Now in its sixth season, Pretty Little Liars has introduced a lot — and I mean a lot — of characters over the years. Some have mattered, and many have disappeared, never to be seen again. One of the most interesting of these characters is definitely Sara Harvey, and now that she has been rescued (along with the Liars and Mona) from Charles’ dollhouse, I think it will be interesting to learn a lot more about her. That being said, Sara Harvey can’t be trusted on Pretty Little Liars . At least, not yet.
Let me backtrack for a second, though, and give you the 411 on Sara Harvey, just in case you were also trapped in a dollhouse for two years and haven’t seen a television. Viewers were introduced to Sara in Season 4 via Hanna, who did some research on missing girls when they were trying to figure out who was buried in Ali’s grave. Hanna found that Sara went missing the same weekend as Ali. The girls looked alike, had similar mean girl personalities, and were the same age, so Hanna flagged her case for the Liars. Sara’s friends talked with their group, but not much came of Sara and her story until the premiere of Season 6, when it was revealed that she had been — gasp — in the dollhouse with the Liars all this time. Um, what now?
Emily tried to get Sara to dish about her time in the dollhouse when they were in the hospital together (Emily could never pick the right moment, could she?), and after she asked about Andrew Campbell and whether or not he is A, Sara suddenly got super tired and said she “needed to rest.” Later, Sara showed up at Emily’s house obscured by a hoodie, but didn't really give any more information than we had before.
One possibility is that Sara has Stockholm syndrome, and Charles DiLaurentis has taken advantage of that by turning her into one of his minions. We saw that while in the dollhouse, Sara gave the Liars food through slots in their doors, and didn’t try to talk to them, or follow them as they escaped. Was she scared of Charles, or is she now a part of his plan?
There's another potential explanation. In “Songs of Innocence,” Sara told Emily that she ran away from home and that’s why she was kidnapped. While this could be true, Sara also could have known Charles before that, and run away to join the A team. In this case, the only thing we'd need to figure out is the connection between Ali and Sara. Perhaps the two girls were childhood friends, along with Ali’s maybe-brother Charles?
Because Sara is so well-acquainted with Charles, having been with him for over two years now (if not longer), I don’t think she’s going to tell the truth when it comes to his plan, his identity, or his whereabouts (I still maintain Andrew Campbell is not Charles DiLaurentis, so A is still missing). If she does have Stockholm Syndrome, it will take a lot of therapy and healing for Sara to eventually overcome her trauma and be on the same side as the Liars. But if she actually joined Charles of her own volition in the very beginning, Sara Harvey is going to protect A and his mission no matter what, and none of the Liars, especially Ali, should trust her.
Images: ABC Family/Eric McCandless; Giphy (2)
