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Dr. Cochran May Have Some Answers For Us On 'PLL'

by Caitlin Flynn

There's never a dull moment in Rosewood — and the Aug. 9 Pretty Little Liars episode "Original G'A'ngsters" was one of the most action-packed yet. As more and more familiar faces return to Rosewood, Noel Kahn is looking more suspicious than ever. Jason's return was accompanied by the bombshell that he and Aria apparently had a fling during the time jump, and yet another house (well, storm cellar) was blown up because literally nowhere is safe in Rosewood. Then, there was the major reveal that Mary Drake had another child during her time at Radley, which has lead to wild speculation about who the child may be. (At this point, I've honestly lost count of the number of secret DiLaurentis family members.) A minor clue came towards the end of the episode — who is this Dr. Cochran that Noel called on Pretty Little Liars?

The main clue we've been given about Mary's second child is that he or she is approximately the same age as the Liars. Although I initially thought Andrew Campbell was the most obvious answer (and it's definitely still a possibility), Noel's phone call to Dr. Cochran has lead me to speculate that he is Mary's child. I totally missed this during my first watch of the episode, but the Tumblr account theplltheorist posted a screengrab that confirms Dr. Cochran is the physician who delivered Mary's second child at Radley.

Of course, that doesn't automatically mean that Noel is Mary's child. In fact, we haven't seen any real proof that he and Jenna are working with Mary at all — it's entirely possible that they have their own agenda that has nothing to do with Mary's. Noel sounded impatient on the phone, demanding that Dr. Cochran call him back immediately because he's "running out of time and patience." It's possible that, during his recent sleuthing, he discovered yet another DiLaurentis family secret and he plans to use it against Ali and the Liars.

Alternatively, he may be blackmailing Dr. Cochran for information about Mary and the DiLaurentis clan — after all, she may have delivered the baby under shady circumstances because if there's one thing I've learned from Pretty Little Liars, it's that we should not trust doctors on this show. Or, Noel may suspect that he's Mary's child and he's now impatiently awaiting DNA results. (He's currently in possession of the file that confirms Dr. Cochran delivered Mary's baby at Radley.) Really, the possibilities are endless because we're still in the dark about Noel's motives.

Although Mary's baby was conceived at Radley, we can rule out the possibility that Dr. Cochran is the child's parent — Noel specifically refers to the doctor as "she" and "her" during the brief phone call. But, the paternity of Charlotte and Mary's younger child will definitely be important going forward, so Dr. Cochran could potentially hold the answers to our many questions about Mary's time at Radley. I hope she makes an appearance in the flesh sooner rather than later — because Dr. Cochran may be the key to more than one unsolved mystery.

Image: Byron Cohen/Freeform; prettylittleliars/Tumblr