WARNING: this is VERY complicated. I emphasise VERY, especially towards the end. We are dealing with an insanely intricate storyline here. Well done PLL writers; this is the detail I’ve been hoping for! I’ve tried to simplify it as best as I can, I hope it is understandable.
701 gave us a LOT of insight into who Mary Drake really is. She is not an evil character! She’s here to take back her daughter; Spencer!
First of all: interesting choice of hair colour by the writers. I know Spencer is blurred in this pic, but that doesn’t hide the instant resemblance between Spencer and Mary that the writers wanted to establish.
Hope you like it!
Spencer: have we met?
Mary: a long time ago, but you wouldn’t remember.
We start off with a bang.
Generally when people say “but you wouldn’t remember” it is because the person was very young. It is possible that the time they met was when Mary gave birth to Spencer, hence she “wouldn’t remember” because she was only a baby.
Mary: I’ve never been one to turn down caffeine.
Again with the hints Mary and Spencer are alike. We all know Spencer loves caffeine. I quote Spencer from season 2: “I need caffeine!” Subtle, absolutely minor clue, but still worth mentioning.
Spencer: when did you see my parents last? I only ask because they never talked about you.
Mary: I know enough about your family to know that they’re excellent secret keepers.
Spencer: why would they keep you a secret?
How could Mary possibly know that Spencer’s parents are excellent secret keepers if they haven’t seen each other for so long? Mary knows they are excellent secret keepers because Spencer doesn’t know the truth as to who her real mother is. She still thinks Veronica is her mother!
I felt sympathy for Mary here. Almost as if “your ‘parents’ are excellent at lying to you”.
Mary: the truth is my sister and I didn’t get along. I moved away because she turned everyone against me. My friends. My family.
This is where it gets complicated, and a lot of theorising comes into it.
There’s a lot of the twins swapping places, so please try and follow through. I’ve tried to word it as simplistic as possible with minimal confusions!
We all know Jessica and Peter had Jason.
Jessica was ashamed of her affair with Peter; ashamed she cheated on Kenneth, so she told everyone it was MARY who slept with Peter. Word spreads fast around Rosewood hence “she turned everyone against me”.
In an act of revenge for Jessica labelling Mary “Rosewood’s biggest cheater” for an act of her own, Mary seduced Peter pretending to be Jessica. Peter thought this was Jessica wanting to get back together. Soon enough, Peter and Mary had Spencer together, of course, Peter thinking it was Jessica coming back for seconds.
Just like what Jessica did to Mary with Jason… Mary told everyone this was Jessica.
Revenge.
Note: for Peter to have gotten together with Jessica twice (well, the second time was Mary but he thought it was Jessica), this means he was indeed attracted to Jessica. Maybe he planned on ending his marriage with Veronica anyways because he found he kept going back to Jessica (second time was Mary but he didn’t know)
Amongst the three of them, the place-swapping obviously couldn’t stay a secret. Peter found out it was Mary and not Jessica, who is the mother of Spencer.
The “war” came to a pause here. They both blamed the other for their affair with Peter. They got back at each other.
The “rumours” ended at:
Mary + Peter = Jason (the truth: Jessica + Peter = Jason)
then for revenge
Jessica + Peter = Spencer (the truth: Mary + Peter = Spencer)
As far as Veronica is concerned, Spencer’s mother is Jessica.
Peter was ashamed to reveal that he slept with BOTH Jessica AND Mary despite not knowing; he didn’t want to tell the truth.
Note: identical twins have identical DNA.
NONE OF THIS IS EASILY PROVED WITH MEDICAL RECORDS.
It’s all about who is the better liar to convince Rosewood who is the worse, and therefore better, twin. It is not as easy as “It wasn’t me, here’s the proof”.
All this backstabbing and pretending to be someone else. Where have we seen this before?
Jessica had an affair with Mr. Young … or so we thought.
This was Mary.
Mr Young is Mary’s husband; the biological father of Charlotte.
I stand by what I said in my master theory #1 which you can read here.
Charlotte and Bethany are sisters. Remember this. I’ll come back to it.
Spencer: may I ask why you’ve come back? Why now?
Mary: because I found out she was dead.
Now that Spencer’s alleged mother is dead, Mary is able to come clean and take back her daughter - she doesn’t have to worry about “keeping quiet” anymore and conforming to the rumours, or lies, they had to abide by.
Now that Jessica is dead, Mary is able to tell Veronica the truth without fear of being attacked by Jessica for revealing the truth.
Peter to Jessica in 4x24: the police are asking pointed questions about Spencer. Do we still have an understanding?
That “understanding” is that Jessica will play along and continue pretending to be Spencer’s mother if the questions arise.
Note: the questions are about SPENCER (as per the quote above). Look how nervous Peter was, when the police were asking questions about Spencer!!!
This is major. Jessica is CLEARLY involved.
We need to understand that Peter was disgusted with his behaviour sleeping with two twins. He didn’t want the secret to come out so soon that he ALSO slept with Mary… that would destroy his marriage with Veronica. (Looks like he made up his mind and wasn’t going to leave Veronica.)
This night at the police station, Peter was worried the truth may come out during questioning hence “do we still have an agreement?”
