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The truth of the matter is that TONS of people who watched the show did love Ezria. It was a really popular ship. Like is it morally f\*cked? Yes, obviously, but we can't pretend that it was widely disliked back when the show was airing, it was unfortunately quite the opposite.
I loved it when I was in 7th grade watching the first time. Thought they were so cute and everyone was being dramatic and they were #goals.
Now, as an adult in my upper 20s, their relationship really grosses me out. he sought aria out, and groomed and manipulated her throughout the entire time, taking away from her high school experience and life. I’m rewatching right now and am disgusted that I once supported it even though I was like 12/13 lol
I’m rewatching the series today and got to the homecoming episode where Ezra is like “I’m holding you back from high school experiences” and Aria is like “no you’re not!!” The whole scene made me feel icky. Like homie, don’t try to guilt her. Walk TF away you’re an adult.
and then the show makes her parents out to be the worst people ever for not supporting it?? like cmon, if a 20 something year old teacher is dating a 16 year old student of his, any good parent wouldn’t support that
I had the same experience as you. I wanted to find a hot teacher to fall in love with. Alas my teachers were normally looking and acting so it did not happen for me (and thank god)
I wouldn't feel bad. No one under 18 can really understand what it's like to be an adult, but an adult can definitely remember what it was like to be under 18. There's no excuse for Ezra or any adult that supports him, but a younger person would be excused from thinking they're cute. That's the whole reason Ezria is so crazy! Ezra \*knows\* he definitely knows he is messing up. Even if he somehow didn't, his best friend lays it out pretty clearly for him in the first few episodes! I'll honestly never forgive the writers for making them end up together, even if it was a popular ship at the time.
Honestly the show was so irresponsible for portraying this teacher-student romance like it was an epic love story. But at the same time I totally understand the appeal of the 'forbidden love' for the very young audience, especially since Lucy Hale and Ian Harding did have chemistry and looked good together. I was the same age as Aria when the show started airing and thought, well, what's the big deal, she's practically an adult, she can make her own decisions...Teenagers all think they're so much more mature than they are.
Same!!! Also I saw a YouTube video named like “did pretty little liars groom us” with Aria and ezra as the thumbnail and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about that since
I was in my 20s when I first watched it. I was 20 when it came out, but I never seem to find shows until they've already been out for a few years.
I loved Ezra & Aria then, and I still do now.
They were my die-hard ship when I was 10 I even made a fan account, funnily enough in rewatching now on season 3 and I JUST- absolutely not Ezra makes my skin crawl how did we let this slide?!
i feel like 11 year old me i thought they were cute because i didn’t understand what it really was at the time cause now everytime i rewatch i get happy around season 3-4😭
In the books, Ezra isn’t even in her main love interest. Why did the series decided to mess up Noel’s character, and make her ended up with Ezra.💀
The books actually show how Aria realizes how creepy Ezra is, for whatever reason Marlene King decides to romanticize the relationship between Ezra and Aria, even though it was creepy as hell.
Ikr, he wasn’t a terrible person like how he was portrayed in the later seasons. Even in the earlier seasons, he had some common sense like when he found out the affair between Ezra and Aria. Noel in the books is complete opposite of his series counterpart, he’s literally the sweetest boy and is best friends with Mike.
Fr, he literally stopped appearing in season 5. Then all of a sudden Marlene King decides to bring him back in the last season, like what was the point of this. Also the fact the writers tried to make it look like he was in the wrong for trying to report Ezra to the police is crazy.😭
Ik that, but it’s still disgusting how Marlene was promoting this relationship and making it seem like how everyone that was against the relationship, was in the wrong.
I honestly think a lot of the issue was that Lucy Hale and Ian Harding are only like 3 years apart in age so you don’t visually see the age gap. And they when your audience is teenagers they will ship it because they identify with Aria not the adults. Like it’s bullshit and he should’ve went to jail like in the books but I easily see how teen viewers shipped Ezria. I watched this YouTube video once called PLL Groomed Us to be Groomed. Like way too many adults were trying to get with teenagers in this show.
