Pretty Little Liars "Can You Hear Me Now?" 1x4 Reaction (Brian)

They did though. It was a huge fan favorite of the time. As weird as that may be.

Fly on the Wall

I find it odd that the creators of the show keeps putting romantic music over Ezra and Aria's scenes thinking the fans want to see them together.

Jeanette Dawe

I always liked Emily and Toby

Jeanette Dawe

I agree with everyone about him misreading the Ben situation. He was clearly taking advantage of her, but I hope he doesn’t read the comments for a couple of reasons. 1. I prefer his authentic reaction and don’t want him to change it due to pressure from the comments. 2. People often get way too liberal with what they say in these comments sometimes. Often alluding to future events, situations, characters, relationship statuses etc.

Fly on the Wall

i'm truly baffled by this whole thing. like did he just not see it? it genuinely felt like we weren't watching the same show. every time i have ever seen that locker room scene i've felt physically ill and have been soooo thankful when toby steps in and puts a stop to it. idk how he's brushing it off as emily putting her distance between herself and her attacker as emily just being cold or aloof or just mean. like???

emily ღ

On the flip side, I don't agree with your opinion on Ashley. Regardless of what you thought of her dalliance with the cop (which WAS to save Hanna, cuz we've seen that dude has an axe to grind and would've come after Hanna with a heavier charge than necessary), her husband left her for another woman and the first time he comes back to town, it's to dismiss her and introduce their daughter to his fiancee. That was tough. And as for Ben, I think maybe you need to rewatch that scene cuz I'm not sure you understand that it was a sexual assault. Ben should've been castrated. At the very least arrested. Emily did NOT do him dirty. Not sure if you read the comments on here but if you don't, hopefully Steven does and will relay the message cuz that's the biggest misunderstanding you've got from the show so far.

Nyssa Rawther 🍉

I agree wholeheartedly with your disgust regarding Ezra/Aria and Specer/Wren. I never cared for Spencer/Wren when I was younger but I was OBSESSED with Ezria, which just goes to show that when shows and movies romanticise inappropriate, illegal relationships, their young audience buy into it because they're too naive to know better. They just focus on the romance of it all and they idealise it and some might even bring it into their real lives, thinking that this sort of thing is okay. PLL is NOT that old of a show but in 2022, I don't think this sort of thing would hold up. At least, I hope not.

Nyssa Rawther 🍉

ben literally tried to sexually assault emily so im not sure if we’re watching the same thing or not. she did not do him dirty. frankly, toby let ben off easy for what he was trying to do to emily.

celeste lopez

this show has very weird adult and teenager relationships. i really hate aria and ezra’s relationship. it’s an awful power dynamic and watching it back through your video im grossed out in a way i wasn’t as a teenager. YUCK. ezra knows aria is in a vulnerable place dealing with her family. makes it even more off putting.

celeste lopez

This is just my OPINION. I get it Emily. Look, in the real world...terrible and disgusting. However, the last 5ish years we've all started to litigate every single action of a character from a moral standpoint. In my opinion, this is wrong and damaging. First, this is fiction. It's fantasy. It's meant to not represent the real world. It's mean as you said...it be Romeo and Juliet. I mean, technically, shows like Buffy where she dates hundred year old vampires isn't morally right either if you think about it. However, it's titillating for the audience because it's meant to be a fantasy. People ARE supposed to root for them because it's "forbidden love." The forbidden part IS what makes it exciting. It is what drew audiences to it...especially at the time it was airing. People did like Aria and Ezra. "Forbidden" sells the romance. For example, if you think about it, in The Notebook, Allie and Noah are "forbidden" twice over. I won't go into detail because I know Steven/Brian hasn't see it yet since it's in the poll. The forbidden is what makes a love story exciting in some of the best selling books, films, and television shows. So, should we remove it because it's morally corrupt? Second, shows would be awfully boring if we started to just remove all morally wrong things that need them for entertainment purposes. We could remove murder, drug use, and more from shows, but if we do this to the extreme...what are we left with exactly? Literally reality shows or the news? So my point is that fantasy SHOULD be allowed to exist and characters SHOULD be allowed to do morally grey or even wrong things for entertainment purposes. If not, you'd miss out on wonderful antiheroes and also some pretty great, epic romances. You mentioned in another comment that young girls would see it and think it's okay. This is first, untrue. They've proven multiple times through psychological studies that people can separate reality from stuff they see in entertainment (TV, movies, video games etc). Furthermore, using your logic, should you be MORE worried about them seeing shows like Euphoria, which sets A LOT worse standards for young people. Also, they probably shouldn't see anything with a murder scene or anything morally grey...so you're talking MOST entertainment at that point. I just worry about this kind of stuff pushing too far. Also, this isn't particularly addressed at you....just in general. However, I've always found it funny that young people are on one hand, so into casual sex, kinks, promiscuity and more. Yet, they are perfectly comfortable calling out television shows that for doing anything that crosses a puritanical line. I really don't understand GenZ/young millennials I guess. It feels like hypocrisy to me. I just don't want them to be worried about writing a fun, exciting story because people are unable to separate fiction from reality when thinking about a fictional universe. We shouldn't judge characters based on our real-life morals.

