Hanna and Spencer have hatched a plan. Step one) Remove the trackers from the Liars’ spinal cords with a scalpel and some plastic tongs from the game of Operation and some Neosporin. Step two) Use one of Caleb’s trackers to stalk Jason to the location of Charles’ birthday bash. Step three) Ambush Charles. Step four) Live free. When Aria pushes back because what does “ambush Charles” even mean? Dogpile him? The only person who’s ever managed to get close enough to do that was Spencer and she just stared straight ahead and whispered his name and didn’t even turn to look at his face. Hanna snaps, “I’m not going to live like this anymore!” Which makes perfect sense. Spencer says they’ll invite Toby to come along because “he has a badge and a gun; he’ll keep us safe.” Which is the most senseless thing that has ever come out of her mouth or anyone’s mouth in all of history on every plane of the space-time continuum.
Did you give Mona a kink-signal doll? Tell me the truth.
Maaaaybe.
Alas, she does invite Toby. He comes over and she explains the whole Charles thing to him while Emily and Aria are yelping upstairs and Hanna is chiding them to relax. Hanna’s disembodied voice going “HOLD STILL!” made me laugh so hard. So Spencer gives Toby the shakedown of everything they’ve learned in season six, and he’s halfway out the door to drop this information at Tanner’s feet like a cat with a dead rat, pleased as punch with its own competency, when Spencer stops him and begs him to help them “fly under the radar” this one time.
Toby literally goes, “Spencer, this information could have helped us!” And, “Nobody’s going anywhere!” And, “You want my help, you’re doing it my way!” And then when she goes upstairs, he reaches into her bag and pulls out her gummy bears and reads the private note attached to them and steals them!
I AM THE MAN OF THE HOUSE AND YOU DO WHAT I SAY!
Alison’s dad slithers into the hotel bathroom and says, “GOING SOMEWHERE?!” at Ali. This guy honestly makes Byron Montgomery look like the world’s best dad. “Are you seriously about to get molested by another police officer, Alison? God, you’re such a whore!” “Where do you think you’re going? To get kidnapped?” “Your face is dirty, asshole. Been out letting your mother bury you alive again?” Whatever, though. She says she’s going to bed but really she has laced his coffee with sleeping pills.
Toby’s jawin’ on them gummy bears like his abs depend on it while Lorenzo mother hens him about eating some protein. Toby says maybe he could stop that shit for a second and man up and get in their squad car so they can swing on down to 42 Wallaby Way and see if anything dodgy’s going on. It is out of their jurisdiction and does Lorenzo doesn’t really want to leave their beat and do it without letting command know. Toby tells Lorenzo to just get in the car and stop acting like he’s so much better than Toby just because he went through a “training program” and knows police words.
So no orgy, then? When you and Hanna said “play doctor,” you really meant actual doctor?
Luckily Hanna has not shut off her brain for this episode like everyone else (except, weirdly, Aria?), and so she has a backup phone she’s using to track Jason’s car. Once it’s been sitting still for ten minutes, she sounds the alarm and the Liars make a beeline for the BEAUTIFUL TOYOTA to begin Operation: He’s Not After You This Time. Aria hovers her fingers over 911, but decides against it because that’s a season one move, to even pretend to want to involve the police.
Jason shows up at some abandoned building and goes inside. Charles peeps him from behind a fence, and pulls out his phone to make sure the Liars’ trackers are all still at Spencer’s house. They are. Also his phone is making the loudest, most amazing BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! sound. Super incognito.
Do you want to go back to the Lost Woods Resort to finish that makeout sesh we started the night you died, or… ?
Can I call you Emily?
Can I call you Hanna?
Hampton Inn, Out of Town
Alison: Thank you for coming to get me. I couldn’t find my dad’s car keys after I drugged him, and you were the only one who answered my call.
Mona: No worries. Do you want to go unleash some hell on your brother(s)?
Alison: No, I have a stupider idea. [Dials 911]
RPD Dispatch: Hello, Rosewood Police Department and Little Caesar’s Pizza. How may I direct your call?
