After so much waiting, "Pretty Little Liars" fans received some answers in the Season 5 finale. Besides the #BigAReveal the show promised -- and delivered on -- "PLL" devotees saw the return of old faces and series-long questions addressed. Read on for five shocking moments from Tuesday night's "PLL" episode. (Major spoilers below.)
1. Mona is alive.
Though much of Season 5 revolved around the trial for Mona's murder -- which Ali is convicted of in the penultimate episode -- the finale revealed that Mona is actually alive. She's been held captive by A -- forced to act like Alison DiLaurentis in the same dollhouse that now imprisons the Liars. At first, Spencer, Hanna, Aria and Emily think Mona may actually believe she's Ali, but in a small window when A's camera isn't watching, she reveals she just acts the way A wants for her own safety.
2. Ali tells Spencer's parents about A.
How long have "PLL" fans been desperately wishing that someone's parents could step in and help out these very young people in a terrifying situation? After learning that the Liars did not safely make it to the penitentiary following their arrest as suspected accessories to Mona's murder -- and with nothing left to lose after being sentenced to life in prison -- Ali reveals that A is alive, well and the culprit behind their kidnapping. It's sometimes hard to remember that all the parents think the whole A situation ended when Mona was sent to Radley -- because, um, have they been noticing literally anything that's been going on? (No.) But the fact that it makes very extreme logical sense an evil stalker would be behind all the recent horror in Rosedale is probably what gets Spencer's parents on board so quickly. As high-powered adult lawyers, they're able to help Caleb make some headway with the normally impossible Tanner, which eventually leads to number 3 on our list.
3. The cops find A's lair.
Talk about an "I Told You So" moment. Caleb's computer wizardry brings the police to an orchard where they discover A's lair. (The orchard is connected to a family with the surname Campbell -- a.k.a Andrew Campbell, we knew you were up to something.) Tanner sees the video evidence of the Liars held captive and finally understands they've been trying to tell her the truth about not being killers this whole time. Now maybe she can be an effective member of law enforcement and try to protect young teenage girls from a highly evil stalker killer instead of trying to put them in jail constantly. Cool.
4. Charlies Dilaurentis is A.
So this was a big one! We finally discovered the identity of #BigA, and though the internet has varying levels of satisfaction about the reveal, we're pretty into it. A is Charles Dilaurentis, a brother to Ali and Jason who we never knew existed. (Though fans suspected something would happen with someone of this name after solving the anagrams the Liars found in Mona's room.) Charles is potentially Jason's fraternal twin -- there has been a lot of twin hint-dropping and theorizing throughout the series -- which would also make him Spencer's brother. (And explain why the Hastings are always freaking out about everything and being generally secretive and bizarre.)
Now the question remains ... do we know already Charles Dilaurentis, but just by a different name? In her Twitter question session last night, I. Marlene King did not rule it out:
Start theorizing, y'all!
5. The Liars are super trapped in the middle of nowhere.
So we figured out who A is (sort of), but this doesn't solve the problem of the Liars being very much imprisoned by him. They do manage to break out of the doll house, only to find they're enclosed within a very tall electric fence. As the episode closes, the camera zooms out to show the whole set-up is in the middle of a forest. According to King -- who opened up about Season 6 in an E! exclusive -- the series will pick back up right where it left off, with the Liars still stuck. So we'll have to wait to find out how they're going to get themselves out of this one.
See you in June, "PLL" heads!
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