Today we’re breaking down every single “A” reveal in Pretty Little Liars—from Mona to CeCe to the final Uber A reveal—plus every major minion, blackmail connection, and hidden manipulation that made the A-game one of the most complex mysteries in teen television history.
MONA VANDERWAAL — THE ORIGINAL A
Mona Vanderwaal is the first official “A” reveal in Pretty Little Liars, revealed in Season 2, Episode 26, “Unmasked”.
Mona was discovered by Spencer when she was lured out to her lair at the Lost Woods Motel. Mona used the masquerade ball as an opportunity to separate Spencer from the other liars and recruit her onto the A team, but it backfired when Spencer answered a call from Aria, exposing the truth.
Destroyed by the revelation, Hannah and the other liars were able to catch up to Mona and Spencer before anything deadly could occur. Almost running Mona over, awesome callback and foreshadowing, btw, the girls confront Mona, who is ultimately institutionalized.
In the Pretty Little Liars books, this was the end of Mona’s story. However, the showrunners understood the gem they had with Janel Parrish and decided to keep the character on.
Motive
After being bullied by Alison DiLaurentis and feeling invisible for most of her life, Mona transforms herself into someone powerful, feared, and untouchable. Her desire for power, control, and revenge fueled her need to be an all-knowing, omniscient presence, and she obsessively sought the secrets of the Rosewood townsfolk.
Mona’s A-Game Strategy:
Mona used burners and surveillance equipment to spy on the girls as well as other townsfolk and the police. She studied psychological manipulation, often playing naive to gain access to information and feign suspicion. She even planted fake clues to discredit the girls and shake their public standing, all while threatening them behind anonymous texts and blackmail.
Mona’s Minions / Helpers:
Mona mostly operated alone, but there were instances when she blackmailed others into doing her bidding. For example, she recruited Lucas Gottesman, Toby Cavanaugh, and Melissa Hastings to complete tasks for her throughout her time as A.
Toby Cavanaugh
After Toby is injured in the hospital and believes that Spencer moved on with Wren, Toby joins the A team. He later claimed to Spencer that it was because he aimed to protect her, but personally, I think he was angry at her and wanted to hurt her the way he was hurt, or worse even.
He was the most entwined with Mona’s scheming, having been the one responsible for the entire Dr. Sullivan disappearing plotline, almost running Lucas over with a car to keep him quiet, and faking his own death to drive Spencer to her breaking point.
Lucas Gottesman
Lucas was manipulated into giving Emily a massage in Season 2, Episode 10. Around this time, he also destroyed Alison’s memorial and gambled away money Caleb had entrusted to him. He later admits that Mona blackmailed him about his selling test answers at school. In season 3, Lucas was the one who photographed the girls at Alison’s gravesite.
Melissa Hastings
Melissa lost her baby the day after she found Ian’s body in the barn. Mona knew this and blackmailed her into dressing up as the Black Swan at the masquerade ball to distract the liars so she could recruit Spencer in private. She wanted the girls to think that A was actively scheming at the ball, so they wouldn’t suspect Spencer to be in any danger.
Jenna had a separate scheme with Shana to sabotage the girls, which is why she specifically tasked Melissa and Lucas with keeping Jenna busy.
Mona’s Outcome:
After Mona is revealed and institutionalized in Radley Sanitarium, she unintentionally ignites a flame, inspiring a new A. A much bigger, scarier A. An A that would leave even her traumatized for life.
CECE DRAKE / CHARLOTTE DILAURENTIS “BIG A”
CeCe Drake (Charlotte DiLaurentis) was revealed as Big A in Season 6, Episode 10, “Game Over Charles.” She learned about Mona and how she stalked the girls once she was admitted to Radley, and was inspired to take the game even further than Mona could.
Backstory
Charlotte was born as Charles Dilaurentis. Charles was institutionalized at Radley Sanitarium as a child. The reasoning for his institutionalization shifts based on the pov of the character telling the story. Kenneth, Charlotte’s adoptive father, claimed that she was violent towards Alison, but Charlotte claims that it was due to her father being ashamed of his transgender child. Personally, I hate to agree with the scumbag, but I believe Kenneth.
