Alison DiLaurentis

Alison Lauren DiLaurentis
Pretty Little Liars character

Sasha Pieterse as Alison DiLaurentis.
First appearance Novel:
Pretty Little Liars (2006)
Television:
"Pilot" (episode 1.01)[1]
Created by Sara Shepard
Portrayed by Sasha Pieterse (young/adult)
Isabella Rice (child)
Born June 6, 1993 (age 23)
Rosewood, Pennsylvania
Information
Nickname(s) "A"
Ali
Ali D.
Queen Bee
Queen of Mean
Aliases Vivian Darkbloom
Red Coat
Marnie Winter
Rebecca Kelly
Holly Varjak
Gender Female
Occupation High school teacher
Family
Spouse(s) Archer Dunhill/Elliott Rollins (deceased; illegally married)
Significant other(s)
Relatives

Alison Lauren "Ali" DiLaurentis is a fictional character in the Pretty Little Liars novel series, introduced in the original series of novels and also appearing in the television adaptation. In both the beginnings of books and television series, Alison is a central character who is shown mostly in flashbacks.[2] The entire plot of the series begins when Alison mysteriously disappears and leaves the small town of Rosewood in shock. Due to her position as a queen bee of Rosewood's social scene, Alison's actions and relations and constantly under scrutiny from the town's citizens. Sasha Pieterse, who portrays the character on screen, has described Alison as an indecisive person, even showing herself as a ruthless, manipulative girl.[3]

Throughout the first three seasons of the television series, DiLaurentis mostly appears in flashbacks and hallucinations. The character plays a more prominent role from the fourth season onwards.[4] In the novel series, Alison's the main antagonist, while on screen she changes her actions and turns out to be a victim too. Alison was the main antagonist for a portion of the fifth season of the television series, when she began working against the Liars. Alison returned to being a protagonist by the end of the season.

Casting

The Hollywood Reporter noted that Sasha Pieterse along with Torrey DeVitto landed recurring roles in the pilot which The Alloy website later confirmed that Pieterse would be playing Alison DiLaurentis.[5]

Development

Characterization

DiLaurentis was the former "Queen Bee" of her clique and the most popular girl in school before her disappearance. Although she cared for her friends, she enjoyed using their strongest secrets against them to keep them together. Charming and manipulative, DiLaurentis was skilled at finding ways to get back at everyone, and many people hated her.[6] She knew everybody's secrets, but since she's been gone her friends are beginning to realize they actually knew nothing deep about her.[6]

Sasha Pieterse (the actress that portrays Alison DiLaurentis) confirmed that DiLaurentis's character and personality have drastically changed; She has to "figure out who she is. She's been hiding for so long, and she's a victim now".[3] "Alison's a totally different person, so to see the way they treat her is going to be very interesting and to see the way that she gets affected by it is also going to be very interesting," Pieterse says.[7] I. Marlene King, the creator of the show, confirmed that DiLaurentis is an "outsider" in her own group and that really is thematically; she also said "The girls are talking about something very light and simple and Alison can't relate to it because it's not the world she's been living in".[8]

Relationships

In an effort to escape “A” for a little while, DiLaurentis headed to Hilton Head with Ian. But their weekend rendezvous was ruined when Melissa showed up, angry for Ian’s betrayal with DiLaurentis.[9] Overhearing Ian’s conversation and reconciliation with Melissa, DiLaurentis chose to escape through the balcony, but not before stealing some files off of Ian’s computer.[9] Besides a video of her, she discovered a video labeled “Jenna & Toby.” “There's nothing wrong with us,” Jenna says in the video as she wraps her arms around Toby. “We’re not even related.” Before her disappearance DiLaurentis and Ian met up at the "Kissing Rock" in which she said, after hooking up with Ian, “This is just me killing time while I’m waiting for something better to come along … You and Melissa deserve each other. She’s such a bitch.” DiLaurentis threatens to send him to jail if he or Melissa doesn’t stop with the threatening messages, leaving Ian to stalk off.[9] Signing the end of the relationship.

