The big mystery of “A” was finally revealed tonight on the Spring finale of “Pretty Little Liars.”
With the arrest of Garrett and Melissa acting even creepier, lets not mention Jenna having her sight back, there were still a bunch of options for who “A” could be.
In the episode, the girls all get invites to the masquerade ball from “A” who reveals they still have something he/she wants and to meet them at the ball at midnight. Looks like Spencer still thinks Melissa is “A” as well when she brings up always beating Melissa at hide & seek.
Hanna and the girls avoid going shopping with Mona who catches her in her lie after running into Caleb. The girls gather to keep searching for “A” and run across a pen with “Dougherty’s Landing” written on it. The name and address lead them to a resort near an airfield that Duncan flew Allison to. Ummm…totally reminds us of the Bates Motel ala Psycho. Creepy!
From there, things just get creepier and creepier. Everyone from Mona to Melissa to strangers are made to look like they could be “A.” Even Lucas returns.
So after all the events of the past two seasons, it’s led to this…”A” is…
SPOILER ALERT: Mona! Or so we think. Were you surprised by this or did you see it coming? In a way, we had this inkling for a while, but were hoping for something a little different, as Mona was also one of the “A’s” in the books. But of course, she’s working for someone if you watched until the very end.
Let us know what you thought about the spring finale and the reveal of “A.” Were you satisfied? And how about that shock at the end with them finding a body they think is Maya and Melissa’s creepy look at the crime scene. We definitely have a feeling none of this is over.
EW chatted with producer Marlene King about the big reveal and some unanswered questions. Here’s some highlights:
Mona? Really?! Yes, really. King says that Mona was the “most logical and also the most satisfying” choice for “A” because she “had motive.” “There were other people along the way who could have been ‘A’ — and they’re liars and they’re cheats — but Mona was completely abused by Allison and bullied by Allison,” King explains. “The Pretty Little Liars let her do it, and we see that in the pilot, in the very first scene, where she’s running after Allison and Aria and they just don’t even pay attention to her. ‘If you ignore it, it will go away’ — that’s what Allison says. And from that moment, ‘A’ was born.” As for Mona also being “A” in the book series, Goldstick adds: “We felt like we had a certain need to honor the thing that was set up by the author.”
What was Mona’s motive? “The motive for Mona really kicked into gear when Aria came back from Europe because Mona had Hanna for that year and they became friends,” King says. “This fear of losing Hanna again inspired Mona to start tormenting these girls in they way that they tormented her, and then it kind of backfires. She ends up bringing them closer together than ever, so then she’s even more p—ed than ever in season 2. She really wanted to get Hanna back all to herself. Mona hates Hanna the most because the other three were Allison’s friend, but Hanna was her friend. She feels the most personally betrayed by Hanna.”
When did Parrish find out she was going to be “A”? About halfway through shooting this past season — so last fall. “Janel didn’t know for sure that she was ‘A’ until about halfway through season 2,” King says. “She kind of suspected it all along, and so she played her role with that in mind, but it was really about halfway through season 2 that I pulled her aside and had a conversation. I said, ‘You are ‘A.” And so she started playing things with that knowledge in mind. We started asking more and more of her, in more complicated scenes.”
Why kill Maya? “That’s the only backlash I think we’re going to get from the finale,” King says, referring to Maya’s unexpected death in the last few minutes of the episode. “The Maya fans are going to be a little bit upset.” The decision, King continues, was a difficult one. “It was a really hard decision to make because I know Emaya shippers are very passionate about that couple, but it just felt like we had to continue on this journey and it was a step we needed to take to give ourselves more mystery and open up the show to season 3. Plus, it was just great drama. That scene has me on my knees every time I watch it.” Adds Goldstick: “With Allison’s death — and now Maya’s — you say, ‘Are these related? They’ve got to be related.’ If they are related, was it because this person was about to be caught?”
Does this mean that Garrett is off the hook for Allison’s murder? Not exactly. “Mona’s incarcerated for being ‘A,’ but not for being Allison’s killer,” King clarifies. “So when we come back in season 2, Garrett is still in jail for Allison’s murder. That’ll be dealt with in season 3. And the NAT club still very much plays a part of that. There might be one other member of the NAT club that you don’t know is a member of the NAT club.”
Do the PLLs know that Jenna can see now? “We’re going to keep that secret from the PLLs for a while,” King says.
Who was the Black Swan at the ball? “That’s a mystery that’s coming back,” King says. “Who was that person talking to Jenna and Lucas? And who is the Black Swan?”
Will Mona be around in season 3? For sure. “Mona stays a part of the show,” King says. “You haven’t seen the last of Mona. When I told Janel she was going to be ‘A,’ the next week I got a call from her manager because she knows that in the books Mona dies. Mona is ‘A,’ Mona goes off a cliff, and Mona is dead. So Janel was like, ‘Does this mean I’m dead?’ I’m like, ‘No, you will survive.’ So Mona is not dead because Mona is a beloved character in this show and she’s still a part of the show in season 3.” Mona won’t necessarily be in prison, King says, but “there may be some padding on the walls” of where she is, however. Goldstick adds: “This is a whole different adventure. That was one ride. They’ll get another ride here. Mona’s not going away, just to be clear.” (Goldstick says that killing Mona, like in the books, was never on the table. “We don’t kill people as easily in this show. We do kill some people, but we try to be a little bit more careful.”)
Also below, check out photos of the PLL girls at at the ABC Family Upfronts and Good Morning America.
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