‘Pretty Little Liars: Summer School’ Ending Explained With Chandler Kinney: ‘Quite Harrowing’
Season 2 of Max’s new Pretty Little Liars series, Pretty Little Liars: Summer School, has come to a close, and the end of this season was even bloodier than the end of the first, Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin.
After all of the Liars were targeted separately throughout the season, it was finally time for Tabby (Chandler Kinney) to face the wrath of this season’s villain, Bloody Rose. As Season 2 concluded, she became the final girl and had a showdown with Bloody Rose and someone in her life.
What happens in the ‘Pretty Little Liars: Summer School’ finale?
Bloody Rose kidnapped Tabby in the season finale, and Kinney told Blavity’s Shadow & Act in a recent postseason interview that she knew the character would go through a lot.
She told us, “I had a pit in my stomach because I was just seeing all these girls go through their tests and seeing what the writers were giving them. And I was like, ‘They’re not holding back. This is intense. I knew going into the season that I was going to be the last one or the final final [girl], if you will. But I didn’t know who was on the killer team. I didn’t know what capacity I was going to be tested in. And so, I just knew that it was going to be in an epic showdown of bloodshed and, hopefully, catharsis.”
Still, the actor said she was a little hesitant about what was about to come her way, but at the same time, she was all in for it.
“I was just kind of dreading it, honestly,” she said. “I kind of fought with myself for a minute. I was like, I shouldn’t be dreading this. I should be grateful that I have this great story to tell. And I was, but I just could not ignore this impending doom that I felt. But then I was like, ‘I think I’m feeling all the right things because this is exactly what Tabby’s feeling.’ So I just kind of surrendered to it a little bit. And I really think it helped my performance as I was going through it. Tabby didn’t want to be going through it, and I was scared to be going through it as well.”
What is the meaning of Tabby’s role at the end of ‘Pretty Little Liars: Summer School’?
Tabby is a Black horror fan who always discusses representation within the genre. Inadvertently, in the finale, she became what she wanted to represent.
“[She] became exactly the thing that she always talked about and always looked up to and wanted to see more of,” Kinney explained. “I think, obviously, it’s no secret that there’s been a lack of representation, especially in the space of horror, especially in the final girl world. So I think that makes this moment that much more impactful and empowering that you see a Black final girl. Let’s just say a Black girl that makes it to the end of the story at all, but that she’s the one taking the situation into her own hands and exercising that control and agency and power over her circumstances, and ultimately overcoming the horror that’s being thrown at her and that adversity. It’s a total actualization of everything that Tabby has fought for and advocated for and really has wanted to see. So while that’s really special, I think it’s also quite harrowing, but I think, if anything, she emerges victorious, and I think she feels the weight and significance of for sure.”
The real villains in ‘Pretty Little Liars: Summer School’: Who was Bloody Rose?
Bloody Rose in Pretty Little Liars: Summer School turns out to be Mrs. Susan Langsberry, Chip’s mother. Her son raped Imogen (Bailee Madison) and sexually assaulted Tabby. Though he was murdered by A, Mrs. Langsberry harbored resentment toward Imogen, Tabby and the other Liars for tarnishing Chip’s name. Bloody Rose also didn’t work alone. Wes, Tabby’s boss at the Orpheum, who is jealous of her budding filmmaking career and has said racist things to her, worked with Mrs. Langsberry, who makes this ordeal a horror film.
Kinney explained, “On the show, you can’t trust anyone or anything, and our writers do keep us in the dark about it when we’re moving through the season, which I’ve really come to enjoy, because you just kind of stay present in the story. Specifically for me in this season, it was crucial that I didn’t know. Obviously I feel my way about Mrs. Langsberry always, but with Wes, there were moments where I’m like, ‘Gosh, I want to see your redemption arc. I want to see you do better.’ If anything, I think it would be amazing for you to learn and grow. And so, if anything, I think I was more shocked that he was a part of it. Then [for] Mrs. Langsberry…I’m like, ‘Girl, get a job’ [laughs]. But yeah, didn’t expect the Wes of it all so much.”
Was Christian good or a villain in ‘Pretty Little Liars: Summer School’?
Kinney was glad that Tabby’s love interest of Christian Peele (Noah Alexander Gerry) was not behind the killings and was not a villain.
“I didn’t want to see it be the love interest,” she said. “I think, one, just because that’s a horror trope that we’ve seen before. And I think [showrunners] Roberto [Aguirre-Sacasa] and Lindsay [Calhoon Bring], they’re such geniuses in the world of horror. They are Tabby; they eat, breathe, sleep, horror, and so they know the rules very well, and they know when to play into them, but then also maybe when to break them. So, I think that was a good detour there. I feel satisfied with it. I’m happy. And also I didn’t want my girl to be retraumatized in the same way again. The whole situation was already very harrowing and still stripping her control and power in that moment. So I think it was triggering in that way for sure. But I think she deserves love. She deserves a nice buddy to go home to.”
Watch our complete Pretty Little Liars: Summer School finale breakdown with Chandler Kinney above.
Pretty Little Liars: Summer School and Season 1 (Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin) stream on Max.
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