Around the age of twelve or thirteen, Charles snuck onto the roof with Bethany Young, and one of them pushed Marion Cavanaugh to her death. Although Cece claimed it was Bethany, I’ve personally made it my headcanon that it was Cece and that she just lied to the girls about it. Cece was the one with the motive to kill her, being the boy in the dress.
As a teenager, Charles transitioned with the help of Jessica Dilarentis, and they had a funeral for the boy he was, only to be sent right back to Radley. Eventually, Cece proved herself eligible for college privileges, and this was the beginning of the end. Once Mona was admitted into Radley with a crazy story, inspiring Cece’s inner sociopath, there was no stopping her.
Motive
In Cece’s reveal, she claims to have been abused and traumatized by Radley after a misdiagnosis. While I do believe Radley subjected her to inhumane and cruel treatment, I do not believe she was completely an innocent victim.
Cece just loved drama. She loved causing chaos and wreaking havoc on those around her. Look at the episode she’s introduced. There’s no way she didn’t plan that little meet and greet with the liars in the brew. Then, she gets all in Emily’s business with Nate and even calls Jenna on the phone, threatening her to rattle Emily. We’re programmed to see this as if Cece were just like Alison, but Spencer made a good point. It was Ali and Cece who had both learned from Mrs. Dilaurentis.
Based on what we learned about Cece in her post-reveal, I think she was a deeply messed-up person who took Mona’s “fun” idea and ran with it. She was obsessed with Alison, having been born the girl that she was meant to be with all the friends she should’ve had. I think Bethany probably escaped Radley to tell the truth about Cece’s evildoings, and Charlotte chased after her to stop her, unintentionally taking out Alison.
Then, realizing that the girls were moving on, Cece was infuriated and decided that the liars deserved to suffer. She made them her playthings, just as she had been made by the doctors who subjected her to electroshock therapy in Radley’s basement. She was angry and wanted someone to take it out on, thus the dollhouse.
CHARLOTTE’S MINIONS / A-TEAM
Toby Cavanaugh
From Mona’s minion to Cece’s, Toby was loyal to the A team at one point. You can’t convince me otherwise with that whole double-agent bullshit. I also think he knew that Bethany/Alison’s body was in the ice on the Halloween train, and he was tasked with exposing it.
I believe it started out because of anger towards Spencer, but evolved. Maybe it was just about finding the truth about his mother, since we know Cece often dangled it in front of him to do her bidding. Maybe that was just a part of it, I’m not sure.
I think one important thing to keep in mind about this show is that all the characters are pathological liars. They don’t tell the truth; they say what sounds like the best answer. Toby claimed to be protecting Spencer, but the evidence doesn’t back that up. I do think he feels guilty, though, when Spencer confronts him, and he eventually goes back to her side, resulting in his being booted after the lodge fire.
Sara Harvey
Sara was Cece’s right hand, having acted as the red coat and the black widow. She would serve as a decoy to distract the girls or find out information for Cece.
This character is a big flop for me, to be honest. We never really get a decent understanding of her motivations. She claimed to have Stockholm syndrome in Cece’s trial, but admitted afterward to being a willing participant. Although she appeared to be locked up, like the girls in the dollhouse. I had no clue what was going on with her, but we do know enough to know she was on the A team, willingly or not, she helped torment the girls.
Noel Kahn
Noel Kahn is a strange character. In the earlier seasons, he’s portrayed as just a regular rich douchebag who was into Aria. Then, we find out he knew Alison was alive all along and dated Mona just for information. It seemed like, upon dating Jenna, he was officially turned into a hater of the girls, and that was when he genuinely turned dark.
Somehow, he was still cool enough with Alison to help her evade the police once again with a fake passport, but ended up giving it to Cece instead, per Alison’s request. I believe he knew Cece through his older brother, since she was at their party back in Season 3. It’s unclear exactly when he became her minion, but he did help Cece in the dollhouse.
