 |
| Source: ABC Family |
What an incredible episode! I’d like to hereby submit that it’s the best PLL episode thus far, what do you think? Let’s discuss. We begin the night at the scene of a crime, which includes two ambulances, though we only see the contents of one, a dead body. While Emily is questioned by the police, Spencer and Aria try to comfort a blubbering Hanna, so I then assumed that either Caleb or Ashley had died. We’re later proven wrong!
The rest of the episode consists of the events leading up to the crime, starting with ¾ of the Liars preparing for an intervention for Emily. The news reports that Garrett’s trial is about to begin, and Spencer posits that Toby decided to work in the next county to steer clear of all the madness. When Aria gets off the phone with Emily, she tells the Liars that Emily is on her way, but will take a bit longer because she’s trying to avoid the reporters outside her house. She’s coming to Spencer’s under the assumption that her friends want to apologize about accusing Paige, as Spencer prepares an analysis of why they suspect Paige. For once, Hanna has a bright idea that Paige might not be -A because she would have drugged herself with Emily’s flask, but Spencer quickly shoots it down, telling her that it’s the perfect cover. They discuss that Paige and Mona are linked by their hatred of Allison, though they don’t explain why Mona would have motive to help Paige kill Maya, other than the only excuse anyone’s come up with: Maya knew too much.
 |
| Source: ABC Family |
Emily then arrives wearing an acid washed jacket that she clearly borrowed from 1985, still angry. The intervention begins, and Emily sees right through the apology ruse. When Spencer brings up Paige, Emily gets even madder, and refuses to believe that her current girlfriend killed Maya. Hanna then shows her the earring they found in Paige’s bag, and before she can storm out, Emily insists that it’s just part of -A’s pattern, in which he or she plants evidence on the wrongfully accused.
We then find Aria at school, still looking not only like a cheerleader from outer space, but severely stressed out, which Hanna notices. She tells Aria that Emily skipped her first class and hasn’t been answering her calls or texts, but Aria still feels guilty for lying to Pocahontas, in addition to keeping the Maggie secret from Ezra. When she dishes the daddy details to Hanna, Aria is encouraged to come clean with Ezra or else the secret will ruin their relationship…because none of us would like to see that…*cough, cough*
 |
| Source: ABC Family |
Inside, Spencer finds Paige at her locker, and our assumed killer lets the Liar know that Emily told her all about their suspicions, just as she’s pulling an unidentified, club-shaped piece of athletic equipment from her locker. As if we’re not already scared, Paige all but threatens to bludgeon Spencer if she tries to break them up any further. Spencer tries her best to act tough by telling the supposed -A that she’s onto her, but she still flinches when Paige slams her locker shut.
At Emily’s house, she reassures Paige that her friends are just on a hysterical hunt for -A. We can assume Emily’s told her part of the -A story, but she proceeds to tell her girl in confidence that her friends think there’s another -A, who’s trying to frame them for digging up Allison’s body. Emily also spills that they think she’s the other villain because they were seen together that night, but she’s not going to let her friends split them up. Paige then gets a text from -A, telling her she had better get to the cemetery on Saturday night to protect someone, but we don’t see that part of the text because her enormous jock hands get in the way. She hides the text from Emily and lies to excuse herself. As they kiss goodbye, Emily ignores a call from Spencer.
 |
| Source: ABC Family |
We find Spencer and Aria eating lunch as the attendance police (Hanna) interrupts their conversation to announce that Paige has gone AWOL from school as well. They discuss going to the police, which Hanna vetoes because she still doesn’t want to give them her blood, and the Liars agree to tell their parents until a text from -A shuts them up with a threat to hurt Emily if they don’t keep quiet. Before an excellently timed commercial break, we see Mona leaving Radley in an extremely creepy and unflattering nurse’s costume. Like I said, BEST EPISODE EVER!
At Hanna’s, the rest of the Liars hold a meeting of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Yoga Pants, in which continue to try reaching Emily, and agree to break their silence if they don’t get a hold of her soon. They still suspect Paige when they get an email from -A telling them about the private party at the cemetery, but their invitation says nothing about Saturday. How did we lose an entire day without someone telling their parents? Instead of tortilla chips, -A instead asks them to bring the bag of Maya’s belongings to the graveyard soiree, which Aria thinks may contain evidence against the killer. The invitation includes photos of them at the grave, cropped to hide Emily, and another email follows, with an attached photo of Allison’s body bag, threatening the Liars if they blab to their estranged fourth member.
 |
| Source: ABC Family |
Suddenly, they hear a noise and see a shadow downstairs, which can’t belong to Ashley because she’s at work. Hanna arms herself with a disgusting pink lamp, but when the kidnapper opens the door, it’s only Caleb. What a great way to keep a relationship secret, by going to your girlfriend’s house in broad daylight. He’s left his stake-out post in front of Emily’s house, assuring the Liars that -A won’t kill her with her mother and the paparazzi around. Spencer shows him the emails, and he immediately invites himself along.
