emily had *2 different girlfriends* that died while she was in high school and the police never did _one productive thing_ to ask her questions or investigate more into the strange things happening around the girls... i can't 🙄
@@nymphacissa honestly for the longest time I was thinking that Wilden (idk if that’s how it was spelled) was like 35 years old so it wasn’t that disgusting to see him with Ashley. It was disgusting because of he was in the police but not because of his age. I don’t know if planned it from the beginning but to me it seemed like they switched up his age to fit the narrative. :/
@@ruth98765 Yep. The show was garbage from the start tbh. We were clowns for sticking with it and trusting the writers for so long! I cant believe i had a tumblr dedicated to 'Aria is A' for YEARS! I literally put more time and effort into researching this show and theorising every poster in the back of each scene than i did on my actual school work🤦♀️ .... 😂 .... 😭
i never liked paige, especially not after the drowning incident. the homophobic bullly who is secretly gay has got to be one of the worst tropes in history, right next to the teacher student relationship trope
I agree. As a young lesbian (who Emily was the first representation of a lesbian on tv I ever saw) I really did not like it at all. I like enemies to lovers to a certain point but I don’t think it should be done from complete hate and toxicity. Also Ezra should be in jail
@@Meg_intheclouds i agree completely. it's especially sad because emily being a lesbian was so groundbreaking at a time and they handled her character horribly when she had so much potential. pll overall doesn't have a great track record with lgbtq characters (cece drake, their only trans character being a villain) which is why it upsets me even more that they fucked up so badly with emily to the point that it felt like they didn't care about her at all. she deserved so much better than ending up with alisson (who also wasn't great) because the writers didn't care as much as they cared about aria and ezra. also in the books he does end up in jail so that's something i guess.
@@tmiletticc exactly. It’s almost as if they are saying “this gross teacher- student relationship is better than a relationship between 2 girls” and yes I really didn’t like Emily’s girl friends past maya, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t invested (cause gay) also if they cared they could have given her other plot lines. The best queer rep is rep that is just there. It’s a part of the character yet they have story lines and friendships and people and are well rounded characters outside of their sexuality. An example of this is Holt and Kevin from Brooklyn 99. It’s a big part of both their backstories and is part of holts need to feel accepted and belonging to a team. But apart from that he is an amazing detective and leader, who has really good bonds with his team. Kevin, his husband, also has relationships with the team, he starts off being critical and sceptical because of what his husband has been through but comes to love the team. He has storylines that don’t involve holt and there relationship is not perfect. It has conflicts and the characters are allowed to be messy, but in the end they love love each other and are soulmates, even if they have disagreements. I’m going off on a tangent but to me that’s what queer representation should be.
@@Meg_intheclouds agreed. it always felt like Emily's character was about dating someone when she had the potential to be a well done, rounded character. they really didn't care and just ended up letting her become "the boring one". She was my favorite liar in the beginning and I hated what they did to her in later seasons, not to mention how many of her love interests they killed off for the sake of shocking the audience. They should have killed off Ezra instead imo. I really hope the reboot does Emily justice (or are they planning to introduce entirely new characters, idk?) also i love Holt and Kevin!!! They are so cute, one of my favorite ships definitely. That's my favorite kind of representation, not whatever pll tried to do. I think Sex Education handled this very well. I also loved how they added an asexual character (I'm asexual and it made me so happy) i don't think any other tv show has an asexual character, Jughead from Riverdale was supposed to be but they made him straight for some reason. The creator or Riverdale is doing the pll reboot so it's safe to say my expectations aren't very high, but we'll see
@@tmiletticc that’s cool. I’ve never watched sex education (Tho when riverdale was popular I watched the first 2 seasons in like year 8. Same reason I watched pll was because so many other people did). I think if they made Maya’s death more a part of the story, like she knew something she shouldn’t about A or whatever and she was somehow involved with that it would have worked. But I also agree about Ezra. They should have killed him off when he was revealed to be on team A. I think someone should have shot him for revealing himself/ because he’d discovered something and then Aria would have this storyline of dealing with his death, but then realising in many ways how free it makes her feel. And then just like allowed her time to explore herself. Emily should have had a proper girlfriend that we can see her grow and develop with. Maybe like a girl she went high school with or something who she was friends with when she was younger, and then they are back in town and they realise they have feelings for each other. Also in the books I know he is anyway but Kaz Brekker from six of crows is Ace, and I have to also recommend the book Loveless it’s so good. [spoilers for Buffy the vampire slayer Season 6 ahead. Proceed with caution] Tho one of my fave lesbian relationships is actually one where it ends tragically and that’s Willow and Tara from Buffy. Tho I think that storyline works so well for a number of reasons -It progresses the magic addiction story line. And shows that recovery isn’t linear, and something like that can lead to dire consequences. Also magic is used as a metaphor for lesbian sex because the network wouldn’t allow it (it was like 1999) and they had to fight so hard to show that relationship. Leading to the emotional climax of the series and we see how much it effects everything. -No love story on that show ever ends well ever. And when people call the writers homophobic for killing her off it makes me annoyed because they kill pretty much everyone but the main 5 off. It’s supposed to be a tragedy. -It also highlights how much of a monster this one character is, and also allows a big statement about gun control to be made, and shows the devastation it can cause.
They came up with Sara Harvey and were just like "eh she's a girl, make her an Emily girlfriend." It would have made so much more sense for Hanna's mom to take her in than for Pam to let her stay around.
It seemed like mrs fields went from anti lesbian to RA RA DO YOU WANNA STAY THE NIGHT WITH MY DAUGHTER YOUNG LADY?? Just too fast. An over correction for sure
I actually thought the Sarah Harvey relationship made sense, since it was made up that Sarah was so similar to Allison that she could be mistaken for her and there's some indication that their personalities were very much the same as well. It didn't confuse me that Emily would be into her if she's never really gotten over her crush on Allison.
what I found so annoying was that throughout Ali's return, Paige was DEAD SET on "pEoPlE CaN NNEEVERRRR cHaNgE", and im like, girl lets not forget about you dunking and bullying Emly then falling in love with her, the hypocrisy is just ... ughh
Everyone hates on Paige yet they idoliza Emison. Alison led Emily on and teased her about her sexuality, purposely making he do things when she was ready, taunting her. Not to mention the fact that Alison was a vile bully and faked her death and expected to be welcomed with open arms... Paige fucked up too, but nowhere near as much and she genuinely changed. Her hatred for Alison was justified considering Ali bullied Paige and threatened to tell her religious father about her sexuality. Paige was suicidal from the bullying, I wouldn’t be so open minded either about my bully coming back to haunt me. It’s triggering
Yeah. Shay Mitchell is half white, so if she had kids with a pale white person she could have pale blonde kids. Look at Drake's kid. But her character isn't part white. Emily's parents are Asian if I'm not wrong. So why would he have white kids? Who taught the writers biology?
My thing with Alison is that they half-assed her redemption arc. She falls into that tragic villain trope, which is fine, but they never fully address what was tragic about the character. This was a 15 year old girl who lost her virginity to a 24 year old cop, while serial dating older men. Her parents were terrible and her brother started a club that perving on her and her friends and he was an addict too. She was so emotional unstable and mentally regressed compared to other characters. I liked what Emily and Alison could've been, but it actually required the writers to spend time on each character for it to be a good love story.
so well said. when i was younger i was such big emison fan, but now looking back, they really should’ve done so much more work to their relationship and their individual characters to create something really meaningful.
It really does make me sad to see how they handled Emily's character. It's probably an unpopular opinion but Emily was personally one of my favorites of the liars which is why it's even sadder to see your favorite character being treated that way. To me it really felt like the writers put a *lot* more thought into Aria, Spencer and Hanna. The other 3 girls had more interesting storylines, more interesting love intrests, etc and they just gave Emily the short end of the stick and really didn't put much thought or effort into her character. Emily and Shay deserved so much better...
Idk imo Emily had the weakest plot twists but the story did revolve around her. Like for instance she was targeted by A the most from the liars. She had an ulcer from stress, then the Nate thing, than the being led to the grave
Shay mitchell is in a really good show I think it's called Dollhouse and how she is in that show is how I wish she was portrayed in PLL she's just so much more vibrant and interesting and still gives lgbtq+ representation I highly recommend the show it's on hulu
I don't understand how the showrunners pushed Ezria, one of the most romanticised toxic pairings I know, so hard when they could've given us more interesting Emily storylines and an actual good love interest that didn't die... Seriously, imagine how much screentime they had left, if Ezra just ended up in jail like he should've. Amazing video by the way, I kinda have a love/hate relationship with PLL so my critism comes from a place of love for the show 💗
In my opinion, the show did an amazing job of handling Emily's coming out to her friends and portraying homophobia. Her friends were accepting, and didn't do the whole "oh don't fall in love with us!" thing. It would've been so easy for them to make a subplot of the other liars being uncomfortable around Emily, but they're weren't. I also NEVER see anyone EVER mention this but in the film-noir-spencer-hallucination episode they showed the homophobia of that era! It was such a good detail in my opinion.
Yeah, i think they have something good at the begining, but with the past of time they forget about Emily and they have so much material to do more of this.
I do enjoy the actress who played Paige, but not the character BUT idk how the heck you come back from someone trying to DROWN YOU. Like no matter how i empathize with you, you’re not a partner lol.
That was the very first episode that Paige was in and the writers didn't know what to do with her character yet. All of the bfs of the other liars (especially Ezra) did things that were even worse.
Uhh Paige was definitely bullying Emily in that scene but I don’t understand why I keep seeing people say Paige tried to literally “drown” Emily. To drown someone would mean she was trying to kill Emily. Obviously Paige is not an attempted murderer-she was a bully.
My favorite Emily plot is when she was secretly helping Ali, she was being mystery and not really caring how the girls felt but more focused on her feelings
was thinking the same thinking lmao it was harsh but it was all facts tbh especially when he says she has no reason to exist in the show after season 3 like he's right just because the character is gay doesn't mean you don't have to put any effort in her characterization
@@melissagl8442 Truth! I feel like PLL videos have been popping on UA-cam since he made his. And yeah, he's completely right about Emily! Serena makes a lot of solid point as well!
Yup!! He opened my eyes to so many problems with this show (THE GODDAMN TIMELINE LIKE WTF HOW DID THEY GET AWAY WITH THIS) but his take on Emily is painfully spot on. Her character is so pointless and it's sad. And this video is the perfect add on. Serena really nailed it!
I liked how Paige actually showed that she was messed up from Allison's bullying. one of the only characters who actually developed and didn't just forget what happened in the past. I DO think that she should have gotten help instead of staying with Emily. Paige was one of the few characters in the whole show who actually reacted to their trauma. Wish it was handled better.
I'm 26 and this is my first time watching the show. I seriously relate a lot more to Paige's reactions when she sees the girl's dumb decisions when faced with dangerous situations. Honestly, Paige was spot on when she said to Caleb that the girls were all desensitized to how dangerous and messed up the situation was in season 3. Yeah, she did not have the best of beginnings, but she had a lot more common sense than all the liars combined.
@@SerenaSkybourne she would have been a good character if she was handled well. She had potential, especially if they made her a character who is the voice of reason amongst the group and made her and Emily help and uplift each other. Can you imagine if she started out by candidly telling Emily she is gay and doesn't know how to come out and ask her help? That would have been cute and a great moment between them. And in return, she could have encouraged Emily to be more assertive and stand up for herself instead of being everyone's doormat.
