Pretty Little Liars finally went full on noir in Tuesday's episode. The visuals were certainly stunning, we got some scenes between people who we normally wouldn't we finally got a peek into the mind of Spencer Hastings, but the plot overall is still pretty much in the same place.
Before the black and white transition, Spencer, Hanna and Emily went looking for clues proving Ezra is A before they let Aria in on the theory. The three searched through Ezra's desk at school and find Ali's diary, previously stolen from them. I'm still fascinated by the fact that NONE of Spence's friends have called her out why she's back rocking her Radley-chic look, but I digress...The girls see Mona sneak into Ezra's classroom right after they leave and slither out with a stack of files.
Back home, Spencer submerges herself in studying and sleuthing, taking more pills to help her stay awake. It's due to her drugged out state that we delve into her psyche, and BAM! NOIR! I should have known even Spencer's druggy hallucinations would be classy. A Hastings through and through, that one. Everyone had their very specific roles to play, Toby taking on the role of the classic private eye, Ezra and Mona plotting together as the villains, Emily and Paige were secret lovers for the sake of the time and Aria was..you guessed it...clueless...but in black and white.
Toby found out about Spencer's growing pill dependency, signaling that she finally recognizes there is a problem there. Among calling her out for that issue, he also served as the part of her subconscious urging her to put the pieces to the Ali mystery together. Spence enlisted the help of Hanna, who was on a man-hating, phone-operating ball this episode, to help her find Ali and through their Wonder Twin powers combined, the girls tracked Ali to a club, where she was working as a performer.
The former Queen Bee wasn't happy to see her hive and with good reason...the girls were getting shot at literally seconds after they found her. Ali may be a big ball of trouble, but she definitely recognizes how accident-prone and not think-y the liars can be, and I applaud her for that. Two snaps and a hair flip girl, you're a crazy bitch, but you know your friends. The girls end up trapped between an Ezra and a hard place, and while Ali, Spencer, Hanna and Emily all call out to Aria not to let Ezra know where they are, Aria signals him over like they're on a damn landing strip. Luckily, Toby knocks him out in the nick of time and helps the girls make a break for it (minus Ali, who has gtfo'd again by now). All the while, no one has told Aria that she's sleeping with the enemy, and we all know she didn't/won't figure it out for herself.
At the end of it all, it seems that Spence's drug trip wasn't a completely beautiful waste of time. Toby's recurring message about looking at the pages of the diary finally struck a cord with her. She noticed that the diary the girls stole back was slightly altered, and since -A didn't know Spencer took pics of the original pages, our girls finally have their edge back.
Odds and Ends:
- What are Ezra and Mona up to? When she initially approached him about joining forces, he verbally punched her in the vagina, but since that initial convo something changed... what?
- How much cooler would this episode have been if the noir scenes actually happened, but as opposed to them being a dream, we simply viewed them through Spencer's drug addled haze?
- I had another scream at the tv moment guys...I'm sorry but if you're cornered with4 of your friends by your boyfriend, and ALL 4 FRIENDS are quietly pleading with you to NOT alert him to your location...WHY WOULD YOU DO IT ANYWAY ARIA? HUH? WHY!? You're even DREAM stupid, girl!
-Speaking of Aria, who's excited about seeing THIS FACE next week?
Let's have a pretty little chat below!
I was thinking the same thing about spence's radley look. Is spencer still taking the pills for he ezra thing? probably a stupid question but i was lost.
ReplyDeleteoh and ALISON! It was interesting to see her and spence go at it. If i were them i would have some questions for. Im sure they do but i couldn't wait to know some stuff about what the hell she is doing.
ReplyDeleteWhile it definitely didn't move the plot along, I do appreciate what this episode brought to the table. They say that our subconscious and dreams can tell us a lot about how we view the world and the people around us. I found a few things quite telling. Toby definitely served the role as her conscious, which I took as the writers firmly cementing him back in the role of "moral compass" of Rosewood. But it did also serve as Spencer's way of acknowledging she does have a problem, as you mentioned.
ReplyDeleteI also found it telling that Hanna was her girl Friday in her fantasy. It says a lot about how valuable Hanna has become in the investigation part of things (especially compared to Emily and Aria). And, of course, we had more straightforward villains, which always makes things easier.
The scene with the gang and Ali was also extremely telling. Spencer has become the defacto leader since Ali's death, because of what their lives have become. Everything they do now revolves around the hunt for -A, for Ali's killer, and now for Ali herself. Without Spencer, the other girls probably would be dead by now. And Spencer, being the brains, has taken the bulk of the mental toll of it all. But she lives for those puzzles. So, if it all ends, and Ali comes back, what becomes of her then? Especially when this Spencer won't put up with Ali's crap. Will we see the others turn back to Ali and abandon Spencer? I highly doubt it, but these girls are so wishy-washy when it comes to Ali that I can't blame Spencer for having that internal struggle with it.
Great review! I especially loved these lines "I should have known even Spencer's druggy hallucinations would be classy." and "Aria was..you guessed it...clueless...but in black and white."
ReplyDeleteI'm very excited to see what happens next week, well really most excited to see Aria's "how could you" face. That's the stuff dreams (or nightmares) are made of!