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Entertainment June 27, 2017
Because it's the most important question of the finale.
Photo by Pretty Little Liars PLL via YoutubeThe entire “Pretty Little Liars” series will boil down to one question: Who is A.D.?
There are tons of theories circling the internet and many are pretty solid. Of course they are. The “Pretty Little Liars” fandom is nothing if not thorough in their predictions when it comes to A/A.D.
But since we know how much has happened since the start of the show, ENTITY’s broken it down for everyone trying to keep up. Here is a list of the top five theories that we’ve either created or pulled from other PLL detectives.
Lucas was already investigated and cast aside as the villain. But does that mean he didn’t actually commit the crime or that he’s a pretty good liar?
Argument:
Lucas has been a suspect since the beginning of the series. It’s weird how pushy he was in helping Hanna create her dream. He says it was because he believed in her, but if he’s A.D., he can also be a professional liar.
His story matched up and cleared everything a little too easily. He was only in contact with Charles over email? He didn’t tell anyone because he felt guilty? These are all pretty convenient explanations after he looked overly panicked at the loss of a comic book.
Let’s say his and Charlotte’s graphic novel was released, what would it have done to him? Why does it matter that A.D. had it? It couldn’t have possibly led to him as being the villain, especially since he’d have an alibi for everything.
Could he have valued his friendship with Hanna so much he panicked at the idea that she might find out he was friends with A.D.? Many people have talked to others about how horrible Alison was because her bitchiness was not a secret. Thus, his fear seemed a bit dramatic for the reasons he explained.
Counterargument:
Although his reactions were blown up, Lucas has always been a sweetheart. He has also always shown a particular interest in being Hanna’s friend and helping her out. He was even willing to lie for her to the police to cover up their story.
It’s not too far-fetched that he got cold feet and recanted his story later. His excuses were pretty convenient and they didn’t make perfect sense but humans rarely do, especially if they’re scared. Lucas’s actions could be explained by his fear of losing Hanna as a friend and becoming a suspect of the murder even if they wouldn’t indict him.
Unlike Hanna, Lucas doesn’t have much to fall back on if he loses the support of his investors. Entrepreneurs need their connections to continue their businesses. If it were to get out that he was getting investigated for murder, his investors might’ve cut ties with him to maintain their own careers.
This theory hinges on the idea that Alison Dilaurentis’ long speeches about learning from her mistakes and being a better person were actually just manipulations. Honestly, for this theory to work, Alison would have to be a sociopath or have Dissociative Identity Disorder (bipolar disorder).
Argument:
Dunhill purely wanted revenge for Charlotte. But A.D., on the other hand, seems to have bigger plans for the girls. A.D. wants to completely tear their lives apart. Giving up one of their friends to the police for Charlotte’s murder could have definitely done that in itself.
If we’re functioning under the idea that Alison is a sociopath or has Dissociative Identity Disorder, she might have let Dunhill, the pregnancy and all the other crappy things she’s gone through happen to herself on purpose. The girls only had access to her during certain times of the day and A.D. knows everything. For all we know, she might have only been strapped in and drugged for that amount of time.
Although Alison might have had Dunhill, all her friends left her to be alone in Rosewood again. The only person she had was Charlotte and she ended up dead.
So maybe a part of Alison wanted to create the game to keep her friends in the small town. This plane would have worked without a hitch. Alison has all her friends back, they’ve all completely forgiven her for her past and now she has Emily again because of the egg implantation. After all these fiascos, purposefully putting herself through torture doesn’t sound too crazy.
Since everyone was accusing her of still being the horrible person that she once was – maybe her personality split in order to accommodate all the emotional stress. Tyler Blackburn (Caleb) said in an interview that the audience has “kind of” met A.D. in a way already. So maybe he means Alison’s other personality? It would be a twist on the twin idea in the books. It would also be a big surprise for the fans.