There was so much missed potential as far as Emily being the "nice one" goes. They could have explored that so much more. Why is the "nice one" so close with the bullies? Is it because she has an inner darkness that she can't express on her own or is it because she's too forgiving and too willing to see the good in everyone? Seems they went with her being too forgiving but they never seem to fully acknowledge this as a character flaw that Emily needs to overcome. They could have done so much more to explore these concepts.
Aria, Spencer and Hannas love interests were like sims 2 and 3 sims that had characterization and quirks where Emily’s love interests were like sims 4 sims with three traits and nothing interesting happening
@@laurine____7543 no fucking shit we already know alison is bad. WHY are you trying to defend paige. We know alison isnt a good person it was already established that she is a bully since like the first episodes, but the comment is talking about PAIGE
i can't believe you made a 50 minute video essay on emily, that's incredible. honestly the quality of all your videos is so amazing, u deserve way more subscribers for the amount of time and effort u put into your content, i can't wait to watch this :)
I was just thinking the same thing!! These videos are amazing, i was a bit hesitant when looking at how long they are but they are so beautifully crafted and put together. 🤗🤗
I feel like the writers didn’t know what to do with Emily’s character so they made stuff up and went with it. The storyline with Lyndon James, for example. It didn’t affect the plot at all, it seemed very spur of the moment.
@@importantstuf8870 i feel like im the only person sometimes who actually likes paige. yeah she had issues but like yall out here forgiving anybody in PLL, you have to forgive paige, literally nobody in the show hasn't done something wack and that is the entire point. paige holding emily under water was definitely wrong but she also saved spencer's life and was super loyal to emily, im ok w her not ending up w emily and i prefered emily w maya but paige doesnt deserve this slander
It was so eye-opening for me to see Shay Mitchell starring in the show named YOU because up until then I genuienly thought she has no talent as an actress. That's when I realised how terrible the PLL writing was: it made me believe Shay can't act while in reality she's insanely good, the show's writing was just shitty
I was honestly blown away watching her in You! I couldnt believe she could actually act...i felt like her character in PLL was too...consistent and kind of...not there. But her character in You was so loud and fun.
you gotta watch dollface then, she’s a nicer version of her you character there and the other girls and her really push each other to do and be better :)
Why were all of Emily’s relationships over after one fight or one obstacle?? When the other liars got back together and fixed problems within their relationship every few episodes
That’s not true A broke up her & Serena.. she was barley there with the blonde girl in season 7.. Maya & Emily broke up because of the distance caused by Pam they got back together then Maya died… Paige and Emily was also on and off
She didn't really invest herself into most relationships like she did with Paige. Honestly most of her other partners gave me the ick so I'm glad she didn't.
it's soooooo problematic that the only woc and the only queer girl in the main 4 had two girlfriends die. really feeds into the "bury your gays" trope. not to mention Maya was one of the only significant black characters.
They couldn’t kill Emily off coz everyone would be mad at killing of the only open LGBT main character. They really didn’t need her to get together with every girl who liked girls though, the others don’t date every boy who’s into girls
In the spinoff of Pretty Little Liars there's also a gay guy, who's a main character, and by the end of the season the guy who bullied him in HS came to town and we found out he was also gay and I felt like the writers were going to make them a couple, so it's a pattern for Marlene
I wonder if part of the reason they played Emily down as the show went on was because the production knew that Shay Mitchell was the weakest actress out of the four liars. Then it kind of became a self fulfilling prophecy when they then took away any decent material she could have had to work with
She was indeed the weakest actress, but that just means she can’t cover up bad writing with good acting like Troian can. Shay’s acting during the scene of Maya’s death was sensational because it was a good scene. The writers just didn’t give her very many good scenes.
It was the writing I think that ruined it. Emily's best scenes are the emotional ones she has and yet the show kind of just made her a sidekick and didn't give her any compelling dialogue.
I’m ngl I don’t think Shay was THAT good of an actress in PLL but it definitely has to do with the material cause she has done a lot better in You. In PLL she always had the same facials it seemed
Emily is the loyal one. She is the only liar Who never did something against other Liar. Spencer and Aria did join the A team. Spencer in season 3 and Aria during 6th or 7th seasson. Hannah was forced early on to uncover Aria s relationship With Ezra and managed to send Ella to the place the couple were and then saved Aria. But Hannah did send Ella a message.
But this is never pushed, at least not to my understanding. She's "the loyal one" but is that because she's willing to make sacrifices for her friends or because she was never given a reason to be disloyal?
Didn't she basically convinced Spencer to frame Alison with that hairbrush, though? In 5x14? If I remember correctly she tried to plant some evidence to blame Alison.
From a writing perspective, I think the Paige’s internalised homophobia arc could have worked if it was written differently. If it were me, I would make three main changes: 1) Reduce the severity of the bullying - no physical abuse, drop the drowning. Maybe have it be like throwing her clothes in the pool or refusing to be around her because she’s gay. 2) Have Paige be not the main bully. A group of girls are the culprits and Paige is sort of at the edge of the group. She’s definitely participating, but not the centre. 3) Have Paige come to Emily independently to apologise and have Paige show growth before there is any romantic hints. Don’t let Emily immediately forgive Paige and have her earn Emily’s trust. I feel like in this format it would come across like a redemption arc and potentially even be actually romantic. I’m bi and, before I was out, I definitely went along with some general homophobic comments as a teen out of fear of having the hatred turned on me so I feel like this would make it relatable without condoning the behaviour.
Paige did go and independently apologize showing growth before there was any real romantic hints though. She showed up in the rain and crashed her bike so she wouldn't have to compete with Emily. Honestly other characters get away with much worse. It feels like we're just moving the goal posts around and making excuses at this point. Ezra beat up Spencer and nobody's making lists like this for him. LBR, most people just don't like Paige because Emily's love for her is a threat to whatever pairing they like and they feel threatened.
If you think about it, there are slim to none storylines that are just centred around Emily not the other girls that aren’t just about her relationship or her sexuality.
I don't think Emily is boring she's just a really good friend who avoids conflict that's why she didn't really get in trouble with the law like Spencer and Hanna but to me, she didn't really connect with the girls she was happiest with her swim team, Maya, Toby they really had a connection that seems real, unlike her main friends. I'm not gay but I liked how Emily and Maya wasn't lesbian stereotypes
@@draculaissus i absolutely love their friendship. I love how they were friends in season 1, when the other girls didnt like him, and talked about music and common interests, then they had the scene in the time jump with him and emily talking on her front porch about her father's passing.
@@boobabyboo2 Which makes Marlene's glorification of Ezria all the more baffling. Seriously what's wrong with that woman? There's so many adult/teenage "love" stories in the show, it's just shocking.
Emily's character reminds me of Nate in Gossip Girls. The writers have made no effort to properly develop their character. They are the leftovers of the main characters. With sentimental relationships that disappear without explanation. And non-existent intrigues..
@Lex Baker I feel like Alison, epscially s1-4 Ali, was a mixture of Blair and Serena. She and Blair were both cruel, sassy, power-hungry and manipulative like Queen Bees but she also had Serena's effortless charm and it girl status and like Serena, ali was no 1 and received a lot of attention and didn't take accountability.
Good observation. And unsurprisingly, Chace Crawford, who played Nate was also the weakest actor compared to his co stars - Just as Shay Mitchell was the weaker actor among the leads on her show
If someone told me “I’m only kissing you as practice for the real thing” I would’ve gone full A and made sure their lives were a living hell. Are you kidding me? How disrespectful! Lol
The girl my first kiss was with said this to me, She ended up being with a girl and coming out as a lesbian later in life. She killed herself a month ago :(
I always thought that Emily's lack of facial expressions came from her being a really shy girl. There was something special about her anyway. So sad writers didn't develop her storylines
A little something I always thought was kind of interesting was that from what we see in the show Emily & Spencer remain the closest in the year that Aria goes off to Iceland & seemingly doesn't contact any of them & Hanna goes off with Mona to become the new it girls. For instance we see Spencer & Emily were together, talking in the hallway in the scene with Hanna & Mona strutting down the hall. I just thought it was an interesting detail & I would have liked to see & hear more of what happened with the girls in that year after Alison went missing. How their friendships changed & then came back together with A.
I'm in the second half of season 6 rn and I'm noticing that Emily is pretty much just winding up in awkward spots (walking in on Spence and Caleb snogging, Hannah and her mom fighting) and excusing herself in a comically passive way. She got her struggles but she otherwise drama free right now and I love that for her
Honestly, as much as I love PLL I didn't realize how toxic and bad it was overall. Rewatching it now I see all the flaws and failed characters/storylines/etc. and it has ruined the series a bit. I can only love it now for the memories and nostalgia. Also, what I remember my favorite scene with Emily being is either her interactions with Toby or her and Jason going somewhere to figure something out (I forget what lol).
In the rewatch i was surprised by how many love interests or flings Emily has. Spencer has many too and she has chemistry with almost every person she’s paired with. Emily on the other hand has chemistry with maybe just maya lol I’m sorry, i can tell she’s supposed to like the person (Ali or whoever at the moment) but it doesn’t seem more or less passionate.
I really wish the writers hadn't killed off Maya. They were perfect for each other and by far had the most chemistry. Paige and Alison were awful choices (I know she dated Samara and Sabrina but I'm talking long term relationships). Paige LITERALLY tried to down her. Like girl no, run. We were really robbed of Maya's character and their relationship. Spencer is my fave though ✌️ Edit: OH DEAR GOD. LET US NOT FORGET SHOWER HARVEY. Honestly the worst character ever. That girl could not act for toffee and was given the massive characters of red coat and the black veil lady for absolutely no reason. Still does my head in.
It really seems like Emily's greatest point in her character arch was finally dating Maya and being comfortable with her identity as a lesbian. Like, the writers didn't know how to further her character development passed that point, so they just gave her a bunch of bad girlfriends
This is really interesting because Emily reminds me of Kira Yukimura from teen wolf a little because of their ROBBED storylines that sometimes made absolutely no sense. I hated how both of the shows fanbases sent massive hate towards both Kira and Emily for being "boring" and it also upsets me because they are both just trying to be the good guys yet they get shit on for no reason.
About the bully being actually in love with you trope I really like how Glee did it with Kurt. They didn’t romanticize it. When the bully ( I can’t remember his name) kissed Kurt he was traumatized. He cried to Blane saying it was his first kiss and it was awful, he got it stolen in a violent way by a bully. He did emphasize with the bully and helped him get in terms with himself but the show did a really good job in showing how this is not ok or romantic but rather traumatizing. In a show that had so many problematic relationships this arc really shined.
Was thinking of this too! I have a love-hate relationship with Glee, but that’s honestly one of the only times I’ve seen this trope work. It was great.
