Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Pretty Little Liars Rosewood Roundup ("Did You Miss Me?") [Contributor: Megan Mann]


"Did You Miss Me?"
Original Airdate: March 8, 2016

After the intensity of last week’s accident with Aria that landed her in the hospital, it seems that this new Big Bad is stopping at nothing to show our Liars that they’re serious. What will they do this week? And who’s next on their list now that Emily and Aria have already felt their wrath?

When we left them last week, Emily and Mona were in the alley after Emily realized Mona was the girl that the witness had described seeing at the Two Crows that night. She tells Emily that she was the one who called Charlotte and asked her to meet up, but she never showed up after Mona waited for two hours. Emily believes that Mona was the one who killed her because of how everything went down in the bunker, but Mona didn’t want to kill her. Charlotte wasn’t the only one guilty of crimes, lies, and mistakes. All of the girls were too and Charlotte never gave them up. Would she do it when she got out? Mona had to be sure she wouldn’t go around ruining their lives again which is pretty valid. Wouldn’t you want to be sure that the life you worked so hard to regain was still protected? When Mona turns the question around and asks Emily what she would have done if she had made the call and come face to face with Charlotte, if she would have done something she couldn’t take back, something falls to the ground halting the conversation. Was someone listening or was it just a coincidence? Just kidding. There are no coincidences in Rosewood.

Emily takes the conversation back to Spencer and Aria. They seem to be reaching with the information as it’s easy to prove that Mona was there all night and had nothing to do with the murder. Aria suggests taking the information to Tanner to get her off the suspect list, but Mona could be of use. She could easily lead them to something else so long as she thinks they believe her. It seems a little unfair that they’re so quick to jump at Mona when she didn’t do anything the other girls wouldn’t have done had they had the thought to come face to face with Charlotte. If she had lived, who knew what any of them were capable of if they crossed paths with her on the street.

Hanna tells Jordan that she’s going to stay in Rosewood a little longer. He still doesn’t understand all of it or the tether that binds them there. Lucas tells her he was hoping to meet him when he came back (you know, to fix the disastrous loft-run-by-tablet thing), but Jordan believes small towns only exist to get away from. But Lucas doesn’t feel that way. He came back to look at some old factories that he could buy and turn a profit from. It’s a way to give the town a second chance and remember how without that small town, he wouldn’t be where he is now. He still seems pretty hung up on Hanna. Poor guy.

Ali and Elliot are staying at a bed and breakfast for a quick honeymoon. They exchange really adorable banter but as Ali turns to head down the stairs, her heel slips and she tumbles down the stairs; an accident or a premeditated move from Big Bad? She suffers a concussion and Elliot thinks she needs to stay in the hospital just to be safe. Ali turns and wonders if this is some sort of punishment for her finally being happy, like the universe is trying to penalize her for being the one to survive. Elliot doesn’t think that’s true. It was nothing more than an accident.

The Liars, however, don’t share his sentiment. They believe this is Big Bad threatening them with extreme measures as their time runs out. First Emily’s eggs, then Aria getting burned, and now Ali’s concussion. Only three days left and two more girls. Hanna offers to go see Ali to make sure she’s okay and that she stays away until election night. She doesn’t need to know about all of this. Aria wonders what they should do about Mona, but Hanna reminds them that Mona didn’t actually kill Charlotte. Emily and Aria don’t care. She still had motive and she’s not telling the entire truth. Spencer also gets in on that and says that Mona has changed so much that she probably doesn’t even recognize herself anymore. “Who around here hasn’t tried to reinvent themselves a couple times?” Hanna points out. All of them have done so in an effort to distance themselves from their past and they seemed to have forgotten proven by their silence.