Counter-argument:
Alison has been through enough and “Pretty Little Liars” is crazy, but I don’t think they’ll go for another mentally ill reveal. Charlotte was revealed to have mental illness in her arc. Alison also becoming mentally ill would make it seem as though only people with mental illness are capable of horrible things (i.e. Mona, Charlotte, Spencer) and that’s not the truth.
This season explored how Aria, their best friend, could be pushed to threaten their lives. They explored how Sydney, who wanted nothing more than to be left alone, was capable of horrible things herself. However, we haven’t had an A yet that is evil for the sole purpose of being evil. Everyone has had a sad backstory that led them to bad decisions.
They were forced into these things because they had to, they were mentally ill or they felt like it was the only good thing in their lives. We haven’t had an A that simply decided they wanted to play with the girls for fun. That wouldn’t be the case if Alison turned out to be A.D. It’d just be another overused trope in the story.
She makes the list because we never knew much about her. They only explored her when we found out about her backstory. For the longest time, everyone thought Bethany was the Uber A before Charlotte was revealed to be the culprit.
Argument:
This argument hinges on the idea that Bethany is Mary Drake’s daughter out for revenge. Bethany had “Intermittent Explosive Disorder” and in Mary Drake’s file, it says that she also had a habit of explosive anger via throwing things and blowing up at people.
This trait could have been passed down to her daughter, which explains why A.D. gets super angry and violent every time the Liars don’t do exactly what she tells them. Anytime Aria questioned her, she would tense up and get pissed Aria would dare question her authority.
Bethany also has a knack for manipulation. After framing Cece for pushing Marion Cavanaugh off of the building, somehow, she got rewarded by getting visits to the stables. One day, while they were at the stables, Jessica asked Bethany to call her “Aunt Jessie,” which caused her Intermittent Explosive Disorder to rear its head and throw the bucket – symptoms her mother had as well.
I’m assuming that when Bethany found out Jessica was sleeping with her father, she started creating that drawings we saw that had Liar written all over Jessica’s face.
Here’s the answer to the question you’re all probably thinking at this point: Who was in Alison’s grave?
The girl’s body could have been partially decayed by then. We’ve all witnessed how easily other blondes could be used to make people think she was Alison. Alison’s dental records could have also been switched – all it would take is someone with access to dental records.
If Bethany was manipulative enough to lie out of a crime, get visits with horses and escape from Radley under the pretense that she was someone else, why wouldn’t she get away with sneaking into a medical room and switching records?
I’m sure at this point another question popped up in your head: How did Bethany get out after Mona hit her?
In the same way Mrs. Grunwald knew how to save Ali, she probably knew how to save Bethany. However, after she was “murdered” Bethany had a whole new level of hatred and a whole new level of freedom because no one cared that she was gone.
And this why she chose A.D. – for “After Death.”
Counterargument:
Why would Bethany want revenge against the girls specifically? If anything, she would rather Charlotte die to tie up loose ends, not go after the girls for killing her.
This theory also doesn’t explain who Young’s father was. Was Jessica simply promiscuous from the beginning? Or did Bethany also think Jessica and Charlotte were liars for other reasons?
Did Jessica try to tell her that her mother was a previous Radley patient? If Mary is her mother why did she keep that from Spencer too, especially if she knew Spencer could be in danger because of her?
Mary Drake clearly cares a lot about Spencer, but if she had other children beyond Charles and Spencer then what would she gain by keeping that a secret, especially if her goal was to get closer to her daughter? There are a lot of questions with this theory that would need to be addressed if Bethany is the culprit.
Another theory by this Tumblr account credits A.D. as Spencer’long-lostst twin. It functions on the premise that Mary Drake had identical twins in Radley, but only Spencer was adopted.
Argument:
This argument is the most popular because of the ominous Spencer airport scene with Wren. She seems to be whispering and hiding something, especially after she blatantly asks Ezra to keep her meeting with Wren away from the girls. She was heard whispering, “Don’t call me that,” which many attribute to Wren calling the identical twin “Spencer” instead of her real name (which probably have the initials A.D.).
