Is there anyone in Rosewood that the Liars can trust? That’s
the question we ask ourselves in the penultimate episode of Pretty Little Liars this summer season.
We begin the night in Hanna’s bedroom, where she frets to Spencer about what
she can and can’t wear to school in order to hide her bandage. I know they’re
teenagers and have a lot to flaunt, but seriously, has nobody heard of a maxi
skirt? Spencer notices when Hanna ignores a call from Wren, but Hanna denies
anything going on between her and “Downton Grabby.” I seriously laughed out
loud when I heard that line.
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| Source: ABC Family |
Suddenly the doorbell rings and we see Ashley greet Ted at
the door. He’s come because a drive containing videos of Hanna was found in the
church and he wanted to show her before taking it to the cops. I guess nobody
attends or cleans this so-called church. Ashley doesn’t hesitate to tell Ted about –A, and Spencer and Hanna eavesdrop from
the staircase. Hanna worries that Jenna will suspect the Liars if the cops get
a hold of the videos and isn’t consoled at all by Spencer. When Ashley says
goodbye to Ted and sets down the thumb drive, Hanna grabs it but quickly gets
caught. Ashley, suspicious of Hanna’s strange outfit, takes back the drive and
announces that she plans to watch the videos before making up her mind.
At Ezra’s apartment, Aria wakes him with flowers for his
birthday since she clearly doesn’t know he’s a dude. Ezra is sleeping in
because he was up late writing Maggie but never sent the email. When Aria
questions him, he explains how worried he was about Maggie after his mother
threatened Aria. It doesn’t surprise me at all when Aria encourages him to call
his ex.
At the coffee shop, Emily and Paige exchange awkward silence
until Paige fishes for information and gets Emily to confess to kissing Nate.
Emily admits that she’s confused but Paige tries to talk her out of her
feelings for Nate, insisting that she’s not over Maya.
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| Source: ABC Family |
When Spencer gets to school, she talks to Aria about the
videos and Hanna’s anxiety over Jenna. She confirms to the audience that they
no longer suspect Jenna and Noel of being on the –A team after witnessing their
alibi during Maya’s murder, but Hanna isn’t convinced. When they part, Spencer
finds Cece distributing flyers for the boutique’s trunk show. Apparently,
Spencer volunteered to help but bailed and Cece is pissed because Spencer owes
her after her help with her college application. They see Paige and Emily
together and Cece reveals that Paige and Allison had a rocky past.
A flashback ensues and we watch Aria, Spencer and Allison
try on clothes while Hanna stuffs her face. Allison cons Spencer into giving
her a top that she likes, and we see a nasty bruise on Allison’s back. Allison
explains that Paige gave her the bruise during gym class, and that she calls
her Pigskin because of the strange rash on her legs. When we return to the
present, Spencer promises to help Cece and spots Paige spying on them.
In the computer lab, Hanna chats online with Caleb and asks
him if he thinks she should swipe the thumb drive. When their chat turns
steamy, The 40-Year-Old Villain(that’s what I call Jenna because she looks way
too old to be in high school) enters and kicks her off the computer. Honestly,
-A is seriously off his or her game if these two lovebirds haven’t been caught
by now.
After the shortest school day ever, Nate finds Emily riding
Paige’s bike to practice. He definitely can’t take a hint because he proceeds
to sling his arm around her and invite her out to pizza, but Emily shoots him
down and puts him in the friend zone. The oh-so tactful Nate accuses her of
being reckless with him like Maya did with other guys, and Emily storms away.
When Emily tells Spencer about their conversation, Spencer brings up Paige and
Allison and accuses Paige of hiding the drama from Emily. Emily insists that
Cece is only trying to get the Liars to fight like Allison did, but Spencer
reminds her that Paige almost killed Emily and tried to get her off the team,
which only offends Emily further.
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| Source: ABC Family |
Despite Spencer’s warning, Aria takes matters into her own
hands and manages to make it all the way to Wilmington to visit Maggie before her day of teaching kindergarten is
over. I have no idea where Wilmington is in relation to Rosewood, but apparently Aria
thinks she can get there, get the low down on Maggie, and make it back before
her mom notices she isn’t in school. Aria, posing as a teaching student makes
small talk with Maggie until the radioactive woman reveals that her secret
world consists of a seven-year-old son. Come on, I can’t be the only one who’s
old enough to have watched Larissa Oleynik in Alex Mack. Anyways, the writers once again shatter reality for the
sake of a story line, since there’s no way Maggie would have her own son as a
student.
Back at school, Hanna finds Jenna at her usual perch eating
cherries and brings up the video of her and Toby that Allison had. She tells
Jenna about the thumb drive and assures her that if it gets to the police that
it’s not her fault. Jenna puts her shades on and brushes her off, leaving Hanna
to run into Nate. He asks her about Emily but gets shot down again when Hanna
assures her that she doesn’t like guys. Nate tries to tell Hanna that Emily was
only gay for Maya, but he doesn’t know about Allison and has obviously
forgotten about Paige. Before he runs to the pool, Hanna lets it slip that
Jenna faked blind, and Nate calls to Jenna, yelling at her for pretending to
ignore him.
