#pll os summer school spoilers

[phantomoftheorpheum]

Ahhhb I'm back!!! So sorry for the little haitus it's been a busy week for me! I'm also very upset I didn't get back in time before the last episode aired. I wanted to share theories before anything got confirmed (.

ANYWAY!

I wanted to send you my full on deep

analysis/realizations/theories relating to be Girlies. Their tests. And the arch of the season!

And amazingly, it all boils down to one single photo.

So! This photo I think was kinda overlooked in terms of promos and all. But it's really the key to the whole shush.

So the biggest overarching bad theme in this season is Religion. Makes sense right? But what if it was so much more then that.

take a look at the promo image again. Look at their tests.

Look at them strongly. Wouldn't they, In a way, not represent Jesus himself?! Both the journey and the physical embodiment.

First we have Mouse! She is in what you'd say, 'Hell'.

Specifically the fires of hell! It's the place everyone will go to unless Jesus completes his mission/Also just representing hell and the immediate surroundings. I'd also say she is the skin. As the first thing fire hurts is skin.

Mouse = Atmosphere + Skin.

Next we have Faran.

her task. Carrying a giant peice of rebar for hours on end.

On her shoulders.

now this is a DIRECT symbolism to Jesus holding and carrying the cross (in nearly the exact same position too) too his gravesite. And this would represent arms, hands, and shoulders. Maybe even muscles.

Faran = Muscles. Arms. Hands. Shoulders.

Next! We have Noa!

Her test, (or the original test) Walk along rows of spikes and thorns barefoot. It got turned into a Run via Bloody Rose and the rabid dog. (Which I will refer to as the hound of hell. Or demon dog Another symbolism

This is another direct symbolism! Specifically of the WALK Jesus had to take to his gravesite. Faran represented the carrying of the cross. But Noa was the embodiment of the walk he had to take. One he specifically took barefoot on rough terrain. So, this would be specificity of feet. Or the foot.

Noa = Feet.

Next we have Imogen! (Which I was genuinely shocked about. I thought they'd save the bloody Rose confrontation for last)

She l summarized to be the head. As a big part of her journey involved hallucinations and stuff. (More on this later) And her physical "test' or so involved the confrontation of Bloodh rose herself. The 'head' of the whole murder operation. Also, Imagine literally physically ripped off the mask of Bloody Rose. Which covers her HEAD. Also, I see her as an embodiment of blood. So much of her test and story revolves around blood. She is literally left holding scraps and blood.

Imogen = Head and Blood.

Now for the final girl of girls. Tabitha Hayworthe.

Tabitha. Sweet Tabby. Tabby, is not anything, but the physical embodiment of the Heart.

notice SHE is the one in the middle of the promo. The heart of the operation. Tabitha is the glue of the group.

The heart powers the body. And everything in it. And what is she doing in this photo? But PRAYING. Not only that but kneeling too. She is flanked by Bloody Rose.

Archie. And the being I am officially calling the

'ArchAngel' (fits with the As and all huh?).

I have a good idea for what her test will be. Test of resilience. Of praying for her souls. Of praying for her friends. A test of her dedication to religion. (It doesn't matter if she was religious or not. A heart is what is true. A head is what is logical. And what can disagree. Falling into why Bloody Rose would attack Imogen directly. Kill the head and leave the heart to be free. Of for the taking.

I did my due diligence. And considering her position (noting the roses in front of her) where specifically the blood is on her face. And a specific interview that happened with Chandler (actor of Tabby) where she admitted she was left extremely sore for days after filming this. Which implies this as an endurance test, or doing a specific motion for a long period of time. As opposed to, let's say Mouses task which just involved a little running and camera work.

I believe Tabby is going to be forced to perform a military torture tactic. It's something I'm having trouble finding again. But i have vaguely remember it being referenced to as the prayer position or kneeling position. And ive seen in a couple movies typically in ones where a group is held captive or something.

Basically A person is made to kneel, (hands typically tied behind their back. But in this instance her hands could be in front of her) and I mean full straight up. Their butt can't rest on their ankles or anything. Spikes are then specifically placed and adorned around them, positioned so if the persons endurance gave out. Or they grew tired and weary. Would be impaled or even killed on the sharp objects.

they would not be the main focus. But Tabby being forced to pray for a certain amount of time would directly tie into religious themes. As she could be forced to cleanse the souls or hearts of people.

Tabby = Heart and Soul.

now you may be wondering why this is relevant.

but what does eyes, skin, atmosphere, muscles, blood, heart, head, arms, legs, feet, hands, soul, shoulders, all create?

a person. A living person.

Aka Jesus.

And what did Jesus do?

Jesus came back from the dead.

This somewhat makes me believe that Bloody rose is delusioned. Thinking all of these tests can bring bring back a loved one. In terms of sacrafice of sorts. While also getting their revenge on the girlies.

Bloody rose could be in cahoots with the ‘Mother’ church. I forget the entire title but the mother part is important as fuck. I’ll explain later. Bloody rose could be a couple beings. But if Bloody rose is Imogens mom. I have literally zero fucking clue what their trying to do here.

buuut, if Bloody Rose is Imogens moms secret twin. Then that could certainly be interesting in terms of looping in the mother church.

She could be abusing the religion and convincing them that by endorsing/worshipping her she can not only save their souls, but reincarnate /bring back loved ones.

I do think the church is in cahoots with her specifically because of the intro we saw before Faran was being stitched up. Where two people walked across a group of people in white worshipping blooding rose in the cabin in the woods. This was a direct parallel to the mother church chanting and worshipping seemingly nothing in a circle. Which Faran saw. Greg also mentioned their being a ‘inner circle’. Could be literal.

I also will specifically note that Bloody rose most likely is a Mother. Or someone who lost a loved one and is getting revenge on the girls because they indirectly or directly caused it.

Firstly. In her appearance. Bloody rose bandages her face. And on her head rests a crown of thorns.

Jesus was given a crown of thorns and spikes to mock him for saying he was the son of god. And he was wrapped in bandages and placed in a tomb. The bandages were still there when they opened it three days later. But he wasn’t.

So not only is Bloody rose a physical representation of Jesus. Of the dead brought to life for revenge. But her name!

What Does bloody rose remind you of every time you say it.

Bloody Mary! And who was Mary??? JESUS’s MOM!

Her identity is a combination of both Jesus and Mary.

Archie is a follower. Innacting revenge for his sister. A follower. Either a deciple or a form of Adam. Who followed Eve into the garden and eating the fruit.

And the ArchAngel. This will be the kicker. This is the representation of the dead. The mourned family member or lover. A person taken too soon. A angel in their place. Or. The reincarnation of said member. And if they’re a physical being. Then they will definitely be someone they previously thought to be dead.

Most likely rose isn’t Imogens mom. And isn’t someone thought to be dead. But the archangel will be.

What’s so insanely crazy is this is only like half of the crucial arch and theories and realizations of have if this.

but I am actually falling asleep as I write. And this is definitely insanely long lol. But I will form the second half to my entire plot lore world building ideas lol.

oh. And fuck how they’re having Noa come out to be Bi. That’s fucking insane. Not her being bi. But the way they’re literally using it as an excuse for her to cheat?? Like that’s so crazy. She’s literally been actively cheating and lying to her literal god send of a boyfriend who left his literal mother for her. The boyfriend she was head over heels for last season. Also Jen’s just? Genuinely a horrible person. She gaslights Noa and manipulates her in nearly every conversation. Not to mention she’s a repeat offender who has no remorse for it? Like. She really just had Noas damn boyfriend pay for her bail. Then to pay back what she OWES him she literally STEALS FROM HIS HOUSE AND FAMILY???? And then LIES to Noa (well hid the truth) about it?? And then isn’t even apologetic about it when confronted about it? And then??? Literally has the audacity to get mad at Noa because she won’t break up with Shawn and turned down her totally inappropriate idea of a throuple. Like. No way would Shawn want to share noa with the girl she’s cheating on him with.

And the way Gen just treats him unhumanly. Like one moment she doesn’t give a shit about his feelings but then also says she could definitely love and fuck him. (In a throuple implication). It’s sickening.

I fully expected her friends to be upset at her when she openly admitted to cheating on Shawn. But NO. They’re all supportive as fuck about it and actually encourage her to ditch Shawn and be with Jen. Like what the actual fuck. What type of representation is that?! They’re upset when their own boyfriends or whatever would cheat. But as long as it’s their bi bestie it’s okay???

The shows like. Doing a horrible toxic message that as long as it’s some gay realization. Cheating is Okay. Further contributing to the horrible stereotype that being Bi is just cheating.

Sorry. Had to get that off my chest I hated it so much. I hate what they’ve done to Noas character this season

Wow, I hope you don't mind me publishing all this, rather than responding privately, I just think it deserves to be shared!

This is off topic, but did you ever watch Dark (the Netflix series)? Because with the depth of analysis and the details you're looking at here, it seems like it could be something you'd really love (it's very different from PLL, but it's such a puzzle, one of my favorite shows ever).

I'm gonna put the rest of my response after a cut, just to make this post slightly less to scroll through!

I wish I had seen this poster much earlier! I only saw it for the first time fairly recently, and then I thought it was a fan edit. I didn't realize it was real promotion until a few days ago!

We really are getting hit over the head with all the religious imagery and references this season! This is not my area of expertise, by any means, so all that was a super fascinating read for me. With all that context, it really does feel like Kelly's church has to be looped in to this, or they've wasted all this intricate foreshadowing. I also felt the "Mother" part of "Our Mother of Holy Grace" was a very intentional choice. I do really hope that we get a reveal that pulls all the threads of this season together, since there's a lot of stuff going on, imo.

