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Pretty Little Liars

Pretty Little Liars- A Dark Ali (5×10)

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Ali went dark this week. Aside from going totally rogue, she went literally dark. Dark hoodie, dark hair… Vivian Darkbloom style. The liars realized that they can’t trust Ali at all without even knowing how capable of lying this girl really was. She’s a compulsive liar. Plus, is the title some kind of clue? A dark Ali? Like as in Ali is A with her dark hoodie and hair? On the other hand, with Ali in full liar mode, Mona didn’t seem as crazy as usual. It actually felt like she was on Team Liars! 

Much of this weeks episode dealt with Cyrus, the man confessing to kidnapping Ali. Cyrus knew everything about Ali’s fake story. He knew she was hit with a rock, kept in a basement, blindfolded, etc. It has A written all over it… Yeah, A for Ali. The girls were hoping and praying that Alison would not identify this innocent man and put him in jail, falling for A’s master plan, Ali played her cards just right. 

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For one, Cyrus is no “stranger” she told Emily. He’s actually a guy Ali was dating while on the run. How romantic. She used to hide-out in a basement with Cyrus and a couple of other friends. One night, Cyrus stole her bag, her belongings and her money. When Ali tried to stop him, he fought her and cut her on the leg giving her that scar the doctor asked about a couple of episodes prior. Therefore, while the girls are asking Ali not to send an innocent behind bars, Ali doesn’t see him as innocent. He hurt her, and according to Ali he should pay. Emily advises Ali that this doing that is like walking into one of A’s traps with both eyes open. Plus, if Ali goes down–if her story becomes public, the girls go down too.

Spencer is probably the smartest of all of these girls. Her plan is to beat A to the punch. It’s obvious that either way, A will want to expose Ali’s real story. Which means that if the girls take Noel Kahn’s evidence and show it to LT. Tanner, they have no more secrets. Nothing else to hide. Of course, this freaks Aria out because telling the truth about Ali’s disappearance and A leads the police to New York and Shawna. Spencer informs Aria that all she has to do is admit that she was acting in self defense. Aria freaks out stating no one will trust a liar, but it makes sense that these girls come clean before evidence making them liars is given to the police. Plus, they have to cut the cord with Ali asap. 

IAN HARDING, LUCY HALE

In an attempt to figure out who gave the recordings to Cyrus which were stolen from her not-so-clever hiding spot, Spencer watches the security footage and sees Melissa handing something over to a stranger. Fed up with all the secrets and lies, she finally confronts her sister, who cryptically tells her that she’s thinking of running away because it isn’t safe for her here. She tells Spencer that maybe she should go with her because A has something big planned for Ali. Okay, well she didn’t say that, but she was implying it. Basically, Melissa knows Ali wasn’t kidnapped and she knows that sooner or later, if the girls don’t cut ties with Ali, their all going to go down. She doesn’t want to see that happens to her sister. Is she telling the truth? Is she lying? I haven’t trusted Melissa since day one, but for some reason I think this whole time, the shadiness and the lies, they’ve all been to help Spencer, mainly because she knows a lot more than her sister does. 

Emily, the self-righteous liar, puts a stop to Spencer’s “come clean” plan insisting that the girls have to stick together. Plus, she talked to Ali who told her the truth about Cyrus and she doesn’t think throwing Ali under the bus will do anything. According to Em, Ali is genuinely scared and she’s not going to ID this man. While the girls sent Em in there because she’s the hardest one to disappoint, Ali has got it down only because every time she does, Emily forgives her anyways. She’s really the anchor holding the girls together. But not for long. 

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Meanwhile, Hanna is trying to live a normal life and not care about the Ali/A drama. She’s sick of Ali pulling the strings in her life and wonders what it would be like to be a normal high school teen going to football games and worrying about chorus auditions. She decides she’s going to try out, but of course, when she gets to the audition, Mona is already there, showing off her pipes. Girl can actually sing, who knew! Hannah gets annoyed and tells Mona to quit it. As the girls are called into the room, Mona faints and Hanna is actually worried about her ex-bff. When Mona regains consciousness (whether really or just faking it) she finds Han sitting over her and asks for her purse. “I need my purse,” she demands, which obviously makes Hanna really curious as to what’s in it. As she goes to get the purse, she takes a peak in and finds a picture of Cyrus’ mug shot in there. Hmm.. Did Mona set this guy up? Is she still A’s minion? She’s about to find out. She follows Mona and ends up in her rental car, in front of the police station. Mona has all these gadgets on her and she knows how to use them. She’s like a spy– it’s quite impressive. Instead of lying to her former friend, Mona explains that she’s here to find out who set Cyrus up because it wasn’t her. The two spot Ali and her father walking into Lt. Tanners car.

