Pretty Little Liars Mona vanderwal was introduced as the it girl archetype pretty popular and shallow but over the course of the show's Seven Seasons we got to see that she has many more sides to her oh honey that was like two personalities ago sure she's the original a who kept the sadistic game that kept the Liars Arya Montgomery Emily Fields Spencer Hastings and Hannah Marin in a choke hold for the first two seasons but when we think about the highly intelligent self-aware person that she is is she was actually kind of right about high school
and the world in general being an unforgiving place where just one person can make you feel like a Perpetual Outsider when you don't feel anything it must be really fun to mess with somebody who feels a lot Allison picked you because you care and she can't so let's look at how Mona's understanding of human psychology and social politics surprisingly made her a lot more interesting and complex than a lot of people gave her credit for the Mona vanderwal we meet in the pilot episode is not at all what she seems on the outside she's your
typical fashionista bad girl who has no qualms about breaking the rules or the law to get what she wants like shoplifting with her best friend Hannah but then we learn that these two used to be loser Mona and Hefty Hannah nicknames courtesy of Allison delarentis the queen bee of Rosewood high and ultimate mean girl Menace it was just an accident is that what the doctors told your mom and dad at the hospital before her disappearance Allison spent her days ruining the lives of of teens and adults alike like everyone else Mona was on the receiving
end of her incessant cruelty Mona and Hannah were Middle School BFFs until Allison chose Hannah to be part of her click Mona was then teased for wanting to be accepted into the friend group too ignored and straight up bullied for her looks Mona there are cancer patients with better hair if I were you and I'm happy that I'm not I would stop trying the show wasn't the best at fully depicting all the ways Ally dehumanized Mona leading some viewers to think Mona's Revenge was a serious overreaction however it wasn't just because Ally gave her a
mean nickname Allison stole my life for me when she crowned me rosewood's Biggest Loser and she was so convincing even I started to believe her Mona feared and idolized Allison but most of all hated how insignificant she made her feel Mona decided to make her Tormentor feel a different kind of fear by sending threatening taxt messages anonymously and succeeded in scaring her out of town on the very eventful night Ally went missing Mona even made it seem like she was rescuing her from this mysterious person who wanted her dead in return she was rewarded with
advice and resources to become more popular ditch the glasses and the barrettes have Kim at the salon do your hair and ask for C at the makeup counter buy everything she tells you to and never go to school without your face on Mona eliminated her biggest obstacle and in turn made room for herself to take over she had a major glow up trading in glasses and knee socks for heels and shedding her nerdy reputation and then gives Hannah an alley upgrade too on some level she may have wanted to truly help Hannah become more confident
see everything's better with a friend but Mona also selfishly wanted to create a new Allison one that she could control the transition from loser Mona to popular Mona wasn't just about Aesthetics Mona understood the ins and outs of societal expectations and that to win the approval of her peers she needed to follow the Allison blueprint this even included turning around and treating others in the exact same way that made her so miserable in the first place bullying her classmates just as she had been bullied before even if it's maybe less out of her own genuine
desire and more because she feels it's expected of her in her new elevated station that still doesn't make it okay what has he ever done to you besides remind you that two short years ago we were him he bugs me well I think you're the one who needs trip to Oz see if the wizard can find you a heart but we can see how effective it is in this vicious High School world and it did end up having a more positive flip side as she developed the confidence to put people in their place who deserved
it I don't know what's more pathetic people who gossip or people who listen to gossip Mona also knew what part to play how and when to put certain people at ease while quietly intimidating others she had a wide variety of skills but she knew which ones to display and which ones to keep hidden her skills in deception and computer hacking were highlighted when she helped Emily blackmail the school principal into letting her back on the swim team was that you who called me down here I even recognize your voice yes I know it's a gift
she went undetected as a by embodying an unassuming vapid fashionista Persona not the secret Mastermind with a major Grudge you're not the only genius in this car you underestimated me but lurking underneath that more modest version of Mona was the real her the hoodie clad villain we see in full a mode in the season 2 finale angry calculating and completely unhinged you just deserved everything you got stole my only friend there are deeper issues at play as well Mona is a victim of Pretty Little Liar frustrating habit of misrepresenting and stigmatizing mental illness she's Often
misdiagnosed by the show and viewers as a sociopath and or someone with disassociative identity disorder despite not really meeting the criteria of either and the show doesn't ever really unpack or analyze her problems on any real level after she's treated and released from Radley sanitarium the town archaic mental hospital she returns to school as reformed Mona to gain sympathy among her peers but I know that there's still bad blood between us and I know that I have to earn your trust and prove that I'm worthy but I will you'll see she insists that she's better
