Jump to content

Game Over, Charles: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
No edit summary
Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit
Miss X-Factor (talk | contribs)
7,984 edits
Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit
Line 41: Line 41:


CeCe reveals that she dedicated herself to math, which made her attend classes at the University of Pennsylvania where she met Jason, whom she began dating in order of being close to her family. Jessica found out CeCe was really Charlotte before leaving for Cape May, but allows her to come along. In Cape May, Charlotte became close with Alison, but Bethany escaped Radley. At [[Labor Day Weekend]], Charlotte hit Alison in the head with a rock, believing it was Bethany. Jessica buried Alison and paid Wilden to take Charlotte back to Radley. Back at the Carissimi Group, Mona reveals that she hit Bethany that night believing it was Alison.
CeCe reveals that she dedicated herself to math, which made her attend classes at the University of Pennsylvania where she met Jason, whom she began dating in order of being close to her family. Jessica found out CeCe was really Charlotte before leaving for Cape May, but allows her to come along. In Cape May, Charlotte became close with Alison, but Bethany escaped Radley. At [[Labor Day Weekend]], Charlotte hit Alison in the head with a rock, believing it was Bethany. Jessica buried Alison and paid Wilden to take Charlotte back to Radley. Back at the Carissimi Group, Mona reveals that she hit Bethany that night believing it was Alison.
[[File:SaraHarveyRedCoat.jpg|thumb|right|Sara is revealed as A's accomplice Red Coat, who was believed the leader of the A Team.]]

CeCe reveals to have stolen the 'A' game from Mona after manipulating her into telling her everything she had done as 'A'. Once Charlotte got out of Radley, she purposely met the Liars, pretending to be CeCe Drake, and began hating the girls because of their relief that Alison was gone. CeCe reveals she began seeing a blonde girl in a red coat she believed was Alison. She sent her Red Coat, who is revealed to be Sara, to distract the Liars at [[Pretty Little Liars (season 3)#ep71|the night of the lodge fire]], but after the Liars were saved by Alison and Sara, CeCe got confirmation that Alison was alive. She traveled to France after [[Pretty Little Liars (season 5)#ep96|the events in New York]], but came back as the game was too addictive. She killed Wilden to shut him up about Alison being alive, and sent Sara to his funeral as the Black Widow to check that he was dead. CeCe admits to have buried Jessica after finding her dead in the backyard.
CeCe reveals to have stolen the 'A' game from Mona after manipulating her into telling her everything she had done as 'A'. Once Charlotte got out of Radley, she purposely met the Liars, pretending to be CeCe Drake, and began hating the girls because of their relief that Alison was gone. CeCe reveals she began seeing a blonde girl in a red coat she believed was Alison. She sent her Red Coat, who is revealed to be Sara, to distract the Liars at [[Pretty Little Liars (season 3)#ep71|the night of the lodge fire]], but after the Liars were saved by Alison and Sara, CeCe got confirmation that Alison was alive. She traveled to France after [[Pretty Little Liars (season 5)#ep96|the events in New York]], but came back as the game was too addictive. She killed Wilden to shut him up about Alison being alive, and sent Sara to his funeral as the Black Widow to check that he was dead. CeCe admits to have buried Jessica after finding her dead in the backyard.


Revision as of 17:26, 11 September 2015

"Game Over, Charles"

"Game Over, Charles" is the tenth episode, and serves as the mid-season finale of the sixth season and the 130th episode overall of the ABC Family mystery drama series Pretty Little Liars. It originally aired on August 11, 2015, on ABC Family. It was written and directed by showrunner I. Marlene King. ABC Family promoted the finale with the slogan "#FAceToFace" with the indication of the reveal of 'A' in the mid-season finale.[1]

In the episode, Alison, Aria, Emily, Hanna, Spencer and Mona finally uncover the true identity of "A", which turns out to be CeCe Drake, and they learn why she has been tormenting them. In addition, the episode included a five-year jump where the Liars return to Rosewood after being away for five years.

"Game Over, Charles" was watched by 3.09 million viewers and garnered a 1.4 rating, making it the most watched episode of the sixth season, and the most watched episode since the fourth season finale "A Is for Answers", up from the previous episode. The mid-season finale was met with mixed reviews from television critics and fans.