After Ezra tells Aria that they’ll be meeting with her boss to discuss the book later that evening and that the part where the two characters say goodbye isn’t written right, Hanna visits Ali in the hospital. Ali doesn’t think that there’s anything amiss. As they look around the room, Hanna notes all of the flowers surrounding Ali. As Elliot and Ali talk, Hanna sees a card with a staircase on it. When she opens it, it has the Liars and three of them crossed out. How could that have slipped in amongst all of Elliot’s flowers? Are we to be made to believe that Elliot is somehow in on this? Did a nurse bring them in? Hanna slides the card into her bag as Emily calls Spencer to show her that Mona is sitting in the park with Creepy Sara’s helper. Oh, Mona. What are you doing?

Spencer meets Emily and they watch as Sara’s helper leaves the town hall with a tube. They follow him in an attempt to figure out what he’s doing, but stop when he enters a hardware store. Emily hatches a plan and as he walks out with two mysterious bags, they park as close to his bumper as possible to make it look like she tapped it. They pretend to get really worked up and when they ask him to investigate, Spencer takes the opportunity to look through the tube. It’s another set of blueprints for the Radley. The girls split so Spencer can go and get a copy to see what he, or more likely Creepy Sara, is up to.

Aria reads over the pages that Ezra is worried about. She reads the tweaks that he has made and discovers that what’s wrong with it was that it wasn’t authentic. It was sweet and lovely when really, what happened between he and Nicole that influenced the story was really something that turned angry and wasn’t very loving at all. He’s still holding onto how things went that night, the night before she was taken. He wonders how it should be told, but Aria believes that they should tell the version that makes the best story. Well, I don’t know about you, Aria, but the best story is the one where you two get over yourselves and get back together, so.

Emily continues to follow around old Helping Hands Man. He gets an ice cream and waits as a car strolls by. He tosses the tube into the front seat. As the car gets closer, Emily scoots down in her seat to get a good look at the driver. Well, look who it is. She can’t use her hands, but they seem to be gripping the steering wheel pretty hard there, Creepy Sara. What do you need a second set of blueprints for? What happened to the ones the girls found in your room before?

Hanna takes the card not to the girls, but straight to Caleb. She has a plan and knows that he’s the only one who can help her. She wants to call Big Bad’s bluff. If they want Charlotte’s killer, that’s what they’re going to give them. They relocate to Spencer’s barn and Caleb tells her that Hanna has something to tell her. Hanna tells her that she lied, that she left the hotel that night and followed Aria and Ezra. She went into the church after Charlotte and saw that she met her end. She stole the security drive because she’s on it, not Aria. Spencer nearly believes her and if Spencer will believe it, they’ll be able to trick anyone into it. Spencer is outraged, but Hanna and Caleb now know their plan could work.

Over at the hotel, Aria and Ezra meet with Jillian to discuss the book while Hanna, Caleb, and Spencer fill Emily in on the plan. She thinks it’s crazy (because it is) but if they want to get the upper hand, they need to do something unexpected to throw Big Bad off. Emily worries whether or not Big Bad will go to the cops, but Caleb doubts a person would go through all of this just to do that. No, this is about revenge. Emily asks a sulking Spencer what she thinks of the plan. Deep into her glass of wine, she’s just glad that someone came up with a plan. She’ll continue to try and figure out what Creepy Sara is doing and hopefully both plans will find the big red A they’re trying to catch.

Despite Emily’s protests, Spencer knows that if they don’t back them up, Hanna and Caleb are just going to go through with it on their own. When she asks if that’s true, Hanna laces her fingers with Caleb’s and agrees. He quickly untangles them and says that he would need to talk to Toby. Spencer says that he would need to know what they were planning and she wants to show him the blueprints. If they’re going to do this, they need the help of a cop. When Emily asks if they know what they’re doing, Spencer snaps back with all of the jealousy and venom she’s trying hard to keep a lid on. Whew, that’s not going to be good.

