Pretty Little Liars 4.1-4.12
I haven't posted properly on this show since somewhere in season 1 (because I kept being behind and then watching in huge chunks tht didn't get me caught up and then I talk about it for hours in IMs...)
-OMG show please don't take "Ezra is A" from me. PLEASE DON'T. I mean, it's bad enough you already dumped "Toby is A." (Except that I still find "Toby is A" about 5000x more believable than anything else they've done with Toby, whereas, much as I dislike Ezra, he has fairly consistently made sense to me as a character.)
-Also, OMG, how did Toby manage to become even MORE of a creepy controlling douche this season? HOW DID HE ACTUALLY MANAGE TO TOP WATCHING HIS GIRLFRIEND HAVE A MENTAL BREAKDOWN AND THEN SAYING IT WAS FOR HER OWN GOOD THAT HE DIDN'T SAY OR DO ANYTHING? And yet, he has. And his plot in general is just...random and out of nowhere. Like, every episode with him just further convinces me that the writers have no idea what to do with him or Toby/Spencer.
-On the same track, it just baffles me how the same show can hold up both Toby and Caleb as admirable and likable romantic interests, because while they do everything ever wrong with Toby, they do almost as much right with CAleb. Like, Caleb is ACTIVELY INVOLVED in Hanna's life with her friends and family, and he's concerned about them and acts to help them, and he gets that the OT4 is always first, and he drops things without hsitation to helps them and lets them get away with lying to him unless he thinks they're up to something that'll get them in trouble. Like at the party in 4.11, where he just does the "I know you're lying to me but I won't get you to admit it so I shall just keep an eye out for potential stalkers just in case" smirk when Hanna and Aria were lying about why Hanna was dancing with Travis, and then when the only questions he asked were along the lines of "what's wrong" and "Are you ok" when Spencer ran up and asked him to follow Toby. Whereas Toby would have stomped off over the lying and spent a few episodes making them feel bad about the lying and demanded details about the following. (Although I question whether or not any of them would actually ask Toby to do that.) AND HE WAS GOING TO SELL HIS CAR TO HELP PAY FOR ASHLEY'S BAIL. Which, fo him, is actually extremely major, given how few things he's ever really been able to actually call his, and that it's something he probably associates with reconnecting with his mother. And Caleb is being STOLEN for the spinoff and I'll live in fear of an uberdouche being tossed at Hanna.
-Speaking of new love interests, Jake is a step up from Ezra, but if they HAD to instantly pair Aria up with someone else, I would have preferred Holden or Noel.
-I found Emily and Hanna's plotlines in this part of the season to be very stressful. (Aria continues to spend half her time in another show, and Spencer was abducted into this awful show about this entitled douchey guy finding out his mother may have been murdered, and forcing his girlfriend to lie to and betray her friends to help him and playing on her insecurities to make sure she behaves and is properly appreciative of his existence and decision to be in her life when he feels like it.)
-MONA. MONA, HOW ARE YOU SO EPIC WHILE LEAVING ME CLUELESS ABOUT YOUR ACTUAL ALLEGIANCES AND MOTIVATIONS? (Well, aside from the fact that I do believe she's very devoted to Hanna in her own way.)
-Melissa appears to have joined Jason in the land of eternal limbo. Woes. And I fear Paige may not be far behind. Whereas Toby will never leave.
-Every scene with Toby is just a scene that could be spent on Mona, Paige, Jenna, Melissa, Caleb, Jason, CeCe, Shawna the moms, or other characters who don't immediately spring to mind who I actually care about and who don't make me want to throw something at my screen.
-I'll shut up about Toby now.
-OMG YAY (possible) CONFIRMATION THAT ALI IS ALIVE. *happy dance*
-I guess Aria and Emily can now bond over being locked in boxes and almost dying? Actually, I was really bugged at the rest of the girls not realizing that getting in a box might trigger some trauma for Aria (I'm surprised the poor girl doesn't have extreme claustrophobia now)?
-Then there's also encouraging Emily to move into the house where the first two girls she was in love with died, albeit a couple years apart...
-Aria can also now bond with Spencer over people who are trying to kill them plummeting to their possible deaths and then disappearing. Aria needs less traumatic experiences to bond with people over.
-Relatedly, I LOVED Emily calling Spencer on her privilege. Because I love the girl, but she has more unexamined privilege than the rest of the main cast combined, and is generally oblivious to how it could affect others.
