Pretty Little Liars- 4.23 "Unbridled" Review

This week's episode of Pretty Little Liars gave us the set-up for a promising finale, the possibilty of 2 love triangles next season (Pailison and Tralebanna?) and the return of Ella "The-Only-Other-Good-Parent-On-The-Show-Besides-Ashley Marin" Montgomery.

We opened with the sneak peek scene of Spence running through the woods in a wedding dress. She was chasing someone when we heard a metallic snap, saw Spence gasp, and cut to 48 hours ago.

The 4 Liars were gathered at The Brew laying all the info they'd gathered so far out on the table. Paige took off to Maine to be with family after snitching on Ali to the cops, Spencer is halfway convinced she's a murderess and thinks she'll be questioned more about what happened to Ali, and Ezra, who has apparently skipped town, is still a super touchy subject for Emily, who gets (kinda overly) pissed and wants to go home when his name is brought up.

On their way out, Em and Spence see Jason has returned to town. They also noticed that his new haircut must have him feeling himself, because he ignored them when they called his name. Dude seriously looked dead at them and drove the hell away!

Spemily don't play that though, so they get in Spencer's car to tail him, but instead find a strip of photo booth pics of a blonde girl with no face and an -A note on the back " You know me Spence, you killed me".

Back at the Casa de Montgomery, Aria is talking to her mom on the phone when suddenly, Ella's in her room…she's back from New Zealand! You'd think Aria would be thrilled to have her mom back, but the happy reunion only lasts for a few seconds before Aria's down her mother's throat about leaving for so long:

B-but…you convinced her to go Aria…Why you being such a bitch?!

At school the next day, Paige and Emily have an argument in the girls bathroom about Paige leaving the note for the police saying Ali is alive. (RANT/ While this argument is happening, all I can think is WHY YOU NO CHECK THE STALLS FIRST! Y'all are just going at it about your not-really-dead friend being alive, in broad daylight, in the middle of the girls' bathroom, and you can't even check to make sure the shit's empty first?! /ENDRANT)

At the DiLaurentis house, Mrs. D. is arguing with the caterer for her bridal charity show about how no one wants to mess up a manicure digging for shrimp, and not only is she completely right ( shrimp nails smell gross), it was also an "Oh this is TOTALLY where Alison got her snark" moment. Ashley Marin is helping Mrs. D prep for the show and as a cop car pulls up, Mrs D. sends Mama Marin to look for something in the guest room.

Detective Beauty Mark is here to talk to Mrs. D about the Paige's note and let her know that Ali's body will be exhumed. There's a break in Ali's arm that should match the body, but no break was noted in the coroner's report. UH-OH!

Ashley found Ali's room instead of a guest room and inside, she found a bag of newly purchased teen clothes. Seconds later, Mrs. D catches Ashley...

Emily, who's getting better and better at calling people on their shit, calls Jason on his shit. He told Em that he's been in rehab all this time. He also told her he thought Wilden was responsible for their elevator accident and he ignored them earlier because he's trying to keep distance between Spencer and himself, for his mother's sake.

Cue Dreamy Flashback…Jason has groggily awakened to an argument between Alison and their mother. Ali told Mrs. D about the -A texts that she's been receiving. Mrs. DiLaurentis blames Spencer and told Ali to fight fire with fire. Alison gets that same uncomfortable look that she had during the Cece/Paige/Ali flashback, before Jason wakes up and confronts his mother for her bad advice…End Dreamy Flashback.

Meanwhile, at the Hastings House of Horror, Dean has been fired for being the only decent man in Rosewood…he and Spence fell asleep innocently on the couch as he was reading to her…Spence then finds her mom snooping around in her room and we're treated to a second flashback:

The summer that she went missing, Alison happened upon Mrs. Hastings cleaning up the remnants of a Melissa/Spencer blow-out in their backyard. Mrs. Hastings mentions not knowing what's going on with Spencer, saying it's like she has an evil twin (GASP!). Alison says she would talk to Spencer, but Spence may turn on her too. Spencer witnessed this entire exchange but doesn't remember any of it since she was on the pills at the time. As usual, Spencer pushed her mother for more answers and as usual Veronica is all

Hanna convinced the girls model in Mrs D.'s charity bridal event to gain access to the house and look for clues related to the new clothes in Ali's bedroom because what could POSSIBLY go wrong??

Once inside, Hanna and Em headed to Ali's room and figured out a way to email her, Aria (ever involved with the mystery at hand) found out her mom is engaged to Zack (d'awww!), and Spencer questioned Jason about the summer Ali disappeared. She wanted to be sure that he saw Melissa arguing with Cece and not someone else, since they were both high as kites. Dean walked in to say goodbye to Spence before Jason could answer. As Spencer and Dean say their goodbyes, Dean mentioned that the rehab facility Jason claims to have been at is closed, and has been for 2 years.

Then, Spencer notices Mrs. DiLaurentis handing off a bag to someone and goes to follow, bringing us back to the scene from the teaser. The metallic snap we heard was a bear trap catching Spencer's veil. When she eventually makes it back to the house, she takes off her corset and the girls find MOTHERLOVING FINGER BONES SEWN INTO THE LINING!!

(/RANT/ I'm sorry but how in the HELL did no one see, feel, SOMETHING those bones? Spencer's used to wearing mink coats and sleeping on Egyptian cotton sheets and shit and you mean to tell me her pampered ass didn't feel something was amiss with that get-up?/ENDRANT/)

The accompanying note read " What will you do when the rest of me comes out of the grave?" but wasn't signed -A so who knows what the hell, but that was definitely one of the grossest stunts pulled yet.

Minutes later, Alison called the girls, in response to Em's email, and told them that she was FINALLY ready to clue them ( and us) in on what the hell's been happening,

but first they have to jump through yet ANOTHER hoop and meet her in at some secret location in Philly...

She gives them an address, tells them not to speak to her mother and just like that we have our set up for next week's meeting full o' revelations.

As the girls prepare to leave, Paige pops up at Emily's house and Em's just like

and leaves her ass there to go look for Alison with her friends. Paily has left the building, yall.

This week's -A scene showed -A locating Cece Drake's name in a guest log at the Red Finch Inn, then calling the Rosewood Police Department, like they ever get anything handled.

Next week's season finale is titled " A is for Answers" and although I'm thoroughly prepared to leave with more questions than answers, I'm definitely excited to find out what happened to Alison on the night she disappeared.

Odds and Ends:
- Any guesses on the voice at the end of this week's episode? It sounded like Ashley Marin to me, but I recgnize that makes no sense at all.
- How cute were Travis and Hanna this ep? It should be good and awkward next season when Caleb comes back from Canceledville.
-What will happen when the body is exhumed and,presumably, missing some teeth and finger bones?
- On a scale of Unanswered Questions to Dropped Plotlines…how much more confused do you think we'll be at the end of this season?

What did you think of this week's episode? Let's have a pretty little chat below!

About the Author - Jasmine Alyce

Jasmine Alyce is a co-host on 3 Girls and a Podcast, alongside Fanbolt.com's Emma Loggins and Electric Sons Band Manager Christina Guererro. The show airs Thursday nights at 11pm EST.
She is also the Co-Editor/Co-Founder of entertainment website Big Girls Don't Gossip,with fellow Co-Editor/Co-Founder Alanna Bass.

Jasmine graduated from Georgia State University in 2009 with her BA in Broadcast Journalism considers herself an entertainment news/ pop culture connoisseur.