Pretty Little Liars - Recap: Teachers to Kiss and Dead Friends to Rescue
Pretty Little Liars continued tonight with an episode that heated up the rivalry between Jake and Fitz. Though, it might be Shana who ends up on fire. Hanna breaks plates. Aria eats a brownie.
To kick off the recap for Episode 16, the Liars began their journey back towards the Busy Bee Inn. Upon arriving in the room thought to be Ali’s dank hideout, the foursome figured out that they were simply too late thanks to a message from A. Of course, there was no telling whether or not A had set the whole encounter up or not, but we’d soon have some unexpected answers thanks to Shana.
Shana surprised Emily while she was busy dropping off some goodies for a bake sale at the church. Inside, Shana revealed the alleged truth behind her relationship with Ali. Although she’d been masquerading as a friend to Jenna, a name on the list of those who possibly attempted to murder Alison, Shana claimed to have been secretly working for her childhood friend the entire time. We weren’t sure whether we could believe Shana’s story that she’s known Ali since the age of three, having lived next door to her grandmother in Georgia. The other Liars certainly didn’t want to believe it when Emily passed on the information that Alison was looking to secretly meet with solely Emily.
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Still, Emily continued to pursue the proposition, meeting with Shana once again in the middle of town. There, Shana came through with a detailed memory that Emily had requested from Ali; the exact offer to leave with her that Alison made to Emily after saving her a few seasons back from that odd gassed-up barn situation. Shana relayed the entire speech privately spoken by Alison to Emily as she regained consciousness on that day, handing Emily solid proof as to the fact that Shana was truly on Ali’s side. Whether Alison is on there side or not, though, we do not know.
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One thing we do know is that Ezra Fitz (Ian Harding) is looking less and less sane as the episodes pass by. Claiming to be heading out of town for a meeting with an old college buddy, Fitz’s shady business was in fine form during Episode 16. First, it’s important to point out that Aria had made her final decision. She likes Jake, but she loves Ezra. Do we blame Spencer for making that choice clear? I personally don’t blame Spencer for anything because there’s a part of me that still believes that Aria wouldn’t have even paid attention to all of the A threats and the Ali murder mystery had Sparia not been in full affect for the past three seasons. In any case, Aria congratulated Jake on his karate tournament victory down at his dojo by dumping him on the spot. There’s no time for lunch when Aria has teachers to kiss and dead friends to rescue.
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Meanwhile, Hanna continued her path of self-destruction post-dumping by deciding to toss every article of clothing Caleb has ever seen her wear. Spencer watched on in horror as Hanna chose to trash the black skirt. Even Hanna’s mother, Ashley (Laura Leighton), attempted to stop the insanity to no avail. The only person who Hanna seemed to be at ease with was new boy Travis, who stopped by with important business to attend to. Hanna had forgotten her umbrella, after all, yet the subsequent lesson in billiards was thrown in free of charge. Man, first a free towing and now lessons in playing pool? All in all, pool is fun but kissing is more fun. Travis initially refused Hanna’s flirting, claiming that a rebound situation so soon after Marin’s breakup wasn’t a fantastic idea. Why waste time with reason, Travis? There were hickeys to gnaw up! If Ashley hadn’t caught the duo smooching with her own eyes, the lipstick smudge on Travis’ neck surely would have given them away.
In the end, Hanna’s mother, I kid you not, took her to a Greek restaurant with a partitioned section that allowed her to smash plates to relieve her anger. Honestly, it looked like a substantially good time, although I don’t think the Frisbee technique Hanna used was the most effective means of imagining the destruction of Caleb’s stupid cheating face.
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Spencer and Toby (Keegan Allen) hit a bit of a rough spot this week as well, thanks to her shady father and his connections to the DiLaurentis family. Mr. Hastings initially stopped by Toby’s place to discuss a legal deal being offered by Radley. Basically, Toby was asked to keep his mouth shut with some hush money. If he signed the papers, he’d be banned from discussing this matter any further. While Toby stewed things over, Spencer refused to believe that her father gave up on a case so easily. Remember, just two episodes back Mr. Hastings was planning on taking Radley down entirely. Now, after reconnecting with Ali’s mother for whatever reason, his entire tune has changed. Spencer continued to dig up information about this relationship, eventually forcing her father to admit that Jason has been in some trouble regarding a relapse and rehab situation. Did we buy that for a second? Not really, though I also don’t doubt for a moment that Jason could be partying it up somewhere away from all of this nonsense. Spencer, not one to shy away from a challenge especially when her family is her adversary, snooped in her father’s briefcase and discovered the answer she’d been searching for… Mrs. DiLaurentis is on the board of Radley. Toby, saved by your genius girlfriend! Too bad, so sad, though. Toby already made the decision to sign and move on with his life. It was never money or glory he wanted, only to save his mother’s reputation. Who cares if she slipped on her own or if some fragile loony person tossed his mother off a roof? We do, considering the fact that this person is most likely connected to Alison. Actually, this person might be Alison.