All your PLL videos feed so much into my nostalgia and I love to hear your opinions because of lord you are so right what a fantastic show PLL could've been if the writers prioritized differently
I still don't get why the police didn't understand that found body wasn't really Ali's. I mean they had to make sure it was Alison before saying so. And blonde hair and a yellow top doesn't prove anything... This show stands on a fact that would never happen in real life, what a shame. So bringing her back to life seems stupid but not so sudden) I mean we were never really told that she was REALLY dead
They did Alison so dirty when she came back its disappointing. But yeah, couldnt they have done more forensic analyses to make sure she was Alison? I mean i get "she" was buried for over a year but surely they couldve be more precise...it just makes the cops look bad for realizing Ali never died.
emily’s storylines in the books: - struggling with her sexuality and identity, unable to talk to her parents about it as they were heavily religious - “a” outing her to the whole school and ben sexually assaulting her - toby admitting that he used to sexually assault jenna, then commits suicide behind her house - her parents send her to iowa to live with her super homophobic uncle and aunty and cousins to “fix her” - (flashbacks) alison (courtney pretending to be alison- ali’s twin sister) constantly teasing emily because emily was in love with her (in the past) - her getting sexually assaulted by a coach who got her a swim scholarship to a university - her questioning her sexuality again, when she falls for a guy called isaac - emily getting pregnant with isaac’s baby and keeping it a secret from all of her friends and family, apart from her sister carolyn, she stayed in her dorm room for the time being - having to give her daughter up for adoption and accidentally scamming a lady of $50,000 and receiving death threats - her getting disowned by her parents for coming out as bisexual, but later they accept her - her parents finding out about her pregnancy and disowning her again - alison (the real alison, not courtney) returning and manipulated her, by making out with her in the bathrooms- then later trying to kill them all in alison’s holiday house - emily falling in love with a stowaway on a cruise (it was so cute) - emily attacking her sister and then her mum has a heart attack - emily’s first suicide attempt (trying to jump off a bridge) when her parents shunned her yet again^, as the girls were accused of murdering a girl called tabitha clark (the girls talk her down tho) - alison holding a gun to emily’s head and demanding alison to confess her love for her in front of the girls, while they were running out of air - jordyn richards (emily’s fugitive gf) gets caught and locked up in jail - alison drowning emily and demanding emily to confess her love to her again - jordyn is murdered by an alison follower and emily goes off the rails, becoming extremely depressed, losing a shit ton of weight and suicidal thoughts - the girls r said to be taken to trial for alison’s death (she was not dead), with a recorded video of emily having a major mental breakdown yelling, “i will kill u” and her also trashing the place where alison was staying - emily beginning to really spiral, when she begins to hear voices in her head and becoming extremely twitchy and sometimes unresponsive- ghost like - fakes her death, her parents blaming her friends. with her faking her death, she sets out to look for alison- as the girls r found guilty and put in jail there really wasn’t enough coverage at the end, i was just left crying a bunch.
@@MeggyMagic yep. i think in the books she definitely was the most traumatised by a’s actions and even by her parents! what annoyed me was that her storylines were the most compelling and the only reason i read the full 16 books and i was heavily disappointed watching emily in the show, as they did her character SO dirty, with shitty storylines etc... and no offence to shay, her acting was not the best..
My personal issue with Emily and her relationships is the bierasure the show utilized in regards to Emily Fields - and I think that needs to be a part of the conversation when we discuss TV Emily. In the books, Emily is bisexual. She does think she could be a lesbian for a bit, but part of her arc is figuring out her sexual identity. Whereas many people claim TV Emily was a good first representation for Lesbians (and that's incredibly valid and if Emily was that for you - that's still important and valid), Book Emily was that for me as a Bisexual. The first proper named representation I saw in media geared towards me. Both Lesbians and Bisexuals deserve proper representation - but they shouldn't be viewed as the same and interchangeable, as the show did. Both Emily being lesbian representation and PLL partaking in Biphobia and Bierasure in regards to Emily can and do co-exist and need to both be brought to the table equally when discussing LGBT+ in the series. One doesn't cancel the other out. Especially when the few coded or implied Bi characters that do exist often fall into the "Evil is Bisexual" trope (Jenna comes to mind for example, Alison to an extent).
emily & maya are one of my favourite pairings on the entire show - despite the obstacles, they worked so well together. i feel like they could’ve been set up, like haleb & spoby (& unfortunately ezria ew) to be endgame... but they killed maya off instead... why? we, and emaya, were so so robbed. they deserved their happy ending. instead, emily had no meaningful or relevant storylines & a rushed final relationship, and maya was killed...
i swear emily and maya weren't even together that long before she died but somehow they had such a good chemistry and it felt organic for them to like each other rather than it feeling forced like some of emily's other relationships
I think that the on point chemistry between them, something Emily didn’t replicate at the same level with any of her numerous other love interests, was largely down to the brilliant actress who played Maya, Bianca Lawson
i really wish the writers would have given emily and alison a proper storyline that makes sense and wasn’t so rushed just to please the fans but all they did was invest in aria and ezra’s relationship like it baffles me how OF ALL the characters on the show these two were the ones that ended up getting married
None of the girls could ever be alone. Aria even got a love interest for a day trip to visit a college. Any time they are on the outs with their significant others, be it for scheduling or anything, someone is brought on. Travis, the undercover cop, Talia, Andrew, Holbrook, etc. I think they honestly didn’t think the girls could be alone for a second.
I think the character wasn’t liked due to the actor’s poor performance. Her portrayal was so deadpan that I just couldn’t connect with the character on any level. Also her obsession with Alison was a put off... no matter how badly Alison treats her, Emily kept going back to her like a dog.
Absolutely. It's bad enough the writers did her dirty sometimes but you get the vibe Shay didn't respect Emily at all. Like she was on twitter trying to make fun of her and her choices and distance herself from her performance. In trying not to be bullied for her acting she joined in with the bullies and singled out Paige. Even though the main problem with Emily is her subservience to Alison she doubled down by showing subservience to Alison's stans. It's mind boggling really.
emily reminds me a lot of bonnie. they were both main characters, they were always there for everyone, yet they were mistreated and used by everyone. also, i’ve never met anyone who genuinely didn’t like emily or bonnie, however, they’re never the fan favourite.
Emily was actually my favourite character and until now I had no idea why she was so underrated. Wel.. I guess I liked her so much because she was gay and soo pretty :D It was the first tv show with a lgbt character I've ever seen and I was so obssesed with it I even convinced my brother and mum to rewatch it with me. I know this show has soo many plot holes and messed up stuff but I still remember being 15, having a crush on Emily and being so excited about all the mysteries....
What would you have liked to see happen with Emily's character? And would you like to see me do a video essay about any of the other girls? 💟 Upcoming PLL video topics: More character video essays The worst and best PLL couples Ranking every pll character Theories about the show The PLL spinoff The books and how they compare Tier ranking their outfits
Her future with Maya, if the writers weren’t stupid enough to kill her off, I would have liked to see their wedding, their kids etc.. it would have made the show a bit more interesting
would have just liked to see more depth and growth from Emily. the writers added in so many sucky plots for her but they didn't even let her grow properly from them. they just abandoned her character after season 2, it felt like the other girls were more fleshed out and were dragging Emily along behind them
Almost all love interests Emily had were so forgettable, I can barely remember them, as you talked about them throughout the video I couldn't give a face to the names you said. And omg I didn't remember the amount of terrible things people did to Emily, and the fact she never told anyone about any of this trauma. Emily could have been amazing if it wasn't for the bad writing and the clear favoritism everyone had for the other girls. In the end Emily is still one of my favorite liars but not because of what she does in the show, it is just because of what she represented. She was one of the first lesbian characters I've seen on a tv show and for good or bad she was the representation that I had back then.
i binge watched all of your video essays about pll and i just wanted to thank you for all the effort you put into it, they're so entertaining and relatable!
I only watched about five seasons of this show, but I remember when Emily was called the sweet one it surprised me. I feel like all the girls went along with Ali's meanness unless the plot called for them not to at some point, but I remember in the first season I saw how she reached out to Aria in the first episode and she kept tabs on people. She reached out to Toby too and I felt she was the dependable one. I feel like Hannah and Spencer are nicer than their book counterparts so played out differently and Aria seemed so wide-eyed and sad about what happened at first and she immediately comforted Emily when she came out, so I thought she was the sweet one. I remember from the first preview I saw wanting to see more of Emily and Aria's friendship and the first season was ok with it, but then they stopped having as many scenes just with them. I just felt they were connected. They immediately reconnect when Aria comes back and it just felt like that meant they were lifelong friends.
that part at 6:22 where you said “you’re i’m two different stages and probably shouldn’t be in a relationship” hits because I just broke off a friendship because we were becoming really different from each other
I really enjoyed the stalker arc for maya and Emily. I thought it was really interesting and was both unexpected but also exciting. I just think the writers were misleading cause they kept implying that A was the stalker and that A had killed maya and it made it super confusing. I think that was something that made Emily kind of shine and gave her character depth it couldve been something for her character like how toby and drugs were for Spencer, or like the Ezra and then malcom was for Aria. But they kept trying to connect A to everything and it was very confusing when we realized that landon wasnt connected to A at all and was just a regular crazy dude
Anyone else remember how fans were calling Sarah Harvey “Shower Harvey,” and then the writers had her die by falling in the shower? It’s like they literally wanted viewers to laugh at her death, which was bizarre.
honestly i dont like the way the girls described her as the weak link and the fact that it took spencer to have to check into Radly for them to stop but then they just kind of moved on to calling spencer the weak link like WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT EVEN MEAN its such a degrading term.
They never saw her as that though, they insinuated that A saw her that way so that’s why she was targeted. That’s why Emily would say ‘the weakest link what’s payback’ because A made her feel like she was the weakest by their torment
@@lunarialoonatic yeah i get that but i didnt like how they said it yk, its insensitive to the fact that spencer ended up in a mental hospital and she was then seen as the weak link by A baso saying that anyone with mental health issues are weak
Okay, I'm not even halfway through, but I have to say this before I go on: as usual, the points you make are so damn amazing and intelligent ❤! Now I cannot help but imagine how legendary PLL could have been if you were the one pulling the strings instead of Marlene 😭.
To be honest the part that made me want emison was the paris discussion and them kissing after ali saved her. They felt like they could be cut out from the show and are a part of a different world of thier own.
one thing that makes me mad about how they treated her character is that at the time id say that representation was pretty rare and im not from a "small" town in america but the way every single girl she interacted was gay and interested in her lmao sureeee. Idk I think they treated her sexuality like her main arc and it is painfull to watch now. i could go on and on about this but i dont have the power to write it all out lol
some people want to hook up. many straight teens will hook up with people they aren’t actually very attracted to. i can think of tons of guys who would hook up with pretty much any girl available if the opportunity presented itself. i don’t understand why that couldn’t be the case for bi & lesbian teenagers too. they are 15-18 for most of the show after all, and at that age, you have a lot of hormones flowing through you and whatnot lol. i suppose it was unrealistic though that seemingly every girl Emily spoke to turned out to be gay or bi.
