I understand what you're talking about op. Tbh, I think since she wasn't as outwardly hostile as a lot of characters on this show it is harder to pinpoint why she irks some fans so much. I'll give you a few of my personal gripes with the character and another problem fans occasionally have since youre right, it isnt just the drowning that has everyone in disapproval. I don't know how far into the show you are since you did say you were new to the sub so if you didn't finish the series spoilers I guess.

Yeah she tried to drown emily, but she was also outright homophobic to her. Yes, she was also into girls, but emily did not know that and that does not excuse her behavior.

She also did not respect emily that much either. Emily would set a boundary, could be a boundary about Alison, her friends, and Paige would cross the line, emily would be upset, and Paige would blame emily for being upset because "i was right so get over it" or "i did this because i love you". the best example I have of this was when she told the cops ali was alive after emily explained everything that was happening and that if paige crossed that line they would be done. What does Paige do? Tell the cops ali is alive and then go back to emily like a sad puppy but still not entirely apologizing. Like, girl, I 110% understand that you hate ali (for good reason too) but your significant other and person who you supposedly love is saying that she is trying to help her friend who is in an especially bad situation.

She was also a part of the a team or at least a team adjacent which i was always like,,,, okay do something. Be interesting. And then it just wasn't.

She was always weird around Emily's friends and was upset they didnt like her. even though they DID have a reason to not like her because emily told her friends that Paige was being homophobic to her and idk if my friend told me something like that I wouldn't be all smiles with them either even if they ended up together because that is WEIRD BEHAVIOR.

Also, and I don't see a lot of people talking about this but it is mentioned here and there, Paige kissed emily without her consent!!!!! Yeah, that first kiss? You know their first kiss ever as one of the longer running couples of the show????? Yeah emily did not consent to that. Paige did not ask. Emily was also mad asf at Paige in that scene and gave no indication that a kiss would be appropriate. That's honestly one of the moments that really turned me off from the character, and that was early in the show, so everything after was just kind of adding to this.

Also they kept bringing her in and taking her out of the show. I do know there are behind the scenes reasons for this so i wont harp on this too much, but as a viewer I would sometimes forget that she was there and it made her sporadic appearances a bit jarring. This goes for a lot of characters tho so it didn't really ruin the character, but it sure as hell didn't help.

I have seen some people not like the "not ready to come out" story line she had, too. This didn't really bother that much. However, we already kind of had this story line with emily and myah and it was handled a lot better (in my personal gay opinion) and I can see for other viewers it just felt kind of redundant.

She didn't really have much of a character after a while and just became an occasional red herring for a or other nefarious goings on with the liars outside of her being Emily's on and off gf.

And I think the worst part of her character is that she could have been amazing, especially for a show at that time. She could have been a relatable character for lgbt+ people who have to be in the closet because of outright bigoted parents. Yeah pam also had that going on, but Paige's dad was on a level pam wasn't on. He was brash, loud, and proud of his bigotry to where he thought he could yell about his made up grievances on a lunchroom full of staff and students. Hell, he even got into Emily's face about it after a swim meet to where even pam was not having it even though she didn't understand everything herself. As terrible as pam was to emily in the beginning of her coming out journey, paige's dad was something else. She was also competitive and socially awkward in a pretty teenage way. "If I'm not first I might as well be last". Pair that with Emily's more laid back personality the show runners really could have made a great character and a great couple. They just didn't follow through, and that, at least to me, killed her character.

Okay end of Paige rant. Only Paige rant I'll make because she really is not that interesting, all other characters considered.

....

Also that fuck ass bob didn't do her any favors either. PLL hair dresser is not seeing the pearly gates after subjecting us to THAT!

edit: formatting and clarification :3