Charlotte May Have Been Playing Ali On 'PLL'

Though plenty of Pretty Little Liars fans assumed that Big A would be revealed to be Cece Drake, hardly anyone could have predicted that Cece Drake would instead be revealed to be Charlotte DiLaurentis, Alison's secret older sister and a former patient at Radley Sanitarium. The Season 6 finale totally blew Charlotte's credibility, but what exactly Charlotte lied about during the Big A reveal is unclear. Now, a new theory from Tumblr user The PLL Theorist has made a very plausible case against Charlotte — and it could mean that Charlotte was totally playing Ali this whole time.

Charlotte's huge reveal that she was a secret DiLaurentis was totally mind-blowing, so it's pretty crazy to think that the Season 6 finale easily topped Charlotte's reveal. It turns out that Charlotte wasn't technically a DiLaurentis. Instead, she's actually the biological daughter of Jessica's identical twin sister Mary Drake, and given the moniker Charlotte uses as Cece, it's clear she knew who her bio mom really was. The PLL Theorist has put a ton of thought into this theory against Charlotte, and I'll admit it makes a ton of sense, even if it does suggest that Charlotte was nowhere close to redeemed by the time she was murdered.

The theory essentially suggests that Charlotte and her mother Mary really did hate Jessica and Alison, and that the "love" Charlotte had for Ali was no more than an act. The theory starts by filling in one of the "plot holes" that fans have been scratching their heads about — the time when Jessica became furious because she found Charlotte dressed like Alison in Radley.

I believe it’s quite possible that yes, what Charlotte said about her being Charles is completely true... but I believe Charlotte did not return to Radley after... they faked Charles’ death. Charlotte was free [until] that party at UPenn. I believe it was Wren who said Cece had a psychotic break because of Alison and getting kicked out of UPenn... [Charlotte] lived through hell and just when she thought she was getting her life together, another DiLaurentis comes around and ruins it.

The PLL theorist suggests that Charlotte went back to Radley as Cece Drake after Jessica faked Charles' death, but, while there, Charlotte pretended to be Alison DiLaurentis — pretty easy to do, considering her mother looked exactly like Jessica. According to the Tumblr user, the reason why Charlotte pretended to be Alison was to get Bethany Young to kill the real Alison and the real Jessica:

[Charlotte,] Bethany, and Alison wore the yellow tops... Why? Because [Charlotte] was going to murder Alison, and since Bethany was supposed to kill Jessica, anyone who saw it happen would blame it on Bethany. Charlotte... lied about everything. Since Bethany didn’t kill Jessica, Jessica witnessed Charlotte hitting Alison... The plan was ruined the minute Mona hit Bethany over the head and Melissa buried her.

The rest of the theory goes into the nitty gritty details, and you should definitely go over to Tumblr and marvel at how everything checks out. It seems that the Pretty Little Liars Twitter account That's What A Said confirms The PLL Theorist's theory that Charlotte was telling half-truths as opposed to coming clean during her Big A reveal:

This tweet also suggests that we may be getting a little more to Bethany's story:

Was Charlotte really better off with a really good lie during her Big A reveal? It certainly seems plausible. Now excuse me while I go rethink absolutely everything Charlotte has ever said...

Images: Eric McCandless/Freeform