For me, Emily is an example of what happens when writers choose to define a character by their minority status. Diversity and inclusion are both amazing and necessary in art, but the inclusion of their diversity must be explored. Unless you're intentionally doing something with symbolism or theme, a character and everything about them can't be defined as: the character with ADHD, the character with one arm, the character who's black, the character who's gay, etc. From the beginning of the show, 1) Aria was the artsy character with an alternative style; 2) Hanna was the entitled fashionista seeking attention; 3) Spencer was the smart one with high expectations from her family; and 4) Emily was the gay one...who also swam sometimes. As the series progressed, each character was able to grow out of their 2D stereotypes. The show has MANY issues, but I do think some of the questions the general plot asks are interesting to explore: What happens when you have a care-free artsy fartsy girl tormented by an unknown bully? What about an entitled fashionista? What about an insanely intelligent girl? They all have interesting answers the show at least attempts to explore: Aria can't be so carefree anymore with A breathing down her neck and forcing her to choose which parent she sides with. Hanna is forced to confront her need for attention after her family's divorce that led to extremely unhealthy coping mechanisms. You would expect Spencer to do well under pressure considering her home life, but she's forced to come to terms with the fact that she actually cracks very easily under A's pressure. That isn't something that's really possible to do with Emily as the "gay swimmer". We explore what it's like for her to come out for a little while, but it's very limited by the nature of the show. Her friends and other "good guys" in the show can't react poorly to her coming out or else they won't be the good guys anymore, and anyone who was originally homophobic either comes around pretty quickly or leaves the show entirely. She comes out as gay, gives up swimming less than halfway through the show, so what else is she left with? In your video, you already talked about how we're told Emily is the nice girl who is loyal to a fault. But, because we rarely see her acting this way, it isn't actually explored in the plot. To the show's credit, I don't think they really try to explore this question either. What happens if you take a nice, fiercely loyal girl and have her be severely bullied by an unknown person? The show doesn't really ask the question beyond calling her the weakest link, and they don't really follow through with trying to answer it. That leave Emily just being the gay character. It's like she's the only lesbian in this entire town who anyone knows, and she's used constantly (both by the writers and the people in town) as an object for them to explore their own sexuality. Side characters can be used in this way for the audience to get to know and connect with the main character, but Emily is an example of how bad it looks when you use a main character in this way to try to get the audience to feel for side characters. Paige uses Emily to explore her disconcerting feelings of sam-sex attraction; now repeat that three more times with Alison, Sara, and Talia. It worked when Emily and Maya were exploring their feelings together, and it almost worked when they showed that Paige and Emily's relationship explicitly didn't work for this reason. But, in general, the show was dedicated to having Emily be the token gay character. They used up their chance to explore her coming out and tried to keep her relevant by having her be a pawn in everyone else's coming out storyline down to the final season. Her other relationships were no better: 1) Ben is terrible, but disappears before his awfulness can be explored; 2) Samara could have been interesting, but disappears before their chemistry can be explored; 3) Lyndon could have been interesting commentary on guys trying to turn lesbians straight, but he gets watered down into generic villain; 4) And every character she actually does have longterm relationships with aren't actually given a conflict (internal or external) that makes them interesting to explore except the fact that they are same-sex relationships. Aria and Ezra, as gross as their relationship is, fight to be together because of their age gap and the consequences of them being open about their relationship. Spencer and Toby constantly have to deal with the fact that they have different relationships with A (where A has information Toby wants while Spencer begs him to disengage). Hanna and Caleb have complicated relationships with their families, rely on one another for emotional support, and are extremely invested in keeping the other safe in a world where they don't have too many other people to rely on. Emily is a girl...who dates other girls. And that's treated as though it's a conflict and interesting enough to watch on its own. Maya and Emily are interesting to explore as we see what it's like for Emily to navigate her first same-sex relationship while still reeling from just having come out, but she's sent away out of town very quickly and killed almost immediately after she comes back. Emily's emotional reaction and dealing with her first girlfriend's death is written as a plot device rather than explored as a facet of her character and her arc. Now, repeat that with every other relationship where we have an opportunity for Emily to explore how it feels to be used as a token lesbian for other people to test out their feelings, but it just gets used as external plot rather than interesting character exploration. I guess the show runners didn't want to confront the fact that they were doing the exact same thing to Emily with their writing that all of her shitty love interests were doing.
I think you are right, they did use the pregnancy plot to shoehorn in their endgame Emily/Alison ship; the reason I think that it could have worked as another major arc in A’s sick game was because at first they did not know the babies were conceived with Emily’s eggs. Everyone thought that Alison’s abusive husband had impregnated her, and she was so traumatized by his torturing her that she was considering an abortion. If she had gone through with it I think A would have revealed the truth so that Emily would be devastated by the whole ordeal too. It is one of A’s darkest moves that I think did not get fully called out or explored to its full potential. For both their sakes I am glad that A did not succeed but I don’t think that meant the two needed to end up together if they were just going to divorce in the sequel series. Offscreen.
Your pll videos take me into a different dimension .. analysing characters ..it's definitely a distraction for a lot of us ...would love to know ur opinion abt Alison and her character .. she cld have really been a good villan
my take is they didnt care for emily because she was a poc. teen dramas tend to have a token black/asian/gay character whose only role is to be there and make the show diverse. usually they are poc and gay. example: bonnie in tvd, aisha in fate, emily in pll, tony in riverdale, tina mike and sometimes mercedes in glee and many more. they dont care to write storylines for poc because they know that most people wont be too invested in them anyway because white people struggle to relate to poc/queer people
no because emily was the ONLY queer and person of colour in the main cast. AND YET. the writers subjected her to one of THE most damaging and horrendous stereotypes pushed onto the LGBTQ+ community by having addison accuse her of predatory attraction . i hate the writers w every fibre of my being
Maya and Emily were honestly cute together and I liked them a lot as a couple but I always felt Maya didn't trust Emily enough and basically lied about many things. Samara was so nice dammit PLL writers... I hate them for creating such a sweet and a lovely character like Samara and then they threw her away in seconds, she was so nice to Emily and they had chemistry with each other. I don’t think Paige and Emily were a good couple, far from it their relationship was toxic asf, but they had their moments and Paige was kinda mean to Emily in certain situations and I just felt like writers really pushed Paily harder than it needed to be, overall speaking they were cute. Tallia and Sabrina were so annoying.. UGH I can’t stand them. And there we have Sara who just lied about everything, they didn’t have chemistry like at all. But I think Sara liked Emily and she wanted to protect her as she revealed in 7x6, I honestly feel bad for Sara I always kinda liked her
I think for me what made Emily’s love interest not work was that they always felt separate to the show. None of Emily’s love interests (except for Alison) really impacted the plot whereas this is different for the other liars. For example, Toby and Ezra were part of ‘that night’ and were part of the A-team. Caleb was useful to the liars with hacking and trying to find the girls in the Dollhouse.
Love your PLL videos as always! Video idea: go into the chronological timeline of the night Allison disappeared (Unless they covered that in the show, I ended at s4 so idk.)
emily had *2 different girlfriends* that died while she was in high school and the police never did _one productive thing_ to ask her questions or investigate more into the strange things happening around the girls... i can't 🙄
😅 the police were comically bad
Welll... lets not forget that their lead detective was apparently trained and in active duty since he was like 8 years old..... 😂
@@nymphacissa honestly for the longest time I was thinking that Wilden (idk if that’s how it was spelled) was like 35 years old so it wasn’t that disgusting to see him with Ashley. It was disgusting because of he was in the police but not because of his age. I don’t know if planned it from the beginning but to me it seemed like they switched up his age to fit the narrative. :/
@@ruth98765 Yep. The show was garbage from the start tbh. We were clowns for sticking with it and trusting the writers for so long! I cant believe i had a tumblr dedicated to 'Aria is A' for YEARS! I literally put more time and effort into researching this show and theorising every poster in the back of each scene than i did on my actual school work🤦♀️ .... 😂 .... 😭
@@SerenaSkybourne it's like they used up most of their budget just harassing the girls instead of helping anyone at all
i never liked paige, especially not after the drowning incident. the homophobic bullly who is secretly gay has got to be one of the worst tropes in history, right next to the teacher student relationship trope
I agree. As a young lesbian (who Emily was the first representation of a lesbian on tv I ever saw) I really did not like it at all. I like enemies to lovers to a certain point but I don’t think it should be done from complete hate and toxicity. Also Ezra should be in jail
@@Meg_intheclouds i agree completely. it's especially sad because emily being a lesbian was so groundbreaking at a time and they handled her character horribly when she had so much potential. pll overall doesn't have a great track record with lgbtq characters (cece drake, their only trans character being a villain) which is why it upsets me even more that they fucked up so badly with emily to the point that it felt like they didn't care about her at all. she deserved so much better than ending up with alisson (who also wasn't great) because the writers didn't care as much as they cared about aria and ezra. also in the books he does end up in jail so that's something i guess.
@@tmiletticc exactly. It’s almost as if they are saying “this gross teacher- student relationship is better than a relationship between 2 girls” and yes I really didn’t like Emily’s girl friends past maya, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t invested (cause gay) also if they cared they could have given her other plot lines. The best queer rep is rep that is just there. It’s a part of the character yet they have story lines and friendships and people and are well rounded characters outside of their sexuality. An example of this is Holt and Kevin from Brooklyn 99. It’s a big part of both their backstories and is part of holts need to feel accepted and belonging to a team. But apart from that he is an amazing detective and leader, who has really good bonds with his team. Kevin, his husband, also has relationships with the team, he starts off being critical and sceptical because of what his husband has been through but comes to love the team. He has storylines that don’t involve holt and there relationship is not perfect. It has conflicts and the characters are allowed to be messy, but in the end they love love each other and are soulmates, even if they have disagreements. I’m going off on a tangent but to me that’s what queer representation should be.
@@Meg_intheclouds agreed. it always felt like Emily's character was about dating someone when she had the potential to be a well done, rounded character. they really didn't care and just ended up letting her become "the boring one". She was my favorite liar in the beginning and I hated what they did to her in later seasons, not to mention how many of her love interests they killed off for the sake of shocking the audience. They should have killed off Ezra instead imo. I really hope the reboot does Emily justice (or are they planning to introduce entirely new characters, idk?) also i love Holt and Kevin!!! They are so cute, one of my favorite ships definitely. That's my favorite kind of representation, not whatever pll tried to do. I think Sex Education handled this very well. I also loved how they added an asexual character (I'm asexual and it made me so happy) i don't think any other tv show has an asexual character, Jughead from Riverdale was supposed to be but they made him straight for some reason. The creator or Riverdale is doing the pll reboot so it's safe to say my expectations aren't very high, but we'll see
@@tmiletticc that’s cool. I’ve never watched sex education (Tho when riverdale was popular I watched the first 2 seasons in like year 8. Same reason I watched pll was because so many other people did). I think if they made Maya’s death more a part of the story, like she knew something she shouldn’t about A or whatever and she was somehow involved with that it would have worked. But I also agree about Ezra. They should have killed him off when he was revealed to be on team A. I think someone should have shot him for revealing himself/ because he’d discovered something and then Aria would have this storyline of dealing with his death, but then realising in many ways how free it makes her feel. And then just like allowed her time to explore herself. Emily should have had a proper girlfriend that we can see her grow and develop with. Maybe like a girl she went high school with or something who she was friends with when she was younger, and then they are back in town and they realise they have feelings for each other.
Also in the books I know he is anyway but Kaz Brekker from six of crows is Ace, and I have to also recommend the book Loveless it’s so good.
[spoilers for Buffy the vampire slayer Season 6 ahead. Proceed with caution]
Tho one of my fave lesbian relationships is actually one where it ends tragically and that’s Willow and Tara from Buffy. Tho I think that storyline works so well for a number of reasons
-It progresses the magic addiction story line. And shows that recovery isn’t linear, and something like that can lead to dire consequences. Also magic is used as a metaphor for lesbian sex because the network wouldn’t allow it (it was like 1999) and they had to fight so hard to show that relationship. Leading to the emotional climax of the series and we see how much it effects everything.