Alison: This is Alison. I know who A is.
RPD Dispatch: I’m sorry, honey, did you say you’re a gay whiz?
Alison: I KNOW WHO A IS.
RPD Dispatch: You’re in the sleigh biz?
Alison: This is AL-I-SON. Dilaurentis?
RPD Dispatch: Ohhh. The one who was preyed on by Wilden? Or Garrett? Or, wait, was it Holbrook? No, Lorenzo’s girlfriend, right?
Alison: [to Mona] They’re on their way.
The cops bust into Ali’s house. No one is there, but that balloon and birthday invitation are still floating around.
At Charles’ birthday party, Jason wanders around in the dark hollering, “Charlie? Hey, Charlie! It’s me, I came alone! Remember that time you tried to fry Alison like a dumb little fish? Hahaha! I’m here to celebrate your birthday!” Well, Charles doesn’t even come out for some cake because Lorenzo and Toby bust up in there, guns and badges blazing, and then the Liars, and then all the whole rest of the Rosewood Police Department, some clowns, the caterers, the people who are there to set up the bouncy castle, a plumber.
I’m gay!
ARE YOU GAY?
How many times does she have to say it!?
Toby is tripping balls and can’t get a lock on invisible Charles, who runs around and drops a bunch of pipes on everyone’s heads and then starts shooting them all with tennis balls out of a t-shirt cannon. The sound effect of those balls coming out that thing is fantastic. Thwomp! Thwomp! Everyone is dead from tennis ball shrapnel, except for Toby and the Liars. Spencer rushes over to Toby and dusts all the metal pipes off his head and she’s like, “You were aiming right at Charles’ unseeable face! What happened?” And he’s like, “Are these my HANDS? Does it smell purple in here? Oh, Spence, don’t wrap me up like a burrito when I die.”
And then everyone gets arrested.
The Liars return home to their misery. Ashley won’t entertain the idea of Hanna not using the Charles, Beloved Son Fund to go to college. Aria cries because she gave all her dolls away without checking to see if there were millions of dollars stashed in their skulls. Spencer apologizes to Toby for getting him high, but he just is green-colored and doesn’t want to hear it. Emily smells Sara’s pillow and then foolishly smashes her tracker, so now Charles will know they know he knows they know he chipped them.
DiLaurentis House of Horrors
Wow, look how young I am.
I didn’t know how to read back then. I’d never even given a man in the woods my face.
Jason: Despite the fact that Charles has been trying to destroy your life and the lives of your friends from the moment you were born, I am going to make this all about me.
Alison: Obviously.
Jason: I was going to ask him to turn himself in, you know. I was going to drive him to the police station.
Alison: That would have worked, for sure. You’re a goddamn genius.
Jason: I just wanted one moment alone with my brother!
Alison: See, I’ve never wanted that, due to the way he has been murdering me every time I am alone with him for my whole life.
They hear a kid screaming for Jason to come play with him, and so they walk into the den and Charles has converted what was surely a VHS tape into another old-timey video situation to project onto the wall. Jason says it’s a video of a birthday party his imaginary friend had in the middle of the day on a Wednesday one time, and so their mom checked them out of school but made them promise not to tell Vernon about it. The kid on the video is like, “Mommy, when do I have to go back to the asylum.” And Jessica D’s voice is like, “Not for a while, Freddie. Go eat some cake and don’t stab your sister in the eye with your fork.”
The Risen Mitten gets a gift from “an ally.” It’s a giant poster of Freddie’s birthday party. The frame is made from the finger bones of a dozen blonde-haired virgins.
Thank you to Nicole (@PLLBigA), always and forever, for these screencaps. Most especially for Cooper the Raccoon, who shall live in infamy for all eternity. You should follow her on Twitter. She’s been creeping on the Pretty Little Prom.
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Sara seems to be who she says she is. Does that mean people will show her some compassion and cut her and Emily a little slack? Probably not. Shippers be crazy. But I’m willing to give her a chance because I trust the writers.
