History Headscratchers / PrettyLittleLiars

** Iris mentioned early on that she has "someone" who sneaks the magazines in for her. At the time, it sounds like it's just a random Preserve nurse she's swindled into doing it, but the reveal that [[spoiler:"Courtney" DiLaurentis was her old roommate, and the real Alison,]] indicates that she likely had "A" bringing them to her.

* I've always thought it was ridiculous how A seemed to ''know'' everything, and how he/she had such impeccable timing. I mean, unless A was spirit or something, or had a magical 24/7 access into these girls heads, I couldn't see how the writers were going to explain A's omniscience.
** Eg: Remember when A snuck Ian's phone into Spencer's bag, and it rang just when she and Melissa were really starting to open up to eachother... I mean, how could A have timed it so perfectly?? It was late at night!

** Also, the psychiatrist's office is totally bugged by A-Team (hey, that's a good name, now that we know A is more than one person...)Anyway,the shrink's office is also devoid of a security system or camera. It's easy to get in and plant Mr Fitz's diploma (?!) and a cake walk to get in, trash the place, get out, all without leaving finger prints. WTF??

** And what the hell kind of town is this... don't they believe in security systems? Especially after what happened to Alison? I would have thought that every family with a young daughter would have run out to buy security cameras and alarms. But NOPE... that security in Rosewood homes is lax is an understatement. Windows are left wide open, doors can be easily unlatched, people can enter homes by stealth with their eyes closed (note the pun? Jenna reference... tee hee since she is one of our villians). Not only can they film the girls, but also plant things, like lipsticks, messages, incriminating evidence... and deleted things from laptops, or replace laptops with yearbooks. Have they never had CSU sweep the area? Jesus Christ!!

* Now, with the NAT club revelation, the girls have concluded (which frankly they should have done long ago) that A is more than one person. Ok, now the ''impeccable'' timing might be explained--- there is one person watching each girl. Let's just suspend disbelief here and operate under the assumption that these four teenagers are important enough to be monitored 24/7. But it still doesn't explain how they receive perfectly timed messages at ''school'', or how, when they have whispered conversations, a text or note appears out of nowhere. I mean, unless the girls ''themselves'' are bugged, (or A has managed to outfit their phones with a high tech bugging device)that kind of precision in timing is just not possible. And I totally agree that the girls should tell their parents everything. I mean, Ian is *dead*... and as much as I respect teenagers (like Harry Ron and Hermione) I really think they should tell their parents... all this about how "no one believes them" because "they're pretty little liars" is just stupid. I mean, what have they ever done to earn that distinction? They all seem to have a great relationship with their parents.

* The constant ContinuitySnarls, especially regarding Toby. It is established in the ''second episode'' that he was always the creepy kid that no one liked. Then the Prequel episode where Alison met Jenna showed that Emily had already been sorta friends with him (which can be passable since Emily is a nice person) and the latest episode gives us this wonderful flashback where [[spoiler: Alison of all people was in a possible relationship with pre-Jenna Toby.]] This is also coupled with the fact Toby is his present-day Bishonen self in the flashbacks and not radiating the creepy aura he supposedly always had is just plain RetCon especially since other characters are always consistent with their past selves (Hanna is fat, Mona and Lucas are nerdy, etc...)

* Okay a couple of things have caught my attention. First off the Jenna thing:In the books the prank involved a firecracker while in the s1 flashback Ali states that she is using a stink bomb. Um I get how a firecracker could cause Jenna's blinding but a stink Bomb? People were always setting off stink bombs at my high school and no one was ever blinded nor did the building ever catch fire. To make matters more complicated the wiki constantly states that a firecracker was used in both the show and the books,wth? Secondly in season 1 the girls learn of Toby and Jenna's incestuous relationship by reading Toby's therapy file but wouldn't a therapist,upon learning of such a thing,have informed their parents? Yet according to the show the only people who actually know are Toby,Jenna,The girls,Ali,Ian,and probably A.

