TV REVIEW: “Taking This One to the Grave” Says Goodbye to a Familiar Face

By Nicole Bozzani

It’s Thanksgiving in Rosewood.

Ezra, the cutest pumpkin pie maker in the world, is getting ready to have dinner at the Montgomery’s, Toby is finally graduating the police academy, Emily is overdosing on Christmas, and there is about to be a super stealthy break in at Radley. Spencer is now the number one suspect in the death of Bethany Young. The police believe she did it to impress the unofficial leader of the group: Alison. The only way the gang can prove Spencer’s innocence is to find the link between Alison and Bethany. Where can they find this mysterious link? In her files at Radley of course. It is quite the stealth operation. Perhaps too stealthy for a bunch of 17 year olds to pull off, but hey, someone has to get to the bottom of this, right?

Since the beginning Alison DiLaurentis has been a shifty character. It was simple to fall victim to her stories. Why would anyone be after this girl? What has she done? But as season 5 progressed it became more and more apparent she just might be a sociopath hiding a disastrous secret. With Detective Holbrook hot on her case, Alison voluntarily gives a polygraph where she reveals just what happened that night in the barn. Whether or not what she is revealing is entirely truthful (it is quite hard to fool a polygraph but she is nuts) it paints Spencer in a horrible light. But Spencer is a Hastings. She won’t go down without a fight. When Spencer is finally arrested for the murder of Bethany Young everyone is shocked. Could the police be right about her? Did she get into an altercation with Bethany that night just before Melissa buried her alive? Or was it all part of Alison’s grandiose plan to deceive and torture everyone in her life?

The girls only have one place to turn in order to end everything: Mona. Mona is far too smart for her own good and she has computer hacking skills like no other. Seriously, where did she and Lucas even learn this? The entire crew Mona had spent time and effort requiting were now against her and on team Ali. Ali is a master manipulator so it’s no surprise the merry band of misfits would flock to her. Mona is scared and Ali feels threatened (hence the army) and there’s no way that will work itself out in the wash. Mona’s A theory is the most solid to date. Too bad it took five seasons and a series of unfortunate events to come to light.

Intelligence, loyalty, admiration, and compassion are the qualities anyone looks for in a friend. But why have just one? Why not play a sociological mind game with four girls willing to cover up your deepest and darkest secrets? Alison DiLaurentis sure thought this was a good idea until they turned on her. If Alison truly is A, why has she created this entire blackmail mind game against herself? Is she trying to hide something bigger than herself? Does she just crave attention from her parents so badly she would do anything to gain it? Should she be the one locked away in Radley? Alison loved having power over the Liars and there’s zero explanation why.

“Taking This One To the Grave” promised to be a fatal finale and it delivered. Despite all of the complaints regarding Mona over the span of season 5, it was sad to see her go. It was fairly obvious a few minutes in she would meet her demise at the hands of A, but that didn’t make it any less heartbreaking. A character who was sometimes annoying and other times slipped into the background without even a notice, it was interesting to finally get to learn a bit about who she truly was. She was intelligent and had early acceptance into plenty of Ivy League schools. She had a caring mother who desperately wanted her to have friends and fit in. She was calculating and always 5 steps ahead of everyone else. It’s still hard to understand why Ali despised her so much. Maybe that’s all in the character development but seeing Mona as a regular human rather than a devious she devil was enough to turn a new leaf on her.

What will Christmas hold for the citizens of Rosewood? Will Spencer be found guilty or will she be forced to turn Melissa in for her part in the death of Bethany? What will become of Emily and Paige’s newly rekindled relationship? Will Hanna attend an Ivy League school after surprisingly getting an amazing score on the SATs? Most importantly, who killed Mona Vanderwaal and is will Alison DiLaurentis finally be revealed as the illustrious A? The second half of season 5 is sure shaping up to be filled with twists, turns, and surprises viewers never saw coming.