-No love story on that show ever ends well ever. And when people call the writers homophobic for killing her off it makes me annoyed because they kill pretty much everyone but the main 5 off. It’s supposed to be a tragedy.
-It also highlights how much of a monster this one character is, and also allows a big statement about gun control to be made, and shows the devastation it can cause.
They came up with Sara Harvey and were just like "eh she's a girl, make her an Emily girlfriend." It would have made so much more sense for Hanna's mom to take her in than for Pam to let her stay around.
Agreed
Didn't she even have another bed - from when Emily stayed?
It seemed like mrs fields went from anti lesbian to RA RA DO YOU WANNA STAY THE NIGHT WITH MY DAUGHTER YOUNG LADY?? Just too fast.
An over correction for sure
I actually thought the Sarah Harvey relationship made sense, since it was made up that Sarah was so similar to Allison that she could be mistaken for her and there's some indication that their personalities were very much the same as well. It didn't confuse me that Emily would be into her if she's never really gotten over her crush on Allison.
Plppppppp
what I found so annoying was that throughout Ali's return, Paige was DEAD SET on "pEoPlE CaN NNEEVERRRR cHaNgE", and im like, girl lets not forget about you dunking and bullying Emly then falling in love with her, the hypocrisy is just ... ughh
Well, Alison did worse than that....so
Alison was so horrible to Paige.
right I just found this out
@@laurine____7543 obviously but doesn’t change the hypocrisy. She literally drowned Emily then has the nerve to say people never change
Everyone hates on Paige yet they idoliza Emison. Alison led Emily on and teased her about her sexuality, purposely making he do things when she was ready, taunting her. Not to mention the fact that Alison was a vile bully and faked her death and expected to be welcomed with open arms... Paige fucked up too, but nowhere near as much and she genuinely changed. Her hatred for Alison was justified considering Ali bullied Paige and threatened to tell her religious father about her sexuality. Paige was suicidal from the bullying, I wouldn’t be so open minded either about my bully coming back to haunt me. It’s triggering
Finally someone addressing wren and emily's white blonde babies
i mean shay is brown and her partner is black and their baby had light skin a green eyes so it could happen lol
Often babies are born with lighter skin, it will potentially darken over time
Yeah. Shay Mitchell is half white, so if she had kids with a pale white person she could have pale blonde kids. Look at Drake's kid.
But her character isn't part white. Emily's parents are Asian if I'm not wrong. So why would he have white kids? Who taught the writers biology?
I mean they could be blonde you know recessive traits and all that jazz
I'm pretty sure the people in charge of casting thought that they were Ali's biological babies.
My thing with Alison is that they half-assed her redemption arc. She falls into that tragic villain trope, which is fine, but they never fully address what was tragic about the character. This was a 15 year old girl who lost her virginity to a 24 year old cop, while serial dating older men. Her parents were terrible and her brother started a club that perving on her and her friends and he was an addict too. She was so emotional unstable and mentally regressed compared to other characters. I liked what Emily and Alison could've been, but it actually required the writers to spend time on each character for it to be a good love story.
omg EXACTLY i felt sorry for alison to be honest, there was a reason she behaved like that but the show never properly addresses that
so well said. when i was younger i was such big emison fan, but now looking back, they really should’ve done so much more work to their relationship and their individual characters to create something really meaningful.
Ali didn’t serial date older men. Also the wilden thing was never confirmed.
YES
It really does make me sad to see how they handled Emily's character. It's probably an unpopular opinion but Emily was personally one of my favorites of the liars which is why it's even sadder to see your favorite character being treated that way. To me it really felt like the writers put a *lot* more thought into Aria, Spencer and Hanna. The other 3 girls had more interesting storylines, more interesting love intrests, etc and they just gave Emily the short end of the stick and really didn't put much thought or effort into her character. Emily and Shay deserved so much better...
Her and aria are my fav characters but they could have pushed her character further so many times
Idk imo Emily had the weakest plot twists but the story did revolve around her. Like for instance she was targeted by A the most from the liars. She had an ulcer from stress, then the Nate thing, than the being led to the grave
Shay mitchell is in a really good show I think it's called Dollhouse and how she is in that show is how I wish she was portrayed in PLL she's just so much more vibrant and interesting and still gives lgbtq+ representation I highly recommend the show it's on hulu
it makes me sad how the show + fandom treated emily. she was automatically my favorite bc she was 1. the only woc and 2. the only queer woman
I don't understand how the showrunners pushed Ezria, one of the most romanticised toxic pairings I know, so hard when they could've given us more interesting Emily storylines and an actual good love interest that didn't die... Seriously, imagine how much screentime they had left, if Ezra just ended up in jail like he should've.
Amazing video by the way, I kinda have a love/hate relationship with PLL so my critism comes from a place of love for the show 💗
♥️☺️☺️
I think we all do nowadays tbh
I really liked Emily and Toby's friendship and I wish we could've seen more of them
Toby was the only person who cared for her in the show !!!
In my opinion, the show did an amazing job of handling Emily's coming out to her friends and portraying homophobia. Her friends were accepting, and didn't do the whole "oh don't fall in love with us!" thing. It would've been so easy for them to make a subplot of the other liars being uncomfortable around Emily, but they're weren't. I also NEVER see anyone EVER mention this but in the film-noir-spencer-hallucination episode they showed the homophobia of that era! It was such a good detail in my opinion.
Yeah, i think they have something good at the begining, but with the past of time they forget about Emily and they have so much material to do more of this.
I do enjoy the actress who played Paige, but not the character BUT idk how the heck you come back from someone trying to DROWN YOU. Like no matter how i empathize with you, you’re not a partner lol.
I loved her in neds declassified school survival guide back in the day
Paige wasnt really trying to drown her, she just wanted to scare her. She stopped and only held her underwater for a short time
@@survivorbest4589 ummmmm girl what
That was the very first episode that Paige was in and the writers didn't know what to do with her character yet. All of the bfs of the other liars (especially Ezra) did things that were even worse.
Uhh Paige was definitely bullying Emily in that scene but I don’t understand why I keep seeing people say Paige tried to literally “drown” Emily. To drown someone would mean she was trying to kill Emily. Obviously Paige is not an attempted murderer-she was a bully.
My favorite Emily plot is when she was secretly helping Ali, she was being mystery and not really caring how the girls felt but more focused on her feelings
yes. it was the only time it felt very emily and it felt like she was getting depth but then it went nowhere rlly :/
I feel like Friendly Space Ninja opened up the floodgates for everyone to take a look back at Emily Fields hahaha
was thinking the same thinking lmao it was harsh but it was all facts tbh especially when he says she has no reason to exist in the show after season 3 like he's right just because the character is gay doesn't mean you don't have to put any effort in her characterization
I think Friendly Space Ninja made a lot of people realize a lot of things about PLL
@@melissagl8442 Truth! I feel like PLL videos have been popping on UA-cam since he made his. And yeah, he's completely right about Emily! Serena makes a lot of solid point as well!
Sooooo true hahahaha
Yup!! He opened my eyes to so many problems with this show (THE GODDAMN TIMELINE LIKE WTF HOW DID THEY GET AWAY WITH THIS) but his take on Emily is painfully spot on. Her character is so pointless and it's sad. And this video is the perfect add on. Serena really nailed it!
I liked how Paige actually showed that she was messed up from Allison's bullying. one of the only characters who actually developed and didn't just forget what happened in the past. I DO think that she should have gotten help instead of staying with Emily. Paige was one of the few characters in the whole show who actually reacted to their trauma. Wish it was handled better.
Agreed
Yeah but trauma was never written well during the entire show. Anyone that reacted to a traumatic event was seen as weak
I'm 26 and this is my first time watching the show. I seriously relate a lot more to Paige's reactions when she sees the girl's dumb decisions when faced with dangerous situations. Honestly, Paige was spot on when she said to Caleb that the girls were all desensitized to how dangerous and messed up the situation was in season 3.
Yeah, she did not have the best of beginnings, but she had a lot more common sense than all the liars combined.
@@nejikath agreed. she would have been a good character if she wasn't dating emily.
@@SerenaSkybourne she would have been a good character if she was handled well. She had potential, especially if they made her a character who is the voice of reason amongst the group and made her and Emily help and uplift each other. Can you imagine if she started out by candidly telling Emily she is gay and doesn't know how to come out and ask her help? That would have been cute and a great moment between them. And in return, she could have encouraged Emily to be more assertive and stand up for herself instead of being everyone's doormat.
There was so much missed potential as far as Emily being the "nice one" goes. They could have explored that so much more. Why is the "nice one" so close with the bullies? Is it because she has an inner darkness that she can't express on her own or is it because she's too forgiving and too willing to see the good in everyone? Seems they went with her being too forgiving but they never seem to fully acknowledge this as a character flaw that Emily needs to overcome. They could have done so much more to explore these concepts.
they rly gave a superficial explanation for her character
Shower Harvey is one of the best things the PLL fandom did it's so funny lmaoo
literally makes me laugh every time
Hilarious but I hated Shower Harvey 😂
SARAH Harvey was the worst thing for pll but SHOWER Harvey was the best for the fandom
@@tumblrqueen8143 I like her over Paige!
I honestly think she started the meme culture.
Aria, Spencer and Hannas love interests were like sims 2 and 3 sims that had characterization and quirks where Emily’s love interests were like sims 4 sims with three traits and nothing interesting happening
It’s all just the same type of girls. Emily acts as the protector
LMAOOOOOO 💀💀
I never liked Paige, she was mildly abusive, predatory and extremely jealous. She was just so mean to Emily quite frequently
Could be also saying for alison..
Paige was a terrible character which is a shame cause I really like the actress.
I would have used those choice of words for Ali lol
@@laurine____7543 no fucking shit we already know alison is bad. WHY are you trying to defend paige. We know alison isnt a good person it was already established that she is a bully since like the first episodes, but the comment is talking about PAIGE
@@laurine____7543 both things can be true, they never said Allison was a good, healthy partner either
isn’t it weird that the only person of color in the main cast was the one the writers least care about?
I think her love interests were kind of bland and meaningless plot fillers but I think she had relatively good storylines. What’s her ethnicity?
@@lunarialoonatic filipino
Troian is a poc
@@sxruis Troian is white passing and considers herself white soo
she’s mixed so she can say either one
"Paige has to move to California. Newsflash no1 cares." Honestly. Mood.
🤭🤣
@Haley Lambert It's very safe to say most people couldn't care less.
I remember being so happy that Paige goes to california 😂 then when she came back in the time jump i was like "....why...?"
I HATED PAIGE. like honestly top 5 most loathsome tv characters of all time for me lol
i can't believe you made a 50 minute video essay on emily, that's incredible. honestly the quality of all your videos is so amazing, u deserve way more subscribers for the amount of time and effort u put into your content, i can't wait to watch this :)
oh my goodness thankyou, i really love sharing my opinions and making these videos 🥰
I was just thinking the same thing!! These videos are amazing, i was a bit hesitant when looking at how long they are but they are so beautifully crafted and put together. 🤗🤗
I feel like the writers didn’t know what to do with Emily’s character so they made stuff up and went with it. The storyline with Lyndon James, for example. It didn’t affect the plot at all, it seemed very spur of the moment.
Let’s be honest whether you liked Alison and Emily or not we can all agree Paige was not for Emily
I liked her more than emily. Paige deserved better tbh.
