Sara Harvey (Pretty Little Liars)

Sara Harvey is a fictional character in the Freeform television series adaption of the Pretty Little Liars book series. She is portrayed by model Dre Davis. Sara is introduced as a false protagonist, only to be revealed as "Big A's" accomplice. She is murdered in "Wanted: Dead or Alive" by an unknown assailant.

Casting

On March 25, 2015, it was announced Project Runway alum Dre Davis was cast as Kimberly Brown.^[1] The actress originally posted a photo of herself wearing a yellow top similar to the one Ali and Bethany were wearing the night of Bethany’s death,^[2] causing critics and Pretty Little Liars fans alike speculatiould actually be Bethany.^[3] However, it was later announced she will instead be portraying Sara Harvey.^[2] In an interview with AfterEllen.com, Davis revealed she had to audition with two scenes — with one of them being a kissing scene leading to speculation that she'd be a romantic interest for Emily Fields, as the other Liars currently had love interests at the time.^[4]

Development

Characterization and introduction

When the character was originally Kimberly Brown, she was described as someone who "used to brim with confidence" but recently was "emotionally deprived and had to get old self back".^[6] In the season four episode "Who's In The Box?", Sara's friends noted her as the "Queen Bee" of their clique and the most popular girl in school prior to her disappearance. The character's description was compared to the likes of Alison DiLaurentis in many ways, which primarily included being self-centered, manipulative and deceiving. However, much like Alison, she could also be charming. One of Sara's friends Tina referred to her as the girl "who seems to be everything, have everything" and can make you feel special.

Her friends also revealed they sometimes wished she would've died before her actual disappearance just like the Liars had with Alison. During the season six premiere, "Game On, Charles", Sara makes her first physical appearance in A's Dollhouse, having allegedly been there for two years.^[7][8]

Working as A's accomplice

During the summer finale of the sixth season, "Game Over, Charles", Sara is revealed to be Charlotte DiLaurentis's ally and partner in crime.^[9] She was exposed as one of the three Red Coats, since she donned an Ali mask to distract Mona while CeCe trapped the Liars at the Thornhill Lodge.^[9][10] In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Pretty Little Liars showrunner and executive producer, I. Marlene King, revealed that Sara was the person who saved Emily, Aria and Mona after Shana Fring set fire to the lodge during the season three episode "A dAngerous gAme".^[10] Sara is also exposed as Black Widow, the mysterious woman dressed head to toe in black at detective Darren Wilden's funeral, whom CeCe sent to ensure he was dead.^[11]

Sara's motivations for serving as Charlotte's accomplice are initially unknown, until the episode "Charlotte's Web", when it is revealed that she was allegedly diagnosed with Stockholm Syndrome, which is a psychological phenomenon whereby a hostage develops sympathetic and loving feelings towards their captors. When Sara was brought to justice for her illegal actions, her diagnosis of Stockholm Syndrome allowed her to have her criminal sentence reduced. However, Hanna believes her condition was a hoax to keep her out of prison. It is later disclosed in "Do Not Disturb" that she did indeed lie under oath to protect herself and was actually good friends with Charlotte.

Storylines

Background

Sara was one of the main antagonists during the series' third and fourth seasons, dressing up as a decoy Red Coat and the Black Widow.

At her local high school, Sara was a stereotypical popular girl and leader of her own clique. On the summer of 2009, Harvey went missing and was last seen the day after Labor Day by one of her friends, Avery. It is unknown what happened to Sara and where she was. However, in 2011, she became an ally to Charlotte DiLaurentis and began helping her to be "A".

Season 3

In "A DAngerous GAme", Charlotte, then known to the A-Team as Red Coat, needed a decoy to distract the Liars and keep Mona Vanderwaal busy at Thornhill. Nigel Wright was paid to fake a flight plan to Delaware by Charlotte but the plane actually made its way to the lodge since Sara landed it in a nearby field despite the fog in the area. The plan was to lure Alison out of hiding, since Charlotte kept seeing a blonde girl in a red coat watching over the Liars. Shana Fring also showed up with Jenna Marshall under Melissa Hastings orders to find out if they were going to meet Alison, since she too had her own suspicions. However, both plans went awry and while Jenna wasn't noticing, Shana locked the girls on the lodge and set it on fire. Sara managed to rescue Aria, Emily and Mona while Alison arrived just in time to save Hanna, giving Charlotte the much needed confirmation that her sister was indeed alive. Wilden was not too far from the Lodge and Charlotte used the moment to kill him since he would've never allowed Alison to return to Rosewood and spin her story.

Season 4

After killing Wilden, Charlotte sends Sara to attend his funeral dressed as the mysterious woman in the black veil to ensure he was deceased. Sometime after this, Sara began living under the DiLaurentis home, in her Red Coat disguise.