*** Hi,OP here. First off,Yay the Stinkbomb\Firecracker thing finally makes sense to me,Thanks! Now as for Jenna and Toby's...relationship I meant that it seemed like the therapist knew before the file went missing as it was already noted in the file itself and if that was the case wouldn't he have told the parents? In fact shouldn't Jenna have been upset that Toby told,considering how desperate she was to get Ian's video before anyone else could see it and blow the whistle on her. On the other hand there are a whole bunch of other inconsistencies in this (and pretty much every other show/Movie series/Book series)so maybe i should just chill. oh and to answer your question Yes the break in was reported(the police are there when Hanna tries to return the file the next day)but no one ever seems to connect it to Hanna or the other girls.

* Where in the hell are Toby and Jenna's parents?! I haven't seen season 4 yet so maybe they show up there but shouldn't they have have turned up sooner? Jenna is blinded and later goes through major eye surgery,Toby spends most of season 1 as suspect #1 in Ali's disapearance yet not once do we ever actually see any parents. The closest we get are Toby and Jenna mentioning them sometimes and the whole Toby's biological mother comitted suicide thing.

* In season 1 who is the blond girl that Spencer sees in Maya's bedroom window? This happens in the books too but neither version really explains what's going on. This takes place while Maya's family lives in the Dilaurentis house and they are black so it can't be Ali,Courtney,or Cece(in the show). Is Spencer just hallucinating or something?
** In the books it's probably either [[spoiler: Mona (she was blonde in the books) or Ali on an excursion from Radley, like all the times show!Mona snuck out. I can't speak for the show, though if I had to guess it was probably either Ali, CeCe, or A in a wig.]]

* Prehaps I'm wrong but was there was supposed to be some connection between "A",Mrs.Potter's death,and the James Leland impersonator?

* Why is it that Ezra is treated like Pedophile for dating Aria(okay yeah a teacher dating his student is pretty wrong)but no one raises an eyebrow over Garret(who's about the same age as Ezra)dating Jenna?
** I think you answered your question. The problem with Ezra and Aria is not so much the age difference, but the fact that Ezra is a teacher at Aria's school, AND to make matters worse, she is actually a student in his class. This makes for some serious abuse potential, and it's why I never hopped on the Ezria bandwagon; their relationship means that he controls Aria's grade and her standing within the class. He might favor Aria in class, giving her better grades than students who work just as hard if not harder, or vice versa if the romance soured. (I don't think Garret's necessarily the same age as Ezra, FWIW, I actually think he's a bit younger.)
** It's not just "pretty wrong", it's literally illegal in most countries. Even if Aria were 18 and Ezra taught at her school but she wasn't in his class, it would be illegal here (UK) and possibly in the US. It's an abuse of power for all the reasons listed above. Also, the age gap when one party is a minor is squicky to a lot of people. It's not the number of years, it's the life experience- Aria hasn't even finished High School or had to fend for herself in life, whereas Ezra's been through college and teacher training and is an adult supporting himself.

* So how did Ian,Garret,Jenna,and Melissa get into the Dilaurentis house and up to Ali's bedroom without Ali's parents noticing?

* By the end of the Pilot we know that Ali is *dead* but then why does "A" continue wording the texts as though he/she is Ali? This is espcially confusing in the fashion show episode as in the message on the over head A refers to Ali's dresses as though they belong to "A" herself but just earlier "A" called Ali an evil bitch monster by hijacking the slide show. The hell?

*** Even if [[spoiler: Ali was A (which is still NOT technically confirmed, it's just the conclusion Mona and the Liars came to, with arguments existing both for and against), it's fact that the new A stole the game from Mona, and ironically most of the texts worded as Ali-messages were sent prior to said theft.]]

* You know how "A" had to pick the lock on Peter Hastings Desk to steal the gun? Well Peter had to unlock that same desk drawer when he finally discovered that the gun was missing and to do that he would have had to relock the drawer after "A" picked the lock,so why didn't he notice that the gun was gone earlier when he relocked the drawer?

* So apparently Toby was the A Team member that Dr.Sullivan met at the diner which may explain how they know each other and how he helped her at the end of S2 but then WHY doesn't she tell the girls that Toby is part of the A team or that there was a whole A team rather than just one teenage girl with mental problems?

* In season 3 it's revealed that one of the windows of the psychiatric hospital day room is wide open,presumably it was Mona's plan B after the staff discovered that someone was letting a patient sneak out at night. Correct me if I'm wrong but don't such institutions usually have bars or alarms on the windows specifically to keep the patients inside the hospital?

