Sunday, July 3, 2016

Pretty Little Liars Rosewood Roundup ("Tick Tock, Bitches" & "Bedlam") [Contributor: Megan Mann]


"Tick, Tock Bitches"
Original Airdate: June 21, 2016

The time has come, guys. Pretty Little Liars is finally back! We get to find out what happens to Hanna! We get to watch as things start to unravel because of all the big relationship stuff that happened in the finale! We get to find out what is going on with Elliot and Mrs. Di/Mary Drake! Let’s get to it.

The episode opens on the girls digging as they struggle with something that has happened to lead them to where they are now. Four days earlier and they’re running through the town square. The group stops bickering and looks up to see Mary Drake walking into the police precinct. They don’t know what to believe and what not to believe. Toby walks in and asks her what the problem is. She owns the inn where Hanna was taken and wants to report a break-in. Toby says that Mary Drake is a dead ringer for someone who used to live in Rosewood. “Jessica was my sister.” Well, things just got a little bit more twisted, didn’t they?

Toby tells the group what’s going on and before they can figure out what to do next, their phones go off with a text: “A lie for a lie, an eye for an eye.” Just as they receive the text, the bell tower’s bell starts to ring out and the group races toward the church. They all look up and see Hanna dangling from the rafters. As they get her down, Caleb realizes it isn’t really her. It’s a mask. When they peel it back, it’s a doll’s face. There’s also a string hanging out the back. “You have 24 hours to give me Charlotte’s real killer. Ta-ta, bitches!” Well, that wasn’t creepy or anything.

The group reconvenes at the Hastings house and uses it as command central. Whoever took Hanna used Mary Drake as a distraction. But now they’re a bigger force. They may only have a small window, but now that everyone is on board, the group has a better chance. Somewhere in a broken down barn, Hanna starts to scream to be let out. Where is she? Who has her? Is it Creepy Hands or Mary Drake?

Back at the command center, it seems that everyone is pretty convinced that it was most likely Alison who killed Charlotte. Would she even have a motive? Aria points out that she might not have had a motive, but she definitely had the time. Ezra and Aria reflect back on the night they saw Charlotte walking toward the bell tower. Or was it Charlotte? The group starts to hypothesize about what could have happened between the two, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that they figure out if it really happened and fast. They create a plan and their phones go off again with a picture proving Hanna is alive.

Toby, Spencer, Caleb, and Mona head to the Lost Woods Inn. They watch as Mary carries gigantic bags into the inn and then takes off. Instead of everyone following her, Mona and Caleb follow her, while Spencer and Toby stay behind to investigate. Spencer compliments his new sleuthing skills. Over at the hospital, Elliot, now back in his American accent, claims that he doesn’t know anything. It’s hard not to scream, "YOU FILTHY LIAR. YOU DO KNOW WHAT’S HAPPENING!” at the TV. He tells Emily that her condition has rapidly declined, but Emily doesn’t understand how. A siren goes off and Ali starts screaming and trying to break her binds. What role does driving Ali to go crazy play in this scheme?

Toby and Spencer are looking through the bags Mary Drake brought into her room and notice that they’re books: mostly in German and French, and even some textbooks. They also find a book about cyber warfare. If she’s Uber A, she’s self-taught in the ways of cyber takedowns. Toby finds her passport and sees that she flew from Heathrow in London to Philadelphia about a week before Charlotte died. If she’s A.D., she’s had plenty of time to get there.

Meanwhile, Ezra quietly unlocks the door of the DiLaurentis house as he and Aria go to look around. They wind up in Ali’s room and find that the storage bin at the end of her bed is locked. They work to find a key, but they hear someone open the front door and turn on the TV. It’s Elliot. He enters Ali’s room and lifts up a lamp to reveal the key to the storage bin at the end of the bed. He pulls out a backpack before locking it again. He then moves to another room to grab what looks like a doctor’s bag, but is full of assorted knives! He goes to open the closet where Aria and Ezra just were, but they’ve already escaped through the window.

Spencer resigns to looking over the Mary Drake file one more time while Caleb and Mona keep their eyes on the woman herself. Behind her, two men have a dolly full of things including charcoal, vinegar, and bleach and “it’s everything you need to cover up a murder.” Thanks for that, Mona.

Hanna feels water hit her feet before it starts pelting her entirely. She begs whoever it is to stop as that person comes toward her and presumably cuts her. Meanwhile, Caleb and Mona are still following Mary Drake for hours as she drives around. The van pulls up and into Spencer’s house. Caleb sends her a hasty text, but she doesn’t receive it until after there’s a knock on the door. She invites Mary inside for some tea and already, I’m uncomfortable. Spencer, what are you doing? This isn’t a game!