I can't remember if I said this in any of my previous posts, but I have very much been feeling a "trio of three main co-conspirators" situation recently (possibly with other characters who are less [or even unknowingly, like Mouse's grandmother] involved), so the poster theory with the three figures around Tabby makes a lot of sense. It then also would follow, in my mind, that if Tabby is the central figure of the season, that the villains are most likely to be directly linked to her. And this fits with a lot of the suspicions I have both voiced and read.

I've been saying for a while that I can't help but wonder if there are multiple antagonists working together, but with different aims/motivations. I like the idea of Bloody Rose being tied to religious zeal, while another antagonist (perhaps represented by either Archie or the "ArchAngel" as you called the other figure in the poster) is tied in with different intent. I do wonder if the middle figure is a literal co-conspirator, or if it's possible they represent only the "ghost" of a person, as the motivating factor behind the plot.

If we assume Tabby is at the center of this season, does that lend validity to the theory that BR could be Mrs. Langsberry with the help of one (or two?) others (possibly stand-ins in her eyes for Chip?), and if her accomplice(s) are essentially filling Chip's role, could they also be making a movie (again, tying back to Tabby as the central figure and her passions), perhaps even as a tribute to Chip (attempting to eclipse Tabby and any of her success that they view as an unearned and unfair character assassination)?

There's a lot to think about. It's definitely going to take me a minute to fully digest all of this.

What do you think the purpose of Rose's kills outside of the tests is? My working theory has been, if someone's making a movie, they're basically just cannon-fodder for the film (chosen because of their "sins," because I do think if someone is making a movie, it is a religious themed film). It also makes me wonder if all the religious themes and foreshadowing are designed for the film, but some of the conspirators genuinely believe, and some don't.

I am enjoying thinking way too hard.

As for the romantic arcs in the show. I think I've finally come to the conclusion that I (mostly) just don't vibe with how the writers on this show handle romance. A lot of the romantic "drama" falls into tropes I don't like (and will actively avoid, if possible, like you could not pay me to touch th3summ3riturn3dpr3tty with a ten foot pole) and the feelings seem to fluctuate so quickly that it gives me emotional whiplash.

As I've mentioned a few times, Mouse & Ash are the only ship on the show I feel legitimately emotionally invested in, and while most of the others don't really bother me, they don't really mean anything to me either. I think part of that is the inherent suspicion I have of all the love interests (so my guard is up with most of them), but I also just think that... The reason I enjoy this show is the mystery/horror/slasher elements. I like the puzzle and the whodunnit and the guessing.

I know the original show spent a lot of time on the romances (which, ngl, I also frequently got annoyed with or bored of), but that show also had a lot more episodes per-season to build relationships. Because of the short length of the seasons, a lot of the love interests just don't have the time to be developed into compelling characters in their own right, and the relationships are often fast-tracked, which just doesn't hit for me. I think I also tend to prefer shows that (unless they are specifically a romance) don't place the romantic drama as super central to the main character's storylines.

If the love interests stick around and get more time to be developed individually into future seasons, I may end up attached to more ships eventually, but right now most of those storylines are falling a little flat for me. I guess I'm just really not a "fast burn" kind of person (unless, like I said, the show is a romance and gets to focus the majority of its screen time on the character's romantic relationships and can therefore build a lot more depth and connection in fewer episodes) when it comes to ships.

I have stopped trying to figure out what they want me to feel about Noa's storyline, because whatever it is, I clearly am not feeling it. I just feel kind of baffled and confused about what their message/intent is with it, because all I'm getting is incredibly mixed tone and messaging.

Anyway, I hope I touched on everything! Thanks for all your thoughts, it's truly such an interesting angle!

[iconsrequestsworld]

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[thefangirllanguage]

new pretty little liars season is going quite well imo

[will80sbyers]

this whole cheater storyline is completely ruining my enjoyment of ppl original sin stop fucking writing these storylines for bisexual characters

[clown-cult]

The girls do not want Noa/Jen.

The girls want Tabby/Imogen.

[heronroseeros]

Dr. Sullivanussy is either somehow related to the Waters'/Clanton's, or just keeps getting pulled into fucked shit with teenage girls being tortured.

Also not her getting attacked again, and saying, "I suspect it was a former patient. It's been known to happen." Like girl, it happened to YOU.

Also, Mona was silly goofy. These bitches are not silly goofy. They aren't interested in mindgames and psychological horror, they want blood.

Also she better not believe Imogen's bs. If she does, take her license away.

[soul-music-is-life]

PLL: Summer School Bloody Rose Theory

Stupidly random, but I find it weird AF that characters are acting hypnotized (Lola) and are having hallucinations (Imogen) and it's not related to our resident therapist.

Lola could have dementia and Imogen's PTSD could be the trigger for her hallucinations and nightmares. But it could also be someone sitting in a psychology chair purposefully messing with them...

Could be that Sullivan's office is bugged like it was in PLL (which is how Mouse's confidential conversation about her fear of Lola having dementia and her insecurities about her besties forgetting her b-day played a role in being abandoned by her well-meaning Lola right into a "birthday surprise" that was a trap). But it just seems weird to me. You'd think Sullivan would be more careful, unless she has no reason to be careful.

The interactions with Imogen and Sullivan all seem off, too.

Plus Sullivan was hella sus in PLL, talking about "A threatened my son!" (which is why she didn't tell the authorities about A's identity). Woman, please...you are a full ass adult and were legally bound to report Mona's lil ass, but nah...you just skipped town instead? I don't buy it.

But that's not the most important part. What is important:

She. Has. A. Son.

Archie, anyone?

I'm just having fun and I'm probably wrong, but I didn't trust Sullivan in PLL and I don't trust her now.

[phantomoftheorpheum]

PLL: OS (Summer School) 2x06 thoughts

*Spoilers for 2x01-2x06 of Summer School + the trailer for the final 3 episodes.

*Spoilers for the Scream franchise

So. Many. Thoughts.

Okay, here I am trying a new method of breaking down this episode, because I don't think going girl by girl makes sense this time. Instead I'm going to try to group things by general topic, and then go in to further speculation.

PLEASE NOTE: I do plan to talk about some of the stuff we see in the trailer (the 2x06-2x08 trailer) and how that plays in to my suspicions/theories, so if you are avoiding that trailer, you may not want to engage with this post.

So, first up-

The Love Interests

We got a lot of time with the various love interests in this ep, so I'm just going to break all that down.

Henry - He's barely in the episode, I honestly don't think he's important. It's possible he gave info on the girls to someone at some point, but I don't think Henry is the mastermind behind everything.

Ash - We finally got a little bit more time with Ash! It did not escape me that if he were a killer, Ash does have a motive to kill Pastor Malachi (or anyone associated with the church). That being said, setting up Ash vs The Church (as they do with Pride vs Redemption House) with Ash ultimately being the villain doesn't feel like something this show would want to do. While far from perfect, it's too self aware to not see how that would imply a validation of the church's bigoted beliefs. I think the show is also very aware of the criticisms of Cece and would like to avoid falling into the same pitfalls.

Shawn - We don't see him too much this episode, and nothing has changed here. He is still behaving the way he has behaved all season, but whether or not that is genuine is tbd.

Johnny - Also not a ton to say about Johnny based on this episode (though there is one thing that I'll get to in my speculation section), as he continues to also behave the same as he has all season. Imogen did reveal a lot of personal and specific information to him, so I'm definitely keeping an eye open to see if Bloody Rose or someone else seems to utilize that information (i.e. Imogen tells Johnny about her mom's suicide being in the bath, but Redemption House stages it in her bedroom, presumably because they don't know where it was). He does also say that he understands "what that type of pain can be," when Imogen talks about her mom, so that's... interesting.

Jen - I am still very confused about what the show wants us to think/feel about this character. That is not to say that I am all that confused about how I personally feel, but the show seems to send so many mixed signals with her. Everything about her (her past, her current behavior, her motives, etc.) feels very unresolved, like every time I think I understand what they want us to think of her, they rip that rug right out again. She also seems to be getting the same weird benefit of the doubt that Christian and Johnny are (from the girls, I mean), and I have no idea why. All 3 of these characters should be under more scrutiny from the girls, for sure.

Greg - Listen, I think this episode makes it very clear (I mean, I've assumed it since the first ep, but I wasn't sure they were going to spell out this season) that Greg has a huge crush on Faran. That, or he really is trying to kill everyone, but it doesn't feel like we know enough about him personally for him to have a motive that makes sense. So, anyway, I'm just assuming it's the former. But if this is the case, it feels like set up for a potential season 3, not necessarily all that important in this season (unless he dies trying to help Faran or something, which honestly I could totally see happening).

Christian - As much as I didn't think Christian was involved early on, most of my belief of that was due to my assumption that the girls would suspect him, and that didn't happen. So, he has now shot way up my board of suspects. Since I don't believe Bloody Rose could possibly be doing all of this alone, having an alibi for a BR attack means nothing to me. Of course, the Wes stuff also makes Christian look more suspicious- Wes vanishes and then Tabby and Christian find "knock off" masks at his place? In my last episode analysis, I talked about my suspicions of Wes, and they still exist, but he also could be the fall guy, with Christian intentionally setting him up.

Redemption House/Pastor Malachi/Mrs. Beasley/Kelly/Mrs. Langsberry

Redemption House - I mean, it's not unexpected. We knew it was going to be like this, right? From the trailer, I thought that it was perhaps an indication that someone in the girl's inner circle had betrayed details of their trauma specifically (since, as they mention, the rooms feel "almost" targeted), but this doesn't seem to be the case, particularly because we never see anything like Faran's (which makes sense, it has nothing to do with the topics that would usually be covered in a hell house).

