It's been a while since we checked in on Rosewood, but now we're days away from heading back to the town that's full of secrets and lies. Since the January 7th premiere date is fast approaching, I thought I'd help refresh your memory before the time comes, because a lot has happened to our Liars this year...
Due to the season being so action and info packed, let's catch up with Aria, Hannah, Spencer and Emily individually, shall we?
SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!!
ARIA
Aria Montgomery and Ezra Fitz are broken up. Sad. As a way to get her mind off the break-up and learn some new skills, she takes up self-defense courses and ends up getting herself an Ezra-replacement in the process, in the form of her self defense teacher, Jake. Oh Aria...
In further Aria/guy news, she found herself in a situation with one of Mike's friends, that left us understanding why stays far, far away from guys within her own age range. Connor needed some tutoring, Aria volunteered to help out, and we all know that in young dude minds, a pretty girl that's being nice clearly wants to make out, so Connor seized the opportunity. Aria, of course, turned him down in no uncertain terms, and was repaid by Connor promptly (I mean like, literally the next day at school) telling all of his friends that he and Aria, um, made beautiful music together (see what I did there?). Ezra awkwardly walked in on Aria telling Connor off in the boy's locker room and later that night, someone in a Rosewood Sharks hoodie smashed up Connor's car with a baseball bat...cause, ya know, Rosewood.
To be fair, she wasn't left completely unscathed in the whole -A of things...She ended up having to basically send Mrs. Montgomery out of the county with her new boyfriend when the opportunity arose, because A tried to murder her with bees. She also got to use her new self-defense skills that she learned when the girls tracked down Red Coat and Aria kicked her in the face, revealing her to be Cece Drake, so she has that going for her...which is nice...
EMILY
Between Emily Fields' swim-career ending injury, having a car crashed into her house,and having her parents reported to Child Services, poor Em had one of her most trying years yet. On the bright side, Paige is still alive. Emily's search for her talents outside of the pool, led us to a strange sorority house where a creepy clairvoyant house-mom, Carla Grunwald, gave the girls new insights into what may have happened to Ali. We saw that she was definitely pulled out of that grave alive on that night, but what happened to her after that is anyone's guess.
Em also had the pleasure of rooming with Ali's mom, Mrs. DiLaurentis, -A decided to extend Emily's driveway though her living room . Mrs D. put Emily up in Ali's room that she unpacked to look EXACTLY LIKE IT DID WHEN ALISON WAS ALIVE...Aside from being super sketchy, Mrs. D. offered up an interesting story that gave us a deeper look into Ali and Cece's relationship. Apparently the two liked to pretend to be one another. Mrs D. reached her last straw when she got a call from a doctor at Radley saying that Ali was trying to commit herself, only to discover it was actually Cece, playing a twisted game with her friend.
SPENCER
Spencer Hastings has been caught between some rock hard abs and a hard place for most of the season. -A began dangling details of Toby's mother, Marion Cavanaugh's death in front of him, trying to draw him back to the dark side. Naturally, the first person he turned to for help was Spencer. His only request? That she keep all of their side-sleuthing between the two of them and not tell the other girls, which worked out about as well as you'd think it would.
The dynamic duo end up finding Marion's old doctor, who is a tad senile at this point, and find out that there was a "blonde" in Radley around the same time as Mrs. Cavanaugh's "accident"...which they also figure out was no accident. The last we see of the two, they are on rocky ground because Spencer has told the girls about Toby's mom, after they demand to know why she was sneaking around so much.
HANNA
Poor Hanna was the Liar that -A decided to put through the ringer this year. Last year, we had Spence's unforgettable breakdown that landed her in Radley, and this year we have the coolest mom on the show, Mrs. Marin, in jail for the murder of Detective Wilden. -A framed Mama Marin and she landed in jail and we got to go through the unfortunate process of watching the usually fierce fashionista, cave under the pressure of the thought of her mom being locked away for the rest of her life. Due to some sneaky maneuvering by honorary fifth Liar, Mona, and some serious cash being dro[[ed by Pastor Ted, Mrs. Marin was released from jail and placed on house arrest. Mona confessed to killing Wilden, creating enough doubt that Ashley Marin was sent home...and as a result, Mona ended up back in Radley.
A wild card was tossed into the Wilden deck when a guy named Travis finds Hanna and tells her that he knows her mom didn't kill Detective Wilden. He told Hannah he saw Mrs. Marin at the lake with Wilden the night of his murder, but that she he also saw her leave and head gunshots once she'd already driven away. Travis also told Hanna that he saw a blonde run into the woods after the gunfire.
Hanna's boyfriend, Caleb Rivers, remained by her side as best he could all season long. We even got to see a budding bromance between he and Toby Cavanaugh, Spencer's boyfriend, as they delved into the -A mystery on their own. During the Halloween special, however, Rosewood and Hanna (but luckily not us!) said their goodbyes to the self sufficient techie, because the mystery in Ravenswood was calling his name. Also, he made friends with a girl names Miranda and in the length of a short bus ride, decided to stay and help her find her Uncle ( all with Hanna's blessing and encouragement). Hanna, you're a better woman than I...
Important Cliffhangers and Questions:
- First, foremost, and most importantly, the Halloween special this year (when it wasn't busy being an hour long promo for Ravenswood) revealed the answer to the biggest question of the series...Ali is alive, bitches.
- Deceased Detective Wilden was one of the people wearing the Queen of Hearts costume on the Halloween train from last year, and Melissa claimed she was the other. Are we sure Melissa wasn't telling a pretty little lie?
- Speaking of Wilden, Ashley Marin's murder charges were eventually dropped, which still leaves us with the question, who ACTUALLY killed him?
-Melissa told us and Spencer that Wilden set the fire at the Lodge and that she sent Jenna and Shana to watch over Spencer and her friends. She also confesses that she was the second Queen of Hearts on the Halloween Train, but did not know Wilden's plan to assassinate Spencer and Aria until she was on the train. "A" texts Aria and Spencer, confirming that Melissa is not part of the "A" Team.
- Red Coat #1? Cece Drake. Red Coat #2? Alison DiLaurentis... if Ali got Cece kicked out of college, why is she helping her? Or is she? We've also seen Cece don the black hoodie...
- Who tried to drown Jenna?
- Ali's mom, Mrs. DiLaurentis, was acting MIGHTY strange while Emily crashed at her place...I'm willing to bet she's known Ali was alive this entire time and has been helping her.
- The relevance of Toby's mother, Marion's death to the overall A plot has yet to be revealed other than her old doctor implying he saw Cece in Radley around the same time Toby's mom, Marion, was a patient. Anyone want to try and connect the dots?
- Melissa and Wren are up to something together, but we haven't found out what yet.
- Ali and Melissa both went to the mask maker for life casts.
-What was Shauna doing in Ravenswood?
-Who's body is in the box that Ali ISN'T buried in?
Please leave your thoughts, comments, and any other important details you think we need to keep in mind for the January premiere of Pretty Little Liars!
