Entertainment

#FAceToFace Reveals All On 'PLL' — Now What?

by Keertana Sastry

Well, Pretty Little Liars fans. Your years of dedication have paid off. Tuesday night's summer finale "Game Over, Charles," the answered almost all of the major questions we've been dying to find out whether you liked the outcome or not. The identity of Big A, Black Widow, Red Coat, Toby's mother's killer, and the person who hit Alison all those years ago were revealed. Big A is CeCe, a.k.a. Charlotte, and Sara Harvey was both the other Red Coat and the Black Widow. As for Toby's mother's killer, it turns out Bethany pushed Marion off the roof of Radley, and CeCe was the one who hit Ali with a rock because she believed she was hitting Bethany. Oh, and Mona attacked Bethany with a shovel because Mona thought Bethany was Ali. Yeah, that all happened in one episode. But as we all know, this is just the Season 6A finale, Season 6 will continue with a time jump. So with all these epic questions solved in one swoop, what mystery will be left on Pretty Little Liars now that Big A is unmasked?

At the end of the summer finale, we saw the girls separate for college and other paths, and then we were treated to a glimpse of the Liars fives years into the future. Before the time jump, Spencer is off to Georgetown, Emily is going to Pepperdine University in Malibu, Ali is staying behind in Rosewood, Aria is off to SCAD in Savannah, and Hanna is presumably off to New York with Caleb. We also find out that Sara Harvey was released from the hospital and Ali states that whatever happened to Sara that night wasn't the girls' fault. But of course, Spencer being Spencer, the young Ms. Hastings has to state the more realistic response, "I doubt that's how she sees it." But for the most part, the girls look happy going off on their own adventures. Well, they're happy until we get to the time jump, that is.

Now that we know where the girls at least start their time jump, we can make some educated guesses as to where we might meet them again. We know that the girls come back to Rosewood and warn Ali that "he" is coming, so clearly I. Marlene King and the writers have another mystery already cooking for when the show returns from its hiatus. But what have the girls been up to? Who are they with, if anyone? And who is this "he" who's after Ali?

There's been quite a bit of backlash towards the summer finale from Tuesday night, in fact our very own Bustle editor/diehard PLL fan Samantha Rullo isn't sure she can continue on watching the show after King and the writers made CeCe a transgender character due to the somewhat problematic execution of the storyline. Rullo suggests that maybe King and the writers could fix what they've done with the storyline by making CeCe just a pawn in an "Uber A" game, thus taking away a great deal of the blame for CeCe's very vicious actions over the past five seasons. If the show decides to go that route, then perhaps Uber A is the "he" the Liars are warning Ali about? If Uber A is real and the real big bad villain of the series, it's possible that he would want to go after Ali the most. Think about it: CeCe decided to end the game thanks in large part to Ali, or at least it seemed like the game ran its course after CeCe told Ali the truth. Maybe Ali knew Uber A during the times she wasn't with the girls. In fact, what if Uber A is her "Beach Hottie" and that Beach Hottie is Wren? (Sorry, I really don't want to give up hope that Wren is highly involved in all of this, you guys.)

But what about the girls? In the promo for Season 6B, we see the girls reuniting after what appears to be a long time. Hanna seems to be showing off her to Emily which must mean she's engaged to Caleb because they're perfect for each other. Spencer is sitting pretty with some new bangs and in a classy wardrobe. My guess is that she's definitely riding high in D.C. or some other big city, finding ways to be the leader she was always born to be. Plus, it looks like her mother is running for Mayor or some other high government rank and I predict Spencer is probably working as her campaign manager. (Guess that means the moms did get out of the DiLaurentis basement.) Unfortunately, we also see Mona asking Spencer if she still has nightmares, and it seems likely that Spencer also finds getting over the past harder than the other girls, considering how connected she was to the mysteries. We also see Toby in the time jump promo, but he doesn't seem to be spending any time with Spencer — only Emily. I predict that Spoby is no longer, but you know that probably won't last once Spencer comes back to Rosewood to help Ali.

Emily says in the promo that college "wasn't what she thought it would be," and then puts her graduation picture away. When we discovered in that Labor Day scene that Emily was going to Pepperdine University, it actually made the least sense to me. After doing some research, I found that Pepperdine is known for business, law school, and that it's considered to be a conservative university both religious and politically thanks to a Christian affiliation. I can definitely see why Emily might not have been so happy with her college experience, considering her past experiences with Christianity. But she might have some bigger problems to worry about now that we see her spot Sara Harvey in a graveyard in the promo for Season 6B. Sara might be back for revenge but it all depends on what happened to her the night of the reveal.

As for Aria, we see her in a grainy security-footage like photo with Ezra (who is sporting some serious facial hair) and seems to be telling someone who I believe is Ezra "I know you did this to protect me." What did Ezra do to protect Aria? It's likely that Ezra just did something in the future to keep Aria safe like hurt someone who was out to get her. He's definitely the type. But what if it has something to do with Sara?

We know that something bad happened to Sara Harvey when the girls ran after CeCe following Spencer diffusing the bomb that Sara set to blow up Radley. It's unlikely that Sara was just upset over the fact that Emily punching her (which she totally deserved). I predict one of two things will happen with Sarah: Either she was angry that CeCe ended her game, was sent to another mental hospital and is slowly planning to hurt the Liars herself by gathering all the people CeCe or Mona may have used to hurt the Liars in their reign as A. OR maybe Sara Harvey has now been recruited by whoever "he" is that is after Alison and is working for him to once again hurt the Liars.

Also let's not forget that there are at least three new people the series is adding to its cast in Season 6B. We have to figure out who is Mr. Rollins as Ali is clearly married to this man since she's writing his name in cursive on her classroom chalkboard. He's been described as a handsome psychiatrist, and my guess is that this psychiatrist met Ali as she was coping with all the trouble that CeCe caused her and her friends. The sessions ended, they fell in love, and got married, right? I'm not so certain that Rollins isn't a new person to worry about harming Ali. (Seriously Ali, what did you get yourself into?)

Then there are also two other characters the show will introduce: Jordan, "a sophisticated-yet-approachable 27-year-old working in the fashion industry," and Liam, "24-year-old editorial assistant from Boston." Because I don't believe anyone could tear apart Haleb, I'm going to hope and pray that Jordan the fashion industry professional could romance Aria while she's broken up with Ezra. They could easily meet if Aria is working as a fashion photographer. As for Jordan, he could be who keeps Spencer away from Toby once she graduates from college, since Toby does seem rather forlorn in that flashforward promo.

I'm beyond intrigued (but cautious) about how the show will look when it returns from hiatus. Just because the mystery of Big A is solved, that doesn't mean the Liars will live happily ever after. And it also doesn't have to mean that the saga of A is over. These girls are bound to have darkness and mystery following them wherever they go, and that's what makes them so intriguing to watch.

Luckily, the final episode made sure to leave plenty of mystery for fans to unpack. Is it January yet?

For more Pretty Little Liars theories, check out Bustle's Pretty Little Liars podcast, Taking This One To The Grave:

Images: Screengrab/ABC Family; Giphy