With all the crazy things that happen on Pretty Little Liars, it’s easy to forget a few details! We’ve got you covered with all the things you’ll want to remember going into season 7.
Pretty Little Liars season 6 was a whirlwind. They finally revealed the identities of both A and Red Coat, jumped 5 years into the future, and introduced us to a whole new mystery. Yikes! As Pretty Little Liars fans, our brains have had years of training to keep up with all the secrets and lies, but it’s still helpful to refresh on some important details before we dive into a new season of mysteries.
To cover absolutely everything that happened in Pretty Little Liars season 6, I’d need a lot more than one article, but I’ve tried to mention everything that will probably be important in the next chapter of this crazy story that we’re so addicted to.
A is for…
Charles? Cece? Charlotte? Apparently, it’s all of the above! She showed her face in the mid-season 6 finale of Pretty Little Liars, and finally answered all, or at least some of our burning questions about the series.
For a more detailed (and hilarious) description of how the whole A game went down, as told by Andrew who had never seen an episode of Pretty Little Liars before the reveal, click here!
The last 5 years
After the big A reveal, the Liars actually got to live relatively normal lives for a few years. Their tormentor was getting the help she needed in a place far more qualified than Radley, and they were free to leave Rosewood to become whoever they wanted to be. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to follow them around during these five years, but at least we got some flashbacks/heavy exposition to fill us in on their adventures!
Aria
Aria has remained in the world of literature and works for a publishing company in Georgia with her boyfriend. No, her boyfriend is not Ezra (I’m crying with you, Ezria shippers), it’s a guy named Liam. He seems to make her very happy, even though they have to keep their relationship somewhat secret because of work, but they’re still not at a place where Aria feels comfortable telling him what she went through with A. Even though Aria and Ezra haven’t been together during the past five years, he definitely isn’t out of her life completely. Aria’s publishing company actually published Ezra’s first novel, and they’re anxious to do more work with him.
Emily
Emily left Rosewood to study at Pepperdine University in Malibu, but her plans were derailed when her father was killed during his deployment. She wasn’t able to keep up with her studies due to her grief, so she ended up losing her scholarship and dropping out of school. Her mother still thought she was studying hard at college, but she was actually working as a bartender and preparing to donate her eggs for some extra cash, and also to feel like she was helping someone else. She has seen Paige a few times over the course of the time jump, but they never resumed a serious relationship.
Hanna
Hanna and Caleb moved to New York after graduation just as they had planned! They were both excelling in their careers, but their relationship took a hit because of it. The epicness that was Haleb ended when Hanna bailed on their trip to Europe for work, and waited too long to put Caleb first. Since the breakup, Hanna has been wallowing in despair…just kidding! When we met her after the jump, she was working in fashion as an assistant to an extremely high maintenance designer, and was amazing at it. She’s also engaged to a gorgeous and successful man named Jordan, who knows all about what happened between Hanna and A all those years ago.
Spencer
Spencer is working in politics as what she hesitates to describe as a lobbyist. Meanwhile, her mom is running for State Senate, so when we meet Spencer after the time jump, she is taking some time off to help her family with the campaign. Spencer and Toby stayed together when she went off to University, but eventually broke up when a pregnancy scare enlightened them to the fact that they wanted very different things out of life. Out of all the Liars, Spencer seems to have kept in contact with the most people. She met with Ezra at some point, ignored a wave from Mona, and after a surprise, sexual tension filled run-in in Madrid, she sees Caleb regularly.
Alison
Alison has spent the last five years rebuilding a relationship with her estranged “sister,” and also building a whole new relationship with that sister’s doctor! She and Elliot Rollins fell in love over the course of Charlotte’s treatment, but were keeping it a secret from most people. Ali desperately wanted Charlotte to be freed, which is why she called the girls back to Rosewood to testify that their feeling of safety wouldn’t be compromised if that were to happen.
Mona
Like Spencer, Mona is also working in politics, but for Veronica’s opponent. She came to Veronica in hopes of working for her campaign, but Veronica showed her the door. I wonder why? Other than that, we really don’t know much about her whereabouts over the last five years, except for a subtle hint that she may have hooked up with Caleb at some point!