You know what’s interesting? I’ve been thinking about this a lot! I think some of the hostility toward Sara is shipping and some of it is because we can never trust any interlopers, but I also think a big part of it is the show is drawing to a definite close now, there’s a finish line in sight, and all mega fans of all TV show get irate when new characters come in and take screen time from beloved characters in these kinds of situations. Like even Mad Men’s last season and a half, the most respected TV critics in America were losing their minds with Joan’s new boyfriend taking up so much time, and even Megan Draper, who had been around for a while, but not from the beginning. I think that’s a big part of it too.
Hmm, that does make some sense. I can see what you mean. But maybe why I’m not bothered is because I don’t and never have seen her as a threat or long term replacement for another character. I mean, maybe Joseph Dougherty and Marlene have her there on purpose? Maybe she’s there for a good reason and instead of just raging we should try to figure out what it is? If they wanted Emily to be with Ali they’d do it. Or they’d bring back Paige (and I’m still convinced they will). But yeah, maybe Sara has a point and we can try to see what these writers who have given us so much to love are trying to do with her.
And I just realized one other thing. This strikes a chord with me because it’s similar to what happened with Paige. I fucking love Paige more than maybe any other character but even though the writers wrote beautiful storylines for her and revealed her fears and hidden pains, so many people never got past their shipper thing and never heard a word they wrote. Just “Fuck off pigskin!” again and again even after learning Paige was suicidal at one point. Sometimes you can’t win when fandom is involved.
All very good points, Erin!
Nah.
Because it’s PLL Im wondering if the whole her knowing about Claire was just a misdirect, and she majorly Facebook stalker her befur, just to make it seem real. I’m sure she’s not the same actress they had in that photo on her website, but I don’t know if that’s just recasting or delipurrate…
I think Charles/A did something to Spencer’s brain in the bunker to make her become an ABSOLUTE MORON this season. Like, seriously Spencer? A has killed HOW MANY police officers, and now all of a sudden you think Toby’s gun and badge are going to protect you!?
And I totally agree about Sara. Not trusting Sara has nothing to do with shipping Paily or Emison – it’s just based on the simple fact that NO ONE on this show is trustworthy except the Liars themselves. Everyone else is suspect. Hooray for equality!
Spencer is -A, so even they aren’t trustworthy.
I’ve taken Sara Harvey as a stand in for Alison to show why Emison is such a bad idea. Emily is acting the same way she did to Ali in 5A.
I find Ali really interesting this season. She’s trying to find an identity outside of the group and does so by dressing like her mom, going to church, coaching a kids soccer team, and dating a cop. Hate Lorenzo but I find it fascinating that Ali goes for a cop. Someone who has good moral standing in the eyes of the town/public opinion. It’s like Ali brainstormed what a “good citizen” is and has just been doing them trying to be that type of person. But it doesn’t feel like real Ali because that’s not who she is. She’s the girl who gives her dad sleeping pills. She’s trying to be something she’s not which is quite heartbreaking. She thinks she needs to change to be seen as a good/decent person.
I feel the exact same way about Alison. Ever since she’s been back in Rosewood she’s been conditioned by everyone that she needs to be a completely different person to be “good”. I actually wrote a little thing about that today if anyone is interested.
http://solvingprettylittleliars.tumblr.com/post/124841643686/the-legend-of-alison-dilaurentis
I don’t know if everyone else has conditioned her (she was lying a lot to those she said she was trying to help) or if she’s trying to be a more trustworthy person and this is how she thinks she can accomplish it.
Though I guess now that Claire confirmed she’s actually Sara we can dispense of the Sara-is-Bethany theory. That still doesn’t mean Sara isn’t shady as fuck, or that she’s not working with Charles/A. The fact that she wasn’t chipped but the Liars all were is a pretty big tell, IMO. Though, I guess Mona wasn’t chipped either? Do we have confirmation of that?
Unless Sara and Bethany are identical twins and Bethany is pretending to be Sara!