Time is running out and Ali’s father is really adamant about her ID’ing this guy before he’s released from custody. Lt. Tanner takes Ali to the basement that Cyrus admitted he kept Ali in and explains that even though Ali was blindfolded most of the time, she needs to know if she remembers this place. Ali gets flashbacks of her time here with Cyrus and explains, “I could never forget it,” therefore ID’ing him. Lt. Tanner calls in to the station that they are not to release him, but she’s too late. Cyrus escaped and unfortunately, Mona and Hanna weren’t able to see who his getaway was.

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Emily meets Ali at her house after the police station and basically explains that she’s done with their friendship. Ali tells her that she wasn’t there and Emily flips out. When was she not there? When she, or  Spencer, Hanna, and Aria almost died multiple times throughout the year trying to protect/find/help Ali? When were any of the liars not there for Ali? Yet she does whatever she wants, without their consent, not thinking about them, not telling the truth. She would probably throw them all under the bus in order to save her ass. She’s the only one who stood up for Ali when she came back to school, thinking she changed. And she’s the one who looks dumb now. Ali is left in tears as Emily takes Noel Kahn’s evidence over to Spencer’s house. We’re back to 4 liars again and their taking matters into their own hands. As much as Aria doesn’t want to come clean for Shawna’s murder, Emily hopes she’ll get on board because they have to cut ties as soon as possible. 

Earlier in the episode, the girls wondered why A wasn’t texting them about Cyrus in jail. It was rather odd that A was so quiet about this situation. Well, that’s because A wasn’t behind it. Ali was. Ali always has a plan. She tracked down Cyrus and made him confess to kidnapping her so that she could ID him and put everything behind her. He escaped, she got him a plane ticket out of the country providing him with a fresh start and Lt. Tanner would never find him. It wouldn’t matter though because she would know Ali’s story was real and that there was someone out there who was responsible for it. Done deal right? Probably not. I’m sure A has something up his/her sleeve, granted there even is an A. 

zap-pretty-little-liars-season-5-episode-10-a--001There has to be though right? I mean, all of this happened because of A. Ali isn’t in cahoots with A.. she was running from him/her. Plus, we’re still on the mission to find out who killed Mrs. D and Bethany Young. Was it all A’s doing too? Plus are we really suppose to believe that everything Mona is doing is in fear of Ali? The whole Mona army was because she didn’t want to be bullied by Ali again? I’m not sure where I stand on Mona… she’s so bipolar and she’s so good at it!

As for Melissa, I have a feeling she’s going to die soon. After her confrontation with Spencer, she decided to run away but before leaving town she recorded her a video telling her the truth. What is that truth? Will the video ever get to Spencer? Will A kill Melissa before she leaves? Will the video get into the wrong hands? So many questions surrounding the Hasting’s family!

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Lizzy Buczak is the founder of CraveYouTV. What started off as a silly blog in her sophomore year at Columbia College Chicago turned her passion for watching TV into an opportunity! She has been in charge of CraveYou since 2011, writing reviews and news content for a wide variety of shows. Lizzy is a Music Business and Journalism major who has written for RADIO.COM, TV Fanatic, Time Out Chicago, Innerview, Pop’stache and Family Time.

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WATCH: The New ‘Pretty Little Liars’ Is Dark AF

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WATCH: The New 'Pretty Little Liars' Is Dark AF

‘A’ is not messing around in the Pretty Little Liars spinoff Original Sin.

If you thought we’d seen the last of ‘A’… think again. The masked stalker is back to torment a new group of little liars on the HBO Max series. 

The ten-episode season will debut Thursday, July 28 with three episodes. Two new episodes will follow on August 4 and 11, with the final three episodes debuting on August 18.

A new teaser for the series reveals the tone is going to be much darker than the original ever was, and that’s likely thanks to Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (Riverdale, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) who serves as writer and co-executive producer. 

Check out the teaser — complete with a new version of the intro song “Secret.”

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

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We Don’t Need a ‘Pretty Little Liars’ Reboot

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Pretty Little Liars Farewell, My Lovely

Pretty Little Liars, which premiered in 2010 on ABC Family (now Freeform), took fans on a rollercoaster ride. The twists and turns were so dramatic and exaggerated, halfway through the show’s 7 season run, many fans began to taper off. 

Dedicated fans, however, stuck it out despite the fact that the show was rapidly going off the rails. Why? Because they desperately needed to know the identity of “A,” and later, “AD,” once and for all. 

And the glorious day came on June 27, 2017. As we sat huddled up in front of our TV screens, we were filled with a mix of emotions ranging from confused, misled, and finally, relieved.

“Relief” is a strange emotion to feel when a show ends. Most fans tend to feel a sadness wash over them when the curtain falls, but with PLLthe finale was a sign that the madness was officially over. 

