Wednesday, August 28, 2013

We Created the Beast- Pretty Little Liars 4X12

What the actual fuck. Also, spoilers.

The girls get a mysterious package featuring Magic 8-balls for each of the girls threatening their safety if Hannah's mom is released. So naturally, Ashley Marin is released from jail! Although, what was that business with Travis saying he can't do this in regards to the lineup? Will it be important later? Also, CeCe Drake is Wilden's murderer! So we get a few answers before another package gets sent to all the girls with various creative threats about their safety and Mona's safety. The girls race to find Mona, who has mysteriously disappeared. Toby discovers that Wren has moved to England (with Melissa) and breaks his radio silence to tell Spencer and get over himself. Cause really dude, she was right and remember the last time you left? The mental hospital? Also crazy murderous people are on the loose targeting the girls and their loved ones? Honestly, I'm not surprised they (meaning Spencer) haven't come up with a system where everyone checks in hourly.
Wren and Melissa sitting in a tree, p-l-o-t-t-i-n-g

But in the midst of the murder threats and general scariness there is time for cuddles. Aria and Jake's night is cut short by Jake falling asleep (what are you, 50? No seriously, I have no idea how old you are) and then Aria proceeds to make some spectacularly bad decisions, starting with going to a poetry reading. And then making out with Ezra.

Feels.

Aria, there are so many reasons why this is a bad idea. 1, you have a boyfriend. 2, He's you're teacher. 3, YOU KNOW YOU ARE BEING WATCHED. If I were her, I'd only kiss my teacher in a basement or a bomb shelter with the doors double bolted after checking for drill holes.

The next threatening message comes in the form of magic. Raise you're hand if you were surprised Spencer won a magic competition as a child.


They realize that there is a magic show in, you guessed it, Ravenswood. So the girls head off to Columbia, I mean Ravenswood, to go to a magic show. This should end well.
Magic is fun.
Which it does. With Emily in a box about to be sawed in half. But in a surprising turn of events, A intervenes! But which one? A chase ensues as Hannah pulls Emily out of the box. Aria uses her new found karate skills to take out CeCe, who plays dead until she can sneak away. Even though we've unmasked her as A, she's still creepy. The other A leads Spencer to the official (i.e not on wheels) lair, and the girls go through it as someone creepily watches.

In Hardy Boys world, Toby and Spencer stalk Mona's house. Toby spies Shauna leaving with Jenna's car and follows her to find Mona...knitting? What?


The girls emerge from the lair with a few treasures (Hannah stole a diary) and a whole lot more knowledge and find that the town now exists in 1800s England. What. They run into Ms. Grunwald, who enlightens the girls on some of the minor details of what's going on. Like that Ali is alive.



I wasn't surprised to find out that Ali was alive. The show had been hinting at it too much and it made a lot of sense for her to be alive. But I didn't think they were going to reveal A. For a split second, I thought it was Jake. But no, I couldn't have been more wrong.

It's Ezra.


Actually, this makes a lot of sense. We already know Ezra has a thing for teenage girls, so imagining Ezra having a relationship with Ali (possibly while he was at Holis?) isn't too difficult. Ali thinks she's pregnant, and I could see her either having an abortion or just telling Ezra she had an abortion, he gets angry and stalks and kills her. She uses his attempt to kill her as a way to hide. Ezra thinks she may be alive and cozies up to one of the girls, thinking they are hiding her. He falls in love with Aria, ergo Aria has been messed with the least, and uses CeCe (who he probably knew if he was dating Ali) and Mona to torture the girls. Mona had a reason and CeCe just seems sociopathic. As for Allison, I think she's hiding out in Ravenswood and has been protecting the girls from the A team, as she lead Spencer to the lair and saved them for the burning building.

As for the other sketchy characters? Wren, Shauna, Jenna, Mona and maybe Melissa are somehow involved Ali's "death". Or at least they think they are, probably because Wilden and Garrett are dead. But I haven't worked out all of what they're up to, maybe that will be the mystery for the next portion of the season. I think the Halloween episode will cover Caleb staying in Ravenswood and the party, giving us enough about Ezra to be satisfied for now. The next part of the season will be addressing what/why/who of Jenna, Shauna, Wren, and I have lost track of whoever else is involved in this clusterfuck.

What are your theories? Are you going to watch Ravenswood? Answer below in the comments!




Saturday, August 24, 2013

"Are you Pregnant?"-Pretty Little Liars 4X11

As the girls discuss Hannah's mom, I have one very important question: Aria, in what world do people take naps in crawl spaces of basements? The detective comes over and is vaguely threatening, which felt a little out of character to me. She has spent the series trying to convince the girls she is on their side(which is doubtful) but now she's openly mean to them. All while Hannah looks like she's about to have a nervous breakdown.


I feel bad for Hannah because it is a stressful situation and I have no idea how I would deal with it, but I think taking down A would help with a lot of her problems. Her and her mom can focus on the defense, not what crazy thing A is going to pull to make things even worse. At least the random dude was able to absolve her mom. But, his sudden appearance is way to random, and I think the writers are good enough to not wrap up such an important storyline so abruptly. I think we're going to see more about this and hopefully it extends into next season.


I'm so glad Spencer told the other girls about Toby. I know that Toby wanted to keep it a secret and that the girls did push a little bit, but this dumb secret has been a low point on this season. They don't have to know everything about the case, but they do deserve to know why Toby betrayed the girls.

Paige is literally wearing a Boy Scout shirt. Let than sink in for a moment.


I think the writers are going to have Emily and Paige stay together. They could have made a clean break a few episodes ago, but they have let the complicated-ness of the end linger. There is the possibility that they are just portraying a complicated relationship and not wrapping up everything neatly, or that Paige and Emily as a couple play an important part in future A schemes.

Where does Jake go to school? How old is Jake? Given Aria's history with older men, shouldn't we discuss this? I get his whole protectiveness over Aria, but it's important Ezra tells Aria about his son. Aria was directly involved with the finding-out process, she deserves to know.

Can we talk about how the bad dancing? Just fyi, this is coming from a person who considers herself one of the worst dancers ever. Other than Jake and Aria, every other dance made this weird circle around a few poles. Also, why a hoedown? Just, why?



Next Tuesday is the season finale, so prepare yourselves! Now if you will excuse me, I'm going to check the floor in my apartment for drill holes.