Long-time Freeform (formerly ABC Family) hit Pretty Little Liars (PLL) has finally begun to unveil its endgame in the back half of its seventh and final season. The first of 10 final episodes aired Tuesday, promising viewers an addictive, unpredictable ride, as always.
Loosely based on a book series of the same name by Sara Shepard, the series revolves around the complicated lives of four teenagers, now adults, Aria Montgomery (Lucy Hale), Spencer Hastings (Troian Bellisario), Emily Fields (Shay Mitchell) and Hanna Marin (Ashley Benson), living in the fictional small town of Rosewood, Pa.
After the mysterious disappearance of their best “frenemy,” queen bee Alison DiLaurentis (Sasha Pieterse), the girls begin getting threatening text messages from someone under the alias of “A” and their lives are thrown into chaos.
In honor of the show’s final 10 episodes, here’s a countdown of the most shocking, scandalous and “liar-est” moments.
10. “Spaleb”: This ship between Spencer and Caleb Rivers (Tyler Blackburn), Hanna’s then ex-boyfriend, takes the cake for worst of all time. It was completely out-of-left-field and cringe-worthy and only served the purpose of building up tension before finally — thank God — Hanna and Caleb reunited.
9. The Fate of Noel Kahn: Noel Kahn (Brant Daugherty), the girls’ former classmate and one-time love interest of Aria’s, joined “Team A” this season and tried to kill the girls with an axe. But as luck would have it, he ended up tripping and being decapitated by his own weapon. So many characters have died on PLL, but Noel’s death was by far the most hilariously over the top.
8. Ali’s Alive: In season four, the girls’ long-time suspicions were finally confirmed when it was revealed their former ringleader was still alive. But her return to Rosewood wasn’t quite as joyous as any of them had hoped it would be.
7. The “Jenna Thing”: Before Ali’s disappearance, she roped the girls into throwing a firecracker into the supposedly empty garage of classmate Jenna Marshall (Tammin Sursok). Jenna was inside and was blinded by the firecracker. Ali blackmailed Jenna into keeping the incident a secret, but she has remained an uncomfortable and unpredictable presence in the girls’ lives. Currently, she appears to be a member of “Team A.”
6. “Ezria’s” First Day of School: In the pilot, Aria made out with a slightly older guy named Ezra (Ian Harding) in a bar bathroom and found out the next day that he was her new English teacher. But, of course, the pair started dating anyway.
5. Ezra the Creep: In season four, it was revealed that Ezra had a thing with Alison before her disappearance and had been trying to figure out what happened to her ever since. He began writing a book about Ali and sought out Aria and the other girls for research purposes but didn’t count on genuinely falling for Aria.
After an ugly break up, they reunited and have been on and off ever since. They’re currently engaged, but Ezra’s long-lost, presumed-dead girlfriend has just come back into the picture and is putting a definite strain on this star-crossed ship.
4. “The OG” A: Back in season three, the liars’ classmate and Hanna’s ex-best friend Mona Vanderwaal (Janel Parrish) was revealed to be a very astute psychopath intent on torturing the liars the way Ali had tortured her before her disappearance. Mona has since been rehabilitated and has become a quasi-friend to the girls, but neither viewers nor the girls know if she can ever truly be trusted.
3. Spencer’s Crazy Family Tree: In season two, it was revealed that Ali’s older brother Jason (Drew Van Acker) is actually Spencer’s half-brother, the result of an affair between Spencer’s dad Peter (Nolan North) and Ali and Jason’s mom Jessica (Andrea Parker).
This season, in what is arguably the show’s most ridiculous plot twist, it was revealed that Spencer is the product of an affair between Peter and Jessica’s twin sister Mary, making Spencer not only Jason’s half-sister but also his cousin.
2. Ali’s Long-Lost Sister: In season six, the liars discovered that the A Game had been taken over by Ali’s old friend Cece Drake (Vanessa Ray), who was actually born a boy named Charles.
Charles was Mary’s first child but was adopted by Jessica because Mary was locked up in Radley Sanitarium, an insane asylum. Jessica began raising Charles as her son but sent him to Radley a few years later when he accidently hurt baby Ali. Charles went on to transition and take the name Charlotte while at Radley.
Charlotte was later released and sought out her cousins/siblings Ali and Jason, introducing herself as Cece. She became Ali’s best friend and confidante. After Ali’s disappearance, Charlotte felt that the liars had moved on too easily and forgotten Ali, so she sought revenge as A. At the beginning of season seven, Charlotte was killed and a new A is now after the girls, believing they had something to do with Charlotte’s death.
1. Ali’s Devious Husband: Before her death, Charlotte received psychological therapy from a Dr. Elliot Rollins (Huw Collins), who ends up falling in loving with Alison and marrying her after Charlotte’s death. Unbeknownst to Ali, Rollins is actually Archer Dunhill and was Charlotte’s secret lover.
He tricked Alison into marrying him and subsequently drugged her to make her think she was going crazy as part of a plot to avenge Charlotte by stealing the DiLaurentis fortune.
When the liars finally figure out Rollins’ identity and try to rescue Ali, they accidently hit him with a car and then bury him in the woods. Oh, and Ali is now pregnant with his baby.