Emily is still at the hospital and Elliot is nowhere to be seen. Probably because he’s out torturing Hanna, but whatever. Emily can finally go in and talk to Ali, but she seems to still be drugged. She tries to appeal to her sleeping form, but there’s nothing. Then Ali’s eyes snap open and she says, to no one in particular, “Please don’t hurt me!”

In what I assume is an effort to get more information out of her, Spencer asks Mary basic questions over tea. “I know enough about your family to know that they’re expert secret-keepers.” Okay, Mary. Chill. Apparently Jessica turned everyone, family and friends, against Mary. Spencer asks why and Mary responds with such a great answer: “I was born first and she was born jealous.” She only came back because she found out Jessica had passed. She parts with a cryptic, “You should lock this door. These days you’re not safe anymore.” Seriously, chill.

Ezra suggests that Aria get some sleep, but she thinks maybe it’s better to go home. She hasn’t spoken to Liam in days and she and Ezra haven’t exactly talked about what happened (you got back together is what happened, OBVIOUSLY). She decides to go home and think about it and when she goes down into the coffee shop, she sees Emily. When she asks how the talk with Ali went, she lies and said she didn’t see her. Emily asks for Ali’s house key back and then acts extra shifty when Aria offers to go back there with her. When Sabrina asks if she’s okay, Emily admits that she thinks her friend did a very bad thing while another friend is paying the price for it. That escalated quickly.

Mona and Caleb are still on Mary’s heels and keeping an eye on her even though she just seems to be pacing back and forth in her room. “She’s alone, we can take her,” Caleb says. “And then what? Waterboard her?” Good one, Mona. They apparently only have six hours left at this point. They pinpoint whomever Mary is on the phone with, a man with an accent, and he’s at a bar near Hollis. He relays this information to Spencer who asks Aria to stop by.

In what is either a dream sequence or another one of those clever masks, Hanna sees Spencer in the ramshackle barn. She tells Hanna that she needs to tell the truth about Charlotte’s killer, but Hanna doesn’t know. She wishes she did so she could get out of there. “If A.D. can get in and out of here, so you can you.” Fair point, dream/fake Spencer.

Aria walks into Snooker’s (what a strange bar name) hoping to figure out who Mary was talking to. She takes a look around to see if she can figure it out when her phone rings. It’s Liam, but she chooses not to answer. Harsh, girl. She hears a song that reminds her of Ezra and winds up at his front door asking to stay with him. But in the background, the bell tower’s sound rings out. How much longer until we lose Hanna?

A doorknob turns quietly into the DiLaurentis house. Elliot moves in his sleep, spooking Emily who's tiptoeing toward Ali’s room. She picks up the broken jewelry box as memories of Ali flit through her mind. As she looks around the room, she notices boxes marked "Goodwill." She opens the top box to see Ali’s clothes, including the red jacket they suspect she wore the night that she killed Charlotte. Never make assumptions, guys! We really have learned nothing. Ugh.

Hanna wakes up and repeats Spencer’s words to herself: “If there’s a way in, there’s a way out.” She starts to feel around in the hopes of finding a way and she better work fast. The group now only has 38 minutes left. Toby, Aria, Ezra, and Caleb are all back at the command center as Spencer tells them what she learned from reading Mary's file. She was in and out of Radley for years before finally being released for the last time 23 years prior. Caleb gets a call from Mona saying that Mary has left the inn, but before they can move, Emily comes in saying that she lied to Aria earlier, that she did get to talk to Ali. She pulls out the jacket and they all stare at it.

With 37 minutes left, Emily wants to go over the plan one more time before they give the red jacket (see how that went from the red trench from season four to the red jacket in season seven? Clever!) to A.D. She’s scared about trading one friend for another. While they’re all distracted, Caleb seizes the opportunity and grabs the red jacket and someone’s phone and books it. Mona has lost Mary, but Caleb doesn’t care since he has the jacket now. He texts A.D. and says, “Alison did it. Proof is at the Lost Woods” with 55 seconds to go.

Now only three seconds are left on the block as the barn door opens. Through the goggles, whoever has Hanna captured can’t see her. She’s escaped and is now running through the woods. She doesn’t know where she’s going, but she sees a car. The car doesn’t stop but then turns around and races toward her. It’s Mary Drake. Uh oh.