My main questions about Redemption House are- who booked it? (like Tabby's mom said it was an LLC, but as BR is feeling more and more separate from the church itself, and BR not being specifically involved in that seems like it would be a huge coincidence), and how was Rose able to take over/change the scene in Imogen's mom's room without anyone else noticing (like where was Kelly?)?

Of course, Imogen's mental health struggles and history of hallucinations is a problem for the audience here, because we don't know exactly how much of what she experienced was real. Was any of it? I tend to think yes, as what would be the odds she would imagine a letter visually consistent with the others? But we don't know for sure. It's just difficult to know how much we can trust Imogen's perspective of things.

Pastor Malachi - So... BR killed Pastor Malachi. Why? Because he just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time? Or was it targeted? Considering the beliefs he's peddling, there are a lot of people who would have motive, but who knows? He clearly didn't know or recognize Bloody Rose, so that seems to cut him out as a co-conspirator.

Mrs. Beasley - She's still weird and suspicious, but would she have killed Pastor Malachi? What would be the purpose of that? I don't mean that she necessarily would have done that herself, but if she is the mastermind, then presumably it would have been done on her orders, and I just don't see why. I would have said, "maybe he knows too much," but he didn't seem to know anything.

Kelly - Okay, let's talk about Kelly. I know a lot of people have been suspicious of her possibly being Bloody Rose, and she does have some really weird behavior, so I get it. The problem is... I struggle to see who Kelly would be organizing with in order to pull this off. When I thought it was the church, then she had a lot of allies, but now that they don't seem to be directly involved, that really narrows down who she could be working with. She has to be working with someone if she's Bloody Rose because we know where she was during several BR attacks (she was with Greg during Sandy's, she was at the roller rink during Mouse's, etc.) so she can't be BR all the time. I guess this could play into the theories that Karen is still alive, but I just don't see how they've done enough to support that kind of reveal. Kelly is suspicious, but she also seems... very tortured? Even when we see her completely alone, she seems vulnerable, which just doesn't quite add up to the kind of cold calculation required to pull all this off, so... that feels off to me. No matter what, I don't think it's possible for her to be working alone.

Mrs. Langsberry - Well, she has finally reappeared. And she is religious. I get why people suspect her. I'm not locked in with her, but I've also not ruled her out.

Other Suspects

Rebecca - Nothing new here. The "reveal" of Imogen's mom certainly adds a layer to that story, but since she does not appear and is not mentioned, I don't know what else to say.

Dr. Sullivan - Also does not appear in this episode. I still think something about her personal life/past is going to come out, but I don't think it's going to be what the Liars think.

Wes - Okay, I'm finally ready to talk about Wes. Two weeks ago I talked about the belief that Wes was behind the SpookySpaghetti films, then last week I talked about the idea that Wes might be making a real life horror movie (explaining why Rose's "tests" are so theatrical and don't really make sense if you want to kill someone), and I still think this "someone is making a movie" theory holds water, but I waver back and forth on whether or not that person is definitely Wes. I very much thought that he was likely the "big bad" after 2x05. Now, with the attention drawn to him the way it is... I'm not so sure. In 2x05 when Wes didn't show up to work, and Tabby and Christian brushed it off, I immediately thought of Scream and what Randy says about Sidney's dad in the first film when they couldn't find him, "Because he's probably dead. His body will come popping up in the last reel somewhere, eyes gouged out, fingers cut off, teeth knocked out!" Randy's kind of right and kind of wrong. Sidney's dad does show up at the end, and something bad has happened to him, but he's alive because he's meant to die at the very end and take the fall for Billy & Stu. With all the Scream references this season, it would not surprise me in the slightest if whoever is behind all this has plans for who will take the blame instead of them. And, if someone is setting Wes up, Christian would be the most logical choice- he has access, Wes probably wouldn't hesitate to meet with him alone, Christian could easily plant the "knock off" masks, and other evidence, etc. That being said, whether Wes is guilty or not, I still fully believe that the Bloody Rose plot has a minimum of 2 characters, and possibly more than that. I also think it's very interesting that Tabby hallucinated Wes dead. If the girls begin to suspect something terrible has happened to him (instead of that he could be behind things), it might push me more towards, Wes is the one behind this. So we'll see what 2x07 gives us, I guess.

Misc. Thoughts & Suspicions (***seriously Spoilers for the 2x06-2x08 trailer***)

Okay, this one just jumped right out at me during the episode, and it could mean absolutely nothing at all (could just be a matter of the set dressers having certain supplies), BUT when Tabby and Christian go to look for Wes, we get this shot-

And in the trailer for 2x06-2x08, we see the inside of Johnny's bedroom, particularly this shot-

Do y'all see what I see?

Both Wes & Johnny have big posters of Edgar Allen Poe. In my trailer breakdown (I was mostly joking), I mentioned that it was kinda weird that Johnny has an Edgar Allen Poe poster when all the rest of the stuff on his walls seem to be band/music related. I probably would not have thought anything of it again, except for the fact that now we know Wes also has a giant Edgar Allen Poe poster in his place, too. This makes more sense for Wes, like he totally would be a Poe-bro, but this is weird, right?

Part of the reason I say that Kelly can't be BR by herself, and I'm reluctant to feel she is directly involved at all, honestly, (I mean, obviously she can't, she has an alibi for several of the tests) is due to the shots of her and BR from the trailer. Also, interesting that Kelly (who seems to have become absorbed into a cult) may be drowned by Rose (and possibly revived by Faran and/or Greg?) as it calls to mind a kind of twisted "baptism." BR may actually kill Kelly, but I also think that Faran will be in this scene (due to the shots of her from the trailer at the pool at night), and that she may rescue Kelly. We've already had a scene where Faran saves someone from drowning, she is perfectly set up to be able to possibly resuscitate Kelly. But maybe she just finds her.

Based on her outfit, I think it's safe to assume Faran was not planning to be at the pool, and something (a phone call? a text? a spookyspaghetti post?) has brought her here unexpectedly.

Imogen's mental state/Davie - I think we still have a lot to unpack here. I don't even know what to say about the ways Davie may or may not tie in. Motherhood is so central to the show, but particularly to Imogen, and it definitely feels like we have a piece of connective tissue missing from this storyline. I guess I should address the fact that it's not my first instinct to go, "Davie is alive!" based on 2x06, since we know Imogen's been hallucinating things.

Mouse's grandmother - just... where is she? not physically, I just mean, in what way does she matter? Does she matter?

Major suspects with no alibi during any of the BR appearances (I think) - Wes, Shawn, Dr. Sullivan, Mrs. Beasley, Mrs. Langsberry.

When we first got BR on screen, particularly when she fought Faran, I mentioned that I don't think we can trust the physicality of BR to necessarily match the person under the mask (like Ghostface). I also have always suspected that there may be different characters playing the Rose role at different times. That being said, we see slightly more "real" bits of Rose than we ever do of Ghostface (skin, hands, eye color, etc.) and if the reveals don't match that at all, it's going to annoy me a little bit.

Christian & Johnny = Billy & Stu? With all the Scream references lately, I couldn't help but have this thought when Tabby & Imogen are talking about how Johnny and Christian have hit it off. However, if they are both in on it, I think there has to be a third, as both Johnny & Christian have BR alibis at the same time (both at the roller rink, both outside in 2x06 with Ash & Greg, etc.), so then I think- Could it be Wes, Christian, & Johnny? Or maybe even just Wes & Johnny, with Christian as a possible fall guy?

Everything about the Jen/Noa/Shawn love triangle feels unresolved (I mean, obviously, since Shawn still doesn't know about the affair [or is pretending not to know], Jen robbed his house, and Noa didn't break up with him, despite wanting to) and I am still suspicious of both of these love interests (though kind of for different reasons) because why is this plot line taking up so much screen time if there isn't at least one big twist left with it? Tbqh, if I were Noa's friend rn, my advice would be, "I think you need to be single for a while," but obviously the rest of the girls don't have quite as much information as we do. That being said, I'm a little disappointed how much they all just brushed off the, "I've been cheating on my boyfriend," revelation. On the one hand, I get it, because if I were being told that at the same time as my friend coming out to me, I would want to be supportive of the vulnerability of that moment, and not make that experience negative for them. It would not feel like the right time to discuss the first part, particularly when it could come off as judgmental of their sexuality and not their actions. On the other hand, I can't help but think how absolutely merciless these girls would be if they had the same convo with one of guy characters. While I think they'd still want to be affirming of that guy's sexuality, I don't think they would ever give one of the guys a pass for cheating on his girlfriend repeatedly (much less if he were also asking his girlfriend for money for the person he's cheating with, etc. though they don't know about that). I mean, Imogen was pissed that Johnny was flirting with multiple girls when he was single and called his entire character in to question over it. While she admitted that was an overreaction, it's definitely a double standard. Sometimes I get a little tired of the feeling that the girls are allowed to behave in ways that we would find unacceptable for any other character (like honestly, don't get me started on Tabby and the locker room stuff from season 1 because I'm still not over it) and we're not meant to think too hard about it.

I can't help but wonder how Deputy Maroon is going to end up on the girl's suspect list, like I still barely know who that character is, and when you see the list in the trailer, everyone else on it finally makes sense (Dr. Sullivan because she was recording them and was Rose's therapist, the Beasley's because of their connection to the church, Mrs. Langsberry because she basically threatened them and has an obvious revenge motive, and Rose Waters because she is Rose Waters), so where does Deputy Maroon come from??

Other shots from the trailer I am most interested in-

^^ Tabby falling down the stairs at Christian's.

