"Till Death Do Us Part" is the series finale of Pretty Little Liars, which premiered on the Freeform network in the United States on June 27, 2017. The twentieth episode of the seventh season and the 160th overall, it was directed by showrunner I. Marlene King, who also co-wrote the episode alongside Kyle Bown and Maya Goldsmith. Shortly after the two-hour final episode, a special titled "A-List Wrap Party" was aired, in which the main cast and King talked about the show's end and behind-the-scenes exclusives.
In the episode, the Liars finally discover the identity of their tormentor, as Spencer (Troian Bellisario) discovers she has an identical twin sister named Alex Drake, who is revealed to be the anonymous "A.D." wanting to avenge Charlotte's death and take over Spencer's life as an impersonator due to her jealousy of the life that her sister has.
The episode opened to lukewarm reviews from critics. Alex Drake's introduction and subsequent reveal as the series' final antagonist was met with a deeply polarizing response. Some viewers expressed dissatisfaction in regards to Alex's backstory and motives. Upon its initial airing, the episode was viewed by 1.41 million Americans and garnered a 0.7/2 Nielsen rating/share in the 18–49 demographic. The total viewership and ratings for this episode were considerably higher than the previous episode, and slightly higher than the sixth-season finale, a year earlier.
Contents
Plot
At night, the Liars are shown at an establishment discussing the fact that the truth about who was behind Uber A's mask never came out. Lucas appears in a white tuxedo tap dancing, while Jenna is riding a horse. The girls begin to talk about random and funny things until snow starts to fall from the sky and it is revealed that the previous scenes were the product of Mona's imagination, who is holding a snow globe in an unknown room at the Welby State Hospital. An "A.D." then appears and Mona drops the globe, breaking it instantly, as she gets surprised when she realizes who's there.
In 2018, one year after the events of "Farewell, My Lovely", Ezra and Aria are discussing their book and its soon-to-be film adaptation in the Warner Bros. Television backlot. Now famous due to their book's worldwide success, they kiss and are photographed by a bunch of fans in a cart (staff writers of PLL in a group cameo). The scene then jumps to the DiLaurentis house, where Emily and her high school sweetheart Alison are living a family life, taking care of the recently born Lily and Grace. Alison tells Emily she is going to a meeting, but instead she goes to the Radley to talk with Emily's mother, Pam, about their relationship and how both Alison and Pam are happy about it. Spencer and Melissa have a sisterly moment together as Spencer sees Toby approaching her pickup truck which used to be Toby's pickup. They talk about his return to Rosewood after he left to travel around countries with Spencer and Alison's half-brother Jason. At the school, Alison discusses with Addison, who jokes about Alison's friend Aria. While leaving the room, Addison is pressed down by Alison, who threatens her. After, Alison observes Addison's clique while Emily approaches and the two ask student Claire if Addison was bullying her, which she denies. Jenna then approaches Addison, who jokes about her blindness, and Jenna argues with her, saying she can smell a bitch a mile away. Addison's clique leaves and Jenna passes by Alison and Emily, who smile to her in joy. After Mona was released from the psychiatric hospital, she is accepted by Hanna in her loft, which jeopardizes Hanna's relationship with Caleb, who thinks Hanna has done enough for Mona. Hanna and Caleb leave Mona in the apartment to go to a surprise dinner planned by Spencer, who remodeled the Lost Woods Resort into a modern establishment. There, they eat and have fun remembering good times in their lives. The camera soon shows someone in a black hoodie watching them. The person turns around and is revealed to be Melissa. However, she walks in the forest and it is revealed that "Melissa" is a mask, revealing the person underneath to be Mona, who is back on the A Team. The couples, meanwhile, retire to their rooms. Later, Spencer finds Aria crying in the living room, who reveals to the Liars that she is sterile. In the woods, Mona, who overheard Aria's news, starts talking with A.D. through FaceTime and tries to convince them to use the information against Aria. A.D. refuses to use the information and also refuses to divulge their identity to Mona at that time. The next morning, Hanna and Caleb arrive home and find Mona gone only to have her appear from the bathroom, claiming to have been in the shower. Meanwhile, Aria reveals her condition to Ezra.
