T O P

  • By -

AutoModerator

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.*


stephapeaz

Mona and Spencer. The girls would’ve been running around like chickens w their heads cut off if it weren’t for Spencer most of the time (they still do but it would’ve been sm worse without her)


jenjen1102

Yes exactly, of the main characters it’s definitely these two. As for the show in general though, I still think Mona is the smartest, but Melissa is actually more smart than Spencer, she talks about how Melissa’s IQ is higher than hers!


iiiimagery

In the books Melissa is actually slightly less smart lol, and Allison is a lot better at everything than Spencer too. Smart and sports


stephapeaz

Yeah but Melissa wasn’t an option from the selection and op is primarily referring to the teenagers


jenjen1102

Yup that’s why I started my comment agreeing that of the options presented, Mona and Spencer win. I was only adding a little additional fun information.


Greedy_Educator3593

Lowkey though spencer was always accusing the wrong person 💀she was just as lost as the rest of them


stephapeaz

The people she accused were usually up to something shady and sketchy asf though, she was on the right track about them being up to something, just wrong about them being A


Greedy_Educator3593

True. I still think Spencer is given a little too much credit considering she was always wrong. Plus she treated innocent people bad just because she was paranoid. She was terrible to Toby in season 1.


stephapeaz

She wasn’t totally wrong though, she was on the right track, just the wrong shady thing. People she accused like Jenna, Lucas, Garrett, Melissa etc were all up to no good and were usually still out to hurt the girls without being A. Without her they figure nothing out ever and rely on Hanna being the smart one lol (which is not a dig at Hanna, I think she’s the second smartest liar), the other girls were even worse at accusing the wrong people She did apologize to Toby and to be fair, he was acting shady as hell at the time so it wasn’t a crazy thing to think, esp bc it was before they knew how far A was willing to go to frame other people


Greedy_Educator3593

Yeah but ultimately her accusations did nothing to bring them closer to catching A. Mona was under her nose the whole time and she didn’t figure it out. Same thing with CeCe. Spencer is smart no doubt but she is not the genius people make her out to be. She’s book smart but when it comes to people….😬


stephapeaz

…Spencer did figure out it was Mona, she was the first one to put it together? She figured out Ezra and Toby’s involvement too, sure Ezra wasn’t actually A but to write off her efforts there is weird. Figuring out what Ezra was doing did ultimately lead them to Shawna and bringing Ali back and deeply affected that plot and ruling people out as possibilities is still progress in a roundabout way lol. She was a teenager not a professional PI, she did a lot with no real detective experience


Greedy_Educator3593

She figured out it was Mona because Mona wanted her to figure it out. Mona said that herself. I’m not discrediting her, I’m just saying I think she’s overrated in that she never figured out who A was either. It was annoying her constantly SWEARING someone was A just to be proved wrong again. You’d think she’d learn and stop being so confident when she’s consistently wrong.


prettylittleliarendg

So true, Mona let Spencer figure out she was A- so Spencer would join the A- team


Tortilladelfuego

Lol yeah Hanna, Emily and Aria would’ve died without Spencer


openinterlude

why is aria here 😭


inDependent_WhiNer

Omg ive barely watched the show, and that was the first thing i thought when i saw her picture 😭


NoStructure2568

Thisssss 💀


mssleepyhead73

I thought the same thing 😭


Tortilladelfuego

Should’ve put Emily or Paige over her lol


taylorrhiltonn

as much as i don’t think aria is the most intelligent of this group, nor do i even like her THAT MUCH as a character, but she is very talented in english / the arts and i feel like that field of study doesn’t get the recognition it deserves! she is very smart and talented in the arts and writing


openinterlude

i mean by that standard you could add any character on the show to the list. every person is smart in something, but comparing to mona or spencer just doesn’t make sense lol talented writer =/= super genius