^^Someone (Imogen?) dragging someone's (Johnny's) body at the creamery. A nightmare? Or real?

^^ Noa discovering something (possibly a BR mask?)

I haven't forgotten about the Online BR cult, I just don't have anything new to add.

I have seen a lot of you talk about thinking it's Mrs. Langsberry and Wes, or Mrs. Langsberry and one of the other guys (usually Christian), and I want to acknowledge that I hear, you, I hear the Scream 2 references, and I get it! I have nothing new to contribute to that conversation, but I see what you're seeing!

So, yeah, I guess this is where I'll leave you this time! As always, if you wanna talk about anything specific, shoot me an ask!

[phantomoftheorpheum]

In my opinion, there were plot holes in the season that are really off-putting. But I also think the writers were just really unwise about their narrative time. With 2 episodes less than the first season, they did not balance their characters and storylines well.

I’m flabbergasted about the amount of time that was spent on the love triangle (I refuse to waste anymore brain power complaining about.. all of that). We could have had less of that in favor of:

- Giving Mouse a real storyline > making Ash more prominent, giving her grandmother an actual purpose or just cutting the character all together.

- Showing us the character development that they only tell us Greg has gone through.

- Follow through with Imogen’s mental health, hallucinations scares, and concerns for her child’s safety that were only relevant in the first half of the season.

- Make redemption house even more sinister and/or show characters like Kelly, Henry, or Greg noticing everyone around them becoming obsessed with Spooky Spaghetti. It would’ve been so easy to permanently write out Henry by making him one of Wes’/BR’s followers but of course they didn’t do that.

- Show at least a little bit of conflict between Mrs Langsberry and Tabby’s mom - opposing mothers defending the reputation of their children. Although I will say, this might have made it too obvious.

- Maybe even including more conflict by not waiting until the last episode to finally accuse each others partners.

Just some thoughts :P

I agree! I think the biggest issue with this season was the reduced runtime (I don't know if that was at all due to the writer's strike, but I hope they get an absolute minimum of 10 episodes if they do a third season), and the mismanagement of the time that they did have.

To address some of your points specifically- I also felt Mouse was super sidelined this season (yes, she is technically the person most intent on solving the mystery, but she's basically just around to info-dump at everyone else, not have any personal growth), and Ash was barely present. I was particularly disappointed by this, because I knew the actor's billing had been upgraded, so I thought we'd get noticeably more Ash.

Greg's redemption arc, if you can really call it that, since it seemed to skip the crucial "oh, he's questioning his ways and changing" part felt super rushed (as did Kelly's turn from 2x06-2x08). I think they did film more of it (since we know of some cut stuff), but since it didn't make it to the screen, it felt very strange that Faran suddenly liked Greg (I'm not saying they played it like she's in love with him or anything, but I feel like they skipped the middle bit between "he annoys the hell out of her and she really dislikes him" to "he's apologized and now they're hooking up,"). It was just too fast.

I definitely expected Imogen's mental health to ultimately play a bigger role than it did, considering how much time they spent on it.

It is hard to believe Mrs. Beasley, Pastor Malachi, Kelly, Greg, (and presumably Henry, since they never reveal him as an antagonist) didn't notice that there was an entire additional cult in their cult.

The scene where all the girls started bickering about their SOs was one of my favorites from the finale. It felt so realistic that they wouldn't all just be on board with these new people they don't know at all (and most of them didn't interact with the new love interests that weren't their own almost at all) and assume they're all great. It was refreshing to see the girls disagree and take a few jabs at each other, because while I love them supporting each other, those moments of coming together feel like they mean less when they're all just always on the same page.

As a writer and creator myself, I understand that it is much easier to criticize than it is to create, but one of the big advantages of collaboration is that theoretically you have a lot of people looking at your work with a critical and constructive eye and shaping the story into the best version of itself. This season felt like it really could have used some editing and refining (in the writing process, before you even get to the film editing) to streamline the storylines and not get too bogged down in areas that don't pay off.

To leave things on a high note- I really did have fun watching the show this season & trying to puzzle things out. I just feel there were some pretty glaring flaws, as well.

[phantomoftheorpheum]

noa olivar when i catch you noa olivar…

GIRL, your teenage boyfriend working a part time job just gave you TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS (or some portion of that, no idea how much Noa had) to bail out your "friend" that he doesn't even know, and then you immediately, shamelessly cheat on him with that person?!?! Shawn could turn out to be the actual antichrist at this point, and it's still like, Noa, girl, you made the decision to do this to someone who, for all you know, has been the sweetest and most supportive partner you could possibly hope for, and no matter how Shawn turns out, that says something really ugly about YOU.

I definitely think Noa's "test" is going to have something to do with her love triangle, because YIKES. Like, don't get me wrong, I like that the girls are flawed and make mistakes and they are teenagers, but talk about the most heartless decisions this season.

More 2x04 thoughts coming ASAP, just need to get them written up.

[phantomoftheorpheum]

PLL: OS (Summer School) 2x07 thoughts

*Spoilers for 2x01-2x07 of Summer School + the trailer for the final 3 episodes.

Okay, this is it, y'all, the last chance to make any predictions! I suspect this is going to be very long.

Unfortunately I have a lot going on rn, so I'm pretty exhausted and I fear this will not be my best, but I'm going to do my best to push through the brain fog. If I struggle with expressing my thoughts, at least you'll know why.

I think, for the final analysis of the season (I will post something about 2x08, but it will probably be a much shorter post, since I don't anticipate doing much speculating [outside of loose threads]) I'm going to break things down by girl, but fully go through every character most closely linked to each girl, then move on to stuff that doesn't fit well in those categories. Okay, let's do this. I hope you're ready for overthinking. (P.S. there are weird breaks in the formatting because of tumblr's limits of how long a single block of text can be).

Faran

I'm starting with Faran because she is both my personal favorite, and because I think she may be the simplest to talk about. So while it does feel like Faran's gotten to grow this season, a lot of her story is really an internal journey for her character development, and I think a lot of it isn't super directly linked to the BR plot. Despite her character getting a lot of physically strenuous scenes, I think her confidence/emotional strength was what was really tested this season. So like I said, aside from being linked to the church through the characters outside of the girls that she interacts with the most, Faran doesn't feel super tied in to the BR motive. I've really enjoyed Faran this season (and relate to a lot of aspects of her personality), but her story does feel a bit peripheral to the main events of the season (which is fine, tying to deeply tie villain motivations back to each of the girls in this plot seems like a lot. It worked with their moms, but would be harder to do repeatedly). That being said, there are characters and plot lines attached specifically to her, so let's take a look at those.

Henry - I think he's irrelevant. He was mentioned one time this episode. I think this is just a character (or maybe more the relationship) they just wanted to cycle out. He's felt doomed (figuratively speaking) all season, and if he doesn't make any kind of appearance in 2x08, that doesn't feel like a loose thread. I've never hated or loved Henry (and I think that's a bit of the problem and the reason they've basically written him out), he's just kinda there. And now he's just kinda not there. If they have a third season, I could see him possibly making very minor appearances (depending on the availability of the actor), but it does just feel like the show is pretty done with him. Considering his connections to Kelly's church, it is possible he "sold the girls out" in some way, but that just feels unnecessarily complicated, tbqh. This is probably the last time I will talk about him at all, unless he pops up in an important way next episode.

Coach Rhodes & Stringbean - It feels like this storyline was here to close out Faran's arc of finding herself and feeling confident/comfortable in her strength, both physically and mentally. Obviously Coach Rhodes has Faran's number, and they still haven't explained the info showing up on SpookySpaghetti, but that always felt like a distraction anyway (Coach Rhodes, I mean). I'll be surprised if he has any kind of important role.

Greg - I guess it's time for me to really talk about Greg, because I've mentioned him and Faran/Greg a little over the course of the season, but mostly in passing. It now feels like it's time. Listen... Greg is (I think) in my mind benefitting massively from the fact that I didn't bother to rewatch season 1, because I don't think I have as many negative feelings about him as people who that season was fresh for. I barely remember him in season 1, so I've forgotten a lot of the stuff he said/did, so basically season 2 Greg exists in my mind by himself. BUT, please don't get me wrong, he is still annoying and problematic and I think they've rushed (and cut) key stuff they really needed for a good redemption arc for a character like him. And I do think he needs a redemption arc if they want to move forward with him as a protagonist, even a background one. In the scheme of the show, sure, Greg is probably not the literal worst (I don't think he's murdering anybody, anyway), but the show has also made him intentionally an example of toxic masculinity, misogyny, etc. etc. etc. and because the show has chosen to center a lot of these topics, then ignoring that Greg has spent the majority of his screen time as an embodiment of all those things, just having him say a few "Sorry, I'm better now," kind of lines just doesn't cut it, imo. I actually really respect the idea of taking an incredibly privileged, toxic, and even harmful character and deconstructing them, to show that it's hard and it's a process and that people can change, but it's not easy to unlearn all that stuff. It can be fascinating, and also a reminder that, as hard as it might be for us to like someone like Greg, the message that "once a shitty person, not always a shitty person," is ultimately, if executed thoughtfully, a positive. So yeah, I think that kind of storyline can be done well, but it takes time, which is something this show lacks in a lot of ways (lots of characters, lots of elements, very few episodes). Personally, I think they should have played the long game with Greg, if they really wanted to turn him into a protagonist and possible love interest. I don't know why they wouldn't, except maybe that he's going to be sacrificed to add to the body count of the finale and so they knew they didn't have time to do a developed arc with him.

