In this op-ed, writer Gianluca Russo argues that the first season of Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists gave its leading women back their power.
Perhaps the most prevalent symbol weaved throughout the original Pretty Little Liars TV series was the dollhouse. Rosewood, for starters, is essentially presented as one giant play set, and Alison, Emily, Aria, Hanna and Spencer are the dolls, moved around at the will of the puppeteer known as “A.” The girls exist as blank, beautiful slates to be projected upon, removed from power in their own stories, even as they grow up and ostensibly try to leave Rosewood and all its horrors behind.
Freeform’s newest spinoff, PLL: The Perfectionists, has officially aired its first 10 episodes, and across that first arc, it’s become clear that the show isn’t interested in presenting its central characters, especially its female ones, as dolls to be played with. The Perfectionists buries that trope — probably in the DiLaurentis’ backyard, where everything goes to die — and instead, gives its main characters the agency to have powerful stories and strong personalities that cannot be controlled by others trying to tear them apart.
PLL: The Perfectionists takes place some years after PLL, with Alison DiLaurentis (Sasha Pieterse) moving away from Rosewood (and divorcing Emily Fields) to follow a new job at the prestigious Beacon Heights University. Upon arrival, she’s shocked to learn Mona Vanderwaal (Janel Parrish) is also in Beacon Heights working at the college; two of the characters from the original series are back together.
The other main characters are students at Beacon Heights, and they feel somewhat inspired by their PLL forerunners. Caitlin Park-Lewis (Sydney Park), for instance, holds many of the same values as Spencer Hastings did: Both are determined, political and driven to accomplish great things. Ava Jalali (Sofia Carson), on the other hand, reminds many of Hanna Marin, partially for her fashion interest and partially for her story of navigating her parents’ divorce that followed Hanna largely through the first season of Pretty Little Liars. It’s a little more difficult to pinpoint who Dylan Walker (Eli Brown) resembles, though many could argue he is the new version of Emily Fields: Dylan’s devotion to cello reminds some of Emily’s love of swimming. And then, of course, there’s Nolan Hotchkiss (Chris Mason), whose wealth, family name, arrogance and entitlement feel very much like the O.G. Alison.
The new batch of characters are just as intricate and complex as in the original, with a dynamic friendship to match. But crucially, Caitlin, Ava, and Dylan aren’t just dolls being micromanaged by a manipulative gamemaker, a difference that feels particularly marked for how the show depicts women characters
Pretty Little Liars was grounded in treating teenage girls like dolls, figuratively and literally. In the beginning, Mona treated the five liars — Alison, Emily, Aria, Hanna and Spencer — like her puppets, controlling them with threats that urged them to follow her commands. Even when Mona was outed as being A, it didn’t stop there. CeCe Drake soon took over as the mysterious villain in all black. Let’s not forget about the literal dollhouse (more like a dungeon) that CeCe trapped the girls in during season five. Through different torture methods, she made them follow her every command, even forcing them to make decisions about the kinds of pain the other girls might receive. The teens eventually broke free, but nothing could rid them of the trauma they’d experienced from the many years of being treated like inanimate objects.