At the boutique, Spencer helps Cece by herself since Aria is
stalking Ezra’s baby momma, Hanna is unreachable, and Emily isn’t speaking to
her. Cece tells her that Allison was after Paige because they both had the hots
for Emily, and another flashback begins. We see Allison in Cece’s car, telling
her about how she wrote a fake love letter to Paige from Emily, in which she
told her to stop contacting Emily because she had a boyfriend. They watch Paige
ride up on her bike and stash a note under a sign per Allison’s letter. When
Allison walks up and takes the note, she tells Paige that it was all a scam and
that she now has something with which to blackmail her. She orders Cece to
drive away quickly, and when we return to the present, Cece tells Spencer that
she doesn’t think Allison used the letter because she was afraid of Paige. That’s
definitely a first, though it doesn’t surprise me since Paige could pound
Allison so easily.
In Emily’s bedroom, she asks Paige about Allison and Paige
denies knowing her. When Emily admits that Spencer said something, Paige is the
one who gets pissed that the Liars are gossiping about her and accuses them of
drugging Emily after Mona turned out to be a creeper. Emily explains that their
relationship is different, and Paige instantly calms down, suggesting that she
should get to know them better.
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| Source: ABC Family |
At Ezra’s apartment, Aria catches Wes dropping off a
birthday gift and confesses to seeing Maggie. She tells him that unless this
woman is a total tramp, her son has to be Ezra’s because of the resemblance
between the two. When she worries that she can’t keep the visit a secret from
Ezra, Wes offers to help, but it only stresses out Aria further when she
realizes that Maggie’s son is nearly half their age. Later, Ezra walks in on
his girlfriend and brother cooking sans aprons, despite Wes’ preppy white
pants. I know she’s tiny, but why does
Wes need to help Aria lift a casserole from the oven? After the birthday
dinner, Aria tells Wes that she thinks Maggie is getting paid to keep the kid a
secret and doesn’t want to tell Ezra because she thinks Maggie might need the
money to support their lovechild.
Back at the boutique, Spencer changes clothes while texting
Hanna about Paige, but the message never goes through. All of a sudden, a snake
crawls out of a box and starts striking at Spencer, but she’s locked in the
dressing room. She screams for Cece for a few minutes until she comes to the
rescue and kills the snake with a mannequin leg. When Spencer tells Hanna what
happened, Hanna immediately suspects Jenna, but Spencer thinks it’s Paige since
she called her a snake in her earlier conversation to Emily. She justifies her
suspicion by bringing up “that night” again and claiming that Paige could have
grabbed Maya at the cabin and killed her because she was jealous of her and
Emily. Hanna then gets a call from Emily, who tells her that someone took Maya’s
knife from a bag under her bed, adding fuel to Spencer’s fire.
When Hanna gets to the boutique, it seems as though they’re
stuck in an ad for Tresemme, as Cece tosses a perfectly displayed can of dry
shampoo to Hanna and insists that the snakes are gone. Hanna decides that she
doesn’t want to take her chances with the dressing rooms and changes in the
hallway, when Caleb grabs her and pulls her into a stall. He totally surpassed
Wren on my hot scale this week. He tells Hanna that he convinced Ashley not to
take the videos to the cops because Wilden would probably watch them, and when
he asks Hanna about Jenna, she admits that she’s changed her mind about her
being –A.
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| Source: ABC Family |
Later, Emily and Paige show up and things get tense between Paige, Spencer, and Cece. As Paige helps Spencer sort jewelery,
she admits that she knows the Liars don’t trust her and accidentally breaks a
mannequin finger. Though I’m straight and I’ve never killed anyone, I can
empathize with this awkward moment, as I once snapped a plastic hanger with my
bare hands while shopping with my mom. Spencer then tells Hanna that she thinks
Paige is cozying up to them not because they’re pretty but so that she can hurt
them and that she thinks she stole the knife. Hanna sends her to help Emily get
changed and the two girls go through her purse. Emily and Paige enter, catching
the Liars red handed, and Emily gets angry again and leaves, but doesn’t see
the knife behind Spencer’s back.
Hanna arrives home and Ashley announces that she watched the
videos, then drops the drive down the disposal per the usual Marin sink-side method
of destroying technology. She tells her daughter that there was a video of her
and Wilden that she doesn’t want Ted to find out about, since she thinks she
could be the future Mrs. Pastor Ted. When her celibate lover comes to the door
for their date, Ashley is clearly about to tell him that she trashed the drive
before Hanna steps in and takes the fall. Elsewhere, Spencer shows Aria “the
earring,” which she found in Paige’s purse. Spencer shares her theory that
Paige took Ally’s body, which is why she had said jewelry item, and that they
need to confront Emily right away.
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| Source: ABC Family |
When Emily and Paige get back to Emily’s house, they chat on the porch, where Paige manipulates Emily into feeling sorry for her. She tells her that Allison bullied her and she fought back, then says something unintelligible about hurting herself and possibly attempting suicide. I don’t really understand exactly what happened, but it definitely melts Emily’s heart. When Paige goes inside to wash her tears, Jenna arrives and gives her a vague warning about Paige. Once she’s gone, Paige comes back and finds Emily’s phone buzzing with a call from Spencer, which she sends to voicemail. Gosh, this girl is good. Even I was fooled, but I still like her better than Maya.
In the final –A scene, we see one villain at a jukebox
giving a key to the storage unit to another gloved and hoodied stranger. If one
is Paige, who is the other?
Thanks for reading, Liars!
Feel free to check out my previous reviews of PLL and other shows at WatchItRae.com or follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr, where I post links of my articles when they go live. Stay
tuned for a recap of next week's episode, "The Lady Killer."
What did you think of this week's episode?
What did you think of this week's episode?
