Alex Drake was revealed to be the final “A” in Pretty Little Liars, unmasked in the series finale. This was notably the worst “A” reveal of the entire 7-season run. She had potential, but, of course, as the writers’ team did best, they fumbled it. But what if they didn’t?
What if the showrunners actually cared enough to make Alex Drake an involved and compelling character? What if they introduced her to the show much earlier?
What if Alex Drake Replaced Spencer in the Dollhouse?
Alex’s Canon Introduction
In canon, Alex Drake is technically introduced in the series finale. However, we do see her on screen several times in the final season, under the guise of it being Spencer.
She first appears as a hallucination to Hannah in Season 7, Episode 1, “Tick-Tock, Bitches” while Hannah is being held captive in a barn. Alex kidnapped her because Hannah claimed to be responsible for Alex’s murder. When Alex went to Hannah, she discovered that Hannah’s lie was a failed attempt at uncovering A.D.’s identity.
Then, we see Alex pretending to be Spencer again in episode 8, “Exes and OMGs” when she breaks into the Hastings home to look through the family albums and sulk over the life she felt robbed of. She appears 3 episodes later in “The Darkest Knight” where she kisses Toby, confusing him with her weird ass behavior. Another 3 episodes later, she sleeps with Toby, who even calls her out for being notably different from the “Spencer he knows.”
Finally, we get the reveal in the last episode, “Till Death Do Us Part.” I do appreciate that they even gave us these little moments, but in order to feel connected to Alex as an audience, we needed more. Let’s explore how we could’ve planted the breadcrumbs, introduced the twin concept, and eventually revealed Alex as the ultimate big bad of the show.
Mary Drake & Her Influence
Before we get into how I would’ve written Alex, though, let’s briefly chat about her mother, Mary Drake. I do have to say I love that Mary Drake exists. The Jessica twin fake-out was done very well.
However, I think Mary Drake should’ve been introduced in season 3, when Spencer was sent to Radley. I would have loved it if Spencer had an entire arc in Radley, following clues about Mary Drake that Cece had planted. Imagine if Cece had uncovered the truth behind her birth and learned about her sisters through her stint as “A” and used it to taunt Spencer and lure her onto the “A” team.
Cece wouldn’t reveal her own identity, but would help Spencer discover that she was born in Radley to a patient named Mary Drake. Spencer would learn that she had a twin and try to find the twin, but come up empty. She’d confront Peter about it, but we know trying to get answers from that man is like trying to figure out if Chucky and Tiffany had a boy or a girl. She’d try asking Veronica about it, but she’d insist that Mary Drake was probably dead and Spencer should forget about her entirely. Both her parents would genuinely be shocked about the twin, just like in canon.
Peter would hire a private investigator to look into it, without telling Spencer. But knowing Spencer, she’d snoop, and this is how she would find the name of the doctor who told Spencer and Toby to stay away from that blond girl. I would scrap the whole storyline surrounding Toby’s mother and give all that screen time to the Mary Drake mystery. However, it would go cold with Dr. Palmer’s dementia dead end, and we wouldn’t hear about Mary Drake or Spencer’s twin again until much further down the line.
The Alternate Ending
I’ve come up with a few alternate endings for PLL at this point, and this Alex Drake theory could also work with my Wren is A theory, but for this particular post, we’ll say that Cece is still the “Big A” revealed in Season 6, Episode 10, “Game Over Charles.”
We’re not there yet, though.
Alex’s Rayewritten Introduction
Let’s rewind to Season 5, Episode 21, “Bloody Hell,” where Spencer traveled to London for a college interview that Melissa claimed Wren had set up for her. In this episode, blood is planted in Spencer’s bag, effectively ruining her interview. In canon, we’re left to assume that “A” somehow managed to get this past TSA, just for it to explode at the perfect moment. I know Cece was good, but that feels impossible.
How interesting would it have been if Cece – who already met Alex by this point in the timeline – contacted her with instructions to ruin Spencer’s interview. We assumed that the vial was blood stolen from the drive where all the girls donated, but it could’ve been blood from anywhere, even Alex herself.
