Previously: Christmas parties and implied orgies.
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Through a Glass, Darkly
Jessica: It’s 3 months later from last episode, because they don’t want to do Christmas or winter anymore. (S: Yeah, this time jump was jarring.) We open on Mona’s funeral. Our four Liars walk out of the church, commenting on the contents of the casket, which does not include a body. Nothing has been found out since Mona’s disappearance/murder, and Spencer has been the only arrest. She’s negative about the chances of the Bethany letter they discovered last episode making any difference. She thinks they should have told Detective Tanner about the perceived Holbrook/Alison affair, but Toby says Tanner wouldn’t believe them and “needs to find out on her own.” To those of you who are new here, don’t worry – this type of logic is typical and makes perfect sense in Rosewood.
Marines: It’s 3 months later, but they are literally just having a funeral and still haven’t done anything with the letter? Why are they treating three months later like tomorrow? Are we supposed to be impressed that they haven’t lost the letter?
Jessica: I mean, that might be a record for them. And an improbable time jump seems the only way it would be possible.
They look up to see Alison make the questionable decision to walk up to Mona’s mother. Alison starts to say she’s paying her respects and had nothing to do with this, but Mona’s mom straight up slaps her and starts screaming “Where is my daughter!” until Hanna leads her away. Alison holds her cheek and gives a creepy dead-eyed stare that does not support her earlier claim of innocence.
Samantha: Alison maybe makes the most questionable decisions of all the Liars.
Mari: Primarily to look and act real murderess-like.
Jessica: SHHH!
Mona’s mother is in Mona’s room after the funeral, looking around sadly at all her things. Hanna stops in to see if there’s anything else she needs. Mona’s mom gives Hanna one of the stuffed animals from the bed and cries.
Samantha: I had two thoughts here. One, was that this was kind of surprisingly rough. Second, the nightmare dolls in the background.
Jessica: I make it a policy to ignore nightmare dolls whenever possible. This show has only ever supported the rationale of this policy.
Hastings House. Spencer lets her father in for a surprise cameo! He tells her that her bail might be revoked, as it’s been revealed why she was arrested… But not to us yet! Dramatic music segues us into Toby, at work as a police officer, going through files with Spencer’s face on them. Detective Tanner catches his kinda-sorta snooping at her desk, but just hands him the file he was looking for anyway. Turns out that the key witness in convincing the judge of Spencer’s guilt claims to have seen her near a shovel in the backyard with a blond person on the night Bethany was killed. That witness was Jessica DiLaurentis, Ali’s mom.
Mari: Aw, c’mon! That lady is dead! That’s basically like losing evidence give Spencer a break jeez.
Jessica: Hey, shovels were involved- this is serious.
Toby thinks that Detective Wilden, who originally took the statement (and who is also dead), was bribed to keep it hidden and to keep Mrs. D quiet about it. They conclude that “it all leads back to Radley.” (S: Tanner’s acting in this scene was extra bad. It felt like she was trying to lead Toby somewhere but then no? Idk.) (J: I also wasn’t convinced that the Radley conclusion was completely justified by this reasoning, but, I’ve learned to just accept these things and move on.)
Rosewood’s One Coffee Shop is being renovated. Where are the people getting their coffee? In other bad news, it seems like Ezra has bought it and is planning to do something hipstery with it. Did we know that already? (M: I don’t think so OR I ignore most of what Ezra does.) Anyway, he asks if Aria’s heard back from college yet (nope) or her brother Mike since the funeral (also nope). She feels guilty for trying to break Mike and Mona up, and Ezra offers to try and get Mike to talk about Mona with him. Why why why????
Emily’s house. She and Paige are sad-cuddling on her bed, talking about Paige’s pending move to California. Paige is going to miss graduation and prom, the latter of which Emily’s pretty bummed about because you know that’s going to be a good episode. Anyway, they are so cute together and I don’t want them to break up!
Marin Manor. Hanna and Caleb are eating ice cream and talking about Mona. Caleb still hasn’t cracked Mona’s giant laptop that I forgot about, but I’ve no doubt we’ll be getting cryptic fragments of evidence from it in no time.
Jessica: Hanna wonders if Mrs. Grundwold, the possibly psychic old lady from Ravenwood, might be able to help locate Mona’s body. Caleb doesn’t think it’s a good idea to bring his failed spin-off into this, but judging from the look Hanna has after they argue, he has no power to stop it. (S: It is awkward to be reminded of your failed spin off.)
Random street corner at night. Aria’s sitting alone on a bench opening up a letter. It’s a rejection letter from Oberlin college, but she’s distracted by Alison coming up behind her. She starts to run away but Alison stops her. Aria accuses her of being A and killing both Bethany and Mona. Alison grabs her by the arm so Aria starts blowing a whistle around her neck, causing nearby random citizens out at night to look over. Alison looks offended and leaves.
“Wait, where are we? Was it light when we started talking?”
Mari: I feel really strange about the fact that I found Aria blowing a stranger danger whistle at Alison hilarious.
