Pretty Little Liars has moved away from subtly pursuing the ‘Ezra is evil’ lead to full on throwing it in our faces. And, it’s not particularly a good look for the show. Part of why PLL is equal parts frustrating and compelling is that you never know what’s going to happen until it does. It’s what keeps fans coming back week after week, season after season, for more – Pretty Little Liars is an addiction, not a fling.
Have you ever heard of the moon-walking bear? It’s a scenario where you throw so many other distractions at a target (that would be the fans, in this case) that they miss what’s right in front of them. Could Ezra (Ian Harding) simply be Pretty Little Liars version of the moon-walking bear? Sure. Is this episode absolute proof that Ezra is A? No, not entirely. Is it possible for a character on PLL to just be suspicious? It wouldn’t be the first time.
What Hot for Teacher did, and did well, was showcase his involvement in monitoring the girls, and cleaning out the loft. Best case scenario, he’s taken protecting Aria (Lucy Hale) to a grade A stalker level. When he followed the Liars to Ravenswood and came across the loft, his first reaction was to commandeer the contents and continue surveilling the girls for their own good. Worst case scenario, he’s A and Board Shorts, and is responsible for killing at least one, if not two, police officers, plus Ian (Ryan Merriman), attempting to kill Ali (Sasha Pieterse), and all the Liars, at least twice. Somehow, even if he’s not the mystery madman, being an obsessive hyper-vigilant (read: paranoid) boyfriend with invasive surveillance capabilities is still a pretty scary concept all on its own.
If you are one of the skeptical few, the only semi-convincing indication that he might not be A is the final scene of Hot for Teacher where a hooded individual pulls out several unused prescription pads dedicated for Dr. Wren’s use. We haven’t seen Wren (Julian Morris) since he moved out of Rosewood in somewhat of a hurry, but he was on the suspect list at one time. It’s possible that he’s either working with A, or is another one of the unfortunate blackmail casualties of this situation. Or, that A simply decided to steal and repurpose them to further his/her own agenda.
Regardless of the details behind how they were obtained, if Pretty Little Liars is so intent on revealing Ezra as A, then why keep up the hoodie charade? Although it could have been one of his co-conspirators, perhaps Mona (Janel Parrish), and PLL is just trying to keep an ace up their sleeve for later, it adds to the nagging feeling that Ezra is not the one we should be watching – which is hard to do since he’s receiving more screen time than ever before.
Continue reading on the next page…
