Alison hasn’t exactly always been everyone’s favorite character in Pretty Little Liars. She had a rocky start considering her favorite activities included blackmailing and judging pretty much every person in her life. After Alison went missing, her friends were left to battle super-villain, “A”, who wanted revenge for the things that Ali had done. In fact, the Liars would have probably had a lot less dramatic high school experience had Alison not entangled them in her evil schemes.
Alison definitely had some positive character development throughout the series, but was it enough? Here are the 10 worst things that Ali ever did.
Bullies Mona
Alison was blatantly rude to almost everyone before she disappeared, but she was exceptionally evil to Mona. Alison went out of her way to make Mona feel bad about herself and she even gave her the nickname “Loser Mona.” Ali was relentless and Mona was clearly affected by it, considering she became one of the show’s biggest villains just to get revenge.
Mona even had a lair dedicated to how much she hated Ali. It’s very possible that if Alison hadn’t treated her so badly then Mona would have never created the A-Team, to begin with.
Leads Emily On
From the beginning of the series, it was clear that Emily had feelings for Ali. Ali definitely exploited this by knowingly leading Emily on and then cruelly turning her down. For instance, in one of Emily’s flashbacks, we see Alison rejecting Emily in the locker room after they shared a moment in the library.
This was especially hurtful to Emily considering how sensitive of a subject matter it was for her at the time. This is why it’s so confusing when Ali and Emily get together later on. How could Emily still want to be with someone who previously hurt her so badly?
Torments Paige and Lucas
It’s a well-known fact by now that Alison was a bully in high school. Other than Mona, Ali was especially awful to both Paige and Lucas. Alison called Paige “Pig-Skin” and Lucas “Hermie”. Aside from these horrific nicknames, Ali, of course, went out of her way to make them feel like outcasts. This treatment from her definitely drove them both to the edge.
Later, Lucas and Paige are befriended by the Liars who apologize for Ali’s actions, and while nothing can make up for how evil she was to them, it was nice to see this for Lucas and Paige.
Shames Hanna For Eating
To be honest, Ali was just never that great of a friend to anyone. She was especially awful to Hanna on several occasions. Ali would often shame Hanna for eating and then tell her that she’s just looking out for her. Whenever Ali mentioned Hanna’s eating habits, it was definitely never out of love.
Ali was always aggressive about it and didn’t mind humiliating Hanna by calling her out in front of others. Hanna’s self-esteem definitely took a big hit from this and it wasn’t until Ali was gone that she was able to find her confidence.
Encourages Hanna’s Eating Disorder
This is probably one of the worst things that Ali ever does. When Ali walks in on Hanna throwing away an empty pie tin, she tells Hanna that she doesn’t have to feel this way and she can help her get rid of it. Ali was a big reason why Hanna struggled with Bulimia.
Not only did Ali encourage this scary behavior, but she basically introduced it to Hanna. What’s even worse, is after Ali disappeared, “A” then used Hanna’s past issues against her and drug up some of Hanna’s negative memories about herself, Ali and food.
Blackmails Spencer
Ali loved to blackmail her friends and family. Early in the series, fans see Ali threatening to tell Melissa about Spencer’s kiss with Ian if Spencer doesn’t come clean herself. Ali claimed that she was only doing this to help Spencer do the right thing, but it was clear that she just wanted control.
Alison was a big fan of secrets, not because they kept her and her friends close, but because they made her feel powerful. Alison was obsessed with controlling her friends’ lives and she did everything she could to stay in the driver’s seat.
Encourages Aria To Destroy Her Dad’s Office
Unfortunately, when Aria caught her dad cheating on her mom, she was with Alison, who was definitely the worst person she could have had by her side during this tragic moment. Ali eventually convinced Aria to break into her dad’s office to find proof that he was dating one of his college students.
Of course, Alison conveniently found some earrings and convinced Aria that they must belong to the college student. Ali could see that Aria was spiraling and took advantage of it by encouraging her to destroy the office. Alison even started the destruction herself by pouring coffee all over Byron’s desk.
Blinds Jenna
In another obvious effort for Ali to show how powerful she is, Ali pretends that she sees Toby spying on her and her friends through her bedroom window. Ali convinces her friends to get back at him by throwing a “stink bomb” into his garage. However, it actually ends up being a firecracker and it explodes in the garage where Jenna was, ultimately blinding her.
Not only did Ali basically bomb Toby’s garage for no reason, but Ali also had to have known that this wasn’t a stink bomb and that she was actually doing something incredibly dangerous.
Blackmails Toby
This is the stink-bomb-in-the-garage aftermath. Alison blackmails Toby and forces him to tell the police that it was actually him to lit the firecracker. She tells Toby that if he doesn’t take the fall that she’ll reveal his secret relationship with Jenna.
Of course, poor Toby agreed to all of this. Although, he was probably glad to be sent away since it meant being away from Jenna, who was forcing the relationship on him. Alison didn’t know all of this at the time, but she found out later on in the series and then used it against Jenna - no surprise there.
Disappears From Rosewood
Out of all of the bad things that Alison has done, this one is definitely the most dramatic. It all started during that fateful night depicted in the pilot episode of the series. The girls woke up to find Ali missing and that was the last they saw of her for quite some time.
After years of dying to know the truth, fans eventually found out the events of that night: Alison was hit in the head with a rock by Charlotte, buried alive by her mother, pulled out of the dirt by Mrs. Grunwald and then taken to The Lost Woods Resort by Mona. Alison was convinced that “A” was trying to kill her so she ran away for years and lets everyone think that she died – including her family and best friends.
