Pretty Little Liars was one of the most talked about teen television series to ever air. In addition to its mysteries, outfits, couples, and character drama, it’s also been well-known for its more frustrating moments. Through all the twist, turns, and turmoil that came to pass through all seven seasons, fans watched in awe as each season surprised us with something new, inventive, and above all sometimes ridiculous. Plot holes seemed to pass through each season that no one really paid any mind to.
Despite the show being addicting to watch for many of its adoring fans, there were many times where the show failed to resolve its dangling plot threads and resorted to “dream logic” to somehow convince fans these were true solutions. The more the show seemed like it was grasping for straws to gain viewers, the more confusing and disappointing it became– especially as the seasons dragged on with no resolution in sight. Rather than branching out to other mysteries, PLL stubbornly held on to its various and unending “A” revelations.
However, whatever reservations people had about the show, many are still obsessed and rewatch the series again and again. Although many would like to see the show continue, there was admittedly many major plot holes that kept the experience from being enjoyable and its answers were never brought to light, despite its seven seasons. Enjoying the rewatch can be difficult unless you overlook certain issues.
Here are 20 Things Wrong With Pretty Little Liars We All Choose To Ignore.
1. Charlotte is a genius and knows everything
How is it that Uber A, aka Charlotte, who had spent most of her life in the Radley Sanitarium became a bonafide genius in dentistry, hacking, and even in architecture to create an underground bunker?
It’s rather strange considering there was next to no internet access to help her to develop such skills to pull off such Grade A mastermind level schemes, especially in a prison psychiatric hospital? How did she get messages into Hanna’s mouth with no one knowing she had snuck into the doctors office? How did she possess the computer engineering abilities to develop tracking devices?
Whatever the reasons behind her massive sums of knowledge may be, the more elaborate the schemes get the more unbelievable A becomes.
2. The parents are way too chill
When it comes to the parents of Rosewood, amidst all the affairs and illegitimate offpsring, the well-being and safety of their children doesn’t seem to be of the slightest importance to them.
No one seems to take the proper precautions to protect their kids or their own homes.
Stalkings and abduction are all apparently normal things and they seem to be okay with the supposed prides, loves, and joys of their lives being whisked away like thieves in the night.
After just one of the incidents the Liars ran into, how did their parents not immediately put them on lockdown and keep an eye on them at all times?
3. Lack of real evidence about Ali’s passing
It seemed that the higher authorities never bothered to do the simplest things, like take a look at Alison’s records to gauge whether they had really found Ali’s body or not.
That yellow tank top was the main piece of evidence and it seemed as though every teenage girl in the state had the same shirt.
How was it that authorities were able to quickly deduce that a girl with blond hair wearing the same top was Ali from just one piece of clothing?
This only proves that the authorities of Rosewood either got their certifications from a Cracker Jack box or they just don’t know how to effectively do their jobs.
4. Bad home security
Whoever said that A didn’t have the resources to pull off an abduction was obviously new to Rosewood– or was just as clueless as everyone else in Rosewood, apparently.
How many times did homes have to be broken into for anything to actually be done about it?
From people getting captured and put into a dollhouse, to people being locked in up basements, barns, and steam rooms, someone should’ve stopped to think “there’s a smart invention that we have had for years called a security system, maybe we should install one.”
Again this is just plain common sense. No logic required.
5. Mrs. Grunwald doesn’t call the police when she Finds Ali
Before Alison went missing, she often confided in Grunwald over the phone before she went missing. When she was buried alive, Grunwald was the only one to find her and rescue her from her impending doom. However, when she was bought to the hospital, Alison ran away.
Though we can say Mrs. Grunwald deserves a medal for finding her, why didn’t she even go to the authorities and report the events?
This obviously was a big deal for the all the people of Rosewood, most of all Ali’s parents.
She was only a child, so the excuse that Alison didn’t want to be found shouldn’t have flown.
Her being on the run from her problems, as we come to see in other seasons, was no different from her being in Rosewood. If only Mrs Grunwald were adult enough to see that for herself.
6. Where did Mary get her money?
Mary Drake somehow had all this money to stay hidden so well and on the run from the pubic eye even though she was a Radley patient. She was first brought into the Radley Sanitarium for an incident involving a child who was under her care while she was babysitting, which she claimed was not true.
