Mona Vanderwaal

Mona Vanderwaal is a fictional character in the Pretty Little Liars book series by Sara Shepard, and its ABC Family television series adaption. She is portrayed by Janel Parrish.

In the television series, Mona was introduced in the recurring role of Hanna Marin's best friend, and eventually grew into a fan-favorite character after her reveal as the omnipresent antagonist "A". Mona joins forces with a partner in the third season, who eventually takes control away from her.^[3] After this Mona forms an alliance with the Liars. In the mid-season finale of Season 5, Mona is seemingly killed by "A". However, in the finale, it is revealed that she is actually alive. Mona was the series' primary antagonist for the first two seasons and the first four books. She was also a major antagonist in the third season and the first half of the fifth season.

Novel series

Mona Corrine Vanderwaal was introduced in the first four Pretty Little Liars novels. She has white-blonde hair, light blue eyes, and a few freckles. She used to be an unpopular nerd who was teased by Alison and her friends, longing to be in their group. After Alison went missing, Hanna and her became friends and reinvented themselves as the 'it' girls of Rosewood Day.

Pretty Little Liars

Mona is Hanna's best friend who takes drugs together with her. Mona used to be a dork, but together with Hanna she transformed into a beautiful 'it' girl during the summer three years ago. She is invited to Noel Kahn's start of the term party where she makes out with his older brother Eric. Whenever the school's mean girls, Naomi and Riley say something mean about Hanna, Mona is there for her. Mona and Hanna get into numerous fights and arguments about Hanna's old friends, Emily, Aria and Spencer, because Mona thinks that she's been spending more time with them than with her.

Flawless and Perfect

As Mona's birthday is coming up, she chooses Naomi, Riley, Hanna and some other girls to be her 'next-in-lines' so she goes to buy dresses with them. She chooses beautiful champagne-colored dresses, but gets in a fight with Hanna and doesn't let her be at her birthday party. The fight occurred because Hanna wanted to spell out "Get ready to party with Mona!' on the sky, but wrote 'Get ready to fart with Mona!" Mona becomes angry and leaves. There is only one more letter in the sky: "A". Later on, Hanna gets a package with the champagne-colored dress, and thinks it was Mona who sent it.

Happily, she puts it on and goes to Mona's party, even though the dress is too small. As she comes to the party, Naomi and Riley (who are in emerald dresses) give her weird looks, and when Mona comes out wearing the champagne-colored dress, Hanna realizes that A was the one who sent her the dress. Crying, she falls down and her dress rips, following the laughter of the party attendants, including Mona. Hanna tells Mona that she knows she got a liposuction because "A" sent her a message with the content, but Mona says that she shouldn't believe everything she hears and calls her a liar. Later, Hanna gets a message from "A", but sees that it's not the usual blocked number. Even though she got a new phone and didn't put in the phone-book yet, she recognizes the number and rushes to tell the girls, but gets hit by a car before she can do anything.

Unbelievable

After Hanna's car accident, Mona is there for her in the hospital every day, crying. When Hanna wakes up Mona apologizes, making them friends again. Hanna can't remember anything that happened at Mona's party, including the 'who is A' part. Later, Mona gets in a fight with Lucas regarding a secret that she won't explain to Hanna. She gets a text message and tells Hanna that it's from a person named A - of course, Hanna has been getting the texts too and admits everything to Mona. Mona seems relieved and tells the other girls about it, too. As Spencer and Mona are on their way to the police station, Hanna remembers that A is Mona. The girls send a text to Spencer who tries to hide it, but Mona sees it and explains everything—how she found 'Ali's' diary and found out all about her secret, and how she read that 'Ali's' going to give Ian an ultimatum - either her or Melissa, bringing Mona to tell Spencer that Ian killed 'Ali'. Mona tries to force Spencer to join her, but they get into a fight and Spencer pushes Mona to the Floating Man's Quarry, causing Mona to break her neck and die that instant. After that, Hanna is shaken up, but at least now she knows who "A" was and who Alison's killer is. Mona gets all over the news, and as of now the whole town of Rosewood knows about A, and the Rosewood Stalker—who was also Mona. Hanna finds Mona's "A phone" and later deletes all the messages from Mona/A before handing it over to the Wilden the cop, protecting Mona because they were still best friends.