Can I just say HH, your commitment to referring to Mr Dilaurentis as Vernon deserves endless rounds of applause. Also I second your Sara feelings. Trust no bitch…equally.
“Trust no bitch, equally” should be this show’s tagline!
We need to purrtition the show to rename him Vernon – it just suits him. Such a Vernon. I’m going to start refuring to all men like him as Vernons. Vernons are the patriarchy – crush them and bring on the catriarchy!
Ken DiLaurentis is such a Lucius Malfoy and doesn’t realize that one day, Ali is going to get a sock and be free and peace the eff out.
I’ve started quoting him only in the BrosWatchPLLToo voice. To myself. It’s glorious. Well, I think it’s hilarious. I’m pretty sure everyone else thinks I’m nuts.
Oh thank god I thought I was the only nut that did this
I’ve found myself doing the Kenneth voice a few times, but my true guilty pleasure is the “Toby voice”.
I don’t think Sara is shady – I think it’s just that Emily got the “dealing with the trauma” long storyline and she isn’t dealing very well since everything she herself feels she transfers to Sara – Emily is dealing with her trauma by obsessing on Sara, which should lead to a Sara leaving town is a Emily getting better moment. At least, that’s how her storyline feels to me – but then again, you’ve the “romance” music playing as if they were actually a shippable couple, also – I think Sara will be sticking around for a long while because other reasons.
The less Alison is interacting with the liars, the more the show suck (since it’s so awesome when she does.) I am hoping, but not believing, Alison will interact more with Mona – that Mona picking her up with her car was just the first of many scenes. Alison actually dealing with her past behavior would be more interesting than just trying on a new face like she is doing now. It’s just 3 more episodes and then everything changes – hopefully they have a lot of spencer and hanna arguing about words while aria is clawing on dolls in the background.
I totally agree about Alison not being Alison this season. Why didn’t you start drugging people ages ago? Why have you been letting your dad keep you from leaving the house all season? I mean, maybe because last time you did you got killed by everyone in Rosewood, but girl. Get it together.
I disagree about that Hermione scene, though! I love that moment; it’s a coming-of-age moment we all have, I think, when the horrors we’ve heard about that permeate our world and history stop being these figurative nightmares and become the stark reality; when we finally let go of the belief that we’re somehow safe, or that things will somehow be okay. I’ve always thought it was a moment of strength, for movie!Hermione; she takes the big bad thing, the scariest thing in the world, and forces herself to look it in the eye.
Also, you might like this one: I’ve seen a lot of people theorizing that when Sara kisses Emily in this episode, she’s doing it to check if the tracker is still there, hence her hand going to Emily’s neck.
This was one of the most stupid PLL episodes ever. I know you can learn to do pretty much anything from Youtube, but cutting your friend’s neck open is not the same as winged eyeliner. At least Mike and Mona had a scene – I’m not sure why but I like them as a couple, though obviously Hanna is Mona’s soulmate.
I disagree. I have a daughter with type 1 diabetes and we’ve learned to do a number of medical procedures from the Internet. You can order all kinds of medications online now, the trackers probably weren’t deep under the surface; with sterile equipment and a sharp Exacto knife this is perfectly believable to me. I’ve given myself stitches, and shots, people lance boils at home on YouTube. With enough determination heckfire, you bet those girls could do it themselves. If people can pierce their own ears or (unfortunately) slit their own wrists. Why not?
I was annoyed with Mike this episode. Like his whole deal is to be all ‘I’ve tried to contact her hundreds of times, she won’t see me! What do I DO????!!!’
Maybe take no for an answer, Mike. You don’t keep trying endlessly for the answer you want. But of course, he was rewarded in the end because UGH. But seriously, not sure how much clearer Mona could have been to STAY AWAY.
Also, Jason, if you wanna see Charles that’s fine. You can visit him in prison/the new bunker Spencer has built to keep him in. For now, let the safety of the girls that you used to secretly film for wank material take precedence, maybe? Asshole. Also, his hair was terrible this episode what was up with that.