Faran/Greg as a ship - If you told me I had to write a follow up to season 1 and make Greg a love interest for Faran, here's what I would have pitched- Use season 2 to show that he's questioning things and people around him (maybe we introduce his gay cousin [I know that was a Riverdale reference, but that could have been anyone] who's visiting for the summer and he's someone Greg already loves/respects who calls out his inappropriate comments and toxic masculinity). Show him listening and absorbing the thoughts/behavior of the people that he's now surrounded by (his cousin at home, Faran and Ash [and Shawn if he existed enough to be anything] at work), instead of his usual group of friends from school. Show him becoming unsatisfied and embarrassed with the way that he's been acting. Make him realize, now that he's starting to open his mind a bit, that he does really respect Faran, shown through interactions of them working together. Have them clash at the beginning of the season, but also have them talk and have friendlier moments, because they're stuck together at work and there's a lot of just sitting around, basically. Let us, the audience, watch him change, while Faran maybe doesn't see it that much, because the change is slow. If you have to have Faran/Greg "romance" in season 2, make it casual. Faran will have spent enough time with Greg by mid-season that she's friendly-ish with him, but after her breakup with Henry, she's just looking for a FWB kind of situation and, now that she's seen a slightly better side of him, she thinks Greg's kinda hot. She sees him shirtless all day, she finds that their bickering has evolved into less serious topics and now it's evolved into some sexual tension, she doesn't see him as a real romantic option, but he and Kelly are broken up (which I would have had happen earlier), so why not? Get them to a point by the end of season 2 where you've set up a "he's completely smitten with her, but she thinks it's just casual and it doesn't even occur to her they could be a real couple," dynamic for season 3. If you get a season 3, great. If you don't, that's okay, too. That way, you still get your ship in season 2 (and it's PLL, they tend to have to have their ships), but it doesn't feel entirely unsupported, and you can continue to have that relationship evolve into something deeper, OR you can have it fall apart easily, whichever direction you want to go if you get renewed because there's groundwork for either (scenario one, Faran develops feelings, scenario two, she doesn't and realizes he has and that ends things). So that would have been my pitch if you told me I have to try to make this ship work (would I have pitched this ship in the first place? no, I wouldn't have, but that won't stop me from trying to retroactively work out how it could have been handled), anyway.

As it is, I really don't get the Faran/Greg thing from a pacing/storytelling/character POV. I get the tropes that they're leaning into with this relationship. I get that there's limited time. I think I entirely get what the intent was. I just don't think they've done enough with Greg's character or his relationship with Faran to support where we are now with them. Mostly. I said last week that I thought it was good they cut the 2x06 kiss, because while I could see where they were trying to go with things, it just didn't feel like they'd managed to actually get those characters to a place where it makes sense, but now I kind of want to take that back because I think this felt even weirder? Like I don't know what was said in the 2x06 conversation that led to a kiss, or what other Faran/Greg content they might have cut from earlier in the season, but I just didn't feel like they'd had enough legitimately friendly interactions (yeah, Greg apologized to her that one time, but they've not really talked about anything of substance with each other, ever) for them to suddenly be legit hanging out and hooking up. When Greg said, "You know why," I thought to myself- Yeah, I do, but what if I didn't know about the cut kiss from 2x06 and/or I haven't been paying that much attention to the show, would I? That conversation makes a lot more sense with the context of that not being the first time they've kissed, but since that scene was cut, I guess it canonically is and hhdfjshfkjsdfs. Because romance is not central to the plot, and you have 5 main characters, this is the perfect opportunity to plan multi-season romantic arc that doesn't ruin anything if it's not resolved, and I just think they should have taken that. Y'all, I want to be very clear that my critiques of the show come from a place of fun for me. I like thinking about how things that I believe are particularly weak elements could have been different. If I weren't enjoying myself, I wouldn't be watching, and I definitely wouldn't be making posts like this. So when I say I think something is done poorly, that doesn't mean that I'm horribly upset or I don't like the show. I just like talking about what could be done better. The only time I am legitimately annoyed (and it's more frustration than anything) is when I feel like I just cannot understand what/why/how the creative decisions were made. I don't think Faran/Greg has been handled particularly well (too fast, too unsupported, not enough change on Greg's part, etc.), but I do think I understand what the intent/goal was, in this case, and so it doesn't bother me as much as it easily could.

Kelly

I'm giving Kelly her own section this time, and I think it makes sense for it to follow Faran's, since their plots are tied together this season.

Kelly's actions are quite interesting to me this episode. She seems to be genuinely investigating the Bloody Rose plot, and she seems genuinely suspicious of her mother. And also she could be dead now. (I do not think Kelly is dead, because if she is, then Faran didn't have to find her right away. I assume Faran will be able to save her, tying up the "Faran rescuing people from drowning," arc).

The question remains- is Kelly genuine? She does a lot of things in this episode that point to "she doesn't know what's going on," like calling Sandy's mom and asking where she is, questioning her mom about who she blames for Karen's death, locking her mom up and fleeing her house. All these things are consistent with actions a character would take if they don't know what's going on and are trying to find out.

My problem with this is... I think that there is a plan from the BR team (I'm calling it a team, because I think it's minimum 2 people and likely 3 or more) to frame someone (or someones) for the Bloody Rose attacks, so also all of those actions (along with a possibly faked attack intentionally witnessed by Faran) could be part of Kelly setting up her mother as a fall guy (so in this scenario, Kelly is playing out the "concerned friend & investigator" role by doing things like calling Sandy's parents to establish actions that would make her seem innocent). When you think about it, it would make sense. A lot of the BR stuff ties back to the church, which her mother has a major role in. Whoever BR is, they were able to convince people that their victims are still alive and not trigger a murder investigation or search parties. Whoever BR is, they are covering their tracks. Mrs. Beasley would be a great fall guy if Kelly were involved, and Mrs. Beasley is abusive towards Kelly, giving her motivation to frame her.

So, for that reason, I haven't cleared Kelly from my list. That being said, her behavior this episode does more likely point to her innocence, as it's a simpler explanation and allows her to stay in the show as a sometimes protagonist, sometimes antagonist. I also think this episode makes it pretty difficult to think Mrs. Beasley and Kelly are involved. If they were, a lot of their conversations don't make any sense.

However, if Kelly is involved, I can't help but wonder if her BR attack was staged (I mean, she may really be injured à la Billy and Stu) because she was tipped off about the girls beginning to close in a bit by Faran's conversation with her. She could also be pissed at Faran for her thing with Greg (though since the show seems to have cut a lot of that, it's probably not that important to the plot) if she somehow found out about that.

Mrs. Beasley is obviously incredibly suspicious at this point, but since PLL properties favor twist villains, she may very well be too suspicious. She blames the girls for what happened to Karen (and what warped thinking, that this happened to Karen because of the video is. Ma'am Karen's doom did not start with a video, it started when your husband r**ed Angela), which is certainly motive. She also specifically ties Karen's death to The Orpheum, which is another arrow pointing at Tabby's storyline. Anyway, obviously she's growing roses (but literally anybody could go cut some) and she's connected to the church and we know she's hurting Kelly, so... But those reveals are all pre-finale, and also all of those things would be a great way to frame her.

The timing of Kelly's attack is difficult to pinpoint. It looked like it was daylight when she locked Mrs. Beasley up, and Kelly is attacked after dark. It's not totally clear, but I think the only side characters with alibis during this particular attack are (actual Rose, Mouse's grandmother, Shawn, & Greg). Since I believe that there may be multiple people dressing up as Bloody Rose, this isn't really helpful. (Finally a BR attack where it seems like Shawn has an alibi, though).

Mouse

This is probably going to be a pretty short section, since Mouse doesn't have a ton going on, though there are some interesting implications in her story this episode.

So... how did Mouse get exposed on SpookySpaghetti? It still feels like there's someone with inside info on the girls (phone numbers, their redemption house info, now this), but as far as we know the only character who knows Mouse made the Angela video is Ash. Are we supposed to believe people just recognized her/her voice (which tbf, was not particularly disguised)? Or was the laptop she was brought a trap? (or even if it wasn't, could someone have remote access to Mouse's computers?) Is someone tracking her digital info, and possibly even watching her through her webcams? It's interesting because we've only seen this happen once, but Mouse accepted that video chat with Bloody Rose, so could the point of that have been for Rose to gain access to her computer? That's never come back around.

Speaking of Mouse's computer, we did meet her "computer teacher" this episode, and he is clearly a character who would be capable of all that, but it feels waaaay too late for an important introduction.

Ash - Again, I don't have a lot to say here. The fact that he knew about the Angela video does look not great for him, particularly with the leaked phone numbers, since he's someone who probably had all the new numbers at that point. The girls say they didn't give the numbers to anyone, but I think they mean new people, because they were all still talking to their boyfriends, so I assume they were excluding people they really trust. But... I just don't see how Ash fits in as a good villain for this season. He's been very background and the biggest part of his story is Pride vs Hell House, and that just feels really genuine. He's nowhere near the top of my predictions.

Mouse's Grandmother & Rose - I am glad that this plot point is going to get addressed to some degree, because I've been wondering why they had Rose jump off of a bridge. It would have been really easy to just have her be unwilling to speak to the girls or not coherent when they found her. Whether or not she actually is Rose Waters, and what her connection to stuff might be, does still feel like it needs to be resolved. I don't have much new to say about Mouse's grandmother. I suppose she might have known Rose back in the day, since her daughter obviously knew Angela.

Imogen

There are a few elements to Imogen's storyline this season that need to be addressed in the finale, the most obvious being if BR is pretending to be her mother and why.