In "Grave New World", the Liars discover that Alison is indeed alive and dressing up as Red Coat to hide from "A", which leads them to look for suspects for the identity of the mysterious Jane Doe buried in Alison's grave in "Who's In The Box?". Hanna is researching and comes upon Sara's website set up by her high school friends. Hanna contacts them and they meet up to discuss Sara. Her former best friend, Claire, states that their other friend Avery last saw Sara on Labor Day. Later, Claire divulges to Emily that she had secretly wished for Sara to die even prior to her disappearance because of how horrible of a person she was. Claire says that if Sara gave you something, she in turn took two things away.

Season 5

Sara continues helping Charlotte in the "A" game. After it is revealed that Bethany Young is the person buried in Alison's grave, Sara fixes her parents a card and flowers, while wearing her black veil disguise.

At some point during the season, Sara seemingly begins living in the Dollhouse and dressing up in Alison's yellow top, though the reason for this is currently unknown.

Season 6

In "Game On, Charles", a young blonde girl is seen throughout the episode in "A's" dollhouse wearing the yellow top. The anonymous blonde first appears drawing on the wall in her prison room and later carries out "Big A's" orders in delivering the girls food. The Liars manage to escape and the police arrive at the scene and find the girl in her room. The police offer asks her what her name is and she reveals herself to be Sara Harvey. The Liars recognize her since they previously talked to Sara's friends. In "Songs of Innocence", Sara runs away from home to Emily's after her mom took her home from the hospital. Pam offers Sara to stay with the two for a while. Throughout the season, Sara and Emily develop a co-dependent romantic relationship with one another.

During "Game Over, Charles", the Liars as well as Mona manage to break into a restricted room with Sara's aid who remembers a specific date meaningful to A. While the girls enter the room, Sara suspiciously leaves them behind. As the Liars and Mona discover a hologram which monitors a live feed of Charlotte/CeCe revealing herself as "A" in Radley and telling Alison her story, Sara sets up a bomb to detonate inside of the sanitarium as part of Charlotte's final plan to kill her family along with herself. The Liars arrive in time to subdue Sara, while Spencer disables the bomb. Charlotte runs to the roof to jump and Alison begs the Liars to help her. While they are listening to Alison, Sara tries to run but Emily grabs her hood and punches Sara in the face for her betrayal. After Emily knocks her down, something happens to Sara, which puts her in the hospital.

Sara returns to Rosewood in "Of Late I Think of Rosewood" to attend Charlotte's funeral and decides to stay around town, which agitates the Liars since they suspect that she'll leave word about what happened to her at Radley all those years ago.

During "The Gloves Are On", Spencer confesses to Caleb that after Emily punched Sara, she got back up but accidentally put her hands on some electrical cords, which began electrocuting her body, as the Liars watched in fear and shock. This left her unable to use her hands. It is also divulged that after this event, Sara was diagnosed with Stockholm Syndrome, having downgraded Charlotte at the court as a horrible person. However, Sara visits Alison at her job during "Do Not Disturb" and apologizes for lying under oath in order to reduce her criminal sentence, stating that she saw Charlotte as an older sister and mentor. Aria and Spencer break into her room at The Radley and find out that she's living in what was once Charlotte's old room while growing up in the infamous sanitarium.^[12] They then find a hole in the closet that leads to an underground floor, which in turn leads out of the Radley.^[13] Nonetheless, Alison, Emily and Hanna return a few days later only to find out that the hole in the wall had been sealed.^[14]

During "Did You Miss Me?", her helper goes to city hall to get a copy of The Radley's floor plan. He hands them to her as she suspiciously drives off. Later, she encounters Mona and tells her no matter what good deeds Mona does, none of the girls are ever going to trust her. Adding salt to the wound, Sara says without games, Mona will remain alone forever.

Season 7

During "Along Comes Mary", Sara remains living in Rosewood and befriends Jenna Marshall. At the end of the episode, they are having drinks at The Radley when an unknown figure approaches the two and reveals themselves as Noel Kahn, who proceeds to join the duo.

In the following episode "Wanted: Dead or Alive", Harvey seems to regret forming her newfound alliance with Jenna since she was trying to escape from her room after packing her bags. When she opened the door to leave, she was shocked to see someone she recognized on the other side. At the end of the episode, Sara is found dead and laying naked in her hotel room's bathtub by a cleaner.

During "The Wrath of Kahn", Hanna witnesses Noel disposing Sara Harvey's broken phone. He later takes it back when Hanna fails to prove that he's A.D, but warns her to be careful or else she'd end up like Sara.

Reception

The reveal of Sara Harvey as both the third Red Coat and Black Widow received a generally negative reception from fans and critics, with many of them expressing severe discontent over the writers for picking a character that was physically introduced so late into the series.

Notes

References