Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin is starting to feel more and more like the OG PLL, but maybe that’s because some of the new liars took a trip to Rosewood on Season 1 Episode 6 in search of some much-desired answers. More specifically, The Radley Hotel, once known as Radley Sanitorium.
PLL fans have plenty of worrisome memories at Radley, but thankfully, Imogen and Tabby’s trip fared slightly better. Turns out, Radley is actually a place of relaxation and serenity these days.
It was also a productive trip because one meeting with Eddie Lamb (who has truly seen it all!) later gave the duo a lot more to work with, in addition to a handful of new questions. This is still PLL after all.
The only thing missing from the mini-crossover was a guest appearance from one of PLL’s finest, though, Tabby’s trip to Ezra’s bookstore filled the void while also being a natural fit for the character.
During the brunch meeting, Lamb revealed that five young girls would visit Rose Waters, Angela’s mother, who was committed at Radley after spiraling and attempting to attack a group of teen boys in the high school following her daughter’s tragic death. Imogen knew exactly who the five women were, with Lamb confirming it was the moms, who clearly have a load of secrets and aren’t exactly forthcoming with any intel about Angela.
In fact, Imogen and Tabby, who are doing much of the heavy lifting when it comes to the research, had to go meet with a man named Crazy Joe living at the abandoned train tracks in order to get any insight into Angela’s past.
Joe confirmed Imogen’s theory that their mothers were somehow connected to Angela’s tragic death, which pretty much proves that it is also why “A” is targeting them. However, Joe also underscored that the moms were the mean girls who “adopted” Angela and turned her into someone completely different.
After her death, Rose couldn’t deal with the loss and came to school yielding a weapon and trying to attack a group of teen boys. While the attack initially seemed random—like someone who just snapped from the stress— it all made a bit more sense when Lamb filled in the missing piece: Angela was raped before she plunged to her death, which explains the messy look and the fact that she was begging her “friends” for help.
Honestly, the more we find out, the more I despise the moms. I know that they are good people now who have learned from their mistakes, but they never actually owned up to their part in Angela’s death. Actually, Noa and Faran’s moms don’t seem to have changed their ways at all, So, they don’t deserve any slack.
Lamb’s reveal that Angela was raped right before her death negates the theory that she has a secret child out there getting revenge, but it does make Rose a prime suspect as Lamb added that she was released and bussed out of town when Radley underwent a bit of a makeover.
He also said some patients were turned over to the Sisters of Quiet Mercy in Riverdale, which now brings all three shows into each other’s orbit. I don’t know how that works considering Lucy Hale was both Aria Montgomery and Katy Keene, but I guess we’ll just live in this informal crossover bliss for a bit and enjoy that all these worlds exist simultaneously.
Rose has now skyrocketed to the top of the suspect’s list when it comes to “A” as she would definitely have it out for the girls who hurt her daughter. And it would make sense that she would try to protect their daughters in a way that no one protected her daughter (“A” has never tried to hurt the liars physically, he only comes after those who hurt them), while also making any bully pay the ultimate price.
Crazy Joe can’t be ruled out as a suspect since he was in love with Anglea, but now we also have to add Steve to the list simply because he’s an actual creep who has become obsessed with Mouse.
There was something fundamentally wrong with him pretending that Mouse was his kidnapped daughter, but I could turn the other cheek and ignore it in that one instance because everyone experiences grief in their own way.
But stalking Mouse at bowling and Swan Lake, while also introducing himself as Mouse’s dad to Ash, is crossing the line. Losing his daughter has clearly taken a toll on his mental health, and Mouse needs to tell someone before it gets too serious.
Tabby and Imogen, who enjoyed their mini-getaway, also realized they have a lot more in common with Angela than they ever knew as they both opened up about their respective sexual assaults.
Tabby has minimal memories from the night of the bonfire where she was basically drugged and assaulted, while Imogen has no recollection of it happening aside from the intense pain the next morning. She underscores it’s the night that she got pregnant, which is even more heartbreaking.
