I can’t speak too much on the trans representation here and whether it’s good or bad. It does a few basic things right while also doing a lot wrong. As a cis person, I don’t feel qualified to say where it ultimately lands (though my guess is: not in a great place!) I suggest Googling for a trans perspective. Here’s post on Reddit that seems to have come directly after CeCe/Charlotte’s trans and “A” reveal, to get you started.
After Charlotte’s death, the show becomes primarily about her murder and the new “A” in town. They’re called Uber A for awhile, but I hate that and they eventually become known as AD, so that’s what I’ll call them. AD believes the girls (uh – women, I guess, since the time jump?) know who killed Charlotte, and so the threats and blackmail begin anew.
As you can tell, there are many things I could talk about in a season six post. The beginning of the season is all about the girls in the underground maze-bunker. They deal with a lot of PTSD. We find out about (an) “A”.
But I can’t stop thinking about the five-year jump. Literally, at the end of episode 10, we suddenly get a “five years later” and then the rest of the season and season seven are in that time period – a time period that I’m pretty sure is technically a year or more in our future.
The five-year jump is what I want to talk about. Specifically, I want to talk about ways the show indicated to the viewer that time had passed. Not just character outright saying “wow so it’s been five years huh” but visual cues and plot or character cues.
1. Spencer has bangs now.
- That’s how you know someone can stop listening to “I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman” on loop. The bangs take you into womanhood.
2. Everyone is broken up. As we all know, sequels and time jumps all require break ups because how else do you build character tension? [/sarcasm]
- Emily and Paige? Nope. Emily and that married woman she was with in season 5? Not sure what happened to her.
- Hanna and Caleb? No, because they hate me, personally, and wanted to hurt me. She’s engaged to some other guy.
- Spencer and Toby? He’s seeing someone else and Spencer is hooking up with Caleb.
- Aria and Fitz? NO, THANK GOD. She’s dating a coworker and he has a fridged girlfriend.
- Alison wasn’t dating anyone before the jump but she’s trying to break up with her manipulation habits so that’s good.
3. Emily’s dad is dead. Someone had to be dead for it to really be the future.
4. Hanna’s mom turned Radley into a fancy-shmancy hotel. Time jumps also require someone starting a business, usually.
5. I doubt this was a purposeful choice or anything, but Alison gained some weight and she looks good.
6. AD uses emojis in their threatening texts. Nothing says ~ The Future ~ like emojis.
7. Also, the texts now show up on the screen floatation-text style because…why not?