Today we’re covering episode 1.18, “The Badass Seed”, and 1.19, “A Person of Interest”! We talk about nature vs. nurture, Melissa Hastings’ motivations, fake abortions in media, how to spot an extra, terrazzo, and, as usual, how much we love Hanna and Caleb.

Content notes: we don’t warn for things that happen in PLL, but from 6:15 to 14:04 we talk about the plot of The Bad Seed, which has murder (including of children), suicide, serial killers, and a cruel reference to capital punishment by electric chair.

Chickpea Recipe
Deepa’s Literary Analysis
  • Here are wikipedia entries for The Bad Seed novel by William March and play by Maxwell Anderson, and a one-act version 
  • According to the PLL wiki, the book Spencer reads in bed is Bloody Tantrums: Child Mysteries, a fake book by Francesca Rollins, the writer of the episode
Things We Referenced Related to PLL
  • Ask Me Another, a radio puzzle game show hosted by Ophira Eisenberg and Jonathan Coulton, which we both loved until it ended in 2021. They mentioned our favorite PLL episode when Adam Lambert was a guest on their 2018 Christmas show!
  • PLL is maybe in the Riverdale universe now because of Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin?
Things We Referenced Completely Unrelated to PLL
  • One of our fans watched My Fake Boyfriend recommends it!
  • There’s a rat epidemic across America
  • A New York Christmas Wedding‘s weird not-abortion storyline
  • Friday Night Lights, with Tim Riggins making memories and Deepa learning what a booster club is
  • Crazy Stupid Love and how Byron and Ezra’s dynamic is like Steve Carrell and Ryan Gosling’s (ew)
  • Motel Makeover, the perfect hate-watch
Fashion Analysis

Cameron’s favorite outfit was Spencer’s poncho-sweater, while Deepa liked Hanna’s outfit for the first play readthrough, but mostly because of the braid! Cameron also liked Hanna’s green lacy shirt

Spencer and Emily are sitting outside at a picnic bench at their school, Emily facing away from the camera. Spencer is smiling and wearing a knitted top that looks like a poncho; it is beige with geometric shapes in orange and black, including three black suns across the center of her chest. She is also wearing earrings and a headband.
Spencer and Emily are sitting outside at a picnic bench at their school, Emily facing away from the camera. Spencer is smiling and wearing a knitted top that looks like a poncho; it is beige with geometric shapes in orange and black, including three black suns across the center of her chest. She is also wearing earrings and a headband.
Spencer, Mona, and Hanna are all sitting on a couch at play rehearsals, each of them with a binder on their laps with their scripts. Spencer is wearing the knitted poncho but now she can see is also wearing brown pants and tall black leather boots. Mona is wearing black wide-collared sweater with a pink shiny heart on it. Hanna has her braided hair, but now we can also see that she is wearing a pale pink sleeveless top with little metal studs dotting it, with dark jeans and black leather boots.
Spencer, Mona, and Hanna are all sitting on a couch at play rehearsals, each of them with a binder on their laps with their scripts. Spencer is wearing the knitted poncho but now she can see is also wearing brown pants and tall black leather boots. Mona is wearing black wide-collared sweater with a pink shiny heart on it. Hanna has her braided hair, but now we can also see that she is wearing a pale pink sleeveless top with little metal studs dotting it, with dark jeans and black leather boots.
Close-up on Hanna, who is sitting on a couch looking to the side, while Emily is kneeling down behind the couch, leaning her arms on the couch, looking at Hanna. Hanna’s hair is side-parted and partially braided across the top of her head, but left loose at the ends.
Close-up on Hanna, who is sitting on a couch looking to the side, while Emily is kneeling down behind the couch, leaning her arms on the couch, looking at Hanna. Hanna’s hair is side-parted and partially braided across the top of her head, but left loose at the ends.
Hanna is standing in the room that they are using for rehearsals, with a rack of costumes visible behind her, looking determined. She is wearing a dark green short-sleeved top with a scoop neck and a lacy bit at the scoop.
Hanna is standing in the room that they are using for rehearsals, with a rack of costumes visible behind her, looking determined. She is wearing a dark green short-sleeved top with a scoop neck and a lacy bit at the scoop.