It would’ve been even more interesting if Alex had been trailing Spencer in London. Spencer could’ve spotted her and been rejected by Alex when she tried to strike up a conversation. There doesn’t even have to be a rejection. Spencer could’ve been distracted by a phone call from one of the liars, giving Alex just enough time to slip away and disappear. Spencer would become obsessed with finding her twin, but decide that returning to her friends was a bigger priority at the moment and return home to Rosewood.
The Dollhouse
The next time I’d have us see Alex Drake would actually be in the dollhouse. We’ll say Cece told Alex about her dollhouse plan while she was in Europe, and the pair would stay up for hours on end fantasizing about all the things they’d do to the liars if it became a reality. When Cece went back to Rosewood and actually had the dollhouse built, she had to share it with her sister.
In this timeline, I’d have the dollhouse go on for ten episodes rather than the two we got in canon. Around episode nine, I would have Hannah wake in the middle of the night to the sound of a scream and crash. She’d be too scared to leave her room, but then the next morning each of the liars would leave their rooms unharmed, and she’d dismiss it as a night terror. In reality, this sound would be Alex attacking Spencer after she grew bored of watching Spencer. Alex, after all, was envious of the life her twin got. She would decide, with the blessing of Cece, to kill Spencer and take her twins’ place.
The audience would not yet be aware of this, though. All we would see is Hannah’s pov, hearing the crash and asking the girls if they heard anything the next morning. Alex, as Spencer and the other liars would say no, and that’d be Hannah would declare it a night terror.
Eventually, Alex, as Spencer would appear to outsmart “A” and find a way out of the dollhouse. In reality, it’d be Cece and Alex growing bored of it and wanting a bigger challenge. The challenge being, passing Alex off as Spencer in the real world. The thought of a twin fake-out obviously never occurred to the girls in the dollhouse, and Alex would’ve practiced imitating Spencer to the liars before officially murdering her twin. The first time, there would be a weird moment that Mona would call her out for. Hannah would defend Alex, not realizing that Mona was actually on to something.
I always found it funny that Jenna was the one to clock Alex before anyone else, so I’d give that to Mona instead. I feel like she’s objective enough to sense something being off, but with Hannah being so protective of the other liars around her, she’d shut it down immediately with one of her snarky comments. This would be the reason for Mona ending up in the hole, where Hannah insists on finding her before they escape, even though Alex would try to leave her behind.
The Cece Reveal
After the dollhouse, Alex and Cece would continue on as A together. I would scrap Shower Harvey entirely. I would keep Cece’s reveal the same, except I’d have Alex in the room with Cece, while Alison would be in the room with the other girls. I’d have Alex and Cece give rehearsed answers, mostly made up of lies.
This is when we’d get the reveal that Cece and Spencer share a mother. Cece would essentially give Alex’s motive for becoming “A,” explaining that she envied the life Spencer had, the friendships, and the love she grew up with. She’d say that it was her mission to make Spencer’s life more miserable than hers had been growing up in Radley. Hannah, Emily, and Aria were extra dolls and icing on the cake. Alison had been her friend, but she chose the liars over her, which hurt. That’s why she put her in jail.
Post Timejump
By the time jump, Alex would have been living as Spencer for years. The liars had all gone their separate ways and been brought back for Cece’s appeal. Although I loathe Alison’s redemption arc, that’s not the subject of this post, so we’ll keep it for this timeline. I’d keep Alison asking the liars to testify in Cece’s favor. Instead of it being about reuniting her family, I’d have it be a relationship similar to Hannah and Mona.
We’d have Cece get released and murdered in the same night, just like the canon timeline, and we’d have essentially the same events of season seven until the finale. The finale would be where we actually get to see what Hannah heard in the dollhouse. We’d get the flashbacks of Alex and Cece and feel Alex’s rage about Cece’s death. We could even revive that awful British accent because, at this point, she could drop the Spencer facade.
Final Thoughts
If you enjoyed this Alex Drake Rayewrite, check out the YouTube channel where I go into even more detail. I’d love to know your thoughts, so feel free to leave a comment there to chat!