Pretty Little Liars 1.04 “Can You Hear Me Now?” Recap

“Can You Hear Me Now?” is the perfect name for last night’s episode, because “A” made sure the girls knew that she was not playing with their asses anymore. Has “A” stepped up her game on sending the girls to the verge of self-mutilation or other extreme drastic measures that teenage girls do? Or has the Liars themselves brought upon more damn drama and unnecessary suspense with the web that they are constantly entrapping their pretty little faces in?

Pretty Little Girls Know The Difference Between Staying In Their Place and Being Adults… Or Do They?

After Hanna, Spencer, and Emily fawn over Ezra Fitz’s physique, a jealous Aria goes to stake claim on her secret beau by talking with him the next day at school. Ezra invites Aria over for dinner and to talk about their situation which is escalating quickly and haphazardly in some people’s eyes.

Aria goes home to ask permission to have dinner at “Spencer’s” and after Ella grants the request, she responds on how she and Byron will have a personal dinner to themselves for once. Aria goes into flashback mode to the day she and Alison caught Byron with Meredith. Alison begged and advised that Aria inform Ella before someone else does, which Aria disagreed with at the time. In the present, Aria almost tells Ella, but decides not to at the moment.

At Ezra’s, Aria brings up the messy problem with her parents, but doesn’t get the answer she expected from Ezra, who says basically that Aria needs to let the adults do their thing and for her to stay in her place. He also adds that maybe Ella and Byron have an arrangement with each other, meaning that they both cheat, but have a mutual respect for each other. This pisses Aria off to no end, but leads to the glaring issue of age within their own relationship. After they can’t come to a viable conclusion, Aria leaves Ezra’s place even more pissed, frustrated, and confused than before.

The next day in class, Ezra thinks it is wise to correlate his and Aria’s problems with that of the characters of To Kill A Mockingbird, which goes over my head since I haven’t read the book, but it was almost blatant enough to gain stares from the rest of the class. While Aria and Ezra get defensive on their stances in the ‘character’s actions’, a poor student tries to add his two cents, but gets shut down by Ezra, who finally realize that this is not the place or time nor is it teacher appropriate. Again, if I was in that class, my mouth would be running a marathon with the other students. Don’t judge me.

Anyway, Aria later returns to Ezra’s and lets him have it from he doesn’t know about her parents to the stunt he pulled in class. Ezra agrees on both counts and says he’s sorry. They make up and while eating, Aria deduces that she should tell her mom the truth. But when Aria gets home to spill the beans, Ella sits on the couch reading a letter for what seems like the umpteenth time. When Aria opens her mouth to say she has something big to tell her, Ella’s face drops as if something was confirmed. She simply hands the letter to Aria for her to read it and Aria nearly craps a brick. It is from “A” and it has told Ella everything about the affair and that Aria knew about it all along. WOOOWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!

Pretty Little Girls Utilize Lies As If They Are The Latest Fashion Accessory

Emily gets a present from Maya in the form of a nice looking scarf. She wears it for most of the day until after she sees Toby, which is when she stores it in her locker. When she gets to class, she is paired with Toby as lab partners. While awkward conversation ensues, Emily opens her book to find the missing photos of her and Maya kissing serving as a bookmark. She freaks. Later, Emily confronts Maya at her job about the photos, but Maya senses that it has to do more with their budding relationship than the photo placement. Maya is hurt, leaving Emily feeling like crap. After playing like she doesn’t know (or care what happens to) Toby, she finally has a heart to heart with him while she tears up the photo strip. Despite Toby being creepy as hell, he seems like a pretty harmless guy who got the wrong end of the stick. But he relishes in being different, which is what draws Emily to him. She asks him if he saw the pics, but he says that he didn’t. Toby then gives Emily some advice by asking her if she did swimming for herself or for others and if she did it for herself then screw everyone else. How many want to bet that Toby saw those pictures after all?

Emily takes the advice and goes to apologize to Maya, who tells Emily that she cares a lot about her and wanted Emily to know that. Emily just asks for space and not just because of the situation between the two of them, but life in general. Maya promises that she will be there for when Emily is ready. Awww….

Pretty Little Girls Do With Consequences As They Would Do With Their Meals… Gag On Them.

