This episode of Pretty Little Liars has Ali lying some more, again. Aria learns some interesting information about Bethany and Spencer and Emily investigate Aria’s findings. Hanna starts to drink just a little to much is hit on by Zack, Aria’s mother’s fiancé .
by now, Ali’s lies are just expected. Now she’s gone as far as having someone, Noel Kahn, break into Hanna’s house to draw out the police and prove to them and Hanna’s mother that she is still being followed. She’ basically proving her lie with more lies and intimidation. She’s fed Ashley, Hanna’s mom, her sob story and gains her sympathy and an invitation to stay over. in return, Ali offers Ashley a home break in. In these scenes Ali seems sincere; there aren’t even any cut away moments where we get to see Ali’s true sinister motivations flash across her face. Her stories still do not ring true. We have to believe that Ali’s lies are going to come to a head eventually. The girls need to grow a collective backbone and stop covering for this girl.
Aria proves useful for about the third time this entire series. Coincidentally there’s no sign of Ezra , except for one mention, this week. Perhaps Aria is able to think strategically when distanced from the vortex of Ezra. Aria bribes Rhonda and finds out that Bethany often had a visitor who sounds a lot like Mrs.DiLaurentis. This visitor would sign Bethany out of Radley and even took gave her a horse named Custard. It’s taking some getting use to seeing Aria actual contribute to the larger storyline, what with taking out Shana and volunteering to go undercover at Radley. For a majority of this series, Aria has been stuck in storyline largely having to do with Ezra. On her own, Aria is showing she’s a pretty capable team player.
Spenser and Emily investigate the stable where Custard was kept and fall victim to “A.” They are locked in a stall with a spooked horse and just barely make it out. For a physically threatening “A” scene, this one was pretty good. The girls escaped on their own, no intervention by someone at the last second. It appears that “A” is stepping up the game, if that is even possible at this stage.
Hanna has the most character story this week. She is beginning to drink heavily with Caleb and Zack makes two passes at her. Hanna tries to tell her friends but Spencer and Emily are skeptical and Aria outright calls her a drunk and a Liar. Hanna is having the most difficult time right now. She began the season unsure of the person she has become over the last two years and with the return of Ali, Hanna’s insecurities have only heightened. This is in large part because of Ali’s machinations. With that text calling Hanna out last week and everything happening this episode, it seems like “A” or Ali herself is trying, and succeeding, to fracture Hanna’s connections with the Liars. It can’t be because Hanna has been vocal about wanting Ali to leave town, because Spencer has repeatedly said the same thin. I think that Ali sees Spencer as her more formidable foes and Hanna as the girl she cut down easily. Maybe Hanna’s surprise behavior, her distrust of Ali, frightens Ali more than Spencer’s. Ali has known what to expect from Spencer, Hanna has become a loose cannon.
This episode was a definite pick up in pace for me. We may not have come any closer to sussing out “A” but we are moving along nicely with the Bethany storyline. It’s refreshing to have a mystery where the writers give us just enough to keep us wanting more. I wish the “A” mystery could sustain the necessary suspense while giving the viewers some hints and clues that make sense and don’t lead down the dead ends we’re used to. If the show could take a page from the beginnings of the Bethany mystery, this season could get back to the fun and scares that it used to deliver consistently.
[Photo via ABC Family]
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