His hair was ofurwhelmed by the supurreme betrayal that was not being allowed to cuddle his brother. Not quite as bad as Toby’s hair has been at times, but it was awful. But then Jason got a new head and stopped wearing suits once, so maybe he got a hair transplant? OMG can we have an epussode where he gets Charles’ hair like that Simpsons Treehouse of Horror one?
Also, I have a naked Chinese Crested dog – since she is not covered in neck fur I can see her little microchip. They aren’t that deep in there, nor that large. If it’s pretty much the same thing I suspect they might be fairly safe and easy to remove. But who knows, really.
This is what I was thinking I can feel my dogs neck chip it’s just under the skin. I don’t think it was major surgery, just a nick and tweeze.
“I think my ability to be skeptical about Sarah the way I am skeptical about Jason and Wren and Garbage Art Johnny says a lot about my feminism, y’all. I’m about equality.”
The problem is what I see in this story-line is Emily behaving the way we constantly criticize male characters for behaving towards their love interests. Sara is the real Red Herring of this season, not all the obviously obvious ones.
– Is it me, or did the dialog in the Mike/Mona scene seem real YA?
– If the check was made out to Hanna, how did Ashley deposit it?
– If one gummy is supposed to get you high, wouldn’t the amount that Tobey ate have killed him?
– Did we all just forget about the car that tried to kill Sara?
– Yes, there’s another -A behind Charles. It’s Spencer!
– Let’s see how many people should be in SERIOUS trouble from this episode:
— Lorenzo. Went copping someplace else, and tried for some off the books justice.
— Tobey. Everything Lorenzo did, and he was high as a kite.
— Spencer. Illegally possessing pot candy.
— Spencer’s connection. Illegally supplied her with pot candy.
– Another thought has occurred to me: Are they setting up the Liars to have their relationships end before the time jump?
— Aria and Ezra appear to be done. God let them be done.
— Tobey and Spencer seem like they’re about to destruct, what with the pot candy, the lies, and the schemes.
— Hanna seems to be outgrowing Caleb. She’s gone through a major life changing event, and it seems like Caleb is going to be a casualty of that change.
— Emily’s never really had a steady girlfriend so…
Agreed. Either they’re setting up the relationships to end, or they’re ramping up to a dramatic reunion and hot and heavy make-up sex. Wait. Haleb already did that. I think it’s likely Hannah & Caleb will survive the jump but not the other ships. (In terms of popularity they are strongest)
I know I’ve made this point before, but it really disgusts me to see this show laud the police as ‘good guys’ who can protect the girls (like Spencer’s baffling insistence on Toby being a cop like he’s a fucking superhero now), especially as police brutality is being covered more and more in the media. It just seems so obliviously tone-deaf to watch on this show, which I guess is the best representation of white privilege ever. Ugh.
“If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends” is basically what Quinn sang to Rachel w/r/t Faberrittana, and also what all the liars sing to each other on the regular.
I am so glad that raccoon happened to this show because its face of disgust making repeat appearances on these recaps is just the absolute best thing.
TEAM RACCOON FOREVER.
Thanks to these recaps my love for Cooper the Racoon has grown so much it can now only ever be eclipsed by my unending love for Tippi the Bird.
Ok but those kids were all the same age. Shouldn’t Charlie-Freddie have been like 13 in that flashback? Shouldn’t Ali have been like 6? For that matter, shouldn’t Jason and Ali have a few years between them?
YES! This bothered me soooooooo much too!!
I didn’t think they looked that close in age. I have three kids who are 8, 11, and 14 (I’m one of the rare “old” fans)
Anyway, until the last two years they all looks like children. Height differences were all that mattered. I think Freddie was a believable 11 or 12 and Ali a believable 6 or 7 it wasn’t a huge stretch for me. You should see my Girl Scout Troop (wish I could post a photo, but won’t for security reasons) those girls are all within a year of each other from 8 to 9 years old. Some of them are tiny and look very much like little girls. One even is in talks with her doc about weight gain concerns. (But she’s just petite if you ask me) on the opposite end of the scale there a couple who have body hair and need bras.