Spencer found out from a teacher that the paper she “wrote” has been entered into a national essay contest. Uh Oh… And to make matters worse, her folks took Melissa on a “retail therapy trip” and left poor Spencer home alone. Too bad that they didn’t invest in a security system… While Spencer chills upstairs in her room, someone breaks in down stairs. That someone happens to be a drunken Wren, who comes bearing a gift in a potted plant that he drops during his drunken stupor. After he sobers up a little, Wren explains to Spencer that he got drunk to face her father, who he is terrified of. I don’t see why. Mr. Hastings is a wimp. Anyway, Spencer mentions that she just want things to get back to normal, which Wren balks at. Spencer explains that at least things were predictable and that she never intended on hurting Melissa and despite the mean, the girl spews, in the end she is Spencer’s sister. True on all accounts, but… Melissa needs an attitude adjustment like no tomorrow.

Spencer drives Wren to his hotel room and leaves the broken pottery and dirt on the floor. She later returned home with Hanna for a surprise. Keep reading…

Some Pretty Little Girls Don’t Do Surprises Very Well

After the police leaves their house, Hanna gets an (necessary) earful from Ashley about her moment of sheer desperation when she crashed Sean’s car. Ashley warns that her goodies can’t save Hanna from this recent faux pas, but Hanna feels as if the whole thing is being blown out of proportion. Really?

When she gets to school, Hanna gets a call from an unexpected source: her father. Mr. Marin calls to say that he wants to just see her and hang out, but Hanna thinks that his sudden call has something to do with Sean’s car. He says it doesn’t and that his visit is completely genuine. Hanna is quickly won over, forgetting her rant about Mr. Marin to Ashley in the pilot episode.

Hanna and Ashley get ready for dinner with Mr. Marin, but when he stops by he immediately lets Ashley know that she wasn’t invited and is sorry that the “wires got crossed.” Ouch. As Mr. Marin and Hanna leave, Ashley is dejected. And I so wish I was a delivery boy of sorts, because she will have to both get take out and need company afterwards…

Hanna finds out that Mr. Marin is actually in fact back in town to handle the mess she caused, but he stresses how that is not the only reason for his wanting to see her. Hanna backs down and goes along for the ride that included a trip to an amusement park and dinner. Then Mr. Marin throws a whammy at her by introducing Hanna to his new fiancee, Isabel, and her daughter, Kate. Hanna does not contain her rudeness, which forces Mr. Marin to bring up the consequences of wrecking Sean’s car. While he agreed to pay for most of the damages out of pocket, Mr. Marin set up for Hanna to work the rest of the damages off by working for Sean’s mother as a dental assistant. Yikes. Before Hanna can do any more damage to the night, Spencer sends her an S.O.S that she gratefully runs to answer. Keep reading…

Pretty Little Liars Know How To Piss Someone Off and Suffer Dearly For It…

The girls decide to turn an old bench in the park into the memorial for Alison, but the conversation soon turns to “A”, which infuriates Spencer who has had enough of the mysterious stranger. So she decides to block all unknown numbers from texting her phone and the girls follow her lead. But when they think that they have “A” out their systems, a stray “missing” poster of Alison flies up to them with a message: “Ding dong she is dead…” In other words, “A”/Alison is everywhere.

Later while Hanna waits in her car for Spencer to finish talking to Wren, the DJ on the radio announces a song dedication to Hanna from “A” and while the song skips my head at the moment, it was creepily accurate for the situation. Spencer and Hanna return to Spencer’s house where they find the broken potter and plant on the counter, resembling a grave. Spencer panics and thinks that “A” is after Alison’s bracelet that she put in her drawer. When she and Hanna get upstairs, they find the bracelet still there, but they find a message on the window that forces them to scream. It’s not until Spencer sends an S.O.S. to Emily and Aria that we see what Hanna and Spencer saw. Scrawled on Spencer’s mirror is a message that says, “It won’t be that easy! – ‘A'”

And the heat has suddenly been turned up to another level…

With Love From “A”

– So “A” doesn’t take kindly to being ignored. I am scared to see what else they have up their sleeves…

– No sign on Wilden this week. YES!!!!!

– Not much Ashley this week. NOO!!!!!!!!

– I think that Emily is growing feelings for Toby AND Maya. Talk about a weird ass bizarre love triangle

– I think Toby saw the photos. Maybe he even put them there… Can’t tell with that kid

– Aria and Ezra are slowly starting to grate my nerves. I might be in the minority on that though, lol.

– I heard that Hanna’s future stepsister is a beast in the books, so I wonder if that will translate over to the show? Time will tell and we got 12 more episodes to see if it happens…

Well sorry for the late recap. I will see you all next week!