At this point in the series, it seems like the girls’ parents only pop in once in a while to remind the audience they do in fact have them. There’s been a definite drop-off in parental storylines this season. That being said, Mrs. Fields is in town for teacher conferences. She’s definitely interested in Ali’s return and invites her and the rest of the girls to dinner. Ali is highly suspicious of it, claiming Mrs. Fields is “a planner” but ultimately agrees to go. Ali seems very needy with Emily, using her as a lightning rod for her paranoid tangents, in this case the teachers seeing her bruises and reporting it. Sydney chooses this moment to reveal herself in the bathroom stall, commenting on Ali’s scarf. Sydney isn’t very good at this evil spy stuff, because Ali has her number in half a second.
Emily doesn’t seem to catch on though, as Sydney tells her about the dead rat Paige found in her locker. Emily immediately thinks of Mona and her crew. Her ears must’ve been ringing because Mona appears with her usual smug smile. Emily implies Mona had something to with it. Mona plays innocent, of course, saying it sounds like something a boy would do. Em suggests Noel Kahn, whose notes are mysteriously in Mona’s possession. She says he loaned them to her. (Now I’m confused. Exactly which team is Noel playing for here? Team Ali or Team Mona?)
After school, Emily finds Mona in her neighborhood, watching the construction being done on the Cavanaugh house. She outwardly accuses Mona of being the dead rat perpetrator. Mona denies it again, seeming genuinely insulted Emily thinks she is such an amateur.
Everyone ends up bailing on dinner, so Emily goes to Hanna’s to persuade her to come. “My mom’s making popovers! You know what that means!“
Hanna is in no mood for more Ali lies, but gets talked into going. Emily regrets that decision eventually, due to some shenanigans of Hanna’s doing, but more on that later.
Mrs. Fields has been doing some thinking, specifically Emily’s feelings for Ali. Looking back, she has realized that Em had a crush on Ali back before her ‘kidnapping’ and wonders how Emily is handling it all now, what her present feelings are. Emily is pretty vague, saying she’s working on it. Can’t blame her, it’s not exactly easy to love someone if you can barely trust them.
Speaking of love, Em does call Paige to check in on her. She closes out the message with “I love–” before she catches herself and covers it up with a lame sentence. Whether it’s from habit or something more, girl has some thinking to do when it comes to her love life.
Mrs. Fields also mentions she has spoken to some of her police department friends. Ali’s kidnapping story has some problems. She gives Emily some wise advice, she doesn’t have to keep saving Ali.
Spencer is trying desperately to keep her family from falling apart, but she’s failing miserably. Papa Hastings has moved to Melissa’s apartment, which means Melissa has moved back into the barn. Just what Mama Hastings needs, her shady daughter trying to sway her to the Dark Side. Spencer catches Melissa trying to throw something from the barn away. Turns out, it’s a dead rat (sound familiar?) in a trap. Melissa blames it on Spencer’s sober buddy leaving food out. Spencer is a smart girl, however, she knows the coincidence is too great.
Between sisterly debates, Spencer has been tasked with helping Ezra move all his super stealth spy gear to his friend’s shed. Never one to shy away from a smart-a** remark, she makes it known she’s pretty creeped out by his collection, mentioning “I forgot how enthusiastic you are for watching things.” Ezra looks a bit sheepish, but it’s the truth. They discuss their mutual friend Eddie Lamb. Ezra thinks they should push him for more information, but Spence says the Eddie she knows is a good guy, but really big on self-preservation.
Spencer does give him credit for saving them in New York. Ezra seizes the opportunity to plead his case to Spence. He says everything he did for this book and it wasn’t even the book he wanted to write. He really wanted to write about his family, how they fell apart, became who they are today. He thought he would figure it out on paper, but was too afraid to go there. Instead he focused in on a mystery to solve (doesn’t explain why he was hanging with Ali beforehand, but alright). Not only did he not solve the mystery, he may have made it worse.
Spence accepts this somewhat of an apology, then sparks an idea, asking Ezra if she can borrow one of his cameras, which she sets up to keep an eye on Melissa.
Another late night sister talk arises next time she sees Melissa at home. They accuse each other of taking sides in their parents’ issues (all true). Spencer defends her mother saying everything that has happened is not because of love, but lies. Melissa counters, looking to be on the verge of finally giving up her secret, saying “People do things they regret, but it is still about love.” She leaves before she can spill the goods. Dang it, Melissa, stop being such a tease and give it up already! (The secret people, get your minds outta the gutter!)
Spencer watches her new Melissa cam to see if there’s any dirty work going on. She gets a surprise though, it’s not Melissa on screen, but Ali, sneaking through her backyard.
