Let’s take a moment to appreciate the dedicated fans of Pretty Little Liars; you’ve been through a lot. We’re now in the fifth season, and there have been enough insane plot twists, questionable decision-making and bizarre murders to last us a lifetime – and the show was just renewed for two more seasons! Whether you’re a hardcore fan or just trying to keep up with PLL week to week, there’s no denying that the girls of Rosewood know how to keep us on our toes.
In a Herculean feat of discipline (and after much roundtable discussion at the HC headquarters), we were able to narrow down the 11 most WTF moments in the series thus far – no small task, let us assure you. While some of these moments were absolutely terrifying and had us looking like this…
… there were others that were shocking, haunting or just plain upsetting, like when you find out that a character you’ve loved and trusted for years HAS COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY BETRAYED YOU. That kind of thing. Anyway, let’s get into the list and relive the most OMG-worthy WTF moments in Pretty Little Liars history.
WARNING: Spoilers ahead!
1. When “A” (Mona) ran Hanna over with a car
“Keep Your Friends Close” (Season 1, Episode 10)
This was the first moment in the show when we realized what we had gotten ourselves into by becoming emotionally attached to these characters. It’s pretty much common knowledge at this point that Mona was behind the wheel, but we still can’t believe this actually happened (and also that Hanna didn’t die after getting hit head-on by a moving vehicle).
2. When Spencer and Emily found Jason’s darkroom full of photos of Aria
“Picture This” (Season 2, Episode 9)
Talk about a stalker! Emily and Spencer finding a collection of creepy photographs of Aria in Jason’s shed-turned-darkroom was made even more unsettling by the bloodred lighting and the fact that the photographs were of Aria sleeping. We’ll never look at a toolshed the same way again.
3. When Hanna, Spencer and Emily stumbled upon the creepy-as-hell Alison look-alike doll
“If These Dolls Could Talk” (Season 2, Episode 24)
Everyone knows that dolls are creepy, but this episode of PLL took it to a whole new level. Not only did the girls break into a doll shop (casual), but they followed the chanting of, “Follow me, end up like me” and discovered this doll, unmistakably meant to represent Alison and her gruesome death.
4. When Mona was chanting and brushing a doll’s hair in the children’s ward of an insane asylum
“Crazy” (Season 3, Episode 7)
Speaking of dolls, this scene of Mona sitting on a bed in the children’s ward of an insane asylum, brushing the hair of a porcelain doll and chanting what seems to be gibberish is straight out of a horror movie – we weren’t saying “WTF” as much as we were saying, “Can we look now?” Although Mona’s creepy song actually turned out to be a helpful clue, this scene still goes down as one of the most terrifying in the show’s history.
5. When Aria was locked in a train car with Garrett’s corpse
“This Is a Dark Ride” (Season 3, Episode 13)
The entire Halloween episode in season three was a little over the top, especially since all of the action was confined to a train, but that’s kind of Pretty Little Liars‘ thing. As if the close-up shot of Aria trapped in a coffin in a train car with duct tape over her mouth wasn’t panic-inducing enough, the camera then panned to Garrett’s corpse, with whom Aria was sharing the coffin. Talk about spooky!
6. When Tippi the parrot gave the girls a clue via a very important telephone number
“Turn of the Shoe” (Season 4, Episode 2)
In general, birds freak us out: they have these enormous eyes that never blink and their movements are kind of robotic. Leave it to PLL to completely justify our fears in this episode, in which Tippi the parrot starts singing and mimicking a song that turns out to be a mysterious but crucial telephone number. When your protagonists start getting clues from birds, you know things are getting cray.
7. Ezra is A?!
“Now You See Me, Now You Don’t” (Season 4, Episode 12)
Many would argue (including members of HC) that this was the single most WTF moment of the series: When Ezra was revealed to be A. Well, at least that’s what it looked like when we got a shot of Ezra surveying his creepy lair of photographs, timelines, extensive files and video footage of the Liars that he’s been collecting over the years. We know the truth now, but we still get chills at the thought of this scene.
8. When the Liars found out that Alison had been alive the whole time
“Grave New World” (Season 4, Episode 13)
We had our suspicions about this, especially when Spencer had her “hallucination” that she was talking to her presumably dead friend, but we were shocked nonetheless when Alison decided to formally return to the land of the living. (Perhaps even more shocking: How perfect her hair looked when she was on the run. Who has time for curling irons when you’re pretending to be dead?) While we loved seeing the Queen Bee strut her stuff in flashbacks, we love her even more now that she’s interacting with the Liars in the present day.
9. When Spencer was running through the woods in a bridal gown and her train got caught in a bear trap
“Unbridled” (Season 4, Episode 23)
This whole episode was so outrageous, it almost didn’t seem real. From the finger bones in Spencer’s corset to her running through the woods in a wedding gown, things looked headed for Crazyville… and then Spencer’s train got caught in a bear trap, and we had arrived. The entire scene was bizarre for so many reasons, but the addition of metal trapping tools took it over the edge.
10. When Aria became a murderer by killing Shana
“EscApe From New York” (Season 5, Episode 1)
Now, we just want to say that having a character on this show become a murderer is not in and of itself anything to say “WTF” about. When it’s one of the four Liars, however, that’s a different story, and there were plenty of jaws on the floor when sweet little Aria Montgomery killed Shana by knocking her over the head with a gun. We’ll be honest: We kind of loved seeing one of the Liars get her hands a little dirty, and we never liked Shana that much, anyway.
11. When Mrs. DiLaurentis’s body was unearthed in Spencer’s backyard
“Whirly Girlie” (Season 5, Episode 2)
With all the talk of burying and being buried on Pretty Little Liars, we suppose it did make sense that Ali’s dog found Mrs. DiLaurentis’s body buried in the Hastings’ backyard. That being said, it was still a totally WTF moment. Seeing the lifeless hand sticking out of the dirt definitely gave us chills and reminded us how much we love this show for being so ridiculously over the top.
In conclusion…
Don’t change, PLL; don’t ever change.