ENGL 103: Moving Images Assignment

**Pretty Little Liars**

Pretty Little Liars is one of my all time favorite TV series. Most people have favorite shows because they find them amazing, with compelling characters, interesting plots, surprising plot twists, and more. Not to say Pretty Little Liars doesn’t have some of those things, but I personally love the series because I find it overall so bad, it’s good. Except for the writing in the final one and a half seasons, which was plain bad. Let me explain.

Seasons 1 and 2 had one main villain, named Mona, while seasons 3 through 6 had Charlotte as the main villain. Both Mona and Charlotte were characters that had direct interaction with the main characters, making it possible for the audience to suspect them as the main villains before they were revealed. However, the final villain of the series, Alex, aside from being written so poorly, had never had any direct interaction with the characters until a few episodes before her reveal. The writers resorted to making her the stereotypical “evil twin” of one of the main characters just to make her interesting, so even when she did interact with other characters on screen, the audience wasn’t aware that it was her. Here’s what they should have done.

For starters, they should have connected her more to past seasons by making her real identity Bethany Young, a young patient at a mental hospital who was believed to have died in season 5. Then, they should have had Bethany change her name to Avery (instead of Alex), thus concealing her real identity and past. Avery was also mentioned in season 6 and was indirectly connected to season 6 villain Charlotte. Avery’s face was never revealed, meaning it would have been much more shocking to find out Avery was actually the twin of one of the main characters. Since the main characters also knew of both Bethany and Avery, one of those characters being the main villain would have made more sense than a random twin sister who came out of left field.

I know the writers would have had to explain how Bethany didn’t actually end up being dead, but I think it would have been worth it in order to have a villain who was more connected and inherently more interesting.

**Star Wars**

Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker had everything that your typical Star Wars film has, down to the light flares, transitions, music, and plot twists. However, as a longtime Star Wars fan, I actually don’t think the ending was fitting for the series altogether.

At the end of Rise of Skywalker, Ben Solo died a hero in the same way that Anakin Sykwalker did in the original trilogy, which can be seen as a logical choice from the director because Ben was Anakin’s grandson. Ben also died doing what Anakin couldn’t, by saving the one that he truly loved, Rey. So yes, while I think this is a logical ending to Ben’s character, I think it would have been a better ending if Ben actually survived after saving Rey, for multiple reasons. In this way, the new trilogy could have respected that Rey’s story is hers, and that Ben’s story is his, and not just repeats of the same story lines from the original three movies.

If Ben had survived, and he and Rey returned together, I also think it would have completed Ben’s entire character redemption arc, and left the audience feeling more content. Though he wouldn’t have been welcomed by the Resistance with open arms, I think it could have introduced an important theme to the series that one doesn’t have to be entirely defined by their mistakes, and that people do have the capability to change.

Also, this ending would have been more in line with the title, Rise of Skywalker, since Ben is technically a Skywalker and Rey isn’t. So, for the ending scene, it could have shown Ben and Rey together on Tatooine as the new “Skywalkers.”

Lastly, I think this ending would have left the possibilities more open for further Star Wars content, whether that be in video or print formats, as Rey and Ben’s stories could have continued together.