She sends out an SOS to the other little liars.
Aria is doing her fair share of detective work at her new Radley volunteer job. She runs into Eddie Lamb within her first five minutes of being there. He vaguely recognizes her, but she plays it off as if they’ve never met. She is helping out in the Psycho Patient Painting class, where she mixes Bethany’s scary drawing into the other prints she put on display for the others to look at. A very intimidating girl named Rhonda calls her out on the sketch pretty quick, calling her a thief. The teacher explains it’s been a bad day for Rhonda, the police came to speak with her, she was Bethany’s roommate.
After class, Aria is cleaning up (alone and in the dark?), when Rhonda sneaks up on her. She is quite forceful, again calling Aria a thief, Bethany gave her those sketches, do you know what they do to thieves? They cut their hands off. “What are you gonna do with no hands, little girl?” Eddie appears behind Rhonda, diffusing the situation. He asks what Rhonda thinks Aria stole. Rhonda doesn’t answer, just walks away, but Eddie has put two and two together. He knows. That would’ve been enough for me to hightail my midget butt outta there and never look back, but Aria thinks things are just getting interesting, she’s gonna stick around.
Aria proceeds to sneak into Rhonda’s room (Man, you’d think they’d have beefed up security after Mona’s several sneak out adventures but alas, no) to rifle through her things in search of the aforementioned sketchbook. Unfortunately, Rhonda is done with her shower, making it clear she’s still yelling her thief rant down the hall, taking advantage of the echo, I assume. Aria hides under the bed, nearly being squished by Rhonda in the process. It was the right move though. Looking up, she discovers the sketchbook hidden under the mattress.
We next see Aria rushing out to her car, which begs a few questions: How the heck did she get the book from the mattress without Rhonda feeling it? How did she get out of the room without Rhonda noticing? Ninja skills? A TARDIS? We’ll probably never know.
We do know that Eddie has been waiting to catch up with her. He doesn’t give himself away as the giver of the drawing, but he definitely notices the book in her bag. Aria hurries to get out of there. Eddie calls Ezra. Whoops. There goes that informant.
Aria takes the book to Spencer to ruminate on. Leave it up to Aria to ask if Spencer mentioned her to Ezra in their time spent moving tech gear. Spencer says they’ve done enough slipping on their own, she’s not going to encourage it. The beginning of the book is typical drawings, horses, bowl of fruit, etc. They find a piece of a woman falling from a building. Spencer deduces it is Toby’s mother (Wait, that subplot from last season has greater meaning?! I’m awed.) Was Bethany the fragile patient on the roof with Mrs. Cavanaugh that fateful night? It sure looks like it as her sketches have gone from cheery to seriously dark images of the grim reaper, of Mrs. D. with horns and LIAR written all over her face. Bethany REALLY didn’t like Mrs. Dilaurentis. Spencer thinks Mrs. D. was part of the cover-up of Mrs. Cavanaugh’s fall, Bethany knew it, escaped to go after her, but instead was met with death by shovel. Spence takes pictures of the…well, pictures, so Aria can get it back to Radley before Rhonda notices it’s missing.
Ezra shows up at Aria’s house later that night, scaring the bejeezus of out her a la Jenna a couple episodes ago. He says Eddie called him to set up a meeting after his chat with her. Ezra waited for an hour, but Eddie never showed. Oh, fabulous, are we gonna have another missing person next week? This town is like a bottomless pit of mayhem and murder.
Our dear Hanna has been having one heck of an identity crisis lately.
She is rebelling like mad against Ali at every turn, with a sarcastic remark thrown in for good measure.
Hanna runs into Caleb in the school quad. He says he’s there to take his exit exams, only instead of studying, he’s reading Swamp Thing comics, figuring he’ll just wing it. Hanna steals some of his fries before catching herself and apologizing. Caleb quips she never did ask, but picks up on her anxiety. Apparently, she only eats 3 at a time when she’s bugging out about something. Seriously? He knows her scary well. She tells him of the impending dinner with Ali. He questions Ali’s neediness, if she’s going to make a break, just do it, but there’s no guarantee it won’t be messy. Hanna is afraid of losing her friends if she cuts off Ali. “Well, if you lose them, you’ve always got me.”
Caleb ends up stuck in the same exam room with Ali, though hers are entrance exams. I’d forgotten how confident Caleb is when it comes to showdowns. He says what he thinks, no flying figs are given. He questions her motives when it comes to her friends, likens his knowledge of her to a tornado, knowing only the wreckage she’s left in her wake. Obviously, Alison is none too thrilled with being confronted by this person she thinks already knows way too much. She makes an angry call to Hanna which leads Hanna to call Caleb over.
