Beyond Selidor

Wow, thank you so much for commenting here! As I said in the post, I have PLL on the brain and am really keen to discuss it with people, so I'm thrilled to get your comment. My response is based mainly on the show itself - like you, I haven't watched many cast/writer interviews or engaged with the creators much.

I suspect that the writers dislike Toby, but that the fandom has latched on to Spencer/Toby so strongly that the writers fear to do anything too drastic with them.

I think this is highly likely, and it reminds me of what happened with Sylar in Heroes, and with Spike's storyline in Buffy. (Isn't it interesting that this seems to happen most often with violent/dangerous 'bad-boy' stereotype characters?) The writers initially created these characters to be one-season antagonists (or, in the case of Toby, one of a group of minor characters with something to hide), but they end up getting massively expanded roles due to their popularity. I would actually argue that this happened to Ezra as well, which is why we were treated to the extremely tedious (and, to my mind, out of character) arc with Maggie and Malcolm. That said, the resolution of that arc, with Ezra angrily trying to claim parental rights and control Maggie's life, was useful from a narrative perspective because it's the first time he's ever acted in an explicitly controlling manner.

(That's partly why I'm loving the reveal about him so much - it's made me go back to all his interactions with Aria and look at them with fresh eyes, and what actually emerges is that he manipulates her a lot more than is apparent on the surface. Their interactions give her an illusion of control and make it look like she's ultimately making all the decisions, walking away when she wants to and so on. But he's actually extremely emotionally manipulative.)

Oops, this is a post about Toby and I seem to have made it all about Ezra. I think that's because I've always been most interested in the Ezra/Aria relationship and find myself consistently bored by Spencer/Toby. Anyway, back to Toby...

I get that what's bothering you the most is that Spencer herself hasn't confronted Toby about his behaviour, but to me that's beside the point. Spencer's realisation last season that Toby - a person she loved and trusted deeply - had betrayed her completely broke her (as well as showing the viewers that she wasn't as strong and in control as we'd previously thought). Her arc in Radley was, I thought, the strongest in-show condemnation of Toby's behaviour towards Spencer. That's what he did to her.

Secondly, as you note, the primary relationships in PLL are between the four girls, and in recent episodes, the other three have been fairly consistent in condemning Toby's actions, even if they're not sure exactly what he's been doing. But they can see that Spencer is acting oddly and secretively, and they confront her about it. I think the other three Liars are being used as proxy voices of disapproval and condemnation of the effect Toby is having on Spencer.

(This also strikes me as more realistic in terms the dynamics of real-life abusive relationships. I'm cool with Spencer not recognising or voicing concerns about what's going on, because it strikes me that this is often the case. You can be so lost in a relationship, so diminished by the abuse, that you can't see it for what it really is. It would be nice for her to say to him that the way he's behaving is not okay, but I think the condemnation from other quarters is strong enough to make up for it.)

I have always seen PLL as a modern take on the Female Gothic narrative, but it subverts that by giving us MULTIPLE heroines, who maintain positive bonds with each other. So while the traditional Female Gothic with its lone heroine and the dead woman in the attic gives us women who are both equally doomed in different ways, PLL actually offers a way out of that bleakness by showing us that women sticking together is how you work your way out of that metaphorical haunted castle or an oppressive small town with all its patriarchal and controlling trappings. And given all its gothic themes, it makes perfect sense that this narrative finds men to be inherently unworthy of the girls' trust and abusive/controlling.

This is such a perfect description of such a perfect show. I love it so much. It's so subversive and powerful.

By the way, do you mind if I subscribe to your DW journal? I really love reading meta about PLL and it seems you post about it a lot. Please don't feel that you have to subscribe back.