‘Pretty Little Liars’ season 6 summer finale review: Sara Harvey, CeCe Drake, and ‘Game Over, Charles’

“Pretty Little Liars” has finally lifted the hood on “A,” and let’s just say that there were so many more secrets than what you expected.

At the start of the episode, it was revealed that Charles was really none other than CeCe Drake, but that was just a small sliver of the actual story that came from there. Below, we’ve captured some of the more important points.

1. Charles was put into Radley after showing that he was not safe to be around Alison as a child.

2. Also, we learned that Charles was never comfortable in his own body, eventually beginning a transition into CeCe. At Radley, Charles witnessed the death of Toby’s mother as Bethany Young, a close friend, shoved her off the roof. Bethany blamed Charles for what happened to Marion.

3. Charlotte become Charles’ new name, and eventually CeCe. She did date Jason for a while, but only to get close to her family.

4. Mona killed Bethany Young, thinking she was going after Ali. Meanwhile, CeCe was actually responsible for “killing” Ali, which was of course the mystery at the center of the show.

5. Wilden knew some of the truth about Ali all along, and was going through the motions.

6. CeCe had many minions who at times helped her keep the secret, and also further along her plans. Sara Harvey was one of them, and she used her the night of the fire.

7. At one point after taking up the title of “A” from Mona (who she visited when she was drugged), CeCe briefly thought about quitting, but couldn’t stay away. This is probably the flimsiest part of the story to us, since there wasn’t really that much of an explanation for why she kept it going. Heck, going after the Liars just for not being the kindest to Alison wasn’t that kind. Yet, she’s crazy! That’s what they do.

The episode ended with a cliffhanger that brought us five years into the future, and Alison is a teacher? Yep, that’s the big surprise there beyond her being married, of course. We still think that despite a few loose ends, this was a great ending to the summer run and the mystery. So much of this at least now makes some sense.

Our major criticism at the moment of the episode, beyond some of the motivations that are hard to question, is why they didn’t show the moms getting out! We’re sure they are fine, but this could have been something to at least tie up the story this summer. Otherwise, we appreciated the answers, and know that everyone is going to have their own person they wanted “A” to be. Some disappointment is inevitable. Grade: A-.

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