Just after breaking up with Jake to celebrate his karate victory, Aria returned home to find a gift that he’d previously had mailed to her house; “fine jewelry,” according to the label. Me? I saw a scrap of tinfoil with “Aria” scribbled on it, but that’s just me. I don’t even know what that was, but she was certainly appropriate in attempting to return it to Jake. Jake, funny enough, had just got back from moping around Rosewood town. He’d witnessed what was, of course, my favorite moment of the week aside from the closing scene. Ezra Fitz stood in the dark street outside The Grille, firing off an enraged tirade before smashing on the hood of a random woman’s car in all his angry glory. Jake, needless to say, wasted no time filling Aria in for fear of putting her in danger with some sort of an abusive relationship. Aria, with no real reason to doubt Jake, confronted Ezra when he arrived home from “Philly.” Ezra, whom I’m assuming thought on his toes, admitted to be in the midst fighting for the legal right to visit Malcolm. I mean, isn’t that kind of strange in its own right? Why would Aria want any part of that? Ezra claimed that the mere fact that he’s not the boy’s biological father doesn’t mean that he should have to be completely removed from his life. I get it. Maggie is kind of deranged in her own right to put even evil Ezra in the middle of an ugly teen pregnancy situation, but why would anyone have the right to legally visit someone else’s child without their permission? Aria seemed to be fine with his intentions, just not the lying. Again, I don’t believe anything Ezra said was true.
Emily ran to Spencer with the information Shana had delivered. Determined to go through with the meeting, she had trouble convincing her friend mainly because the logical reason that Ali was singling her out to begin with was because Ali had always claimed to like Emily the best. Then again, Alison made each of these girls feel special, and Emily had been the one most distant since her grand return to the back alleys of Rosewood.
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Shana dropped Emily off outside of some abandoned warehouse that evening and ran for the hills. Inside, there she was! Alison made her presence known and confided her fears in Emily, validating all that Shana had spoken. Before we knew it, though, some clinking in the background startled Ali, and the appearance of Spencer was enough to drive her into the industrial elevator and back into hiding. Emily, furious that Spencer had broken Ali’s trust in her, truly laid into her real friend, Spencer, for working behind her back. Spencer, on the other hand, had a different opinion. Perhaps Ali is just doing what Ali does best; dividing the Liars up by pretending to play favorites. What do we think? Was Spencer correct, or did Alison really just trust Emily more than the other Liars? I think it’s probably a little bit of both. Digging yourself, literally, out of an early grave probably works a number on your head. There's nothing quite like being buried alive to show you what's most important in life. Then again, this is Alison, and she’s probably done worse than burying someone in the soil that would house a future gazebo in her lifetime. If A is the one who attempted to kill Alison, and we’re to assume Ezra is A, why hasn’t Ali even mentioned knowing him? Then again, maybe the final scenes of Episode 16 contained our answer.
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To close the Recap of Episode 16, Hanna made one last phone call to Caleb, eventually leaving a voice mail thanking him for the best year of her life. Spencer burst into tears having suffered through a lack of support from Toby, her father, and Emily all in one episode’s block of time. Aria, on the other hand, might have a whole lot more on her plate.
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Back at the dojo, Jake worked up quite a sweat kicking the ever-lovin’ crap out of his workout dummy. By the time he switched over to his favorite punching bag, ol’ faithful, a hard kick landed him flat on the ground. Upon further inspection, Jake noticed that his foot suffered a heavy gash, which was obviously bizarre considering the fact that he’d kicked a punching bag and not, I don’t know, a steak knife. Oh, wait… inside a patch on the bag, Jake revealed a vast array of arranged knives just waiting to destroy his foot with a single kick. Back in Ezra’s apartment, he and Aria took the biggest brownie I’ve ever seen, dumped chocolate syrup and whipped cream all over it, and scarfed it down with their hands. Romance? What is this, T.G.I. Fridays? Perhaps even grosser was the fact that we watched Jake bleed all over the place having kicked A’s booby trap crosscut with a final scene of Ezria playing tonsil hockey.
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A closed out his arc during Episode 16 by sneaking into the school, prying open a locker, and burning a childhood picture of Shana. That seemed like a lot of work for all of that, A. Get a life.
What did you think of Pretty Little Liars, Season 4 Episode 16, “Close Encounters”? Is Shana toast? Can Ali be trusted? Team Emily or Team Spencer? Will Hanna actually move on with Travis? What the hell is going on with the Radley situation? If we’re to assume Ezra hid those knives, has he officially gone too far to root for Ezria?
Thanks for reading my Recap and Review of Pretty Little Liars, Season 4 Episode 16, “Close Encounters”!