I still think we're building to Imogen stabbing someone (quite probably Johnny), just not sure whether that's going to be a hallucination, a bad guy, accidentally a good guy, etc. I don't think the fact that she's had two meltdowns where she's grabbed knives and Johnny has talked her down from both of them is in any way an accident (rule of threes).

I'm still unsure why they introduced Rebecca, when it's had absolutely nothing to do with anything (I guess it's informed Imogen's mental state and kept her relationship with her mother at the surface). I just don't see how they tie it in with any sort of satisfaction because we've literally met this character one time.

In general, I'm honestly really not sure how Davie ties in to everything, unless she doesn't, really, but it's part of the storyline BR is crafting for a film or something.

Johnny - He's continued to be super chill about all the stuff Imogen is throwing at him. Out of the three new love interests, he is the least developed, which I think makes him the least likely to have a big twist reveal (though I do have a theory that includes him, but we'll get to that later because there's a lot of other stuff I need to bring up first), but that shot of what appears to be Imogen dragging his body across the creamery floor is something. I've thought it is most likely a nightmare that she has (because if he was revealed as a villain and killed or injured, why would she need to move his body? Surely under those circumstances she'd just call 911, like do we think Imogen is going to hide a body this season???), but I also kind of expected it to be in tonight's episode. I think I also instinctively discredit it a bit because if it is real & what it looks like, that feels very spoilery and I would never put something key like that in a trailer, but also sometimes they really do put stuff in a trailer that you probably shouldn't. Since I have no new information on his character, this is about all I've got for you on this one.

Imogen/Johnny - Johnny has one point in his favor with me, and it's a small point, which is that he got the 2x06 Greg treatment this episode, AKA they gave him a shot were Imogen leaves and then he's all smiling and smitten. There's literally no one there to see it. But I only give that a tiny bit of weight because it could just be editing. The choice to linger on him in this moment feels weird if he's going to be evil, but weird choices happen sometimes. It also makes me very nervous that Imogen keeps talking about how safe she feels with Johnny. That seems like terrible foreshadowing. I just really want Imogen to not have to relive the trauma of dating people who have literally always had an ulterior motive.

Small note, but- "Stop analyzing me." Imogen, I love you, but do you know what a therapist is for?

Dr. Sullivan - Okay, this is still a big thing, even though we got some kind of explanation out of her in this episode. It's hard to know how honest she's being. Even without her vanishing and the rose petals appearing, her past with this situation didn't feel resolved. Archie murdering her son for revenge against Dr. Sullivan for simply not reporting his situation doesn't totally line up to me. Like I get that she should have done something, but he had apparently already escaped at that point, so... She's from Millwood. Did she know the girl's moms? Did she know Davie? We know she knew Rose. Also Imogen couldn't find anything about her son online. He has a gravestone, so it feels like he's real (though she could have scouted the cemetery and found a Sullivan and then used that person's first name in her explanation to Imogen), so that makes me question if Dr. Sullivan is Dr. Sullivan. I mean, I know that Dr. Sullivan is a character from the original and she is definitely actually Dr. Sullivan, but with all the theories around twins, could she actually be Dr. Sullivan's twin, impersonating her to gain access to the girls (would also explain why she was so willing to risk her license by recording the girls without their consent)? But that feels overly complicated, too.

Obviously Imogen has that dream where Dr. Sullivan is BR and impersonating her mother. But Imogen's story is so intertwined with motherhood, she clearly spends part of the season looking up to Dr. Sullivan as a kind of stand-in mother figure, and Dr. Sullivan and Davie do look a little alike. This is clearly unresolved, but I'm conflicted in where I think it's going. It could be more about Imogen's personal journey, and I would probably assume that if BR hadn't (probably, we didn't actually see it) been wearing a Davie mask.

Dr. Sullivan's flashback scenes were weird, like tv (or film) recreations, rather than legit flashbacks (another SpookySpaghetti film? Or possibly the movie BR might be making?) and what was with Archie's mask in the flashback??? That looked like a Christian monster mask, rather than the A mask we're used to seeing. That's another reason I wonder if the "flashback" might be a dramatized recreation for the film. And is that supposed to be Archie's "real" face?

I still haven't forgotten that someone pushed her down the stairs (according to her) and we've just avoided bringing that up again.

"Something about Rose compelled me," is a very interesting wording. It's also very "The power of Christ compels you!" feeling.

And then, obviously, she disappears and the rose petals are left behind. So presumably she's either been kidnapped by BR or she's in on it. I'm still very conflicted about this character.

Noa

Here we are again. That's it.

Okay, no, I'm actually going to talk about it. I'm not going to continue to go on about all the stuff leading up to this episode because I have discussed it in length in previous posts. Yes, I'm still frustrated with this storyline, and yes, that's still mostly because I cannot figure out what the show is trying to say/do here. Either Noa is getting set up for a big fall/surprise, or they genuinely didn't see how this arc was going to be received. It's one or the other.

While I can understand why Noa would feel so connected to Jen and why she might grow apart from Shawn and why this love triangle situation happened in the first place, what I struggle to understand (from a character perspective) is how she'll go from casually discussing the fact that she's been cheating on Shawn (those are her own words, it's not like she's in denial about her actions), then crying and seemingly genuinely feeling guilty, but then she'll turn around and think she's justified in smashing up his car because... he was angry at her and Jen for their affair?

Characters respond to things emotionally, and I do think Noa is someone who operates on her gut instincts, rather than spending a lot of time thinking things through, but what in holy hell was she thinking? Of course he's gonna be really pissed, Noa. You cheated on him (and it's not even addressed if he's aware this happened while she was in juvie, too), literally moved the person you're cheating with into your house under his nose, asked him for 2k to bail out the person you're cheating with, continued to instigate a sexual relationship with him instead of breaking things off, didn't actually do anything when the person you're cheating with literally robbed his own house (which he may also still not know), then dumped him without even being honest about why. But he's the bad guy because... he yelled at the person you were cheating with a put a hole in the wall? Wild. And like... listen, someone putting a hole in the wall in anger is a red flag to me (irl), but considering the circumstances and his lack of a history of violence, if we are supposed to think this in any way warrants Noa then smashing his car (which like... at least equally big red flag irl as punching a wall) then I don't get it.

So that brings me to the fact that I'm not convinced Shawn actually did damage the wall (he does not specifically deny this when confronted, but he's also a little distracted by the fact that his ex is smashing out his car windows). I mean, who the hell knows? We literally only have Jen's version of events and she's got a history of lying and twisting situations around to suit her ends. We also don't know what her reaction to being confronted by Shawn was. Her pattern in confrontation that we've witnessed is to get angry and accusatory with the person confronting her. She also basically taunted Shawn to his face with the comment about not getting much sleep, so why would I believe she didn't intentionally escalate that situation as well? She hardly seems like a character who would sit there and be all shaken up by it.

All that being said, if Jen is going to get majorly exposed as a villain, then this storyline will make a lot more sense to me. I'm frustrated with this storyline because I feel like I don't feel the emotions they imply we should with things like the cinematography, lighting, music, editing, etc. but if that is an intentionally contradictory choice, then that removes my frustrations. I mean, it's still a trope I don't particularly enjoy the journey of, but at least it will have been on purpose. And that's the thing I've been asking myself this season, is this on purpose? If it is, then great. It's not my kind of storyline, considering I really dislike love triangles, but they did what they wanted to do. If it's not, then someone missed the mark big time.

I'm going to discuss Jen further in a later section, so I'm not going to give her character too much attention here, but I do have one thing-

"Some lies are helpful," 👀 okay, Jen, are we gonna find out about yours? Is this going to be a "Well, yeah, I originally came here for nefarious purposes, but now I actually love you, so it's all good, right?" type of thing?

Shawn - If he's not a villain, then sorry bro, this has been a rough season for you.

Tabby

We've made it to Tabby! Our ultimate final Final Girl of season 2! At this point, it very much does seem like Tabby is at the absolute center of all this (which is why I am the most suspicious of characters directly tied to her) and that probably means some really not fun things in store for her in the finale.

We already know (from the trailer) that she's going to fall down the steps at Christian's house. She's also MIA from the riot at the Orpheum scenes (Riot At The Orpheum sounds like a PATD cover band or something, lol), so I think she's getting a lot of solo screen time in the finale.

This may not matter, but I wanted to note it here that Wes calls the owner of the movie theater "Mrs. Orpheum," which stuck out strangely to me. "The Orpheum" is a super common theatre name, so I have to assume this is a nickname (and not her actual name) Wes is using to refer to their boss, so then... considering how much is centered around Tabby this season, who actually owns the theater? And could they be behind the LLC that turned Imogen's house into Redemption House? Clearly whoever owns this place has a ridiculous amount of money, considering they're running a 35 mm capable theater that appears to have practically no customers.

Wes - So. Yeah. How likely do we think it is that Wes is dead now? Or at least kidnapped? His storyline is clearly completely unresolved (masks in his apartment, mysteriously missing for days, no BR attack alibis, his relationship with the film festival stuff, etc.) and he pretty much either has to be evil or is being framed. Him suddenly moving away (I mean, I don't think he's gone, but he did clearly tell Tabby he was leaving, so it's not like that was entirely fabricated) makes me wonder (assuming he's not BR) if he's been threatened to do so somehow. I also have no idea how Tabby is not suspicious of him. He's been acting weird, you have no idea where he is most of the time, you know he's a total asshole, and you found masks at his place and evidence he was using SpookySpaghetti, but he's not on your BR suspect list??? He's ridiculously suspicious! So suspicious, in fact, that it makes me slightly less suspicious of him. But the fact that no one has brought him up as a suspect circles me back around to being super suspicious of him again. While I'm considering some other options heading into the finale, if he were behind BR (though it has to be more than one person, imo) I wouldn't be shocked. He certainly has potential motive (I mean, if you're a terrible, terrible human being, which he is) with his film storyline and his "things are so hard for straight white men these days," mentality. I just don't love this theory as much as I did before the show started pointing at him so hard.

