Pretty Little Liars: "Oh, What Hard Luck..." Review
Pretty Little Liars
Season 5.18
“Oh, What Hard Luck Stories They All Hand Me"
Previously on Pretty Little Liars.....
Detective ShadyBrook is back and finally ready to admit that Ali got her hooks in him. We also meet Mona’s friend, Lesli, who leads Hanna to Mona Flashbacks and big clues hiding in the spine of Poe. We also learn about Mike’s mysterious activities that may link him to Mona and Alison. However, it is Hanna the Rebel, who gives the performance of the week!
Hanna and Caleb are called into the police station to be questioned about the storage unit. While they are there they see ShadyBrook get fired. He is irate as he storms to his desk to box up some of his belongings and yells, “This department has screwed up the investigation from the start, and now you’re trying to blame it on me? You have no idea what’s really going on here, do you? Not a clue” Wow, I guess I can call him former Detective Holbrook now, because that is the first true statement I’ve heard from him in a while!
Aria is in disbelief when Spencer let’s her know that Mike has been visiting Ali in jail. Oh Aria, you are living up to your name of “Suzy Clueless” this week. First, you don’t know that Ezra is in Harrisburg for the weekend and now you can’t seem to grasp or admit that your brother is not little Mike anymore. Think Aria! Think!
Lesli is the girl that Mona spoke to the night before she was “murdered”. (I am still holding out that Mona faked her own death) She comes to town to visit Mrs. Vanderwaal and goes to find Hanna at the Brew. Now this newcomer is one suspicious character! She tries to lift Mona’s copy of The Unabridged Works of Edgar Allan Poe. As Hanna talks with Lesli in Mona’s bedroom she has a flashback of the night Mona told her about her wish to have a stopwatch that could stop time and allow her to spy on people and control them.
Later at the New Brew, Mike notices Lesli walk in with Hanna. He makes a beeline to Lesli, who is still carrying Mona’s book. (how weird) He commands Lesli to give him the book. Hanna promises Mike that she will make sure the book is returned to Mona’s room. But this interaction clues Hanna in on the importance of the book. When she returns it, Hanna has another Mona flashback that causes her to check the book and find that Mona had hidden one of Bethany’s Radley tape recordings in the spine.
Hanna leaves Mona’s with the Bethany tape and is pulled over by none other than from detective ShadyBrook, who still has not turned in his police car. Hanna pulls out her crow bar before she exits the car. (Good for you Hanna! I always keep a baseball bat in the car with me for such a time as this.) In the most gripping scene of the night, Holbrook admits that Ali used him and that he lost his career because of her. Yet he tells Hanna that he had been with internal affairs investigators for the last two weeks. He told her two other important facts: 1. Tanner knows everything. 2. There must be another fall guy who almost killed Caleb, Spencer, and Aria. Hmmm….
When he grabs Hanna, she whacks him and says what we all have been thinking, “you’re the grownup police officer” why are you messing around with a girl? *applause* Bethany’s tape does inform the girls that Bethany was very angry with someone (Ali?) and she is going to set a plan in motion.
Meanwhile, Aria follows Mike to a remote location and sees him leave a small plastic bag of candy. Is this candy for Bethany, A, or Mona? Did Mike secretly help Mona fake her death or is he following A’s instructions in order to get clues about what happened to Mona? During Mike and Aria’s argument, he tells his sister that he is not taking orders from anyone anymore and warns her to be careful going through the woods.
This really reminded me of Mona singing Teddy Bear Picnic in Season 3 as she is painting a puppet head before going to the Halloween Train. One of the lines of the song is “Every Teddy Bear who’s been good is sure of a treat today” and it goes along with Mike leaving the candy. The part that talks about hide and seek…gives me hope that Mona may be alive!!! Let’s hope so.
Until next time Liars…keep your friends close and your secrets closer!!!
"Over A Barrel" Review
Pretty Little Liars
Season 5.16
“Over A Barrel"
Previously on Pretty Little Liars....Aria was afraid Ezra would find out that she had written a secret letter to his ex, Jackie, that gained her admission to Talmadge College. Emily was pining over Paige leaving and not communicating with her. Spencer and Caleb were sleuthing around Rosewood to destroy A’s planted evidence from Mona’s murder. Hanna walked in on her mother’s hook-up with Jason. This week, they pick up right where they left off.
Aria buys coffee at Ezra’s new Brew, and a copy of her letter to Jackie is printed on the receipt!!! Aria continues to worry about how she will break the news to Ezra as she follows mysterious messages to meet Holbrook all over town. Of course she never meets the shady detective, but thanks to A she does manage to have lunch with Jason and eventually deliver flowers from young Mr. Dilaurentis to Ashley’s house.
Emily decides to pack up the remnants of Paige’s belongings that were left in her car. She is still hurting over the break-up, but I don’t think she will be in pain for long. Even though her work relationship with Talia has had a choppy start, in this episode, Talia seems to want to smooth the waters with our little barista. Did anyone else think that her question to Em about Ezra’s buns was testing the waters to find out if Emily was into guys or girls? Personally, I hope Talia is just what Emily needs to get over Paige for good!!!
This week’s most intriguing moments belonged to Hanna, Caleb, and Spencer. Hanna wasn’t the only one who surprised Ashley by coming home early. Pastor Ted came back from his mission trip to Peru with the intention to build a family in Rosewood. After gaining Hanna’s approval, he proposed to Ashley with a gorgeous ring inside a peanut butter cookie that was similar to the one they shared when they first met. Ashley’s response, “ I need a minute to think”, was definitely not what Ted expected. However, I loved, loved, loved the way Hanna was able to soothe his fears and give unconditional love and support to her mom as well. Why do all the good ones fall for the liars and cheaters? Hopefully Ashley will tell Ted the truth, wedding bells will still ring, and Hanna will finally get the decent father figure she deserves.
