Prologue:
With only 10 episodes of PLL left and no Holiday special to help us survive in the interim, I picked episode 2x13 (aired October 19th, 2011) as this week’s #TBT article. It is a paragon of PLL, showcasing all of its best and most twisted elements including the NAT club, Jenna, Noel, Mona, Alison and her disappearance, terrifying dolls and lots of masks. It’s on par with episodes like “Unmasked” or “Welcome to the Dollhouse” but it’s also the only episode on PLL to be told exclusively through flashbacks.
Have you heard the story of the girl who crawled out of her own grave and went on the run?Before the five-year time jump, and Charlotte, and the Dollhouse, before she was even buried alive in her back yard, Alison was still running the mean streets of Rosewood. It’s Halloween 2008 and Ali is telling terrifying tales of blonde twins (A not so subtle nod to the Twin Theory) and asserting her dominance with every breath she takes.
The liars are helplessly bound to Ali's smile which, like Rosewood, “has its own particular gravity”. In 2x13 they are all pretty much sticking to their original archetypes: Hanna is grappling with her insecurities and her parent’s separation, Aria is about to catch Byron and psycho Meredith in the act, Spencer is wearing glasses and gathering votes for class president and Emily is still in the closet.
While Jenna moves into Toby’s house and infiltrates the town, Noel invites Ali and liars to his Halloween Bash. Both Jenna and Noel are very much in the fore centre in this episode, just like they are in the 7x10 finale that just aired and it seems like every one of the O.G’s (past, present and future) of this world are here: Melissa, Ian and Wilden. It's interesting to note that 2x13 marks the first time Toby’s mother is mentioned on the show and with each following season a new clue to her death was revealed, leading up to Charlotte witnessing her death.
I would rather go blind.Ali browses the costume shoppe (Not the one Shanna used to work in) when someone grabs her from behind and shuts her mouth. It's just Noel being Noel. When he leaves Ali encounters the new girl in town. She introduces herself but Jenna already knows who she is and Ali’s phone goes off: “I’m watching you”.
At the Hastings kitchen, Melissa is congratulating Spencer on her agenda and you can see how much she longed for her family’s approval (even more tragic in light of the Mary Drake revelation, I know) from the way she hangs on every word that her sister says. Alison snarkily praises Melissa for being a great role model while throwing glances at Ian, just one of the countless grotesque white men who threatened the liars and ended up dead not very long after.
Hanna’s telephone rings (back when people used landlines) but her TV compels her not to answer it. She picks it up but hears nothing but breathing on the other end until Alison answers demanding to know if Hanna was the one threatening her. Oh, Ali! After hearing some commotion outside her front door she finds a very drunk Ashley being escorted by yours truly, Darren Wilden. She’s ashamed of her current state and even more ashamed that Hanna’s asshole dad left them. Hanna tells her his new wife is pretty ugly because the Marin girls always stick together.
The next day the liars are at their old cafeteria spot. (Back when Rosewood High was our main backdrop) Aria is ready to pounce at Ben who’s been spreading rumours about having sex with Emily takes advantage of them. In yet another iconic scene Mona walks up to the liars to say hi. Alison advises the liars that if they ignore it, *it* will go away. Sigh… All poor Mona ever wanted, all poor Mona STILL wants is to be a liar but they keep shutting her out time after time. No stalking, saving or covering up their murders and abductions will ever change the liars’ minds.
That is so not what I look like.A pre-humanitarian and pre-addiction Jason comes into Alison’s bedroom after school to deliver a package. He’s handsome, devilish and strikingly similar to Alison. When asked what kind of movies he’s making with his friends, Jason jokes that if he told Ali he’d have to kill her which is great foreshadowing to the NAT club storyline. Inside the package Ali finds a voodoo doll with a note that vows it’s someone else’s turn to torture Alison. No insignia yet, because the A monster has not yet been born.
The pressure of the election is starting to take a toll on Spencer and Alison tells her that the odds may not be in her favour (just so she can step in and receive all the adoration). She promises Spencer she can “make it happen” if she really wants it. I didn’t even remember just how manipulative she used to be.
The polls have closed and the verdict is about to come out. The liars are standing by their lockers when Alison savagely insults every second of Lucas’s life from the moment he was born. Mona watches their exchange, always omnipresent in the shadows. Spencer wins as Sophomore Class President but Alison casts a shadow over her victory. The puppet master’s always making sure she has a new secret for every liar so that she can hold it over their heads. Spencer’s rigged election, Emily’s lie about Ben and later on, Byron’s affair.