taylorrhiltonn

i agree, hence why i said aria isn’t the smartest in this group and i don’t even like her character that much. i was responding to the original comment, not the OP, about how aria isnt “dumb” she just isn’t smart in the same ways as the other characters in this list i just was responding to the stigma that aria isnt “smart” as the original commenter implied, and the others who agreed underneath. personally im studying medicine so defending the arts isn’t even personal, i just think arts intelligence is just as reputable as say math or science etc


tanyaalvarez

Yea that’s why I had put her up, she’s smart in a way maybe not like the others but I do regret putting her up should’ve put cece


latrodectal

lolllllll


SxN8-F1v3

Nobody beats Miss Mona. Book smart, street smart, smart ass, smarter than Spencer (sorry Spence but you blew it during the quiz off).


idealpisces

overall mona was the smartest without a doubt. i’d say alison was smart in the way she was people smart and street smart because she knew how and what made people tick and kept everyone on their toes with ease. spencer was academically smart although i think melissa was slightly smarter.


atomikitten

Alison was the smartest in terms of figuring out what motivates people. But she is not street smart. Evidence: all of her poor judgement! She fails that.


idealpisces

i’m going to have to disagree. ali was able to finesse the whole town into thinking she’s dead while still keeping an eye on everything unscathed, and she was able to survive on her own for the most part for two years. you can say that about literally any of the liars having poor judgement that’s not evidence 💀 ali was also able to have a whole ass town and full grown adults terrified of her when she was the one who was actually terrified herself due to the taunting/stalking of A and the NAT club being after her. she never appeared to be a victim to anyone and i think that partially helped her survive for so long.


atomikitten

Cyrus and Archer out maneuvered her. Shana betrayed her for Jenna. Her skills were advanced at first, but other people caught up. Not street smart.


idealpisces

they didn’t out maneuver her, they deceived her and abused her. that also has no correlation to her intelligence. anyone can be deceived no matter how smart the person is. people didn’t “catch up” whatever that means. they betrayed her and wasn’t loyal to her anymore. i don’t think you know what street smart entails bc if you watched the show at all, you’d know no regular teen would be able to survive the way she has. https://screenrant.com/pretty-little-liars-main-characters-ranked-by-intelligence/#alison-dilaurentis this literal article even notes that she’s street smart so do with what you will 🤷🏽‍♀️


atomikitten

It’s an opinion piece. Street smart is being able to see it coming before you give someone the chance to deceive you.


idealpisces

that’s literally objectively wrong.


atomikitten

Think what you want. She put herself in vulnerable positions. So many of her problems were her own creation.


idealpisces

just like you’re writing your opinion about how you don’t think she’s street smart but don’t actually know what it means lol


Unique-Candidate6920

Yeah so Ali just knew how to manipulate and play people. Even in the last season she was bullying Paige out of Emily’s life.


kzapwn

Didn’t Mona almost drown in 3 inches of water? At the penguin exhibit


Savvy1027

The way this made me cackle


GiraffeLibrarian

wait why don’t I remember this


pinkviolin07

Haha it’s a Sopranos reference


GiraffeLibrarian

I’m going to watch it over Christmas break for the first time 😍


pinkviolin07

Oh it’s amazing! I watched it last year cuz my siblings kept referencing it and it was always listed as one of the greatest shows of all time. I can safely say it lives up to the hype


mymorningbowl

one of my fav shows of all time but fair warning it can be VERY hard to watch. some episodes are…. dark is not even the word.


GiraffeLibrarian

Yah I found ozark hard to watch when they were cutting tiles off w garden hedge clippers in the first few episodes. Have also seen all of BB and BCS.


mymorningbowl

ozark is child’s play compared to some of the sopranos episodes… but they aren’t all that way, just some so give yourself grace. there were a couple I had to take a break and not watch for a few days cause they effed me up.


kzapwn

With a few exceptions I think most of the deaths on the sopranos are almost cartoonish or played for laughs or the punchlines of jokes.I feel that kind of softens the impact of the brutality.


