1 of the Most Confusing TV Show Timelines Belongs to This 14-Year-Old Drama

Pretty Little Liars is one of the most popular and beloved entries of the teen drama genre. With seven seasons and three spin-offs to its name, Pretty Little Liars has certainly cemented itself as a classic of the genre. However, many fans would agree that the teen mystery show had a lot of issues in terms of its writing and story arcs.

One of the biggest issues with Pretty Little Liars is the bizarre timeline surrounding the mystery aspect of the show. While the first two seasons did a relatively good job at laying out the events of the mystery plot, later seasons really made some questionable choices. From the very eventful night Alison DiLaurentis disappeared to the three-year-long senior year, the Pretty Little Liars timeline is pretty confusing.

What Was Pretty Little Liars About?

The Mystery Series Was Based off a Series of Books

Pretty Little Liars began airing in 2010, running for seven seasons, with the series finale airing in 2017. The series was based on the books by Sara Shepard, though many aspects of the plot differ greatly from the source material. The main plotline is the same: a group of teenage girls (Aria Montgomery, Spencer Hastings, Hanna Marin, and Emily Fields) begin receiving anonymous threatening text messages from an unknown figure called “A” after the mysterious disappearance of their friend, Alison DiLaurentis.

As the series progresses, the show begins to reveal more and more information regarding the night of Alison’s disappearance, and the many enemies she made that night that could be suspects for the “A” pseudonym. At the end of the second season, “A” is revealed to be Mona Vanderwall, a classmate whom Alison mercilessly bullied. However, Season 3 introduces a new “A” figure, taking over from Mona. The Season 6 mid-season finale revealed that this was Cece Drake, the sister of Alison, who was sent to a mental institution from a young age. In the second half of Season 6, there was a five-year time jump that introduced another “A” figure who wanted revenge on the girls after the death of Cece. The series finale revealed (much to the disappointment of fans) that this final “A” was Alex Drake, the evil identical twin of Spencer.

What Happened the Night Alison DiLaurentis Disappeared?

The Events That Led to Alison’s Disappearance Was Revealed Through a Series of Flashbacks

The night that set off the entire mystery of Pretty Little Liars took place over Labor Day weekend, the summer before the girls’ sophomore year of high school. While the pilot episode simply shows the girls at a sleepover, and Spencer telling the other girls she couldn’t find Alison, the rest of the series showed the events that led to Alison’s disappearance through a series of flashbacks.

Before the night of the sleepover, Alison had begun receiving texts from “A,” determined to find out who is threatening her, Alison pays several visits before arriving at Spencer’s barn in her backyard. These visits include Jenna Marshall, who Alison had blinded in a prank gone wrong. Later on, Alison arrives at the sleepover (seen in the “Pilot” episode). They begin drinking, but Alison drugs the girls’ drinks so that they fall asleep early, allowing her to carry on with her mission and ensuring that none of them are suspects. After the girls fall asleep, Alison meets up with Toby Cavanagh before meeting up with Ezra Fitz, an older man with whom she had a brief fling. (Ezra ends up in a teacher-student relationship with Aria throughout the series) After ending her fling with Ezra, Alison meets up with Ian Thomas, the boyfriend of Spencer’s older sister, Melissa. This interaction ends up being videotaped, with the girls finding the footage in Season 1, Episode 13. Alison then returns to the barn, to find Spencer awake and waiting for her. The two go into the Hastings house and have a massive argument, with Spencer even threatening Alison.

Around this time, Cece Drake arrives at the DiLaurentis house after escaping the Radley Sanitarium. She witnesses the argument between Alison and Spencer as they exit the Hastings house. The two’s argument gets so intense that Spencer threatens Alison with a shovel. Spencer ends up collapsing, revealing to Alison her struggle with ADHD medication. Alison sends Spencer back to the barn. It is revealed that Melissa also witnessed this interaction. Alison then runs into Jenna Marshall once again, who tries to attack Alison. After breaking up the fight, Garrett Reynolds returns to check up on Alison, seeing her speaking to Byron Montgomery, Aria’s father, who Alison had caught having an affair.