Mrs. Langsberry - I don't think I need to talk much about this. If she is part of the BR plot, we all know why. She has also been confirmed as a member of Kelly's church, so she does have links there, and it seems like someone on the BR team must be directly involved with the church.

Christian - I didn't want to be so suspicious of him, but we're here now. Also, Tabby, I love you, but someone is dressing up in special effects makeup and masks, both a horror mask and a hyper realistic one (we think) and your response is, "I'll ask Christian if he knows anybody," with absolutely no suspicion of him?? Like, WHAT??? And then you spent the night at his house??? I absolutely could not sleep in a house I knew had all those terrifying masks in the basement, particularly if someone was dressing up in masks and trying to kill me and friends?? I also think we spend a lot of time with Christian this season (without learning much about his past or him having his own separate arc), which makes sense if Tabby's the center of the story, but also if Tabby is the center of the story, then the villains are more likely to be directly connected to her. I also wondered why Tabby didn't question Christian suggesting they leave town together (don't you think some parents might have some opinions on this?), and because I am very suspicious of anyone the girls are not suspicious of, it made me think, "Are you trying to set up a situation where people won't think to miss her right away?" Like with Sandy or Pastor Malachi.

When Tabby asked Christian if he would help her make her movie, I thought, if he is part of the BR plot, and if that plot does involve making a movie, wouldn't it be absolutely wild if he responded to this with, "Already done." (like saying it in a friendly, 'of course' kind of way, but then meaning it literally). I feel like that's the exact kind of fun/silly thing this show would do. And if he's not involved, what a missed opportunity to creep your audience out and make them spiral (but I'm doing that anyway, so) about his character.

I want to be super fair, since I just wondered how Tabby is not suspicious of Christian and how she felt comfortable staying at his house (also where are anyone's parents? Like at least with Noa we understand why there's no parental supervision, but everyone else just stays over at their SOs place anyway?? this is one of those things I just have to not think too hard about because I don't think there is a good explanation), all of that applies to Imogen with Johnny and Noa with Jen, as well.

While horror has always been referenced in this show, it really does feel like horror films are making a huge appearance in different ways, and it just feels fitting for this to be Tabby-centric.

Speculation & More

With the "trio of villains" imagery on the poster (that has literally predicted the first 4 tests, so seems very relevant), I can't help but wonder if it could be as simple as all 3 of the new love interests. Johnny, Christian, Jen, all in it together. They're all new in town and we haven't met any of their family, so they're all pretty mysterious. I have at least one big thing about each of them that bothers me.

With Johnny it's simply those shots from the trailer (well, plus my incredibly far fetched theories about set decor and his line about his dad, but I wouldn't call either of those things compelling evidence), which make it seem like he may die in the finale (or at least be incapacitated), and since it seems to be Imogen that is possibly trying to cover that up, that doesn't bode well for his innocence. I can't think of anything that's been mentioned about him that would indicate motive, so I would have to assume that he's related to someone (like Chip) and has a revenge motive. But the shots from the trailer could still all be a dream.

With Jen it's the contradictory ways they've portrayed her storyline with Noa, and the fact that we know that we cannot assume she's being honest. It's not been specifically brought up a lot, but she could easily have a financial motive to be involved. Her stealing has been a consistent part of her character, and she says this is because she and her mom need the money. I don't know whether or not to believe that, but regardless of why she needs/wants money, it seems pretty clear she is a character who could be tied to the events of the season for financial gain (or it started that way and she regrets it, but is in too deep). It's also possible production just didn't realize how unpopular this love triangle would be (but it's hard to imagine, when they were emphasizing how loving/trusting Shawn is all season, like it feels very intentional, but then sometimes it doesn't) and the contradictory tone is not intentional.

With Christian it's his special abilities (horror makeup), the fact that he fits well into the "someone is making a movie" theory, and that he's directly tied to Tabby this season. His motive would presumably be film related (though there could be a personal element as well, since we know basically nothing about his past). But he could be a red herring or a fall guy.

Anyway, my problem with these three as a trio of villains is that it doesn't obviously connect back to the church in any way that I can think of, and I think it needs to. I guess all three of them could be supporting villains with someone else as "Rose," or maybe only one or two of them are involved.

Another consideration is that any of the love interests could be secondary antagonists, not in on the BR plot (or aided it without realizing how serious it was) and they will have a separate villain reveal (like Chip last season).

I certainly haven't forgotten about the online faction of the BR cult, particularly since it looks like they're rioting next episode (The Reckoning?), but how specifically they tie in, I don't feel confident in predicting. If the film theory is true, then I suppose their purpose could be to provide a "grand finale" for the film. I mean, it's kind of hard to get extras when your film is also an actual murder project, so brainwashing people into creating a big action sequence for you is the next best thing, I guess.

Dr. Sullivan's past just really feels like it also needs to come back around and be resolved, and I keep forgetting about the fact that she vanishes in this episode because I'm thinking about so many other things.

I'm bothered that I don't feel confident about where they're going with the Davie stuff.

I am putting a certain amount of faith in the show that they heard the criticisms of season 1 and the villain reveals will be characters we've spent a lot more time with. They have seemed to take other feedback (like the Ezra thing) and apply it to season 2, so I'm hoping this is the case for this, as well.

Anyway, I think this is all I've got right now. If you're still reading, thanks for sticking with me! I know this was a long one. I probably didn't need a whole "if they had to have Faran & Greg as a couple, here's how I would have done it," section, but Faran is my favorite and I've criticized Noa & Jen loads this season, so I gotta be fair and call it like I see it. If I think of anything else, I'll do a part 2, because this post is clearly long enough.

EDIT:

This literally doesn't matter, but I forgot to mention it & didn't want to make a whole new post about it, but I just now noticed Christian's movie on his name tag is Attack the Block, which is a absolutely ridiculous, underrated film, imo.

CLARIFICATION: I called all of the 3 new love interests "new in town," but I'm not sure that's really accurate. Christian is new in town, Jen (I think) lives elsewhere but reasonably near by because she mentions having to come to Millwood for summer school and clearly does not usually attend their school, and Johnny we really don't know. I didn't get the impression that he's recently moved like Christian, but we don't know where his house is, and none of the girls seemed familiar with him (and Millwood seems pretty small) and he mentions Rosewood when he's asking that girl out, so I kinda assumed he might be more from the Rosewood area. Anyway, "new in town" might only technically apply to Christian, but the point that all their pasts are pretty unknown still stands.

[phantomoftheorpheum]

I don't love the Noa cheating thing, but I guess within the plot it kinda makes sense with her having more in common with Jen than she does with Shawn. Like Jen understands what she's dealing with more than Shawn could (even if he wanted to) simply because she's experienced it with her mom. Definitely wondering if it's going to play into her test somehow. The truth coming out or having to choose between the two in a way

This got kind of lengthy (lol, no one has been surprised less), so I've placed most of it under the cut. Also to help avoid detailed spoilers for people who are trying to do so.

I agree that the plot isn't necessarily a bad one for the story (like I've mentioned a million times that I don't like love triangles or infidelity plots, but they can be executed well, and depending on how this situation turns out, I'm still open to being okay with the plot line in theory), just one that makes me feel highly critical of the characters involved. And personally a bit sad, as Noa was my favorite in season 1 and I can't currently honestly say that in season 2.

I can definitely see why Jen (or even just the situation surrounding Jen) is more exciting & appealing to Noa, particularly at this time. She's a teenager who has been in a fairly steady long term (by teenage standards) relationship with a stable, but possibly slightly boring, guy. Noa formed a connection with Jen when she was at a low point (taking the fall for her mom), and the kind of bond that you can create when you're spending so much time with someone outside of your normal context can be intense. And Jen is a secret (at least we have not seen Noa tell anyone else about their romantic connection), which is thrill seeking and a little "dangerous," without (usually) actually being that dangerous. Jen is mysterious. There's a lot Noa doesn't know about her (illustrated clearly by her having no concept of Jen's father or her relationship with him prior to this episode). And I do agree that some of the closeness Noa feels to Jen has to do with their commonalities and relationships with their moms. Jen gets the stigma of having been to juvie. Jen gets what it's like to live with a mother who is an addict. Jen understands what it means to have to struggle to pay bills and be the "adult" in her household when she shouldn't have to be.

The thing is, I'm not entirely sure Jen is actually being honest about her backstory/home life at all. I certainly have some suspicions about that. It could all be true, or it also could be largely fabricated (or selectively true) in order to bond with Noa. Hard to say at this point. The reason that I doubt Jen's honesty (when I am currently giving the benefit of the doubt to Christian and Johnny) is because we've seen her lie multiple times, casually, on screen. If Christian or Johnny are also doing that, we don't know it yet. Jen's family (or her possible lies about her family) have become plot relevant with Noa borrowing money to bail Jen out for stealing from her father, so that definitely makes me question how Jen and her family (or her lies) might be important in the following episodes.

So, all that being said, while I can understand why Noa is interested in Jen (even though I would have personally much preferred a "Shawn and Noa broke up between seasons and then this girl she knows from juvie shows up at summer school" plot, just due to my own pet peeves and the reinforcement of negative stereotypes around bisexuality) the way in which she's gone about conducting herself is just really pretty shit. It's okay to fall out of love with someone. It's okay to end a relationship, not because things were bad, but because it was no longer fulfilling. It's okay to realize that you feel more attracted to and connected to someone else, and therefore it's time to reevaluate and possibly end your relationship. These things happen all the time. People still get hurt, but it's not because anyone is a villain. The problem is... Noa isn't doing any of that?

