Pretty Little Liars - Episode 3.11 Recap: Let's count how many times Emily gets mad this week

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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." 

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