Jessica: I did a really awkward laugh and felt uncomfortable. But it was kind of hilarious. I guess it’s about time someone in Rosewood used a danger whistle.
Hastings House the next day. Spencer tells the others that her mom’s trying to fight getting her bail revoked but it might not work, especially thanks to Holbrook. Aria says if they can convince the police that Alison killed Mona, they’ll see the crimes are related and no longer suspect Spencer. They decide that they need to poke holes in her alibi to achieve this.
One Coffee Shop. Ezra has lured Mike to help him build bookshelves under false pretenses. He tries to talk to Mike about Mona but does a terrible job, because he’s terrible. Mike says he didn’t mourn at the funeral because there was no body in the coffin, but he believes Mona is dead. And we all hate Ezra. (S: He’s so bad at everything.)
Crypt. Mrs. Grundwald sniffs at Mona’s name on the wall. Hanna brought her there, and asks her help in finding the body, as well as mentioning they think that Alison is responsible. She hands Mrs. Grundwald the stuffed dog Mona’s mom gave her, and Mrs. G starts doing her mystic thing.
DiLaurentis Domicile. Ali’s brother, new!Jason, lets Emily and Spencer in to look for a thing they made up. Emily goes off ‘looking’ and Spencer confronts him about covering for Ali. Apparently the Rosewood LOLPD found Mona’s DNA in Ali’s trunk but it’s not enough cause for arrest because her father and brother gave an alibi.
Samantha: I wonder how that would work in real life. DNA in a trunk is hella incriminating.
Mari: Yeah, but they are white and rich. I mean, so is Spencer, but she’s got mental health issues so that knocks her down on the totem pole of innocence, I guess.
Jessica: That has to be it, since neither of them is poor. When its white people vs. white people pitting their privilege against each other, you gotta dig deep.
New!Jason insists they were all together on Thanksgiving, but Spencer pushes. “I know she’s your sister, but so am I,” she says, throwing down all her cards. (S: Oh shit, I actually forgot about the siblings thing somehow.) She tearfully asks him for the truth.
Crypt. Mrs. Grundwold is clutching the stuffed animal and doing a psychic thing. She says that secrets that carry over into death are toxic, and while she can see, she sees “as through a glass darkly.” I believe we have a thing for this.
Mari: Congrats random psychic in this contemporary teen show!
Jessica: She continues that Mona is not in Rosewood, but is lost in the dark, in the earth, and apparently her soul’s not doing so great either. Poor Hanna looks rather upset.
Samantha: This also, shockingly, doesn’t reveal anything new or useful.
Mari: Um, she’s either in hell or in an underground club and really upset about being almost murdered. I think. Yeah.
Jessica: That’s what you get for hiring a psychic!
Hastings House. Spencer’s annoyed because apparently New!Jason didn’t tell her anything useful, either. Emily reveals she stole Alison’s hairbrush, and proposes planting Ali’s hair/DNA in Mona’s room. Man, Paige isn’t even gone yet and it’s already affecting Emily’s decision-making.
DiLaurentis Domicile. New!Jason is looking at childhood photos when Ali enters. He sadz about not having as many baby albums devoted to himself as she did, then shows her a picture of the family in ski gear. She remembers a good day, but he remembers differently. He complains more and she figures out that Spencer talked to him. He says that she did leave for a while the day Mona disappeared, but she claims she’s being framed. They stare tearfully at each other. (S: #SiblingFeels)
Caleb’s new crib! He gave up the cottage in the woods for an apartment, full of speakers and computers. (M: WHO is footing this bill?) (J: The remaining royalties from his failed spinoff, I suppose.) Aria comes in and asks him about one of his computer setups. He’s trying to decrypt Mona’s laptop files. Meanwhile, Aria’s interested in Caleb’s hacker skillz, to see why she got rejected at Oberlin. “I need to know if it’s me, or if it’s A,” she says. He agrees to help.
Spencer and Emily are breaking into Mona’s house to plant Ali’s hair around. They’re at least wearing gloves this time, so, progress? But no, this plan, like all their plans, is ridiculously terrible. Though, admittedly, entertaining to watch, like a slow motion video of an adorable puppy tripping over its own ears. As they look around for places to hide the hair, Spencer spies a camera from behind a vent. At this point, I just assume every Rosewood house has about 10 cameras in it.
Marin Manor. Emily and Spencer team up to convince Hanna she should tell Mona’s mom about the cameras so the police will do another sweep, finding Ali’s hair in the process. Hanna doesn’t want any of it until Emily points out that the position of the camera means it likely saw what happened to Mona. (S: …..and also their break-in? Right?) (M: My god, how are they still so bad at this?)
Hanna returns to Mona’s house and talks to Mona’s mom, who hands her a book, taking her into a brightly-colored Mona flashback, or Mona-back, if you will. In it, Mona tells Hanna she’s smarter than Spencer and doesn’t have to hide from anyone anymore. Back in the present, Hanna plants the ideas of cameras to Mona’s mom.