A black gloved hand reaches down and places Ali’s red jacket into an evidence bag before Caleb shows back up at the Hastings house. He asks if they’ve heard anything, but it’s been dead silent. Emily is still worried about Ali, but Spencer assures her that the hospital is “locked up like Fort Knox.” Something tells me that Spencer might not be right as a nurse gives a nod to someone we can’t see entering Ali’s room. It’s Elliot and he’s got a syringe. He begins telling her that she’s going to live a long life before switching to his normal, accented voice and continues, “... rotting away in here.” He leans in close and says, “I know you killed Charlotte.” Bewilderment crosses Ali’s face just as he sticks her with the syringe.

But did she? All we have is Emily’s version of Ali saying, “don’t hurt me!” She never specifically said that she killed Charlotte. And how did Mary and Elliot even really find each other? And what’s all really happening? And what’s going to happen to Hanna now? I’m just all types of messed up from this episode. Ugh, until next episode, Liars!


"Bedlam"
Original Airdate: June 28, 2016

The season premiere really threw us for a loop because it gave us more questions than it did answers and Hanna still hasn’t been returned to the group. Will Mary Drake take her prisoner or return her safely home? Was it her who took Hanna in the first place or someone else? And was it really Ali who killed Charlotte? How does Elliot fit into all this? Here’s to hoping we get some answers!

... Who are we kidding? This is Rosewood. We’re in for another wild ride.

Mary Drake races down the highway with Hanna in the front seat. She asks if she’s sure she wants to do this, but Hanna assures her that she has to talk to her friends before she does anything else. So, it seems it wasn’t Mary who took her. At least for now. She gives Hanna some cryptic speech about families having secrets and how sometimes those secrets can be people and I’m all types of creeped out. She returns Hanna to the group and they say that maybe she should go to the doctor, but she refuses by saying, “no doctors, no questions.” We all know from previous experience that questions lead to problems and Uber A clearly isn’t messing around. The team takes this opportunity to fill each other in on what Hanna missed, which leads Hanna to believe that it’s been Mary Drake all along that’s been seeking revenge. But if it is, why would she so easily return Hanna? They also fill her in on their assumption that it was Ali who killed Charlotte and Hanna’s understandably overwhelmed. Caleb hands her back her ring and that incites a whole new slew of questions. Where’s Jordan? Why isn’t he concerned that he didn’t hear from his fiancé for like, 48 hours? I’m confused.

Aria’s phone vibrates with a text from Liam saying he would see her soon... just as Ezra brings in a giant bouquet of flowers into the kitchen. They're from A.D., thanking Aria for her help and noting they're all on the same team now.

Hanna, Spencer, Lucas, and Caleb head back to the loft and Hanna is visibly edgy. Caleb asks her if she’s going to take Lucas up on his offer, but she’s pretty sure he’s nuts. She’s worried that Uber A will just destroy whatever it is she tries to do, but Caleb isn’t worried about that. She confides in him how scared she was back at the resort and that was why she had divulged her secret about still loving him and that her fear in that moment lead them to that kiss. Why are you doing this to me, Hanna? Why?

Emily notices Spencer is missing and finds her outside in the hallway, upset. In typical Spencer fashion, she doesn’t express her feelings, so Emily changes direction and asks if she thinks Ali is safe at Wellby. Caleb comes out to take Spencer home, but before they part, she mentions that Hanna needs to be watched. She has the “dollhouse look” from before. Finally, Jordan is mentioned and Hanna says she’ll talk to him later. Poor guy.

Spencer is still up working on something for her mom when Caleb asks if she’s okay. She knew that what Hanna had suggested and then done was too dangerous, that she should have stopped her, but they both know that when Hanna gets something into her mind, there’s no going back. She’s still visibly upset but refuses to talk about it. She cries as he leaves the room. Girl takes things so hard, you know?

In the dead of night, Emily is awakened by a phone call from an unknown number. When she answers, she hears someone running and then someone screaming, “help me!” Still she’s unsure. “Emily, help me!” It’s Ali. She’s begging Emily to help her before a female voice comes in the background and demands she gives her the phone. Oh no. This is going to get out of hand and fast.

Emily goes to visit Ali as soon as she can, but Elliot seems to have changed the visiting to family only. She tries to figure out why they changed and when, but Nurse Ratchet over here refuses to give up any information. She sees Elliot across the hall and asks why she can’t go in and see Ali. Is she all right? Did something happen? He tells her that Ali is better off in isolation and it will remain that way until Elliot decides the timing is better. How does that not raise a red flag?

