hell but it’s not fun either. having the mindset of making sure you’re not the one who will get hurt obviously forces you to have this wall and makes you a lot more mean than you really are. (i really feel this was a wasted potential by the writers not going more in depth about her mental pain but shit they didn’t do it with anyone tbh). her whole life kinda had build ups to her being so secretive and closed away (again if the writers went into more depth on this we would’ve seen maybe some trauma that causes her to be closed off and push everyone away. not wanting to show weaknesses) from everyone so it definitely wasn’t hard for her to find that bitchier side and let it off on everyone, not that it’s right, it just made her feel safe and protected. a main factor of this was probably being closeted. i myself am a bisexual girl so i know how it feels to question yourself the way she most likely did. it’s scary. really fucking scary. because you don’t know if there’s something wrong with you at first or if it’s just a stage and you’ll most likely pass it. it’s why i believe her relationship with emily was why she had no big deal leaving rosewood. yes we know she was being tormented by A before the girls were and she wanted to leave so she could be safe. but even with that there would need to be some other factors that kicked in to her actually leaving. A in the beginning for JUST alison was kinda like a bully right? i mean a little more extreme than that but it wasn’t as bad as it was when it started hitting with the other 4 girls. so if alison THE alison dilaurentis was being bullied by someone too scared to show who they really are, wouldn’t she just laugh some of it off? alison WANTED to leave before mona gave her the option. she was scared. and not just of A, but of who she was. and who she loves.

if we’re looking at what alison does for emily versus the other girls while they’re being tormented by A, you can tell she cares for her more. she saved emily more than anyone else. she said leaving emily was the hardest part of it all. because alison was in love with emily, just like emily was in love with her back. obviously running away and faking your death isn’t the best option for having internal panics, some people just don’t know how to manage it. especially being the bold person everyone sees and talks about. imagine seeing her walk out of some therapy session teary-eyed. she’d feel so weak in that moment, so vulnerable. isn’t that one of her biggest fears? people seeing she’s not as strong as she comes off to be and they can use that against her. her fear for being vulnerable also brings me to her being SO scared coming back to school after faking her death. ali, the queen bee, is terrified. this kinda brings to me childhood pain (personally this is why i thought of it lol rip). maybe her family thought showing emotions was weakness you know? and when you open up they kinda laugh at you and they’re like “you think you’re life is hard?? you’re a kid.” (i’m sure i’m not the only person who’s heard this mf bullshit bedore). where i’m going with that though, is it could’ve been placed in her head at a very young age (also this is so dehumanizing and traumatic damn but it makes sense) that you have to shut out all feelings and emotions. it really makes people numb and being emotionally numb as a child and teen is dangerous for brain growth and development. makes sense why it took her forever to feel safe and okay opening up to emily about her feelings and showing emotions around the girls. when you’re seen as this “bitch” who doesn’t make down from a fight, it forces you to turn emotionless.

so the way she acted out the night she went missing and her freshman year wasn’t ideal and it really wasn’t okay. but the audience never saw what she was going through mentally, hell even after that. we see it a little when she comes back and talks about the night she went missing. imagine your own mother burrying you alive. god the trauma that must STILL have on her. being under pounds of dirts, unable to move or talk. your own mother doing this to you to save someone else. i’m not trying to put it as she’s only been through things and no one else has cus of course that’s not the case. i just think people often dismiss her pain and trauma and just say “she’s a bad person and deserves the shit she’s been through.”

i’d also like to add her type of crowd she was around wasn’t the best sort of people. imagining being a freshman and hanging out with college kids who would throw some girl down a flight of stairs. i feel like that also had an impact on her mental health and what she believed was okay to an extent because i mean verbally bullying isn’t okay but at least sis never pushed someone down the stairs 😭 (worst thing she did is definitely blinding jenna. i really don’t know how to defend her actions for that one. you could say she didn’t know anyone was in there? or that she didn’t know she had- it was a firework right?)

last point i can think of: paige vs alison. of course i have to add this lol but my main point with this is both girls were mean to each other. did alison start it by calling her names and such? most definitely. do i think paige should’ve retaliated? to an extent. but she went as far as teaming up with others to have alison go to jail for a crime she didn’t commit. their revival wasn’t just one sided and again i think people often forget that. they’re continuously like going against each other at every chance they got. it was funny but also got annoying. ali would shit talk to paiges face then paige would go whine and cry about it to emily to turn emily on her side. i mean did we forget paige manipulated emily against alison? (yes ik alison was the manipulation queen when she was younger). really what i’m going with this is that they’re more alike than they’ll admit to an extent. me personally, i like alison and emison more. i never really liked paily but paige grew less annoying in later seasons. but when comparing them, i believe paige had more damage on emily than alison did. even when alison was ‘dead’ she still saved emily’s life at times (including the other 3 girls) and did things to protect them. i don’t remember paige saving emily just trying drowning her because she was a little jealous. another thing i know someone will try to bring up about them is how “alison was never happy for emily” well shit bro neither was paige 😭 i’m on season 7 right now and there were some times paige took a liking into stalking emily while she was dating that girl who worked in the cafe (sorry i can’t remember her name rn). and when emily talked about being with that girl she was kinda like 😐 k. alison is the type to speak or show her mind while paige seems to keep to herself then shit talk others behind their back. both qualities aren’t exactly the best so both ‘sides’ can go against each other for years on this. they’re just more alike than people realize.

