10 TV Friendships That Wouldn't Work In Real Life
3. Alison DiLaurentis And The Liars (Pretty Little Liars)
This one is kind of an obvious choice. One of the main themes and storylines in the first seasons of the hit teen drama was for the four Liars (Hanna Marin, Spencer Hastings, Aria Montgomery and Emily Fields) to acknowledge how toxic and detrimental their friendship with Alison actually was, both as a group and each one separately. Just right off the bat, Alison pretty much inflicts Hanna's bulimia by showing her how to 'get rid of it' in a Season 1 flashback, shames Emily for her sexuality (and even taunts her for having genuine feelings for her), and even lets Spencer believe she hurt/killed her.
The damage Alison's done doesn't stop with just the girls: she also reaches out to their families, blackmailing Aria's dad over his affair, as well as going after Spencer's family. And who could forget that she involved them all in the Jenna Thing over her own petty competition?
Naturally, the show and the fandom address that such friendship is dysfunctional and toxic for the girls. Even when Alison comes back, she stirs up the girls' dynamic to the point where Hanna resorts to alcohol and shoplifting and Emily stands up for her even when it's unwarranted. All is good and well up until the point where the writers decided to clumsily redeem her character and have the girls forgive her for everything.
After the time jump they're shown to be best friends and they end the show as such, all pain and hurt forgotten, which sends a wrong message and would be quite impossible in real life considering the damage Alison's caused to them. Then again, realism is not exactly a factor in this series.