RIP Mona Vanderwaal

Tuesday night, “Pretty Little Liars” lost Mona Vanderwaal, the original “A” and the character we love to hate.

I have to admit, Mona was probably my favorite on the show.  Mona was such a complex character.  She could be diabolically evil, but she also had such vulnerability and sadness.  Janel Parrish really brought out so many layers to Mona.  Of all the liars on the show, Mona was honestly one of the last ones that I wanted to see die.

Any hope of seeing Mona return to “Pretty Little Liars”?  Janel has said that Mona is absolutely dead.  This isn’t some kind of fake-out, like back in season 3 when Spencer thought Toby was dead.  However, Janel will be returning to PLL as Mona in flashbacks.    

I’ll always love the episode when Hanna and Mona go horseback riding in an attempt to bond with Hanna’s stepsister, Kate.  Mona gives Hanna tips on survival and Hanna says “when there’s a nuclear war, I guess it’s gonna be Mona and a million cockroaches."  Hands down, this was probably my favorite Mona episode.  Mona was both hilarious and genuinely seemed to want to help Hanna.  At the same time, we know she was “A”.  Such complexities.

The sad part of Mona’s death is that there are so many unresolved Mona issues.  Was anyone else hoping Mona and Hanna might repair their friendship?  Mona and Hanna’s relationship has been complicated.  After all, Mona rammed Hanna with her car at her birthday party.  Yet there were also some genuinely sweet moments where Mona seemed to really care about Hanna.  And it seemed like maybe Hanna and Aria were starting to warm up to Mona.  It would have been great to see Mona and Mike’s relationship develop a bit more, too.  And adding Mona to the core Liars group would have made for a great team with a fighting chance against "A".

So rest in peace Mona Vanderwaal.  She went down helping the Liars, so maybe she redeemed herself a little before she was killed off?  At least she got to apologize to the Liars for being the original “A”.

Who else is devastated that Mona Vanderwaal was killed off?