For a while this may be my last post on the subject of PLL. I have my doubts I'll bother with the Perfectionists. So I want to give some final thoughts before the year ends.
I wasn't quite watching the show exactly from the beginning, but I did jump on before season 1A ended. When I started the show I was still calling Buffy my favorite TV show of all time, but a more relevant context is that my favorite currently airing show at the time was The Vampire Diaries.
By the time unmAsked aired it had become my favorite current TV show. It was during Season 4B, which I still consider the show's best half season, that it became my favorite TV show of all time. And it's still my favorite western TV show, as well as favorite live action TV show.
Once Ali was made part of the regular cast, the show lost some of it's original mystique, but remained pretty entertaining for awhile.
For the first nearly 6 and a half seasons the show provided the best Lesbian representation on TV. Then came Game Over Charles and the show's legacy within the LGBT community was tainted indefinitely. It was real sad watching Heather Hogan's passion for the show deteriorate.
I still enjoyed plenty of the last season and a half, including the final episode. But it wasn't what it once was.
In a lot of ways revealing CeCe to have been the second -A could have been perfect, if they just hadn't added the whole Charles narrative. There is something about introducing her and using her as a red herring repeatedly, then seemingly explaining her role at the season 4/5 cliff hanger and besides a cameo or two mostly forgetting about her till the big reveal came, that worked perfectly.
And I could have been fine with the main villain of the show being a Trans woman if she hadn't been the only Trans representation the show had. Charlotte is a great villain, and the show does make Patriarchal Transphobia the cause her issues, but her being the only representation Trans women have on the show is still really problematic.
None of these issues with the show's final act were enough to destroy all the enjoyment I had and make it no longer my favorite American TV show. But it is really unfortunate that it had to end that way.
My recommendation of the show to others shall always be that the first 4 seasons are perfect.
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