hot for teacher
ok, heres the thing: i LOVE pretty little liars, and i ADORE aria and ezra. and to be quite honest, i hated them when i first started watching. i feel like there are way too many student/teacher relationships being portrayed on tv nowadays, and on shows with a young target audience. i mean me watching at age 25, i can find the age difference sexy and the power balance interesting while fully acknowledging that its FICTIONAL. in the real world, young kids should NOT be hooking up with older teachers. but given that kids these days are taking more and more of their cues from the media, it makes me a little uncomfortable that were moving towards a territory where this is accepted. and from a network like abc family, i just find it pretty irresponsible programming. now, that last bit may just be me overreacting because i work for disney and am a total fuddy-duddy traditionalist, but so be it. i wasnt happy to see yet another romanticized student/teacher romance on a teen drama, and i scoffed at how overdramatic it all was. but somewhere along the line (mostly fueled by how fucking gorgeous lucy hale is, and how ezra fitz is basically the MOST ADORABLE MALE SPECIMEN ON THIS PLANET), they won me over. i dont know when, i dont know how, but i was swayed over to team ezria, and i subsequently fell and fell HARD for them. theyve basically become on of those ships for me where i get super over-protective and dont want to see anything happen to them, EVER. which is why its pissing me off SO MUCH that theyre fucking them up right now.
i wasnt big on the jackie thing to begin with either. i thought it was so sudden, and i didnt like the way it came about. i mean at the end of the day, jackie is in ezras past. no, he didnt tell aria about her, but i mean its not like they had really been dating that long. not to mention it was a failed engagement - its gotta be a pretty sore subject, especially since she was the one that backed out, not him. and i fully recognize that both aria and ezra are extremely emotional people - its what makes them both an awesome couple and a frustrating one, they overreact to things and follow their hearts without always thinking things through. but theyre not complete morons, and i dislike so strongly arias assertion that ezra not telling her about jackie meant he still had feelings for her. its stupid tv logic - its a string of ideas presented as fact, even though if you stop to think about it for two seconds you realize that theres no logic in the way they arrive from point a to point b, but it sounds good enough and it adds drama, so who cares? plus lets not even get into how ridiculously convenient it is that both ezra and jackie ended up becoming teachers at hollis at the exact same time. please.
i did like ezrias storyline in the first episode in which jackie is introduced (because it was more about aria being frustrated that they cant be adorable and couple-y on facebook, not about his evil ex), and i liked the bit with aria and hanna facebook-stalking her (because it nicely drives home the point that these are just teenage girls, at that age that really seems like the best way to handle things, while still giving them justifiable reasons to be on the offensive, and learning a bit of a lesson). but what eventually made me come around was merely the actress playing jackie. shes not the best actress in the world, but she delivers her lines with this hint of sass that i just adore. i mean if she wanted to break them up and steal ezra for herself, she would have done so before now. instead she just smiles, amused, and makes snarky, suggestive comments, which i find hilarious. of course they're probably just going to turn her into the villain anyway, which would really annoy me.
that seems to be a trend with this show....
but then, this season they had to introduce jason. now, i recognize that jason is a pretty important character in the books, and in there he and aria do briefly date, so i would be all for them having scenes together, maybe even some flirting, but this sudden "connection" marlene king keeps claiming they have...it just isnt there. there is never any mention of them knowing much about each other in the past; aria is the one, in fact, that says the girls only knew him as alis older brother. i very very much liked the comment that jason made about admiring aria because she never did what was expected of her, yet at that age he did EXACTLY what was expected of him. that was a really interesting road to go down, and i would have been all for that. but again, this love triangle just hasnt been developed AT ALL. if there were no feelings between them in the past, then youve got to show those feelings developing in the present, and they just havent. all of their conversations have been about mike, yet suddenly aria is blushing around him and having sex dreams about him and SERIOUSLY, WHAT THE WHAT?? this is stupid on so many levels:
1. love triangles are lazy writing. i understand the necessity of having drama so that pairings dont get boring. but there are SO many other ways to create drama that are actually suited to the characters themselves. love triangles are generic, overdone plot devices.
2. aria and ezra already have PLENTY of drama to deal with. i mean between the age difference, the fact that aria is UNDERage, her parents finding out, other people finding out, the fact that he used to be her teacher, and now jackie...are you really going to pretend that you NEED to bring jason into the equation for MORE drama??
3. jason is quite possibly DANGEROUS. like emily said, this is NOT the same as the toby situation. they KNOW that jason is acting squirrely and hiding something or someone in that house. they think he might have killed ali, and for aria to ignore that is either callous or idiotic, neither of which make me want to like her as a character right now.