anyways, there’s that. if you have any opinions (WHERE YOU’LL ACTUALLY ARGUE SOMETHING AND NOT JUST SHIT TALK ME!!) feel free to leave a reply. and if i left out something you want me to add in i will :) have a good day <3

[hopefulobjectmiracle]

pretty little liars and harry potter? :)

PLL:

favorite male character:

tbh I don't love most of the male characters on PLL so I'm just going to say wayne fields bc he was a king (RIP)

favorite female character:

spencer hastings my absolute beloved <3

least favorite character:

ezra fitz 🥴

prettiest character:

all of them are gorgeous but emily's beauty is on another level.

ashley is kind of a milf too

funniest character:

it's a tie between spencer and hanna, though both of them were at their funniest when they played off of each other.

favorite season:

probably s3, specifically 3b for spencer's arc.

favorite episode:

there are a lot of great ones but 2x13, 3x12, 4x24, and 5x12 are as close to perfection as this show got.

favorite romantic ship:

SARA HARVEY X HER SHOWER 🤪

in all seriousness I dislike almost of the canon ships on PLL, so I'm going to say emison just bc I stanned them so hard as a teenager and I still have a soft spot for them all these years later 😅

favorite family ship:

hanna and ashley. their relationship means the absolute world to me.

also, melissa was shady as fuck but I always found her dynamic with spencer fascinating. we deserved so much more of them!!

favorite friendship:

honestly I can't choose between spanna, spemily, and hannily. those three girls have fantastic duo dynamics between them and each one of them has a special place in my heart, so I'm just going to say that my fav friendship is the three of them as a group.

worst ship:

naturally, ezria...marlene king deserves jail for tricking an entire generation into believing that ezria's relationship was romantic rather than disgusting and predatory lmao.

harry potter:

favorite male character:

it's honestly harry. despite what everyone says, i think he was a fantastic and well-written protagonist.

favorite female character:

hermione or mcgonagall. i also really like fleur!!

least favorite character:

draco malfoy tbh, i never got the hype 🤷🏻‍♀️

prettiest character:

probably hermione :)

funniest character:

fred and george ofc 😌 but ron had some hilarious lines too!!

favorite season book:

the prisoner of azkaban for sure!!

favorite episode:

N/A

favorite romantic ship:

again I don't vibe with any of the canon ships but I absolutely adore wolfstar (remus x sirius) in fanon :)

favorite family ship:

I love how the weasleys became a second family to harry <3

favorite friendship:

gonna be basic and go with the golden trio.

worst ship:

I dislike remus x tonks for so many reasons....(none of which have to do with my love for wolfstar btw)

also, voldemort x bellatrix is Cursed (literally), so thank god it's not canon, it's only from that one weirdly popular fanfic that somehow got a play made out of it 👀

[sunnys-rewatch-blog]

S2, E25

"Unmasked"

Why is Aria eating icecream but no one else has any? What time of day is it supposed to be? I thought it was supposed to be some time in the morning. I feel like I missed something and it's only the opener. Also, not that this matters because the writers didn't really try that hard to keep Aria's dietary choices consistent, but neither icecream nor frozen yogurt is traditionally vegan-friendly.

Mona, I am begging you, make friends who are genuinely interested in you.

What was that hint at Ezria's sex life supposed to do for me?

Okay, no one in the history of hotels has ever asked a potential guest if they are going to check in by knocking on the car window.

Vivian Darkbloom and Mary Smith. I would have better believed her name was "Jane Doe," although how cool would it be if she had checked herself in as "Mary Drake?" 😎

So sad for Emily with this whole Maya business.

"No matter how hard I try, I just can't stay away from you"- *sigh*

They really tried to give us Alfred Hitchcock in this episode the whole way through.

I love Paige in this tuxedo get-up. I wish we had more GNC characters on this show. How can this show claim to be about fashion and yet deny me my double-denim lesbians? My lumberjack wlw? Where is the plaid??? I want queer men in halter tops. You made me watch a show about a bunch of upper middle class teens and none of them show up to prom in a swanky, androgynous full-body suit? Give me custom looks. Give me hot girls in binders and cute boys in poodle skirts.

This reveal episode makes me wonder what would have happened if they had gone ahead and assimilated Mona into the group during the course of the show.

Dr. Sulivan being a better parent to Hanna than either of Hanna's actual parents.

