Regardless of how you feel about the polarizing series finale and ‘Uber A’ reveal of Pretty Little Liars, there is no denying the show was a massive success for ABC Family (now Freeform). It even changed the game in terms of how series interact with fans on social media. PLL dominated Twitter on the nights it aired.
Even when its popularity slowly began to fizzle out, fans were still obsessed with tracking clues and creating elaborate theories in online forums. It united fandom in a way many shows had rarely achieved. But it was also famous for leaving massive plot holes and unresolved storylines. Here are a few big things wrong with Pretty Little Liars fans chose to ignore.
10. Ezra And Aria Were In A Dysfunctional Relationship
At the end of the day, no matter how popular Ezria (the pairing of Ezra Fitz and Aria Montgomery) became, it was not a healthy relationship. In fact, it was downright predatory in nature. Ezra Fitz was a school teacher who started a relationship with a teenage girl, Aria. This was discussed a few times on the show but never in a way that accurately addressed how messed up the relationship really was.
When it was revealed that Ezra had actually seduced Aria in order to get access to her life and stalk her and her friends to write a book, I had to wonder why this child-grooming creep was never put in prison. Yet the series always tried to display him and Aria as meant to be instead of acknowledging the glaringly dark and disturbing implications behind Ezra’s “love.”
9. Charlotte DiLaurentis Pulled Money Out Of Thin Air
When it was revealed that the woman we had come to know as was actually Charlotte DiLaurentis and one of the many ‘As’ that terrified the liars over the course of the season, it became apparent there were some pretty big plot holes in the PLL writers room.
For starters, Charlotte was formerly Charles Drake, so how on earth did she afford her gender reassignment surgery and the necessary care needed to support herself afterward? She was in the Radley Sanatorium during this time too, it’s not likely they would have allowed her to make medical decisions for herself. Not to mention the intricate games she created to torment the liars. How did she craft all those dolls or the elaborate real-life dollhouse? Where did the money come from for her to pull off all these extravagant schemes?
8. Bethany Young’s Body Was Misidentified
Remember the pilot episode? Remember how “Alison’s” body was found and it was the moment that kicked off the entire show? We were lead to believe Alison was dead because of this and yet we found out later on that it was never Alison’s body. It was Bethany Young’s. That means her body was misidentified. How is that possible?
I get the cops in Rosewood are corrupt more often than not but is the medical examiner in on it too? You would think someone would have recognized this girl was not the same one from the missing posters (Alison was supposedly extremely popular around town too) and would have said something.
7. No One Ever Installed Alarm Systems
How many times did A break into someone’s house to leave behind a threatening message or a mysterious object? Not even just A, there were countless break-ins and murders in Rosewood and yet no one ever actually did anything about it. Would it have killed one of the wine moms to put a call into their local alarm system service and have one installed?
Why not buy a couple of guard dogs while you’re at it? It’s a little absurd how many kidnappings and assaults happened in this small town that no one considered beefing up their security. And if the cops in this town weren’t helping, why not try to go to a neighboring town? Surely not even precinct in Pennsylvania is run by A.
6. No One Ever Tried To Move Out Of Rosewood
Look, I get this isn’t feasible because if everyone moved after one bad thing happened to them in Rosewood then Pretty Little Liars would have ended after the first season. But I don’t understand why there weren’t more efforts of them at least attempting to move.
I mean you would think their parents would start to consider this town was unsafe for their teenage daughters to grow up in and ship them off to boarding school or something, at the very least. Then, of course, A would strike and send them right back because of some horrible blackmail or secret.
5. What Was The Number Tippi The Bird Was Humming?
In season four, a big deal is made out of the African Grey parrot, Tippi. The bird belonged to Alison’s grandmother and would even mimic Alison’s voice because they once shared a room when Ali was living with her grandma. Jessica becomes the new owner of Tippi but becomes annoyed by her and pawns her off on Hanna who, in turn, gives her to Spencer.
One night Spencer gets annoyed by Tippi singing a song constantly until she realizes it’s not a song but a phone number (the dial tones of each key). She and Aria try to call the number but no one ever answeres. By the time they return to the room, Tippi has been stolen by A and we never find out whose number Tippi was supposedly repeating.
4. Emily Forgave Paige For Trying To Drown Her
I might be able to excuse something like this if it was in a supernatural show but Pretty Little Liars had a terrible track record of abusive and creepy relationships. I’m sorry to those who are fans of Paily but I don’t understand how Emily simply forgave Paige for trying to murder her.
It’d be one thing if Paige had done something milder, bullying or a cruel prank, that I could understand forgiving (over time and a lot of groveling) but cold-blooded murder? Paige was willing to let Emily drown because of her competitive streak.
3. All The Clues About Aria Never Panned Out
In one of the biggest disappointments of the series, Aria Montgomery did not wind up being A or even have any kind of darker ulterior motives. It’s unfortunate because out of all the liars, she is the one who was given the most substantial clues that she could be hiding something and many fans agree that Aria’s character, or twin, or split personality, would have made way more sense at the end of the series than Spencer.
She was called “Big A” on more than one occasion, she wrote the letter A on the window in the same fashion as A always did, she was the only person to literally be “unmasked” in the episode of the same name, the infamous Black Swan dress, the Aria doll in a black ‘A’ hoodie, and much, much more. Lest we forget all the drama didn’t start until Aria returned from Iceland! It was such a waste of potential.
2. How Did The Moms Get Out Of The Basement?
In the season finale of A, all the moms get locked in the basement of Alison’s house. While this scene spawned numerous memes and jokes on social media about the “wine moms” and how they were doomed to be trapped in there forever, the series never actually told us how they escaped.
It’s a pretty weird writing choice to have such a major moment be entirely glossed over. In general, the parents weren’t often the specific target of A’s rage. They were usually collateral damage. We can assume what happened and at times it was slyly nodded to in-show but we’ll never know the real truth.
1. What Was The Point Of Maya’s Death?
This is one of the biggest series plot holes and frustrating character deaths of the series, in my opinion. Maya dies in season two for virtually no reason. Mona leaves an ominous note that alludes to the fact Maya “knew something,” but we never find out what, not really anyways. Marlene once said on Twitter that she knew Nate was back in town but that doesn’t really fit the bill of the story, or if it does, it’s a supreme letdown.
Next: 5 Things The Perfectionists Spin-off Does Better Than Pretty Little Liars (& 5 Things That Are Better In The Original)
Maya and Emily’s relationship was actually one of the few healthy and functional ones on the series and her character was a fan-favorite. If she had to die, she deserved to go out for a better reason. I always liked the theories about her death being faked or Maya secretly being Uber A all along but alas, PLL was best-known for wasted potential.
