Pretty Little Liars had a knack for seemingly promising many answers, only to end up confusing and redirecting audiences with every episode, which is part of what made the best Pretty Little Liars episodes so compelling. While the show's strongest seasons were in the early years of its debut, one consistently great element of each season were the finales. The finales were where the most answers and plot twists occurred, amping up the drama and the conflict to keep the audience on the edge of their seats.
Pretty Little Liars followed a group of four friends who found themselves targeted by multiple mysterious entities known as "A." Their tormentor seemed to know all of their secrets, even ones they kept from one another. While they tried to unravel the mystery themselves, they were also busy trying to figure out who would want to kill their fifth best friend, only to have her resurface very much alive later in the series. The show was one of the twisties teen dramas made for television, and the twists kept fans watching many of the best episodes of Pretty Little Liars.
10 Pilot (Season 1, Episode 1)
A pilot episode of a series is used to hook an audience and introduce the basics: characters, setting, and in this case, the big mystery. While a lot of pilot episodes don’t measure up to the rest of their series simply because actors are still getting a feel for their rules or producers might make major changes to the series later on, that wasn’t the case for Pretty Little Liars. There are some recastings later in the show, but the pilot episode was a great snapshot of what the show would be, and one of the best Pretty Little Liars episodes.
The episode had to do a lot in a short amount of time. It had to let the audience know that Alison had been missing, that someone would be terrorizing her old friends, and it had to set up the character dynamics that would remain for the bulk of the series. It also conveyed how much had changed between Alison’s disappearance and a year later when the series actually began, despite the audience not actually getting to see much of the past just yet. It was a great introduction to the show.
9 A Dangerous gAme (Season 3, Episode 24)
"A Dangerous gAme" closed season 3 with a climactic bang. Not only were there plenty of shocking twists, including Alison being revealed as Red Coat and Tobey had been working with A only to keep Spencer safe, but the Liars' lives were on the line once again as A trapped them in a burning building.
The episode contained suspense, humor, and huge surprises. However, that's not to mean that there weren't any downsides. Some fan and critics believed that the suspense didn't live up to that of the season 2 finale and was just used as a filler to set up season 4. In a lot of ways, the episode did act as a bridge between the seasons, but that didn't hurt the episode in the long run. It stood the test of time as the rest of the series aired as one of the twisties episodes of the show.
8 Over My Dead Body (Season 2, Episode 12)
"Over My Dead Body" was a game-changing episode for Pretty Little Liars. The villainous Detective Wilden returned, the Liars were framed for murder, and it appeared that Jenna and Garrett had something to do with Alison's murder.
As one of the strongest episodes of Season 2, credit has to be awarded to the writing team for creating such an intriguing and fast-paced episode. Not only did the use of flashbacks and flash-forwards make viewers feel like they were in the room interrogating the Liars on their whereabouts, but the non-linear narrative meant they also had to pay extra attention to what was happening. The episode kept people talking for weeks after it originally aired.
7 The First Secret (Season 2, Episode 13)
Pretty Little Liars was known for its flashbacks to fill in gaps in the story or to flesh out characterization for the audience. “The First Secret,” however was unique in that the entire episode was a flashback. It originally aired as a Halloween special and is one of the best Pretty Little Liars episodes when it comes to reveals.
“The First Secret” took the audience back to a Halloween party before Alison disappeared when she pretended to be in danger to test the loyalty of her friends. The episode did a great job at solidifying the dynamic in the group with Hanna and Emily as meeker members while Spencer was willing to challenge Alison and Aria ended up caught in the middle. It also revealed that Alison had multiple secrets she knew about each of her friends that they didn’t tell one another. She also had one of her own - messages from “A.” That big reveal intrigued the audience and only made them want more flashbacks.
6 unmAsked (Season 2, Episode 25)
The season 2 finale brought a few controversial decisions that divided fans. As predicted, A was 'revealed' to be one of the meanest main Pretty Little Liars characters, Mona, and Aria and Ezra decided to continue their problematic relationship. However, there was one twist that managed to salvage the episode and that was when the writers stunned everyone when they killed off Maya - Emily's on-off girlfriend.