Mona came to be "A" when she found Ali's diary when the St. Germains moved into the DiLaurentis' old house and threw away Ali's old possessions. It is unclear if she knew about the twins or not when she was "A".

Television series

Casting

The Hollywood Reporter noted that Torrey DeVitto and Sasha Pieterse landed recurring roles in the pilot episode of the Pretty Little Liars TV series. The Alloy Entertainment website later confirmed that Pieterse would be playing Alison DiLaurentis and DeVitto would be Melissa Hastings, also mentioning the casting of Janel Parrish as Mona Vanderwaal.^[4] In March 2012, Janel Parrish was also promoted from recurring to series regular for the third season.^[5]

Characterization

Mona was introduced as the former unpopular girl at Rosewood who longed to be accepted into Alison DiLaurentis's group and was continuously mocked by Alison. Deep down inside, Mona never forgot the way Alison had previously treated her—as an outsider and dork. After Alison's disappearance, Mona befriended Hanna Marin and they underwent an "extreme makeover" together; as a result, they both became popular students, she ironically, begins acting like Alison by adopting her personality as well as bullying people who Alison, herself, has bullied.

Mona is a very self-conscious person. Due to the bullying and rejection she faced when Alison was around, Mona developed a complex in which she is not happy with her life. Although she does not show this side of her in public, this is why Mona felt such a need to remain popular, beautiful, and best friends with Hanna. This is also why she started tormenting the girls as "A," because she was afraid that the Liars would steal Hanna from her, who was her only friend. She and Hanna became best friends when Alison's crowd was disbanded. Mona figures that Hanna would not give up the chance to become popular. Their friendship stays strong until the ever so infamous "A" begins torturing the girls, forcing Hanna to become closer to her old friends. The other Liars, besides Hanna, don't care much for Mona, and this is a source of conflict in certain episodes, but it ends up being much more severe then a simple annoyance when it is revealed that this is the very reason she became "A": she was angry at the Liars for taking Hanna 'away' from her after Ali's body was found.

Mona can also speak French, hack computers, and do voice impressions. Mona was revealed to be "A" in the Season 2 finale. She considers herself a genius, but also has a borderline personality disorder, according to her doctor.

Rivalries and friendships

Mona is known for her rivalries with Alison DiLaurentis, Aria Montgomery, Emily Fields, Hanna Marin, Spencer Hastings and Caleb Rivers.

Mona is most known for her feud with Alison, she originally longed to be accepted into Alison DiLaurentis's group and was continuously mocked by Alison. Mona was revealed to be behind Alison's disappearance in "A Is for Answers" when she tricked Alison into giving Mona her secret to becoming popular by getting rid of Alison by making her disappear.^[6][7] Their bitter rivalry continues, when Mona forms an army which consists of Lucas, Melissa Hastings, Jenna Marshall, Sydney Driscoll, twins Cindy and Mindy Yomeli, and various other people treated badly by Alison. When Alison returns to school, Mona stages a run in with Alison to prove that she hasn't changed, which succeeds when Alison threatens to make her "Loser Mona" again.

Amid her rivalries with the girls and Caleb, she is close with one of the show's core character Hanna Marin. After Alison's disappearance, Mona befriended Hanna Marin and they underwent an "extreme makeover" together; as a result, they both became popular students. When "A" appears, Mona becomes jealous of Hanna rekindling her friendships with the other Liars. In early Season 2, Hanna discovers that Mona destroyed the letter that Caleb wrote for her and as a result stops speaking to her. They later reconcile and decide not to discuss their romantic lives with each other. She spends the rest of the season trying to maintain her friendship with Hanna. Mona had stated Hanna was her only friend. Throughout season three, Mona was in the Radley Sanitarium where she receives visits from Hanna, who is trying to come to terms with Mona's actions. She remains in a catatonic state during the first few episodes, but slowly becomes more responsive and active, which has been attributed to Hanna's visits and eventually attempts to help Hanna by giving her code words. She attempts to prove to Hanna her loyalty when she decides to lie to the police, saying that she killed Detective Wilden after she was originally enlisted by Hanna to help her lie to the police.

