What 'PLL's Bethany Knows About The Jenna Thing

Pretty Little Liars may have finally revealed Big A's identity, but that doesn't answer half the questions we have about the mysterious Charles DiLaurentis. Perhaps the biggest question mark with Charles is his motivation — this guy has tortured the girls and meticulously catalogued their lives for nearly two years, and yet we have no idea what would drive him to such an organized madness. Charles' reasons for taking on the A persona is perhaps the show's greatest mystery, but fans aren't at a total loss for clues — we may just have to go back to the first season of the show. Clues peppered throughout the series suggest that Big A's motivation could be connected to "The Jenna Thing" which means that the answer to Charles' torture may have been staring us in the face this entire time.

For those of you who don't remember, "The Jenna Thing" refers to the horrible accident that blinded Jenna — the accident that Alison and the other liars are directly responsible for. After Ali tells the girls that she saw Toby peeking in their window, she convinces them to play a prank on Toby by throwing a stink bomb in his garage. When Ali throws the so-called "stink bomb" — which is really a firecracker — it causes an explosion, setting the garage on fire and blinding Jenna in the process. Ali blackmails Toby and Jenna into keeping her secret, and both Toby and Jenna leave Rosewood until Ali's "body" is found almost two years later. It's the reason why the girls suspected Jenna of being A in the past — wouldn't you want revenge on the people who blinded you?

I don't think that Jenna is A (and I definitely don't think she's Charles) but I do think that "The Jenna Thing" is directly connected to A... just not in the way we think. I think that someone else got severely hurt during the fire at Jenna's garage, and that A is seeking vengeance on that person's behalf. What if Bethany was burned in the fire at Jenna's house, and Charles wanted to seek justice for his girlfriend?

A connection between Bethany and Charles has been one of the strongest theories to come out of the Pretty Little Liars finale. If Charles really is Jason's twin, he had to be hidden away somewhere all these years, and the most logical choice is Radley Sanitarium. (Which just so happens to be an anagram for "DiLaurentis A Army," FYI.) If Charles did meet Bethany in Radley, the two could have gotten very close, and perhaps even dated while away in the mental institution. Perhaps one day Charles brought Bethany to his family's home, and after Ali saw him staring at her, decided to go hide with Bethany in Jenna's garage. When the firework went off, Charles could have escaped, while Bethany was left with burn marks.

That's all speculation, but A does seem obsessed with fire. In Season 2, Jenna is called to the DiLaurentis house and is almost burned alive when a fire inexplicably starts. In the Season 3 finale, A very nearly kills the girls by locking them in a secluded house and lighting it on fire. Then, in Season 5, Toby's home explodes just moments after it's revealed that Bethany is the girl in Ali's grave. That just can't be a coincidence — especially when you note the burn mark seen on the endgame character known as Black Veil.

Fans assumed that the burn mark was from the explosion in Season 3, but what if the person in this costume (perhaps Charles DiLaurentis) was wearing it to represent Bethany? It would be reason enough for A to target the girls, thinking that they had hurt the person he loved most. We know that Mona was original A, and that Charles could have stolen the game from her after being triggered by Bethany's death — he could have only figured out that it wasn't Ali in the grave months after Bethany was actually buried and been so devastated by the loss that he snapped. As Mona said in the Season 5 finale, this A has a soul — perhaps this whole revenge plot actually did have some deeper sense of justice than we realized.

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