There was a brief period where it was easy to feel sorry for Ali. That time came and went rather quickly though, as the writers engaged viewers under the auspices that she was the mystery villain. Watching her reactions to the police arriving at her residence to arrest her, and after in her jail cell, it’s a little hard not to wonder if fans were duped into rooting against her. Obviously, the answer to that pondering is a big, fat affirmative.
The Liars once again played right into A’s hand, doing his/her dirty work for them. It’s not the first time they’ve been manipulated by their tormenter. There have been several occasions where they’ve either had no choice in the matter or simply no obvious alternative. At least with Mona, in hindsight, you knew that she was playing on an amateur field, especially compared to the new and improved A who never sacrifices execution for the sake of limits. And, without Ali around to play interference, the Liars are in uncharted territory – again.
In a sense, just the idea of Ali being A was a relief for everyone. The Liars finally had a visible target for their pent up anger, besides projecting it all onto Mona, CeCe, Wilden, or most recently, Holden. And, for a change of pace, they were on the offensive instead of being trapped in a semi-permanent defense mode. It wasn’t a bad look for the show, but it clearly had an expiration date. Going forward the Liars will have to re-evaluate everything they thought they knew. All roads pointed to Ali being the bad guy, and now, that theory has been crushed. Plus, whoever A really is is now in possession of Mona’s encrypted hard drive.
Things are just starting to get good it seems, as Pretty Little Liars keeps fans guessing at what may be hiding just around the corner.