Pretty Little Liars: Welcome to the Dollhouse

March 25, 2015 8:19 AM - Season 5, Episode 26

“A” has always had fun playing with Aria, Emily, Hanna and Spencer, but now “they” have the biggest game to date in store for the girls. As shocking secrets come to light and the biggest clue to the “A” mystery is revealed, is this one plAydate the Liars can survive?

Recaps and Reviews
Washington Post
Entertainment Weekly

Onscreen Hashtags
#WelcometotheDollhouse
#AlisReveal
#CharlesisA

Bonus Listicle of people yelling about the reveal
Buzzfeed

posted by Bulgaroktonos (6 comments total)

Obviously, the A reveal is the big news. For now I'm accepting the seeming truth that Charles is Jason and Ali's brother, likely Jason's twin, and I'm fine with that. A previously unknown character was always an option, and the finale gave the right amount of answers (we sort of know who, but not why). I'd maybe rather have had it be a surprise familiar face, but I'm not disappointed and I feel like it really did move the plot forward.

The episode was also really good. It was surprising, but not impossible to follow with the right amount and type of tension. I was really pleased with the episode as a whole. The creepy dollhouse prison thing was a perfect completion of the stuff As been doing this whole time. I loved it. Ending with them escaping, but not then running into the fence also worked. I'm guessing there'll be a time jump*, but who knows if they'll be out of the dollhouse or still trapped or what. The show isn't over, so there need to be more questions than answers, and this got that balance right, for me.

*Apparently mid-next season there'll be a time jump that may involve them attending college entirely off camera. It's weird, but that's what I. Marlene King is saying.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 8:31 AM on March 25, 2015

I haven't commented on this yet because I am still feeling a bit drained and I'd actually like to re-watch the episode at some point. The first ten minutes or so were just so completely amazing -- the tension, the reveals, everything kept me breathless and, just as I felt I'd found my footing, the ground fell out from under me.

In terms of the rest of the episode, I'm not sure I have that much to say? I am still processing, I think. I agree with Bulgaroktonos that this was a reasonably satisfying option for A -- there wasn't really anyone we know who it could be reasonably without it being TOO obvious, but this was still a surprising twist and it leaves options open for the next season(s). Overall I thought the episode was fantastic, I'm just not sure I'm ready to delve into it too much further yet.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 10:28 AM on March 26, 2015

I did think that the very short demonstration that Andrew was skeevy in some way was interesting, and almost obliterated by the bigger revelations. Maybe it turns out he's actually an FBI agent investigating the Rosewood police department or something.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 10:29 AM on March 26, 2015

Oh, it was also interesting to see that Tanner was a cop who held on to her theory too tightly and was successfully manipulated by A and not actually in league with him (accidentally wrote "them"; still not used to having a gender to assign A). I also wonder if they'll release Ali know that they have video evidence that Mona is alive?
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 10:30 AM on March 26, 2015

I guess now that I've started responding I've opened the floodgates -- does this mean he's both Spencer and Ali's half-brother? Did the DiLaurentis family have two sets of twins and only keep one from each (hence the extra dress Ali found)? How are is the fact that the prom that was replicated was the same as Ian and Melissa's relevant? Does this all tie in with the Ominbus Nos Feratu club or whatever it was called? What will happen with Chekov's gas mask?
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 10:33 AM on March 26, 2015

I feel like the NAT club thread has been dropped (which is fine), but it would be interesting to see them bring it back. I also suspect that Andrew is something other than what he appears based purely on how creepy he is.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 10:44 AM on March 26, 2015