Mona becomes some-what friends with Emily Fields when Emily confronts her about overhearing a conversation with the principal, as well as apologizing for being a bystander during Alison's verbal assaults. Mona tells her about the bribes Tamborelli accepts to allow other player back on Rosewood High School's sports teams. She later helps Emily get back on the swim team by finding evidence of the bribes he accepted.

Relationships

Mona was originally romantically linked to Noel Kahn. However, when Mona later tries to confide in Hanna about Noel, but she does not pay attention leading to Noel dumping her, leaving her heartbroken and in need of comfort, which she at first refuses from Hanna.

Most recently, Mona has been romantically linked with Aria's brother Mike Montgomery. Their relationship has been praised by Jessica Goldstein of Vulture. Mona breaks up with Mike in "Cover For Me" following the events of "Free Fall" after being involved in Ezra's backup plan when he requires her to abandon Mike in the name of "protection"—because Ezra is running out of options and uses her past against her. Mona and Mike resume their relationship in the Season 5 episode "No One Here Can Love or Understand Me", when they are seen in his house when Aria returns home. They are later seen on a movie-themed date with Aria and Mike's father.

Television storylines

Mona was once an unpopular girl in Rosewood who longed to be accepted into Alison's clique and was continuously mocked by the person she idolized. After Alison's disappearance, Mona befriended Hanna and together they underwent an "extreme makeover". During the process they became best friends as well as two of the most popular students. With her newfound popularity, Mona becomes the new "Alison" of the school, constantly bullying Lucas Gottesman in the same sense Ali did and even telling Hanna that she will cut ties with her before she lets her drag her back down to the bottom. In the mid-season finale, Mona invites the Liars to her birthday party, but uninvites Hanna after "A" sends her a fake message. Hanna and Mona become enemies after this until Mona begins feeling remorse after Hanna is hit by "A" in a car at the party. They rekindle their friendship but it gradually falls apart again when Mona attempts to break up Hanna's relationship with Caleb.

Season 2

She becomes romantically involved with Noel Kahn, much to Hanna's disapproval, but is later dumped by him for Jenna Marshall. She and Hanna eventually become best friends again and Mona tries to become accepting of Caleb. When "A" begins sending threatening notes to Mona, she grows closer to the Liars and becomes a part of their group. In "UnmAsked", Mona is still helping the Liars, who haven't fully accepted her yet, and volunteers to drive Spencer out to the Lost Woods Resort where they find "A's" lair. Here it is revealed that "A" is actually Mona herself, who claims that she became "A" because of the Liars taking Hanna away from her and never doing anything to prevent Alison's bullying. She and Spencer get into a fight near a cliff and Mona is accidentally pushed off. She survives, however, and is committed to the Radley Sanitarium, after being diagnosed with multiple personality disorder. Here, she is approached by someone, who wants to start a partnership and form an "A"-Team.

Season 3

Mona joins forces with Red Coat and begins recruiting people for the A-Team, including Toby Cavanaugh and Lucas Gottesman, while still staying at Radley. At Radley, Mona secretly gives answers to Hanna concerning Maya's death. Possibly unbeknownst to Big "A", she secretly gives Maya's website to Hanna in code, leading the liars to eventually discover that Nate killed Maya. She is eventually released from Radley and returns to Rosewood High. She also recruits Spencer Hastings to join the team as well. In the finale, Mona reveals that she doesn't know the identity of her partner, Red Coat, and later gets kicked off the team, becoming a victim of the monster she created.

Season 4

Mona is still allied with Liars until she begins helping Ezra Fitz with his book because he blackmailed to expose her illegal "A" activities. She also begins dating Mike Montgomery, so that she may get closer to Aria, but actually falls for him during the process. In the finale, Alison reveals that Mona helped her the night she went missing and convinced her to go into hiding, giving Mona what she always wanted: Alison gone.