One Coffee Shop renovation site. Aria enters and calls out for Mike and Ezra, but gets no answer. When she calls Mike’s phone, a dark hooded figure appears behind her, holding it. She tries to run but is pushed up against a plywood wall. As she cries out “Don’t do this to me Alison!” the figure pulls a sheet of plastic over her and uses a staple gun to secure it. Then A grabs Mona’s laptop which Aria was apparently carrying and runs off. Aria tears off the plastic and falls to the ground, gasping.
Samantha: Why the heck did she even have it? Why? To practice hacking?????
Mari: Caleb needed a break from having the valuable evidence, I guess. Aria was evidence-sitting. I think. Yeah!
Jessica: After a Not!Commercial Break, Alison is walking down the street and runs into Mrs. Grimwold. They chat and Mrs. G grabs her hand. They stare deep into each other’s eyes before Alison breaks it off and walks quickly away.
Police station. Detective Tanner, New!Jason and Toby are watching the footage of the vent camera in Mona’s house. It shows Mona being thrown around by a blond person. Tanner asks New!Jason if anything about the attacker looks familiar. New!Jason admits it could be Ali because he lied about her alibi.
Aria and Emily are at Emily’s house. Aria told her about the attack and said she’s sure it was Ali. Let us have a moment of silence for the latest piece of evidence lost.… (S: HOW are you sure, Aria? HOW?) Emily gets a text from Paige who’s leaving for the airport, but she decides to help Aria instead.
DiLaurentis domicile. Ali runs in and is confronted by New!Jason, plus cop lights from outside. She runs outside, with a duffel bag over her shoulder, only to be confronted by the four Liars. She tries to Red Rover through them but they push her back. Hanna accuses her of killing Mona, and Alison says she’s being set up by A. “Who will protect you when I’m gone?” she asks, and says if she goes down, they’ll be next. But they’re not having it, and Detective Tanner shows up and arrests Ali. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Ali tells the Liars.
Mari: She’s the one who incriminated Spencer, so I think they’ll be no worse off without her protection.
Jessica: Not!Commercial Break. Montgomery Manse. Aria’s waiting when Mike walks in. She tells him about Ali’s arrest, and says she’s been afraid to talk to him because of all the secrets that Mona knew about herself and her friends. Mike’s mad because everyone memorializing Mona didn’t know the real her, like he did. Aria says he can tell her about that sometime, then leaves the room and hears him break down. She sheds a tear as well. (S: It’s sad and all but Mike is all “you hated her, maybe rightly, maybe not.” And just. No Mike, I’m pretty sure it was entirely justified hate, wtf?) (M: CAR THROWING.) (J: Rosewood is just about as good at forgetting things as Sunnydale. It’s like Mona was in a gang on PCP or something.)
Airport. Rosewood has an airport? Anyway, staying on target. Emily races through the airport. She thinks she’s missed Paige but turns out not. She tells Paige she can stay since Ali’s behind bars and it’s safe, but Paige disagrees and says she doesn’t want to fight leaving anymore. She senses her ticket out of Dodge and is holding onto it. (S: You go, girl.) Emily asks her not to leave but she stays firm. They cry and say goodbye and it’s super sad.
Hastings House. Spencer walks in to be confronted by her dad, Detective Tanner and Toby in his police uniform. Tanner tells her the judge now believes Alison killed Bethany Young and framed Spencer. Spencer hugs Toby and cries.
A little later, all four Liars are sitting on Spencer’s porch steps, chatting about how Paige “got out” and whether it was a smart move. Spencer suggests they all could leave, now that Ali’s in jail and none of them are currently murder suspects. The world is their oyster.
Some fireworks start up and they seem nice, until three red streaks form an “A.” The Liars freak out because Ali’s A and Ali’s in jail, and wonder if she could have set it up ahead of time. Then the fireworks, like, get really close to them? All the sparks start falling on them so they run back to the porch.
Next time on Pretty Little Liars: Toby’s got work problems in S05 E15 – Fresh Meat.
I'm a chronic book nerd and love storytelling in all forms. I'm particularly excited by the rise of the television show as an art form with long, cinematically beautiful plots and complex character arcs (I also watch cartoons). My travels in the past handful of years have led me through three continents and most recently landed me among the majestic mountains of Colorado. Some day I will compile all my travel journals/blogs into one place. Some day. Until then, you can find me with craft beer in hand, ready at any moment to deeply and passionately discuss survival tactics for the zombie apocalypse.
I'm a 30-something south Floridan who loves the beach but cannot swim. Such is my life, full of small contradictions and little trivialities. My main life goals are never to take life too seriously, but to do everything I attempt seriously well. After that, my life goals devolve into things like not wearing pants and eating all of the Zebra Cakes in the world. THE WORLD.
I'm a 28 year old graduated English major and almost librarian. I can often be found singing too loudly (poorly) in the car or spending some time (hours) on Tumblr. I am a lover of Harry Potter, the Spice Girls, and too many other things.