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The Perfectionists: Breaking down all the secrets from the premiere

By Mads Lennon

PRETTY LITTLE LIARS: THE PERFECTIONISTS - "Pilot" - Everything about the town of Beacon Heights seems perfect, from its top-tier college to its overachieving residents-but nothing in Beacon Heights is as it appears to be. When the high-stakes environment pushes the residents to a breaking point, someone snaps and kills someone. As they work together to solve the murder mystery, it soon becomes clear that behind every Perfectionist is a secret, a lie-and a needed alibi. (Freeform/Allyson Riggs)JANEL PARRISH
PRETTY LITTLE LIARS: THE PERFECTIONISTS - "Pilot" - Everything about the town of Beacon Heights seems perfect, from its top-tier college to its overachieving residents-but nothing in Beacon Heights is as it appears to be. When the high-stakes environment pushes the residents to a breaking point, someone snaps and kills someone. As they work together to solve the murder mystery, it soon becomes clear that behind every Perfectionist is a secret, a lie-and a needed alibi. (Freeform/Allyson Riggs)JANEL PARRISH /
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The Perfectionists
PRETTY LITTLE LIARS: THE PERFECTIONISTS – “Pilot” –  (Freeform/Allyson Riggs) SYDNEY PARK /

Beacon Guard

Outside of the murder mystery element, there is a sinister university-wide conspiracy going on! You thought this would be plain and simple? Ha! These are the same people who gave Spencer Hastings an evil twin.

Beacon Guard is this crazy Big Brother-style surveillance system installed all over campus. A system Mona is entangled with, as evidenced by her frequent moments of talking to herself! Except she’s not talking to herself, she’s talking to a mini camera implanted somewhere on her person that goes back to a Black Mirror kind of crazy lab filled with mini television screens watching everyone.

Who killed Nolan?

Thus the biggest question of the show (okay I think Beacon Guard may be the bigger question because what the heck is going on!?) is who killed Nolan? By episode’s end, we learn Nolan is aware of the university conspiracy, said conspiracy is one of the reasons his sister had to fake her suicide, and he has plans to meet someone who can help him with Taylor on the roof of Thornhill. Instead, he is pushed off where he falls to a brutal death being impaled on the metal spikes of the fence surrounding the building.

Ironically, or not ironically, Ava, Caitlin, and Dylan were all talking about how they wished Nolan would die and describing their fantasies for how to do it, only moments before. Caitlin pictured the exact method. Did she do it? Maybe.

Right now, everyone is a suspect.

Next. Pretty Little Liars: Where are they now?. dark

Other clues to ponder

  • Alison assigns the Agatha Christie book And Then There Were None to her class. A book that is about a killer who herds a group of strangers to an island and begins picking them off one by one because of sins they’ve committed they were never punished for. The theme of justifiable murder is brought up multiple times in the episode. Clearly, it’s indicative of Nolan’s awful personality, did he deserve what he got? Or is this foreshadowing to a killer who may be meting out punishment to anyone they believe has evaded due process?
  • If Nolan is number five of people Clare is having monitored, who are the other four? Can we assume Dylan, Ava, Caitlin… and perhaps Taylor? Does Claire secretly know her daughter is still alive?
  • Did Nolan see and recognize his attacker or was the attacker wearing a familiar black hoodie and unrecognizable and Nolan just thought he knew who it was since he was expecting to meet someone on the roof? This is a crucial detail to eliminate possible suspects. If Nolan saw his attacker, then we know we can rule out Taylor and Alison since he mentions them as if they aren’t there. If he didn’t see his attacker well, then it really could be anyone.
  • Extraneous boyfriends, I’m looking at you Dylan’s-bf-whose-name-I-didn’t-catch and Eddie Redmayne 2.0, are first on my suspect list!
  • Does all that Beacon Guard tech look familiar? It reminds me of the Uber A bunkers from Pretty Little Liars. Could it all be connected?
  • Desperately curious about the similarities between Alison and Taylor’s appearance, what is Mona’s mission? What did she mean at the end when she asked if this was their fault?

A new episode of Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists titled “Sex, Lies, and Alibis” premieres March 27 on Freeform.

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