@@importantstuf8870 i feel like im the only person sometimes who actually likes paige. yeah she had issues but like yall out here forgiving anybody in PLL, you have to forgive paige, literally nobody in the show hasn't done something wack and that is the entire point. paige holding emily under water was definitely wrong but she also saved spencer's life and was super loyal to emily, im ok w her not ending up w emily and i prefered emily w maya but paige doesnt deserve this slander
It was so eye-opening for me to see Shay Mitchell starring in the show named YOU because up until then I genuienly thought she has no talent as an actress. That's when I realised how terrible the PLL writing was: it made me believe Shay can't act while in reality she's insanely good, the show's writing was just shitty
I was honestly blown away watching her in You! I couldnt believe she could actually act...i felt like her character in PLL was too...consistent and kind of...not there. But her character in You was so loud and fun.
you gotta watch dollface then, she’s a nicer version of her you character there and the other girls and her really push each other to do and be better :)
The "bury your gays" was strong with this one. Maybe even "bury your queers" since CeCe was also killed off
emison was clearly fan service. this show got to be a bit silly at the end. i was surprised they had such a huge and fervent fanbase.
Why were all of Emily’s relationships over after one fight or one obstacle?? When the other liars got back together and fixed problems within their relationship every few episodes
That’s not true A broke up her & Serena.. she was barley there with the blonde girl in season 7.. Maya & Emily broke up because of the distance caused by Pam they got back together then Maya died… Paige and Emily was also on and off
She didn't really invest herself into most relationships like she did with Paige. Honestly most of her other partners gave me the ick so I'm glad she didn't.
😊😊
it's soooooo problematic that the only woc and the only queer girl in the main 4 had two girlfriends die. really feeds into the "bury your gays" trope. not to mention Maya was one of the only significant black characters.
They couldn’t kill Emily off coz everyone would be mad at killing of the only open LGBT main character. They really didn’t need her to get together with every girl who liked girls though, the others don’t date every boy who’s into girls
In the spinoff of Pretty Little Liars there's also a gay guy, who's a main character, and by the end of the season the guy who bullied him in HS came to town and we found out he was also gay and I felt like the writers were going to make them a couple, so it's a pattern for Marlene
Oh yeh Dylan in the perfectionists!
Yeah, it sucked. Especially since Dylan already had a boyfriend who was honestly super nice, I liked him.
I wonder if part of the reason they played Emily down as the show went on was because the production knew that Shay Mitchell was the weakest actress out of the four liars. Then it kind of became a self fulfilling prophecy when they then took away any decent material she could have had to work with
She was actually good in "You"... they just made her character quite boring.
@@karskikatti4732 In ‘You’ she would have had nearly ten years worth of acting experience more than the early PLL days
She was indeed the weakest actress, but that just means she can’t cover up bad writing with good acting like Troian can. Shay’s acting during the scene of Maya’s death was sensational because it was a good scene. The writers just didn’t give her very many good scenes.
It was the writing I think that ruined it. Emily's best scenes are the emotional ones she has and yet the show kind of just made her a sidekick and didn't give her any compelling dialogue.
I’m ngl I don’t think Shay was THAT good of an actress in PLL but it definitely has to do with the material cause she has done a lot better in You. In PLL she always had the same facials it seemed
Emily is the loyal one.
She is the only liar Who never did something against other Liar.
Spencer and Aria did join the A team. Spencer in season 3 and Aria during 6th or 7th seasson. Hannah was forced early on to uncover Aria s relationship With Ezra and managed to send Ella to the place the couple were and then saved Aria. But Hannah did send Ella a message.
But this is never pushed, at least not to my understanding. She's "the loyal one" but is that because she's willing to make sacrifices for her friends or because she was never given a reason to be disloyal?
@@sunnycastiglioni7512 You may have a point there
@@sunnycastiglioni7512 haven’t all of them been tested though? Emily has never betrayed her friends to begin with and she has had chances
Didn't she basically convinced Spencer to frame Alison with that hairbrush, though? In 5x14? If I remember correctly she tried to plant some evidence to blame Alison.
@@marciohikari I will have to rewatch it. And if thts true I wiill admit i'm wrong
Emily's relationships are like the most relatable thing for me, once you do me wrong once you stop to exist the next day.
From a writing perspective, I think the Paige’s internalised homophobia arc could have worked if it was written differently. If it were me, I would make three main changes:
1) Reduce the severity of the bullying - no physical abuse, drop the drowning. Maybe have it be like throwing her clothes in the pool or refusing to be around her because she’s gay.
2) Have Paige be not the main bully. A group of girls are the culprits and Paige is sort of at the edge of the group. She’s definitely participating, but not the centre.
3) Have Paige come to Emily independently to apologise and have Paige show growth before there is any romantic hints. Don’t let Emily immediately forgive Paige and have her earn Emily’s trust.
I feel like in this format it would come across like a redemption arc and potentially even be actually romantic.
I’m bi and, before I was out, I definitely went along with some general homophobic comments as a teen out of fear of having the hatred turned on me so I feel like this would make it relatable without condoning the behaviour.
Paige did go and independently apologize showing growth before there was any real romantic hints though. She showed up in the rain and crashed her bike so she wouldn't have to compete with Emily.
Honestly other characters get away with much worse. It feels like we're just moving the goal posts around and making excuses at this point. Ezra beat up Spencer and nobody's making lists like this for him.
LBR, most people just don't like Paige because Emily's love for her is a threat to whatever pairing they like and they feel threatened.
@@sweeety969 Wait when did Ezra BEAT UP Spencer???
If you think about it, there are slim to none storylines that are just centred around Emily not the other girls that aren’t just about her relationship or her sexuality.
I don't think Emily is boring she's just a really good friend who avoids conflict that's why she didn't really get in trouble with the law like Spencer and Hanna but to me, she didn't really connect with the girls she was happiest with her swim team, Maya, Toby they really had a connection that seems real, unlike her main friends. I'm not gay but I liked how Emily and Maya wasn't lesbian stereotypes
yes I felt like her and Toby's friendship was a more genuine connection
@@draculaissus then they just dropped that storyline when Spencer and Toby started dating
@@draculaissus i absolutely love their friendship. I love how they were friends in season 1, when the other girls didnt like him, and talked about music and common interests, then they had the scene in the time jump with him and emily talking on her front porch about her father's passing.
Honestly Emily‘s character has always been written like this. even in all 18 of the books every last one of her significant others was killed
😭
Damn it 😭
EVERY LAST ONE, seriously?? Wow, that's... messed up. But from what i know they didn't romanticize Ezria in the books so that's something at least.
@@enriquesanchez9016 yea Ezra turned out to be unstable in the books and aria ended up with Noel
@@boobabyboo2 Which makes Marlene's glorification of Ezria all the more baffling. Seriously what's wrong with that woman? There's so many adult/teenage "love" stories in the show, it's just shocking.
Earlyy and I think they should have kept Maya as her girlfriend, she was right for her and btw the writers were stupid killed Maya off
exactly, it was too harsh
@@SerenaSkybourne ikr
I like Emily and Maya in the first season. Not when she came back from the Jesus camp. It feels like they wasted her character.
I think that Maya should’ve been the first A,because Emily’s mom said they think that it was her that was dead,not that it was her.
@@ruth98765 agreed. It’s like they made her the cool bad girl while Emily was the good girl. That was there dynamic
I don't even remember Talia's existence and I watched this show twice
ugh Talia was THE worst character, so annoying :D
I totally forgot about Talia!!! 😂 I liked her advice she gave to Emily but that's about it.
I actually don't know who Talia is who is that 😂
Emily's character reminds me of Nate in Gossip Girls. The writers have made no effort to properly develop their character. They are the leftovers of the main characters. With sentimental relationships that disappear without explanation. And non-existent intrigues..
100%
@Lex Baker I feel like Alison, epscially s1-4 Ali, was a mixture of Blair and Serena. She and Blair were both cruel, sassy, power-hungry and manipulative like Queen Bees but she also had Serena's effortless charm and it girl status and like Serena, ali was no 1 and received a lot of attention and didn't take accountability.
Good observation.
And unsurprisingly, Chace Crawford, who played Nate was also the weakest actor compared to his co stars - Just as Shay Mitchell was the weaker actor among the leads on her show
If someone told me “I’m only kissing you as practice for the real thing” I would’ve gone full A and made sure their lives were a living hell. Are you kidding me? How disrespectful! Lol
i know right! what a disgusting thing to say to someone
I mean I know Alison was a bitch but that’s a little much-
The girl my first kiss was with said this to me,
She ended up being with a girl and coming out as a lesbian later in life.
She killed herself a month ago :(
@@MiniMeags jesus fuckin christ
@@Gabe413 I had the same reaction
I always thought that Emily's lack of facial expressions came from her being a really shy girl. There was something special about her anyway. So sad writers didn't develop her storylines
A little something I always thought was kind of interesting was that from what we see in the show Emily & Spencer remain the closest in the year that Aria goes off to Iceland & seemingly doesn't contact any of them & Hanna goes off with Mona to become the new it girls. For instance we see Spencer & Emily were together, talking in the hallway in the scene with Hanna & Mona strutting down the hall. I just thought it was an interesting detail & I would have liked to see & hear more of what happened with the girls in that year after Alison went missing. How their friendships changed & then came back together with A.
I'm in the second half of season 6 rn and I'm noticing that Emily is pretty much just winding up in awkward spots (walking in on Spence and Caleb snogging, Hannah and her mom fighting) and excusing herself in a comically passive way. She got her struggles but she otherwise drama free right now and I love that for her
Honestly, as much as I love PLL I didn't realize how toxic and bad it was overall. Rewatching it now I see all the flaws and failed characters/storylines/etc. and it has ruined the series a bit. I can only love it now for the memories and nostalgia. Also, what I remember my favorite scene with Emily being is either her interactions with Toby or her and Jason going somewhere to figure something out (I forget what lol).
“Sara Harvey liked showering” 😆😆😆
😂😂
Good ole Shower Harvey
This quote had me dying in the break room at my job
@@sunnycastiglioni7512 😅😅
In the rewatch i was surprised by how many love interests or flings Emily has. Spencer has many too and she has chemistry with almost every person she’s paired with. Emily on the other hand has chemistry with maybe just maya lol I’m sorry, i can tell she’s supposed to like the person (Ali or whoever at the moment) but it doesn’t seem more or less passionate.
I really wish the writers hadn't killed off Maya. They were perfect for each other and by far had the most chemistry. Paige and Alison were awful choices (I know she dated Samara and Sabrina but I'm talking long term relationships). Paige LITERALLY tried to down her. Like girl no, run. We were really robbed of Maya's character and their relationship. Spencer is my fave though ✌️
Edit: OH DEAR GOD. LET US NOT FORGET SHOWER HARVEY. Honestly the worst character ever. That girl could not act for toffee and was given the massive characters of red coat and the black veil lady for absolutely no reason. Still does my head in.
It really seems like Emily's greatest point in her character arch was finally dating Maya and being comfortable with her identity as a lesbian. Like, the writers didn't know how to further her character development passed that point, so they just gave her a bunch of bad girlfriends
your cat was the nicest surprise i’ve gotten in one of your videos. your analysis was also spot on for this video
🥺🥰
This is really interesting because Emily reminds me of Kira Yukimura from teen wolf a little because of their ROBBED storylines that sometimes made absolutely no sense. I hated how both of the shows fanbases sent massive hate towards both Kira and Emily for being "boring" and it also upsets me because they are both just trying to be the good guys yet they get shit on for no reason.