At the coffeehouse, Hanna calls Emily using an employee’s phone, and Emily tells them she’s going to “The Lighthouse Rock Inn” with Nate for the weekend before hanging up. When Mrs. Fields enters, Emily shares that Nate’s family will be there, and the point of the trip is to remember Maya before the trial begins, and she reluctantly lets her daughter leave without her. As creepy as Nate’s always been, Spencer and Hanna feel reassured that Emily won’t be in Rosewood for the bag drop. Hanna leaves and Spencer walks across the street to get a closer look at a poster for a Halloween party. In the window, Spencer sees a reflection of Toby approaching, and an awesome slow motion Spoby moment commences. For some reason, it’s taken him all of two seconds to get over Spencer lying to him about -A and Jason.
 |
| Source: ABC Family |
At Ezra’s apartment, Aria dotes on her boyfriend while he ignores her to write, when she gets a text from Hanna bugging her to tell him about Maggie. Just as she tries to speak up, someone knocks at the door. Ezra thinks it’s his forgetful neighbor, but Aria opens the door to find Maggie. Ezra introduces Aria as his girlfriend, and Maggie plays along. The two make small talk while Aria watches (and hopefully notices how much Ezra can’t stop smiling), and another knock interrupts them. When Ezra gets up to answer the door, Maggie asks Aria why she hasn’t let the son out of the bag, and promises to keep the “Amy situation” under wraps if she tells Ezra about Malcolm. When Ezra returns to the awkward pair with a cake he can’t keep from sniffing every five seconds, he can feel the tension.
Back at Hanna’s, our favorite shaggy haired vigilante packs his gear, including a gun, which he tries to hide from Hanna and fails. She orders Caleb to leave the gun behind, and he obliges, hiding it in her underwear drawer. He tells her not to worry because they outnumber the -A team, or so they think.
Next, we see Mona admiring her -A uniform in the mirror when she gets a phone call. She informs the other -A of her location, and looks worried as she listens for a moment, then tells her boss, “I understand.” Good, because I’m still rather confused.
 |
| Source: ABC Family |
At Spencer’s, she and Toby use their reunion to make out, then start taking each other’s clothes off. We then watch a montage of them making love, Nate covering Emily with a blanket, Hanna grabbing Maya’s bag, Caleb packing his gun, and Aria creeping on Maggie and Ezra while they flirt over cake. Spencer then comes downstairs in Toby’s ridiculously low cut V-neck, and he zips up his hoodie with no shirt underneath, as if sleeping with his stepsister wasn’t white trash enough. He tells Spencer that he didn’t leave to avoid her, but gives her a vague answer when she asks if he’s returning to Rosewood. They exchange “I love you’s,” perhaps for the first time (I can’t remember), and he hugs her, looking awfully guilty. When he exits, Spencer leaves Hanna a voicemail saying she’s ready to end this mess.
In the new -A lair, Mona rocks out to death metal and looks around at the creepy wall coverings. She tells the mysterious other -A that their plans have shifted, but we don’t see her partner’s face.
At the grave, Caleb tells the Liars that he’s installed an app on Hanna’s phone so he can listen to their conversation from his hiding spot in the woods. Hanna gives him Maya’s bag to keep safe in case -A doesn’t bring any evidence concerning Allison’s body. At 10:40, -A is still a no show, and Caleb hasn’t seen anyone pull up either. Hanna calls Nate, but is forced to leave a voicemail. They google “The Lighthouse Rock Inn,” and find two nearby locations (what are the odds?), when they see Caleb driving away. The Liars agree that they’ve been set up, and Caleb calls Hanna to tell her that he agrees, and they plan to split up and check out both Lighthouse Rocks.
 |
| Source: ABC Family |
At Nate’s cabin, Emily wakes up to the phone ringing, and when she answers, a scary voice tells her to leave. Like any sane person, she’s incredibly freaked, as the lights are out, and Nate is nowhere to be found. Emily turns on a light and searches through Nate’s bag, finding only some guy clothes, a card addressed to her, and a book that seems to be titled, “The Something Something Murderer,” but she doesn’t bother to investigate. When Nate returns with an armful of firewood and comments on an approaching storm and the fact that nobody is around for miles., Emily notices yellow paint on his shoes. He tells her that his parents will arrive soon and builds a fire, allowing Emily to creep through his phone for pictures of Maya. She finds a photo that was clearly taken at Camp Sober, and his ruined shoes are in the shot. Looks like we have a Big Handsome Liar on our hands!
