Here's The Real Reason Alison Is In Beacon Heights On 'The Perfectionists'

This post contains spoilers for Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists. Two of our favorite Liars are back two years after Pretty Little Liars wrapped on Freeform and provided Alison and Mona with happy endings perfectly suited for them. Well, in case Pretty Little Liars didn't already teach you this, good things rarely last, which is why the two women have found themselves as co-workers at Beacon Heights University. We now know why Alison is in Beacon Heights on The Perfectionists, but Mona has more to do with that outcome than we thought.

ICYMI, Alison (Sasha Pieterse) was last seen on the final season of Pretty Little Liars engaged to Emily (Shay Mitchell) and parenting twin daughters with her. Meanwhile, Mona was living in Paris, running her own doll shop, and keeping Mary and Alex Drake (Andrea Parker and Troian Bellisario) captive in an actual dollhouse. However, a preview clip of The Perfectionists showed Mona and Alison unexpectedly reuniting long before the show premiered, meaning that their Pretty Little Liars endings just weren't meant to be. So, what caused them both to end up in Beacon Heights?

As she settled into her new home, Beacon Heights University teaching assistant Alison was spooked when Mona showed up at her door with a pie and disturbingly large knife in tow. Mona revealed that she now worked in BHU's recruitment and admissions department after the reasons she was in France "escaped" her. Um, does that mean the Drakes are on the loose again?

After working in game design at the renowned Hotchkiss Technologies, Mona was hired by BHU to refine the university's faculty and student selection process. One of her first decisions in the job was to hire Alison. Despite bringing this blast from the past upon herself, Mona also just needed a fresh start and the knowledge that people could trust her without having reasons to avoid her.

As for Alison, she seemingly took the position because of a difficult phase in her relationship with Emily. They loved each other, but Emily couldn't accept their rocky past. Sounding like she was penning the next big breakup anthem, Alison told Mona, "We're happy and then we're not." Trusting each other was where she and Emily fell short, so Alison's mission in Beacon Heights was to bury her mean girl past and become a mentor to the students.

Of course, Alison's recruitment wasn't as simple as Mona presented it. After meeting the admiring benefactor Claire Hotchkiss (Kelly Rutherford) and doing more research about the family, Alison realized that she bore a striking resemblance to Taylor, the Hotchkiss daughter who supposedly killed herself a year before. Mona then confessed that because Taylor cracked under the pressure at BHU, Alison was hired to help prevent similar repercussions among stressed students.

According to Mona, the women's likeness to each other was just a coincidence, but Alison wasn't convinced. Mona may know much more than she's letting on, given that she was talking to mirrors possibly connecting her to the Hotchkiss security team. Taylor (Hayley Erin) also turned out to be alive and hiding in the woods while plotting against Claire with her brother Nolan (Chris Mason). Alison's job may be to help students relieve stress, but it looks like she's bound to get caught up with Taylor's revenge sooner or later. That's one way to earn your paycheck!

Season 1 of Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists continues on Wednesday, March 27, at 8 p.m. ET on Freeform.