Talk:How the 'A' Stole Christmas/@comment-86.50.119.230-20141127201059/@comment-25755332-20141128000749

^Five seasons of flashbacks would be crazy. But I was a little bit indistinct with my theory. I was referring only to the flashbacks we have seen and when people tell stories from the past. For example when Ali was telling the girls about Spencer the night she disappeared in 4x24, we don't know if Ali was telling the truth and there are three possible scenarios; a) everything Ali told the girls about Spencer from the night were true, b) Ali made up the whole Spencer-story (Spencer doesn't remember everything from their interaction) or c) the story was mostly true but Ali left a few things out or added things that didn't take place when she saw Spencer.

It's perhaps more about the point of view in the flashbacks. Are we seeing the whole course of events that actually did take place in the flashback from a third person omniscient point of view, similar to the view shot with a surveillance camera. Everything we see is objective and true. Or the other possibility is that the flashbacks are shot from the storyteller's perspective and more of a first-person point of view. We only see the things in the flashbacks that the storyteller (in this case Ali's perspective) wants us to see and know. To compare with someone tampering with the surveillance footage, cut out parts they don't want us to see and voila! The footage has now plot holes and missing pieces. In that case Ali could be leaving out important details and only tell things that benefit her and her motive. And when we as viewers see the scene we wouldn't know what details she left out.

And then we have things that happen in present time, when people are telling a story or just remembering things from past time without a flashback. When for example Cece was speaking with Emily in 3x17 and said she didn't know who Beach Hottie was (only the bench-part, NOT the actual flashback with Ali meeting Cece in Cape May). There are three scenarios that could have taken place; d) Cece told Emily everything she knew about Beach Hottie and she was honest, e) everything Cece told Emily was a lie or f) some things Cece said to Emily were true and other were made up.

So my point is that there are in practice six different types of scenes we could see as a viewer. The flashbacks are; a) everything we see in the flashback is true b) everything we see in the flashback is fictitious and c) some details in the flashback we see are true and other are lies. And the scenes in present time; d) everything she/he tells someone is the truth, e) everything she/he tells someone is a lie and f) some things she/he tells are true and other are fictitious. But the thing is we as viewers are not aware of anything of the above, unless someone else confirms that the content of the flashback is authentic or proves that the story is true. Most of the scenes we see are a), d), e) and f). But the most interesting and important ones to the theory are actually c), and b) is even more important. Because if there are flashbacks that are completely false. Then we are currently building our theories on lies and misconceptions. The flashbacks that show events that didn't take place could change everything and our theories could collapse like a house of cards including the real A's motive and people's alibi.

It's similar to a trial. Someone is accused of a murder and all of a sudden the cops find a witness that acquits them from the crime. A new witness has showed up, and that changes the whole prosecution and above all the timeline of the events when the crime was committed. Another example is someone is taken in to questioning because a new witness has showed up and then is later found guilty of the crime, even if the cops already had a suspect they thought was guilty. But the new evidence acquitted the original suspect.

It's hard to find out the truth when you don't see the whole picture and don't have all the puzzle pieces. An even bigger problem is if you have pieces that are false and you are not aware that they are incorrect. That last sentence is a perfect description for our status at the moment. We have puzzle pieces but we don't know which the false ones are, and in addition there are still missing pieces.

I don't know if it makes any sense at all, but at least I tried to explain what I meant with my post earlier =)