Plot

At the prom, Aria (Lucy Hale), Emily (Shay Mitchell), Hanna (Ashley Benson), Spencer (Troian Bellisario) and Sara (Dre Davis) meet Mona (Janel Parrish), who reveals to have been following Alison (Sasha Pieterse), all night in order to protect her. Mona manages to locate Alison's phone at the Carissimi Group building, and the Liars goes there. At the Carissimi Group, Spencer manages to break into a restricted room with the help of Sara who remembers a specific date meaningful to Charles. While the girls enter the room, Sara leaves them behind. They discover a digital monitor which monitors the room Alison has been taken to, and they see her finding Jason and Mr. DiLaurentis unconscious. 'A' is seen in the room with Alison, and reveals herself as CeCe Drake (Vanessa Ray).

With everyone in the DiLaurentis family present, CeCe begins to tell them her story and motives for why she became 'A'. She reveals to have been born as a boy named Charles DiLaurentis, and when she was 5 years old, she gave Alison a bath, but accidentally dropped her in the water and Alison was saved by Kenneth, but as a consequence Charles was admitted to Radley. According to CeCe, as a child Charles asked her mother to buy her dresses but her dad wouldn't allow it, so he used the bathtub incident as an excuse to send her away. CeCe reveals that Jessica began to buy the same clothes for both her and Alison, and became very accepting of how her son was.

It is revealed that Bethany Young pushed Toby's mother Marion Cavanaugh off the top of Radley, killing her, to protect Charles. However, Bethany blamed Charles, which everyone believed. Jessica paid off Darren Wilden (Bryce Johnson) to make sure Mrs. Cavanaugh's death was ruled a suicide. Charles was diagnosed with intermittent explosive disorder (IED), though this was actually the diagnose for Bethany. For the next 2 years Charles was medicated with tranquilizers, but was let out to attend Charles' fake funeral. After the funeral, Jessica accepted her daughter and began calling her Charlotte.

CeCe reveals that she dedicated herself to math, which made her attend classes at the University of Pennsylvania where she met Jason, whom she began dating in order of being close to her family. Jessica found out CeCe was really Charlotte before leaving for Cape May, but allows her to come along. In Cape May, Charlotte became close with Alison, but Bethany escaped Radley. At Labor Day Weekend, Charlotte hit Alison in the head with a rock, believing it was Bethany. Jessica buried Alison and paid Wilden to take Charlotte back to Radley. Back at the Carissimi Group, Mona reveals that she hit Bethany that night believing it was Alison.

File:SaraHarveyRedCoat.jpg
Sara is revealed as A's accomplice Red Coat, who was believed the leader of the A Team.

CeCe reveals to have stolen the 'A' game from Mona after manipulating her into telling her everything she had done as 'A'. Once Charlotte got out of Radley, she purposely met the Liars, pretending to be CeCe Drake, and began hating the girls because of their relief that Alison was gone. CeCe reveals she began seeing a blonde girl in a red coat she believed was Alison. She sent her Red Coat, who is revealed to be Sara, to distract the Liars at the night of the lodge fire, but after the Liars were saved by Alison and Sara, CeCe got confirmation that Alison was alive. She traveled to France after the events in New York, but came back as the game was too addictive. She killed Wilden to shut him up about Alison being alive, and sent Sara to his funeral as the Black Widow to check that he was dead. CeCe admits to have buried Jessica after finding her dead in the backyard.

Sara Harvey, as Red Coat, sets a bomb to detonate inside of Radley as part of CeCe's final plan to kill Alison along with herself. The Liars manages to stop her as Spencer disables the bomb, and Emily punches Sara for betraying her. Charlotte then runs on to the roof and gets on the ledge about to jump. The Liars and Ali run to the roof and beg her not to. Charlotte jumps down from the ledge onto the roof and lowers her hood and says "game over". After the Liars are finally free from A, they stand outside of Alison's house with their cars all packed ready to leave for college.

Five years later

At Rosewood High, Alison is working as a teacher, and as she writes her name on the board she is interrupted by Aria, Hanna, Emily, and Spencer as they rush into her classroom telling her that "He's coming after you, we only came back for you Ali."