 |
| Source: ABC Family |
Later, when Emily discovers that she has no cell service, she fakes queasy and announces she’s going for a walk. When Nate wants to tag along, Emily insists on going alone, but runs into Nate outside, just as she tries to make a call. He brings her inside and shows her a video of Maya at Noel’s, in which she mentions her Camp Sober creeper showing up at one of her mysterious parties. As Emily watches, Nate bangs on the table behind her with a pocket knife, and when she asks about the video, Nate goes into a psycho rant about his love for Maya and how Emily stole her from him. He then opens a closet to reveal Paige, who he’s tied up in preparation for a human sacrifice. Right, because that's the most politically correct hiding place for a kidnapped lesbian.
On their way to the cabins, Hanna and Caleb also profess their love for one another, and when they hang up, Caleb places the phone next to his gun on the seat of the car. Elsewhere, Nate plays with his victim by stroking her hair, telling her how angry he was that she picked Paige instead of him. When he turns to face Paige, Emily grabs a phone and makes it back to the couch before he notices. He brings the white swimmer to the couch, and assures them that nobody will come to the cabin because they still believe his cover story. Not-Nate, whose real name is Lyndon James, tells Emily that he has no other choice but to kill them since Jenna might tell her parents that he’s not really Maya’s cousin. As many times as I watch this scene, his logic still makes no sense to me. Just as he’s about to slaughter his super-buff lamb, he hears footsteps outside. When Nate goes to check on the noise, he sees nothing, but looks back to the couch to see Paige is alone. We’re led to believe that the Liars have found them, but we see them open the door to an empty cabin. Hurry, Caleb!
 |
| Source: ABC Family |
In the woods, Lyndon chases after Emily as she tries to make a phone call, but she doesn’t find a signal until she gets to the top of the lighthouse. She’s able to call 911 but has nowhere to run when Lyndon comes up behind her. When she drops the phone, he steps on it and wrestles her to the ground. She eventually manages to get the knife out of his hand and stab him, right before Caleb enters. Caleb sets down his gun and consoles Emily, but when we cut to an exterior shot before the commercial, we hear a gunshot.
We return to the opening scene, but this time we see Caleb wheeled into the first ambulance on a gurney and conclude that Nate is the one in the body bag. The cops question both Emily and Paige, but neither are up for interviews. They both excuse themselves, but Emily runs to Hanna instead of Paige. When Paige locks eyes with Spencer and we can tell that both feel sorry for threatening each other. At the hospital, Mrs. Fields tells the Liars that Caleb is being operated on before being called away to answer the phone. The Liars all receive a call at the same time, in which the same scary voice says, “Emily, I owe you one.” Mrs. Fields returns, telling them that nobody was on the phone and they watch as Mrs. Hastings leads Garrett into the hospital. She tells the Liars that Garrett was set free because the police concluded that Nate killed Maya.
 |
| Source: ABC Family |
In a creepy-as-usual -A scene, Mona, still dressed in the un-sexy nurse’s outfit, tells the other -A that Nate ruined their plans to make a phone call Maya’s cell phone and have the Liars discover it in Paige’s bag, most likely while they were all at the cemetery. When Mona returns to Radley, the other -A turns around and we see that it’s the sexiest Liar-lover of them all…Toby! We see him again at the new lair, where he uses his scary voice to order tickets for the Halloween party. At least we assume it’s Toby, unless there’s a third -A, but the voice only ordered two tickets. I’m guessing we can count Paige innocent, but you never know.
Like you, I still have so many questions. Nate obviously wasn’t working with Moby (that’s what I’ll call Mona and Toby), because they wanted Paige to go to the cemetery but he got to her first. However, I don’t recall Nate confessing to killing Maya either. So that begs the age old question, did the same person kill Allison and Maya? Was that person Mona, Toby, Garrett, a combination of two or three of them, or someone else? When did Toby team up with Mona? Has he been with her since Allison’s death, or did they join forces when he left Rosewood to “find out for himself”? Either way, he pulled off the hottest villain trick in the book: Getting it on with your victim right before carrying out an evil plan. Does he really love Spencer, or is it just a front? What do you think, Liars?
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 the Halloween special, "This is a Dark Ride."