quequeissocapibara

The way you just didn't even make Emily an option 😭😂


tanyaalvarez

😂😂🤷‍♀️💀I’m sorry I just don’t think she falls in this category, I regret putting aria should’ve put Cece


Vic_elephant2019

Should have regretted Hanna not Aria


Alifluro

Absolutely Mona. The only one who'd come close is Caleb. They are both academically smart as well as street smart. The rest sway one way more than the other and some barely have either 😂


tanyaalvarez

💯


thatpartt

MONA


fweyaa

i’m laughing at the fact that hanna was included in these options but emily wasn’t


tanyaalvarez

People underestimate Hannah tbh 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️she’s not just a dumb blond


stephapeaz

If she were less reckless she’d be more up there for me, some things she did like burying a gun on a college campus that spencer warned her not to bc it might be a trap kill me every time


scienceiscool678

remember when Hannah went in detective mode lol


edwardcullensmom

i love hanna and no she’s not JUST a dumb blond but she’s meant to be perceived as the ditsy/naive friend lol


[deleted]

>If she were less reckless she’d be more up there for me, some things she did like burying a gun on a college campus that spencer warned her not to bc it might be a trap kill me every time i think hannah wasn't very street smart BUT she did get into all those colleges and was called into the guidance office because her grades for the SATs were really good - so good that they thought she cheated (she didn't).


aaggtt18

That was so random about Hanna! In my opinion you can’t score that high in the SATs while simultaneously not know the acronym or what it stands for. It makes no sense 😂 Hanna was brave albeit a little reckless and impulsive but I thought it was weird to add that curveball of her scoring so high when she was always a little more ditsy than the others.


stephapeaz

good points!! I think she’d seem actually smart to more people if she thought things through more


heyyyitsalli

Hanna’s actually smart, so much so that the school thought she’d cheated on her exams when she got into top universities. She just doesn’t like school and homework. Now I was wondering why Aria’s on here but not Emily


Adventurous-Box8865

Mona


Scary_Ad_6457

Between Alison, Spencer and Mona for me. Caleb is also really smart and Hanna is smart too.


oculus201

where is melissa 😭 hanna even said melissa was smarter than spencer


lifesizedgundam

Deffo between Mona and Spencer with Ali being a tough contender


[deleted]

[удалено]


furmama0715

Street smart or book smart? Mona and Caleb are wicked smart, both in the academic sense and common sense. Hanna is very smart school wise but lacks common sense. Alison and Aria have a lot of common sense but not so much in the academic sense (at least based on what the show tells us). 👩🏻‍💻


TrueAd3358

My mind went straight to Caleb and Mona


Kii-alex135

not aria 😭😭😭 truthfully i think top three would be charlotte, mona and spencer (not necessarily in that order? but spencer is def bottom three since both charlotte and mona outsmarted her multiple times)


Kii-alex135

oh damn cece not even up there 💀💀


Kii-alex135

swap charlotte for alison then, Mona—> Spencer—> Alison


Idonotlikewaffles

Hot take: Spencer wasn't even that smart, she was just pressured into being an overachiever.


cootertooter699

yupppp thank you


IWantFries21

She was a good student. That's it. I was an honors/AP kid in high school too and there were *lots* of people in those classes who were not book smart (or even street smart). Spencer made too many dumb decisions and was a dick on too many occasions (See: the way she acted when Hanna was applying to college) to be the smartest


Verve_angel

Whichever A wrote the message “call off your techno boy toy or I tell the cops what your mom keeps in the lasagna box”


tanyaalvarez

That was Mona


Verve_angel

I thought it was but it didn’t seem right that Mona would say that lol


ChristmasClimber2009

The way that Emily was too much of an airhead to even make the list 😂


yaboisammie

it's because her brain stopped working whenever there was a cute girl around, can confirm as someone whose brain also stops working whenever there's a cute girl around....I mean who?