Alison’s brother, Jason, then arrives to his house, drunk and high, and spots Melissa talking to Cece Drake. (wearing the exact same outfit as Alison) Alison returns to the sleepover, watching her friends sleep as she awaits another text from “A.” After not receiving any text, Alison returns home, believing that A had to be one of the people she spoke to that night. As Alison arrives home, she spots her mother in the window. Alison is then hit in the head with a rock by Cece Drake. Cece believed Alison was actually Bethany Young, a fellow patient at Radley who had framed Cece for the death of Toby’s mother. Alison’s mother then tearfully buries Alison in an attempt to protect Cece. Later that night, Alison turns out to be alive, reaching her arm out from under the buried dirt. An old psychic named Carla Grunwald arrives, pulling Alison out of the ground. Carla drives Alison to the hospital, but Alison ends up running away.

Meanwhile, the real Bethany Young arrives in the DiLaurentis backyard. Mona spots her, believing her to be Alison, and hits her in the head with the same shovel Spencer had threatened Alison with. Melissa then arrives, seeing Bethany’s body, and decides to bury her, believing that she is Alison and thinking that Spencer had been the one to kill her. At this point, Aria, Hanna and Emily wake up, finding Alison and Spencer missing. Spencer then arrives, saying she couldn’t find Alison and that she heard a scream. (this scream was likely Bethany when she was hit with the shovel, though this is never confirmed) After running away from the hospital, Alison runs into Mona, who tells Alison to leave town to escape “A.”

The First Two Seasons Were Mostly Straight-Forward

There Were Not Many Timeline Inconsistencies With the First Two Seasons

In terms of timeline, the first two seasons of Pretty Little Liars were handled rather well. The series opens with Aria returning to Rosewood after her family spent a year in Iceland. Alison has been missing for over a year now, and the girls start receiving texts from “A.” The end of the pilot features the police finding Alison’s body (this is later revealed to be Bethany’s body) in the backyard, confirming her death and kicking off the mystery of the show.

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The first two seasons make up the girls’ entire junior year of school. Major events of the first two seasons include the death of Ian Thomas in the Season 1 finale and the reveal that the Mona was “A” in the second season finale. At this point of the show, the flashbacks to the night of Alison’s disappearance were handled quite well, and it was entirely plausible that Alison had visited the few people she had. The events of future seasons, however, are where the timeline really becomes convoluted.

Senior Year Was Ridiculously Long

Seasons 3, 4, 5, and Half of Season 6 All Took Place Within the Same Year

Senior year was a very long, eventful year for the Liars. The girls enter their final year of high school at the beginning of Season 3. However, they do not graduate until the mid-season finale of Season 6. While this was only 9 months for the characters, it was four years for the viewers, and the number of events that happened in these three-and-a-half seasons only made it even more unbelievable.

The biggest timeline inconsistency is that Season 3 begins in September of senior year, with Season 5, Episode 12 taking place on Thanksgiving of that same year, meaning everything that happened in those two-and-a-half seasons took place within less than two months. This includes many big events, including the Liars finding out Alison is alive, Alison returning to Rosewood, the Liars visiting Ravenswood, the “Red Coat” arc, Spencer’s mental breakdown, Spencer and Toby working for “A,” and the death of Mona Vanderwall.

The Second Half of Season 6 Introduced a Time Jump

Season 6B Opens Five Years Later

Given how long and intense the Liars’ senior year was, it was probably a good idea to give them a few years of peace before diving back into the mystery. The second half of Season 6 opens with a 5-year time jump, with the Liars, now being 23 years old, returning to Rosewood to testify for Cece Drake at Alison’s request. There are some unrealistic aspects to the time jump, such as Aria and Spencer having mid-level jobs and Hanna being engaged all at the age of 23, but these examples are not that unrealistic compared to the other inconsistencies.

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The final two seasons follow the girls, now adults, who have to deal with a new “A” after the death of Cece. A massive reveal comes in the form of Mary Drake, who is revealed as the twin sister of Alison’s mother. This reveal creates a lot of confusion around Cece’s storyline, as it is revealed that she was actually Mary’s daughter, adopted by Alison’s mother. Not only does the final season reveal that Spencer had an evil secret twin, but also that Mary was Spencer’s biological mother.

Pretty Little Liars

Pretty Little Liars is a Teen Drama and Mystery series based on the novel by Sara Shepard. The show was created by Marlene King and stars Troian Bellisario, Ashley Benson, and Holly Marie Combs. The series revolves around four friends who meet back up with one another and begin to receive strange threats from an unknown source simply labeled “A.”

Release Date

June 8, 2010

Cast

Troian Bellisario , Ashley Benson , Holly Marie Combs , Lucy Hale , Bianca Lawson , Laura Leighton , Chad Lowe , Shay Mitchell , Nia Peeples , Ian Harding

Seasons

7