Even with the money she got for selling her baby, Alex Drake, off two decades before she appeared on the show, Mary would not have been able to jet-set around Europe for years until she got the Carrissimi funds.
So many questions surround Mark Drake’s life that could have been answered by more careful writing.
7. The police are completely useless
With villains like A working around the clock to ruin people’s lives on the daily, one could only hope that these useless authorities would more than just a plot obstacle for the Liars.
Incompetence seemed to be a running epidemic throughout. It took the Liars being abducted to stop them from being considered suspects rather than victims.
Even after this was concluded, none of the policeever bothered to check up on them, except to flirt with them occasionally. It seems that when it comes to working as cop in Rosewood, you not only needed to be gullible, but also must have complete and utter disregard for the safety of others.
8. Rosewood has no moral standards
From certain characters like Mona and Aria working with A, to friends backstabbing other friends, to corrupt police officers and evil parents, to characters like Charlotte tormenting the Liars, Rosewood is way to forgiving of atrocities.
A lot of these things would have been unforgivable in the real world and would have resulted in some harsh consequences.
This show has taught us not to trust in significant others, but by all means feel free to forgive them. It makes us stop and pause to wonder where the line is actually drawn when it comes to someone actually not forgiving someone in this town.
Then again, this show thrives off of unhealthy relationships in all degrees, so one can’t really be surprised that such actions are justified.
9. How the moms got out of the basement
Most of us remember the prom episode pretty well. The Liars’ parents decide to throw a small party for the girls at the Dilaurentis’ house for them instead since they can’t go to prom. Things go horribly wrong and the moms end up being locked in the basement by Uber A.
Fast forward a few years, all seems well for their parents, as if the basement incident never happened. Their parents seems to have pretty big things happening for them– Veronica is running for a term in office and Ashley has turned the Radley Sanitarium into a hotel.
Even if they all banded together to help each other climb out of the basement, how were they afforded the tools to do so? They slyly allude to their escape in the final season, but we never get the answer.
10. Everybody loves Ali
It comes as no surprise that Alison was not the best person in world when it came forging close relationships. Whether she was using their secrets against them or being painfully judgmental, it seemed you could always count on Ali to be cruel and manipulative to the ones who loved her most.
How could someone who was a bully, faked her own passing, and messed with people’s emotions still be held to such high esteem by the same people that she hurt? Maybe giving her a sad backstory should have resolved the issues, but is that enough to forgive someone who destroyed people’s lives?
11. Obvious clues about A.D.’s identity
Looking back on the clues that led to the grand reveal of A.D.’s identity makes it clear that it was actually not as grand of a reveal as many had thought. Clues like Hanna seeing “ Spencer” in the abandoned barn, Mary saying that Spencer and Melissa looked like twins, or more importantly stating “That all families had secrets," had really opened up windows of missed opportunities where the signs were almost too clear.
Many disregarded these small hints as nothing more plot drivers when in actuality they were telling us who the real mastermind was. It’s something to consider when revisiting the show.
12. The timeline
Three seasons of Pretty Little Liars take place in the same month.
Mona comes back to school from Radley the same month as Alison comes back to school. Around this time frame Toby wasn’t A, Spencer could or could not be a total nutcase, Darren Wilden was eliminated, Ezra turns out not to be A either, Shauna is terminated while everyone just yawns it off, Ezra gets shot, and Alison comes back to Rosewood.
Three seasons were dedicated to their senior year, with some actors reaching their 30s when they finally graduated from high school.
What’s that lovely little phrase the writers like to use to explain everything in this show? Ah, “Dream Logic.”
13. Ezra’s a creep
Though most fans seemed to find this teacher totally dreamy, Ezra Fitz was an obsessive and inappropriate character. The high-school teacher was sneaking around with his student, making out with her in bathrooms, and videotaping teenaged girls to get info for a book he was writing.
He used Aria to get more info on his obsession with Alison– which means he knew Aria’s age when the first kissed her in the bar.
Then, when Spencer finally started to figure him out, Ezra conspired to turn her friends against and to make her seem crazy.
The worst part is that Ezra never suffers any repercussions for his gross breach of trust as a teacher.