Production

File:Vanessa Ray, celebrating PLL 100th episodes.jpg
Vanessa Ray was told that she would be playing 'A' by King a few days before filming began.

"Game Over, Charles" was written and directed by showrunner I. Marlene King, which serves as King's second writing credit of the sixth season, and the fifth directed episode of the series. King began writing the mid-season finale, the "summer finale", which will be titled "Game Over, Charles", on May 12, 2015.[2][3] Filming began on June 9, 2015 and ended on June 18, 2015.[4] King revealed the title of the episode on March 25, 2015, after revealing the title of the premiere, which was "Game On, Charles".[5] ABC Family promoted the finale on Twitter with the slogan "#FAceToFace" indicating the reveal of 'A' in the mid-season finale.[1] On June 4, 2015, it was announced by King on Twitter that the actor/actress who will play 'A' had been told that they were going to be 'A' in the show.[6] The episode featured the song "How Does It Feel" by MS MR. The episode focuses on the reveal of 'A' as the Liars and Alison discovers who their tormentor is and why they became 'A'.

Executive producer Oliver Goldstick revealed in an interview that the first half of the sixth season, would contain 10 episodes instead of 12, like the previous seasons and will deal almost exclusively with the mystery of Charles DiLaurentis and every unanswered "A" mystery question since the start of the show.[7] King said that "This is our chance to finally end this great and wonderful story."[8] In an interview with Entertainment Online, I. Marlene King said that the sixth season "is about answers and closure for all of them. It is an ending to the story that we started so long ago, but it's a very fast-paced ending to the story."[9]

it was thrilling to watch this mysterious actor "really stretch their legs" as 'A' in Tuesday's summer finale. "They were just fantastic. I’m sorry I can’t be more specific, but that was the best part of this episode."

 — Troian Bellisario on the acting of the actor playing 'A'.[10]

King revealed that the Liars will graduate in the mid-season finale, and it will feature a five-year time jump to when the Liars are finished with college.[11] Goldstick commented that "We’ve been talking about [the time jump] for years."[7] Goldstick said in regards to the threats by 'A' and the time jump, that “It gives us an opportunity to see what was the gift of ‘A.’ What was the gift of ‘A’ that edified all of these girls in different ways?”[12] Marlene King expressed her excitement in an interview with Entertainment Tonight to tell more grown-up stories for the characters as she said that the actresses had "outgrown the teenager years".[13] Lucy Hale commented on the five-year time jump as she said “We couldn’t have asked for anything better". Shay Mitchell also commented on how the show is going to be different, as she also added that "This feels like a new beginning".[12]

As a regard to who 'A' is going to be, King said "We knew that Mona was the original "A," but we didn't know how long we were going to be able to go to sustain that story before we gave her up to the audience. We knew there was going to be a "Big A" to follow that story up, and we stayed true to those characters."[8] King revealed in an interview with BuzzFeed that because of the frustration from the audience, the final 'A' reveal was moved from the series finale to the sixth season mid-season finale. She continued saying that "The fans have been really patient, and I feel like we pushed them as far as we could."[12] The story of Charles was pitched by King to the writer's room after the end of the second season, after the reveal of Mona as 'A'. King said -

As we were ending that story, I started to freak out. I was like, I don’t want to write one more episode without knowing who was going to steal the game from her. I will say that for two or three episodes, there were three people who were going to be ‘A,’ and then we got about two episodes in and I pitched to the room this new idea that it wasn’t any of those three and I told the story of Charles and everybody’s mouths dropped. - I. Marlene King to BuzzFeed

Joseph Dougherty, executive producer, expressed his concern over the amount of material the writers had to deal with in the first half of the sixth season in order to reveal who 'A' is when crafting the first ten episodes. He continued to call the season four finale "the previous high-water mark for maximum signal-to-noise information."[12] King revealed in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that "lots of people" have correctly guessed A's identity", but noted that fans would still be shocked to learn A's motives for living a life devoted to stalking. "The 'who' has been guessed, but the 'how' and 'why'? Not so much."[14] Troian Bellisario said in an interview that "it was thrilling to watch this mysterious actor "really stretch their legs" as 'A' in Tuesday's summer finale. "They were just fantastic. I’m sorry I can’t be more specific, but that was the best part of this episode."[10]

