5 Ways ‘Pretty Little Liars’ Ruined My Life

I’m a huge fan of teen dramas. And, frankly, I always have been. (Except for that brief period of my life when I would become IRATE whenever “Fifteen” would air on Nickelodeon. Not sure why I hated it so much.)

After much persuading from the general public, I dove into Pretty Little Liars in 2012. And I mean DOVE in. I watched all the episodes right in a row as quickly as possible.(See, that looks like dove like a bird but it’s not.) Pretty Little Liars has pretty much everything I could want from a show: a brunette lead, a group of female friends, intrigue/suspense and, obviously, a very inappropriate student/teacher relationship. (See also: Dawson’s Creek.)

So it was pretty natural I’d become obsessed with this show (such a sucker for a good opening credits sequence, too) and also its weird air schedule where it seems as if episodes are both always airing and never airing.

Here are five ways Pretty Little Liars ruined my life:

1. Want to be Involved in a High-Stakes Murder Mystery

I mean, the whole basis of this show is a teen girl being killed and her best friends trying to solve the mystery. That’s awesome. Obviously the murder of your best friend isn’t awesome but having to solve it IS. (Veronica Mars anyone?) (But also Twin Peaks anyone? One of my all-time favorites and ALSO about how the murder of a popular blonde rocked a small town.)

Anyway, the main girls are all being stalked and tormented by “A” throughout the series and I understand that a lot of danger is involved in that but…it’s also kind of cool. I want to be Spencer and figure stuff out and become borderline Jessie Spano and I want to be Aria and pair crazy patterns and I want to be Emily and take control of my life I want to be Hanna and just…not quite get it.

2. All Those Clothes

Crazy patterns aside, these girls dress WELL.

Okay, well they dress over-the-top. Remember watching Clueless for the first time and thinking, “WOW, will I dress like that in high school?” and then getting to high school and realizing “no, I won’t dress like that” but you kind of blame it on not being in L.A.?

Well, on Pretty Little Liars it doesn’t matter where you are, you are dressed as if you’re going to a club. Even Emily’s more-casual overall look is nicer than anything I own.

I wore a new dress recently and compared it to “being an extra in a Pretty Little Liars funeral scene.”

Also, Aria and I totally own the same dress…I just didn’t wear enough chunky jewelry with mine.

3. Wish I Had as Many Reasons to Dress in Costume As They Do

And as if their normal school attire weren’t enough, they ALSO wear costumes ALL THE TIME.

Seriously.

No, really.

Like, all the time.

My dream is some kind of perpetual costume party land where I always need to put a new costume together. So maybe my dream land is Rosewood.

Seriously, even in this week’s episode they found a way to get the girls all into wedding dresses. (P.S. Emily was the only one who looked good.)

4. Want a Hanna in My Life

Ashley Benson is awesome and I think Hanna gets pushed aside a lot because she can be ditzy but she’s actually had a pretty rough go of it!

Hanna has some of the best (read: funniest) lines in the series and I love how her personality totally balances out the group. Hanna is my dream friend. Or, maybe I’m the Hanna. Oh gosh. Probably.

5. Love the Guest Stars

Firstly, Hanna’s mom is played by Laura Leighton who is in an amazing episode of Law & Order: SVU playing Sarah Drew’s (from Grey’s Anatomy) mom and sleeping with Hunter Parrish! So I was basically sold on the casting of everything from the start.

Anyway, I love any and all guest stars on anything. I am a SUCKER for them, even. But on Pretty Little Liars the guest stars sometimes feels AIMED at me.

I mean, Larisa Oleynik as Fitz’s baby mama?

And then star of Center Stage, Amanda Schull as Aria’s dad’s mistress? Perfection.

So, whenever someone gives me a weird look for discussing Pretty Little Liars (a supposedly “teen show”) I just point to the guest stars and say, “hey, they know who’s watching.”

Got a secret, can you keep it?

(Main image via, 1st costume pic via, 2nd costume pic via, 3rd costume pic via, Hanna GIF via, Larisa pic via, Meredith pic via)