PLL: OS Thoughts and Spoilers!!
Okay I just finished the first three episodes of PLL: OS and I have many, many thoughts and also I am totally hooked, but what I keep coming back to is this -
This whole twin thing with Karen and Kelly HAS to be part of this, right? I mean, Kelly has played such a relatively small role in the show so far, it’s not like she has some clear purpose in the plot as of now. And yet the writers have gone to all of this extra effort to have Mallory Bechtel film scenes as both twins, use a body double for those scenes, edit it all together…instead of just having Karen be an only child, or giving her a fraternal twin played by a different actress. Would they really go to all that trouble just for the sake of having identical twins “just because”? I don’t think so.
I also have to point out that when she first arrives at the dance, Imogen “mistakenly” identifies Kelly as Karen. But was it really a mistake? Imogen used to be best friends with these girls, how likely is it that she would so easily mix them up at this point? And Kelly’s “twin-fusion” response seemed a little nasty and out of character…a little too much like Karen.
So I think it’s pretty clear at this point that Karen and Kelly kept up their switching places trick from earlier in the episode and it was really Kelly who died at the dance, with Karen taking her place and masquerading as her, and I will die on this hill (for now).
Anyone else watch? My inbox is open for anyone who wants to shoot me a message about it!
Okay so my update to this after watching episodes 4 and 5 (spoilers incoming if you aren’t up to date) is that I’m not ruling this theory out, but I’m no longer totally on board with it.
Now I’ve shifted to believing that Karen really is dead, but that Kelly is intentionally trying to take over her life. That’s why she was wearing Karen’s leotard. That’s why she was switching over to Karen’s locker. That’s why she was making out with Karen’s boyfriend. And that might even be why people seem to be mistaking her for Karen - she’s purposefully putting on Karen’s mannerisms because she wanted to be her all along.
When Faran confronts her at the party, she says - “Why can’t I be a great dancer? Why can’t I have the hot boyfriend? Is it really so hard to believe that Kelly Beasley could be popular and talented?”
And I think that’s what it all comes back to. Kelly lived in Karen’s shadow for her whole life. She even admits to Faran that she had to downplay her ballet talents so she wouldn’t outshine Karen. Maybe she had something to do with Karen’s death or maybe she didn’t (I lean toward the former), but now that Karen’s gone, Kelly is doing everything she can to take her place.