Reception

Broadcasting

"Game Over, Charles" premiered on ABC Family on August 11, 2015. It was watched by 3.09 million viewers and acquired a 1.4 rating in the 18-49 demographic,[15] making it the most watched episode of the sixth season, and the most watched episode since "A Is for Answers", the fourth season finale, which aired in March 2013. It was up from the previous episode, the penultimate episode "Last Dance", which was watched by 2.03 million people.

Reviews

“Game Over, Charles” is very much an episode about the character of a person, in the sense of how they deal with everything life tosses their way. And for an exceptionally long time, CeCe was able to rise above it all… until Mona came into the picture and unknowingly lit the fuse.

—LaToya Ferguson of The A.V. Club [16]

The episode was met with mixed to positive reviews from critics and fans, as many were divided about the identity of 'A' and her reasons to have become 'A', but many were satisfied and gave praise to Vanessa Ray's performance and the show for including a transgender storyline. Paul Dailly of TV Fanatic enjoyed the episode, writing that the reveal "surprisingly lived up to the hype. I'm not going to sugarcoat it, it was a bit rough around the edges, but it all made sense and for the first time in ages. [...] We have solid answers and the show is heading off in an exciting direction!" He concluded, saying: "It was an interesting conclusion that's rebooted the show in a lot of ways.[17] Entertainment Weekly's Isabella Biedenharn deemed the reveal "satisfying", saying she did not understand people's disappointment and that Wren or one of the Liars "would have made no sense". Biedenharn called Vanessa Ray "fantastic" and "compelling".[18] She opined that the episode, "the biggest in PLL history", deserved at least two hours.[19]

The A.V. Club reviewer LaToya Ferguson wrote that the choice of having CeCe Drake being A/Charles was "the best decision" instead of choosing Wren. To her, it could have turned out worse, alluding to the Gossip Girl's reveal. Ferguson applauded Vanessa Ray's emotional performance "reminding the audience (and characters) why they were drawn to CeCe in the first place". She highlighted how Cece manages to make her wrongdoings acceptable, almost redeeming herself. She wrote that Ray "absolutely carries this episode on her back, in a way very few secondary characters could." While she described the episode as "quite sweeping", she felt it was impossible to compare it to previous ones because the Liars only acted as "tertiary characters", which was unusual.[16] Writing for The Washington Post, Bethonie Butler agreed that the identity of A made more sense than Gossip Girl's reveal, although it was "obvious/disappointing". As for the flash-forward, Butler wrote: "it’s kind of odd to spend all that time in high school, only to breeze through college and land abruptly into adulthood."[20]

Morgan Glennon from Buddy TV wrote it was not the show's best finale "by a long shot". "It's nice to get the answers to most of the show's big questions [...] but the revelations come so fast and so furious that some of the big moments have no time to land. [...] This gives these moments no time to breathe and takes some of the power out of these giant revelations."[21] Nick Campbell of TV.com had mixed opinions on the episode. Although he described it as "an episode that fulfilled its promises", finding that Cece as A was "a solution that fits" and Sara Harvey as red Coat "added up beautifully", Campbell noted that it was "a flashback to cornier times." He was ultimately dissatisfied with the conclusion of the game, which "felt like a relic. It's an artifact." He also criticized the mass of information given, which "may have been tough to analyze". He thought the reactions of the Liars to the reveal "made little sense" as "they all turned to mush".[22]