The journey with the liars is one we’ll never forget, but let’s face it – most fans are not clamoring for more, especially not a mere three years after the finale. Heck, some of us are still trying to piece that ending together in a way that makes any rational sense. 

We’re living in a time where reboots are hailed by TV executives as a sound and sure-fire idea. There’s plenty of examples of success: Dynasty, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Charmed, and Roswell, New Mexico. Even revivals that have honed a place in society with shows like The Conners and Fuller House both leading the pack. 

Pretty Little Liars PlAytime

PRETTY LITTLE LIARS – “PlAytime” – After Noel Kahn’s abrupt death, the Liars try putting their lives back together again in “Playtime,” the first of the final ten episodes of Freeform’s hit original series “Pretty Little Liars,” airing TUESDAY, APRIL 18 (8:00 – 9:02 p.m. EDT). Fans can catch up on where the Liars left off with an all-day marathon of season seven starting at 11:00 a.m. EDT and running up to the one-hour spring premiere at 8:00 p.m. EDT. (Freeform/Eric McCandless)
SHAY MITCHELL, LUCY HALE, TROIAN BELLISARIO

But the one thing that these reboots have in common is that the original shows aired a decade or more ago. The key to a successful reboot is nostalgia; they aim to hook the original fans while also appealing to a brand new generation. 

Reboots may either reimagine a familiar story with a modern spin and new characters or reunite fans with characters years later a la catching up with friends years after college. 

It’s obvious that PLL does not fall into the category of a show that warrants a reboot. Not yet, at least. There’s no sound argument when one could argue that enough time has passed to try to take a stab at this overly complex teen mystery drama once again.

One of my biggest gripes with the PLL reboot, which was officially announced as an HBO Max original, is that it doesn’t center around the original liars. 

I’m firm in my belief that had it not been for the popularity, relatability, and dynamic of Lucy Hale, Ashley Benson, Troian Belissario, Sasha Pieterse and Shay Mitchell, the show wouldn’t have found a cult-like following or lasted as long as it did. The ladies made the show worth watching and managed to sell us on every single outrageous storyline. 

Many of us stuck with the series because of our love for the liars. But the reboot, billed as “set miles away from Rosewood” in a new town, with a new set of characters, strips the very identity of PLL. 

How can you have a show without any involvement from Aria, Emily, Hannah, Spencer, and Alison? They are the pretty little liars. There is no show without them. No one is interested in watching a new generations of teens get tormented by threatening cyber-stalker who knows too much about their life, which was fun to watch partially because it paralleled the rise of technology and the fears surrounding privacy that came along with the emergence of social media.

Even if the ladies considered (and I use that term loosely — they are over here working on their careers and expanding their families, after all) returning for a reboot, not enough time has passed for a proper reunion. 

There’s been talk of a potential movie sequel involving the original liars, and truthfully, that’s an idea fans of the original could get behind. It would be a one-time thing, it wouldn’t overstay its welcome or feel forced, and it would hopefully gives fans the follow-up they’ve been dying for. 

Earlier this year, Hale said she wouldn’t “rule anything out” but ultimately, they’d “need a little more time to pass.”

“I feel like we would get more out of it if we were, like, 10 years down the road,” she explained to Entertainment Tonight, adding that she’s protective of the show. Hale worked with Roberto Roberto Aguierre-Sacasa on the short-lived Katy Keene, so I’m truly curious to see what she thinks about this upcoming reboot. Note: none of those involved with the original have weighed in or commented yet.  

Honestly, much of the pushback that I’ve seen about this rumored reboot is for that very reason — fans, even the ones who thought the finale came out of left-field and was a total dumpster fire — are also super protective of it. We don’t want anything or anyone to taint the show’s legacy. 

We also cannot ignore there’s the fact that PLL’s Marlene King attempted her own reboot of sorts shortly after the series concluded and even centered the storyline around two familiar faces, Alison DiLaurentis (Pieterse) and Mona Vaderwaal (Janel Parish), to drum up support and interest from the core fandom. That didn’t work.

PLL: Perfectionists lasted a whole ten episodes before Freeform pulled the plug leaving any fans that submitted themselves to yet another A-like mystery in the dark. It’s a shame the series wasn’t give a real chance because it had potential if it stayed true to the books and veered away from trying to make it so much like it’s predecessor. In this case, a complete overhaul could’ve worked if done right. 

And it’s probably better if I don’t mention Ravesnwood, the second PLL spinoff that centered around Caleb Rivers (Tyler Blackburn), which saw a lot of people seeing dead people in the neighboring town. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy the show’s ten-episode run, but it’s yet another example of the franchise trying to reinvent the wheel and failing miserably. 

If King couldn’t make these shows work while PLL was at its height, maybe it’s because the audience needed to take a break from the world of A?

