After a seven season slow burn, Emison is finally happening on Pretty Little Liars!
At last, the time has come. Emison. is. on. It took seven seasons of Pretty Little Liars for Emily Fields and Alison DiLaurentis to figure it out, but in the final few episodes, it all culminated in this beautiful moment.
The “I love yous” have been said, the lips have been kissed, the stolen egg babies have been implanted, and with only a few episodes left, it’s looking like they probably won’t screw things up again before the end! Emison is endgame, little liars. Your patience has paid off.
Over the years, Emison shippers have been given precious little to hold onto, but their dedication never wavered. Throughout all of Emily and Alison’s other relationships (not to mention everything else that’s been going on), Pretty Little Liars always sprinkled in just enough Emison love to keep hope alive.
Let’s take a look back at Emison’s journey by remembering some of these moments that played a role in getting Emily and Alison to where they are today!
The library
And Emison begins. As A led Emily to the library to retrieve a letter that she’d once written to Alison, she recalled her first kiss with Alison, in between the stacks.
Alison sat against a bookshelf, giggling to herself about Dickens’ Great Expectations. She told Emily the she loved her because she believed in happy endings, and voila! Lips touched, a ship was born.
The locker room
And just like that, in the same episode, Emison was squashed. Filled with confidence from the library kiss, Emily made another move on Ali in the locker room. Unfortunately, Alison wasn’t as receptive this time around.
As Pretty Little Liars fans, this was our first taste of Alison running from her feelings for Emily. She assured her friend that she liked boys, and any kisses that they may share would only be “for practice.” Poor Emily was heartbroken.
The contrast between the library scene and the locker room scene in Pretty Little Liars season 1, episode 9 pretty much illustrates how Emison progressed for the next seven seasons. A sprinkle of hope, followed swiftly by a flood of doubt.
The barn
While the Liars still thought that Alison was dead, she appeared to Emily after saving her from being gassed to death. She told Emily that she had always been her favorite and even said she could choose to come with her!
Of course, at the time, fans of Pretty Little Liars thought the choice might actually be between joining Alison in death or staying alive, but we all know now that wasn’t the case. Alison also kissed Emily in this scene, letting fans know that the library kiss was not going to be just a one time thing.
The big one
The Emison-sleepover-makeout has pretty much single-handedly kept the Emison ship afloat since Pretty Little Liars season 5.
Understandably, things got really confusing for everyone after Alison returned from the dead. Everyone had changed so much during the time that she’d been gone, especially Alison herself, so things were difficult to navigate.
Things were especially confusing for Emily. She was rekindling things with Paige, and all of a sudden, her first love walked back into her life! When, out of nowhere, Alison confessed that their kisses hadn’t just been for practice, she didn’t know what to say.
Well, words are overrated, anyway. Emily chose to make her move again, and this time, Alison was ready for it! Things got pretty steamy, pretty fast, which is understandable since they’d both been waiting for that moment for so long.
This was a huge moment for Emison, as a ship, and Alison, as a character. Where she had once been burying her feelings for Emily, she was finally willing to acknowledge them. She still had a long way to go to fully accept her sexuality and her feelings, but this was a huge move in the right direction.
Unfortunately, Emison was halted once again after some of Alison’s lies came to light, but after we’d finally been given a taste of what Emison could be, we knew it was only a matter of time before it happened again.
The reversal
As far as Emison moments go, Emily has almost always been the one to make the first move. However, Alison’s jealousy over Paige in the beginning of Pretty Little Liars season 7 changed that! In an extremely vulnerable moment, Alison kissed Emily. Emily protested that Alison was in no place to be making decisions like that, but Alison insisted that it wasn’t because of that.
Of course, Alison still wasn’t ready, so she pushed Emily away again. Emily, tired of Alison’s uncertainty, told Alison not to kiss her again until she was sure. This was a huge challenge for Alison. Emily had always been there, but now, she knew she had to make some decisions before turning to her again.
The confession
Of all the people that Alison could’ve finally admitted the extent of her feelings to, we never thought that it would be Paige McCullers. However, we’re so glad that it was.
Not only was this scene a perfect way to send Paige, one of Emily’s other loves, off, but the fact that Alison could be honest and vulnerable with someone who she used to consider an enemy showed tremendous growth.
Even though Alison didn’t answer Paige’s, “Do you love her?” question with a yes or a no, the words she did say painted a pretty clear picture of how she felt, leading up to the eventual “I love you” to Emily herself!