Jason’s Back, A New Secret Lair & Scary Warning for the Liars!
This week’s episode of Pretty Little Liars is a doozy! Titled “Original G’A’ngsters,” the episode is filled with suspense, so much drama and feels viewers need an extra glass of wine and a spa day to recover and process everything that goes down. The Liars are at The Radley and learn Sarah Harvey (Dre Davis) has been murdered. They go into investigation mode looking for answers to what happened to Sarah Harvey. Emily (Shay Mitchell) discovers Noel Kahn (Brant Daugherty) is back in town. He isn’t the only handsome face that’s returned to Rosewood. Ali (Sasha Pieterse) discovers Jason (Drew Van Acker) is back and he’s not happy to find Mary Drake (Andrea Parker) staying with her. He warns Ali about trusting their long lost aunt.
Elsewhere, Spencer (Troian Bellisario) and Toby (Keegan Allen) have coffee to talk about Jenna’s (Tammin Sursok) return to Rosewood, He gets word Yvonne (Kara Royster) was attacked. While Aria (Lucy Hale) and Ezra (Ian Harding) to do some wedding planning and decide on eloping. Aria is called to meet Jason and he asks her to join him, Ali and Mary, for dinner to help warn Ali about Mary. Instead, they learn Jessica DiLaurentis (Andrea Parker), had even more, secrets including a hidden cellar at their Aunt Carol’s.
Meanwhile, Hannah (Ashley Benson) swipes Jenna’s key, so she can break into her room to look for her laptop and clues about Sarah’s murder. Caleb (Tyler Blackburn), who’s working hotel security, finds her and they find a lockbox. Hannah and Spencer must go back into Jenna’s room to open the lockbox after Caleb takes the key during Jenna’s spa day. They learn Noel also has access to Jenna’s room and overhear a mysterious phone call. Hannah and Caleb work on deciphering codes and lingering feeling heat up, While Spencer goes home to a heartbreaking visit from Toby, who comes to say goodbye. Then Hannah, Spencer, Ali, and Em go to find the hidden cellar. It turns out to be a secret lair keeping track of the Liars,but not Aria. The lair is destroyed before they can fully examine it, but not before discovering Mary had another child. And as Aria and Ezra pack to Tuscany, the FBI comes with news that Nicole (Rebecca Breeds) may still be alive. *Picks up jaw. Damn! So much went on this week’s PLL. Here are the top moments, in chronological order, as usual.
Eloping? What’s the Rush?
Aria and Ezra are in full-blown wedding planning mode just a day after learning what happened to Rollins (Huw Collins) in the woods and Ezra re-proposed. And surprisingly have more done in less than a day that would take most couples at least a month or more of planning. But what has viewers hitting rewind is when Ezra suggests they hop on a plane to Tuscany and elope. It’s no surprise Ezra’s had a strained relationship with his family over the years, but surely Aria as well as many viewers have envisioned a quaint countryside wedding surrounded by friends and family.
Instantly, the urgency comes for him and Aria to be married into question. And let’s face it whether we want to admit it or not the thought that Ezra must be hiding something crosses everyone’s mind at one point or another. It is PLL after all, and how quick are we all to forget the whole ‘Ezra is Board Shorts’ shocker in season four. Perhaps, his rush is not to hide anything, but to protect Aria. He does know what happened in the woods, so maybe the rush to wed is so he cannot be forced to testify in Aria in court. But the biggest shock comes to both Ezria and viewers when the FBI shows up on Ezra’s doorstep with reason to believe Nicole is still alive. Looks like the Ezria wedding just might be put on hold for a while.
Ew, Just No!
Spencer goes to check on Yvonne at the hospital and has a moment alone with Toby as Yvonne goes to sign her discharge papers. And before she urges he leave town with Yvonne to ensure their safety, Spencer questions Toby about why Jenna decided to return to Rosewood. A flashback sequence shows the audience a deeply unsettling moment between Toby and his step-sister during on a family trip awhile ago. Toby and Jenna sit on the porch and their conversation seems geared towards mending their relationship. Jenna sadly confesses to slowly forgetting how to see people. Toby lets her touch his face in an effort to help her remember and she TOTALLY gets the wrong idea. Jenna’s memories are a bit skewed and completely inappropriate. She leans in to kiss Toby like she used to force him to before. He immediately turns and walks away in total disbelief Jenna would think that is even okay. Viewers cannot believe their eyes questioning how the hell Jenna could do such a thing to Toby again.
Obviously, it still bothers Toby. Back in present day, Toby’s eyes are sullen and filled with hurt. His face somber remembering the painful time in his life. As he explains to Spencer what happened, he’s looking down as if he’s embarrassed. And viewers can see Spencer knows how painful it is too because her face almost mirrors his and she somberly asks why he didn’t tell her. It’s no wonder Toby reacted how he did when he first realized Jenna was back in town. Poor Toby.