We were in exact agreement on worst outfits: while we found Aria’s tuxedo shirt objectionable, at least in the setting she was wearing it in, we ultimately hated her weird frilly white shirt with a red cardigan (blazer?) more

Aria is sitting on the floor looking thoughtfully off into the distance. She is wearing a spaghetti-strap tank top (with her pink bra straps showing as well) that is meant to look like a tuxedo, with a white portion and buttons and a little bow tie, while the rest of the top is black.
Aria is sitting on the floor looking thoughtfully off into the distance. She is wearing a spaghetti-strap tank top (with her pink bra straps showing as well) that is meant to look like a tuxedo, with a white portion and buttons and a little bow tie, while the rest of the top is black.
Aria is standing in the doorway of a classroom at Rosewood High, looking alarmed. She is wearing a white lacy top that goes up to her neck like a half-turtleneck, and over that she is wearing a read cardigan or blazer that she is wearing buttoned, which goes down pas her waist. She is also wearing a very large ring on one of her fingers that looks like a gold and black circular stone.
Aria is standing in the doorway of a classroom at Rosewood High, looking alarmed. She is wearing a white lacy top that goes up to her neck like a half-turtleneck, and over that she is wearing a read cardigan or blazer that she is wearing buttoned, which goes down pas her waist. She is also wearing a very large ring on one of her fingers that looks like a gold and black circular stone.

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Close-up shot of Aria looking annoyed. We can see just the shoulders of the black lacy short-sleeved dress that she is wearing. Her hair is in a ponytail with some strands artfully arranged around her face. She is wearing red lipstick and dangly earrings with some kind of quartz-like stone on them

Episodes 1.14 & 1.15: “The Rich Girls Steal and the Pretty Girls Lie”

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Today we discuss episodes 1.14 “Careful What U Wish 4”, and 1.15 “If at First You Don’t Succeed, Lie, Lie Again”. We get extremely excited about the arrival of a new character (zero guesses who), compare PLL to like five other teen dramas from around the world, reference Tiktok memes that are years-old now because…

Emily is sitting at a table in the cafeteria, looking concerned. She is wearing a green long-sleeved top and white-ish vest, but more importantly, she is wearing a knitted gray/off-white beanie that is huge.

Episodes 1.16 & 1.17: “I Like Complicated”

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We have a special guest on to discuss episodes 1.16 “Je Suis Une Amie” and 1.17 “The New Normal”! Our conversation goes all over the place and covers water sports (lol), homophobia, the benefits of journaling, the lack of ginger representation, and power dynamics between Hanna and Caleb. Even if you try, we don’t think…

Aria on the steps of the school with Spencer and Hanna. Aria looks shocked and is wearing an all burgundy outfit: a dress that has three-quarter sleeves and is sheer at the top with a vertical striped slip underneath, while the skirt portion is pleated. She’s also wearing a burgundy headband with a bow and a long necklace with black and burgundy beads.

Episodes 2.10 & 2.11: “The Doctor Is Out”

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This week we discuss episodes 2.10, “Touched By an ‘A’-ngel” and 2.11, “I Must Confess”. Our best friend Heather Hogan has a hot new job! We chat about Mona’s meticulousness, Maya’s return, bad bobbleheads that relate to your profession, and whether Garrett killed Ian. We share PLL entries from our wine notebook, Deepa sees a…

Emily sitting on the ground looking stunned while the other Liars crouch around her, looking worried. Emily is wearing a light blue sleeveless dress with off-the-shoulder sleeves and small white polka dots

Episodes 2.12 & 2.13: “Trick or Treat, Aria”

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We’re back again, bitches! Episodes 2.12 (“Over My Dead Body”) and 2.13 (“The First Secret”) are wildly different and we treat them as such. The first has it all: creepy dolls! Ali visitation! Stopping weddings! Answers to lingering questions! But Emily’s appropriative Halloween costume in the second episode makes us sad and mad, and Deepa…

Shot of the four Liars walking down the school hallways together. Hanna is wearing a pale green ruffly top with a blazer over it, black shorts, and black strappy platform heels

Episodes 1.02 & 1.03: “Sometimes the Truth Is Worse”

ByChickpeas Podcast

In this episode, we covered episodes 1.02, “The Jenna Thing”, and 1.03, “To Kill A Mocking Girl”, featuring a whole lot of ableism, a bunch of new characters showing up (and one immediately leaving), the first of many parties at Noel Kahn’s cabin, us being forever angry about abusers and the carceral nature of this…