Terri

I absolutely love PLL, and his griping about those relationships doesn’t bother me at all. On my rewatches, I do the exact same thing about those relationships. I do think he is still enjoying the show and there is so much going on other than these predatory relationships that seeing him complain about something genuinely bad isn’t the end of the world.

I Am Not Chamari

I think it's pretty okay for him to gripe about Ezria and Specer/Wren cuz they're creepy as hell. PLL doesn't do a good job showing them as predatory so I don't think now, as we're older and see them as what they truly are, it's bad that we condemn these relationships instead of rooting for them.

Nyssa Rawther 🍉

i think he still doesn't think we're meant to root for aria and ezra. i totally 100% hate that relationship but i know as the audience we are meant to root for them and see them as an epic love story because that's how they were marketed at the time from the start. i mean watching it today must be totally different than watching it back then when they were marketed as a grand love story akin to romeo and juliet lmao *gags thinking about that*

emily ღ

Maame Nti

Well, also he’s wearing the same shirt and jacket from episode 3 recording. I know some other shows he records multiple episodes but only ones released a week. He could be on 5-6 or so by time last weeks was posted. So I’d guess this was recorded at least a week ago right after 3rd episode so I’d guess it was done before 3 was even posted so he wouldn’t have seen comments yet

Mitochondria

Ezra was particularly gross this episode. He's gross all the time but he's trying to have his cake and eat it too. He's grooming this teenager and is surprised/taken aback when she acts like a teenager. Like, dude??? Come, on. The whole "I don't see you as a child" thing is such a typical predator/grooming thing to say and ugh he's just so horrible. And on TOP of that, he was WRONG in their argument too. Aria was clearly just venting about how hard it is to deal with her current situation and then he tries to minimize it by saying it's none of her business. Also, Ezra was basically saying that her mother already knew about the situation, which was obviously not the situation, or else her dad wouldn't have asked her to keep it from her mother. Ezra was out of line there too imo. Spencer and Wren... gosh... I'm actually glad you said it's worse... not because I do think they are worse than Ezra and Aria... they're both horrific in their own ways, but because people usually don't see the glaring issue between Wren and Spencer. And his behavior was especially troubling this episode. He gets drunk, breaks into her house and then does nearly everything but blatantly profess his undying love for her. Then he INVITES her inside his motel room? Such creepy predatory behavior. Otherwise, I'm really liking the relationship they're building with Emily and Toby. It's so sweet and tender. I don't know if you caught this, but Toby did see the picture and was basically saying "you didn't want me to see them... so I won't bring them up. I also liked his line "They don't want you to change. They want you to go away." I think Emily needed to hear everything they've had to say. Also, I totally feel bad for Ashley. Her husband left her for another woman. Her sleeping with the cop to get Hanna's charges off was a questionable decision, but it has nothing to do with the emotional turmoil and pain and hurt of your husband leaving you for another woman. Being in a marriage for as long as she was with that man, and that's how it ended? It sucks. And the first time he walks back into their lives after leaving them, she's not invited? That stings deep and her thing with the cop had absolutely nothing to do with that.

I Am Not Chamari

I sometimes feel like Steven may look at comments for his stuff but idk if Brian has ever commented on his own shows. Maybe Brian doesn’t have access to see the comments since I think Steven is the one putting the things on, ect

Mitochondria

Yea I think he’d benefit from going back and rewatching that scene , because like you said , he’s usually very sympathetic and doesn’t seem like the type to be okay with what Ben did , so I’m hoping he just wasn’t paying close enough attention . Because it wouldn’t be the first time any of them have completely misinterpreted the vibe to a scene or situation even though it seemed like they were paying attention .

Cassidy

I completely agree with you, and I appreciate that you took the time to write these comments. I assume because he didn't mention the comments, I'm pretty sure he hasn't seen them. This is why I say they should generally check the comments just to see what the conversation is like surrounding that particular episode because then we run into uncomfortable/unfortunate situations like this. '

I Am Not Chamari

like i'm sorry i'm getting hung up on this but it does bother me quite a lot that you've taken this stance. i love your reactions and your empathy and but to see ben as a sympathetic chracter when he attacked emily with the intent to sexually assault her and had to be dragged off her by toby, it just is rubbing me the wrong way. please i encourage you to read the comments and hear what many of us are saying. emily is trying to distance herself from her attacker. she's not being mean to some innocent guy just for no reason. she's literally trying to distance herself from a person who tried to cause her trauma and harm. please try to see our side of things and hear these comments. i know you want to be empathic but ben is literally a very violent person who had every intent of hurting her in that locker room. i just hope you can see these comments and understand our voices. i don't mean to be rude or for my voice to feel like i'm attacking you in anyway. i'm just....frustrated.

emily ღ

HOW DID SHE DO BEN DIRTY WHEN HE LITERALLY TRIED TO SEXUALLY ASSAULT HER???? like i'm genuinely shocked that this is your stance. i thought after last week and everyone's comments about SA and trauma that you might change your view. i suppose not :/

emily ღ