Hence Peter was also nervous in 5x25 when Ezra said “all your secrets are in those boxes too” and Veronica said “no more secrets” - he hasn’t told Veronica that MARY is the mother, not Jessica like she thinks.
Mary: are your parents home?
This is why she came over. To tell Veronica the truth. She wants her daughter back.
Spencer: so you’re at the Lost Woods all by yourself?
Mary: yes. I’m all alone.
Not much of a theory, but her tone her made me feel sad for her. Like she was speaking from experience about being alone.
Spencer: do you have any children?
Mary: like I said, it’s just me.
She wants to say her child is Spencer so badly!! She’s obviously waiting for Peter’s approval first and to tell Veronica before Spencer. I feel like Marlene included this line about children to just give a nod to where they are eventually heading with the storyline; how “it’s just me” is a lie.
Spencer: my ex-boyfriend is a cop and he told me about your break in.
Mary: you know you’re a very lucky woman. I can’t seem to be friends with any of my ex-lovers.
This is huge! Here Mary is saying that Peter totally shut her out of his life when she told him “I pretended to be Jessica, I am Spencer’s mother”.
Remember; Mary was accused of having an affair with Peter, when really it was Jessica. THEN, when Mary did seduce Peter and had Spencer (for revenge) … she’s totally given the chop. Either way, she can’t win!
What do I mean by “got the chop”? Well, Peter was trying to shut down Radley. He wanted to erase all evidence of Mary existing. He was SO ashamed of himself and what he did.
Talk about not being able “to be friends with any ex lovers” !! Peter was going to extreme efforts to hide Mary and his second affair!
Poor Mary - keeps getting suppressed and neglected, and can’t go anywhere near her daughter because “it’s Jessica”, so everyone must think.
Mary: you should lock this door. These days you’re not safe anywhere.
If Mary were the villain, why the hell would she care for Spencer’s protection? She could’ve been putting on an act by just pretending to care, but she already has put on a nice act while they had tea. So why go that extra mile to look nice? Well, Spencer is her daughter and she’s genuinely scared for her daughter’s safety!! Hence “lock this door”! Mother looking out for her daughter.
Please remember: the only people who know all this are -
Peter
Jessica
Mary
Veronica (to some extent; doesn’t know it’s Mary, not Jessica, who is Spencer’s mother)
AND one more “group” -
Mary said all HER friends and family turned against her because of Jessica accusing her of her own actions.
BUT this does NOT mean it is like the whole of Rosewood knows this and Spencer is the only one who doesn’t! This isn’t The Truman Show!!
As far as Mary’s friends and family know, Spencer lived with her father and wife (but wife isn’t the biological mother). As simple as that!
This means Spencer and Charlotte are sisters!!
Charlotte was adopted by Jessica and Ken, because Mary was not able to. Evidence in the file.
Just like Charlotte was adopted by the DiLaurentis’, Spencer was “adopted” by the Hastings. Perhaps adoption is the wrong word, because she was still under the guidance of her biological father, but you get the point that Charlotte and Spencer were separated because Mary couldn’t be there. Each went to a different family.
There is room to explore here that Charlotte attacked Spencer as A over the years out of jealousy that her sister Spencer got the perfect life but she didn’t, but that’s for another day!
Also, remember how I said Charlotte and Bethany were sisters?
Well, Charlotte thought Spencer killed Bethany AND SHE WANTED REVENGE.
Why did Charlotte think Spencer killed Bethany? It’s quite detailed.
Charlotte hit Ali. Confirmed. But, CeCe found out in 301 by digging her grave that her cousin is alive. Yet someone was buried in her spot. CeCe worked out this was Spencer, because Melissa called her that night saying “I think Spencer killed Alison, what do I do!?” to which Charlotte said “bury the body”. And so Melissa buried Bethany.
Charlotte knew Spencer didn’t kill Alison (because she herself did) - so it must’ve been Bethany! Thanks to Melissa who was trying to protect Spencer, Charlotte thought Spencer killed Bethany; Charlotte’s sister.
(Of course none of this is true, and Mona killed Bethany.)
Note: this means CeCe was lying in 610 - she didn’t think Alison was Bethany because she just spoke with Melissa and already knew Bethany was dead. CeCe intentionally hit Alison. Again, she was creating a sad sob story for herself in 610 to make everyone feel sorry for her, to forgive all the terrible things she did!
This makes sense, because in 424 CeCe told Holbrook “I know who killed that girl, the one you thought was Alison DiLaurentis”. In 424, CeCe began framing Spencer for Bethany’s murder, to get justice for her sister. And then in 5A, what do we know… Spencer is arrested for Bethany’s murder!! It was a brilliant plan, CeCe.
NOTE: this is where they can clear up the plot hole of the timeline of Marion dying. I don’t think Bethany blamed Charlotte for Marion’s death, given they are sisters. This didn’t happen. Charlotte lied to create a sad story for herself in 610. This didn’t happen.
So, Spencer and Charlotte are sisters. Besides, Spencer did say “there was something really familiar [about Charlotte]… like when you meet someone you knew when you were really little”.
Hope you enjoyed. This started off as just an analysis of Mary and Spencer’s conversation, and it branched into something so much bigger! Hence the delays in posting this, I know I promised it a few days ago. It took a while to put together, so I appreciate all the support in advance :)