WARNING: There are MAJOR spoilers ahead from Tuesday night's summer finale of Pretty Little Liars! Read at your own risk.
Oh my gosh! What?! No way! Did you see that?! Holy freakin' crap!
Who couldn't sleep last night because of the mind-blowing summer finAle?!We've just finished watching the summer finale of Pretty Little Liars and after passing out for a solid three minutes from pure, unadulterated shock, we're back and ready to discuss that mind-blowing episode!
You all should be raising your hands right now, because that was one intensely twisted episode of Pretty Little Liars. After learning that (Spoiler Alert!) Ezra is A, we went through a wide range of emotions: Shock, anger, heartbreak, fear, confusion and, of course, complete and utter betrayal. (How could you, Mr. Fitz?!)
To help make sense of all these feelings and find out what the heck is going on, we just got off the phone with the hooded vigilante himself, Ian Harding. From the shocking reveal, to Ezra's connection with Ali (Sasha Pieterse), and whether or not his love for Aria (Lucy Hale) love was pure, we asked all the questions that you are dying to know right now.
First things first, let's talk about that jaw-dropping reveal of a pissed-off Ezra in the Ravenswood lair. Harding exclusively tells us that he was excited to express a new side of Mr. Fitz after all these years of playing a good guy. He says, "We were able to see Ezra actually get angry, which is a new thing, and so I think all three seasons of emotional repression came out at the closet door."
The actor continues, "I think what he was trying to convey is there is something that Ezra is trying to hide or something that he's trying to protect. Whether that is Aria, or his reputation, or this thing that he has on the side, whatever it is, he's has been kind of caught with his pants down in some sense."
So how long has how long Harding has known that he was the leader of the A team or so we suspect? The PLL star reveals that he has known about this shocking new twist for months! "I've known since February, it's been while. They brought it up at the beginning of the season as 'You know this is an idea that we have, something that would be a fun thing for you to play and a new shift for the character, would you be down?' and I said, 'Absolutely, so let's do it!'"
We don't know about you, but we're still a little confused as to what Ezra's official title is. Is he A? "Beach Hottie" with the board shorts? An undercover agent, la Toby (Keegan Allen), hoping to protect the girls? Harding explains that as of right now he's not even sure. "I don't know if 'board shorts' and A and me are the same things, we don't know yet," he admits.
Whoever he is, the 26-year-old actor says he is looking forward to exploring his dark side when the show returns in January. "Ezra is such a good guy, even with the whole like high-school-girlfriend thing, he's still just such a good guy and so I wanted something to change it up a little bit."
Speaking of Aria, many fans were absolutely devastated to learn that Ezra has been deceiving his high school sweetheart this entire time. So here's the big question: Did Ezra ever love Aria? Harding answered without skipping a beat saying, "Oh yeah! I think he does, absolutely!" Please excuse us while we do a confused happy dance...
He explains, "Ezra is not a sociopath, in my opinion. Granted, the writers are the ones who control the storyline, so they could have a completely different opinion. But I don't think that he is some like whack-job who is just there to torment people and then going to be like laughing manically in a straitjacket by the end of the season." Sorry Radley, looks like you're going to be missing out on one very sexy patient!
"I think that he does love Aria and I'm interested to see what has driven him to do some shady things, but I don't think he's a bad guy. He's just driven by something that has made him do questionable things." Harding continues, "I trust the writers. I don't think it's going to turn out that he's just this weird sociopathic killer. I don't think it would be as tacky and contrived as that. The potential storylines are all pretty interesting and completely justified by the stories."
Looking ahead to the next half of season four, Harding admits that he would be interested to see if Ezra is going to have intentions, similar to Toby's, of protecting his girl. "I'm interested to if Ezra is protecting her in some way, and what form that would take. There have been some interesting scenes that we have shot thus far that I'm really itching to see how it's justified involving Lucy and a few other things so I'm not sure what that connection would be." We certainly can't wait to find out!
We've just finished watching the summer finale of Pretty Little Liars and after passing out for a solid three minutes from pure, unadulterated shock, we're back and ready to discuss that mind-blowing episode!
Plus, to help clear up any confusion you may have, we've snagged exclusive details from Sasha Pieterse about Ali's fate, the "can't-miss" Halloween special and what's coming up in the second half of season four.
Oh and for all you pretty little book lovers out there, we made sure to ask Pieterse if the name Courtney DiLaurentis means anything to her and you'll never guess what she said!OK, we just need to scream this right now: Ezra (Ian Harding) is A?! Not gonna lie, our heads are spinning and we're still having difficulty processing this news. After chasing after not one, but two Red Coats, Spencer (Troian Bellisario) led the liars into A's official lair. (And speaking of Red Coat, CeceDrake almost died and we've got strong suspicions that the other Lady Red is Ali. Crazy, right?!)
From the giant pictures of Ali plastered on the walls to a super high-tech computer monitoring system and creepy timelines featuring each and every character, it looks like this ultra-lair is definitely the real deal. The girls pieced some of the puzzle together and realized that A is actually a man and most likely he's "Board shorts," the guy that Ali was hooking up with the summer she disappeared.
So why do we think that our sweet, Aria-loving Ezra is "Board-shorts" you ask? In the very last minute of the episode, a man in a black hoodie stormed into the lair. He turned around and we saw good ole Mr. Fitz, dressed in a black baseball cap and clearly ultra-pissed that our fab foursome had invaded his secret space.
Pretty Little Liars, Sasha PieterseABC Family
While we let that news sink in, let's talk about the night's other big shocker: Ali could be alive?! Pieterse told us that we would get clues about Ali's fate, but it's still hard to believe that our blond bombshell has been hiding in the shadows of Rosewood as for the past four years. And Emily (Shay Mitchell) made a very good point asking, "If Ali's alive, then who's funeral did we go to?"
Known around the interwebs as the Twin Theory, many book fans have always assumed that creator Marlene King would follow PLL author Sara Shepard's lead and write a sister twist into the show. The novels featured a complicated storyline of identity snatching involving Alison's twin sister, Courtney DiLaurentis.
However, Pieterse reveals that the TV series is not touching upon that complicated family matter at least not yet. "I think the writers and the producers have kind of mentioned that they're not going in that route," the actress confirms. "If there is such a thing as a twin in Rosewood, it's probably not for Alison, that's also something to keep in mind."
The 17-year-old continues, "There are twists and turns that I've heard about, but not when it comes to a twin. They keep us in the dark too so I won't say never, but no not for now." Phew! That's good to know. Keeping track of one DiLaurentis daughter is challenging enough!
Looking ahead to the Halloween special, Pieterse says that the Liars' adventures in Ravenswood are going to keep you on the edge of your seat. Not only are we going to finally learn the truth about Ali, this episode will also be the catalyst for the second half of the season. "You will find out for sure in the Halloween episode," she teases. "You find out if Alison is alive or dead and I think that is going to be a really cool thing for me and a really big treat."
Pieterse says she is looking forward to fans learning a lot more about Ali when the second half of season four premieres in January. "You are definitely going to see more of Ali and that's definitely something Marlene has promised and she is also keeping her word," The PLL star spills. "You will definitely see more of Ali in ways that you never thought that would happen. Alison came in contact with people that you would never dream of and everyone is connected in this show."
And we have one last bit of good news to share with all you PLL fans! Tomorrow we will be chatting with A himself, so leave any questions you're dying to ask Ian Harding in the comments below!
Don't miss the Pretty Little Liars Halloween special, Tuesday, Oct. 22 at 8 p.m. on ABC Family!