The Liars believe Mona is yet again the source of their torment and set out to catch her in the act, but see just how fragile she really is instead and learn the truth about Charlotte’s death.
This week’s Pretty Little Liars entitled “Farewell My Lovely,” marks the last episode before the series’ highly anticipated and equally dreaded two-hour series finale. This week picks up exactly where we left off with Aria (Lucy Hale) sitting alongside the road, Archer Dunhill’s (Huw Collins) body in the trunk and the police approaching. Luckily, she’s able to keep them from finding the body. Meanwhile, Caleb (Tyler Blackburn) and Ezra (Ian Harding) explain to the rest of Liars their investigation leads them to believe Mona (Janel Parrish) is A.D. Ezra is pissed the PLLs turned their backs on Aria and goes looking for her. While Emily (Shay Mitchell) and Ali (Sasha Pieterse) head back to Ali’s for a bit, Spencer (Troian Bellisario) meets up with Mary Drake (Andrea Parker). She gives Spencer the keys to the Lost Woods as a gift for her and Ali as she knows they’ll need money for lawyers. They say goodbye and Spencer meets Caleb and Hanna (Ashley Benson). They followed Mona, who led them to a familiar location where she’s supposed to meet someone.
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Determined to make up for betraying her friends, Aria believes turning herself in for Archer’s murder is the answer. Thankfully, Ezra finds her before she does. He tries to convince her to leave town but she can’t without her friends. They return to the car and find Archer’s body is gone. Elsewhere, Caleb goes in to confront Mona, who seems very nervous, but doesn;t have any information on who she’s meeting. A not tells Mona to run and she escapes through a secret tunnel in the bathroom. Caleb and Spencer investigate the tunnel as Hanna heads back to town. She ends up at the church, where she finds Mona at the top of the bell tower. She thinks Hanna is Charlotte (Vanessa Ray) and reveals what really happened to Charlotte that night. Mona even attempts to push Hanna out the window, but luckily Caleb and Spencer show in time to stop her. Everyone meets up and the game reveals where Archer’s body’s buried, but the police are already there waiting for them. The PLLs are taken into custody, but Tanner (Roma Mafia) is forced to let them go as someone else has already confessed. Lawd, a lot went down in this. Here are the top moments of the episode.
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Helping with the Liars causes Mona to crack and she reveals what really happened the night of Charlotte’s death.
Back from the diner she and Caleb followed Mona, Hanna notices flower petals floating out the bell tower as she walks by. Hanna goes inside to discover Mona at the top, but she looks like she did in high school. She’s wearing glasses and her hair is in braids. Hanna asks what she’s doing and Mona replies, “Waiting for you, Charlotte,” mistaking Hanna for her. In a flashback, we a confrontation between Mona and Charlotte. Mona knows she was lying to everyone about being better. She’s not going to let her go back to hurting people. Charlotte taunts Mona about her past. Charlotte even gloats about everything she’s done and promises worse. Mona has had enough. She grabs a screwdriver, puts it to Charlotte’s back pushing her to the window and tells her to jump or she’ll push her. Mona says people will think she committed suicide.
“Who’s gonna stop me? You? Do you still see her when you look in the mirror? The loser, the pigtails, the frumpy sweater? I still see her. None of you are sure when you look in the mirror. None of you are really certain who you are. I did that. I took that away from you, the same way everything was stolen from me. And now I’m back, and everything that happened before? That’s gonna feel like a picnic.” – Charlotte.
I did not see that coming! I felt bad Charlotte was murdered after it seemed she made so much progress getting better. Turns out she was the same cold, conniving bitch that trapped the Liars in the dollhouse. She’s evil and probably put Archer Dunhill up to all the devious things he did as well. Maybe there’s some truth to the whole twin theory floating around and Charlotte is the one with a twin. And they planned the whole Liar’s Lament game while she was supposed to be getting better. Whoever’s behind it, I don’t think we’ve seen the last of Charlotte’s diabolicalness. She acted like she already had plans for torture when she and Mona met at the bell tower.