As much as I enjoy the "Psycho" references this episode, I know some fans interpreted it as Mona having DID. I did for a little while, and I have seen other fans use it in PLL conversations. I'm actually not really sure what they were trying to imply, with doing the scene this way; it may not have meant anything.

Do I have to say that I really don't like what they did with Maya's storyline?

[adiwriting]

So I’m going to preface this by saying that I love Jeanine, Tyler, Vlamis, Heather, Trevenio… the entire cast. I love this cast, but they are human and like most of us, they make mistakes at times. None of them are perfect.

Still, it’s okay to hold people accountable for their mistakes. We don’t have to cancel somebody over them, but it doesn’t make you an anti-fan to question an actors questionable actions and ask them to do better next time. And herein lies the reason for why I’ve been so uncomfortable lately in fandom spaces (fandom spaces in general, but for today, I’m talking about RNM). Fandom has this unhealthy culture where you either stan somebody so hard they can do no wrong and excuse every mistake, or we cancel somebody over a single mistake. We don’t allow actors, writers, anyone in the business to be human… and because of that, I don’t think we leave much room to grow.

2020 has been a year many deeply seeded issues in our country have finally started to receive the spotlight they deserve - racism being one of them. And in that, I’ve been doing a lot of reading about the importance of calling people in rather than calling people out. But I’ve also been reading about how we as a society have to do better about calling out racism wherever we see it.

It’s alright to question your favorite show and still watch it. It is not out of line to question things like why the show allowed themselves to write a storyline that put a black woman in the middle of a queer endgame ship as if nobody could have guessed that it would pit the queer community (another oppressed group) against the only black woman on the show. I don’t think it’s out of line for a fandom to question why the show was allowing so much torture porn for their queer characters. Or ask if the show considered casting a disabled actor to play a disabled character.

If we don’t ask these questions, how is change ever going to happen? It doesn’t mean we have to stop watching (though it’s valid if you do). It doesn’t mean that we harass the show’s cast and crew to the point of being mean. We can criticize actions without criticizing people.

So that brings me to the point I’m trying to make… Or perhaps the question I’m trying to ask.

This past month, we learned from Tyler Blackburn himself that he is not Native. Now, before everyone jumps down my throat about DNA testing, let’s look at the facts Tyler himself gave us. On the Pretty Little Wine Moms podcast, Tyler informed us that he took a DNA test during S1 of RNM and discovered he has no native blood. One of the moms was quick to point out that those tests aren’t always accurate especially if they don’t have much native DNA to test you against. I’m not here to argue that fact or argue the accuracy of DNA testing that tribes themselves rarely use for determining membership. I’m here to discuss what he explained afterwards.

Way back when PLL was casting for Caleb, the casting called for an ethnic actor. Tyler went up for the part. He didn’t get it originally because he wasn’t ethnic and the show was looking to expand it’s diversity. Now, things should have ended there. The show should have been able to find a POC to play Caleb. The casting team should have held to their promise to bring in a more diverse cast and regardless of Tyler’s background, cast a POC, specifically a non-white passing actor. Nobody can tell me that there wasn’t a single POC talented enough to play that part. If they couldn’t find one, they weren’t looking hard enough. And that’s a big red flag on that PLL team and to Hollywood as a whole because these stories are so common and why Hollywood has such a deep problem with race.

The fact that Tyler was cast instead of a POC is a problem with the PLL casting team. But back to Tyler. The PLL team came back to him after they couldn’t find anyone to play Caleb and asked him if he was ethnic. Tyler, not knowing if he was ethnic (pointing to the fact that he had no connection to any non-white culture) went to his grandmother. And his grandmother told him a story. A story many of us have heard… A story of his native american heritage. A heritage that he didn’t know of or have a connection to until he suddenly was up for a job. And a heritage he claimed in order to get a job intended for an “ethnic” actor.

Does Tyler really have native heritage? He claims no. In his own words he says that he’s not native. Even if his grandmother was right, he’s at most 1/32 native with no tribal or cultural connection. But even that seemed like a giant question mark since the people he would need to ask to verify have all passed.

Tyler was cast as Caleb, and later cast as Alex, based in part to a native background he claimed for himself that he now says is not part of his culture or heritage.

This isn’t a stain on Tyler. It’s questionable behavior of a white boy raised in a society that has been racist since it’s founding. We are all guilty of committing racist acts because of this upbringing. It’s not mean to say that Tyler’s actions were questionable and racist. It’s fact. Doesn’t mean I can’t love and forgive him, but it does mean I’m no longer going to allow myself to use “But Tyler is native” as a defense against my own racist comments towards other cast members. And I would hope the same would hold true for the rest of this fandom as well. It’s simply not true and unfair to anyone that actually is indigenous to allow ourselves to defend Tyler as a POC. Especially when we have other cast members of the show who are native with tribal connections. And cast members of color who are repeated cast as villains on the show or otherwise put into very difficult positions that invite racial hate.

