In this episode we discuss 3.08, “Stolen Kisses”, and 3.09, “The Kahn Game”, with recurring guest, Dylan! Dylan surprises us with musical analysis, we report on Toby wolf watch, and Cameron makes us play another ridiculous PLL game. We apologize for talking so much about Ezra and his boring problems. Deepa discusses Deepa’s internalized racism fanfiction, and Dylan pulls a tarot card to answer a very important question. Maybe Meredith could just move out of Rosewood? Or commute to work? We decide that symmetry is inherently gay and that gossip is an important community building activity. You can’t trust cops, Bart.

Theme song by Ashok R. Chandran and website by Rainbow Forge.

Chickpeas Oh My Gosh!
Dylan & Deepa’s Art + Literary Analysis
  • The painting shown most prominently in the art exhibition that Aria and Ezra go to is Isle of the Dead by Arnold Böcklin, which turns up several more times across PLL
  • Isle of the Dead is mentioned in the novel Despair by Vladimir Nabokov (also the author of Lolita, as we discussed last season), which is a story about a man who kills his doppelgänger – sort of
  • Isle of the Dead also inspired a 1945 movie by the same name which includes a woman being buried alive, and had the same producer as the film I Walked With a Zombie, which is what Maya and Emily see on their first date 
  • The art exhibition also appears to feature works by Gustav Klimt, Diego Rivera, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Edvard Munch, and Paul Gauguin…all of whom were (or were suspected to be) misogynists and/or abusers of women
The painting "Isle of the Dead" (third version) by Arnold Böcklin, a Swiss symbolist painter. It shows a small island with high rock walls and tall pine trees in the middle.
Isle of the Dead (1883), Arnold Böcklin
Things We Referenced Related to PLL
  • Actor connections: Robbie Amell, who plays Eric Kahn, being the brother of Stephen Amell from Arrow; and Gregg Sulkin, who plays Wes, being in Faking It
  • Charlotte actually being the child of Pastor Ted and Jessica Drake 
  • Alison having a twin in the books
Things We Referenced Completely Unrelated to PLL
  • As usual, so many other teen shows/movies/franchises – Camp Rock, Twilight, Teen Wolf, Smallville, Gossip Girl
  • Symmetrical sex in The Handmaiden and The Rocky Horror Picture Show
  • Dylan wants us to make podcasts about other shows like Supernatural and Merlin, but Deepa refuses
  • We can’t not relate PLL to How to Get Away with Murder apparently; this time it was comparing Spencer forgetting to apply to college to the season where the Keating Five all realize they’re failing law school
  • The Great British Sewing Bee may have inured Deepa to peplum
Fashion Analysis

For best, Cameron liked the backs of two of Aria’s dresses (and only the backs), Dylan enjoyed Aria’s skeleton shirt and Emily’s gay flannel, and Deepa grudgingly settled on Spencer’s (surprise!) bird shirt

The back of Aria’s bright green party dress with interesting cut outs
The back of Aria’s bright green party dress with interesting cut outs
Aria is in a white dress. The white dress has a large rectangle cut out of it exposing her back
Aria is in a white dress. The white dress has a large rectangle cut out of it exposing her back
Aria talking to Spencer in a coffee shop in a black tank top with a ribcage skeleton on it and a gold tank top underneath. She is also wearing a weird bulky metal necklace.
Aria talking to Spencer in a coffee shop in a black tank top with a ribcage skeleton on it and a gold tank top underneath. She is also wearing a weird bulky metal necklace.
Emily looking gay in a red flannel and black tee shirt under it- she has her hands in her hair and she’s talking to Hanna after school
Emily looking gay in a red flannel and black tee shirt under it- she has her hands in her hair and she’s talking to Hanna after school
Spencer walking in a parking lot in a belted white shirt with (surprise!) birds on it. She is wearing her hair down and has a bag over her shoulder.
Spencer walking in a parking lot in a belted white shirt with (surprise!) birds on it. She is wearing her hair down and has a bag over her shoulder.

Astonishingly, we all agreed on worst! We hated Hanna’s red vest and hairdo that was mullet-y, but, like, not a cool gay mullet, a weird straight mullet

Hanna looking at a computer with the other liars. She is wearing a red vest over a multicolored top and a giant belt. Her hair looks bad in a half up-do
Hanna looking at a computer with the other liars. She is wearing a red vest over a multicolored top and a giant belt. Her hair looks bad in a half up-do
Hanna sitting down clasping her hands looking pensive. Her hair looks like almost a mullet but in a bad way.
Hanna sitting down clasping her hands looking pensive. Her hair looks like almost a mullet but in a bad way.

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