“People will think you committed suicide your first night here. Jump or I’ll push you.” – Mona.
The Liar’s Lament ends revealing where Archer’s body is but the Liars aren’t the only ones with knowledge of its location.
The last two puzzle pieces to the Liar’s Lament are found after Spencer and Caleb save Hanna from being pushed out of the bell tower. The Liars meet to put the final pieces in the puzzle. It makes a strange looking face. Rollins’ staff ID appears on the phone screen. Then using augmented reality, a figure comes out of the puzzle and travels across the board to a mystery spot, Aunt Carol’s house. They think this must be where Archer’s body is.and head straight there. They conclude his body must be in the fake Charles DiLaurentis grave. They’re about to dig but Aria stops them. She believes it’s best to let it alone. The others insist they must dig the body up, but it doesn’t take much convincing to see Aria is right. They agree to leave and forget about it. As they walk away, a bulldozer and cops with spotlights and flashlight come out of the woods. Tanner steps forward, asks if they need any help and then takes the Liars to the station.
“Do we?… Don’t you see? If we want to stop the crazy, we have to stop acting crazy.” – Aria.
Damn. The Liars just cannot catch a break. The ladies make the right decision and walk away rather than dig themselves into a bigger hole. (Haha, you see what I did there with dig?) They still find themselves suspects in a murder investigation. The real question is how did the police know they would be there? Someone had to have tipped off the police. They had a big setup and presence in the woods complete with a bulldozer and floodlights. That’d be impossible if the Liars had been followed to Aunt Carol’s. Mary Drake certainly seems in the know. Perhaps she told the police knowing the Liars weren’t in any real danger. She was confessing to Dunhill’s murder. It was most likely A.D. that set them up.
An unexpected ally comes to the rescue at the police station and keeps the Liars from landing in jail.
At the Rosewood P.D., the Liars contemplate what to do next and Spencer suggests they tell the truth. Tanner comes to tell the ladies the body was identified as Archer Dunhill, but before she talks to them she has to finish something. A light turns on allowing the PLLs to see and hear Tanner and Mary Drake’s conversation in the other room. Mary’s confessing to Archer’s murder! She uses details linked to the actual crime so the story is plausible. She also confesses to killing Jessica claiming Archer used this as blackmail to force her to help him. Then Mary signs the confession as the ladies watch. Tanner comes back to tell the ladies they’re free to go, but they cannot believe what just happened. So Tanner explains the D.A. is a simple man,’ who likes his cases all tied up neatly in box and Mary’s confession does just that. Whereas, the alternative including them is not. For some reason, they ask what Tanner believes and she explains it’s about what she can prove then tells the Liars to go home.
“What I believe and what I can prove are two different things. Go home. You’re not criminals, not really. Try and remember that.” – Tanner.
What police station allows murder suspects to watch a conversation in an interrogation room? Someone goofed for sure or maybe Tanner has something else up her sleeve. Mary’s confession was definitely genuine, but could Tanner be trying to summon the Liars’ guilty conscious hoping one of them will crack? I definitely do not want any of the ladies going to jail by any means but I don’t think the ladies are out of the woods just yet with Tanner or the Rosewood P.D.
Mona drops another bombshell about the night Charlotte died and we finally know the whole story.
The ladies go back to Mona, who’s waiting to be picked up by Dr. Sullivan. Hanna apologizes to her for asking her to get involved in the game. Mona’s just happy to be needed. Then Mona apologizes for not taking care of Charlotte and that nothing happens like planned. In another flashback that picks up right has Mona was going to push Charlotte out the window, but she didn’t. Instead, Mona pushes her to the ground inside the bell tower and says she wanted to show her what dying tastes like. Charlotte could care less and taunts Mona more. Charlotte lunges towards Mona and they fight. Mona pushes her up against the wall, where Charlotte hits her head on a piece of metal. She’s dead. No one would ever believe she committed suicide. Mona explains that’s why no murder weapon was ever found.
“Just like you needed me to take care of Charlotte. I’m sorry I messed that up. Nothing ever happens the way it’s supposed to with me.” – Mona.