It’s important to address sexual assault, but it’s even more important to highlight and showcase how strong and badass these women are. They aren’t letting what happened to them define them; they are opening up about it on their own terms, working through it, and trying to prevent it from happening to others in the future.
And they are most definitely considering the possibility that it was the same person who assaulted them both.
At this point, Chip tops my list of suspects. He’s trying so hard to be the good guy that it’s almost like he’s covering for a dark side and trying to convince himself. It’s not lost on me that Tabby mentioned that she asked him to take her shift while she went to the bonfire, which he judged her for with a comment about “hanging out with the meatheads.”I wouldn’t be surprised if his feelings are borderline obsessive and he took advantage of the situation as she kept dismissing the “nice dude” to pursue the jocks that he clearly has some feelings about.
However, all of the male students in Millwood seem to have a hard time grasping consent in general. It’s not hard not to be an ass, but they just keep making crude and misogynistic jokes while believing that “non means no” is just a suggestion they can ignore if they feel like it.
Take Greg, for example. Kelly bashes Tyler for being a pig, he laughs, and then he proceeds to try to force himself onto Kelly, suggesting that the “Beasly girls like it rough.” Kelly and Karen may have been walking nightmares, but no one deserves to be treated that way.
Kelly also made it a point to underscore that she’s not pretending to be her sister in this scene and in the following one where she’s attacked by “A” in the theater — when he pulls a move straight from the OG A playbook and ditches the pigskin mask for a theater one, so maybe we should just ditch the twin switch trope.
The whole theater moment was peak PLL! “A” is taking those big swings as he chases Kelly/Karen before finally cornering her. It’s the perfect opportunity to strike, but when she exclaims that she’s really Kelly (a declaration I’m still hard pressed to believe as it feels like a final Hail Mary), he slinkers off proving that he’s only interested in making the bullies pay.
And maybe he just likes seeing people in total fear.
Of course, the moment immediately raises a red flag on Henry as Kelly drops out of the show shortly after, leaving an opening for Faran to be the star, which is what he calls her.
Basically, I’m saying that none of the boys can be trusted. Period. Question all the boyfriends because every single one of them is shady, including Shawn.
Shawn seemed to have good intentions when he confronted Noa’s mom about being a roadblock for her daughter, but not only was it out of place, but his approach was terrible.
He didn’t understand or respect where Noa was coming from about taking hit after hit for her mother and protecting her. Noa fully acknowledges that her mother is an addict who needs help. Shawn, however, came in there playing the blame game and making her feel guilty to the point where she shut down. I don’t think Noa’s mom was using — and the drugs that they found belonged to A — but this set her over the edge and right back down a dangerous spiral.
Noa deserves to step out from under her mom’s shadow and live her own life; she deserves not to be the adult the whole time, but the conversation could’ve been so different had she not trusted Shawn with the information he wasn’t ready to handle.
As for Faran, well, you have to applaud when a woman takes her power back. In her case, A provided her with the information that proved to her that her mother purposefully put her through an unnecessary surgery for the sake of vanity, which also confirmed all of her biggest fears about her mother.
And even now, after everything that Faran has accomplished, her mother is still only seeing the surface level and is ready to put her through more pain to make her “prettier.” It’s a huge blow to a young woman’s self-esteem, so I’m glad Faran can see it for what it really is. She’s much stronger and braver than her mom ever was. She’s no longer hiding; she’s owning scoliosis and the scar so that no one — looking at you Kelly/Karen — can ever use it against her again.
Of course, when her mother saw that Faran aired her family drama publicly, she broke down. It likely all triggers a memory of when she forced Angela to get a tattoo and then ghosted her, but in general, Corey doesn’t seem to do well with anyone calling her out.
She was pretty distraught after leaving the play, so it’s possible that the crash was really an “accident,” but if I’ve learned anything over the years, “A” probably had something to do with it.
And considering how vain Corey is, I wouldn’t be surprised if “A” made sure that her looks took a hit.
Either way, the mystery trudges on as we narrow down the possible suspects in hopes of getting some clarity in the near future. Who is “A”? Who assaulted Tabby and Imogen? Sound off in the comments below!