4. its making ezra come out looking like a fool as well, for being jealous simply because aria was having a conversation with a guy. when jason was at her house, all he saw was the two of them talking. for a grown man to be jealous of that is just silly, shes allowed to have conversations with other guys. and its not like they were even talking about anything other than, as usual, mike.
things that annoyed me specific to the most recent episode:
1. dreams are NOT your subconscious trying to send you a message. dreams are an amalgam of things you may or may not realize youve been thinking about, but they dont actually have a deeper meaning. ive had dreams of all sorts of different things and people, had sex dreams about people i have NO interest in dating. i hate dream sequences in general. dreams are just dreams, not a higher power trying to send you a message!
2. im not buying this whole 'now that hes at hollis things are harder' deal. why? that doesnt even make any sense. they have way more freedom to be together now. yes, theyve been going back-and-forth on when/where/whether or not to tell her parents (another story arc i have issues with), but it has had nothing to do with his move to hollis. thats a stupid excuse. and its stupid for aria to be going around acting like theyre broken up - saying stuff like she 'doesnt have him', and emily encouraging them to 'reconnect'. where is all this distance and tension coming from? it feels very manufactured.
3. i DO NOT LIKE that they implied that aria and ezra had sex. for many reasons:
a. ARIA IS STILL UNDERAGE. this requires discussion about consent issues and such, we dont even know if arias a virgin or not, and these conversations are way too important and integral to the characters and the pairing to happen off-screen.
b. their first time is in his office? really??
c. did aria borrow lingerie from hanna? because thats weird. i swear shes basically wearing the exact same lace bodysuit thing that hanna wore when she lost her v-card to caleb.
d. ezra is not the kind of guy thats going to think somethings going on with aria and then fuck her anyway just because he gets to see boobs.
e. if theyre just going to have sex in his office on a random tuesday, what was the point of waiting all this time anyway?
f. this all might be complete overkill since im probably over-analyzing that anyway, im just led to this suspicion by a few of their comments and her dream afterward when theyre in bed and she says it was worth the wait.
BONUS - things that are annoying me about the show not related to ezria:
1. we ended last episode with spencer in a car alone with garret, who the other girls realize might be dangerous. its left at a cliffhanger...then in this one we get literally no mention of garret whatsoever. WTF?? what happened to follow-through and continuity?
2. its weird that caleb would up and leave with a woman hes never met. especially given how jaded he is. im hoping it turns into a situation like spencer's with olivia in the books, but i dunno. it just seemed really out of character.
3. JASON CANNOT ACT. AT ALL.
4. PLEASE, like a guy as paranoid and with as many secrets to hide as jason is going to just leave the key to his creepy Stalker Shed on top of the door. ridiculous.
all this aside, i didnt completely hate the episode. i loved hanna and caleb. i really liked how samara reacted to emily slipping zoey her number, though im still pretty blah on samara in general. i REALLY like the stalker!jason plot. see this is what i was saying, i could totally buy jason having a thing for aria. but her reciprocating is strange and undeveloped. but theres a good chance that, if jason has been stalking her, then hes found out/will soon find out about her and ezra, which could lead to all sorts of interesting things. ALSO, this episode finally confirmed canonically that aria is most definitely the instigator when it comes to the physical side of their relationship, regardless of what did or didnt happen in that office. which is mostly just good for fanfic, of which there is basically none, but still.
also, ashley marin, you are awesome. the end.
i wasnt big on the jackie thing to begin with either. i thought it was so sudden, and i didnt like the way it came about. i mean at the end of the day, jackie is in ezras past. no, he didnt tell aria about her, but i mean its not like they had really been dating that long. not to mention it was a failed engagement - its gotta be a pretty sore subject, especially since she was the one that backed out, not him. and i fully recognize that both aria and ezra are extremely emotional people - its what makes them both an awesome couple and a frustrating one, they overreact to things and follow their hearts without always thinking things through. but theyre not complete morons, and i dislike so strongly arias assertion that ezra not telling her about jackie meant he still had feelings for her. its stupid tv logic - its a string of ideas presented as fact, even though if you stop to think about it for two seconds you realize that theres no logic in the way they arrive from point a to point b, but it sounds good enough and it adds drama, so who cares? plus lets not even get into how ridiculously convenient it is that both ezra and jackie ended up becoming teachers at hollis at the exact same time. please.
i did like ezrias storyline in the first episode in which jackie is introduced (because it was more about aria being frustrated that they cant be adorable and couple-y on facebook, not about his evil ex), and i liked the bit with aria and hanna facebook-stalking her (because it nicely drives home the point that these are just teenage girls, at that age that really seems like the best way to handle things, while still giving them justifiable reasons to be on the offensive, and learning a bit of a lesson). but what eventually made me come around was merely the actress playing jackie. shes not the best actress in the world, but she delivers her lines with this hint of sass that i just adore. i mean if she wanted to break them up and steal ezra for herself, she would have done so before now. instead she just smiles, amused, and makes snarky, suggestive comments, which i find hilarious. of course they're probably just going to turn her into the villain anyway, which would really annoy me.
that seems to be a trend with this show....
