Till Death Do Us Part (''Pretty Little Liars'')

"Till Death Do Us Part"
Pretty Little Liars episode

The Liars saying a brief goodbye to each other during the episode's final moments. From left to right: Alison, Aria, Hanna, Emily and Spencer.
Episode no. Season 7
Episode 20
Directed by I. Marlene King
Story by I. Marlene King &
Kyle Bown
Teleplay by I. Marlene King &
Maya Goldsmith
Produced by Hynndie Wali
Featured music Michael Suby
Cinematography by Jill D'Agnenica
Editing by Larry Reibman
Production code 2M7220
Original air date June 27, 2017 (2017-06-27)
Running time 89 minutes
Guest appearance(s)

"Till Death Do Us Part" is the series finale of Pretty Little Liars, which premiered on the Freeform network in the United States on June 27, 2017. The twentieth episode of the seventh season and the 160th overall, it was directed by showrunner I. Marlene King, who also co-wrote the episode alongside Kyle Bown and Maya Goldsmith. Shortly after the two-hour final episode, a special titled "A-List Wrap Party" was aired, in which the main cast and King talked about the show's end and behind-the-scenes exclusives.

In this episode, the Liars finally find peace of mind and discover the identity of their tormentor. Alison DiLaurentis (Sasha Pieterse) and Emily Fields (Shay Mitchell) are both working at Rosewood High and living a family life together. Ezra Fitz (Ian Harding) and Aria Montgomery (Lucy Hale) finally married, Hanna Marin (Ashley Benson) and Caleb Rivers (Tyler Blackburn) move with their husband-and-wife life and Spencer Hastings (Troian Bellisario) discovers she has a identical twin sister named Alex Drake.

The episode opened to mixed reviews from critics and fans, with critics praising several moments of the story arc. The character Mona Vanderwaal (portrayed by Janel Parrish) was the most praised point of the finale. Upon its initial airing, the episode was viewed by 1.41 million Americans and garnered a 0.7/2 Nielsen rating/share in the 18–49 demographic. The total viewership and ratings for this episode were slightly up in comparison to the previous episode and the sixth season finale a year ago.

Plot

At night, the Liars are shown at a establishment discussing the fact that the truth about who was behind Uber A's mask never came out. Lucas appears in a white tuxedo tap dancing, while Jenna is riding a horse. The girls begin to talk about random and funny things until snow starts to fall from the sky and it is revealed that the previous scenes were the product of Mona's imagination, who is holding a snow globe in an unknown room at the Welby State Hospital. An "A.D." then appears and Mona drops the globe, breaking it instantly, as she gets surprised when she realizes who's there.

One year after the events of the previous episode, Ezra and Aria are discussing their book and its soon to be film adaptation in the Warner Bros. Television backlot. Now famous due to their book's worldwide success, they kiss and are photographed by a bunch of fans in a cart (staff writers of PLL in a group cameo). The scene then jumps to the DiLaurentis house, where Emily and her high school sweetheart Alison are living a family life, taking care of the recently born Lily and Grace. Alison tells Emily she is going to a meeting, but instead she goes to the Radley to talk with Emily's mother, Pam, about their relationship and how both Alison and Pam are happy about it. Spencer and Melissa have a sisterly moment together as Spencer sees Toby approaching her pickup truck which used to be Toby's pickup. They talk about his return to Rosewood after he left to travel around countries with Alison's half-brother Jason. At the school, Alison discusses with Addison, who jokes about Alison's friend Aria. While leaving the room, Addison is pressed down by Alison, who threatens her. After, Alison observes Addison's clique while Emily approaches and the two ask student Claire if Addison was bullying her, which she denies. Jenna then approaches Addison, who jokes about her blindness, and Jenna argues with her, saying she can smell a bitch a mile away. Addison's clique leaves and Jenna passes by Alison and Emily, who smile to her in joy. After Mona was released from the psychiatric hospital, she is accepted by Hanna in her loft, which jeopardizes Hanna's relationship with Caleb, who thinks Hanna has done enough for Mona. Hanna and Caleb leave Mona in the apartment to go to a surprise dinner planned by Spencer, who remodeled the Lost Woods Resort into a modern establishment. There, they eat and have fun remembering good times in their lives. The camera soon shows someone in a black hoodie watching them. The person turns around and is revealed to be Melissa. However, she walks in the forest and takes off Melissa's mask, revealing herself to be Mona, and starts talking with A.D. through FaceTime. The couples, meanwhile, retire to their rooms. Later, Spencer finds Aria crying in the living room, who reveals to the Liars that she sterile. The next morning, Hanna and Caleb arrive home and find Mona gone only to have her appear from the bathroom, claiming to have been in the shower. Meanwhile, Aria reveals her condition to Ezra.

