So, obviously a whole lot happened on the 100th episode of “Pretty Little Liars” last night (July 8). Uber-A returned after what was likely a very long nap, Ezria had sex (with a shirtless Lucy Hale!), Toby’s house blew up, Hanna got drunk, Caleb returned, and the entire universe found out that Shana was dead — and hey, one person actually even cared!
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But the main thing on every Liar’s mind the morning after “Miss Me x 100″ was the steamy, long-awaited, and yet somehow unexpected — and very well done — hookup between Emily and Alison. One of the best parts of the whole thing, besides the increasingly honest portrayal of an LGBT character with real thoughts and feelings on a family show (we’ll choose to ignore the fact that every gorgeous lesbian in Eastern Pennsylvania is a world-class swimmer, because come on) is how it should completely affect the power dynamics — within the Liar group — on the show moving forward. I was a bit disappointed when Alison first came back, because her lie to the police about being kidnapped (and the girls going along with it) made it seem as if everything was going to stay dishonestly status-quo in Liar-land, but man, did last night change that.
First, as much as I believe that Alison truly does love Emily, as Mona (brilliantly) said, “when people tell me who they are, I believe them.” Emily is beautiful and kind and maybe sometimes even smart, so it’s completely believable that Alison would love her, especially since Emily is literally the only person in Rosewood who she can at least 90 percent trust. But Alison is a person who uses people, plain and simple. Underneath those real feelings of desire there is also a very strategic woman who uses everyone else around her for her own benefit (just look at how she treated those rando members of the “army of losers”), and despite Emily’s frustrated attitude towards Ali at the end of the episode, Ali has to be fully aware of the fact that starting up a romantic relationship with gentle Emily will land the Liar fully in her corner. Which she really, really needs.
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Which brings me to my second point — bringing Alison back as a real live human being has been a breath of fresh air for the show, since watching her coyly deliver mysterious lines in flashbacks got old after four seasons, as did the relative stasis within the dynamics of the group. The best thing about her return is the complicated nature of all of her relationships, and her firm hold over Emily — and all of the seriously juicy emotional fallout that tends to occur when they pair up — definitely has the potential to change the “Liars” universe as we know it. The show has always been about the same four girls banding together and protecting the damaging secrets caused by this one tornado of a human being, and bringing this tornado back is exactly what we needed to switch things up during this fifth season.
Because, come on, the rest of the girls are eventually going to get tired of their entire universe revolving around Alison. Hanna’s already there, Aria is dealing with her own problems, and Spencer just wants to move on and have a fun senior year (without her father and Melissa, of course). Having A back will force them all to band together again, but it’s undeniable that things have irrevocably changed, and I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the Liars decided to throw in the towel and distance themselves from the person who caused this mess in the first place.
But now that Emily and Alison are hooking up, that pulls Emily straight back into Alison’s orbit — and when you think about it, it has the potential to be as dangerous as that time Spencer was hooking up with a member of the A-team. If the show does what I *think* it’s going to do, we’re fully set up for an Alison and Emily versus the rest of the Liars situation, and I, for one, can’t wait to see how that plays out. Emily is doomed.
What do you think, “PLL” fans? Did you like the Emison hookup? Do you believe that Alison’s emotions are 100 percent genuine, or do you also think she really just wants Emily on her team? Let us know in the comments!
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