Entertainment

How Rollins Could Be Alive On 'PLL'

by Caitlin Flynn

The only thing more common than a Pretty Little Liars funeral is the realization that someone was incorrectly ID'ed and the service was held for a person who was very much alive. Of course, the July 12 episode "Hit And Run, Run, Run" made it pretty clear that Dr. Rollins was dead — who could forget that close-up of his bloodied face on the car's windshield? Then, the Liars dug a hole and buried him with shovels that they just happened to have handy in the middle of the night. (You've gotta be prepared for anything in Rosewood.) Case closed, right? But, a promo for the July 19 episode teases that he may have been spotted in Baltimore. So, I have to ask — could Rollins be alive on Pretty Little Liars?

As a devoted PLL fan, I understand the show requires a suspension of belief — but I mean, come on. He looked really, really dead and I don't see him pulling an Ali and crawling out of his would-be grave. Whoever the Liars hit and buried definitely has to be dead (right?), so there's really only one scenario in which Rollins could be alive — someone else on the A team was wearing his mask that night in order to take Ali out of the hospital and that's who got hit by the car. It couldn't have been Mary Drake and A.D. wouldn't be killed off this early in the season, but the A team always has helpers. Like many fans, I've long-suspected that Lucas is involved — he may not be Uber A, but I'd be shocked if he's not an accomplice of some sort.

Lucas was conspicuously absent from the episode, although the Liars did make a point of saying that Hanna was driving his car that night. If he is involved in the A game, it doesn't mean he's the one who died — the car reference could have been a hint that he loaned his car to Hanna so he could track her whereabouts. But, other clues indicate that he may be traipsing around Rosewood in a mask. According to Lucas, his mysterious job takes him out of town quite often — but that could just be a ruse for him to "hide in plain sight" as he stalks and torments the Liars.

And, of course, there could be another A team member who donned a Rollins mask. He's the only person who could have checked Ali out of Welby, so it's possible that the Liars killed someone in a Rollins mask — but it still seems like a stretch, even by Pretty Little Liars standards. I know the masks are incredibly realistic, but wouldn't getting hit by a car jolt the mask out a place just a little bit? I think it's more likely that a member of the A team wore a Rollins mask after his death and made sure they were spotted in Baltimore. The A game is largely psychological and what would mess with the Liars' heads more than believing the person they buried somehow managed to survive and travel to a different state?

Images: Byron Cohen/Freeform; Giphy