I hold the show accountable for casting a white-passing boy as a native. When they decided to cast Tyler, they should have changed his heritage and his disability. Or they should have cast somebody more diverse. That’s on the casting team. 

I’m hoping that Tyler’s admission on this podcast means that he will no longer allow himself to be cast as a POC, taking jobs away from POC who still struggle in Hollywood cause of racism. I hope he learns and grows from this cause I think he’s a great person and a great role model and has the platform to push others to do better.

My frustration with fandom comes in the fact that this podcast and admission has gone ignored. Even those that heard the admission, continue to make excuses for him and defend their right to call Tyler (Not Alex, TYLER) a POC. Yet, other actors continue to not get the same freedom to be human to make mistakes. Vlamis is dragged over the coals for profiting off of the LGBTQ community. I don’t even know if I can go into how badly Heather is treated. I guess I’m just confused why we can forgive some of our cast and not others for very questionable decisions?

I’m not here to drag Tyler. I love the guy. He’s a good Alex. I’m just tired of the double standard and the racism I constantly see in this community. I love this show and I love this cast. I’m not trying to call anyone out, I’m just hoping to call us in and ask our show, cast, crew, and fandom to do better.

[gra-sonas]

I didn’t mean to be “silent”, this just took me much longer to write than I had planned. 

First of all, I’d like to point you in the direction of a very good post @adiwriting​ posted a couple of days ago, that sums things up in a very articulate way, you can find it HERE.

~*~

In short: in his most recent interview with the Pretty Little Wine Moms Podcast, Tyler - who’s playing a character who’s half Native American -  revealed, that he did a DNA test with a company called 23AndMe during the filming of season 1 of Roswell, New Mexico, and he test didn’t detect Native American ancestry, even though his grandmother had told him in 2010, that his paternal grandfather Harold's great grandmother was Cherokee Indian.

Below the cut is a transcript of that part of the interview, my opinion on this whole thing, and I answered a couple of asks I got about it. This is a VERY long post.

I’ve already watched the video of the interview, and it shows, that they edited the interview quite heavily. There are several cuts throughout the episode, and some things that can be heard in the audio version, didn’t make it into the video either. 

TRANSCRIPT [I didn’t transcribe every laugh or random words, but I’ve tried my best to make it as accurate as possible]

LESLEY: Did you audition for any of the other roles on PLL?

TYLER: No, Caleb came in halfway through season one. I remember, it was supposed to be a 4-episode stint, a guest starring role. What’s funny though, I lived right by Warner Brothers [studios], so I would drive […] past Warner Brothers and there was a bill board of Pretty Little Liars before it came out and I was like “I could probably be on a show like that.” So, anyway, I auditioned for Caleb, yeah. I never read for… […] No, I didn’t get the role at first because they were like “we really think he needs to be like really ethnic. We need some ethnic diversity. And I was like—

LESLEY: What are you? You’re like “hello”! Part Native American, i mean.

TYLER: Well, no, I’m actually not. I’m actually not, I found out.

HOLLY: Whaaaat? Yes, you are. We did talk about this.

NIA: I thought you were.

HOLLY: We talked about this on set.

TYLER: Do you know when I found out that I wasn’t is when I got Roswell, my character was also supposed to be Native American, half Native American. And I was like “great”, because the pool was like so small. You know, so this is great, you know. I’m shooting season one of the show and do a 23AndMe [DNA test] and I have literally not even 0.1 % Native American.

HOLLY: That can’t be possible.

NIA: No, no, no, no, let me explain how that works. That’s not right.

HOLLY: Nia has some things to tell you.

NIA: The information - I know these things, every nationality in me—

TYLER: Okay, tell me.

NIA: 23AndMe is pulling from— if you do 23AndMe and then you do… what’s the other one—

LESLEY: AncestryCOM

HOLLY: AncestryCOM

NIA: —they’ll come up different. And the reason they’ll come up different from each other is, they’re pulling from the people they already have in their database. So, if there’s not very many Native American people doing 23AndM—

HOLLY: Which there isn’t.

NIA: —it’s not gonna show up.

TYLER: Oh god.

NIA: Yeah.

[INFO: There’s a clear CUT at this point before the interview continues, they even cut Tyler’s “Oh god” you can hear in the audio from the video. So they must’ve talked about this some more before the official version of the interview continues.]

TYLER: Okay, so this is what happened, going back [to being cast as Caleb]. They said “thank you so much for the read” and I really thought I was gonna get it. Because Gayle Pillsbury [PLL casting director] - I’d never even read for her before - and I went in and auditioned, and her response was literally everything you want in an audition. She like lost her fucking mind and was like “where did you come from?”, you know, that sort of thing. I mean, I’m a TERRIBLE auditioner and I get so unbelievably nervous, so for that to be the response—

LESLEY: Wow.