14. The ghosts of Ravenswood
Set in a fictional town of Ravenswood, PA, the spinoff followed five strangers who’s lives are put in danger because of a curse. Nicole Gale Anderson, Tyler Blackburn, Steven Cabral, Brett Dier, Britne Oldford, and Merritt Patterson starred in Ravenswood, a unique ghost and magic story. Luckily, the show was a very short-lived affair.
Despite Caleb’s presence, the show suffered in ratings and after one season, it was canceled. Though this sounded like a creative concept int, the show never really made sense in the first place as a spinoff.
Caleb returned to Pretty Little Liars, but he brought with him the realization that ghosts and magic were now a real part of the PLL universe.
15. Charlotte dated her cousin, Jason
After what seemed like a crazy six seasons, we found out that CeCe was actually Charlotte DiLaurentis, biological half-sister to Spencer and cousin to Jason and Ali, who were her adoptive siblings.
Many fans remember when CeCe and Jason actually dated for a good minute, but that his mother Jessica really hated them being together.
Talk about a totally messed-up relationship on so many levels.
CeCe had claimed nothing of the physical nature ever took place between the two, it’s still pretty gross to know that she dated her cousin/brother. She and Jason really connected on so many levels, and unfortunately now we know why.
16. Their jobs after the time-jump
Despite all the craziness and countless things that didn’t really make sense during the course of those seasons, this time jump was by far the worst thing to ever happen to this series. Besides the girls constantly throwing back drinks like a couple of lushes after work to show how “adult” they are, the careers the Liars simply weren’t believable for girls who had recently graduated from college.
How was a Hanna able to get funding for a whole fashion line? How can Aria be a publisher and live the life she lives ? Ali is a teacher and Spencer is a lobbyist?
While it’s great that in five years the girls were able to land some high-profile jobs, after all the hell they have endured the past few seasons leading up to this point, it’s not at all realistic.
17. Emily and Ali have white, blonde twins
This was surely one of the surprising paternity reveals, and for a very good reason. Ali discovered she had been forcibly impregnated, and it turned out the babies’ biological parents were her lover Emily Fields and the creepy Wren Kingston. She decided to keep the babies and eventually had twins, whom she raised with Emily.
But how in the world did they end up white and blonde? Emily is an Asian woman and Wren has dark hair and eyes, yet Ali somehow gave birth to two lily-white twin girls.
Everything about this storyline was crazy, but the casting of the babies was really the cherry on top.
18. Charlotte’s motivations for tormenting the girls make no sense
Charlotte was clearly delusional when she staked out this ridiculous revenge conquest. While it is understood that the girls said terrible things about Ali when she was gone, did Charlotte somehow hit her head and forget that Ali got her kicked out of college?
Charlotte had no believable motive for why she hated the girls so much.
When she returned to befriend the Liars and found out how much they wanted Ali gone this “ frustrated” her. But why? As explained previously, Ali was no angel, so why go though all this trouble to fight for someone that didn’t care about her in the first place? We can say that Charlotte did this all for her sister, but it still presents pretty a vague reason for wanting to cause so much pain and torment to the girls who were Ali’s friends.
19. Mona’s allowed back at Rosewood high
There are some things about Rosewood High that just didn’t sit right, such as Mona being allowed to come back after all that had happened between her and the Liars. Apparently stalkers were just allowed to come back to school and act like nothing ever happened. Seriously, the girl was allowed to come back and take classes alongside her stalking victims.
Even if she had been legitimately mentally ill and was genuinely better now, why did the school only show concern for her comfort and not the welfare of the girls she tormented?
It was obviously traumatizing for Spencer to participate in Academic Decathalon alongside Mona, but everyone acted like Spencer was the problem, rather than the girl who tried to push her off a cliff.
20. The Liars stayed in Rosewood
Above all this has to be one of the most confusing aspects of this show ever. After 7 seasons of torment, you’d think that the girls would have check out long ago and moved away from Rosewood.
On top of all of this, none of the adults on the show even really try to help their kids get out of this crazy situation. If the torment wasn’t enough, once people started losing their lives, it would have been a great time to clear the decks.
While fans never seemed to get enough of all the twists and turns that happened in all seven seasons up to the finale, any sane person would have just left and had nothing to do with this crazy little town or most of the sick and twisted people in it, especially when the police are not even willing to help.
What other problems from Pretty Little Liarsdo fans overlook? Let us know in the comments!
