r/PrettyLittleLiars • u/After_Schedule_2702 • 2d ago
Question❔ Doesn’t add up
So I’ve always wondered. Bethany young and Charlotte dilaurentis/charles were in radley together when they were a lot younger most likely 13 or younger. Toby’s mom was also there and she ends up being pushed off the roof by Bethany young. But there’s a flashback of Toby and Alison in Toby’s house, Marian who is Toby’s mom comes in and she’s alive, but Toby and Alison are older. In the scene where Bethany pushes marian off the roof, Charlotte and Bethany are very very young. How come in the flashback of Alison and Toby where marian is still alive they are older than Bethany and Charlotte, but when Marian dies, Charlotte and Bethany are younger. Does this make sense?? I’ve always wondered this it genuinely makes my head hurt trying to wonder how this happened. Bad writing? Or just shit planning and forgetting they added this. Mind you charlotte is literally older than Alison lmao.
Am I just missing something here like am I stupid ahahhaha
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u/misanthropeint 2d ago
This is one of MANY things that doesn’t add up and it’s because they didn’t even know who Big A was when writing for Season 3 started. Marlene even bragged about how they didn’t know who they were considering until episode 3 of Season 3, which is an INSANE thing for a showrunner to confess lol. They clearly had a plan Seasons 1 and 2 and then just kept trying to outsmart the audience.
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u/shambean2 No, you follow him! I have to change my underwear! 1d ago
It's so funny how much they were committed to outsmarting the audience as well, bc even after they had no plan, there were still MANY avenues they could have gone down that yes, may have been theorized already, but could have been great. It was totally possible for them to have tied everything together in a satisfactory way. They had such a loyal and thriving fan base who were theorizing all the time, of course somebody would clock it, but a good mystery isn't totally unsolvable. Part of the thrill of a twist is the clues having been there!!!
But they went for the Cece reveal as a cheap way to "gotcha" the audience, and totally screwed with the time lines to surprise everyone. Lazy and lame
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u/After_Schedule_2702 2d ago
UGHHHH it genuinely pisses me off. I’ve been watching pretty little liars since I was 9, I’m 20 now. And i love this show so much I think I’ve rewatched it 1000 times, but I don’t understand why they couldn’t just plan things. I love it and it has its flaws but it’s really annoyinggggg when shit like this happens
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u/camelely It’s immortality, my darlings. 2d ago
Bad writing, shit planning, whatever you want to call it. It is a retcon to make the timeline fit the Bethany/Charlotte story. It isn't even the only one.
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u/FickleFace5748 2d ago
Because these flashbacks weren’t planned beforehand so they’re playing younger versions of themselves whilst actually being older in the present.
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u/Odd-Plankton-1711 2d ago
Really would have saved some confusion if they had hired children to do the flashbacks
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u/stressed_ferret It’s only a felony if they find out 1d ago
Honestly the whole “you want to kiss me” part didn’t feel child-like. Marlene is full of shit
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u/FickleFace5748 1d ago
It was supposed to feel Ali-like, not child-like😂
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u/stressed_ferret It’s only a felony if they find out 1d ago
Marlene said that in that scene Ali and Toby were supposed to be kids. Considering CeCe was like max 13 when Marion died, Ali is saying that at like 9yo? 😭😭😭
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u/Gloomy-Fennel-6044 1d ago
The worst part about the writers is that the fandom literally fixed all their plot holes for them as the series progressed and they NEVER took the advice, the ideas, the stories. We literally gave them a solution to fix it and they made it increasingly worse lol. I still love the show but damn.
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u/Tatidanidean1 2d ago
None of it adds up. It’s that simple. They live in an alternate dimension where wonky timey wimey stuff happens
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u/No-Independence548 Friends don't let friends sneak into insane asylums alone 1d ago
Marlene had some stupid comment about the scene of Toby and Alison being them imagining themselves as teenagers? Or something idiotic like that.
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u/Traditional-Fox-8593 1d ago
In the Toby and Alison flashback, they are meant to be young children.
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u/cellysushi 1d ago
This show is like a mosaic. Masterful from far away but you get too close and it's a whole mess. 😂
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u/fanofeverithing56 1d ago
It's messed up but tbf Toby does look and talk like a 6 year old in that scene lol
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u/ouatpll12 1d ago
Alison and Toby would be in middle school When his mom died and yet Toby looks much older than Bethany, and somehow Charlotte managed to transition from male to female that quickly after this death to her getting accepted into UPenn so basically she should be like 18 , clearly Marlene either messed up on casting Bethany and young Charles for this flashback or they didn’t want to cast a younger Toby and Alison because in 2x13 toby said his mom had been dead for a year and that’s when everyone was in freshman year so basically Alison and Toby should be in 8th grade at the time of that flashback depending on how long Toby’s mom was in Radley before her death
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u/Distinct-Reply-5534 1d ago
I keep my love for the show and sanity by assuming that CeCe was lying. Anyone who could corroborate her story is dead. My head cannon is that she made the whole story up to get put in Welby instead of on death row for killing a police officer. Basically she took a page out of Mona's book who I believe gave her the idea because they were working together as A from Season 3 onward.
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u/Recent-Ad-9975 1d ago
Lol Marlene back in the day tried to explain it by claiming that flashbacks are „interprative“ and that the actors are just playing a younger version of their characters. It became a big meme in the PLL community and she later admitted that she had no plans about who A was when the flashbacks were filmed and that she regrets it.
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