Caleb Should Move On From 'PLL'

Earlier this week, the news broke that Ravenswood's Caleb is headed back to Pretty Little Liars, and I thought that I would be thrilled by this news. Haleb could be reunited, yay! Then, I wondered about it more: Why is Caleb returning to Pretty Little Liars? I couldn't gather a single good reason why Caleb should return. Obviously, Caleb was more to Pretty Little Liars than just a love interest for Hanna — he was an integral part in the fight to take down A, and his bromance with Toby (and, at one point, Lucas... wherever he is now) was adorable. But those plot points have long ended. Bringing Caleb back is really just a way to bring the actor Tyler Blackburn back (understandably so — Blackburn is awesome) and I think it'll hurt the overall season arc to shoehorn Caleb back into the PLL universe.

Obviously, Ravenswood wasn't nearly as watched as its predecessor, but that doesn't mean that the events on the show go away. Pretty Little Liars will need to seriously tie up some loose ends in order to get Caleb back on the show. It will be awkward to do that on the already plot-heavy PLL without having an entire episode dedicated to tidying up Ravenswood's mess.

Here's why, as much as I hate to say it, Caleb should move on from Pretty Little Liars, for the sake of the show.

Travis and Hanna are kind of adorable.

Ahh, I know, blasphemous, right?! Pre-Ravenswood I would have thought that Caleb and Hanna were endgame, but after the whole Miranda/Caleb thing, I was less than impressed with Caleb's handling of his relationship with Hanna. Plus, I'm SO digging Travis and Hanna as a couple. Travis has a lot of potential to be great for Hanna, and I can't imagine a world where Caleb's return doesn't mess that up for her.

The liars have a lot of secrets this season.

Pre-Ravenswood, we didn't know if Ali was alive or not. Now that she is, the liars are doing all they can to keep that secret guarded. (Well, all of the liars except for Emily... thanks, Emily.) Do we really want to see Caleb and Hanna argue over Hanna's bucket of secrets AGAIN? No, thanks.

The girls don't need a whole lot of sleuthing help.

Caleb and Toby got to play Hardy Boys last season in order to investigate the Red Coat mystery, but this season we've seen the liars take control over their own A-takedowns. It's not that we don't think that the liars could use some extra help once in a while, but the story is stronger when it's the liars looking for answers, rather than them outsourcing their sleuthing to love interests like Caleb, Toby, and Paige.

The supernatural doesn't exist in Rosewood.

Ravenswood was full of ghosts, demons, and boys with bleeding eyes. Naturally, it was terrifying. Pretty Little Liars definitely has unbelievable moments, but at least it is ghost free. (Unless you count that Halloween episode where the ghost girl appeared... I STILL don't know what to make of that.) If you were Caleb and had very real encounters with the supernatural, wouldn't you just assume that A was a demon out for blood, rather than an omnipresent stalker who may or may not be Ali's twin? It almost seems MORE plausible.

We really don't need any more characters on PLL. Really.

The void left by Caleb was filled with characters like Travis and Detective Holbrook. Characters like Jason, Ella, and Mrs. DiLaurentis are back. The cast is filling up so much that even Mike Montgomery has returned from the dead! Tyler Blackburn, we love you, and we are happy to see you on ABC Family once again. We just wish that you were crossing over into, I don't know, Twisted instead. Or being adopted by the parents on The Fosters. Or dating someone on Switched at Birth. Pretty Little Liars really needs to understand that their aren't any character vacancies left.

Images: ABC Family