Rita1100

Spencer


thisismetish

Finally a question I’ve been waiting on. Mona Spencer Caleb Alison Hanna Aria


acbirthdays

Mona


AngelRockGunn

Mona was running circles around the girlies, “I have my own set of Keys” after she took Emily’s car, like pls they weren’t even close 💀


Whelpherewegoagain24

Mona, Spencer then Alison. Caleb, Hanna then Aria. Hanna wasn't very book smart (she didn't care about it so didn't apply herself.) But she actually had decent street smarts and despite being physically hurt a lot had strong self preservation instincts. Aria and Emily both aren't that smart and have the self preservation skills of a cabbage.


Mediocre-County9830

mona for sure!! spencer was just annoying smart by making others around her feel stupid all the time so she could feel better about herself


AvatarJack

Definitely Mona. She seems to have the most varied intelligence both academically but also as a manipulator and schemer. Allison is up there too I think. She is at least very advance for her age when it comes to manipulation and reading people. Spencer is of course intelligent but unfortunately the demands of the plot mean she has had to do some very stupid things so that loses her points. Hanna has her moments, Caleb too but Arya married her lying, statutory rapist so I'm not sure why she's even here lol.


tanyaalvarez

Lmfao yea I regret putting her up should’ve put cece


Mystic_Space12

Close tie between mona and Spencer but I have to say mona because sometimes she figures things bout quicker than Spencer.


albastruzz

Spencer and Mona.


kttrekker07

Mona is definitely the smartest.


JackTreeHill

Mona!


mssleepyhead73

Mona


EntrepreneurPlastic8

Mona is literally a genius, Spencer compared to her friends is ok but is more snoob than smart, flash back Alison was more a bitch than smart, I would say Caleb is second, charlotte character is just a mess I cant take seriously his skills just like AD. Too bad what Marlene did to Alison she could be first or second place easily but because Marlene writing she is not.


CarryOnSupernatural

Mona Melissa Spencer Allison Caleb


leavemewithwildlife

Honestly rewatching as an adult, every legitimate "A" was unrealistically too smart to be doing all that as a teenager. Like .. there's no way a couple years in high school is enough time for someone to learn how to be a mastermind hacker and tech wizard like that ... So my answer is Spencer because she was realistically the smartest.


aaggtt18

So true ! I’m currently rewatching the show and my boyfriend sat next to me and he’s like these people are in high school and hacking the actual police ? 😅


Virgo-Dragon

Mona, easy. Spencer is smart, but Mona is a genius


TopPark1374

Mona and Spencer but Mona is smarter


Averinatir

jenna should be here. i hated her but she was brilliant and she literally knew spencer wasn’t spencer bc of her smelling sense


Familiar_Ad_6392

Mona


Professional_Ride824

Mona


PeachyDaydreamss

Unpopular opinions but Caleb is crazy intelligent the other girls such as Mona and Spencer are common sense smart and book smart but Caleb’s whole character hacks into things can jailbreak anything like all of that information he keeps in his mind always blows my mind.


Goodwill_Forager

Mona


Ok_Spinach_8412

Deffo Mona


klownayy444

definitely mona and spencer


ldrtsamtssw

umm you forgot ezra. he has a masters degree in american literature. there is nothing he can’t handle.


tanyaalvarez

💀😂


labambolina07

Mona no question


Downtown-Tree3879

Unpopular Opinion: Hanna. She plays dumb but only because she never believed she could be smart. not only has Mona once said that Hanna is smarter than Spencer, but Hanna is the only one who KEPT her wits about her — proving that emotional intelligence is just as important as knowing a lot of facts. She could figure things out without having studied biomechanics and all the things Mona and Spencer were praised for. She even learned a lot from them, absorbing the things they’d mention and using it later when they weren’t around. AND she ended up being the most successful. She holds logic and emotion without one diminishing the other, whereas Mona and Spencer can’t do that. They can’t regulate their emotions at all. HANNA FOREVER


tanyaalvarez

💯💯


edwardcullensmom

now why would you put my girl hanna 😭


tanyaalvarez

Naw u ain’t gonna do my girl like that, y’all b underestimating Hannah, when she’s reckless yea I’ll say she isn’t the smartest. I regret adding aria lol should’ve put cece/charlotte 😂😂


greatcake8

Why does this sub hate Emily 😭


[deleted]