* What is it with all the gay / bisexual women on this show? They can't ALL be put their in order to give Emily someone to have UST with, can they?

* How much trouble could the girls actually get into for the Jenna thing? ''Ali'' was the one who got the idea and threw the damn stinkbomb/firecracker into the shed. True they should've tried harder to stop Ali(though it's unlikely that they could've)but they technically weren't responsible for what happened were they?
** Legally, they'd probably be fine. They might be worried about the social repercussions. Rosewood is one of those places where everyone butts into to everyone else's business. Imagine the hell that would break loose if Spencer (the daughter of a well-known Rosewood family) or Hannah (daughter of a politican) were to be associated with something like that.

* So I was rewatching season 1 and this jumped out at me. When the Hastings learn that Spencer dated Ian it puts suspcision on Spencer but not Ian? How does that work? The Hastings don't believe her about Ian but shouldn't the fact that Ian dated Spencer make Spencer's claims that he dated Ali more Plausible?

* How was Garret ever implicated by page five of Ali's autopsy report? Ali was smacked upside the head with a shovel,Garret smacked a tree with a field hockey stick and may have never even touched the shovel. This makes no sense at all!

*** Actually, [[spoiler: Alison]] only pushed him off. Ian survived and walked out of the church himself, then he committed suicide (I'm guessing the pain of his injuries were too much), and A just took advantage of the situation and wrote a fake suicide note.

* Even if he didn't really do it, Toby is a convicted arsonist (during said incident someone also got serious harm caused towards them) who also is not even 21. And yet, he apparently became a cop in the space of what had to be a week in this shows timeline. Where is the sense in any of that?

* So Wilden was involved with the A team(he was one of the Queen of Hearts on the halloween train and he set the fire at the lodge)but why? Everyone on the A team hates Ali,yes he knew her(as he was on that trip to Cape May with Ali and Cece)but was there ever any indication that he hated her or wanted revenge on her? Just what motivated Wilden to join/help "A"?

** The age of consent is 16 in many states. I think the problem wasn't so much age as the fact that he was her teacher.

* This literally just popped into my head a few minutes ago. Back in season one Spencer turned in one of Melissa's papers as her own. The paper is so good that her teacher enters it into an essay contest which it won. But if the paper was that good and Melissa turned it in herself during high school, how did no one except Melissa herself realize that it wasn't Spencer's paper?

* If season 5 still takes place in 2011, ''how'' could the school have a ''Frozen'' watch party when it came out ''two years later?''. And how could Hanna be dancing to "Bang Bang" which came out ''four years later'' in 2015?

* Ok The second "A" [[spoiler: The real Ali]] mentions how [[spoiler: Courtney ruined her life by sending her to a mental institution in her place]], blinded Jenna, had an affair with Ian when he was already dating someone else and much too old for her anyways, but considers the worse thing she did was changing her girl posse? I don't get it. In fact I don't get he whole particular grudge against the four girls, I mean the first "A" had a pretty solid thing against the four, but really after [[spoiler: Killing her twin]] why take it out on them?

** Maybe so but that seems a bit extreme, not to mention they were innocent (at least in this) they didn't know that the searching for the time capsule flag would have such consequences.

* Why did [[spoiler: Alison (the real one) visit Hanna??]] I mean, it's never hinted that she was trying to harm Hanna or anything, and it's later established that she HATES the Liars [[spoiler: so why visit her, and actually be sort of nice to her (the only thing she does is comfort her and say "I'm okay. I'm okay")]] ??
** You have to remember, she LOVES messing with the Liars' heads, she did it for lulz

* Okay so the first things that "A" catches them doing seems like Ironic Echoes of the secrets that only "Ali" knew [[spoiler: Spencer was kissed by Ian and made out with Wren, Aria conducted a secret relationship with her teacher the way her father did with his student, Emily kissed "Ali" and Maya]] ...except Hanna, I don't understand how her secret was echoed in what she was doing.
** In the show it makes more sense; both the bulimia and shoplifting were messed-up coping mechanisms that Hanna learned from her Queen Bee BFF of the time. It's stranger in the books, since it's shown that bookverse!Ali was actually trying to help Hanna work through her bulimia problems rather than start them, and I'm not sure if the shoplifting=attention thing from the show was in the books or not. However, it could still be argued that even in the books those acts were both Hanna's way of dealing with her problems.

