This article contains discussions of murder, animal cruelty, sexism, and racism.
This article includes SPOILERS for Pretty Little Liars: Summer School, episode 8, “Chapter Eighteen: Final Exam.”
Summary
One ofPretty Little Liars: Summer School’s villain reveals serves as a reminder to watch two true crime documentaries.Pretty Little Liars: Summer Schoolis the second season in Max’s Pretty Little Liars spinoff, which follows five teen girls who are being tormented by a masked killer. In the first season,Original Sin, Archie Waters goes after Noa, Mouse, Faran, Tabby, and Imogen because he and his dad blame their parents for leading his sister, Angela Waters, to her death. However, the Liars face a much bigger threat inSummer Schoolwhen they go up againstthe villain Bloody Rose.
While they initially believe that the killer is their therapist or Karen’s mom, theending ofSummer Schoolreveals thatBloody Rose is Mrs. Langsberry – Chip’s mother – and the person under the Archie mask is Wes – Tabby’s ex-boss from the Orpheum. The reveal of Mrs. Langsberry is, admittedly, lackluster. However, Wes’ villain reveal, background story, and motivations serve as a reminder to watch two eerily similar true crime documentaries.
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Pretty Little Liars: Summer School’s Wes Is Similar To Luka Magnotta From Don’t F**k With Cats
Wes And Luka Magnotta Are Both Cocky Men Who Use Murder To Seek Fame
Wes’ motivation for working as Bloody Rose’s assistant inPretty Little Liars: Summer Schoolwill seem familiar to viewers who are fans of true crime. The character wanted fame, so he decided to make a movie with real victims. In 2019, Netflix released a 3-part docuseries with a similar murderer at the center.Don’t F**k With Catsfollows the internet sleuths who helped identify a man named Luka Rocco Magnotta, who recorded and posted videos of him killing kittens and murdering a man named Jun Lin. Magnotta has vast similarities to Wes fromPretty Little Liars: Summer School.
Magnotta desperately wanted to be famous, auditioning for a reality TV show calledCover Guy, working as an actor in adult films, and creating sock puppet accounts to spread stories about himself. He photoshopped images and spread stories about his fame. InSummer School, Wes went out of his way to talk big about the movies that would make him famous if it weren’t for him being a straight white man. Ultimately,when both Magnotta and Wes couldn’t achieve fame through conventional means, they turned to murder– an action that most people seeking fame would never do.
According toDon’t Fk With Cats, Luka Magnotta even allegedly emailed the London Sun stating,“I will continue to make more movies. Next time you hear from me, it will be a movie I am producing that will have some humans in it….“This mirrors Wes’ statements about producing a horror movie where real people die. Anyone who wants to get a better understanding of Wes’ character can get a grasp by watching the docuseries. It’s important to note thatDon’t Fk With Catscomes with major trigger warnings.
Wes’ Proxy Storyline Is Also A Callback To Beware the Slenderman
The Bloody Rose Proxies Parallel The Teens Who Wanted To Be Slenderman’s Proxies
The ending ofPretty Little Liars: Summer Schoolinvolves Wes’ army of proxies going to the Orpheum and Tabby’s mom’s house to threaten everyone. They followed the bidding of Mrs. Langsberry and Wes because of their disguises. From the start, SpookySpaghetti and Bloody Rose were a callback to CreepyPasta and Slenderman. In both cases, a character was created to be “real” and took on a life of their own because of the online community that invested in the legend.
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However, Wes’ murderous proxies are a callback to the real-life case of the Slenderman stabbings covered inBeware the Slenderman. The documentary looks at the case where two 12-year-old girls named Anissa Weir and Morgan Geyser attacked their friend Payton Leutner, stabbing her 19 times, to appease Slenderman and become his proxies. Similarly, theproxies of Wes are willing to commit acts of self-harm and violence to make a fictional character, Bloody Rose, happyinSummer School.
The documentaryBeware the Slendermanprovides a good insight into the psychology of someone who can take similar actions because only one of the proxies’ faces is seen, and nothing is even known about the character. Hopefully, season 3 of the spinoff will clarify some of theunanswered questions fromPretty Little Liars: Summer Schoolabout the proxies.
The Motivation & Storyline For Wes Proves Pretty Little Liars Isn’t Just Focused On Horror Movies
Wes Gives Max’s Pretty Little Liars Spinoff More Realism
In the Venn diagram of grounded motivations and typical horror villain backstories, Wes in Max’sPretty Little Liarsspinoff would fall into the shaded middle area like Norman Bates and John Kramer.
Max’sPretty Little Liarsspinoff has put a major focus on horror movie references and homages, which is entertaining to watch. However, Wes’ motivation and storyline end up being much more grounded than that of a typical horror movie.His racism and sexism toward Tabby are reflective of real-life societal issuesthat are, unfortunately, far too common. As a straight white man, he is so privileged that he can’t fathom a Black teen girl getting further than him based on her merits.
The show approaches its villain as a more realistic threat. This differs from the soap opera tone of the originalPretty Little Liarsor the outlandish backstory of horror villains. In the Venn diagram of grounded motivations and typical horror villain backstories, Wes in Max’sPretty Little Liarsspinoff would fall into the shaded middle area like Norman Bates and John Kramer.