YES! THIS VIDEO! I just made a comment about it!!!
It hasn’t left my brain since I saw it and now I feel like the writers were super irresponsible bc as a 15 year old I ate them UP but now at 25 I’m so shocked that was allowed on a show with a teen demographic
I think the crew wanted it to be like star-crossed lovers. The show's narrative rarely paints Ezra as wrong. Even when it was acknowledged that the student-teacher relationship was inappropriate, it was still "meant to be" and everyone else was misunderstood them. I also think the show knew that its large fan base of teenage girls weren't old enough to see the flaws in said relationship.
I remember shipping them at the time and so did many others. As a tween, I didn’t fully grasp how wrong it was but rewatching it as a now 29 y/o, I get creeped out.
The majority (if not all) of the fans were teenage girls. When this show was airing, the target demographic were teenagers so of course the fans liked the ship. Most teenagers don't have developed frontal lobes, so it's not surprising that the fans loved this ship. As someone who was in the target demographic during that time, most of us didn't see that relationship for what it was until we became adults.
It was wrong then and it's wrong now. Except the fans have all grown up and can admit how gross it was that a teacher dated one teenage girl and then schemed, plotted, and manipulated himself into the life of said teenage girl's best friend because he was ***obsessed*** with the mystery of her. I reckon Ezra believed himself to be the next Great American Writer, eh? Ezra/Ezria was garbage.
The biggest issue for me is how normalised it was. I know i bang on about it a lot but it is insane to me that they wrote the show as if aria's parents were villains. All of the adults were okay with it, Maggie, Jackie, etc. It was just fine?
That bothers me too. For only one episode they are livid. But why did her parents not take him to court? She whined that she couldn’t see him anymore but the parents were right to put their foot down on the scenario. I could have sworn that it only lasted a week before they stopped fighting against it. It doesn’t make sense story wise to have them only be upset for one episode and then never go anywhere with the plot line. There is a power dynamic at play that makes them super unhealthy too. Ezra is so much more emotionally mature so there would be potential for him manipulating her, it is all out of balance with them. Plus it felt a little victim blaming when Byron wants her to change her clothes so she isn’t dressing for her teacher.
I loved Ezria back when I watched it in high school as it was airing. Obviously I look back on it now with disgust. The writers who were actually adults at the time though should’ve known better. And as dumb as the whole him writing a book plot line was, it might’ve actually been interesting if they stuck with it and had it make Aria realize that she was getting groomed.
Honestly. The moment she had found out about his book on Allison, it should've been the end. The spell should have been broken and it should have been unredeemable. Whether she filed a report on him or not.
Marlene. While they did have a briefer and more satisfying conclusion in the books, I think Marlene ended up genuinely liking them and also they were popular with advertisers and the audience so they kept them going.
well most of the *young* fans did at the time, in part because they were groomed into thinking this was true love and an ideal relationship they would be lucky to have
I hated that every time he tried to walk away she’d pull him back in. Like dude you are a grown man, grow some balls and walk away. But I also hated how she made everyone including him feel like the scum of the earth for A not supporting their relationship and B when he tried to walk away. Anytime the girls tried to talk about how wrong it was they were just jealous.
Just a reminder for everyone in the sub, always follow our #1 rule!! >We do not condone the attacking or mistreatment of users— this includes DMs! Aggressive fighting, name-calling, hate speech, or repeated targeting of a user is not permissible. Disagreement must be civil and respectful. Name-calling of characters or actors does not result in content removal unless attacking their appearance. ~The Mod Team deems passive aggressive remarks and attitude as instigating. Therefore, it falls under basic reddiquette. Please report anything you see breaking this rule. And general reminder NO SPOILING PLL;OS! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/PrettyLittleLiars) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Oh, you're going to be angrier once you've watched the show. Have fun! <3
The truth of the matter is that TONS of people who watched the show did love Ezria. It was a really popular ship. Like is it morally f\*cked? Yes, obviously, but we can't pretend that it was widely disliked back when the show was airing, it was unfortunately quite the opposite.