-Once again, PLEASE DON'T TAKE "Ezra is A" AWAY!
-OMG show please don't take "Ezra is A" from me. PLEASE DON'T. I mean, it's bad enough you already dumped "Toby is A." (Except that I still find "Toby is A" about 5000x more believable than anything else they've done with Toby, whereas, much as I dislike Ezra, he has fairly consistently made sense to me as a character.)
-Also, OMG, how did Toby manage to become even MORE of a creepy controlling douche this season? HOW DID HE ACTUALLY MANAGE TO TOP WATCHING HIS GIRLFRIEND HAVE A MENTAL BREAKDOWN AND THEN SAYING IT WAS FOR HER OWN GOOD THAT HE DIDN'T SAY OR DO ANYTHING? And yet, he has. And his plot in general is just...random and out of nowhere. Like, every episode with him just further convinces me that the writers have no idea what to do with him or Toby/Spencer.
-On the same track, it just baffles me how the same show can hold up both Toby and Caleb as admirable and likable romantic interests, because while they do everything ever wrong with Toby, they do almost as much right with CAleb. Like, Caleb is ACTIVELY INVOLVED in Hanna's life with her friends and family, and he's concerned about them and acts to help them, and he gets that the OT4 is always first, and he drops things without hsitation to helps them and lets them get away with lying to him unless he thinks they're up to something that'll get them in trouble. Like at the party in 4.11, where he just does the "I know you're lying to me but I won't get you to admit it so I shall just keep an eye out for potential stalkers just in case" smirk when Hanna and Aria were lying about why Hanna was dancing with Travis, and then when the only questions he asked were along the lines of "what's wrong" and "Are you ok" when Spencer ran up and asked him to follow Toby. Whereas Toby would have stomped off over the lying and spent a few episodes making them feel bad about the lying and demanded details about the following. (Although I question whether or not any of them would actually ask Toby to do that.) AND HE WAS GOING TO SELL HIS CAR TO HELP PAY FOR ASHLEY'S BAIL. Which, fo him, is actually extremely major, given how few things he's ever really been able to actually call his, and that it's something he probably associates with reconnecting with his mother. And Caleb is being STOLEN for the spinoff and I'll live in fear of an uberdouche being tossed at Hanna.
-Speaking of new love interests, Jake is a step up from Ezra, but if they HAD to instantly pair Aria up with someone else, I would have preferred Holden or Noel.
-I found Emily and Hanna's plotlines in this part of the season to be very stressful. (Aria continues to spend half her time in another show, and Spencer was abducted into this awful show about this entitled douchey guy finding out his mother may have been murdered, and forcing his girlfriend to lie to and betray her friends to help him and playing on her insecurities to make sure she behaves and is properly appreciative of his existence and decision to be in her life when he feels like it.)
-MONA. MONA, HOW ARE YOU SO EPIC WHILE LEAVING ME CLUELESS ABOUT YOUR ACTUAL ALLEGIANCES AND MOTIVATIONS? (Well, aside from the fact that I do believe she's very devoted to Hanna in her own way.)
-Melissa appears to have joined Jason in the land of eternal limbo. Woes. And I fear Paige may not be far behind. Whereas Toby will never leave.
-Every scene with Toby is just a scene that could be spent on Mona, Paige, Jenna, Melissa, Caleb, Jason, CeCe, Shawna the moms, or other characters who don't immediately spring to mind who I actually care about and who don't make me want to throw something at my screen.
-I'll shut up about Toby now.
-OMG YAY (possible) CONFIRMATION THAT ALI IS ALIVE. *happy dance*
-I guess Aria and Emily can now bond over being locked in boxes and almost dying? Actually, I was really bugged at the rest of the girls not realizing that getting in a box might trigger some trauma for Aria (I'm surprised the poor girl doesn't have extreme claustrophobia now)?
-Then there's also encouraging Emily to move into the house where the first two girls she was in love with died, albeit a couple years apart...
-Aria can also now bond with Spencer over people who are trying to kill them plummeting to their possible deaths and then disappearing. Aria needs less traumatic experiences to bond with people over.
-Relatedly, I LOVED Emily calling Spencer on her privilege. Because I love the girl, but she has more unexamined privilege than the rest of the main cast combined, and is generally oblivious to how it could affect others.
-Once again, PLEASE DON'T TAKE "Ezra is A" AWAY!