In the jail, Spencer visits Mary and asks her for help. Later, in Aria's rehearsal dinner, Hanna takes Mona with her, and the Liars — and Hanna's mother — condemn it. Hanna manages to convince her friends to give Mona a chance. Ezra and Byron talk about Ezra's marriage with Aria, and Byron gives him his blessing. Later, Alison proposes to Emily who accepts.

Spencer shows up at Toby's room at the Radley and they have sex. Right after, she is at the Barn and is knocked down by Mona. She then wakes up in the floor of a modern strange room which resembles the one from "Game Over, Charles". She looks at herself in a supposed mirror, but the person she's looking at doesn't follow her movements, frightening her. Mary Drake then appears and injects a sedative into Spencer, while she looks on in shock at the woman who looks exactly like her. Spencer soon awakens and comes face to face with her long lost identical twin sister named Alex Drake who is also revealed to be their tormentor known as "A.D" and the third daughter of Mary Drake who was given up for adoption by her mother to get out of Radley. She lived in London on the streets where she came across Wren Kingston whom she dated and learned about her twin sister and her family. She soon met her half sister Charlotte and the two instantly connected as well as befriending Archer Dunhill who had met Charlotte on the plane after she left Rosewood to get away from being arrested for killing Wilden. Once Charlotte left, Alex soon came to Rosewood and learned about her half sister's fateful death which triggered her to become "A.D" and also she was jealous of the life that Spencer lived. She also posed as Spencer multiple times when she kissed Toby in "The Darkest Knight" and had sex with him in "Choose or Lose" and appeared to Hanna when she was being held by Alex in her dream sequence for confessing to killing Charlotte. Alex also shot Spencer in the blind school and got Wren to shoot her in the shoulder so she would be like her twin sister and soon enabled a team consisting of Mary, Jenna, Sydney, Aria and Wren and reveals their motives. She had used Sydney who stole from her bank and blackmailed her, Alex promised Jenna to pay for her eyesight if she joined, Aria because of the file that she reported about Ezra, Mary because she had no other choice and Wren who had given her information about the Liars. She also reveals that she killed Wren who discovered her revenge plan and tried to back out but also didn't call her Spencer who she wanted to be and turned his ashes into a diamond necklace.

Alex goes to the Liars posing as her sister where Ezra is missing. Aria begins to worry that she will be ditched at the altar because of her infertility. Alex holds Emily and Alison's babies and secretly reveals to no one listening that Wren Kingston is their biological father and she impregnated Alison when she was at Welby. Ezra is also locked up with Spencer after he discovered about Alex's existence. The Liars soon find out about Alex Drake and that Wren visited Mona and was intent on killing her but she promised him that she could get Mary out of prison. They learn the location of the lair which is underneath Toby's house that he built. Ezra and Spencer escape but find that they are still being held underground just as Alex, wielding an axe, appears and knocks out Ezra and attempts to kill Spencer. The Liars, as well as Toby, arrive in time to come face to face with the identical twins. Toby struggles to decide which one of them to arrest until he asks Alex what her favourite poem is but Spencer instead gives the answer thus confirming the identity of the two and Alex is arrested by police along with Mary. Aria finally marries Ezra soon afterwards.