A.D. / UBER A — Alex Drake
The final A reveal introduces Spencer Hastings’ twin sister, Alex Drake in the series finale, “Til Death Do Us Part.”
Motive
Alex Drake grew up isolated and abandoned, just to discover that she had an American twin with a perfect life. Almost perfect, until Cece came along and gave her something to struggle and grapple with. Then someone killed Cece.
Alex was determined to learn the identity of Cece’s killer and make them pay. In the process, she became obsessed with Spencer’s life. Her family, her friends, her relationships; Alex wanted it all for herself. Jealous of her twin, she decided to avenge the only sister she ever loved and take the place of the twin who had the life she wanted.
A.D.’s Game
Alex designed a board game, inspired by a comic that Cece and Lucas made up as kids. The game was built as psychological warfare on the girls while she worked to unveil Cece’s killer. She often impersonated Spencer and heavily relied on emotional torture rather than physical threats.
Although she did partake in a fair amount of physical harm when she believed Hannah was the one who killed Cece. Alex kept Hannah hidden in a barn and would attack her with a cattle prod while she was tied up in her underwear.
A.D.’s Network
Unlike Mona and Charlotte, Alex didn’t primarily rely on traditional minions using blackmail. Instead, she used disguises – literally impersonating Spencer – sponsorship with money inherited from Charlotte, and emotional isolation tactics with Mona and Sara.
Archer Dunhill
Archer was Cece’s lover who pretended to be a doctor at Welby so they could continue their secret relationship. He seduced Alison so they could acquire her money and shares in the Carissimi group and drove her to check herself into Welby Sanitarium.
I always thought it was Archer who performed the surgery that implanted Emily’s fertilized egg into Alison, but considering that he had no actual medical training, maybe it was Wren? That seems more likely, especially considering it was his sperm. That whole plotline was crazy.
Wren Kingston
Wren was Alex’s lover and accomplice. He was the one who told her about Spencer and connected her with Cece. He also provided medical equipment for the operation and hesitantly helped Alex blackmail the liars, even providing his semen to impregnate Alison with Emily’s eggs, before Alex killed him.
Jenna Marshall + Noel Kahn
Jenna and Noel were such cartoonish villains at this point. I don’t even understand either of their motivations here. Yes, they hate the liars. Yes, they were friends with Cece. But why were they chasing the liars around with a gun at the blind school?
Did Noel not exact enough revenge with the dollhouse? Why did blind Jenna need a gun? There was just too much dip on Marlene’s chip here, but they were included, so here they are. Also, was Noel the one who kidnapped Hannah? I don’t think so. I believe that was Alex, but feel free to share your thoughts on that in the comments!
Mona Vanderwaal
Whilst Mona did help Alex kidnap Spencer, she’s never truly been on anyone’s team but her own. I think the conversation she had with Sara Harvey really got under her skin after being rejected by Hannah and the liars once again, and she caved.
However, once Alex Drake’s identity was exposed, she took advantage and became the big winner in the only way she knew how.
FINAL THOUGHTS
While there was always one mastermind steering the wheel during every run of “A,” there were always little minions at the petals making sure things ran smoothly. From Mona’s loneliness to Charlotte’s rejection to Alex’s envy, “A” always had a system in place.
Personally, I have always hated Toby’s stint as “A.” It’s definitely bothered me the most, especially since there were quite literally no consequences for him, despite the impact he had on Spencer and the other liars. Even Emily, who considered Toby a close friend, never even got a scene confronting him about everything he did and how much he hurt her.
Lucas was another one. Hannah never had a scene really finding out everything that he knew. She learned that he was the one who gave Emily the massage and was included when Bethany’s grave got dug up, but she never made him squeak. Granted, it might have been for his own safety, considering Mona had Toby run Lucas over with his truck, but Hannah didn’t know that!
PLL did great with these reveals, but I wish they put more care into the after effects. If you would like to see how I would’ve ended PLL had I written it, check out this blog post.
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