He shows up with six new friends all named Beer. He doesn’t care what Ali thinks and doesn’t think Hanna should either. She comments on his beverage of choice, which he says is a celebration for making decisions. He walked out on his exams. Caleb is in a pretty serious downward spiral and Hanna has no problem saying so before throwing him out.
After some persuasion from Emily, Hanna joins the porch party going on at the Fields house. I gotta say, Mrs. Fields’ etiquette could use some work. “Would you like a drink? Water? Oh, well, there you go. *points to pitcher and goes inside*
Emily goes with her mom, but Ali stays behind to chastise Hanna on Caleb. Ali is seriously judging Caleb, calling him a troublemaker, untrustworthy, a mistake. Ali my dear, glass houses. You’re in one. Be mindful of your words. Hanna is clearly fed up with Ali, defending Caleb to the hilt, asking straight out if she is telling her not to see him. She doesn’t answer but her disapproving look is enough. Ali goes inside for dinner, while Hanna sneaks some liquid courage from the very convenient bottle of vodka at the beverage station.
Fast forward a bit to dinner. Hanna is passive-aggressive towards Ali whenever possible. Ali plays it cool, instead focusing her manipulation skills on Mrs. Fields. Her pity party performance is one for the ages. Emily looks awkward throughout, whereas Hanna is trying not to roll her eyes or just burst into laughter.
After a slight coughing fit as Ali and Mrs. Fields clear the room, Emily taste checks Hanna’s glass and discovers it’s pretty much straight vodka. Hanna is unapologetic, saying, “What? I needed something to wash down all that baloney with dinner.”
I am becoming quite fond of Drunk Hanna. Emily isn’t amused though, taking Hanna’s keys and kicking her out. Great friendship skills there, Em. Throw your drunk friend out on the street instead of just driving her home. Friendship fail.
Hanna ends up at Rear Window Brew, where she runs into Sydney, who invites her to sit down with her to sober up. Sydney uses her time with Drunk Hanna well, with a thinly veiled interrogation about the Cavanaugh house explosion, Jenna, their rivalry, whether she would ever consider forgiving Jenna and stop fighting. Hanna mentions New York by accident, which Sydney files away for later use. It sounds as if Sydney is open to bringing Hanna into Mona’s Army. If the liars cut her off, I can see it happening. Mona cares only about Hanna in her own twisted way, as does Lucas. Could be a very interesting plot twist.
Sydney offers to drive Hanna home, but Caleb has walked in, apparently about to go on a brownie binge (Was I the only one who noticed all he got was a handful of brownies?), so she decides to stay with him. Caleb asks how the dreaded dinner went, but Hanna doesn’t want to talk about it. She wants to talk about them. Haleb shippers, brace thyself.
Hanna questions why Caleb has been on the fence about her since he got back. He points out he knows she is with Travis but is met with “There is no me and Travis, not when you’re back here.” (So, we’re gloss right over the whole Miranda thing? That’s actually cool with me.) Caleb explains he is not the same person he once was, he questions everything. He doesn’t see the same things he used to. (Yeah, doppelgangers and ghosts will do that to ya. Just ask The Vampire Diaries cast.) Hanna, looking very vulnerable, asks, “Do you see me?” “Of course.” “Then let’s start there.” There is a moment of intense gazing at one another, then Hanna goes for it, kissing Caleb. He pauses for a moment, possibly to take it all in, and an epic Haleb makeout ensues. Rejoice! Haleb is BACK!!
While Hanna is sucking face with Caleb, Spencer, Emily, and Aria have gathered after Spencer’s SOS text to try to figure out why Ali was sneaking around the Hastings’ backyard. Emily rats out Hanna’s drinking to excuse for her lateness. Cue the in sync ringtones. A has to shake things up some more. Hanna walks in right after they read the text. Except Hanna is clueless. She never got a text. Spencer lets her read hers, which she does aloud, “New York, New York, it’s a heck of a town where Ali’s keeping secrets. Maybe that’s because of Hanna’s big mouth.” (After multiple listening, I still couldn’t make out all the words, so that may not be exact)
A Coda: A has opened an invitation addressed to Mrs. Fields for Zack and Ella’s engagement party, presumably to get the details. Looks like we know what next week’s event will be!
Will Melissa ever reveal her secret?
How bad is the fallout going to be for Hanna?
Will Emily choose Ali or Paige?
Citings: glee.wikia.com, replygif.net, sodahead.com, tswizzlehelps.tumblr.com, okmagazine.com, victorious.wikia.com, photobucket.com, teen.com, funnyinternetmemes.com, comicvine.com, soletstalk.com, giphy.com, imtheillestsupreme.tumblr.com