The boys
Toby continues to serve as one of Rosewood’s finest, but also received some sort of degree to further him along his career path. After travelling Europe, Caleb gained employment as an Information Risk Analyst, which conveniently allows him to frequently bump into Spencer. When we first see him after the time jump, he is working for the Hastings campaign.
Ezra’s career is also thriving, as he still owns The Brew and is a successfully published author, but his personal life is in shambles. He ended up going on a Habitat for Humanity build with Emily’s former group leader, Nicole, and they started dating during their time volunteering together. Nicole ended up being kidnapped on one of their excursions, and she is presumed dead. When we meet Ezra after the time jump, he is still lost and struggling to come to terms with what happened.
Sara
Even though Charlotte revealed that Sara was her helper in the A game, Sara is still walking free. She was able to convince the judge that she was brainwashed into participating in Charlotte’s schemes. The night that Charlotte was caught, Sara was electrocuted and suffered severe burns to her hands, which she holds the Liars responsible for.
Where are the Liars now?
The last five years of the Liars’ lives were a snooze-fest compared to all the crazy things that have happened in the few weeks that the girls have been back in Rosewood!
The night that Charlotte died
Despite Aria’s admission that she would not feel safe if Charlotte was released, she was discharged from the hospital into Alison’s care. However, mere hours after she was freed, she met her demise. We still don’t know all of the details of that night, but we’ve been putting the pieces together ever since it happened.
Charlotte was found at the base of the church bell tower with a rose in her hand. It was originally labelled a suicide, but it was soon discovered that she was actually murdered by blunt force trauma with a hollow metal object, and then pushed off the tower. It just so happens that this is the exact murder that Spencer described in a paper she wrote in college. Uh oh Spence!
The night of the murder, the Liars were all staying at Hanna’s suite in The Radley (the sanitarium was turned into a hotel which Hanna’s mother now manages). We know that Hanna left at some point during the night to get ice, but Aria left for much longer. She went out to meet Ezra, and they actually saw Charlotte at the scene of her eventual death!
This lead the girls to be suspicious of Ezra, but he eventually cleared his name. In order to protect Aria, Hanna erased the hotel security tape, and her mom destroyed the backup file. This will almost definitely come back to haunt them in the future.
Ali was with Charlotte the night of the murder, but woke up to find her missing. She feels somewhat responsible for Charlotte leaving, since she told her about her relationship with Elliot that night, and thinks she could have viewed that as a betrayal. The police discovered that the DiLaurentis household received a phone call from the Two Crow’s Diner that night, and that somebody answered and spoke to the caller for two minutes. Aria was a suspect, but the caller turned out to be Mona, who was trying to meet with Charlotte to discover any malicious plans she may have. Needless to say, Charlotte never showed up at the diner that night.
Love and triangles
The love lives of the Liars have never been more tangled, and that’s really saying something! On top of everything else they have to deal with, there will definitely be some matters of the heart to take care of in Pretty Little Liars season 7.
Spencer and Caleb brought the Madrid heat into the Hastings’ barn, and are actually in a somewhat serious relationship now. Serious enough, even, for Spencer to say those three little words! Hanna gave the couple her blessing, but did she really mean it? True, she is happily engaged to Jordan, but there’s always been something holding her back from really moving forward with him.
In the final episode of Pretty Little Liars season 6, Hanna revealed that she “never stopped loving” Caleb, and they kissed! Haleb hearts everywhere screamed with joy, but there’s no way this whole situation isn’t about to get really messy.
Hanna and Caleb aren’t alone in the cheaters club either. Despite clearly choosing Liam at her parents’ wedding (sidebar: Byron and Ella got remarried!), Aria crawled back into Ezra’s bed after things got heated during an innocent “business” meeting between coauthors (one more sidebar: Aria and Ezra are coauthoring a book together about Ezra and Nicole’s relationship…awkward!).
While Emily’s life may not be completely together, her love life is actually relatively uncomplicated at the moment. Alison’s would appear that way also, since Aria officiated her marriage to Elliot, but I’ve got a hunch that their relationship is about to take a sharp turn for the worse.