The male gaze.Before heading to Noel’s the girls get ready at Spencer’s. Emily is Pocahontas, Hanna is sexy Britney (despite all of Alison’s digs), Spencer is Sexy Mary Queen of Scots and we’re lead to believe Aria is not wearing a costume. That’s just her normal outfit. They all freak out when they lock eyes with the classic Zombie baby watching them from the murder garden. Alison doesn’t take a single break from being bitchy and scoffs when Hanna says she’s hungry.
When Spemily and Hanna go down to get the Pizza, Alison accuses Aria of sucking the joy out of everything after she caught Byron in the act with Meredith. Aria asks for some mercy but Ali has no intention of letting it go and instead she drives the knife into Aria’s heart and twists it by threatening to tell about what they saw in her dad’s car if she doesn’t come to Noel’s. She first lures the liars with love and affection before making them do her bidding.
Lady Gaga is playing at the party as Jenna arrives dressed in the exact (yet far superior) outfit as Alison. Noel rushes to greet her and she removes her glasses (ironically) to throw a look at Alison. The liars ask who she is and with a scowl Ali mutters, Jenna. Programming them to hate her from day one. Mona as catwoman approaches Alison and meows at her flirtatiously. “Do I know you?” “No… but you will” if that is not the most prescient quote of the season I don’t know what is.
Yaaaaaas Gaga!While Zombie baby incessantly watches over the liars, Ali approaches Jenna and offers her the one time only offer to be one of the liars. Jenna declines, just like Harry Potter did when Draco Malfoy offered a place in his squad. Mona gleefully witnesses Jenna shooting down Ali and tells her she’s not scared of her.
What makes prequel episodes like this so enjoyable to me is seeing each character’s origins, contrasting “back then” to the “now”. For some, the “now” is rather bleak… RIP Noel. For others, it’s far better, like in the case of Emily who’s still in the closet in whatever year of high school this is. She’s dancing with Ben (Puke) whilst eyeing Jenna. And while this is happening Alison is eyeing Emily who’s eyeing Jenna and Jenna’s flirting right back. It’s one big gay party basically.
Ali vanishes soon after the girls get a group text. Alison’s calling for help at 313 Mockingbird street, one of the many abandoned murder houses of Rosewood and also the house we saw earlier in this episode (not to be confused with the haunted house Noel was beheaded in). Someone is after her and she tells them to stay put until she can make sure he’s gone. The girls lock the door and we see what happens through the cracks: Zombie baby is attacking Alison with a knife and it’s really disturbing. Everything goes silent and when the liars go down they find Alison sitting in a dusty rocking chair with her arm firmly gripping a knife.
She congratulates them for passing the test by coming to her rescue. It feels like they just unknowingly signed an invisible contract, vowing to always come running for Alison through all her escapades. The classic “A” score plays as her true psychotic nature unravels before their eyes. Alison Dilaurentis is bigger than life, you guys. When they return to the party Alison thanks Noel for playing along and he looks puzzled because he wasn’t the one who attacked her. The colour drains from Alison’s face as she receives one final text now signed by A. And the monster was born.
Rosewood's a friendly town.
Favourite shot:
An overhead shot follows Alison as she hides the voodoo doll in her box of secrets beneath the French twin posters in her bedroom. The scene ends with the camera sitting at eye level as Ali’s crouching and framed right in the middle. Great cinematography all around especially when it comes to creating an atmosphere of anxiety and paranoia. Also, how awesome is the score of this episode?
Favourite scene:
The final scene is perhaps the most terrifying, as a crane shot pulls up from Emily, Hanna, Aria, and Spencer looking at Alison with concern. Everywhere around them, an army of Zombie Baby Masks is watching. One of them shuts a flip phone and removes *her* mask. It instils the idea that everywhere they turn, Rosewood is always watching and waiting.
Best Quote:
“She was born to be queen but her cousin stole the throne and then she was accused of treason and her family had her executed”
Spencer talking about Mary Queen of Scots/Mary Drake/Alison/Charlotte
#TBT Grade: 5/5 Baby zombies
The only thing that could have possibly made an already stellar episode even better would be somehow including Charlotte in it but since that’s canonically impossible, I rest my case.
Final thoughts:
Before Alison came back as a dull and rehabilitated character, she used to be both dead and alive. She was a ferocious product of the world of Rosewood yet she essentially created that world herself. She pulled everyone in her orbit and no one had any power or control when they were sucked into her black holes. Alison is where the story began and I am still waiting for the moment when she dances down the streets of Rosewood and shatters everything that dares get in her way with the same shovel that once buried her, like Beyonce in her “Hold Up” video. Leave a comment below, if you also like Beyonce a little too much. Thank you very much for reading my first #TBT and shout out to Gavin Hetherington who reviews the new episodes of PLL.