The Liars are seen in the town square exchanging goodbyes as Aria prepares to leave for her honeymoon when Hanna reveals that she is pregnant. In France, Mona is seen running a doll shop and her boyfriend is the police officer who arrested Alex and Mary who Mona has now held captive in her personal dollhouse thus revealing that Mona has won the game that she created. Meanwhile, a new group of Liars are at a sleepover and one of them notices their leader, Addison Derringer, missing and a girl dressed as Spencer emerges and reveals that Addison is missing and the series ends when she says "I think that I heard a scream".

Development

The story was drafted by series creator I. Marlene King and Kyle Bown, while its teleplay was composed by King and executive producer Maya Goldsmith. This is the only season finale not to be entirely written by King herself. The episode was aired as a 2-hour special event.[1] Directed by King, the episode was filmed in October 2016 in and around Los Angeles, California, mostly on the backlot of the Warner Bros. studio lot in Burbank. Filming started in October 5[2] and wrapped in October 26, marking it the last day of filming for Pretty Little Liars ever.[3] Scenes at the set for the fictional Lost Woods Resort were filmed.[4]

On August 29, 2016, King with the principal cast of the show announced that Pretty Little Liars was ending after the seventh season. King also announced that the show would start airing the second half of the season later than usual, in April 2017 and that the series finale would be a two-hour episode event.[5] It was reported on October 26, 2016, that a tell-all special would be aired after the series finale "Till Death Do Us Part", where the main cast and King would talk about the show with behind-the-scenes exclusives.[6][7]

Casting

Torrey DeVitto (left) and Julian Morris (right) returned for the series' final episode, making it DeVitto's first appearance in the season, and Morris' second.

"Till Death Do Us Part" saw the returns of some recurring characters. Credited in the special guest section, veterans Holly Marie Combs and Chad Lowe portrayed Aria's parents Ella and Byron Montgomery. Mary Page Keller returned for the series finale portraying Ezra's reckless mother Dianne Fitzgerald.[8] Torrey DeVitto played Spencer' half-sister Melissa Hastings.[9] Julian Morris acted as Melissa and Spencer's British ex-boyfriend Wren Kingston. Keegan Allen played Rosewood resident and carpentry professional Toby Cavanaugh. Lesley Fera portrayed Spencer's adopted mother and Melissa's biological mother Veronica Hastings. Vanessa Ray played Charlotte Drake, former "A" and biological daughter of Mary Drake and Ted Wilson. Brendan Robinson and Huw Collins guest star as Lucas Gottesman and Archer Dunhill, respectively. Jim Titus acted as policeman Barry Maple. Ava Allan portrayed high schooler Addison Derringer, and Rosewood High's new queen-bee. Tammin Sursok and Nia Peeples portrayed blind woman Jenna Marshall and Emily's mother Pam Fields, respectively. The episode also features the addition of teen actress Sydney Sweeney, who portrayed high school student Willa, a friend of Addison whose characterization is similar to the one of Spencer.

Non-credited appearances are Celesse Rivera as Hadley St. Germain, Maya St. Germain niece; Raquel McPeek as Claire, friend of Addison; and Dalton Cyr as Luke. Marlene King, her wife Shari Rosenthal and her sons Atticus and Emerson had cameos in the episode.[10][11]

Reception

Janel Parrish's (pictured) character Mona was highly praised by critics.