Another strong argument for this theory lies in Hanna’s “dream” while she was trapped in the barn getting tortured. Many think that it was actually Spencer’s twin who went into the barn and called herself A.D. — the name the girls didn’t get until a later episode. Spencer’s twin might’ve wanted Hanna to escape when she realized Hanna wasn’t the one who actually killed Charlotte.
Another clue we can pull from Alison’s theory belongs to the Tyler interview when he claims that the audience has “sort of” met A.D. Just like we said with Alison, this could mean that A.D. is a variation of one of the liars we’ve come to know and love. So perhaps a twin?
Based on this theory, it’s Spencer’s twin who was creeping around the DiLaurentis house during season 4 episode 23 and overheard Spencer’s mother and Ali talking about her. Maybe the reason Spencer doesn’t remember this happening is because she was never actually there.
This also explains her erratic behavior. When she took the rugs, she might’ve passed out and Bethany or A.D. would have known about this. At this point, the twin would’ve started trying to emulate Spencer, just like Alison did for Charlotte.
Keegan’s interview also offers support, because he specifically states we wouldn’t get any more Spoby kisses. However, season 7 episode 18 shows “Spencer” and Toby together … kissing. So, either Keegan forgot about the kiss, or he was dropping hints for the fans that the woman he kissed wasn’t Spencer.
During their scene together, Spencer makes a statement similar to “It is what it is,” as if she didn’t care what happened to herself. Toby responded with, “That doesn’t sound like the Spencer I know,” and “Spencer” paused before turning around.
This could be because caring became too hard for Spencer and she just wanted relief (of the sexual nature). OR it was Spencer’s twin and she didn’t care because she was the one orchestrating everything to begin with.
And if she was the twin, it makes sense that she’d be focusing on getting to together with Toby because the twin had always wanted Spencer’s life. Thus, it would make sense that she’d want to experience Spencer’s love life as well.
Counterargument:
Another “surprise” sibling would be very played out in a show that’s already given us three similar surprises. The first one is when Spencer found out she was related to the Delaurentis family. Then the second time this happened, we found out Charles was Mary Drake’s daughter. The third surprise is when Spencer found out she was Mary Drake’s daughter too. And now she has another surprise baby? Seems a little like overkill.
She couldn’t have written the letter to twins because everything was singular. Why would Mary Drake only care about one of her children? Also, when she visited Spencer’s dad, she was only worried about Spencer and Melissa’s whereabouts.
Many say that Spencer’s twin could also be Bethany, but that’s not how identical twins work. She would not have been blonde as a child if she were Spencer’s identical twin.
She would have to be Spencer’s fraternal twin, and that takes away the argument of why she has Spencer’s face. Spencer could’ve been talking to Wren in the airport but lied about why she was talking to him.
Another issue with this theory revolves around how confident A.D. is walking around with Spencer in the same city. If she was A.D. and she was on a “business” meeting with Wren, why would she go to a public airport? Why not a secret meeting place? A.D. seems too careful to make such a glaring mistake this close to endgame. Why wouldn’t she at least wear a mask?
Where could Spencer be? We don’t believe A.D. would freely walk around in such a small town as the girl everyone knows. People would end up recognizing that Spencer tends to be in two places at once… a lot.
Knowing Spencer, it’s highly doubtful that Spencer would stay locked up so long. Unless she’s dead. However, that would take way longer than a two-hour special to explore the repercussions of that.
Melissa has always been up for the running of A and signs have generally pointed to her. However, it was always explained away. But what if that happened because Melissa was preparing for A.D.?
Argument:
We learned this when Cece said Melissa took the picture of her and Jason at Cape May. Cece and Melissa talked the night of Ali’s disappearance, but what if she was talking to Bethany?