“We don’t have to defend Marissa Cooper anymore. WE’RE LIVING IN THE FUTURE.”
Goodness, we HAVE come a long way, haven’t we?
People keep mocking the “He’s after you guys this time” thing, but it was 100% correct, for this episode his focus was on Jason.
Seriously, this episode. Ali screaming “he’s alive?” She can’t find her dad’s CAR KEYS?
You’re a DiLaurentis, Alison. Get it the fuck together. You can’t hotwire the car? Get in your plane. For that matter, why did you even get in your dad’s car in the first place? NEVER go to a second location with a parent. Hasn’t five years of getting killed by people taught you anything?
And Spencer would never believe “a gun and a badge” could keep her safe. Not even her own intellect can keep her safe, and its the strongest force on the planet. Well, second-strongest. First is Hufflepuff Hannah’s love.
Heather, you consistently outdo yourself. How?? I am in awe.
I could watch a whole season of just Hannah and Spencer talking in a coffee shop. I could also stand to see that raccoon image in every single recap. It makes me laugh every time because it so perfectly encompasses my feelings about so many things on this show. But mostly Toby.
It is astonishing how much joy I get from watching PLL and then reading these re-caps! My wife doesn’t understand and thinks it’s ludicrous that I cackle over this incomprehensible red-herring of a show targeted at 12 y/o girls but I’ve explained that I do meet its other demographic audience of snarky lesbians. Thanks for this!
“So many things people say in this episode make me feel like my brain is scrambled eggs. This show is always bonkers and I love it, but usually the things the Liars say about the bonkers-ness make sense.”
THIS HAS BEEN MY WHOLE THING THIS ENTIRE SEASON. I’m really beginning to feel that strain of “oh shit we have way more seasons than we planned for, shit shit shit we have to MAKE UP THE TIME SOMEHOW” and they’re just running around in circles like making them say the weirdest shit so that they can fill the next 15 minutes.
I feel like this show is about 90% more than it’s best self, like, it would probably be the most amazing miniseries with like 8 hard-hitting installments. It’s in episodes like this that you really feel like you’re drowning in that 90% of Other Stuff.
In a way PLL is a lot like Xena for me, where like on the one major hand it’s “I love this show so much and it’s campiness is the greatest gift and I will go to the grave defending it” and on the other hand it’s like out of the blue they’ll have these incredibly ham-fisted moments of out of characterness just to force a plot along to fill an episode/arc.
I also do NOT like this direction it feels like they might be going with “Charles” where it’s like how they treat every male character on this show, how they show them as these unspeakable villains who do the most terrible things, and right when you think they’re going to land the final blow holding them fully accountable for what they’re doing, they weirdly go “oh, well look at it from THEIR point of view! They were SAD about it! They aren’t really bad!” At least that’s what I was kind of feeling with this whole thing about Charles and Jason and showing that perfectly normal happy little boy being like “oh but must I leave the party being thrown just for me mother?” with big doe eyes and shit.
Also didn’t someone figure out that Charles was supposed to be like much older than Ali? But in that video they all look to be the same age? Man this episode was a mess.
So Spencer had her hair down, then she put it up in a bun, clearly so they could get at the tracker – sort of makes sense, but my bun would NOT be that purrfect. Then she fucking has a headband braid at the police station. Was she doing that whilst Lorenzo was getting tennis balled? I know there were more things wrong with this epussode, but wtf?
I wish Toby would stay in Out of Town. I don’t think anyone ever misses him.
I can’t stop laughing at the raccoon being arrested.
Yeah the lunch with Claire scene made me so uncomfortable. My favorite part of this recap was Cooper getting arrested and Toby failing to understand Spencers umpteenth coming out. Thanks for helping me process my Toby is fucking awful why did he steal those gummy bears, why does he have to be so incompetent and sexist feelings. One question though, what was that about screaming like a blind person?