** Huh? Are you referring to the prequel book,Ali's Pretty Little Lies? Yeah in that book Courtney says she tried to strangle Ali rather than drown her as previous books said but there are two possible explanations: 1.Ms.Shepard just forgot what she'd previously written or 2.Ali lied about what happened when she told the others about Courtney. Given that Ali's Pretty Little Lies strongly implies that Courtney was never actually insane and Ali manipulated things to make it seem that way,it's not too far fetched to assume Ali lied.

* What was up with that magazine detailing Hannah's stay at the psychiatric centre? Was it real or not? Hannah seems to think it is but if such an article WAS published,the hospital would be in so much trouble it's not even funny. However if it's fake(which seems to be implied)where did it come from? Iris specifically mentions that such magazines are contraband and if Iris is responsible how did she get Hannah's medical information or make such a convincing fake magazine? Before someone says a computer,was it ever specified that the paients get computer privilges? Even if they do,they would likely be closely monitered so Iris would have likely been caught. "A" could have made it but wasn't it mentioned that Iris never gets any vistors? Which brings me back to where the magazine even came from in the first place...

* In ''Deadly'', it is revealed that [[spoiler: Nick and Ali]] have planted evidence to frame the girls for Tabitha's murder and for being A, including rerouting all text messages through the girls' cell phones, planted their fingerprints on all physical evidence, and faked a security video of them committing the murder. The part about the cell phones, I can believe, but how is it possible to falsify the fingerprints and the video well enough to fool the FBI? The video especially - even if [[spoiler: Nick]] were a professional visual effects artist, I cannot suspend my disbelief to imagine that level of deception realistically working.
** The police are insane and/or stupid. At least that's I'm starting to believe. I mean don't they have people who specialize in examining photo and video evidence and who would surely be able to determine if a video like the one of the girls supposedly murdering Tabitha was real or not? Not to mention that when investigating a crime the police tend to look for a lot more than fingerprints(such as hair and skin). As for the fingerprints I got no idea. Maybe Ali and Nick wore gloves and maybe they got the girls prints from somewhere and put them on everything(I don't know if anyone could realistically do that but it's a possibility and I wouldn't put it past Ali) but that still doesn't explain how only the girls prints showed up when realistically their family members prints should have shown up on some things like the hand written notes. Speaking of aren't the police supposed to have handwriting experts too?

** "What he would do in retaliation?" Um when was Toby ever implied to be violent? He molested Jenna and peeped in windows but there is never any indication(that I recall)that Toby was ever violent. Besides surely the parents would've sent him away as soon as possible after hearing what he did and if that had to be delayed for some reason protect her from Toby? Besides if he did anything worse afterward as retaliation that would just get him in worse trouble. However I see your point about Jenna being scared and not thinking rationally.

* How exactly did Courtney's therapists come to the conclusion that she had Paranoid Schizophrenia and Ali was just a regular girl? I've looked up Paranoid Schizophrenia and there is WAY more to the disorder than claiming you're twin sister told you to pretend to be her or else. For example hearing voices and thinking large groups like the government secretly put tracking chips in your brain or something,Courtney NEVER exhibits any of these symptoms(not to mention if she was schizoprenic she probably wouldn't be able to pull off switching lives with Ali). Ali meanwhile apparently has no problems KILLING people,having already killed at least five different people(Courtney,Ian,Jenna,Tabitha,that girl at the burn center)or least manipulating others to kill for her. Yet COURTNEY is the one everyone belives to be crazy???? Yes she attacked Ali but isn't it normal for siblings to fight?

* How was Alison able to kill Courtney, Jenna and Ian without anyone noticing a seventeen year old running around Rosewood.