If they were friends, then A.D. could have a reason to be pissed the girls took her friend away. it’s not like she had many people left. Also, the show she gave Hanna in the restroom seemed a bit dramatic, right? That could’ve just been Melissa putting on a convincing show so the girls wouldn’t suspect her.
From her miscarriage to her presence in London to the reason her suitcase broken, Melissa is a pretty great liar. At this rate, she could fool the girls and her family pretty easily. She had to be somewhere when she lied about London right?
First, A.D. had the money to afford a limo, and it’s not like Melissa has ever been tight on money. Wouldn’t a twin who’s had to live most of her life alone need funds for all of the A.D. items? Where would A.D. get all of that cash if she wasn’t well off?
And second, since Melissa was lying about being in London, she couldn’t be seen at the funeral. However, she did want to be there so she could pay respects to her friend. She might have vowed revenge that day.
She returns to Rosewood around the same time A.D. messages the girls. Melissa noticed the girls doing their usual “We’re up to something” whispering that day. She was also seen behind the scenes while Hanna and Spencer were talking about the Radley tapes.
What if Hanna thought she saw Spencer in her dream but it was actually Melissa? Hanna was pretty messed up at the time, her mind could have associated Spencer with Melissa in an attempt to help her cope.
Or what if it was Melissa in a mask? This mask would also be the reason “Spencer” was talking to Wren in the airport and she got mad enough to tell Wren, “Don’t call me that.” Maybe he teasingly called her A.D. or Spencer while she was in costume.
Melissa could’ve also been just as mad at her mother as Spencer was when she found out her mom let her dad take advantage of her again. She would have wanted her mom to win, but she wanted Spencer to suffer. Melissa had access to Spencer’s computer while she was with Caleb at the Brew. So she could have leaked the dirt on Yvonne. Melissa wouldn’t have any issues playing dirty to get her mom elected.
She would also be mad at her father for cheating and lying to her mother. And to make matters worse, she was probably mad at Spencer for being the child of that infidelity. Spencer also hasn’t been a very good sister in the past with her kissing Wren and Ian while Melissa was dating them.
Speaking of Ian, did anyone notice the similarities between his death hanging from ropes in the bell tower and Hanna’s doll, when the Liars thought Hanna was dead? Either Marlene felt nostalgic and decided to reuse this exact pose to bring back memories, or Melissa wanted them to pay for what they did to Ian.
In this episode, Emily shows a picture of Melissa with the same sweater she had on during the lodge fire. Another hint to Melissa is that she was once called the “Queen of Hearts.” Is that image familiar? In season 3 episode 3, Mona was holding this card as she was singing, “In the Eye Abides the Heart.” The title of this song also happens to be the title of season 7 episode 15.
The last damning piece of evidence is the title of the episode. It sounds eerily similar to the title, “The Glove that Rocks the Cradle,” for season 7 episode 16.
In this movie, a woman destroys the life of her husband’s accuser. When she loses her baby around the same time her husband shoots himself because of the charges, she begins her slow hunt.
This fits pretty cleanly for a motive against the other Liars. Ian shot and killed himself after he found out Alison was alive and could pin him for filming and sleeping with underage girls.
Melissa probably thought Alison would get an abortion. This would’ve caused her to feel the same pain of a lost baby that Melissa felt.
Counterargument:
Well, this was #1 on the list of theories because there isn’t much of a counterargument. Melissa could cleanly fit into this role. There’s only one question that remains: How could they spin this into a two-hour special?
Well, there are a lot of little bits and pieces of Melissa scenes or appearances that were never wrapped up or explained, as listed in the argument section. So maybe we’ll get those missing pieces tonight!
Regardless of who turns out to be A.D. this time, we just hope all of the girls get their happy endings.
It’s been one long ride with these amazing women. We’ve gotten to watch them grow and evolve into strong, powerful ladies with bright futures ahead of them. Let’s hope they get to fulfill their potential after finally catching the last “A” of their lives.
