This 'PLL' Theory Could Explain A Lot

If there's one television family you should be glad not to be a part of, it's the DiLaurentis clan. Not only did Jessica hide away her older daughter Charlotte in a mental institution, but it seems now that Jessica's own evil twin is on the loose in Rosewood. The Season 6B finale revealed that Jessica has an identical twin named Mary Drake, and that Charlotte is Mary's biological daughter. It also revealed that Mary spent many years in Radley, which was where Charlotte was born before being officially adopted by Jessica and her husband Kenneth. But Mary isn't hoping for a reunion with Jessica's daughter, Ali: instead, Jessica is using her niece as a pawn to steal the Carissimi Group's fortune. Unfortunately, that might not be Mary's only crime: I'm beginning to wonder if Mary may have also killed her twin sister Jessica, which would definitely earn her the title of evil twin.

Jessica was killed at the end of Season 4, and though we know that Charlotte was the one who buried her mother, we still have no clue who could have actually killed her. Mary's appearance certainly raises suspicion, especially since Mary seems to have a huge vendetta against the DiLaurentis family. And, considering Mary told her accomplice Rollins that it was time to take back what was rightfully hers, I'm thinking this hints that, maybe, Mary wanted Jessica's life for herself. One way to do that would be to kill her identical twin and assume her identity.

It's not completely out of bounds. After all, the same thing essentially happened in Sara Shepard's book series: Alison's identical twin Courtney was sent to a Radley-like sanitarium, only to switch lives with her sister the second she got out. It was that move that caused Alison to kill Courtney out of revenge. Perhaps the TV series is putting its own spin on this storyline? Maybe Mary always felt that Jessica got to lead the life that she always wanted to live, and the second she had a chance, she murdered her in an act of vengeance.

Of course, that's not the only possible explanation for why Mary may have wanted Jessica dead. Back in Season 5, we learned that Jessica had tried to send an email that said "I can't protect you anymore." Back then it was assumed that Charlotte killed Jessica because she decided to stop protecting her. However, after Charlotte revealed herself to be Big A, that theory fell apart — and we were left without any real suspects for Jessica's murder. What if the person that Jessica didn't want to protect wasn't actually Charlotte, but actually identical twin sister? It could be that Mary lashed out at Jessica after she refused to help her.

So, could Pretty Little Liars have finally given us the answer to who killed Ali's mom? Only time will tell, but we definitely need to keep an eye on the murder victim's twin.

For more on Pretty Little Liars, check out Bustle's very own PLL podcast, Taking This One To The Grave:

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