DiLaurentis has been romantically linked with Ezra Fitz.[9] Ezra became fascinated with her after meeting her at a pub near Hollis, and while the pair didn’t have a sexual relationship, Ezra was set on writing a book about her.[9] On the night of her disappearance, Ezra pulled up unexpected, confronting her about her lies. Turns out DiLaurentis told him that she was a 21-year-old student at UPenn and roommates with CeCe. “God help me, Alison, I actually like you,” he told her. “I just don’t want to see you get hurt.”[9]

In Season 6, DiLaurentis befriends Toby's new partner on the police force. DiLaurentis quickly takes an interest in Lorenzo. Lorenzo agrees to protect her, and asks her to be in a relationship with her. She agrees, but the relationship is later rejected by her father. They breakup when DiLaurentis goes behind Lorenzo's back, and uses his key card to sneak into the police station and look through confidential items. DiLaurentis is heartbroken, but Lorenzo is persuaded by Spencer to take DiLaurentis to the prom. He agrees, but does not get to meet her there, due to DiLaurentis and Charles meeting for the first time.

Five years later, DiLaurentis is dating Elliott Rollins, who was Charlotte's doctor while she was at the Welby State Psychiatric Hospital. In the beginning they decided to keep their relationship a secret due to the fact that she was dating her sister's former doctor, but that changed after they made the decision to get married. Aria Montgomery married the pair after completing a course online to become an ordained minister. In the season six finale, Ali checks herself into the same institution Charlotte was because she believes that she is seeing her mother (who died in season 4) and Detective Wilden (who also died in season 4). She thinks that she is going crazy when she sees them in her house but it turns out to be Jessica's twin sister and Charlotte's birth mother, Mary Drake, and Elliott who was wearing a realistic Wilden mask, all part of Mary and Elliott's plan to get Carissimi Group's money. It is revealed that he and Charlotte were in love with each other.

Rivalries and friendships

DiLaurentis is known for her rivalries with Jenna Marshall, Mona Vanderwaal, Toby Cavanaugh, Byron Montgomery, Melissa Hastings, Paige McCullers and often with friend Spencer Hastings.[10][11] DiLaurentis originally offered Jenna to join her clique, but was rejected leading DiLaurentis and The Liars to blinding Jenna, which later became known as "The Jenna Thing".[10][11][12] DiLaurentis is known to be cruel as she bullied Mona Vanderwaal leading her to become obsessed with, stalk and cyberbully DiLaurentis leading her to become "A".[1][11] DiLaurentis became enraged with Toby Cavanaugh when he kicked her out of his house leading DiLaurentis to blackmailing Toby to take the blame for "The Jenna Thing", though he would later thank her due to Jenna wanting to have a sexual relationship with him.[10][11] DiLaurentis would take the opportunity to blackmail Aria's father, Byron Montgomery, after seeing him cheat on Aria's mother, desperate to keep her from telling Ella the truth, Bryon paid DiLaurentis to keep quiet.[11] Spencer's sister Melissa became enraged after finding out Ian was cheating on her with DiLaurentis, Melissa was also in DiLaurentis' bedroom the night she disappeared as well as joining Mona's army against DiLaurentis.[11]

Disappearance

After recalling her many false “A” accusations (first Jenna, then Toby, then every member of the PLLs), DiLaurentis revealed what actually happened the night she went missing, including all the people she encountered along the way.[11] It was eventually revealed how she was buried, after she was hit over the head by her sister, CeCe/Charlotte Drake, who thought it was Bethany Young. Mrs. DiLaurentis, who saw the whole thing, buried her alive in order to cover for Charlotte.[11] The night DiLaurentis disappeared, Aria, Hanna and Emily later wake up from their sleep and realize Spencer and DiLaurentis are both missing.[1] Spencer then returns to tell the other girls that she looked for DiLaurentis everywhere and thinks she heard her scream.[1] After Carla Grunwald pulled DiLaurentis out of the ground, DiLaurentis eventually ran off where she was found by Mona. That’s when Mona concocted the whole plan for DiLaurentis to “die” in order to unmask “A.”[11] Following this, the girls narrowly escaped a masked assailant; unfortunately, Ezra was shot while trying to save the girls.[11][lower-alpha 1]