Which brings me to my next point… Roberto Aguierre-Sacasa. You may not know the name, but if you love teen dramas, you’re familiar with his work. He’s the brains behind The CW’s successful and oftentimes disturbing teen thriller Riverdale.

One fan on Reddit noted that “PLL walked so Riverdale could run,” and let’s be honest, plenty of fans (and critics) have called the show a hot mess. However, that’s what we’ve come to love about Riverdale; it’s wacky, weird, and only tolerable when you suspend all disbelief.

He’s also proven himself in the reboot-realm with Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. CAOS is an entirely different ballgame; it’s a dark twist on the 90s sitcom Sabrina the Teenage Witch that pulls much of its inspiration from the Archie comics. It offers up an entirely new world featuring new takes on some beloved characters. Not to mention Sabrina wrapped its run in 1996 meaning enough time has passed; the world was ready for the Spellman’s once again. 

As I mentioned, CAOS is ending with its upcoming season while Aguierre-Sacasa’s other series, Katy Keene, was cancelled after just a season at The CW. 

I’m not questioning Aguierre-Sacasa’s qualifications — I’m a fan of his shows — but I don’t think jumping into and revamping a still-fresh franchise is necessary right now.

Apparently, neither does Twitter. One person commented that he should “stick to one show and make that good.” I’d prefer HBO Max gave Katy Keene another try rather than investing into this PLL reboot. 

The reboot seems to be hoping to capitalize on the the original fandom (the brief teaser features the same imagery as the original right down to the logo), but the fandom has opposed a reboot from the start. And they’ll be further alienated with the reboot’s description of a “horror-tinged, coming-of-rage” version.

Aguierre-Sacasa’s strength lies within creating shows permeated with twisted mysteries that have a campy, horror vibe, which is tonally different than the psychological mind games we’ve come to expect from PLL

There’s room for another teen thriller, obviously, but maybe it would be best to leave the franchise alone and call the show, which is shaping up to be its own entity anyway, something else entirely? “Original Sin” minus the “Pretty Little Liars” would have given the series a fresh-slate without any comparisons.

Here’s the show’s description so you can decide for yourself: “Twenty years ago, a series of tragic events almost ripped the blue-collar town of Millwood apart. Now, in the present day, a group of disparate teen girls — a brand-new set of Little Liars — find themselves tormented by an unknown Assailant and made to pay for the secret sin their parents committed two decades ago. as well as their own.”

I’ll watch merely out of curiosity and because I’ve made television my job, but man, I haven’t even had time to miss PLL yet. 

If you really need to feel the PLL-void in your life, the best thing to do is just stream the original episodes, because I think we can all agree that some things are better off left alone… at least until enough time has passed to revisit them through a new lens.

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‘Pretty Little Liars’ Cast Reunites for a Podcast that Involves Drinking and Rewatching Episodes!

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Pretty Little Liars Cast Including the Moms Reunite for Podcast

The moms of Rosewood got out of the basement just in time to start their own podcast!

Go mamas! 

All jokes aside, Holly Marie Comb (Aria’s mom Ella), Lesley Fera (Spencer’s mom Veronica) and Nia Peeples (Emily’s mom Pam) are reuniting to rewatch episodes together and offer some commentary. 

Honestly, I’ve always wanted to know what the moms of Rosewood thought about what their daughters were up to/involved in, especially since half the time, it didn’t seem like the liars even had parents! 

The podcast, titled “Pretty Little Wine Moms” (yes, ladies!) means that they will be sitting down with their favorite drinks and breaking down one episode at a time. Since they were a part of the production, they’ll be able to add in behind-the-scene tidbits. 

Here’s where things get super fun — each week’s episode will have a new special guest that joins in for the chat. 

According to Digital Spy, guests will range from other cast members, writers, directors, and producers. 

This month alone the podcast will feature Shay Mitchell (Emily Fields), Brant Daugherty (heads-will-roll Noel Kahn), and Torrey DeVitto (Melissa Hastings). 

In September, the lineup includes costume designer Mandi Line, writer/producer Bryan M. Holdman, Ashley Benson (Hannah Marin), Lucy Hale (Aria Montgomery), Sasha Pieterse (Alison DiLaurentis) and Tyler Blackburn (Caleb Rivers). 

I love how much support the moms are getting from the cast and that the cast is finding new ways to keep this fun and twisted show alive! 

Of course, we cannot wait for the mom-circle to be completed with a guest appearance by Laura Leighton (Hannah’s mom Ashley)!

The idea for the podcast came to Lesley where she was bored at home during COVID. She invited her co-stars to appear on her podcast with her husband, Ned Mochel, and fans were so thrilled that the moms were back together again, they figured why not roll with it?

We’re so glad they did. 

And we cannot wait for the mom’s to spill some tea! Maybe they’ll finally tell us how they got out of that basement…

Here’s a snippet of how I envision this podcast in my mind: 

 

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