Mona might have been pretty diabolical back in her ‘A’ days but she’s surely not a killer, at least not on purpose. Her need to be a part of the Liars’ group and be needed is heartbreaking. Mona puts up such a strong front, but her regression to how she was before all the ‘A’ stuff allows us to see a more vulnerable side of her. Ironically, Mona accidentally killing Charlotte saved the Liars from possibly years of more torture. I’m glad they decided to get Mona help instead of taking her to the police. Hopefully, she’ll realize the ladies really do care about her and her well-being.
“I knew you didn’t have the guts,” she says, then lunges for Mona. “They will never love you!” – Charlotte.
Game Over. The Liar’s Lament comes to a close, but is it truly the end of all A.D.’s madness and mind games?
After Mona finishes explaining what went down the night she met Charlotte at the bell tower, the bell tolls on the Liar’s Lament and the Liars rush over to the game. It says ‘Congratulations.” and turns off as they stare at it in disbelief. Then after one last shot of the game, we see the Liar figurines lying in the backseat of a car stuffed in a sandwich bag. The only details of the driver, of course, are A.D.’s signature black hoodie and black gloved hands on the steering wheel. The car appears to be literally driving off into the sunset with the Liar figurines just as if they’re heading off to a happily ever after.
Um, where does A.D. think they’re going? Surely, the Liars haven’t seen the last of A.D. We need to know who the hell they are! After all the torture and mind games, A.D. can’t just be able to go free with zero consequences. There must be justice. We have to learn how Sydney (Chloe Bridges) is involved. And where the hell has Jenna (Tammin Sursok)? All the answers have to be answered and I think in order for them to be answered we need A.D. So get your ass back to Rosewood whoever you are under that black hoodie.
FINAL VERDICT: “Farewell, My Lovely” surprises viewers with unexpected twists, but as the penimulate episode leading into the series finale, it fails to set the stage for an epic ending and rather seems to tie up loose ends.
“Farewell, My Lovely,” written and directed by Joseph Dougherty gives viewers answers to longstanding questions. However, it falls flat living up the series’ long standard of thrilling penimulate episodes leading into jaw-dropping finales. We’re really not left with a huge cliffhanger. Dougherty ties up a lot of loose ends. The Liars are free. The game’s over and A.D. drives off into the sunset with their precious Liar figurines. Sure there are still unanswered questions, but does anyone really expect for everything to be answered by the series finale? Perhaps, Dougherty leaving viewers to believe pretty much everything resolved is the cliffhanger. Everyone knows that nothing is what it seems, especially when it’s in Rosewood. Maybe A.D. leaving wit the Liar figurines indicates they’re not done with them.
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Mona’s regression to a pre-A, almost catatonic state not only shows her vulnerability, it’s a clever method by Dougherty to reveal what happened to Charlotte. During flashbacks, Dougherty uses a special camera lens allows viewers to distinguish them from the present. Him choosing to bring Vanessa Ray back as Charlotte is fantastic and is important for us to see the interaction between her and Mona. It reminds us just how maniacal and devious she really was, which makes us feel bad for Mona. It also shows how much progress Mona had made before getting involved with the Liar’s Lament. Dougherty also shows us a selfless side of Mary Drake. Surprising the Liars and viewers with Mary confession to both Archer and Jessica’s murder is the ultimate sacrifice for her daughter and niece. Maybe she’s trying to make up for lost time or past declarations. I especially loved that Mary ‘Shhh’s’ the Liars as she’s taken into custody. It’s a clever nod to the series opening theme by Dougherty.
There’s only one two-hour PLL episode left ever. It’s most likely going to be mindblowing! But what happens next? The ladies are no longer on the police’s radar. Or are they? Could Tanner have something else up her sleeve? Or what if A.D. has bigger plans for the Liars? Was the Liar’s Lament just a taste of what’s to come?
THE TWO-HOUR SERIES FINALE airs TUESDAY, JUNE 27 at 8|7c. on FREEFORM
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