- Maybe Aria and Ezra shouldn’t be together, but neither Jason nor Jake were right for her either. With Jake, the point is furthered in the many moments that they just don’t have the same chemistry. Arts and culture was always so important to Aria, and there were so many moments where he neglected that under the guise of “not being too similar.” Jason’s incompatibility was a lot less obvious, but he still just wasn’t… right for her. And don’t even get me started on Wes…
- Besides Toby, Spencer’s most compatible match was Alex, all the way from Season One. Remember the guy from the country club? Yeah, he was absolutely right for her. He wasn’t afraid of her ambition, wasn’t put off by her attitude, anything. I doubt he would have been able to handle everything the Liars went through, but he was definitely a good match.
- Spencer is the most well-developed character. In other movies and TV shows, the typical “rich kids” have no depth beyond their wealth or status. Especially in the first few seasons, she had so many things going on that were unrelated– things like her warped relationship with her sister, her parents, academics, even down to her priorities and goals. Yes, she always got what she wanted that could be bought, but she also gained things for herself by never giving up when she needed answers.
- Ezra’s “tell-all book” was singlehandedly the worst plot point of the entire series, second only to the series finale. Up until this point, Ezra’s involvement with Aria was connected to one moment: their meet at the bar. He had no idea how old she was, he had no idea he was going to be her teacher, and there was no prior involvement that could be pinned to immoral intentions. The book through all of that out of the window, and I will never forgive the writers for that.
- Not exactly controversial, but I would say that the series finale is one of the worst in TV history. I’m not even an avid consumer of media, and I still recognized that the whole “evil twin” and “twisted branches of the family tree” was a wreck of trying to tie loose ends but fraying even more.
- Mike doesn’t get enough credit for his role throughout the series. He did so many things to take care of Aria and keep their family together, even when he didn’t exactly own up to it. He didn’t want to punch Ezra when their parents found out about their relationship, but he did anyways, because he knew that Byron was close to losing it. After one of his teammates spread a heavy rumor about Aria, it is heavily implied that he’s the culprit for bashing his car.
- Noel Kahn was such a poorly developed character. It never seemed like he had as much involvement with Alison as any of the other characters did, but when things happened, they were just kind of… pinned on him.
- Garrett Reynolds could have been so much more of a traitor than he really was, and I don’t think the writers took advantage of that. The Liars trusted him at first, especially because he was a childhood friend. He could have been the two-faced, backstabbing cop that was part of the ultimate betrayal, and he just wasn’t. He was another pawn in Jenna’s game, one that she wasn’t even playing with a strategy.
- Hanna’s most prominent trait is her loyalty. Throughout the series, she stays true to Caleb, the other Liars, and most importantly, her mother. She was more than willing, without hesitation, to confess to a murder so that her mom could come home. She was dramatic and had her priorities out of whack sometimes, but she was an amazing friend, partner, and daughter.
- Paige was THE WORST long-term partner that any of the Liars had. She tried to drown Emily at the start, then continued to be an obsessive crush and girlfriend throughout the whole series. Anywhere Emily went, Paige had to follow. It wasn’t even in a cute puppy dog kind of way, it genuinely felt like she never had anything better to do with her life than be with Emily. Even worse than an awful person, she was awfully written. She was nearly useless the entire time.
