Pretty Little Liars 1.06 “There’s No Place Like Homecoming” Recap

Pretty Little Liars channelled their inner Prom Night/Carrie last night as the girls prepared for the Rosewood Homecoming Dance and tried to solve the mystery of “A”, before the elusive stalker wreaked even more havoc than before. But even during this time of crisis, the young ladies still managed to make sure that their makeup and hair was flawless and that their priority of the week (homecoming) was in order.

The Pretty Little Girl’s Do’s and Don’ts For Preparing For A Dance

#1 Make Sure That Unexpected/Unwanted Surprises Are At A Minimum

The girls intervene between Aria’s bout of moping (which they think is due to her parents fighting, but has Ezra written all over it) and try to get her excited about homecoming, but Aria states that she isn’t going. After Spencer announces that she is taking Alex (Diego Boneta), Emily says she’s bringing a mysterious someone (who Hanna thinks is Maya), and Hanna remarks about her nomination for Homecoming Queen, the girls sit down to eat Chinese takeout, but end up getting a fortune cookie from none other than ‘A’ that read: “Lions and tigers and s oh my! There’s no place like Homecoming. See You There. – ‘A'” Does this person NOT have any connections in town?

#2 Make Sure To Have A Date For The Dance and That Your Friends Do As Well. If Not, People Will Talk (But They Will Talk Regardless).

Hanna partakes in Sean’s abstinence group with disdain, but sees a sliver lining in a geek named Lucas, who feels that someone as beautiful as Hanna would never try to seduce him, hence the scenario that they are “practicing” for is pointless. Sean looks a bit jealous by the way. Aria tries to talk to Ezra Fitz, but he throws her the cold shoulder. In the cafeteria, Emily runs into Maya and the two have an awkward moment. Emily asks Maya if she is going to the dance, which Maya says isn’t her thing, but does pipe up that the two of them should catch up soon.

Spencer begs, or dare I say demands, for Hanna to steal Jenna’s therapy files so they can find out why the hell Toby would be buying two tickets to the dance. Spencer thinks that the weird move is ‘A’ related. Mona suddenly makes a special appearance to comment about Spencer taking Alex to the dance. Hanna puts the ex-loser in her place before telling Spencer to ignore the poor girl. The two girls then spot Toby, who [blatantly] lifts his shirt to show off a tattoo that says, “901, Free At Last”. Toby finds Emily and asks her to the dance, which comes as a surprise to Emily, but she accepts anyway. Meanwhile, Maya bumps into Hanna, who feels that Maya should know that Emily would like it if Maya showed up at the dance. Maya gets the code and smiles.

Spencer gets a surprise when Alex shows up a the school to see what tux he should buy to match her dress and to pay for the tickets, but Spencer doesn’t want him to spend his hard earned cash on something so frivolous as a dance. Alex insists and Spencer loses to the Flirt God and accepts his offer. Outside the school, Jenna waits for Toby, who she feels is selling himself short if he thinks that Emily will give him the time of the day. Toby remarks that Emily is different, but Jenna says that will have to be seen once Emily finds out Toby’s secret.

#3 Entrances Are Everything, But It’s Is An Art Form.

Hanna makes her way to the therapist office, but is blocked from the files by bumbling painters. She rigs the door so she can return later.

Aria is still not feeling this dance, which Hanna still thinks has something to do with Aria’s parents fighting. She offers advice to Aria since she went through the same thing with her parents, but says the best way to get over everything is to leave the house. When Hanna reveals that she even has a date lined up for Aria, this is when it clicks that Aria is seeing someone, but Hanna deduces that this person is still in Iceland. She tells Aria to forget them since they are in two different places at the moment. Boy, Hanna doesn’t know how right she is on that statement.

The dance is under full swing and Aria arrives alone, but dressed to the nines. Hanna and Spencer welcome her into the fold, while Mona acts like a total you know by equaling Aria being dateless to the fall of Rome.

Spencer informs Aria that she has the first shift at a booth game and when Aria checks in for duty, the teacher over the booth is none other than Ezra Fitz. Awkward…

Spencer spots her sister Melissa, who is there to serve as an alumni guest since the other one got sick. Melissa remarks on how Spencer stole her paper, which Spencer confesses that she did, but that their parents know and don’t want to retract the paper due to it being an embarrassment to the family. No, the family is an embarrassment to the family, IMO, but hey. As Spencer says she’s sorry, Melissa cuts her off, saying that Spencer never really is sorry. Later, Melissa spots Alex and immediately recognizes him working at the country club. She starts formulating a payback scheme…

While Hanna and Mona discuss someone fashion faux pas, Lucas shows up to take pictures for the yearbook, but gets verbally attacked by Mona. After Lucas leaves, Hanna asks Mona what’s her deal instead of smacking the hell out of her. Mona counters that they worked too hard to make it to the top and talking to losers is a no-no in her book, and that if Hanna wants to take a dive in the popularity pool then she will be doing it alone. Um, who’s the one nominated for Homecoming Queen,? Sure as hell isn’t your irrelevant ass…

Aria tries to talk to Ezra about the text, but he doesn’t want to listen, saying that he’s glad it’s over before anyone got hurt. Too late, bro. Aria tries to reach him through another angle by revealing that it wasn’t a friend who sent the text. This gets Ezra’s attention, but Aria flakes on letting him in on the drama with ‘A’ and Alison’s death. They’re conversation is disrupted by the same damn teacher (who seemingly always walks in on them) and Aria leaves.