Development
The story was drafted by series creator I. Marlene King and Kyle Bown, while its teleplay was composed by King and executive producer Maya Goldsmith. This is the only season finale not entirely written solely by King. The episode was aired as a two-hour special event. Directed by King, it was filmed in October 2016 in and around Los Angeles, California, mostly on the backlot of the Warner Bros. studio lot in Burbank. Filming started in October 5 and wrapped in October 26, marking it the last day of filming for Pretty Little Liars ever. Scenes at the set for the fictional Lost Woods Resort were filmed.
On August 29, 2016, King and the principal cast of the series announced that Pretty Little Liars was ending after the seventh season. King also announced that it would start airing the second half of the season later than usual, in April 2017 and that the series finale would be a two-hour episode event. On October 26, 2016, it was reported that a tell-all special would be aired after the series finale, during which the main cast members and King would talk about the show with behind-the-scenes exclusives.
Casting
"Till Death Do Us Part" saw the return of several past recurring characters, including Holly Marie Combs and Chad Lowe as Ella and Byron Montgomery, Mary Page Keller as Dianne Fitzgerald, Torrey DeVitto as Melissa Hastings, Julian Morris as Wren Kingston, Keegan Allen as Toby Cavanaugh, Lesley Fera as Veronica Hastings, Vanessa Ray as Charlotte Drake, Brendan Robinson as Lucas Gottesman, Huw Collins as Archer Dunhill, Jim Titus as Barry Maple, Ava Allan as Addison Derringer, Tammin Sursok as Jenna Marshall, and Nia Peeples as Pam Fields.
The episode also features Sydney Sweeney as Willa, Celesse Rivera as Hadley St. Germain, Raquel McPeek as Claire, and Dalton Cyr as Luke. Showrunner I. Marlene King, her wife Shari Rosenthal, and their sons Atticus and Emerson have cameo roles in the episode.
Reception
Critical response
Jessica Goldstein of Vulture gave the episode a 3 out of 5 stars rating, writing a mixed review for it. Gavin Hetherington highlighted some lines of the episode, praising Mona's triumph over "A.D.", commenting: "Mona hasn't really changed in her obsession with playing with dolls (and people), and it was just beautiful justice here. No more loser Mona. She won this one."
Carolina Preece of Den of Geek disliked the episode, but praised the show as a whole, writing, "At its best, Pretty Little Liars was a Taylor Swift song, a Hitchcock movie, a philosophy lecture and a soap opera all at once. It was somehow about fluid identities, self-actualisation and how the patriarchy is crushing us all at the same time as being about fashion and dating." She also glorified Mona character, titling it "the best thing the show ever did."
Some television critics were welcoming towards the introduction of Spencer's identical twin sister. Gavin Hetherington of SpoilerTV enjoyed Alex's reveal as "A.D." and her connection to Spencer, stating it was "actually well done." Yana Grebenyuk of TVFanatic echoes the same sentiments of praise, writing that "Alex delivered above and beyond what a Spencer twin could have actually turned out to be. She was truly everything A.D. should have been, including ruthless and ready to kill anyone in her way."
Conversely, Isabella Biedenharn of Entertainment Weekly was unhappy towards some of Alex's characteristics, asking herself: "did she really need to have a Cockney accent?! Couldn’t she just be regular British, if she had to be British at all?" While writing for Vulture, Goldstein gave the character introduction an unfavorable review, saying: "For me, it came way too late in the game to pack any punch, except for the punch she used to knock Spencer out. The idea that Alex wants to single white female Spencer because she’s jealous that Spencer won the parent lottery — which is really saying something about that lousy orphanage, considering Mr. Hastings’s whole deal — is not exactly all that original or exciting of a concept."
Ratings
"Till Death Do Us Part" was viewed by 1.41 million viewers upon its first broadcast, acquiring a 0.7 Nielsen rating/share among the 18–49 demographic. It was second most watched episode of the season, and was slightly up from the sixth-season finale a year ago.
The "A-List Wrap Party" special was watched by 0.62 million viewers.