Pretty Little Liars Review: Fatal Games
Teresa Lopez
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For once, the promotional materials delivered on their promise, as someone totally died on Pretty Little Liars.
Fans have spent a few weeks speculating on who the unlucky character might be; we even discussed it as part of our Pretty Little Liars Round Table. It seemed like most of the characters were up for grabs (minus the main ones, mind you), but by the start of this episode, it was pretty clear who the victim would be.
Pretty Little Liars Season 5 Episode 12 will have the distinction of being Mona's last episode. Yes, sadly Mona lost the big war against Ali, losing most her army members to Alison and eventually losing her life.
Mona's redemption started during Pretty Little Liars Season 5 Episode 11 when she explained why she's been nothing but trouble for the girls for so long, gaining some sympathy from Aria and viewers.
This week, she decided to team up with the liars, knowing that she was putting herself in danger. And it was in this episode that we started believing her about how dangerous Alison might be.
We might have suspected that Mona was faking her death somehow, but the final shot of her unmoving, pale body in A's trunk would suggest otherwise. RIP Mona!
Of course, some other stuff went down this evening, all leading up to that final shocking moment. Now, it's true that the episode delivered on its big promise of a major death - and there's was a lot of action and drama - but I couldn't help but feel that there was a lot of flash and very little substance to this finale.
Think about what we really found out this week...
#1 - Alison may be a sociopath and could also be A.
Hanna raised suspicions about Alison after that well-timed A message kept them from going to the police. And it's been a fairly popular theory since Alison's return to Rosewood. She's highly manipulative and a born liar, but does all this make her a sociopath?
Mona doesn't offer much evidence to prove her theory that Alison is crazy and formulated her group of friends to keep herself entertained. Alison is your typical mean girl, and it's a wonder the girls were ever friends with her. But could she be the one hiring all these people to torture her friends?
This is the drama's attempt to switch up the game and focus attention away from some random shadowy figure and onto one of the main characters. Will it reinvigorate the show?
#2 - The next big theory involved Bethany Young, who Spencer is being accused of murdering. Once the lie detector seemingly exonerated Alison (although it seemed like the police already had Spencer in their sights), it wasn't long until the police gathered enough "evidence" to arrest Spencer. Radley files indicated that Spencer might have killed Bethany to gain favor with Alison.
And how exactly do they prove this?
The files indicated that Bethany's father was having an affair with Mrs. DiLaurentis. Bethany talked about someone she met who manipulated her into thinking they were friends. Sounds a lot like Alison, right?
Mona thought so. Before her untimely death, she called Aria to say that she found evidence to prove Alison knew about Bethany and may have lured her to Rosewood as part of her sick game.
What is this evidence? We may not find out for awhile as Mona had all the Radley files when she was murdered.
That's about all that was revealed in this finale. The focus for Pretty Little Liars Season 5 has been less on answering all the questions, and more on making us re-examine Alison's character.
Other interesting yet non-plot related events didn't really add much to the finale, but set up some plot lines for next season. Paige and Emily reunited in time for Paige to follow Alison to an abandoned farm where she's amassed a much bigger army than Mona ever had. Toby graduated from the police academy, but he broke his leg in a car accident that seemed unnecessary and excessive.
And, of course, Spencer's parent's will have to find a way to keep her out of jail.
Overall, bravo to the series for having the courage of its conviction and killing off Mona. However, I'm sure we're all waiting for the day when that little scene gets rewritten. Until then, you can watch Pretty Little Liars online via TV Fanatic and remember the good old days.
Who do you think killed Mona?