The amount of times I randomly think “what even happened to Kira” a day kills me 😂
@@prettylittlebookends1480 LMAOOO so true though
I loved Kira!
About the bully being actually in love with you trope I really like how Glee did it with Kurt. They didn’t romanticize it. When the bully ( I can’t remember his name) kissed Kurt he was traumatized. He cried to Blane saying it was his first kiss and it was awful, he got it stolen in a violent way by a bully. He did emphasize with the bully and helped him get in terms with himself but the show did a really good job in showing how this is not ok or romantic but rather traumatizing. In a show that had so many problematic relationships this arc really shined.
Was thinking of this too! I have a love-hate relationship with Glee, but that’s honestly one of the only times I’ve seen this trope work. It was great.
All your PLL videos feed so much into my nostalgia and I love to hear your opinions because of lord you are so right what a fantastic show PLL could've been if the writers prioritized differently
😊💞
The show would have been better if they didn’t bring Alison back from the dead
100% I agree
I still don't get why the police didn't understand that found body wasn't really Ali's. I mean they had to make sure it was Alison before saying so. And blonde hair and a yellow top doesn't prove anything... This show stands on a fact that would never happen in real life, what a shame. So bringing her back to life seems stupid but not so sudden) I mean we were never really told that she was REALLY dead
They did Alison so dirty when she came back its disappointing. But yeah, couldnt they have done more forensic analyses to make sure she was Alison? I mean i get "she" was buried for over a year but surely they couldve be more precise...it just makes the cops look bad for realizing Ali never died.
@@lenasprw6523oh hi fellow Russian PLL fan
emily’s storylines in the books:
- struggling with her sexuality and identity, unable to talk to her parents about it as they were heavily religious
- “a” outing her to the whole school and ben sexually assaulting her
- toby admitting that he used to sexually assault jenna, then commits suicide behind her house
- her parents send her to iowa to live with her super homophobic uncle and aunty and cousins to “fix her”
- (flashbacks) alison (courtney pretending to be alison- ali’s twin sister) constantly teasing emily because emily was in love with her (in the past)
- her getting sexually assaulted by a coach who got her a swim scholarship to a university
- her questioning her sexuality again, when she falls for a guy called isaac
- emily getting pregnant with isaac’s baby and keeping it a secret from all of her friends and family, apart from her sister carolyn, she stayed in her dorm room for the time being
- having to give her daughter up for adoption and accidentally scamming a lady of $50,000 and receiving death threats
- her getting disowned by her parents for coming out as bisexual, but later they accept her
- her parents finding out about her pregnancy and disowning her again
- alison (the real alison, not courtney) returning and manipulated her, by making out with her in the bathrooms- then later trying to kill them all in alison’s holiday house
- emily falling in love with a stowaway on a cruise (it was so cute)
- emily attacking her sister and then her mum has a heart attack
- emily’s first suicide attempt (trying to jump off a bridge) when her parents shunned her yet again^, as the girls were accused of murdering a girl called tabitha clark (the girls talk her down tho)
- alison holding a gun to emily’s head and demanding alison to confess her love for her in front of the girls, while they were running out of air
- jordyn richards (emily’s fugitive gf) gets caught and locked up in jail
- alison drowning emily and demanding emily to confess her love to her again
- jordyn is murdered by an alison follower and emily goes off the rails, becoming extremely depressed, losing a shit ton of weight and suicidal thoughts
- the girls r said to be taken to trial for alison’s death (she was not dead), with a recorded video of emily having a major mental breakdown yelling, “i will kill u” and her also trashing the place where alison was staying
- emily beginning to really spiral, when she begins to hear voices in her head and becoming extremely twitchy and sometimes unresponsive- ghost like
- fakes her death, her parents blaming her friends. with her faking her death, she sets out to look for alison- as the girls r found guilty and put in jail
there really wasn’t enough coverage at the end, i was just left crying a bunch.
I’m reading the books and I feel so bad for Emily. She goes through hell and back in the books. Imagine the trauma she must have 💘❤️
@@MeggyMagic yep. i think in the books she definitely was the most traumatised by a’s actions and even by her parents! what annoyed me was that her storylines were the most compelling and the only reason i read the full 16 books and i was heavily disappointed watching emily in the show, as they did her character SO dirty, with shitty storylines etc... and no offence to shay, her acting was not the best..
Oh 😳
toby what? the amount of trauma and assault is so gross poor emily
@@Bollywoodlover100 IT IS! i love my book emily to bits, she went through so much…
My personal issue with Emily and her relationships is the bierasure the show utilized in regards to Emily Fields - and I think that needs to be a part of the conversation when we discuss TV Emily.
In the books, Emily is bisexual. She does think she could be a lesbian for a bit, but part of her arc is figuring out her sexual identity. Whereas many people claim TV Emily was a good first representation for Lesbians (and that's incredibly valid and if Emily was that for you - that's still important and valid), Book Emily was that for me as a Bisexual. The first proper named representation I saw in media geared towards me.
Both Lesbians and Bisexuals deserve proper representation - but they shouldn't be viewed as the same and interchangeable, as the show did. Both Emily being lesbian representation and PLL partaking in Biphobia and Bierasure in regards to Emily can and do co-exist and need to both be brought to the table equally when discussing LGBT+ in the series. One doesn't cancel the other out.
Especially when the few coded or implied Bi characters that do exist often fall into the "Evil is Bisexual" trope (Jenna comes to mind for example, Alison to an extent).
Maya is bisexual too
emily & maya are one of my favourite pairings on the entire show - despite the obstacles, they worked so well together. i feel like they could’ve been set up, like haleb & spoby (& unfortunately ezria ew) to be endgame... but they killed maya off instead... why? we, and emaya, were so so robbed. they deserved their happy ending. instead, emily had no meaningful or relevant storylines & a rushed final relationship, and maya was killed...
Maya gives me creepy cringe vibes idk how to explain it lol I need her in tiny doses
i swear emily and maya weren't even together that long before she died but somehow they had such a good chemistry and it felt organic for them to like each other rather than it feeling forced like some of emily's other relationships
I think that the on point chemistry between them, something Emily didn’t replicate at the same level with any of her numerous other love interests, was largely down to the brilliant actress who played Maya, Bianca Lawson
Emily as the only WOC in the main cast and having the most tragic story is just ugh
Actually, Troian is half white half black, so she's also a WOC
@@A5H_01 she is white-passing tho so they were able to pass her off as just another white character
@@draculaissus Yes, but that doesn't change the fact that Troian is a woman of colour.
@@A5H_01 I mean not really 💀 her moms mixed too so she’d only be a quarter black
@@tunneltimes7741 So Troian doesn't count as a WOC because she's not black enough?
i really wish the writers would have given emily and alison a proper storyline that makes sense and wasn’t so rushed just to please the fans but all they did was invest in aria and ezra’s relationship like it baffles me how OF ALL the characters on the show these two were the ones that ended up getting married
Honestly i shipped hanna and emily trough out the show they actually had chemistry and i stand with that 😂
I thought that in so many scenes too!! They would have worked together pretty well and would have been an actually healthy relationship.
Same! They had amazing chemistry and they could’ve gotten together while Em was staying at Hanna’s house 🥰
yes , especially in S1 🥰
I really like that you include subscriber's comments in your work, it feels collaborative and it shows you value your audience. Great job.
Aww thankyou and I do- I love interacting with you guys ♥️
None of the girls could ever be alone. Aria even got a love interest for a day trip to visit a college. Any time they are on the outs with their significant others, be it for scheduling or anything, someone is brought on. Travis, the undercover cop, Talia, Andrew, Holbrook, etc. I think they honestly didn’t think the girls could be alone for a second.
I lowkey feel like Maya was Emily's soulmate all along, not Alison. Too bad Maya had to die.
I think the character wasn’t liked due to the actor’s poor performance. Her portrayal was so deadpan that I just couldn’t connect with the character on any level. Also her obsession with Alison was a put off... no matter how badly Alison treats her, Emily kept going back to her like a dog.
I agree...
Absolutely. It's bad enough the writers did her dirty sometimes but you get the vibe Shay didn't respect Emily at all. Like she was on twitter trying to make fun of her and her choices and distance herself from her performance. In trying not to be bullied for her acting she joined in with the bullies and singled out Paige. Even though the main problem with Emily is her subservience to Alison she doubled down by showing subservience to Alison's stans. It's mind boggling really.
emily reminds me a lot of bonnie.
they were both main characters, they were always there for everyone, yet they were mistreated and used by everyone.
also, i’ve never met anyone who genuinely didn’t like emily or bonnie, however, they’re never the fan favourite.
Emily was actually my favourite character and until now I had no idea why she was so underrated. Wel.. I guess I liked her so much because she was gay and soo pretty :D It was the first tv show with a lgbt character I've ever seen and I was so obssesed with it I even convinced my brother and mum to rewatch it with me. I know this show has soo many plot holes and messed up stuff but I still remember being 15, having a crush on Emily and being so excited about all the mysteries....
I wonder if the writers were predators since they were so determined to show kids have relationships with adult men in a positive light
the fact that you upload new videos about pll makes me really happy; i hope you never stop milking this universe bc your analysis are awesome
omg thankyou
You need to be hired for every pll reboot and write a show bc honestly ur so talented with all ur points !
youre so sweet thankyou!
What would you have liked to see happen with Emily's character? And would you like to see me do a video essay about any of the other girls? 💟
Upcoming PLL video topics:
More character video essays
The worst and best PLL couples
Ranking every pll character
Theories about the show
The PLL spinoff
The books and how they compare
Tier ranking their outfits
i would liked Emily to join the A team, that would made her more interesting xD
@@who8776 oh my gosh cool idea!
Her future with Maya, if the writers weren’t stupid enough to kill her off, I would have liked to see their wedding, their kids etc.. it would have made the show a bit more interesting
would have just liked to see more depth and growth from Emily. the writers added in so many sucky plots for her but they didn't even let her grow properly from them. they just abandoned her character after season 2, it felt like the other girls were more fleshed out and were dragging Emily along behind them
*throws up hoodie*
Do Mona
Almost all love interests Emily had were so forgettable, I can barely remember them, as you talked about them throughout the video I couldn't give a face to the names you said.
And omg I didn't remember the amount of terrible things people did to Emily, and the fact she never told anyone about any of this trauma. Emily could have been amazing if it wasn't for the bad writing and the clear favoritism everyone had for the other girls.
In the end Emily is still one of my favorite liars but not because of what she does in the show, it is just because of what she represented. She was one of the first lesbian characters I've seen on a tv show and for good or bad she was the representation that I had back then.
ahh everyone is sleeping on how nice Serena looks!
I love the hair it's so cute and your eyes are just *chef's kiss*
omg I've barely had time to sleep because I've been so busy so thankyou 💞🥺
i binge watched all of your video essays about pll and i just wanted to thank you for all the effort you put into it, they're so entertaining and relatable!