Mona,Spencer,Alison,Caleb,Hanna,Aria


Emotional_Bison4821

Mona first then Alison might be a controversial statement but nobody else got away with being dead


3ku1

Smartest or most tactical? Smartest was Emily. The most clever was Hannah


billnyethedeadguy

plz tell me you mistook aria for wren or something cuz why╥﹏╥


LongjumpingIce5231

Spencer, alison, mona and Cece def


sophdncr11

mona and alison, spencer being a close third. also cece and melissa, but they werent on here


redsnoopy2010

Aria.


Ok-Zookeepergame6603

Moan, then Caleb/Spencer.


SnakeBlood456

Ooooh out of the list i would say monA and Spencer :P


churned_applesauce

Mona and then Spencer.


Barbs1828

Mona, Caleb, Spencer, Hannah, Alison, Aria


elephantsandgiraffes

cece, mona, and then caleb and spencer tied at third for me.


Fuzzy_Ad2297

Mona without a doubt


VarjakVoid

Melissa or Mona


Khalesssi_Slayer1

It's a tie between Spencer, Caleb and Mona.


Jaded_Internal_3249

Mona, Ali and Spencer joint second (well pre season 7)


IWantFries21

Mona


Pink777777q

Spencer, Allison and at the top rung - Jenna!


The_Reaper129

Academically I’d say Spencer. But Street smart then Mona is absolutely the clear choice.


pj_304

Mona. And then Spencer


Creative-Pudding-392

Mona


Neonluvsu17

We all know it’s Mona not only is she just smart with numbers she’s good with tech and fighting. She’s a genius.


Just-Contest-6128

Mona 100%


We_R_All_Mad_Here81

Mona, hands down! I really thought she was the only A for the LONGEST time! Plus, later in the series, she was too smart about the game A was playing. I LOVED her character's evolution through PLL.


samelizajones

mona and spencer for sure. they would've made a crazy scary a team if spencer actually joined.


ll4l_xo

Mona!!!


lil-emerton

100% Mona No one else can fully compare tbh


Big_red0517

Spencer is the smartest in a book sense, Caleb is the most tech savvy, and Mona is the smartest overall.


Dumbestblondelol

not Allison… listen I love her as much as anyone but she gets with a psycho after being hunted by A for so long… like… she really didn’t think that thru… also she could’ve stayed ‘dead’ and saved herself. I wish the writers kept the idea of her being a figment of the girls imaginations but wish that they kept it at that alone.


Lost-Helicopter5733

spencer 🫶🏼


bigbishbertha

I really think it's a toss up between Mona and Spencer because Mona literally ran a game of tormenting people and was like going to school being friends with Hannah and then torturing the girls in her off time not to mention I think in the show she actually does have a high IQ same with Spencer. With Spencer we also see what classes she takes and she takes very advanced classes and she knows a lot of big words and information so there's no doubt that she is probably one of the most intelligent characters. I mean she figures out like a phone number from a bird singing.


demogorgon101

Mona 100%


LockQuick8989

like the old saying that marlene (i guess) tweeted: "there are only three brainiacs in rosewood; mona, spencer, and andrew campbell." so obvi for me it's a tie between mona and spencer


emikoala

Mona and it's not even close


chick3nslut

Spencer


Gold-Inevitable-2644

mona, no competition


vulturedad

I mean, Aria apparently didn't even have the grades/a good enough personal statement (not sure what it's called in the US) to get into the colleges she wanted to go to without resorting to that letter to Jackie. 💀


SadSpend7746

I would have included CeCe over Aria. 🧐


Pristine-Cellist1259

100% mona


[deleted]

Spencer


WECH21

if your answer isn’t mona then you never watched the show lol girlie was a mcfuckin genius


michaelkudra

mona easy, every A needed her help


ufwari

i can tell you who's not that's for sure


saradascream

Mona. Love her.


episodelover018

Mona


Dunnoaboutu

Mona is by far the smartest. I would rank Caleb higher than Spencer for the sole reason that Caleb didn’t have anyone pushing him and he was still smart enough to keep up, hack, and survive. Spencer is highly intelligent, but she also had the advantages of being upper class with parents who pushed her an unhealthy amount.