Detectives SpenCa were back in action following a LoJack alert from Mona’s computer that led them to a storage facility across town. When Spencer and Caleb arrive they run into one of their teachers, Mrs. Horowitz, who alerts Spencer to the horrible smell coming from unit # 1017. She told Spence that she once saw a blond girl hurrying away, but did not see her face. Caleb makes a shim to break their teacher’s lock and they crawl through the air ducts to 1017. (I can see it now... Horowitz will be a witness for the prosecution when the Liars go on trial!) Once inside they find Mona’s bloody clothes in plastic bags, denatured alcohol, antacid tablets, and water beside a large barrel. SpenCa deduces that Mona is either preserved or has turned to sludge inside the barrel. After wiping the room clean of any fingerprints they return home and decide that Caleb should find out who rented the unit. Of course it was rented to none other than Hanna Marin. Looks like Ali won’t be the only PLL locked in a jail cell. A has decided it is Hanna’s turn to be tortured.
In the final A scene, the black-hooded one enters Gabriel Holbrook’s office and logs on to his Rosewood PD account. Who is that masked man/woman....ShadyBrook, Toby, Mike, Paige, or another A Team member? My guess is Holbrook because they have the key, the password and know where the caramels are stashed, along with some other interesting things in that desk! Whoever it is, they sure do love candy!
Hopefully, we will get the answers to these questions and more before the end of season 5. Until next time Liars, remember to keep your friends close and your secrets closer!!!
"Through A Glass, Darkly" Review
Pretty Little Liars
Season 5.14
“Through A Glass, Darkly"
It’s been three months since Mona Vanderwaal was viciously attacked in her home on Thanksgiving Day. The Winter Premiere picks up right after Mona’s memorial service and starts with a boom, or shall I say “the slap heard round the world”, as Alison appears to offer her condolences to Mona’s mother. If Ali wasn’t already crazy, Mrs. V slapped a few screws loose for sure before Hanna leads her away.
Hanna has become close to Mrs. V and receives two important gifts that belonged to Mona. Bungee, the stuffed dog, and the book Terminations by Henry James. I can’t wait to see what clues are held within each one! Finally, someone else (besides us) confirms that Hannah is playing dumb. Thanks to Mona in flashback, we know that Mona thought Hanna was “smarter than Spencer Hastings”.
Hands down the best scenes for me, were those with Mrs Grundwald. She meets Hanna at Mona’s crypt to use her gift of insight to shed light on who Mona’s attacker was, and delivers lines almost as creepy as her eyes: “Each one hated the other because each one feared the other…each one knew something about the other.” Who is the other one Mrs. G? (My likely suspects Mike, Paige, CeCe, the girl at the zoo with the distorted face, or the girl who was with Mona behind the frosted glass at the hair salon.)
Spencer learns why she was arrested for Bethany’s murder. Jessica DiLaurentis gave a statement to Detective Wilden that she saw Spencer in her backyard with a blond girl dressed in Ali’s clothes on the night Alison went missing. Wilden hid the statement in his files to no doubt continue his passion for extorting money for keeping secrets. Good thing they found it, because Bethany’s parents went to a judge to have Spencer’s bail revoked in order to send her back to jail. This eventually sends Spencer and Emily to Jason DiLaurentis to persuade him to tell the truth that his father would not tell about Ali’s whereabouts on Thanksgiving Day.
Ezra has purchased The Brew and seems to be converting it into a coffee and book nook. It’s here that Ezra invites Mike to come assist him with his bookshelves so that he can ask him how he is dealing with Mona’s death. Mike is not in a sharing mood, which prompts Ezra to share the most insightful statement of the evening…”You aren’t acting like you lost someone”. Hmmm…Mike what secrets did you and Mona really have?
Meanwhile, Aria visits Caleb to get help with hacking into Oberlin College’s website to find out why her application was rejected. She spies Mona’s computer and learns that Caleb’s attempts to break Mona’s codes have failed. So why, why, why Caleb, would you give Mona’s computer to a technical amateur like Aria!?!?! Of course, it was to give the masked black-hooded-one a chance to “find” Mike’s phone, call Aria to meet him/her at the The Brew, in order to plastic wrap Aria against the wall and steal said computer!!!
Aria later tells Emily that it was Ali who attacked her and swiped the computer, to which Emily asks, “Are you sure it was Ali?” Aria’s answer, “ Who else could it have been”, let’s us know for sure that Aria is not sure.
Speaking of Emily, let’s all do the happy dance, because Paige left for San Francisco!!! Or did she??? With no tears or I love you(s) at the airport, and Paige acting more sketchy than heartbroken, I wonder if she really got on that plane. When I watched Jason DiLaurentis watch the hidden camera footage of Mona’s attacker, I immediately thought of Paige, not Ali!
However, Jason confesses that Ali was not with the family during the time that Mona was killed and that it could be his sister in the video. This confession sends Ali to jail for her orange jumpsuit fitting! The girls can move on with their lives now because A is finally behind bars!!!! Absolutely not, because A puts on a fireworks display to end the episode!!! Hanna was right again. You can’t send fireworks from jail!
In typical PLL style we are left with more questions than answers.
UnAnswered questions of the week:
- How did traces of Mona’s DNA get in Ali’s car? (and when did Ali get a car?
- What kind of temporary assignment is Gabriel Holbrook on? (here-to-fore to be called Detective “ShadyBrook” because he is definitely shady, and more than likely Beach Hottie! [credit to Antuan Beard for the nickname])
- Who are Bethany Young’s parents?
- When will we see a photo of Bethany Young?
Hopefully, we will get answers to these and other questions next week. Until then...keep your friends close and your secrets closer!