Aria has so far gotten off easy. She’s been able to avoid all of the craziness due to meeting with her boss. You know, the boss who knows that she’s dating Liam. Jillian wants her to deal directly with her now as there’s nothing more important to her than the book and seeing it through. She doesn’t want to derail it in any way and it’s clear Aria is thinking of a different way Liam being involved in the project with Ezra could be an issue. Jillian knows that the talk shows will love Ezra, will love both of them. “You and your ex-teacher are in for quite a ride.” Aria doesn’t even have time to think about all the time she’ll be spending with Ezra when her phone rings and Emily tells her that Ezra needs to know what’s happening.

She fills her in on the details as Spencer flashes back to the time in Madrid that she spent with Caleb. She asks him about a painting that the two of them saw that day and he shares something sentimental about his foster home days, if they could be considered sentimental. She thanks him for all of the adventure and impromptu nature of them all. It’s not like Spencer to not have a plan. “Where do you want to go after this? After Madrid?” she asks. He tells her maybe Morocco and invites her along. It’s a small exchange fraught with tension and heat that has nothing to do with the summer air outside the window. The moment breaks before anything else can happen and Spencer comes back to the present wondering what’s going to happen now.

Caleb and Hanna walk back into the loft, but he can’t stay. He has to get as much done before things get rolling. The fire blazes to life and Lucas apologizes for surprising them. Before he leaves, Lucas asks, “Do you lunch? We should lunch.” Honestly, it was the best exchange of the whole episode. Caleb leaves and Hanna asks Lucas what a couple of pictures are on the table. They’re the factories that he was looking at both before and after he flips it. Lucas asks Hanna what she would do if someone gave it to her and she says she would like to start her own brand and get out of the city and all of its distractions. “Deal. Research and development. It can mean whatever we say it means.” He’s finally found a way to give her something that nobody else can, a chance to start her own business. The offer will be there whenever Hanna wants it. Okay, can we talk about how sweet that is? Unrequited love though it may be, it is still one of the nicest gestures ever seen on this show.

Over at the hospital, Ali is jolted awake by a shadow. She reaches for the call button, but when she looks up, she sees her mother. Jessica tells her not to be afraid (even though I would be terrified to know cardigan sets exist in the afterlife) and that it doesn’t matter if it’s a dream or a hallucination, she’s just happy to be able to see Ali. “Everything’s going to be all right now. Elliot’s going to take care of you.” Mama D reassures Ali that she’s allowed to be happy and that Elliot will be able to protect her in ways that no one else has been able to. This was closure Ali needed, whether it was real or not.

In the darkened square of town, Mona waits to meet someone. When she hears a noise and turns, Creepy Sara comes out of a mysterious alleyway. Mona tells her that she saw her driver earlier and was curious as to how she was doing. “What do you want, Mona?” She wants Sara to leave the girls alone, but Sara won’t until she gets what’s coming to her. “Charlotte’s dead. You can’t get reparations from a corpse.” But Creepy Hands disagrees. Mona reminds her that while no one blamed her for what happened under Charlotte’s watch, the same will not be said for what she does now.

Not too far away, Ezra and Aria sit talking over tea. When Ezra asks why Aria hasn’t looked him in the eye since they left, she looks up at him and explains about the phone call with Emily, how Ali is in the hospital, and how both Ali and her accidents weren’t exactly accidents. He asks what she means. “It means that it’s happening again and we’re going to do something about it.” These ladies are not messing around this time.

They leave and meet the others at the loft. Caleb says that he’s already done the work and that he’s ready when they need it. They just don’t explain what it is exactly. “Are you sure you’re want to do this?” Aria asks. “I wouldn’t have thought of it if I wasn’t ready to do it.” Caleb declares that this isn’t a democracy as they’re going to go through with the plan no matter what. All they need to decide is whether or not they stand behind them. The room gets quiet. “Nobody here is going to let you do this by yourself,” Spencer finally says. Hanna says it’s time to get started and texts Big Bad that she’s the one who killed Charlotte.

My, my. What have we gotten ourselves into, ladies? How quickly is this going to backfire? I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous for next week’s finale.

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