TYLER: So that response… I was like “oh my gosh”. And you even audition and you’re like “I booked it. I booked it!”, you know what I mean? Even though it’s not up to her, you know, but anyway. Then they told me “thank you so much for the read, it was so good, but we want more ethnic diversity”. They came back to me, I don’t know, three weeks later? And they were like “What is your background?” And I was like “I don’t even know.” I called my dad, he tells me “I don’t even know.” He’s like “Call grandma.”. I call my grandma, she tells me her side and then… My dad’s dad passed away before I was born, I don’t know his side of the family at all. So my grandmother talks about his side of the family and says “You know—“ - it was Harold, Harold was my grandfather’s name - —“Harold’s great grandmother was Cherokee Indian. And I was like “Really?” I was like “This is good!”

WINE MOMS,  LAUGHING: “This is good!”

TYLER: So, then I told casting “I’m Native American.” And so they thought it was enough to cast me as, you know, ‘ethnically ambiguous’ or whatever.

[END TRANSCRIPT]

~*~

I’m not an expert on DNA tests. Nia’s comment that tests from different companies come back with different results bc they pull their data from different gene pools makes sense, but I can’t verify whether that's actually the case. Neither do I know whether her claim that 23AndMe pool lacks Native samples for reference is correct.

If it is, it would mean that 23AndMe DNA tests in general wouldn’t be able to detect Native ancestry in any sample. Maybe a test with a different company would come up with a different result, in any case, it would be a very small percentage, given how many generations are between Tyler and his Native ancestor.

The result of the test is only one piece of the puzzle tho, and not the relevant one.

The question isn’t whether the result indicates that what Tyler’s grandma told him is false. The question is, if one Native ancestor 5 generations back and no tribal affiliation of any kind entitle Tyler to play POC characters. 

The answer is a clear no, and yet he’s been cast as non-white characters (and in one case as an explicitly Native character) twice in his life.

That’s unfortunate at best, and ignorant at worst.

~*~

Tyler auditioned for PLL in 2010 when he was 23, turning 24 that year. Initially he didn’t get the role bc they wanted someone “ethnic”. They called him 3 weeks (!) after the initial rejection and asked about his background, and by talking to his grandma, he found out about this Native ancestor.

2010 was a mere decade ago, but it was also a different time. Discussions about diversity and representation on screen, the question whether it’s okay for male actors to play trans women or if shows should pass the Bechdel test were all topics that weren’t discussed as “aggressively (and I mean that in a very positive way, hammer it home that all these things matter!) as they are discussed today, and structures in the TV and movie industry ignored most of it anyway (still do way too often, lbr).

Looking back, it’s easy to condemn what happened as vigorously as we would condemn it if it happened today, but applying today’s standards to 2010 is still a bit unfair. (I’m not saying that what happened is okay, just that back then the level of awareness for it to be wrong wasn’t the same as it is today).

Sure enough ABC execs were all too happy to accept that minimal partial Native ancestry as “enough” to cast him, probably also because Tyler looked “ethnically ambiguous” to them, whatever that means. (Holly also mentioned that they talked about Tyler’s Native ancestry on the set of PLL, and apparently not a single person pointed out that maybe it was a questionable decision...).

Tyler was trying to get his career started back then, and an opportunity like PLL would be any young actor’s dream. When they told him “you’re ethnic enough, you’ve got the job”, he lacked the tools and the awareness to question their decision, neither did anyone ever question Tyler’s decision to accept the role. It was considered to be “okay” by all sides. Which is a systemic problem.

As far as I know, Caleb’s supposed “ethnically diverse” background was never explored on PLL, so they were just happy he looked “ethnic" but never gave a fuck about actual representation. Welcome to the club of most TV shows ever made. Even in 2020, too many shows and movies still try to pull that shit. The difference is, that nowadays they are called out, and people speak up. 

~*~

Fast forward to 2017 when Tyler got the script for Roswell. 7 years of him believing that this partial Native ancestry made him part Native, not half like Alex Manes, but it probably felt like it was “enough” - it had been enough for PLL after all.

He got cast because he’s a great actor, but also because he supposedly had the required ethnic background. This is also on the studio tbh. I assume he was asked about his background and he must’ve told them the same story (since he didn’t have a DNA test he could’ve shown them), and for The CW “one Cherokee Indian ancestor 5 generations back” was also “Native enough”...

~*~

It’s quite a bit of a mess tbh. Fans have been hit rather hard by this revelation, some are angry, some are disappointed, some feel uncomfortable, some probably don’t know whether how they feel is how they should feel after applying all our new-found 2020 ~wisdom and awareness to the situation.

Opinions on the matter differ. Vastly in some cases. Some people feel betrayed, some have “cancelled” Tyler, for others it’s not ideal but also not that big of a deal. It’s a mixed bag, really. 

As for me: 2010 Tyler gets a pass from me. It was a “different time” with different industry rules in place, and ABC’s higher ups, who should’ve known and done better, didn’t. Neither did anyone in casting, nor his management, colleagues, or anyone in his personal life. And he clearly lacked the experience and awareness to question the decision, or himself for accepting it because it never was questioned! Not even in the years following.

