WARNING: This post contains spoiler photos and book spoilers for Pretty Little Liars.
We are nearing another season finale for Pretty Little Liars and with all the death and dismemberment that has already gone down this season, the writers are going to have to pull out all the stops to shock us more than they already have. The one card they’ve still got up their sleeve, of course, is the identity of Red Coat, the Big A ringleader who has been stalking and murdering double-time this year. And now, thanks to a finale photo dropped by Entertainment Weekly, we know Spencer’s going to be the one to come face-to-face with the truth – in the Chamber of Secrets, of course.
Speculation is wild and rampant about the identity of Red Coat, so I asked our AfterEllen team to weigh in on the mystery.
Dana Piccoli:
Who I think it is: I think it’s Jenna. We know she was with Emily on the Night of a Thousand Nights. She has more motivation to want to hurt them than just about everyone. (i.e. firecracker to the eyeballs). She’s smart and I think she could pull it off. Her being at “another school” sets her up to have plenty o’ time to plan this too. People thought Jenna couldn’t be A because she got the hell out of dodge when Lyndon “Cousin Nate” James got up in her face, but I say, even villains can get scared.
Who I want it to be: Aria. That would be amazing. The sheer betrayal would send the Liars spinning out of control. I highly doubt it is her, but there is something about Aria that has never sat well with me. She is the spawn of Byron Montgomery for crying out loud. Or perhaps its because she couldn’t accessorize for shit. (Sorry, Heathers shout out!) I don’t think getting locked in a box on a train means she’s exempt from suspicion. Team A does not spare its own from punishment (Toby, Garret, Lucus, Mona).
Valerie Anne:
Who I think it is: I change my mind about who Red Coat is more often than the Liars’ parents go Out of Town. First I assumed it was Ali/Vivian Darkbloom, then I thought maybe Cece, then possibly Jenna. I used to think it was Mona, before she started unabashedly threatening people in the light of day with a smile on her face. In the last episode, for a moment, I even thought it might be Toby, using the disguise to get out of dodge after faking his death (I hope). But really it could be anyone! We haven’t seen Mike in a while! Coachpra? Malcom and the little boy from the doll shop on each others’ shoulders? That lesbian Samara brought to the fashion show? EVERYONE’S A SUSPECT.
Who I want it to be: I really, really, really want it to be Ali wandering around in that Red Coat. How perfect would that be? People are chasing and threatening and running each other under with cars like lunatics trying to figure out who killed her, and she’s wandering around in a technicolor dreamcoat right under their noses. However, this relies on my theory that Alison had a twin being true, and that the twin is the one who died, after escaping from her mental institution and parading around as Ali for a little while. It was the only way my poor, confused brain could wrap itself around how Ali was in a thousand places at once on the night she supposedly died. (Note: My twin theory was born from the Halloween story Ali told about the little girl who stabbed her sister and took on a mind of its own thereafter.)
Maggie Rose:
Who I think it is: So I’ve read the books and the spoilers and the guesses and interpreted Marlene King’s smoke signals. My conclusion is that I’m 74% sure that Red Coat is Ali herself. I’m pretty convinced the finale of 3B is going to be a total game changer (ha, like you’ve never heard that before) and that reintroducing Ali or someone who looks a lot like Ali (evil twinsie!) will accomplish that quite nicely.
Who I want it to be: Can I say Jenna? Hear me out. I hate that Jenna has been so absent from the show the last several episodes and this would be a creative way to weave her back into the narrative of the story. Besides, Tammin Sursok can totally pull off the curly blonde bombshell look that we usually love to hate on Ali (as demonstrated in the above photo that I painstakingly found for y’all on the interwebs).
Heather Hogan:
Who I think it is: Well, first of all, I am consumed with Red Coat theories. It’s all I want to think about or talk about to anyone all the time. Friday night at 1:00 a.m., I was absolutely convinced that it was Dr. Sullivan. But now that I’ve had more time to brood over it, I’m like 88 percent sure it’s Ali. From a storytelling perspective, it makes perfect sense. It would blow the show wide open. The new relationship dynamics, the new secrets, the new mysteries, watching Paige finally rain down her wrath on Ali’s face. God, it would be amazing.
Who I want it to be: Heh. Ali. I don’t think I realized how badly I want it to be Ali until I typed that just now.
Lucy Hallowell:
I want the twist to be that Heather Hogan is Red Coat. Like she’s been recapping the show all along and loving Emily and Paige and Maya and Spencer and Hanna and that other girl she always forgets about because she’s off eating a bundt cake but in reality she loves them so much that it has turned her into a deranged maniac who stalks them, but never lays a finger on Paige because her evil kryptonite is head dips. Also, she totally killed Ali for that whole dick head note thing she did to Paige.
OK, #BooRadleyVanCullen-ers: Who do you think Red Coat is? And who do you want it to be?