This was a huge cliffhanger that had fans on Twitter speaking for months as it was so unpredictable and unexpected. Everyone had been debating whether she had been a victim of Mona's revenge or if there was now a new threat in town. Regardless, this was a mystery that fans looked forward to being solved in season 3. That cliffhanger combined with Janel Parrish's scenery-chewing performance as Mona made it one of the best episodes of Pretty Little Liars despite fans seeing the Mona reveal coming.
5 Will The Circle Be Unbroken (Season 3, Episode 22)
This episode ranks among the best Pretty Little Liars episode for one simple reason: Troian Bellisario. Bellisario’s performance as Spencer, who ended up being held as a Jane Doe in Radley Sanitarium, was nothing short of brilliant.
While her friends wondered where she was, and then tried to get in to see her, Spencer unraveled, believing she was responsible for Toby’s death even though she didn’t have proof that he was dead. While she was busy grieving, however, she also took the time to investigate Mona’s stay at Radley. Even while falling apart, Spencer couldn’t give up on the mystery, and Bellisario played her as a young woman right on the edge of completely giving up. She stole the episode from the rest of the cast.
4 Of Late, I Think Of Rosewood (Season 6, Episode 11)
Pretty Little Liars underwent a five-year time jump in the middle of its sixth season. “Of Late, I Think Of Rosewood” was the first episode to depict that jump forward in time, and it breathed new life into the series, making it one of the best Pretty Little Liars episodes. Six seasons was a long time to watch the same people targeted by a mysterious entity, only for a twist to block the identity. Skipping the college years, allowing the actresses to play closer to their own ages, and creating a new mystery made the show feel fresh again for viewers.
In this episode, former “A” Charlotte was still being monitored in a mental health facility, and the liars had to testify at a hearing about her possible release. Not only did it reveal what happened next for each of them after “A” was revealed, but it also helped viewers to see that life both went on and stopped for them. They all still suffered under the trauma of the events of the past, but they were also all finding their paths in the world - just in time for Charlotte to be murdered and begin a new mystery in their lives.
3 This Is A Dark Ride (Season 3, Episode 13)
The season 3 Halloween episode, 'This Is A Dark Ride', was one that fans wouldn't forget in a hurry. Full of action, murder, and mystery, everyone was, once again, on the edge of their seats as fans waited to see what "A" had up their sleeve. The Liars had what had to be one of the worst train rides of their life in the episode, though it made for a fun time for fans.
One of the most suspenseful sequences in the entire episode was Aria ending up stuck in a box with a dead body and almost thrown from the train with her friends saving her just in time. The cliffhanger that showed that Alison was alive was also a big hit with fans and critics as it led many to wonder where exactly she was and why she hadn't returned home yet. Fans just couldn't wait for the Liars to discover this too.
2 Game On, Charles (Season 6, Episode 1)
In season 6, episode 1, the Liars found themselves a way out of the dollhouse where they had been trapped, but not quite free just yet as they must remain there a little longer. The novelty of the brand-new torture location that made the season 5 finale so interesting had slightly worn off for the audience since they had a hiatus to think about it, but it still remained the most interesting part of the episode as "A" also caused havoc for Toby and the rest of the police trying to trace the girls.
Seeing the police actively so close to finding "A" was certainly fun for the audience as it made viewers feel like they would finally find out their identity. The girls were also visually traumatized after the dollhouse incident, adding a darker twist to the episode. In fact, the episode dealt mostly with the reaction of the Liars to what happened, but also more clues were unearthed. The teases of the episode combined with the teenagers starting to really show signs of trauma made it for one of the best Pretty Little Liars episodes.
1 Welcome To The Dollhouse (Season 5, Episode 25)
Though the season 6 premiere was a great episode, the episode that preceded it was even better. "Welcome To The Dollhouse" was the best Pretty Little Liars episode. In the season 5 finale, the liars were wrongly convicted as accessories to Mona's "murder" and were on their way to prison. But it didn't take long for A to hijack the van, incapacitate the Liars and insert them into a dollhouse for another one of their twisted games.
The episode took fans on a thrilling and creepy journey through the dollhouse, with the added suspense of the girls trying to get out in time. It was also quite a memorable episode by adding another villainous player into the game, who was known to the Liars as "Charles." It seemed like the writers were pressing refresh on the series and beginning the Pretty Little Liars mysteries anew.