but then, this season they had to introduce jason. now, i recognize that jason is a pretty important character in the books, and in there he and aria do briefly date, so i would be all for them having scenes together, maybe even some flirting, but this sudden "connection" marlene king keeps claiming they have...it just isnt there. there is never any mention of them knowing much about each other in the past; aria is the one, in fact, that says the girls only knew him as alis older brother. i very very much liked the comment that jason made about admiring aria because she never did what was expected of her, yet at that age he did EXACTLY what was expected of him. that was a really interesting road to go down, and i would have been all for that. but again, this love triangle just hasnt been developed AT ALL. if there were no feelings between them in the past, then youve got to show those feelings developing in the present, and they just havent. all of their conversations have been about mike, yet suddenly aria is blushing around him and having sex dreams about him and SERIOUSLY, WHAT THE WHAT?? this is stupid on so many levels:
1. love triangles are lazy writing. i understand the necessity of having drama so that pairings dont get boring. but there are SO many other ways to create drama that are actually suited to the characters themselves. love triangles are generic, overdone plot devices.
2. aria and ezra already have PLENTY of drama to deal with. i mean between the age difference, the fact that aria is UNDERage, her parents finding out, other people finding out, the fact that he used to be her teacher, and now jackie...are you really going to pretend that you NEED to bring jason into the equation for MORE drama??
3. jason is quite possibly DANGEROUS. like emily said, this is NOT the same as the toby situation. they KNOW that jason is acting squirrely and hiding something or someone in that house. they think he might have killed ali, and for aria to ignore that is either callous or idiotic, neither of which make me want to like her as a character right now.
4. its making ezra come out looking like a fool as well, for being jealous simply because aria was having a conversation with a guy. when jason was at her house, all he saw was the two of them talking. for a grown man to be jealous of that is just silly, shes allowed to have conversations with other guys. and its not like they were even talking about anything other than, as usual, mike.
things that annoyed me specific to the most recent episode:
1. dreams are NOT your subconscious trying to send you a message. dreams are an amalgam of things you may or may not realize youve been thinking about, but they dont actually have a deeper meaning. ive had dreams of all sorts of different things and people, had sex dreams about people i have NO interest in dating. i hate dream sequences in general. dreams are just dreams, not a higher power trying to send you a message!
2. im not buying this whole 'now that hes at hollis things are harder' deal. why? that doesnt even make any sense. they have way more freedom to be together now. yes, theyve been going back-and-forth on when/where/whether or not to tell her parents (another story arc i have issues with), but it has had nothing to do with his move to hollis. thats a stupid excuse. and its stupid for aria to be going around acting like theyre broken up - saying stuff like she 'doesnt have him', and emily encouraging them to 'reconnect'. where is all this distance and tension coming from? it feels very manufactured.
3. i DO NOT LIKE that they implied that aria and ezra had sex. for many reasons:
a. ARIA IS STILL UNDERAGE. this requires discussion about consent issues and such, we dont even know if arias a virgin or not, and these conversations are way too important and integral to the characters and the pairing to happen off-screen.
b. their first time is in his office? really??
c. did aria borrow lingerie from hanna? because thats weird. i swear shes basically wearing the exact same lace bodysuit thing that hanna wore when she lost her v-card to caleb.
d. ezra is not the kind of guy thats going to think somethings going on with aria and then fuck her anyway just because he gets to see boobs.
e. if theyre just going to have sex in his office on a random tuesday, what was the point of waiting all this time anyway?
f. this all might be complete overkill since im probably over-analyzing that anyway, im just led to this suspicion by a few of their comments and her dream afterward when theyre in bed and she says it was worth the wait.
BONUS - things that are annoying me about the show not related to ezria:
1. we ended last episode with spencer in a car alone with garret, who the other girls realize might be dangerous. its left at a cliffhanger...then in this one we get literally no mention of garret whatsoever. WTF?? what happened to follow-through and continuity?
2. its weird that caleb would up and leave with a woman hes never met. especially given how jaded he is. im hoping it turns into a situation like spencer's with olivia in the books, but i dunno. it just seemed really out of character.
3. JASON CANNOT ACT. AT ALL.
4. PLEASE, like a guy as paranoid and with as many secrets to hide as jason is going to just leave the key to his creepy Stalker Shed on top of the door. ridiculous.
all this aside, i didnt completely hate the episode. i loved hanna and caleb. i really liked how samara reacted to emily slipping zoey her number, though im still pretty blah on samara in general. i REALLY like the stalker!jason plot. see this is what i was saying, i could totally buy jason having a thing for aria. but her reciprocating is strange and undeveloped. but theres a good chance that, if jason has been stalking her, then hes found out/will soon find out about her and ezra, which could lead to all sorts of interesting things. ALSO, this episode finally confirmed canonically that aria is most definitely the instigator when it comes to the physical side of their relationship, regardless of what did or didnt happen in that office. which is mostly just good for fanfic, of which there is basically none, but still.
also, ashley marin, you are awesome. the end.