Lucas meets up with Ali at the hotel and asks how Ali is doing. Hanna of course snaps back since she’s still on edge over that whole kidnapping thing she went through, but Lucas takes it in stride. He asks if she got the package he sent over. She doesn’t understand why he’s doing this for her. “Why do you make it so hard for someone to do something nice for you? Why do you resist it so much?” He’s genuinely curious, but Hanna is quick to put herself down. She needs to make a decision and fast.

Emily thinks that maybe they were wrong about Ali and that they can’t just leave Ali there unprotected. Spencer asks if she told Elliot about the call, but she didn’t want him to know it was Emily she was calling. She doesn’t think that they can wait. She wonders if maybe they should utilize Mary Drake to be able to get in and see her. Spencer thinks she’s bonkers for suggesting potential Uber A be there in to see Ali. They just simply can’t take that chance. I know Emily is panicked, but Spencer is totally right on this one.

Liam and Aria sit in her parents' living room clearly breaking up. She thinks that coming home, seeing her friends and everything that’s happened has made her realize that she has a lot of unresolved issues she needs to work through. She wants Liam to understand that it has nothing to do with the book or Ezra, but the stuff that she needs to work through. Girl, you’re lying right to his FACE. He’s upset, but he tells her that he’s back on the book and wants to make sure that everything runs smoothly with the manuscript. Aria is already on her guard wondering what he’s going to read into when he edits the manuscript and realizes how she feels about Ezra. They both agree to make it work, but it’s clear the drama isn’t over.

As Hanna sits down to make a decision about the paperwork, she has a flashback to handling similar paperwork and trying to make her ex-boss’s life easier. She’s sitting at a bar and notices that the man sitting next to her has his drink on a very important phone number she needs. She snaps at him, but he tries to make it better. He offers to buy her something to eat and the two spend what seems to be like quite a long time talking and laughing. The memory fills her with happiness.

Spencer, Aria, and Emily try to appeal to Elliot, but he won’t budge. He says as both her husband and her doctor, he knows what’s best for her. But that doesn’t amuse Spencer. Ever the pragmatic one, she notes that maybe we all need a little objectivity and maybe he’s not seeing clearly. He says he’s consulted other doctors and even spoken to Jason who approves of the treatment. He also won’t allow Mary Drake to visit as he’s nervous about the reaction Ali might have to seeing someone who looks so much like Jessica. Except we know that’s not true because those two are in cahoots. Elliot takes a call when the girls get a text. “She’s mine now. No take-backs. No do-overs. A.D.” And finally, the suspicion of Elliot starts to sink in. Thank god.

Jordan walks into his office to see a pair of Louboutins on his desk and Hanna in a deep, plunging neckline dress seductively staring at him. The two banter, but then he changes the conversation to her being so serious lately. Rosewood can have that effect on its population. “Then why do you keep going back there?” Instead of answering, she changes direction and says she wants to go back to the bar where they met and start all over again. So, we’re not going to mention the kidnapping bit? Just making sure.

The earlier conversation about using Mary to get into Wellby comes around again and Spencer still believes it’s not going to work and it’s a terrible idea. Emily still believes the opposite. She doesn’t think they need to trust her, but they need to use her in order to get to Ali. No one in the group knows more about Ali right now than Spencer. She knows what it’s like to be locked up and isolated. That could be the comment that softens Spencer’s resolve.

Ezra is confused about Elliot being able to talk to Jason when it seems that no one else has been able to locate him. The police may not be looking for him, but Toby has been in order to confirm Mary Drake’s story. Aria wants to talk about anything other than this fiasco and asks when he meets with Liam. She hopes that they can all make it work seeing as she was so eager to just end it with him that she never let him get out that he was back on the book. “All due respect, things have been complicated for a very long time. This book means just as much to Liam as it does to us.” He promises to make it work and the two link hands. Of course, Liam is across the square and sees the whole thing go down. Please don’t tell me this messes with their book. They worked so hard!

The two meet up and Liam says that there’s something wrong with the male lead’s backstory: the predatory nature of his actions. Ezra can clearly sense that they’re having two separate conversations. He notices that Liam is clearly bashing him. It’s clear Liam is taking things a little hard and is maybe using the wrong outlet to express that. “Neither one of us wants Aria to look foolish, like she let herself get talked into something that she didn’t want.” He continues to bash Ezra by cloaking it under the guise of looking out for Aria and I’m now just over it. You can go back to Boston now. You’re annoying. BYE.