Wow, thank you! That means so much x
I hated how they killed Emily’s dad
I KNOW OMG.MY HEART BROKE SO MUCH
Yes he’s was hands down the best father in the show
He was the only decent man in Rosewood
I only watched about five seasons of this show, but I remember when Emily was called the sweet one it surprised me. I feel like all the girls went along with Ali's meanness unless the plot called for them not to at some point, but I remember in the first season I saw how she reached out to Aria in the first episode and she kept tabs on people. She reached out to Toby too and I felt she was the dependable one.
I feel like Hannah and Spencer are nicer than their book counterparts so played out differently and Aria seemed so wide-eyed and sad about what happened at first and she immediately comforted Emily when she came out, so I thought she was the sweet one.
I remember from the first preview I saw wanting to see more of Emily and Aria's friendship and the first season was ok with it, but then they stopped having as many scenes just with them. I just felt they were connected. They immediately reconnect when Aria comes back and it just felt like that meant they were lifelong friends.
Okay, im officially obsessed with your channel. You're going to grow so much, i can sense it!
Thank you so much!!
Please continue with pll videos, I’m obsessed😂
I will!!
that part at 6:22 where you said “you’re i’m two different stages and probably shouldn’t be in a relationship” hits because I just broke off a friendship because we were becoming really different from each other
It’s so sad when friends grow apart 😭
@@SerenaSkybourne in my situation it was because she was being homophobic haha so it wasn’t sad for me to let go of her
I really enjoyed the stalker arc for maya and Emily. I thought it was really interesting and was both unexpected but also exciting. I just think the writers were misleading cause they kept implying that A was the stalker and that A had killed maya and it made it super confusing. I think that was something that made Emily kind of shine and gave her character depth it couldve been something for her character like how toby and drugs were for Spencer, or like the Ezra and then malcom was for Aria. But they kept trying to connect A to everything and it was very confusing when we realized that landon wasnt connected to A at all and was just a regular crazy dude
Anyone else remember how fans were calling Sarah Harvey “Shower Harvey,” and then the writers had her die by falling in the shower? It’s like they literally wanted viewers to laugh at her death, which was bizarre.
Serena: "Today's Pretty Little Liars"
Me: Oh this is going to be good.
😅
honestly i dont like the way the girls described her as the weak link and the fact that it took spencer to have to check into Radly for them to stop but then they just kind of moved on to calling spencer the weak link like WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT EVEN MEAN its such a degrading term.
They never saw her as that though, they insinuated that A saw her that way so that’s why she was targeted. That’s why Emily would say ‘the weakest link what’s payback’ because A made her feel like she was the weakest by their torment
@@lunarialoonatic yeah i get that but i didnt like how they said it yk, its insensitive to the fact that spencer ended up in a mental hospital and she was then seen as the weak link by A baso saying that anyone with mental health issues are weak
Okay, I'm not even halfway through, but I have to say this before I go on: as usual, the points you make are so damn amazing and intelligent ❤! Now I cannot help but imagine how legendary PLL could have been if you were the one pulling the strings instead of Marlene 😭.
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please never stop doing these pll videos !
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To be honest the part that made me want emison was the paris discussion and them kissing after ali saved her. They felt like they could be cut out from the show and are a part of a different world of thier own.
I feel like they killed Shower Harvey the way they did because it was foretold by the nickame
Did y’all see that one meme where it was like “if like gives you lemons” and the meme was like “Sarah would teach the lemons to shower” 💀
one thing that makes me mad about how they treated her character is that at the time id say that representation was pretty rare and im not from a "small" town in america but the way every single girl she interacted was gay and interested in her lmao sureeee. Idk I think they treated her sexuality like her main arc and it is painfull to watch now. i could go on and on about this but i dont have the power to write it all out lol
some people want to hook up. many straight teens will hook up with people they aren’t actually very attracted to. i can think of tons of guys who would hook up with pretty much any girl available if the opportunity presented itself. i don’t understand why that couldn’t be the case for bi & lesbian teenagers too. they are 15-18 for most of the show after all, and at that age, you have a lot of hormones flowing through you and whatnot lol. i suppose it was unrealistic though that seemingly every girl Emily spoke to turned out to be gay or bi.
For me, Emily is an example of what happens when writers choose to define a character by their minority status. Diversity and inclusion are both amazing and necessary in art, but the inclusion of their diversity must be explored. Unless you're intentionally doing something with symbolism or theme, a character and everything about them can't be defined as: the character with ADHD, the character with one arm, the character who's black, the character who's gay, etc.
From the beginning of the show, 1) Aria was the artsy character with an alternative style; 2) Hanna was the entitled fashionista seeking attention; 3) Spencer was the smart one with high expectations from her family; and 4) Emily was the gay one...who also swam sometimes.
As the series progressed, each character was able to grow out of their 2D stereotypes. The show has MANY issues, but I do think some of the questions the general plot asks are interesting to explore: What happens when you have a care-free artsy fartsy girl tormented by an unknown bully? What about an entitled fashionista? What about an insanely intelligent girl?
They all have interesting answers the show at least attempts to explore: Aria can't be so carefree anymore with A breathing down her neck and forcing her to choose which parent she sides with. Hanna is forced to confront her need for attention after her family's divorce that led to extremely unhealthy coping mechanisms. You would expect Spencer to do well under pressure considering her home life, but she's forced to come to terms with the fact that she actually cracks very easily under A's pressure.
That isn't something that's really possible to do with Emily as the "gay swimmer". We explore what it's like for her to come out for a little while, but it's very limited by the nature of the show. Her friends and other "good guys" in the show can't react poorly to her coming out or else they won't be the good guys anymore, and anyone who was originally homophobic either comes around pretty quickly or leaves the show entirely. She comes out as gay, gives up swimming less than halfway through the show, so what else is she left with?
In your video, you already talked about how we're told Emily is the nice girl who is loyal to a fault. But, because we rarely see her acting this way, it isn't actually explored in the plot. To the show's credit, I don't think they really try to explore this question either. What happens if you take a nice, fiercely loyal girl and have her be severely bullied by an unknown person? The show doesn't really ask the question beyond calling her the weakest link, and they don't really follow through with trying to answer it.
That leave Emily just being the gay character. It's like she's the only lesbian in this entire town who anyone knows, and she's used constantly (both by the writers and the people in town) as an object for them to explore their own sexuality. Side characters can be used in this way for the audience to get to know and connect with the main character, but Emily is an example of how bad it looks when you use a main character in this way to try to get the audience to feel for side characters.
Paige uses Emily to explore her disconcerting feelings of sam-sex attraction; now repeat that three more times with Alison, Sara, and Talia. It worked when Emily and Maya were exploring their feelings together, and it almost worked when they showed that Paige and Emily's relationship explicitly didn't work for this reason. But, in general, the show was dedicated to having Emily be the token gay character. They used up their chance to explore her coming out and tried to keep her relevant by having her be a pawn in everyone else's coming out storyline down to the final season.
Her other relationships were no better: 1) Ben is terrible, but disappears before his awfulness can be explored; 2) Samara could have been interesting, but disappears before their chemistry can be explored; 3) Lyndon could have been interesting commentary on guys trying to turn lesbians straight, but he gets watered down into generic villain; 4) And every character she actually does have longterm relationships with aren't actually given a conflict (internal or external) that makes them interesting to explore except the fact that they are same-sex relationships.
Aria and Ezra, as gross as their relationship is, fight to be together because of their age gap and the consequences of them being open about their relationship. Spencer and Toby constantly have to deal with the fact that they have different relationships with A (where A has information Toby wants while Spencer begs him to disengage). Hanna and Caleb have complicated relationships with their families, rely on one another for emotional support, and are extremely invested in keeping the other safe in a world where they don't have too many other people to rely on.
Emily is a girl...who dates other girls. And that's treated as though it's a conflict and interesting enough to watch on its own.
Maya and Emily are interesting to explore as we see what it's like for Emily to navigate her first same-sex relationship while still reeling from just having come out, but she's sent away out of town very quickly and killed almost immediately after she comes back. Emily's emotional reaction and dealing with her first girlfriend's death is written as a plot device rather than explored as a facet of her character and her arc. Now, repeat that with every other relationship where we have an opportunity for Emily to explore how it feels to be used as a token lesbian for other people to test out their feelings, but it just gets used as external plot rather than interesting character exploration.
I guess the show runners didn't want to confront the fact that they were doing the exact same thing to Emily with their writing that all of her shitty love interests were doing.
This review perfectly words my thoughts. Why is it so hard for tv shows to put effort into its LGBT+ characters argh
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AHHH YES I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ONE!
i've been so excitedddd toooo
I think you are right, they did use the pregnancy plot to shoehorn in their endgame Emily/Alison ship; the reason I think that it could have worked as another major arc in A’s sick game was because at first they did not know the babies were conceived with Emily’s eggs. Everyone thought that Alison’s abusive husband had impregnated her, and she was so traumatized by his torturing her that she was considering an abortion. If she had gone through with it I think A would have revealed the truth so that Emily would be devastated by the whole ordeal too. It is one of A’s darkest moves that I think did not get fully called out or explored to its full potential. For both their sakes I am glad that A did not succeed but I don’t think that meant the two needed to end up together if they were just going to divorce in the sequel series. Offscreen.
Wooooo it's here! I never cared for Emily but I will listen to you talk about anything :)
omg you're such a cutie pie
Your pll videos take me into a different dimension .. analysing characters ..it's definitely a distraction for a lot of us ...would love to know ur opinion abt Alison and her character .. she cld have really been a good villan
my take is they didnt care for emily because she was a poc. teen dramas tend to have a token black/asian/gay character whose only role is to be there and make the show diverse. usually they are poc and gay. example: bonnie in tvd, aisha in fate, emily in pll, tony in riverdale, tina mike and sometimes mercedes in glee and many more. they dont care to write storylines for poc because they know that most people wont be too invested in them anyway because white people struggle to relate to poc/queer people
no because emily was the ONLY queer and person of colour in the main cast. AND YET. the writers subjected her to one of THE most damaging and horrendous stereotypes pushed onto the LGBTQ+ community by having addison accuse her of predatory attraction . i hate the writers w every fibre of my being
oh my gosh i forgot that happened- so gross
Maya and Emily were honestly cute together and I liked them a lot as a couple but I always felt Maya didn't trust Emily enough and basically lied about many things. Samara was so nice dammit PLL writers... I hate them for creating such a sweet and a lovely character like Samara and then they threw her away in seconds, she was so nice to Emily and they had chemistry with each other. I don’t think Paige and Emily were a good couple, far from it their relationship was toxic asf, but they had their moments and Paige was kinda mean to Emily in certain situations and I just felt like writers really pushed Paily harder than it needed to be, overall speaking they were cute. Tallia and Sabrina were so annoying.. UGH I can’t stand them. And there we have Sara who just lied about everything, they didn’t have chemistry like at all. But I think Sara liked Emily and she wanted to protect her as she revealed in 7x6, I honestly feel bad for Sara I always kinda liked her
I think for me what made Emily’s love interest not work was that they always felt separate to the show. None of Emily’s love interests (except for Alison) really impacted the plot whereas this is different for the other liars. For example, Toby and Ezra were part of ‘that night’ and were part of the A-team. Caleb was useful to the liars with hacking and trying to find the girls in the Dollhouse.
PLEASE DO ONE OF THESE FOR EVERY CHARACTER
I am ♥️♥️
Love your PLL videos as always! Video idea: go into the chronological timeline of the night Allison disappeared (Unless they covered that in the show, I ended at s4 so idk.)