* Okay two things. How did the police come to the conclusion that Hanna killed Graham via overdose while he was at the burn clinic? Remember that burned girl Hanna befriended? The one who was found dead around the same time Graham kicked it? Well it was said she was dead for a week before she was found and yet "Kayla" was still in her bed interacting with Hanna and probably other people during the week when she was supposedly dead. To top it off her bed was right by Graham's room. Gee that sure is weird, maybe the police will look into it? Oh wait they're just gonna blame Hanna without investigating or anything. WTF? Also shouldn't the damn police be able to determine how many people did or didn't attack Tabitha by looking at her body?

** It's a carry-over from the books. After finding the body of [[spoiler: Ian Thomas]], they try to take the police to it, only to find that it's disappeared and become known as "Rosewood's Pretty Little Liars." Also they are keeping secrets about certain things. (The Jenna Thing, for example.)

** Also, she was probably always planning to fake-befriend the girls once she was allowed to come back to Rosewood officially. Mentioning the hospital visit helped her win Hanna's trust when she returned as "Courtney."

* Is it ever mention which twin is older?

* How was [[spoiler: Alison]] able to kill [[spoiler:Courtney, Jenna and Ian]] without anyone noticing a seventeen year old running around Rosewood.

* How much time has passed? The book mentions 3 years in reference to the liars and Ali’s friendship, but at other points in the story it’s 4
years.

* Why does Emily love Alison so much?
**Emily developed a crush on Ali, she was her first love and likely found it difficult to see her in a bad light.

* Why exactly is everybody(sans the girls) so sure that Ali died in the fire? No remains were ever found and that alone should prove that girls could be right when they say Ali is still alive.
** The girls reflect a couple of times that the police simply do not want to admit to having been wrong about Ali's death or deal with having to start looking for her. This is most likely the correct guess — after all, it takes [[spoiler:Alison literally smearing her blood and teeth all over a fake crime scene for the cops to acknowledge that she ''had been'' alive, and only because they were able to immediately arrest the Liars for her newly faked death.]]

* Whats up with everyone’s physical features changing all the time?
** Inconsistency
* How did the parents not notice their kids were being stalked, falsely accused and almost murdered multiple times?
** The liars appeared to be afraid to tell anyone about A

* is it ever mention which twin is older?

* How was A able to kill Courtney, Jenna and Ian without anyone noticing who’d done it?

* How much time has passed? The book mentions 3 years in reference to the liars and Ali’s friendship, but at other points in the story it’s 4

* Why does Emily love Alison so much?

* Why exactly is everybody(sans the girls) so sure that Ali died in the fire? No remains were ever found and that alone should prove that girls could be right when they say Ali is still alive.

* How was [[Spoiler: Alison]] able to kill Courtney, Jenna and Ian without anyone noticing who’d done it?

* How much time has passed? The book mentions 3 years in reference to [[Spoiler: Ali’s]] death but at other points in the story it’s 4

* How was [[Spoiler:Alison]] able to kill Courtney, Jenna and Ian without anyone noticing who’d done it?

* How much time has passed? The book mentions 3 years in reference to [[Spoiler:Ali’s]] death but at other points in the story it’s 4

** And what was the deal with Emily's cereal in Season 2 Episode 10? The box she chose just happened to be the one A had tampered with? Can you even imagine the preparation that must have taken? First, collect enough "As" from a big box of Alpha-Bits. Second, replace the mini box Alpha-bits with all As plus threatning message. Third, re-seal the cereal box liner with such finess that Emily doesn't suspect anything until she lifts her spoon. Fourth, re-seal the mini box of Alpha-bits. Ok, so let's say someone went to all that trouble... how did they know she would choose Alpha-bits? Was that the only cereal available in their cafeteria?

* Do these girls ever think anything through? They ''know'' by now that A is constantly watching them and will punish ''any'' mistake they make. Yet they all continue to do incredibly stupid things. One recent one being Spencer stealing then pawning her sister's wedding ring, only to have it turned into horseshoe. That was stupid enough even without A involved.

** The age of consent is 16 in many states. I think they problem wasn't so much age as they fact that he was her teacher.

** The diagnosis didn't come from what the girls told them; their accounts just made it clear that something was wrong with one or both of them. They ran various other tests after - we're never given the details one what kind of tests, but whatever they were, Courtney's terror of her sister caused her to test as paranoid schizophrenic. [[/folder]]