Wilden May Not Be A 'PLL' Plot Hole After All

If there's one piece of advice that they should give you the second you enter Rosewood, it's this: do not trust any of the cops. The person who really made us lose all faith in the Rosewood Police Department is Pretty Little Liars' Detective Wilden. He may not be A, but Darren was still one of the show's most notorious villains. After all, it wasn't A who locked Aria in that box with Garrett's body: that was Detective Wilden, who also killed the person in that box alongside her. (R.I.P. Officer Reynolds. Well, sort of.) It was only fitting that this crooked cop made an appearance in the answer-filled Season 6A finale. Unfortunately, his story didn't exactly clear everything up for fans. In fact, it may have left us even more confused, with questions like: just how old is Wilden, anyway?

I didn't really think about Wilden's age that much until "Game Over, Charles," in which Wilden seemed to show up in every other flashback. Here's what we learned about him in the finale:

• He wrote off Marion's death as a suicide because he was paid off by Mrs. DiLaurentis
• Mrs. DiLaurentis paid him to cover for CeCe the night she hit Ali with the rock
• He was the one who brought CeCe back to Radley after the events of "that night"

It turns out, Wilden was actually a lot more involved in this whole plot than we ever thought possible. He always was shady, so it makes sense that he actually knew way, way more than ever expected. However, if you're thinking that these timelines don't work out so well with the overall story of the show, you would be right — though it's not actually Wilden's fault.

I think most fans assumed that Detective Wilden was only a couple of years older than CeCe, as they vacationed together in Cape May with Ali, and it would be incredibly creepy for a 30-something dude to hang out with a bunch of teenagers. However, there's now reason to believe that Wilden actually is closer to six years older than CeCe.

There's a bit of a plot hole surrounding Marion's death, as we once saw a flashback where Ali and Toby appeared to be at least middle school-aged a few months before she died. We may have to write this off as a continuity error, because in the finale flashback of Bethany killing Marion, CeCe appeared to be no older than 12, which would make Toby about 7, already messing up the timeline. If Wilden then covered up this murder as a police offer, he had to be 18 at the very least.

So if Wilden is just about six years older than CeCe, and we know CeCe is roughly 24, that would make Wilden 30, were he still alive today. That is actually possible, and would mean he was in his mid-20s the summer of the Cape May vacation. Wilden's part in the CeCe reveal actually can add up with what we saw in the summer finale — it's Toby's age that forms a plot hole. Congratulations Wilden, you didn't screw up for once. For even more Pretty Little Liars plot holes, check out Bustle's podcast Taking This One To The Grave.

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