2017 Tyler only gets a partial pass. 2017 wasn’t 2020 and too many things were still not all that different from 2010. He’d been on a show for 7 years where this partial Native ancestry was “enough”. Hence he probably felt like auditioning for the role of Alex was okay, and everyone involved in the casting process thought so, too. 

He never pretended to be Native American to get the role, he never pulled a Scarlett Johansson. However... he probably should’ve questioned a bit harder whether a Native ancestor 5 generations back makes him “Native enough” to play a (half) Native character, or any kind of POC character for that matter.

So yeah, definitely putting some blame on him for the lack of awareness, but I’m also side-eying The CW and whoever was involved in the decision making. 

~*~

What I hope for and expect fromTyler now and in the future is, that he won’t ever allow to be cast as any kind of “ethnic” character ever again.

He’s worked hard and has very much earned the career he’s made. He’s an amazing actor, but the circumstances that gave him the opportunity to have that career are based on racist structures in the TV and movie industry, and he directly profited from a system, that cast him - for all we know a white man - as a man of color. Twice.

Imo Tyler’s well aware of these things now. 2020 in particular should’ve been a pretty good eye-opener. It’s good that he has someone like Jeanine to look up to and learn from (not her job to teach him or take him by the hand or anything, but I think she’s a great example of someone who’s already made a name of herself, and uses her influence to help others, and the way she talks about diversity and elevating marginalized voices is very powerful), and I hope that in the future he’ll use is voice and “weight” as an established actor, to elevate minority voices and push for their stories to be included.

Answered your question in part above already.

It’s important to note that there’s a difference between criticizing someone’s actions, and openly hating and/or dissing them. This is a messy situation, and while Tyler can’t change the past, he has to do better in the future. Saying that doesn’t make me (or anyone else) a hater. Tyler’s amazing, but he’s also not perfect. And he doesn’t have to be. No one’s perfect.

When I look back at my life, dear god, I grew up in a very liberal family, we travelled places, I had access to all the books and education, and still. At 23? I was somewhat anti-feminist and a slightly conservative leaning liberal. Not a bad person per se, but also quite ignorant (compared to today’s standards anyway). Thankfully that’s changed over the years. And it keeps changing. Because getting complacent and thinking “I know it all” is BS. I’m working on myself every day, and I’m still prone to fuck up occasionally bc the system is rigged in my favor, and I might not even be aware of it in that moment. 

I’m not cross with Tyler, because I can’t say for certain I hadn’t done the same if the circumstances had been similar. I’m actually quite sure I had done the same, bc society and the industry made it okay. AND NO ONE EVER QUESTIONED IT! He never claimed more for himself than a Native ancestor 5 generations back, and society at large and the TV/movie industry in particular said “that’s fine, you have that ancestry, you can go for diverse roles”. So in part, he fell victim to a system that pretended it was okay.

With MeToo and the Black Lives Matter movement, that “it’s okay” mentality is finally questioned and challenged, and more and more people speak up whenever someone tries to pull this shit. But it still keeps happening and there’s a lot more work to do. 

No one can claim ignorance anymore, though. And he has to do better in the future.

I feel you, nonnie. It’s a messy situation. Imo it’s most unfortunate that this information came out the way it did. In a heavily edited podcast episode with inexperienced (and dare I say “industry-biased”) moderators. We don’t know what else he said or for how long they talked about this.

The podcast hosts were clearly not the most qualified to handle that kind of revelation. There were no follow-up questions, there was no criticism, and the way the interview was edited, the whole thing was treated as a non-issue and “fun” anecdote. Which doesn’t do Tyler any favors tbh. 

But imo it’s also unfair to condemn him solely on what they decided to release. We don’t know what else he said, whether he expressed remorse or whatnot. I don’t know whether his publicist okayed the interview prior to its release. If they did, he should get a new publicist... 

(I’m not implying he should’ve kept it a “secret”, but as a publicist I would’ve made sure this revelation had been handled differently, and Tyler hadn’t been made to look like he was just laughing it off).

I don’t know Tyler personally, but going by everything I’ve seen from him and know about him, I’m certain he won’t take on another POC role. And even if another DNA test should come up with a different result one day, and a certain percentage of Native ancestry would be found, I’d expect him to handle things differently. And imo that’s something he expects from himself, too. He’s a good man. <3

I don’t think he should, but I’m white, so my opinion on this isn’t really relevant. If Native groups would call for him to step down (which I don’t think they would), I’d support it because THEIR opinion on this actually matters.

One option could be that they do a storyline where it’s revealed that the woman Alex believes to be his mother isn’t his biological mom and it turns out he’s not Native - but that’s probably a far stretch, idk.

If he’d give up the role (which he clearly isn’t doing, considering he’s found out during S1 and is about to begin filming S3), I doubt The CW would recast the role with a native actor btw. Alex’d just be written off the show.