Everybody Has Secrets
Jason brings in some reinforcement inviting Aria to dinner to help try to talk sense into Ali about Mary Drake. But they had no idea what they’d learn and either does viewers. Mary shares a sad tale of when she was at their Aunt Carol’s with Jessica. She claims her sister made her stay hidden inside when Jason stopped by, so he wouldn’t know about her. Jason doesn’t argue, so he clearly remembers the day he showed up at his aunt’s and his mom hurried him away. After all, Ali and Jason had no clue they had an Aunt Mary until recently.
Mary continues by sharing she had learned of her son. Charles’ (Vanessa Ray) death on her own. Jessica didn’t even tell her. Mary reveals Jessica was cold towards her and forces her to stay hidden in the cellar while in town. The audience is just as shocked as Jason and Ali to hear about this new secretive side of their mother. But it’s the mention of a cellar that really has them reeling. Aunt Carol’s didn’t even have a cellar or at least none that they knew about. Maybe Mary Drake isn’t the evil twin after all.
Spoby’s Goodbye
Spoby fans and practically anyone with a heart can hold back the tears when Toby stops at Spencer’s to say goodbye. He breaks the news that he and Yvonne are moving to Maine. The moment between the former couple is absolutely gut wrenching. Then Toby adds to the heartbreak confessing to Spencer that he started building the house for her, not Yvonne. Bring on the full blown ugly cry mode now. Why did he have to do that? What did he expect her to say? Kudos to Spencer for holding it together until he’s out the door. It’s obvious both still care very deeply for one another by the caring and sensitive tone of their entire conversation. The sadness that comes with saying goodbye to one another completely even as friends is evident in both of their eyes. Call me a hopeless romantic, but let’s hope this isn’t the ending to Spoby either as friends or even a ‘happily ever after’ together.
Jessica’s Secret Lair
Undoubtedly the most jaw-dropping moment of the episode is Ali, Emily, Hanna and Spencer’s trip to find the cellar Mary mentioned. And what the Liars find is a cellar are files and photos on the walls of them. Jessica had a file on every single one of them except Aria, but why not? It appears she was investigating the years Ali went missing and she too didn’t believe she was dead. And because Jessica oversaw Mary’s care, they also find Mary’s medical files. They include a jaw drops to the floor, fall off your chair bombshell. Mary had a second child and would be the same age as the Liars! Yes, Mary had TWO children.
Spencer’s car alarm forces the Liars outside. The keys are gone so they all get inside. According to Spencer, getting in and shutting the doors is the only way to stop the alarm. And of course the doors lock them inside, but the GPS screen turns red and starts a 20-second countdown. Just like viewers, the ladies fear the car is going to explode. It doesn’t. Instead a note on the screen: “If you find out who I am before I find out who killed Charlotte, you die.”Then Jessica’s lair explodes destroying its contents. Let’s hope someone got some photos or took a file when they ran outside. And if we all were freaked out enough, someone wearing a black glove writes “I SEE YOU” in the dust on the back windshield. Super creepy! A.D. is no joke!
Conclusion:
This week’s episode of PLL is an emotional ride that’s a perfect blend of drama, romance, and suspense, with jaw-dropping truth bombs. The writers do an amazing job grabbing the audience’s attention right from the start and in true PLL fashion, hold nothing back. The episode is loaded with couple drama but doesn’t come up short when it comes to the shock factor. Troian Bellisario and Keegan Allen are amazing during Spencer and Toby’s goodbye. Both are undoubtedly the episode’s MVPs. They are fantastic conveying the heartbreaking goodbye between them. While the episode’s director uses great camera work. Alternating close-up shots of each of their faces enhances the raw emotion of the scene even more for viewers. The director uses great camera angles again during Hanna and Caleb’s conversation while they work on decoding Jenna’s lockbox contents. The episode wrecks viewers’ feels in both a good and a bad way.
The writers cleverly incorporate couple things that have us feeling a little bit of deja vu. Jessica’s lair in the cellar with all the intel on the Liars totally mirrors when the ladies first found ‘A’s lair at the Lost Woods Resort. A gloved hand writing ‘I SEE YOU’ on the rear windshield is eerily familiar to when the same message was put on the car window when Aria and Ezra had to keep their relationship hidden. Now, the real question is: are these so-called re-occurrences on purpose? You’d think so because nothing is coincidentally on PLL. And more importantly, where has Mona (
And more importantly, where has Mona (Janel Parrish) been? She was the original ‘A’ and we know Mary Drake has another child about the age of the Liars. Or could the child be Aria? For some reason, Jessica didn’t have a file on her. The possibilities are endless. And most like more mind blowing than anyone could have ever guessed. Surely there’ll be more answers on next week’s episode and of course, even more questions.
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