Pretty Little Liars - Episode 3.10 Recap: For someone so innocent, Noel Kahn certainly has a lot to hide

Source: ABC Family

In an oddly misguided attempt to tie in related information about Maya’s murder with everyday life, this week’s episode begins with Ashley grumbling on the back porch to Hanna over “the wrong plant” sent to their home by the town’s nursery. Ashley asks Hanna to move some smaller plants aside, and that’s where Hanna finds a hidden note from Maya intended for Emily. The letter, written the day that Maya was killed (because teenagers are so good about putting dates on every document they write), tells us and the Liars that Maya’s phone was lifted and that she wanted to meet up with Emily, though her intended location is illegible.

The next morning, Aria is busy in the kitchen when Ezra wakes up, and fishes around to find out how much money his mother paid Maggie to get out of his life, like any smart girl would. If you’re planning on breaking up with a guy, you might as well get paid to do it, though it would be much more difficult for Aria to vanish since she’s still in high school. I suppose Mrs. Fitzgerald could find Ezra a job, but it’s doubtful that he would take it. I digress. When Aria gets upset that Ezra didn’t think to share these details with her, he accuses her of doing the same thing by hiding –A from him.

Source: ABC Family

At the coffee shop, Hanna and Emily continue to dissect Maya’s website when Emily miraculously makes herself scarce just as Wren enters. He tells Hanna that he’d like to catch up since he hasn’t seen her around Crazy Town, and that he can’t get her underage lips off his mind. Hanna protests, since he has history with Spencer (and Melissa, which should be an automatic dealbreaker), and because she just “broke up” with Caleb. Somehow, Wren’s relationship with Hanna as well as Jason’s with Aria seem much less creepy than Ezria. Is it because they weren’t teachers, or because I find them more attractive? I’m not sure if they ever explain whether or not Ezra is older than Wren, Jason and the other older guys that have lurked about town, that’s just my two cents.

Outside the school, Spencer finds Emily reading the note over and over again and asks if Maya could have wanted to rendezvous at the boathouse. She even offers to help her look around, but Emily quickly changes the subject to Toby. Spencer explains that somehow Toby was able to find a job in the next town over while he waits for the next step in renovating the loft, and nobody, including Little Miss Academia, seems to care that he’s basically become a high school dropout. Paige interrupts the merriment and Spencer bails, letting Emily’s new squeeze share the news that she’s been summoned to the swim coach’s office, hopefully to earn a much coveted anchor spot in the upcoming relay.

Inside, Aria considers calling Ezra before making a surprise visit to her mom’s classroom. Side note: Why hasn’t Aria run into Meredith yet? They made so much hype over her new job at Rosewood and we haven’t seen her at all since then. Moving on, Aria walks in on Ella and Zack (why do I want to call him Jake?) kissing over a fancy meal and awkward silence ensues. Zack excuses himself to stuff cannolis, and countless dirty jokes pop into my head. Once he’s gone, Aria indirectly brings up their wide age gap, and Ella ensures Aria that there are no secrets between her and her new lover.

Source: ABC Family

At home, Emily walks in on Hanna poring over zoomed in photos from Maya’s website, and learns that she’s already catalogued them to help her look for clues. Hanna also reveals that she wants to find Maya’s killer and –A even more now that she has to hide her relationship with Caleb for his own protection. The former roommates take a closer look at two photos from the same day and discover that they were taken at Noel’s cabin. Cue the bulldog, aka Spencer Hastings. She finds Noel at school and nips at his ankles until he confesses that he gave Maya drugs, perhaps for free. Never on this show have I felt more sexual tension between two characters that supposedly hate each other’s guts.

At work, Nate finds Emily behind the counter and invites her to see Maya’s favorite music group perform. Try as she might, Emily can’t distract Nate from seeing Noel and Jenna canoodling in the corner. When Noel leaves, Jenna gives Nate her best bedroom eyes and he approaches. The mood quickly changes when he tells her that he still wants to give her a birthday gift, but she refuses and he storms off. Later, Paige finds Emily finishing up her shift and lets her know that she won’t be swimming in the next meet because her grades suck. Though Emily has plans with Hanna after work, she sets a date to watch a movie with her new girl. Maybe they should take a note from Spencer and study instead.

Back at school, where of course Spencer spends all her free time, she gets a text from Emily letting her know that Noel is busy with practice. She waits for him to leave the locker room before breaking in and stealing his phone. When two guys enter, she ducks behind some equipment and peeks at them changing. Girl, you already have a man! She searches through Noel’s iPhone for texts from Maya, though doesn’t find any because she’s actually searching through his emails. It doesn’t take an ex-tech support employee to figure that out. The team comes back after the shortest practice ever and Spencer quickly returns Noel’s phone before coming face to face with her arch enemy. Noel claws through his locker but doesn’t find anything missing.

Source: ABC Family

Meanwhile, Ella finds Aria at her locker and rushes her along so she can get ready for a date with one of two guys that aren’t Zack. Aria shows some concern for the tangled web her mother is weaving, but Ella justifies herself because Zack is probably seeing countless other women. At the coffee shop, Aria waves hello to Zack, who is probably the same age as Ezra, if not younger. Ezra encourages her to approach Zack, and by doing so Aria learns that he’s head over heels for her mom and isn’t dating anyone else. Before she leaves she threatens to “crush his scones” if he breaks her heart. At least I’m not the only pervert likening pastry to male body parts.