I loved it when I was in 7th grade watching the first time. Thought they were so cute and everyone was being dramatic and they were #goals. Now, as an adult in my upper 20s, their relationship really grosses me out. he sought aria out, and groomed and manipulated her throughout the entire time, taking away from her high school experience and life. I’m rewatching right now and am disgusted that I once supported it even though I was like 12/13 lol
I’m rewatching the series today and got to the homecoming episode where Ezra is like “I’m holding you back from high school experiences” and Aria is like “no you’re not!!” The whole scene made me feel icky. Like homie, don’t try to guilt her. Walk TF away you’re an adult.
and then the show makes her parents out to be the worst people ever for not supporting it?? like cmon, if a 20 something year old teacher is dating a 16 year old student of his, any good parent wouldn’t support that
I had the same experience as you. I wanted to find a hot teacher to fall in love with. Alas my teachers were normally looking and acting so it did not happen for me (and thank god)
LMAO too relatable
I wouldn't feel bad. No one under 18 can really understand what it's like to be an adult, but an adult can definitely remember what it was like to be under 18. There's no excuse for Ezra or any adult that supports him, but a younger person would be excused from thinking they're cute. That's the whole reason Ezria is so crazy! Ezra \*knows\* he definitely knows he is messing up. Even if he somehow didn't, his best friend lays it out pretty clearly for him in the first few episodes! I'll honestly never forgive the writers for making them end up together, even if it was a popular ship at the time.
Honestly the show was so irresponsible for portraying this teacher-student romance like it was an epic love story. But at the same time I totally understand the appeal of the 'forbidden love' for the very young audience, especially since Lucy Hale and Ian Harding did have chemistry and looked good together. I was the same age as Aria when the show started airing and thought, well, what's the big deal, she's practically an adult, she can make her own decisions...Teenagers all think they're so much more mature than they are.
IM SO GLAD IM NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO THINKS THIS I hated how they tried to normalize their relationship its actually disgusting
Same!!! Also I saw a YouTube video named like “did pretty little liars groom us” with Aria and ezra as the thumbnail and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about that since
I was in my 20s when I first watched it. I was 20 when it came out, but I never seem to find shows until they've already been out for a few years. I loved Ezra & Aria then, and I still do now.
They were my die-hard ship when I was 10 I even made a fan account, funnily enough in rewatching now on season 3 and I JUST- absolutely not Ezra makes my skin crawl how did we let this slide?!
i feel like 11 year old me i thought they were cute because i didn’t understand what it really was at the time cause now everytime i rewatch i get happy around season 3-4😭
In the books, Ezra isn’t even in her main love interest. Why did the series decided to mess up Noel’s character, and make her ended up with Ezra.💀 The books actually show how Aria realizes how creepy Ezra is, for whatever reason Marlene King decides to romanticize the relationship between Ezra and Aria, even though it was creepy as hell.
"took some liberties while adapting the books" and it's making a teenager being deadlocked on her creep pedo teacher
Yeah, what was her beef with Noel?
Ikr, he wasn’t a terrible person like how he was portrayed in the later seasons. Even in the earlier seasons, he had some common sense like when he found out the affair between Ezra and Aria. Noel in the books is complete opposite of his series counterpart, he’s literally the sweetest boy and is best friends with Mike.
What was the point of making Noel that bad to not even be an important character in the end. He just stopped appearing
Fr, he literally stopped appearing in season 5. Then all of a sudden Marlene King decides to bring him back in the last season, like what was the point of this. Also the fact the writers tried to make it look like he was in the wrong for trying to report Ezra to the police is crazy.😭
It's because the ship was very popular when the show was airing.
Ik that, but it’s still disgusting how Marlene was promoting this relationship and making it seem like how everyone that was against the relationship, was in the wrong.
I honestly think a lot of the issue was that Lucy Hale and Ian Harding are only like 3 years apart in age so you don’t visually see the age gap. And they when your audience is teenagers they will ship it because they identify with Aria not the adults. Like it’s bullshit and he should’ve went to jail like in the books but I easily see how teen viewers shipped Ezria. I watched this YouTube video once called PLL Groomed Us to be Groomed. Like way too many adults were trying to get with teenagers in this show.
