The liars made a lot of progress this week. They finally stuck up for themselves – confiding in Dr. Sullivan about A and everything he/she/they (who knows) has/have been up to.
But before you breathe a sigh of relief, this is “Pretty Little Liars” we’re talking about.
Every step forward ultimately results in two steps back.
As this week’s episode begins, Emily lays in bed awake, tossing and turning. Insomnia seems like a natural reaction to everything the girl has been through this season – one trip to the hospital, one massage gone awry and so on.
Around dawn, Emily sneaks out of Hanna’s house to go for a run in the woods, leaving her cell phone behind. (Can’t you clear your head in a more populated area, Em?)
Realizing she’s gone, the girls check her cell phone, only to find a picture message from A. It's a note that reads, “Clue Ella in and I’ll let you out,” along with the photo of Aria and Fitz canoodling.
By the time Em jogs over to Dr. Sullivan’s office, her friends are already there and ready to dish.
Later, at school, Sullivan leads a lecture about bullying, and how only a coward would hide behind the anonymity of a text message. As she drones on, the girls squirm in their seats. The camera focuses in on a smirking Jenna, a bored out of her mind Mona, Noel and every other student who might have something to do with A. Foreshadowing, perhaps?
Sullivan’s loaded speech makes some of the girls nervous, but it only empowers Emily, who sticks up to Jenna after she says, “It’s a shame Sullivan wasn’t around when your friend Alison was ruling these halls.”
That night, Sullivan gets a call from A. It’s a recording of part of her conversation with the girls. Now positive that her office is bugged, she called the police to come check it out. Lucky her, Garrett shows up to investigate. He insists she give him the names of the clients she was speaking with, but she refuses. (Not that he needs her to tell him. I’ve got a feeling Garrett already knows all about her pretty little patients.)
Meanwhile, things are still rough at Aria’s house with Mike’s weird behavior. When Ella notices him talking to a stranger online, she goes to confiscate his computer. Their tug of war results in Ella hurting her wrist, which eventually causes Mike to check back into reality.
During a hot and heavy make out session in the truck Spencer bought for Toby - which is parked outside Jason’s house for some reason - the pair spot two shadows in Jason’s window. Fed up, Spencer heads to the house, only to meet her father at the front door.
After a terrifying temper tantrum, Spencer’s dad calms down to tell her about his deal with the DiLaurentis family. He says he illegally changed the date on Ali’s grandma’s will so it would include Jason. Ali’s family was worried he would look guilty had it shown that he had recently been written out.
Hanna’s grandmother, played by Betty Buckley, came to town to put an end to her son’s wedding, or so we thought. It wasn’t until we saw just how awesome she is - putting Kate in her place after she sabotaged Hanna at their parents’ dinner - that we realized her real purpose on the show. In a flashback, Ali asks Hanna’s grandma what it would take for her to disown one of her children.
Ali tells Hanna’s grandma she’s writing a story about someone who sold a family heirloom. Translation: Ali went to Georgia to tell her grandmother something about Jason that would cause her to erase him from her will. (Look! Someone else with a motive to kill Alison.) And it all makes sense.
The episode ends with Sullivan looking through her patients’ files for clues as to who A might be. She spots paperwork displaying the phrase “nosy bitches,” which is the same thing she found painted on her wall after her office was vandalized. She contacts the girls to tell them she knows who A is, but, by the time they get to her office, all that’s waiting for them is a text from A: “The doctor is out.”
What did you think of last night’s episode? Are you glad Maya is back in Rosewood? Why is Ashley Benson - who plays Hanna - so amazing at acting drunk? (Seriously, best imitation of a drunken teenager I’ve ever seen.)
