It’s hard to choose a favorite Liar from Pretty Little Liars. Every girl has good qualities that make them lovable, but even our favorite characters have flaws. They make mistakes and they’re imperfect, but that’s often what makes them realistic.
For example, Aria Montgomery (Lucy Hale) is sometimes a frustrating character. She started out in the earlier seasons as an artistic, passionate, and loyal friend. However, as the show progressed, she became more selfish and impulsive. She changed so much, but sometimes for the worse. Take a look at 10 ways Aria got worse and worse throughout the show’s seven seasons.
Her Relationship With Ezra
One of the more controversial things about Pretty Little Liars is Aria’s relationship with her high school English teacher, Ezra Fitz (Ian Harding). They kept their relationship a secret while she was his student. Aria is a fairly intelligent character, but she was unable to move on from Ezra.
Even when they were separated, she couldn’t move on from their relationship. She compared every other man to Ezra, and she always pined for him. While they were a sweet couple, it was still a problematic relationship.
Lying About Ezra’s Son
During the show’s third season, Aria finds out that Ezra might have a secret son, Malcolm, that he has never met. Instead of telling him, she decides to keep the news a secret due to a request from the mother, Maggie (Larisa Oleynik). Fans wanted to know why did she have to be loyal to Maggie and not her boyfriend?
Because of the secret, Ezra ultimately finds out about his son from Spencer (Troian Bellisario). That’s the worst way to find out, and he’s understandably upset with Aria. If she had just shared the news with him in the first place, it wouldn’t have caused so many problems.
Lying About Nicole
During the show’s five-year time jump in the sixth season, Ezra was in a committed relationship with Nicole Johnson (Rebecca Breeds), a passionate Habitat for Humanity leader. While volunteering in South America, she mysteriously went missing and no one knew what happened to her.
After Aria reunites with Ezra, they fall back in love. They get engaged, but one day, Ezra gets a phone call from Nicole. Aria sees the voicemail, but she decides to delete the message without telling Ezra. She keeps it a secret, which isn’t a good foundation for any marriage.
Cheating On Liam
During the time jump, Aria starts dating another man, Liam (Roberto Aguire). They’re coworkers at a publishing company, and they have similar interests. He genuinely cares about Aria and they were a good match.
But just like her other boyfriends, he’s not Ezra. Aria doesn’t care about him the same way. She cheats on him with Ezra, and it’s heartbreaking. Liam was a sweet boyfriend and he certainly didn’t deserve this treatment.
Disapproved Of Mike And Mona’s Relationship
During the show’s fourth and fifth seasons, Aria’s younger brother, Mike (Cody Christian), dates the Liars’ frenemy, Mona Vanderwaal (Janel Parrish). From the very beginning, Aria disapproves of the relationship. While it’s understandable that Aria is skeptical of Mona’s intentions, Mike is clearly happy.
After Mona is believed to be dead, Aria won’t give up on finding out the truth. She questions Mike, who is incredibly upset. Aria tends to think of herself more than her brother.
Losing Her Artistic Creativity
One of the best traits of Aria is her creativity. She’s a talented writer and photographer. She loves black-and-white movies, and she even dresses like an artist. However, she slightly loses this creativity towards the end of the series.
While she writes a book with Ezra, she doesn’t seem as interested in photography. She lost some of the characteristics that defined her. Viewers loved her for her artistic talent, but she changed a lot over the course of seven seasons.
Holding Grudges
Aria is a fairly nice person, but she tends to hold grudges. When someone isn’t loyal to her, she retaliates in harsh ways. For example, she holds a grudge against her father’s mistress, Meredith (Amanda Schull), even after her parents’ divorce. In addition, she holds a grudge for a while with Ezra after she found out he was writing a book about her and the Liars’ experiences with A.
Aria constantly takes incidents personally, and it takes her a long time to forgive someone. However, if she is in trouble, she wants to be forgiven right away.
She Can Be Selfish
Let’s be honest: Every Liar can be selfish at times. They find themselves in dangerous situations, and they’re always trying to defeat A. While doing this, they can be selfish and think about how to improve the situations for themselves. They make important decisions without consulting the other Liars.
Aria makes decisions that affect her without thinking about her friends. During the seventh season, Aria takes matters into her own hands while the Liars play A.D.’s board game. She betrays her friends to protect herself. She might feel guilty about it, but she still behaves selfishly.
She’s Impulsive
Aria is a bold, brave character. She takes chances and hopes for the best. But sometimes, her boldness goes too far, and she can be impulsive. She reacts to situations without thinking, which puts everyone else at risk.
Sometimes, she also gets upset with people over small, unimportant situations. She acts on her anger and frustration, which could jeopardize the Liars. She’s a fiery, passionate young woman. It’s good she’s passionate, but it’s also frustrating.
She Joined The A.D. Team
During the show’s final season, Aria secretly joins the A.D. team when A.D. blackmails her with a letter she wrote in high school, accusing Ezra of sexual assault. She knows that if the letter is released to the public, Ezra will go to prison. So, to protect Ezra and her future marriage to him, she joins the A.D. team.
This betrays her friends. Aria hurts them, even destroying Emily and Alison’s nursery. She ruins all the trust they had in her, and it was a moment fans started to dislike Aria.