From A to A-moji
After five years of peace, the texts are rolling in again. This time, it looks like the Liars are being preyed upon from at least two different sides. As if the A story line wasn’t convoluted enough, now we have two competing creeps to deal with!
In one corner we have the A who wants to find Charlotte’s killer and bring them to justice. In the other corner, we have the A who wants to cover up the murder! These are two completely opposite goals, yet for some reason, both sides are somehow using the Liars to accomplish their mission.
The first text they received was pretty simple: “You know who did it and I’m going to make you talk.” Since then however, A-moji has come up with many more creative ways of torturing the Liars, including stealing Emily’s eggs, causing Alison to fall down the stairs, and setting Aria on fire. Awww, just like old times!
One suspect (probably for the justice side) is Sara Harvey. Besides the fact that she is always weirdly skulking around and throwing awkward glances in the Liars’ direction, her suite at The Radley is pimped out with access to all of Charlotte’s favorite hiding places. She also has a creepy collection of fake arms for who-knows-what reason.
Melissa Hastings was once again a candidate for the A title, as well as a contender for the title of Charlotte’s killer. She came to Rosewood for her mother’s campaign, but she lied about the day she got in. She also had a broken suitcase handle, which fit the description of Charlotte’s murder weapon perfectly! Good old Spencer isn’t one to back down from a confrontation, and this time was no exception. When she asked Melissa about what happened, Melissa explained that she had been receiving threatening texts and was asked to drop off money somewhere in Rosewood when Charlotte was still in the hospital.
After one text too many, Hanna decided it was time to strike back. She and Caleb devised a plan (much to Spencer’s dismay) to lure A out of hiding. The plan involved Hanna “admitting” to A that she killed Charlotte, and using herself as bait. They had it all worked out: Hanna would sit in a room with only one entrance, and Caleb would trap A using an electric fence, lights and a camera. However, when they called action, everything went wrong.
Evidently, the Liars have learned nothing from their time as Charlotte’s dolls, and were surprised when A-moji was one step ahead of them. The floor of Hanna’s room had a trap door, and she was taken before her friends could get to her. Despite the unfortunate fact that Hanna’s (hopefully still breathing) body is now being hauled around by the enemy, it wasn’t all for nothing. They caught someone who looked a lot like Jessica DiLaurentis on tape at the scene of the crime.
Alison checked herself into a psychiatric ward because she was being haunted by the ghosts of her mother and Detective Wilden. Back at the DiLaurentis house, those very same “ghosts” revealed themselves to be her husband, Elliot (who’s actually British), and Mary Drake. Spencer, Toby and Mona found Mary Drake’s file in one of Charlotte/Sara’s secret Radley hiding spots. She was a patient at Radley, Charlotte’s real mother, and supposedly, Jessica’s twin sister. The strange duo revealed that they now own 51% of the Carissimi Group, and that Elliot was the only man Charlotte ever loved. What does all this mean? We still have literally no idea!
Miscell-A-neous
After all that, there’s still a few more things that couldn’t be categorized!
- Lucas is rich from designing gaming apps. He offered to build Hanna a studio in Rosewood after she got fired from her job. She’s still considering it. He also agreed to be their alibi for the night Charlotte was murdered, but he messed up his story with the police.
- Spencer’s mom won the election and is now a State Senator.
- Toby is dating Yvonne Phillips, who is Veronica’s former opponent’s daughter, but there’s definitely still some feelings between him and Spencer.
- Wren left Melissa after Charlotte told him that Melissa buried Bethany.
- Sara approached Alison and asked if she wanted to “put their pieces together,” as they were the two people who loved Charlotte most.
- Jason DiLaurentis works for the Carissimi Group
- The murder of Jessica DiLaurentis is still unsolved, but Mary Drake looks like a prime suspect.
Now that you’re all caught up, watch the terrifying trailer for Pretty Little Liars season 7, here! Catch the season 7 premiere on Freeform on Tuesday, June 21, 8/7c.