References

  1. ^ a b "It's no lie. Only 2 weeks until you come #FaceToFace with A on Tuesday, August 11. #PLL". Instagram. July 29, 2015. Retrieved July 31, 2015.
  2. ^ King, I. Marlene (May 12, 2015). "This is what writing the PLL summer finale looks like. Dueling computers. One to watch. One to write. #GameOverCharles #FeelingALittleSad #FeelingWayExcited #WTFOMG #Yep". Instagram. Retrieved May 20, 2015.
  3. ^ King, I. Marlene (May 13, 2015). "The next episode I write for PLL will be titled "Game Over, Charles" #PrettyLittleSummer". Twitter. Retrieved May 13, 2015.
  4. ^ King, I. Marlene (June 11, 2015). "@AdenaAnn nope. Only day two. So far I am blown away by how passionate the cast and crew is. Everyone was crying today. Me the most!". Twitter. Retrieved June 27, 2015.
  5. ^ King, I. Marlene (March 24, 2015). "The next episode I write for PLL will be titled "Game Over, Charles" #PrettyLittleSummer". Twitter. Retrieved June 27, 2015.
  6. ^ "So here's a scoop. "A" finally knows "A" is "A." #SeasonOfAnwsers". Twitter. June 4, 2015. Retrieved June 27, 2015.
  7. ^ a b Swift, Andy (March 25, 2015). "Pretty Little Liars Post Mortem: EP on Mona's Next Move, Charles' Agenda and the 'Juicy' Season 6 Time Jump". TVLine. Retrieved June 27, 2015.
  8. ^ a b Roschke, Ryan (March 24, 2015). "Pretty Little Liars Creator I. Marlene King Just Dropped a Cryptic Finale Clue". Popsugar. Retrieved June 27, 2015.
  9. ^ Dos Santos, Kristin (March 31, 2015). "Spoiler Chat: Scoop on Game of Thrones, Pretty Little Liars, The Flash, Outlander and More!". E! Online. Retrieved May 20, 2015.
  10. ^ a b Aguilera, Leanne (August 10, 2015). "EXCLUSIVE! 'Pretty Little Liars': Troian Bellisario & Shay Mitchell React to 'A's Identity: 'I Was Shocked!'". Entertainment Tonight. Retrieved August 10, 2015.
  11. ^ Bricker, Tierney (March 25, 2015). "NEWS/ Pretty Little Liars Will Stage a Major Time-Jump in Season 6!". E! Online. Retrieved June 27, 2015.
  12. ^ a b c d Wieselman, Jarett (June 2, 2015). "It's The Beginning Of The End For "Pretty Little Liars"". BuzzFeed. Retrieved June 27, 2015.
  13. ^ Aguilera, Leanne (June 23, 2015). "EXCLUSIVE! 'Pretty Little Liars' Boss Talks Time-Jump Weddings & Revealing 'A': 'There Were a Lot of Tears!'". Entertainment Tonight. Retrieved June 28, 2015.
  14. ^ Gajewski, Ryan (August 10, 2015). "'Pretty Little Liars' Creator, Star on Finale's "Dead People," "Absolute Closure" in "A" Reveal". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 10, 2015.
  15. ^ Kondolojy, Amanda (August 12, 2015). "Tuesday Cable Ratings: 'Pretty Little Liars' Tops Night + 'The Haves and the Have Nots', 'Deadliest Catch', 'Ink Master' & More". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved August 12, 2015.
  16. ^ a b Ferguson, LaToya (August 12, 2015). "Pretty Little Liars: "Game Over, Charles"". The A.V. Club. Retrieved August 12, 2015.
  17. ^ Dailly, Paul (August 11, 2015). "Pretty Little Liars Season 6 Episode 10 Review: Game Over, Charles". TV Fanatic. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
  18. ^ Biedenharn, Isabella (August 12, 2015). "'Game Over, Charles'". Entertainment Weekly. p. 1. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
  19. ^ Biedenharn, Isabella (August 12, 2015). "'Game Over, Charles'". Entertainment Weekly. p. 3. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
  20. ^ Butler, Bethonie (August 12, 2015). "'Pretty Little Liars' Season 6 summer finale recap: A is finally revealed in 'Game Over, Charles'". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
  21. ^ Glennon, Morgan (August 11, 2015). "'Pretty Little Liars' Season 6 Mid-Season Finale Recap: The Liars Come Face to Face with 'A'". BuddyTV. Retrieved August 12, 2015.
  22. ^ Campbell, Nick (August 12, 2015). "Pretty Little Liars Season 6A Finale Review: The Lying and Crying Game". TV.com. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Game_Over,_Charles&oldid=680562202"