What I hope for is, that he’ll join Jeanine in her efforts to push for more Native and Latinx representation and stories on the show (Jeanine talked about that in her recent IG live with congressman Castro, @lambourngb​ made a post about it), and you can watch the entire IG live here.

Fandom’s a large group of many individual people. There are several people who have addressed this and talk about it. And while not every single person in fandom’s talking about it, it’s not swept under the rug either.

And how does this whole thing make Malex fans (another large group of many individual people) look toxic? Malex fans are not a hive mind. I have seen several Malex fans talk about this, and talk about it critically.

I’m sorry that you’re disappointed, nonnie, I’m just not sure what you expected?

[klausalvatores]

Cheryl telling Betty how she should feel without knowing the story. Betty staying with Jug because he's the safer option. Season 5 will be interesting.

Exactly. We’ve been through this before. Last time, it was Jughead & Veronica telling Betty & Archie how they felt and what the kiss meant. They claimed it was a “stupid kiss” “out of fear, life and death situation” Now Cheryl is telling Betty how she should feel when that couldn’t be farther from the truth. She was conflicted, yes but she also was admitting something she’s been denying for 4 years, which is that she has been IN love with Archie for 10 years, so all this time while she was with Jughead, Archie was in the back of her mind. She was ready to drop kick Jughead FOR Archie before she talked with Cheryl. She was disappointed they couldn’t “do more” than lay on a bed and hold hands. She flashbacked to the day after Archie had broken her heart when he was singing to her. She could have thought of Jughead in that moment, but no. It was Archie. It’s always Archie. She couldn’t even let him finish the song and was crying “breaking up” with him. He asked her what were they feeling and Betty kept replying “I don’t know” like 3 times and also repeated Cheryl’s words back to him. She also asked Archie “You love Veronica, don’t you?” he literally SHOOK HIS HEAD and didn’t answer. She was trying so hard to convince herself that they can’t be together because of Jughead & Veronica. Then goes home to burn her diaries (like Stefan did to move on from Elena but he never did). Just because she burns her diairies, it doesn’t change the fact she CHEATED on Jughead with the one guy he’s always been insecure about. That trust is forever broken. There’s no way they can come back from this like S2.

In conclusion, all the signs are there that this isn’t over. It didn’t even feel like proper closure. It was just hard and disappointing watching at first until you digest it all in and use logic and reason for explaining why everything happened the way it did. This allows the door open for Barchie in S5 AFTER the time jump. I really doubt any of the core 4 relationships will survive after this season. They’ll probably start off S5 engaged to random new characters like in PLL.

[arsenicpanda]

Sometimes trash is also treasure

See, I can't classify Pretty Little Liars as that because it is far too frustrating. The characters all act like idiots the majority of the time, and the Ezra/Aria plot drags the show down by being generally bad for so, so many reasons and also dull as dirt but also omnipresent. The show has never done the legwork to show that they should be together, which is a real problem considering all the many problems with the ship, and too many people are weirdly accepting of it. As late as early season 3 (where I currently am), Ezra has never interacted with the plot even though we have spent so, so much time with him. And it's not like it's ever added to Aria's characterization either. It's just there to be there, and it feels like a waste of time. Every second they're on my screen, which is far too often, is like nails on a fucking chalkboard, and the frequency of it makes me want to quit the show every time it shows up. Also, we've never acknowledged that Jenna raped Toby (she blackmailed him into having sex with her; that's unambiguously rape), and it infuriates me.

But that's skipping over the idiots part. Every time they get set back because they fail to back up their data and then are careless with their sole copy drives me batty. The general amount that the plot requires the characters to act like idiots is annoying more often than it is amusing, although it is at times amusing, I'll give them that. It's just three idiots and one person who is slightly better than an idiot (but not by a lot) doing their best and often failing because their designated smart friend is dead. It's so rare that they make progress against A or whoever is the current person they're chasing after, and it's generally because they act like idiots. It was especially bad in early to mid season 2, and I almost quit the show, no bullshit.

I'm in early season 3, which is dragging SO HARD right now, and the best part of the show so far was the backend of season 2 because it had minimal Ezra and as well as the characters doing their best to rub their handful of brain cells together. And they were actually making progress against A, which was nice.

Which is not to say that I don't enjoy the show; I do, although I don't think I could watch it alone. Without a friend to shout about things with, I don't think I could handle this show. Seriously, the number of times this show reduces me to capslock is ridiculous. But it provides a good amount of wtf-ery, and the characters are amusing enough, especially Spencer because she has slowly turned into a very, very intense crazy person, which is something I always love, so I do often have fun. I also appreciate that this is the third teen drama I've seen that just rips off the plot of Twin Peaks because it always feels like such a weird choice to me. It also manages to not be dull most of the time and is the kind of Trash that is perfect for watching with a friend and also requires zero emotional investment from me, which is what I've been looking for lately. I'm just not in the mindset to start something new that I'd actually care about (and neither is my friend who I watch things with), y'know?

tl;dr I can't label PLL as treasure, but it's Decent Trash (even though it sometimes dips into Garbage), so I'm going to keep watching until I almost inevitably ragequit.