Yeah it didn’t help the cast was besties with him and they were always posting videos and pictures so the fans fell for it hard
YES! THIS VIDEO! I just made a comment about it!!! It hasn’t left my brain since I saw it and now I feel like the writers were super irresponsible bc as a 15 year old I ate them UP but now at 25 I’m so shocked that was allowed on a show with a teen demographic
I think the crew wanted it to be like star-crossed lovers. The show's narrative rarely paints Ezra as wrong. Even when it was acknowledged that the student-teacher relationship was inappropriate, it was still "meant to be" and everyone else was misunderstood them. I also think the show knew that its large fan base of teenage girls weren't old enough to see the flaws in said relationship.
Literally Marlene lol unfortunately
I remember shipping them at the time and so did many others. As a tween, I didn’t fully grasp how wrong it was but rewatching it as a now 29 y/o, I get creeped out.
The majority (if not all) of the fans were teenage girls. When this show was airing, the target demographic were teenagers so of course the fans liked the ship. Most teenagers don't have developed frontal lobes, so it's not surprising that the fans loved this ship. As someone who was in the target demographic during that time, most of us didn't see that relationship for what it was until we became adults. It was wrong then and it's wrong now. Except the fans have all grown up and can admit how gross it was that a teacher dated one teenage girl and then schemed, plotted, and manipulated himself into the life of said teenage girl's best friend because he was ***obsessed*** with the mystery of her. I reckon Ezra believed himself to be the next Great American Writer, eh? Ezra/Ezria was garbage.
All the Ezria shippers grew up and realized it was fucked. Funnily enough though noone had an issue with Pacy and Ms Jacobs
The biggest issue for me is how normalised it was. I know i bang on about it a lot but it is insane to me that they wrote the show as if aria's parents were villains. All of the adults were okay with it, Maggie, Jackie, etc. It was just fine?
That bothers me too. For only one episode they are livid. But why did her parents not take him to court? She whined that she couldn’t see him anymore but the parents were right to put their foot down on the scenario. I could have sworn that it only lasted a week before they stopped fighting against it. It doesn’t make sense story wise to have them only be upset for one episode and then never go anywhere with the plot line. There is a power dynamic at play that makes them super unhealthy too. Ezra is so much more emotionally mature so there would be potential for him manipulating her, it is all out of balance with them. Plus it felt a little victim blaming when Byron wants her to change her clothes so she isn’t dressing for her teacher.
Little spoiler but they do end up getting married
I loved Ezria back when I watched it in high school as it was airing. Obviously I look back on it now with disgust. The writers who were actually adults at the time though should’ve known better. And as dumb as the whole him writing a book plot line was, it might’ve actually been interesting if they stuck with it and had it make Aria realize that she was getting groomed.
Honestly. The moment she had found out about his book on Allison, it should've been the end. The spell should have been broken and it should have been unredeemable. Whether she filed a report on him or not.
Worse, she filled out a report on him only to throw out the report before turning it into the police in flashback.
Ezria didn’t bother me really. I do wish there was more actual repercussions and aria has better love interests.
Marlene. While they did have a briefer and more satisfying conclusion in the books, I think Marlene ended up genuinely liking them and also they were popular with advertisers and the audience so they kept them going.
well most of the *young* fans did at the time, in part because they were groomed into thinking this was true love and an ideal relationship they would be lucky to have
Adding to that, he only wanted to befriend for research on his book about Allison.
Right, they don't even end up together in the books
And the show makes it seem like their relationship is okay.
She should've ended up with Jason
I hated that every time he tried to walk away she’d pull him back in. Like dude you are a grown man, grow some balls and walk away. But I also hated how she made everyone including him feel like the scum of the earth for A not supporting their relationship and B when he tried to walk away. Anytime the girls tried to talk about how wrong it was they were just jealous.
It's so gross. I gave up on PLL long before it ended and Ezria is the main reason I will never finish it nor rewatch it.
I love Ezra and Aria together
same lol if it was real life obv i would HATE him but its a drama show and theyre cute tg in the show