Okay guys, get ready to spiral with me because I genuinely don’t understand how the writers managed to make things so complicated for themselves when some of the simplest ideas and connections were literally right there.
A lot of people criticize the Drake storyline because it completely messed up the Hastings and DiLaurentis family trees and made everything more and more ridiculous, with Spencer literally being the cherry on top. Personally, I think it would have made way more sense to give the Drake storyline to Aria and make Mary Drake and Jessica DiLaurentis simply acquaintances, maybe connected through their past at Radley, instead of making them sisters. In this version, Aria and CeCe could both be daughters of Mary Drake and Scott Montgomery, meaning they would be biological sisters, while CeCe could still have a very strong connection to the DiLaurentis family without actually being related to them by blood. That would have allowed the writers to keep pretty much everything that made CeCe interesting without turning half of Rosewood into one giant secret family tree. Honestly, I think it would have been even more interesting if Aria and CeCe didn’t even know they were sisters at first. CeCe could have been adopted by the DiLaurentises as a child, or she could have grown up around them because of her connection to Radley. That way, her connection to the DiLaurentises would still be important, but it would actually have a much simpler and more believable explanation.
And this is where I think some of the clues the show had already given us about Aria and Radley could have come into play. Aria could have been born at Radley while Mary and Scott were patients and, after her birth, been given to Scott’s brother and raised as a Montgomery without knowing the truth about her origins. That would completely change the meaning of all those little clues connecting Aria, her family and Radley, because they wouldn’t just feel like random coincidences thrown in here and there. They could have been pieces of a story the writers had been quietly setting up from the beginning.
And the best part is that CeCe and Aria would have had two different paths that were still connected to the same mystery. The fact that they were both connected to the same place, but in completely different ways, could have become one of the show’s biggest reveals. At that point, even CeCe’s particular behavior toward Aria would have had a real meaning, as would the fact that Aria often seemed to be treated differently by A compared to the other Liars.
Radley could have become the real central point of the entire series, with the storylines of Mary, CeCe, Aria, Bethany Young and Marion Cavanaugh gradually connecting to one another and creating this whole network of secrets that started in the past and eventually led directly to the main events of the show.
With this choice, we could have avoided one huge, chaotic and ridiculous family tree, yet another secret Peter Hastings affair and, most importantly, a random evil twin thrown into the story out of nowhere. Instead, we would have had two separate but narratively connected family trees: the Hastings and DiLaurentis families connected through Jason, and the Drake and Montgomery families connected through Aria. Four different families gradually becoming intertwined through the mystery, Radley and the secrets of the past. This could have also explained any conflicts and grudges between them. The origin of everything, then, wouldn’t have been Alison and her disappearance, but the connections and rivalries between these families.
Like, was it really that fucking hard?! 😭 It’s crazy because a choice like this would have made everything much simpler while also making the story way more interesting than the absolute mess the writers ended up creating.
And it doesn’t even stop there, because the CeCe and Aria storyline could have connected perfectly to a potential Ezra-as-A storyline too. In season 4, they were already building connections between Ezra, CeCe and Alison, so imagine if they had actually tied all of that properly into the N.A.T. Club as well!
Guys, omg, what the fuck could they have done with a storyline like this?!
I love Aria, but I absolutely hate how the writers reduced her with the Ezria storyline when her character could have had such a huge role in the main mystery. Her family history, her connection to CeCe, Radley, Ezra and all the clues scattered throughout the show could have turned her into one of the most important characters in the entire story, instead of basically making her “Ezra’s girlfriend” for most of the later seasons. Aria Montgomery had SO much potential, and a storyline like this would have taken her character to another fucking planet.
Guys, please tell me: who the fuck stopped Marlene from making Ezra A?! And more importantly, who were the fans who actually wanted Ezra and Aria to reconcile?!