[yaz-the-spaz]

Hey yaz! I was just wondering your opinion on why you think Liam's mgtm would have him "date" a 17/18 yo. I dont follow m*ya at all and know p nothing abt her except that she is a model (?) and her dad is famous (?). I just feel like its weird they would pick someone a decade younger than him. My friends who arent 1d fans all have bad opinions abt him bc of this so like why do you think she was the choice? I understand publicity for her and stuff but just curious on what you think.

hey! i honestly think they just don’t care that much about the age aspect of it (and probably didn’t even consider the fact that the reaction would be so icky or maybe they did but just didn’t care), i think it’s mainly just the old/usual tried and true PR and Promo for an Up and Coming Model™ gimmick that they’ve done time and again (because they know it works. because they’ve done 867 times now and still the het side of the fandom manages to fall for it every time and swoon their idiotic asses off) and the age gap was just a secondary thing that they were maybe hoping ppl either wouldn’t pay much attention to or wouldn’t care about. apparently they didn’t learn their lesson from the way ppl reacted to him and c and the whole gross pedophilic predator aspect of that whole scenario (w/ the stories of her flirting and preying after liam since he was 14, etc. smdh). but as pretty much everything has shown, 1dhq (or whoever is running shit now) and the entertainment industry in general tends to always be about 42 5-10 years behind when it comes to being cognizant of general public changing sentiments over things. i mean just look at how many shows and movies from within the last couple of years are STILL portraying relationships between adults and underage teenagers and acting like that’s normal and perfectly acceptable (riverdale, pll, shameless, etc.). maybe in the early 2000′s no one was really batting an eye that much (cause it was so normalized on tv/in movies over all these decades that a lot of us didn’t really think too hard about it) but that shit certainly ain’t flying in post-MeToo era and yet...asshats still out here showcasing it. 

and the same with representation i mean shows like glee and modern family were a game-changer for sure but it still took like 5-10 or so years after those shows’ inceptions for the rest of hollywood to get with the program and start putting more queer characters in their shows and movies and just generally engaging in more diverse representation on a whole (as far as race, religion, gender/gender identity, neurodivergence plus-sized, and handi-capable representation, etc. as well). hollywood/the industry in general has always been super slow to change and get on board with the progression of the rest of society, and super reluctant/resistant to change at that. i mean i know all this is only tangentially related but they are largely still fighting the rise of streaming services tooth and nail despite the fact that most of the big ones have existed now for around a decade. i have a friend who works in the music industry who’s talked to me in-depth about how much the big record companies are still remaining super set in their old dinosaur ways and insanely obstinate about changing their business methods in a way that would make much more sense with the direction of the market and the heavy skew towards free streaming because they just refuse to accept that the entire market has changed and is only gonna continue to change. but instead just wanna sit and wallow and try to force ppl to play by their old games in a way that just is not sustainable and very likely only gonna wind up losing them money and business in the long run. and ofc we see the same with politics. 

it’s all just old dinosaurs who can’t let go of the way things used to be and we’re unfortunately seeing that all play out in a weird way with this whole let’s make liam date a teenager bit. whoever came up with it, whether it was her family or 1dhq or both or whoever, is clearly wayyy behind the times when it comes to public sentiment and either did not even foresee/consider all the ways this was gonna be digested in a largely super negative way by the public (and by extension blow back on liam in a super negative way), OR is so fame-hungry/money-hungry and so desperate to get this girl some attention that they just did not care at all how it would look or be received. 

...or both. honestly i’d be very willing to bet it’s a little bit of both lol

anyway short story long the gate-keepers of every major industry in this country (and lbr, the world in general) can’t deal with the fact that their breed and their business models are rapidly going extinct or becoming obsolete. they can try all they want to force their old (gross) ideals and outdated business practices on an unwilling public but the fact of the matter it’s very likely only gonna end up biting them in the ass and having the exact opposite result than what they wanted.

(that or it’s a huge concerted negative campaign against liam that’s going swimmingly lol but that’s way too tinhatty and conspiratorial even for me and i highly doubt they would do all this and expend this much time, effort, and money into something that was purely meant for the purpose of sabotaging liam and nothing more, and that didn’t also in some way guarantee mutually assured gain in the form of promo for m and her family. this is compounded by the fact that liam’s very clearly spent the majority of the last two years being photographed almost exclusively with either her, or shady people in the business and fashion industries that also seemingly happen to have strong ties/connections to her father. that’s not a coincidence. this is clearly largely for her benefit. but - as what i’m sure is a nice bonus for whoever made the other end of the agreement on liam’s behalf - also doubles as a continued opportunity to perpetuate the already highly problematic public image liam has unfortunately been saddled with, as well ofc the usual perpetual bearding and closeting)