Season 5

Upon finding out that Alison is returning, Mona starts an army of Alison haters to prepare for Ali's return. The team consists of Lucas, Melissa, Jenna, Sydney, and others treated badly by Alison. In the mid-season finale, she is supposedly killed by "A" after acquiring information that proves Alison is the alleged anonymous tormentor. In the second half of the season, it is revealed that Mona never believed Alison was "A" and that she faked her death as part of "A"'s plan to get Alison into jail, so that she could find out their true identity. She now has blonde hair and is locked inside "A"'s dollhouse, being forced to pretend to be Alison.

Season 6

In "Game On, Charles" Mona is locked outside of the dollhouse along with the other Liars as a punishment for trying to escape the dollhouse. They are locked outside for three weeks and are finally let back in the dollhouse but Mona is taken away by "A" and taken to the hole, while the other girls experience their own personal torture. Alison, Ezra and Caleb unite in a plan which leads to the rescue of the girls from the dollhouse and Mona's mother taking her away from Rosewood to recuperate from the trauma of the experience.

Mona returns to Rosewood in "She's No Angel" and is nervous of what Alison will do to her after learning that she staged her death and framed her for it. She arrives at Hanna's house and they decide to go to the police station to report her return. They stop off at the Grill on the way and encounter Leslie. Leslie is not happy that Mona mentioned her name in her fake death and threatens both Hanna and Mona if her name is mentioned to do with Mona ever again. Later in the episode Spencer sees Mona posting a card into Alison's letterbox. Spencer asks Mona if she was in a room that appeared in Spencer's dream of the dollhouse. Mona says that it must exist in her head. The girls sneak into Radley to see if there is any evidence of Charles Dilaurentis. While there they encounter Mona who is stealing Leslie's file. Mona tells the other girls that she met Leslie in Radley. This enforces the girls theory that Leslie is "A". At the end of the episode Mona is seen on the phone to Leslie saying that she failed to keep her time in Radley a secret. Leslie said that Mona is useless and messes everything up like usual.

Mona appears at the ending of "No Stone Unturned". The Liars are investigating around Leslie's animal lab to see what she is hiding when suddenly the lights go out and Mona emmerges. The girl ask why Mona is following them again and she explains that she is trying to stop the lab from suing them. Spencer shows Mona the records that Charles is dead and was a liver donor. Mona says that it is impossible that Charles was liver donor because he would not have been an eligible donor with all the medication he was on. The security guard comes by the door and the girls turn off the light and Mona also hides.

In "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou" Mona and the Liars go to Mona's bedroom expecting to meet Leslie. Leslie texts Mona to tell her that she won't be coming to meet them as confrontations like this could set her recovery back. Aria thinks that they should drive over to Leslie's house because she knows more about Charles than she is letting on. Mona says that if Leslie knew more about Charles then she would have told her. Later in the episode Mona and Mike reconcile with each other, but she thinks that he should stay away from her because she deserved to be in the dollhouse. Mike ends this by kissing Mona passionately. Alison gets a lift from Mona. Alison says that Mona was the only one that picked up the phone to her. Alison calls the police and confesses that Charles Dilaurentis is A and her brother. Mona says she shouldn't have done that.

In "Game Over, Charles" it is revealed that CeCe Drake is Big A. She joined forces with Mona to get in and out of Radley and took on the Red Coat disguise as well. She also hired Sara Harvey to act as Red Coat whenever she needed her to be and Sara was the person who was communicating with Mona the night of the Lodge fire. It is also revealed that Mona is the person who hit Bethany Young with a shovel, believing her to be Alison.

Reception

Jessica Goldstein of Vulture highlighted Mona's fashion choices as well as praising her relationship with Mike Montgomery, saying "I like her little Breakfast at Tiffany's look, her winged eyeliner, and even her overdone updo, because such devotion to hairspray seems very Mona-esque to me. Plus, I approve of anyone who rhymes-with-gloves Magic Mike Montgomery."^[8]

References

External links

• ABC Family Biography