Return to Rosewood

DiLaurentis returns to Rosewood in Season 5, after the police discover she's alive. However, DiLaurentis ends up in prison, after Mona, who claimed to have proof that DiLaurentis was "A", is supposedly murdered by a blonde.[7] DiLaurentis's charges are eventually dropped after the police discover Mona is actually being held captive by "A", who is revealed to be DiLaurentis's older brother Charles. Charles is later discovered to have transitioned into a female, CeCe Drake, whose real name is Charlotte DiLaurentis.

Over the years, Alison develops a bond with Charlotte, but when Charlotte is killed, Alison becomes desperate to find the killer, and when Hanna, Spencer, Aria, and Emily begin to show signs of suspicion, Alison begins to fear that her friends may have had something to do with Charlotte's death.

Reception

Following the events of "A is for Answers", Autumne Montague of TVOvermind lauded Pieterse’s character for her self-awareness in having admitted to not be a good friend, calling it "refreshing from a girl who in flashbacks seemed simply self-absorbed." [13]

Notes

  1. ↑ Mona Vanderwaal, CeCe Drake and Shana knew DiLaurentis was still alive after her disappearance.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Pretty Little Liars - Pilot". ABC Family. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  2. ↑ ""Pretty Little Liars" Star Sasha Pieterse on Playing a Living, Breathing Alison DiLaurentis". Cosmopolitan. 8 July 2014. Retrieved 12 June 2016.
  3. 1 2 Wayne, Julia. "Sasha Pieterse and Lucy Hale Talk Ali's Return to Rosewood in Season 5 (VIDEO)". Wet Paint. Retrieved 23 March 2014.
  4. ↑ Burt, Kayti. "Pretty Little Liars Season 4 Spoilers: More Sasha Pieterse, Anyone?". Wetpaint. Retrieved April 8, 2013.
  5. ↑ "Pretty Little Liars on TV!". Alloy Entertainment. January 28, 2010. Retrieved January 29, 2010.
  6. 1 2 Pieterse, Sasha. "Alison Dilaurentis by Sasah Pieterse - ABC Family". ABCFamily. Retrieved 20 March 2014.
  7. 1 2 Bently, Jean. "'Pretty Little Liars' Season 5: Ali's return will 'shake Rosewood'". blog zap2it. Retrieved 23 March 2014.
  8. ↑ Reiher, Andrea. "'Pretty Little Liars' Season 5 scoop: Melissa's secret, Jason and Mona as suspects and more with EP Marlene King". Retrieved 5 April 2014.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Remling, Amanda. "'Pretty Little Liars' Season 4 Spoilers: What Really Happened The Night Alison Went Missing [SEASON FINALE RECAP]". International Business Times. Online Version. Retrieved 20 March 2014.
  10. 1 2 3 Lansky, Sam. "Recap Roundup: Episode 1.2, "The Jenna Thing"". Wet Paint. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Swift, Andy. "Pretty Little Liars Season Finale Recap: Shot Through the Heart, But Who's to Blame?". TVLine. Retrieved 19 March 2014.
  12. ↑ Gajewski, Ryan. "Pretty Little Liars Season 2, Episode 13 Recap: Lucas Attacks Alison!". WetPaint. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
  13. ↑ Montague, Autumne (March 19, 2014). "Pretty Little Liars 4.24 Review: "A is for Answers"". TVOvermind. Retrieved May 14, 2014.

External links

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