While Spencer is at the Hastings headquarters, Mary Drake strolls in to inquire how Hanna is doing. She wonders if Hanna told them anything else about what might have happened. Is she worried that Hanna figured something out? She says that she doesn’t feel good about letting Hanna go back to her friends instead of going to the police or a hospital. But her experience with doctors and the police hasn’t always been the best. Spencer asks what she means and she says she wasn’t really honest. One of the most distressing things about Ali being in Wellby is that she’s had a similar experience. She reveals she was in Radley and Spencer delicately asks why.

“I’m going to tell you this because I want you to understand why I’m so worried about Alison,” she starts. “We were fourteen, my sister and I, Jessica was babysitting and she called me to complain that the baby wouldn’t stop crying... She asked me to stay there... When the Carvers came home, I told them Jessica called me because she had a headache. Mrs. Carver went upstairs. She started to scream like she was on fire. Teddy was dead. When they found Jessica, they said the baby was fine when she left. They believed Jessica.”

Man, the DiLaurentis family keeps getting more and more screwed up. When everyone believed Jessica, they sent Mary to Radley instead of prison.

Aria doesn’t understand how Liam was angry with Ezra. He promises to fight clean, but if this is how every session is going to be, there won’t be anything left of the book. Ugh, I knew he would do whatever he could to destroy their hard work. Jealous fool! “Aria, what does Liam really know about you and me?” Ezra asks. Time to spill that tea, girl.

Hanna is furious that the bar where she and Jordan met is no longer there. Jordan doesn’t understand the problem. “I was going to make it perfect this time. I had it all figured out and now it’s ruined.” She thinks that everything she touches turns to rubble and she can’t do that to Jordan. She knows that he would do anything for her, but she slides her ring off anyway. Oh, Hanna.

As Emily finishes an application, she notices that Mary walks into the lobby of the Radley. She was just wondering what the place looked like and wanted to see for herself. Emily invites her to sit down and talk. They talk about what it was like when it was a sanitarium and then, forgoing all warning against it, Emily mentions that she went to see Ali. She mentions that Elliot won’t let her see Ali and Mary says she’s getting the same treatment. She talked to him on the phone “just once.” She talks him up like he’s god’s gift but agrees with the idea that being her husband and doctor is a lot. Emily wonders if she did the right thing and then thinks Mary could help her. She first disagrees but then offers to go there together. COME ON, EMILY. USE YOUR BRAIN!

Lucas feels bad about how he and Hanna had apparently left things that morning, but before he can finish, she asks him for a pen to sign the papers. “Right now, I want this more than anything else.” As she signs, Lucas notices that her ring is missing. Lucas, keep this platonic. Don’t get greedy.

“You said we could all be adults about this,” Aria says. Instead of coming clean and saying that he saw Aria and Ezra holding hands, Liam says he meant what he said until he went over the pages again and realized it was a bunch of things that he couldn’t put his finger on until they just clicked together on their own. Again, two different conversations happening at once and I’m still wondering when your flight back to Boston is, Liam. “I think you were seduced by your English teacher when you were in high school.” Instead of lying, she comes clean much to Liam’s astonishment.

Ali wakes up and sees Emily standing over her. She asks Ali if she remembers calling her. She asks if she was in Radley and is somehow relieved. Ali starts to talk and say things she wouldn’t otherwise say and just as she’s about to say something about Elliot, the harsh, fluorescent lights illuminate Ali’s face and Elliot storms in screaming that he didn’t authorize that visit. Ali screams at Emily not to go before Elliot shuts the door on her yet again.

Emily demands to know what happened to Ali since arriving. Elliot instead asks to have a word with Mary. The two talk and Emily finds them and tries to make out what they’re saying. Mary tells Elliot that he’s gone too far in the treatment of Ali. It’s all gotten out of hand and I just need more answers, okay? Stop leaving it off just at the end when an answer is about to come out!

Caleb walks in and sees Spencer dipping into some pretty hard liquor. He asks if she’s okay and she drunkenly reveals that she’s been fired. He asks what she’s going to do now, but she’s unsure. She asks how Hanna is, but he tells her that he hasn’t heard from her. Full of liquid courage, she asks if they made a mistake in being together. He said that what they did was real. “Then why are you talking about it in the past tense?” Sick burn, Spence. Saved by the text noise, Spencer looks and sees Emily’s text that Ali’s much worse and that something is going on between Elliot and Mary Drake. She wonders if Rollins is in charge.

A table is wheeled into Ali’s room with a singing jewelry box. A syringe is placed into her IV bag and she’s then being wheeled off by someone we can’t see. Who was it? What did they put in her IV? Is Ali safe at all anymore? Is someone actually trying to take her out of Wellby? Can someone please just tell me what’s going on here?!

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