Critical response

Jessica Goldstein of Vulture gave the episode a 3 out of 5 stars rating, writing a mixed review for it.[12] Gavin Hetherington highlighted some lines of the episode, praising Mona's triumph over "A.D.", commenting: "Mona hasn't really changed in her obsession with playing with dolls (and people), and it was just beautiful justice here. No more loser Mona. She won this one."[13] Isabella Biedenharn of Entertainment Weekly gave a B letter rating to the episode.[14] Yana Grebenyuk of TVFanatic was happy towards the finale, giving it a 4.8 out of 5 stars rating.[15]

Carolina Preece of Den of Geek disliked the episode, but praised the show as a whole, writing, "At it's best, Pretty Little Liars was a Taylor Swift song, a Hitchcock movie, a philosophy lecture and a soap opera all at once. It was somehow about fluid identities, self-actualisation and how the patriarchy is crushing us all at the same time as being about fashion and dating." She also glorified Mona character, titling it "the best thing the show ever did."[16]

Ratings

"Till Death Do Us Part" was viewed by 1.41 million viewers upon its first broadcast, acquiring a 0.7 Nielsen rating/share among the 18–49 demographic.[17] It was second most watched episode of the season, and was slightly up from the sixth season finale a year ago. This episode is rated TV-14.

The "A-List Wrap Party" special was watched by 0.62 millions viewers.[17]

References

  1. ↑ Goldberg, Lesley (August 29, 2016). "It's Official: 'Pretty Little Liars' to End With Season 7". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 4, 2017.
  2. ↑ Cochran-Neilan, Lisa (October 6, 2016). "It also started today!#pll #seriesfinale @imarleneking @larryreibman next three week will bring us home!!". Instagram. Retrieved March 4, 2017.
  3. ↑ "Instagram post by Pretty Little Liars". October 27, 2016. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
  4. ↑ "That's a wrap at Lost Woods Resort! #PLL 7x20 #PLLFinale". Twitter. October 21, 2016. Retrieved March 4, 2017.
  5. ↑ Goldberg, Lesley (August 29, 2016). "It's Official: 'Pretty Little Liars' to End With Season 7". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 29, 2016.
  6. ↑ Gelman, Vlada (October 26, 2016). "TVLine Items: Pretty Little Liars Tell All, Saving Hope's Final Season and More". TVLine. Retrieved October 26, 2016.
  7. ↑ Smith, Clarissa (October 26, 2016). "PRETTY LITTLE LIARS: Freeform to Air Tell-All Special After Series Finale". Retrieved October 26, 2016.
  8. ↑ Keller, Mary Page (6 October 2016). "It was indeed a tear-filled table read. So proud to be a part of the finale of this amazing series #EzrasMom @PLLTVSeries". Twitter. Retrieved 23 December 2016.
  9. ↑ Highfill, Samantha (October 20, 2016). "'Pretty Little Liars': Torrey DeVitto Says Goodbye to Melissa Hastings". EW.com. Retrieved October 25, 2016.
  10. ↑ @imarleneking (October 14, 2016). "Filming my first and only PLL cameo today." (Tweet). Retrieved June 22, 2017 – via Twitter.
  11. ↑ King, I. Marlene (October 27, 2016). "It's a family affair. Atti's last PLL cameo and Shari's first and last. Love is love. #pllforever #pllseriesfinale #PLLFamily #familyiseverything". Instagram. Facebook, Inc. Retrieved July 11, 2017.
  12. ↑ Goldstein, Jessica (June 28, 2017). "Pretty Little Liars Series-Finale Recap: Two Can Keep a Secret". Vulture. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
  13. ↑ Hetherington, Gavin (June 28, 2017). "Pretty Little Liars - Till DeAth Do Us PArt (Series Finale) - Review: "Goodbye, Liars"". SpoilerTV. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
  14. ↑ Biedenharn, Isabella (June 28, 2017). "'Pretty Little Liars' Series Finale Recap: A.D. Is Finally, Finally Revealed". EW.com. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
  15. ↑ "Pretty Little Liars Season 7 Episode 20 Review: Til deAth Do Us pArt". TV Fanatic. June 28, 2017. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
  16. ↑ Preece, Carolina (June 29, 2017). "Pretty Little Liars season 7 episode 20 review: ‘Til Death Do Us Part". Den of Geek. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
  17. 1 2 Welch, Alex (June 28, 2017). "Tuesday cable ratings: ‘Pretty Little Liars’ series finale scores high". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved June 28, 2017.
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