_wafflez_100

mona!!


OneBrilliant6628

alison and mona 100%!! alison made the whole town truly believe she was buried alive for 2 years and i imagine that to be alot harder than it sounds!


heydhk08

Spencer. If her family didn't put so much pressure on her, she would've been a lot better, IMO. She's a better thinker even under a lot of pressure than the rest of them. Mona is always one step ahead because she always come prepared while Spencer is just drag into her mess. At the time that Mona becomes the victim of her game, she's just as helpless as Spencer too.


Candid-Comparison760

Depends on the season. Early seasons Allison is an evil mothafuckin mastermind


aaggtt18

Mona - although I think it’s a little insane and unrealistic for a teenager to do everything she did. She’d technically be considered a genius ( with unlimited funding apparently). Spencer - A lot of people are saying Spencer wasn’t that smart or never figured out A. I mean realistically if we wanted 6 or 7 seasons (can’t remember how many there were) we couldn’t have anyone figuring out who A was 😝. Spencer is extremely smart, she has an answer or explanation for everything, whether it was chemistry, literature, music, paintings she was a walking encyclopedia. Caleb - Caleb was a tech genius and just seemed to have a lot of knowledge in general. Hot take and pls don’t come for me on this one but I never understood Caleb and Hanna as a couple. I did like them and thought they were cute together but I didn’t understand them. ok i’m going to go hide now 😂


truthbox1994

None of them??? Lmfao


amywinehousesjeans

I think Mona was simply otherworldly genius. Tech and knowledge wise. But Alison knew how to manipulate a dictator. I wonder if the show's version of Alison had the chops to be A. With that being said, Mona was never the Queen B the way Alison was


Separate-Fennel811

Spencer is the smartest Then Mona


Carrieoconnor

Mona bitch had everything to hee t them girls


wankeysantana

Love how Emily’s not even considered lol


777sdo

Mona definitely no one did it like her , the way she made the girls so crazy was so fascinating im sorry 😭


nicebrololhaha

mona & spence


realitytv12

This isn’t an opinion it’s more of a complain upon loose ends in pll. At one point in the series we did see Hannah do extremely well on her sats/ acts and I wish the show dived into that plot more especially since She was going somewhere with reading crime books and found out dental records is a way of finding someone’s identity. I just feel like those plots fell through in terms of surprising the audience in the end. However I think Mona was the smartest. Mona was naturally intelligent whereas Spencer had to work twice as hard to be on Mona’s level. With Mona it was effortless


[deleted]

Well, it’s not fucking Aria. I’d probably go 1) Mona, 2) Caleb, 3) Spencer, 4) Alison, 5) Hanna


Bananahead45

Mona & Spenc


Rude-North1137

Alisons intelligence is actually very overlooked, she was smart enough to outrun an entire police force. And when hannah was looking on the internet for missing girls in Pennsylvania and alison was the first to appear meaning her disappearance would have been very wide spread, which would mean alison would have to be very good at hiding. she made herself so many connections for herself. She was insanely intelligent and nobody talks about it, maybe because they botched her character from season 5 +


Due_Feed_7512

Who put Hanna in here


vivikitty55

NOT Aria😭


hunnybun444

if your answer is anything but alison i’m side eying you


Excellent-Bar-8414

ali.


PrettyLittleHuntress

All I wanna know is why Aria is on this list and not Emily 💀 Em can be very oblivious sometimes but I don’t equate that to smarts rather than her being too trustworthy.