At the Kahn’s cabin, Hanna and Emily sneak through the gate and make haste when they hear something rustle in the woods. Like we didn’t see that coming. As they enter the cabin, we discover that they’re being filmed by a security camera. Inside the disgusting party lounge, Hanna finds a door hidden by a bookshelf, and she enlists Muscles to help her move it. Behind the door they find Maya’s secret crash pad and rifle through her overnight bag. They uncover a knife carved with the initials L.J., an unused bus ticket to San Francisco, and a card that Emily gave to Allison. Of course, none of this turns Emily off of the late psycho, because she’s just about to melt as the door and shutters slam closed.

At the Hastings’ house, Spencer looks at the same photo of Maya on her iPad and hears her computer alert her of a new email. Obviously, she’s quite technologically challenged if she doesn’t know that she can get emails on her mobile device. Though the sender’s identity is blocked, the message is clearly from Noel and includes a video from his cabin at 9:30 the night Maya was killed. Spencer takes a peek at Garrett’s case file and reads that the murder occurred sometime from 10pm-2am, and keeps watching.

We see Aria and Ella together again as they walk either to or from a yoga class and Ella dishes to her daughter about how awful her last date was. Aria lets it slip that she talked to Zack about her and found out that she’s the only woman in his life. Clearly, Ella isn’t as honest with him as she thinks, because the poor guy has no idea she’s throwing her cat at everyone. When Ella brings up Byron and all the secrets they kept from one another, Aria grows uncomfortable and walks faster.

Back at the cabin, Hanna and Emily panic as the light flickers out and Emily grabs a fire poker. Night quickly falls and the Liars find that they’re lacking cell service, so Emily uses the poker to break a window, only to find that the shutters are locked from the outside. When Hanna tries to pick the lock using Maya’s knife, she cuts her leg on a piece of glass. Emily then breaks through another window and shutter and they make their escape, only to find a message from –A spray painted on a wall outside. It reads: “I’m saving you for later.” Why none of the Kahns have turned in security tapes to the police is completely beyond me.

Source: ABC family

When they get back to Hanna’s, Emily begs to take her to the hospital but Hanna quickly shoots down the idea and whines for Caleb. Instead, Emily calls Wren, who immediately comes to the rescue and somehow buys Hanna’s excuse that she cut her leg chopping veggies. Once she’s all stitched up, Wren digs through the fridge and announces that he’s going to make her dinner. After the meal, he helps her to the island where he props up her leg and holds her hand for a little too long. Before he can end the night with a kiss, Hanna dismisses him to leave. I’m honestly torn between Wren and Caleb because they’re both such great guys. On the one hand, Caleb is her grungy knight in shining armor, and Wren is a handsome, but gullible young doctor. I don’t see this love triangle ending anytime soon.

At Ezra’s apartment, he and Aria watch an old movie, and when he gets up to go to bed we see that the mood between them is still tense. Just as Aria starts apologizing for not respecting his past, he tells her that he tracked down Maggie but hasn’t contacted her yet. I just hope that if they go to all the trouble to introduce another ex, it’ll finally extinguish the Ezria flame, unlike Jackie's pathetic attempts.

Source: ABC Family

Emily arrives home to find Nate waiting on her porch with an apology. She shows him the bag and inside he finds a shirt he remembers Maya wearing. She tells him about the photo without revealing any information about Maya’s website or Noel’s cabin, though I predict we’ll have another male vigilante join the ranks of –A haters soon. They hug and Emily lets him kiss her as we at home wait for Paige to walk up. When she sees their lip lock, Paige marches away and sends Emily a text telling her she can’t make it because she’s sick.

Spencer continues to ditch her homework to watch Noel’s video, and sees Maya ride up on a bicycle and enter the cabin at 10:04. When Aria rushes in, Spencer shows her the pertinent clip and they discuss the theater manager’s testimony, in which he told the police that Garrett gave her a ride around 9pm. The video later shows Noel and Jenna drive up around 1:15 and enter the cabin. Immediately after, Maya exits and someone grabs her out of frame, giving Noel and Jenna an alibi, as well as Garrett, who was already in police custody at the time.

Source: ABC Family

At the coffee shop, Ella surprises Zack and propositions him for a drink, which he can’t resist. She immediately tells him that she’s been seeing other men and didn’t think he was being exclusive either. He tells her that he’s found everything he’s been looking for in her, but understands why she would want to date around so soon after her divorce. She tells him how much she likes him too, and they clink glasses and kiss. Does this mean they’re going steady?

In the locker room, Emily finds Paige, who explains that something made her “sick to her stomach,” while laying on the snark. Emily confesses that she got a visit from Nate, but doesn’t admit to the kiss, despite Paige’s digging.

The –A scene of the night shows our villain watching a news story about the trial, which reports that the jury will soon be selected. He or she sorts a collection of at least five hoodies and changes the channel halfway through the story. 

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, "Single Fright Female." 

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