now though she's already in cahoots with the new a in season 3 Mona officially stops trying to emulate a version of Allison and becomes more like her true if still troubled self High School is no longer about dominating the social h hierarchy and fighting to remain safely at the top of the food chain she enters the brainy brunette era fully embracing and flaunting the intelligence that she had before felt the need to hide she even battles it out against Spencer to be team captain for the academic de cathlon and wins I played dumb for a
really long time Spencer not going to do that anymore this is a chance to show people who I really am Mona's stin as an anonymous Tormentor proved that she had a unique skill set especially for a teenager but she isn't just book smart techsavvy and a master manipulator she's also highly emotionally intelligent though this is often overlooked due to her struggles with mental illness when someone shows me who they are I believe them I don't need to be taught a lesson more than once everyone in town knew that Ally was a piece of work but
Mona understood her on a deeper level she knew how her Twisted mind worked how much power she had and what she could do with it while the Liars struggled to understand why Allison chose them to be her loyal friends Mona knew exactly what made them special to her Allison would have gotten bored with any one of you but altogether we a challenge even as time went on and Mona came to feel more secure in herself and her abilities she never lost sight of this reality or what she knew Allison was truly capable of when Allison
returned to Rosewood in season 5 Mona was afraid again because she understood the influence Ali still held over everyone Mona knew she needed a plan to try to deal with it so she went on the offense assembling an army of fellow victims of Allison that is the last time I underestimate that Mona might not be a villain who people think deserves a Redemption Arc but after season 3 she's off the a team and determined to redeem herself by protecting her former victims from bigger threats understandably they keep her at a distance but they also use
her immense talents to figure out the identity of big a the person who took over the game Hannah is the only one to show any real appreciation while the others expect MOA to help because of everything she put them through like hitting Hannah with a car but she genuinely saw Hannah as her closest maybe only friend because Hannah understands this on some level and because this is a soapy teen drama and not meant to mirror real life they're able to keep that connection even after everything though Mona mostly maintains her ambiguous villain status she eventually
begins to evolve into somewhat of an anti-hero she confesses to killing detective Wen who constantly harassed the girls to keep Hannah's mom out of jail in season 5 she plans an elaborate scheme to catch big a by trying to fake her own death however she was double crossed and kidnapped then presumed dead until the Liars are captured and held captive in an underground bunker aka the dollhouse and find Mona playing along with Big A's sick game to survive it thinks it beat me but I'm still here I'm the one who's winning the game once again
she's able to use her ability to understand the Criminal Mind to help them all Escape even though Mona always longed to be a part of the friend group deep down she likely knew that she works better as a lone wolf still she continued to thanklessly put her herself and her mental well-being at risk to help the Liars throughout season 6 and 7 I have literally bled myself for you Hannah trying to protect you how many times do have to save all of you until I'm finally part of the group granted much of the a related
blackmail implicates her so her involvement is also self-preservation when ad the show's third Anonymous antagonist sends the Liars an elaborate board game Hannah enlists the help of Mona again knowing she wouldn't be able to resist something this complex and itic although she admires the Ingenuity and craftsmanship Mona rightfully resists because she knows herself well enough to see this for what it is a major trigger that will cause her to regress which is exactly what happens unlike many of the characters on Pretty Little Liars Mona vanderwal actually grows as a person each season even when others
don't see it or believe it she learns from her mistakes comes to recognize her triggers knows how to read people and knows how to use her strengths to stay five steps ahead of everyone else in the spin-off show Pretty Little Liars The perfectionists Mona works at Beacon Heights University and chooses her former High School Nemesis to join the faculty as a teaching assistant because she knows that like her Allison has matured and just wants to leave the past behind I came here because I needed a fresh start it's a lot easier to earn people's trust
when you haven't already given them reasons not to trust you Story of My Life Mona and her eventual surprisingly sweet kinship with Allison shows us that mean girls can change for the better and can even learn learn to use their mean girl powers for good that's the take click here to watch a video we think you'll love or here to check out a whole playlist of awesome content don't forget to subscribe and turn on notifications and make sure to subscribe to our patreon for exclusive new videos and make sure to subscribe to our patreon for
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