The only dissatisfaction we have seen of her relationship with Shawn this season is that he didn't go to Mouse's birthday. She also doesn't like/get along with his mom, but it's not as if Shawn was upset with her over this, he recognized and understood this issue, and even pushed back against his mother when he witnessed it in person. Noa has continued engaging in a physical/sexual relationship with Shawn (generally prompted by her), as well as a romantic one, while lying to him about her past and present relationship with Jen. She has not only shamelessly introduced him to the person she's cheating on him with, but had the audacity to play into Shawn's affection/understanding of how hard things have been with Noa's mom in order to get him to pay for Jen's bail. Two thousand dollars is a lot of money, and the fact that she could sit there, ask for that, play into how Jen is dealing with the same stuff Noa has, lie to him about why Jen was arrested in the first place, fail to mention that it was Noa's plan to steal from Jen's father, and then immediately run off to kiss Jen behind his back is... Well, it's something.

Up until 2x04, I simply felt bad for Shawn, because he (that we currently know of) hasn't done anything to deserve this, but I also thought Noa was at least a little conflicted about this situation. Her behavior in 2x04 showed absolutely no regret/remorse for her actions, which reflects absolutely terribly on her character. I was expecting at least a "I don't know if I can do this," or something after the kiss with Jen, where we see her immediately feel guilty, but nope. Just all giggles while cheating with the girl your boyfriend just spent 2k on helping out. Like forget about Shawn as person/character for a second, this is about Noa and who she is, what kind of integrity she has, and it is revealing a really heartless side to her. I hope the show has plans to try to build her back up in the future.

All that being said, (aside from the whole "bisexuals are cheaters" stereotype that is being reinforced) I think the storyline could be really interesting. Will Noa feel bad about her actions next episode when she's had a little time to reflect, or no? Is Jen being honest? Does Shawn already know? I actually think (if this is genuinely plot relevant and not just side romance drama) this whole situation could be a legitimately good use of the love triangle/infidelity plot (even though those tropes are generally not my favorite). It definitely feels like Noa has a big storm coming, and I can't say she hasn't earned it. I'm very curious to see what her test is, and how the Jen & Shawn situation will play into it. Is she going to have to make some sort of decision, like you said?

Right now, on a personal level, I do not ship any of these three with each other. I'm very pro "go sit in a corner and think about what you've done" for them atm. And if Shawn is innocent, I hope he gets a cathartic moment by the end of the season. So... that's where I'm at with it. I get it, I can see ways in which it may work for the plot, it makes me very upset with Noa as a character.

[phantomoftheorpheum]

I'm very curious about this in the fandom

Okay, here's another fun one, I know my answer, and if you follow me then you probably do, too.

[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. 💜

[phantomoftheorpheum]

The PLL Reboot Needs to Kill More Important Characters

I've had fun watching the PLL reboot, but I can't stop thinking about how limited they are by the plot armor on the main cast and basically everyone they care about. The reboot really wants to be a slasher, something the original show was not, but none of the main Liars have died, only one has lost a family member, and none have lost love interests, unless that love interest turns out to be an antagonist (Chip). There are a reasonable number of deaths when you start adding them up, but most of them pack no emotional punch whatsoever, and don't really create a sense of danger.

In 1x01, we're introduced to our main characters- Imogen, Tabby, Noa, Faran, and Mouse. And by the end of season 2, the only deeply personal deaths they have suffered are Davie (Imogen's mother in 1x01), and arguably Chip (though he is a villain), maybe Karen because they feel responsible for setting Archie on her and she and Imogen were friends once, but none of them ever seem to actually miss her or anything. They've dated a collective 8 characters, and only 1 has been killed (again, Chip, who is a villain).

By contrast, if you look at another high school teen slasher show, MTV's Scream, you'll see a large difference in the importance of the deaths. In 1x01, we're introduced to our main characters- Emma, Audrey, Riley, Brooke, Noah, Will, Jake, and Kieran. By the end of season 2 (including the holiday special), literally half of them are dead. All of the survivors have had at least 1 love interest murdered, and most of them have had 2. Some have lost antagonistic love interests, but all of them have lost at least 1 genuine protagonist love interest. More than one have lost a parent. And that's not even counting the 2 members of the group who were killed as the opener to the show (because they aren't really main characters, but they are friends/members from the main group, making their deaths personal to our core protagonists in a way Angela's opening death is not).

PLL doesn't even kill the main villains (all 4 have survived the first two seasons, even Wes who got pitchforked in the chest??), whereas Scream killed their main villains either immediately or shortly after their reveals (only 2, but they still killed both of them). While PLL has been willing to take out secondary antagonists and random characters, Scream took out main characters, main love interests, secondary protagonists, main villains, secondary antagonists, and random characters, making the deaths feel less predictable and the killers more dangerous, even though I don't think there's a huge body count difference between the two properties.

Now, I'm not arguing that MTV'S Scream is by any means a masterpiece, but I do really appreciate that they didn't wrap everyone up in plot armor. Emma is obviously your final girl who the mystery centers on, so I didn't ever feel she was in danger of dying, but everyone else felt reasonably fair game, and that really helped hold onto the tension. I really thought season 2 of the PLL reboot might have the guts to take out one of the main girls (or at least a main love interest and/or family member) to make things feel actually dangerous, but they just never did.

If there's a season 3, I think they really need to be gutsier about who they're willing to take out. At this point, the plot armor is so thick, I almost think the only way to regain your tension is to kill a Liar.

Anyway, idk how everyone else feels, but this was one of my biggest issues with season 2. Bloody Rose doesn't feel scary because we already know all the girls will pass their final girl tests.

[phantomoftheorpheum]

PLL Reboot & Twins

Okay, first of all, I know this is an opinion that a lot of people aren't going to be on board with, but I've been thinking about this a lot lately and I want to share it, even if most people disagree. I am open to thoughts/feelings, because if I wasn't, I would just keep this to myself.

I know PLL as a franchise has a long history of twin twists, so I understand why people keep anticipating it, and I even understand why including that (beyond the Karen/Kelly storyline in season 1) is something people want to see. I get it. I really do. I think they overused it in the OG, but it is pretty iconic to the show.

I also think twin twists are done terribly more often than they're done well, and the lack of patience and runtime with this show really concerns me in this regard. The thing that makes a twin twist really good or not is all the groundwork building up to it. It's all the clues woven into the story that make it inevitable, that if you didn't realize what was happening before the reveal, it makes you think, "I should have known," and not just because the franchise has a history of pulling twin twists. If it wouldn't work without the audience being familiar with the OG, then it doesn't really work at all, imo.

Considering the structure of this reboot so far (with the main mystery of the show being solved each season), and the limited runtime, I just really struggle to see them being able to pull off all the set up needed for this storyline, unless it's not part of the main mystery (and therefore allowed multiple seasons to develop). The times I've seen this pulled off with extremely limited time also had much smaller casts, and the need to spread the story out between so many characters in this show makes me very wary of them attempting this trope.

When I think about the instances that I've seen a twin twist really work (I won't name any here because that would be inherently a massive spoiler to anyone who hasn't seen any of the works I'm referring to, but I assume you are familiar with the OG and its successes and failures in this regard), it's done in a way where it immediately makes all of the pieces finally fall into place, and when you rewatch, you have a completely new perspective on the material that you didn't the first time around. It doesn't matter if you guessed it partway through or not, because the establishing character and narrative work is so solid that you feel satisfied with that last puzzle piece slotting into place and proving you correct.

It also inherently concerns me that this franchise actually does have a history of using the "secret twin" trope, because I know that they know the audience is on the lookout for it. Based on how they've handled some of the other twists, I worry this would lead to them trying so hard to hide this twist that they know people are looking for, it would come out of absolutely nowhere, with no establishing information. And that's when the twin twist is terrible.

Honestly, I think incorporating this trope into the show in a genuinely satisfying way is a tall task, and while I have seen people have some cool/original ideas about who could have a secret twin and why & what their motive might be for being an antagonist, I haven't seen anyone really get into the details of how they would actually incorporate that twist into the story in a way that provides necessary foreshadowing, without being completely obvious to all viewers. (I understand this is difficult to do without knowing the general direction of where the plot is going, but it seems to me there are a lot of twin twist ideas that are great in theory, but a lot harder to pull off in reality).

I would certainly be intimidated to try to pull that off for a fandom expecting it. Personally, I do think they could accomplish their desired shock factor without it just coming out of left field if this was a fraternal twin twist (particularly if those twins aren't the same gender), where the characters aren't identical and they both get a lot of screen time, we just don't realize they are twins working together until the big reveal (and obviously, as previously stated, in order for any of these versions of the trope to work, you still need really good build up, foreshadowing, recontextualizing of scenes, etc.) where we realize their various backstories/statements/relationships with the family etc. are all about the same family. I actually think that could be really fun (I even think the show has characters inadvertently set up for this version of the twist right now, even though I don't think it's even a little bit on purpose). But it does utilize the twist in a way that is pretty different from how PLL has in the past (where the identical nature of twins is very important). Like I said, personally this is a direction I think could be cool and subversive to what the audience expects from a twin twist, but in many ways it's a different twist in its function entirely, so I don't know if it would satisfy the general audience desire for this trope.

Anyway, under different circumstances, I might be really down for this storyline, but... considering the runtime, format, and size of the cast, I'm just not convinced this trope is right for this version of this show. I'd love to be wrong, though.