Outside the school, Toby has cold feet about the dance and feels that Aria, Hanna, and Spencer will disapprove of his and Emily’s pairing. Emily thinks otherwise and feels that they will accept him once they come clean, probably going on Hanna’s support on dating whoever Emily wants. Inside the school, Maya shows up all dolled up. She approaches Hanna, Spencer, and Aria asking them if they seen Emily, but all four girls are shocked when Emily steps into the dance with Toby on her arms. Maya is embarrassed, pissed, and hurt, but the other girls think that Emily has just lost her ever-loving mind…

#4 Remember This is A High School Dance. Be Prepared For Heartache, Drama, and Leaving With Someone Other Than Your Date.

After being stared down by the icy glares of the girls, Toby leaves Emily to answer to the firing squad. After getting shot with questions if whether she left her brain in her other Prada bag at home, Emily finally speaks up when Hanna voices her opinion. After pulling Hanna to the side and asking her what was all that talk about dating who you want , Emily is surprised when Hanna reveals that she meant Maya, not Toby. Melissa finds her prey as she spots Alex checking out a car that is going to be given away later in the night. She remarks to Alex how Spencer is using him to get back at their father and that he might want to get something out of the night by buying a raffle ticket.

As they watch Emily with Toby, the girls reluctantly return to their dates, but Spencer has another random revelation and pulls them all together again sans Emily. She announces that she knows what Toby’s tattoo means, “901” stands for September the 1st, the day Alison disappeared, and “free at last” means whatever Alison had on Toby died with her. The girls panic and force Hanna to go retrieve those files ASAP. She asks for Aria to watch Sean in return and to keep him company, while Spencer keeps an eye on Emily.

While Hanna calls a cab, Lucas leaves the dance and the two ‘talk’ about how Lucas only came to take pictures for the yearbook and to vote for Hanna to win. She thanks him, but doesn’t want to go to the doctor’s office alone so she ask him to take her. Before they get in the car, Lucas gives her the coat off his back. Meanwhile back in the dance, Sean whines about Hanna’s shenanigans and Aria offers him to dance with her. While they do this, Ezra sees this from afar, gets upset and leaves the gymnasium. Aria follows.

Emily spots Maya and goes to talk with her. She asks if Maya said anything to Hanna, but Maya confirms that Hanna came to her, not the other way around. Emily reminds Maya that she asked for space and Maya said she is giving Emily space to come to terms with her sexuality and not hide it. Maya then asks Emily to look her in the eye and say that she doesn’t have any feelings for her and she will leave Emily alone. Emily fails to do this, which shoots a hole right through my so-called theory.

Alex takes Spencer to go to the psychic booth, where the psychic accurately depicts all four girls’ issues, but ends the reading with warning of a friend in danger of a man seeking vengeance. When the psychic flips the last card, there is a message on there saying, “Kiss your BFF goodbye!”

But the “uh-oh” moment comes when Spencer has lost sight of Emily and Toby. She freaks.

#5 At the First Sign Of Hell Breaking Loose, Make Sure You Are Standing Near An Exit… And That You Have A Pair Of Flats With You.

Aria catches up to Ezra and tells him that while she knows that things are over between them, she can’t go on with him hating her for something she didn’t do. Ezra confesses and states that he doesn’t hate her, but he hates himself for putting her in that situation when he knows it can’t go far. He continues saying that it pains him that they can’t have a normal relationship and that he can never hate her. He then leaves.

Toby and Emily end up in the cafeteria, but with all the other kids outside, he asks to go to the Chem Lab for some privacy to talk. Hanna makes it to the doctor’s office and has Lucas wait for her outside. Back at the dance, Alex is fed up with all the drama with Spencer and to make matters worse, Hanna calls and Spencer has to take it. Alex says that he thinks that his work tonight is done, but leaves while Spencer takes the call. When she turns to speak to him, Melissa is standing in his place, which lets Spencer know that she had something to do with Alex’s change in behavior, but Melissa says that Spencer screwed that up herself.

Back at the office, Hanna doesn’t find a file on Jenna, but finds one for Toby. In the chem lab back at school, Toby asks Emily if she’s upset about Maya and when she says yes, he asks did Emily come with the wrong person to the dance. Emily answers, “Maybe”. Emily then asks Toby why is he so nice to her after the fact the she and her friends gave him hell in the past. He answers that he has done some terrible things that he’s not proud of, as well, and that they all have secrets.

Then he closes the chem lab door. Dun, dun, DUN!!!!

As the Homecoming King and Queen are about to be announced, Hanna returns with the info and calls Spencer and Aria out the gym. Sean looks on, pissed, especially after he and Hanna just won the Homecoming King and Queen titles.

Hanna shows the girls the file, which reveal that Toby is the one going to therapy and that Jenna only went one day to speak her mind on Toby’s situation. The girls read the file and find what Alison had Toby: He was sleeping with Jenna, his stepsister. Yuck, dude. Yuck. The girls fumble to call Emily, but Toby tells her not to answer it cause he’s trying to tell her about last summer. The girls run to find Emily, but don’t notice that Jenna is listening from around the corner.

In the chem lab, Emily is getting freaked out and Aria sending her a text saying that she’s with Ali’s killer isn’t helping. Toby tries to talk to her, but he grabs Emily, which forces her to clock him on the head with her phone and push him into a shelf. While Toby shakes off the blow, Emily finally sees the tattoo and she bolts. Meanwhile the girls try to find Emily, but they only hear her scream. Emily runs into the hall of mirrors and screams for help with Toby close on her heels, which give out and she falls screaming.

On the outskirts of Rosewood, a hooded figure walks up to the Welcome to Rosewood: Population 7988 sign and spray paints over the 4th digit, taking the population down from 7988 to 7987.

It’s that serious, huh?

What do you guys think? Did someone kick the bucket? Is Toby really a psychotic lunatic? Who in the hell is ‘A’?!!?

Tune in next week!