After it finally runs its course, Pretty Little Liars will have an interesting legacy: it was one of the first teen-focused shows to really ride the wave of social media fandom, but its online following is partially motivated by working out what the fuck is going on with the show’s wonky plotlines.
Over its six-and-a-bit seasons, fans have contended with a mish-mash of bingeable soap-drama and baffling stories that often, uh, don’t make sense whatsoever. Now, in a roundtable discussion with Vulture, PLL’s cast has admitted something:
They’ve been just as confused as you.
When asked about criticisms of the show’s patently bizarre detours, Troian Bellisario said she agreed with fans “100 percent.” Lucy Hale elaborated, saying “we often had questions.
“Often these story lines just disappeared into thin air. We would be like, Whatever happened to that character? Why didn’t we ever mention this again? Why did Hanna only wear a cast for an episode? Things like that.”
Bellisario apportioned blame to the stop-start nature of the show’s production, describing how writers were often forced to stretch storylines to fit within humongous episode orders. She said they “did a really good job of rolling with the punches,” before admitting it “sometimes became convoluted and frustrating.”
As for the specific elements woven into that flexible structure, Hale said “sometimes I feel they didn’t really know Aria’s place, so they just had her date a hundred guys.” Shay Mitchell reckoned that applied to all of the main characters, before Bellisario revealed even they couldn’t keep track of their characters’ relationships.
“Yesterday when we were doing something for press, we had to plan out all of our different hookups along a timeline, and there were whole story lines of ours that we totally forgot.”
Sasha Pieterse admitted not knowing “who people were hooking up with. We were like, we don’t remember him.”
Of course, the gang addressed the story’s focus on goddamn A, with Bellisario intimating “you can keep on mining that story forever. [PLL character Alison] could be “A” and then have her own show.”
Mitchell added “and then “B” and then “C” and then “D.”” So much for ironing out the plot, then.
Mitchell added “and then “B” and then “C” and then “D.”” So much for ironing out the plot, then.
Read the full exchange, and their non-explanation of how the show’s mums escaped that one basement, right here.
