Pretty Little Liars - Season 3 Episode 11 - Recap and Review - Single Fright Female

With one week until the highly anticipated Pretty Little Liars summer finale, #TheBetrAyal, "Single Fright Female" turned the spotlight onto poor misunderstood/ psychopathic hothead Paige McCullers (Lindsey Shaw). It's not really much of a spotlight at this point, actually. It's more like a a massive burning supernova exposing everyone in Rosewood as a "snake."

The episode began with Hanna (Ashley Benson) rummaging through her boundless wardrobe (to Narnia) for an outfit that could appropriately mask her stab wound. She ended up reusing her costume from Mamma Mia! Spencer (Troian Bellisario) was on hand to confront her about her wishy-washy relationship with Wren. Just because A is keeping Hanna and Caleb apart, doesn't mean she has to fall for "Downtown Grabby's" accent. Just downstairs Pastor Ted came by for a visit. He presented Ashley (Laura Leighton) with the infamous flash drive from season 1. Remember the one with all of those "home movies" and footage of Jenna (Tammin Sursock) looking pretty damn guilty. It's the one the girls promised Jenna they'd keep secret. It's the one they thought Ian had stolen. It's the one that's been hiding under Pastor Ted's church pews for several months. That is, until someone sweeping up recovered it. What a dirty church! Who sweeps up once a year?

ABC Family "Pretty Little Liars"

Ted handed it over to Ashley because of the footage of Hanna and her crew partaking in what looked like a frat boy's fantasy vision of an actual, real life girls' slumber party. Hanna attempted to swipe it, but Ashley was too quick. She planned on watching it in full as soon as she got the chance. Hanna wants the Jenna monkey off her back. When in doubt, blame crazy Mona.

It's Ezra Fitz' (Ian Harding) birthday! It could be your last one forever, Ezra (or A #2 or the Betrayer), so live it up! Read two books today! In reality, no one felt like celebrating because of the dark cloud that is Maggie, a.k.a. the girl Ezra got pregnant back in high school. His mom paid her off to "handle" the situation and to disappear forever. Ezra thought she did. In actuality, she was pretty easy to find, and he contemplated getting in touch with her. Aria (Lucy Hale) wasn't about to sit around and wait for Ezra to man up. She was looking to actually enjoy his birthday cake so she did what she does best. She posed as a student teacher, "Amy," and moseyed on over to Maggie's workplace later on in the episode. Ezra spends more time in pajamas than in real clothes.

Emily (Shay Mitchell) finally confessed about the kiss with Nate (Sterling Sulieman) to Paige over coffee. Emily seemed way more confused than Paige, who did a pretty good job of summing it up. They both loved Maya, one way or another, and so they tricked themselves into believing they had feelings for one another. She was pretty forgiving for someone who beat the living hell out of two trashcans last week with a bag of takeout. Her explanation wasn't as good as Hanna's, though.

Hanna: "Nate! She's gay!!!!"

Right? It took someone two episodes to say that? Even Emily had forgotten that she was a lesbian. The increasingly annoying and obnoxious Nate lashed out at Emily for being a tease and further took out his frustrations on Jenna for at one time pretending to be blind. This made very little sense, so Jenna just put on her best "I wish you were invisible" scowl.

Aria wallowed over Ezra's ex with Spencer, and Spencer filled Aria in on the flash drive debacle. Spencer was quick to snap at Aria for even considering visiting Maggie. Aria tried snapping back but she's not Spencer. Cece Drake (Vanessa Ray) showed up at Rosewood High.

Spencer: "What is she doing back in high school?"

Did she ever really leave high school, Spencer? As it turns out, Cece is running a trunk show for her boutique and she enlisted Spencer's help after she aided her with her UPenn application. This scene was more so important because Cece caught a glimpse of Paige and Emily acting flirty and was quick to trigger a flashback for Spencer. Apparently, Alison (Sasha Pieterse) and Paige were mortal enemies. Alison called her "Pigskin" because she had eczema. Paige kicked Alison. Alison also stole Spencer's shirt. Following the flashback, Spencer tried to reason with Emily, urging her to be careful around Paige. After all, Paige did once try to casually drown Emily for something ridiculous like swimming too well. Spencer's not calling her a "snake" (pay attention) but she does very well think Paige could be A. Everyone is A! Emily just wanted to vent about Nate so she wasn't having any of Spencer's legitimate/ illegitimate reasoning.

ABC Family "Pretty Little Liars"

ABC Family "Pretty Little Liars"

Hanna filled Caleb (Tyler Blackburn) in on the flash drive chaos via web chat from across the room. I think it was supposed to be flirty, but the voiceovers narrating what they were writing to one another seemed more like a telepathic conversation to me. Wouldn't that be a cool twist? Hanna made the decision to trust Jenna with the situation and flat-out told the truth. Of course, that didn't work. Why would Jenna give any of them a break? Why would anyone consider the fact that they all may very well be fighting the same monsters?

Maggie (Larisa Oleynik) seemed great! She was also Alex Mack from The Secret World of Alex Mack. Mid-Nineties Nickelodeon gold! She's a successful teacher with her masters in education and a son! Yes, allegedly, she kept the baby. That could possibly be the biggest bomb of the season. What could Aria possibly do to cope with this as a high school girl? I'm predicting, once again, that Ezra ends up axed by the end of the season, and Aria will end up with little bro, Wesley (Gregg Sulkin).

Back at Ezra's apartment, Wesley showed up to drop off a gift and ran into Aria setting up decorations. She invited him to stay and couldn't resist bursting out the truth about Ezra's alleged son. They both agreed to keep the secret for the day, at least, but Aria knows the longer the wait, the bigger the lie. Ezra showed up looking perky after calling Maggie. She lied about the kid. Maybe she's not so great, after all! Wesley theorized that his mother could very well have just paid the girl to leave town and keep the boy a secret. Aria didn't want to risk cutting the kid off from his inheritance, so she kept her mouth shut, too. Side note: Ezra has old people's taste in music. #Supertramp.

Spencer had trouble scrounging up friends to help Cece, but gathered more information on the Ali/ Paige feud. Apparently, Ali once stole stationary from Emily and wrote a love letter to Paige. It was actually more of a lust letter. Paige replied, only to find the response snatched up by Alison, who used the message as blackmail. This only further solidified Spencer's suspicions. According to Cece, though, Alison was a little scared of Paige. When Emily attempted to confront Paige about Alison, Paige denied even knowing her very well at all. Paige advised Emily not to trust her friends but quickly apologized. She suggested helping her get to know them better, instead.

SNAKE! Spencer was busy unpacking boxes in a dressing room, when "someone" locked her in with a big black snake! The snake was very aggressive, until it was smashed to death by Cece, wielding an amputated mannequin leg. One more snakeskin belt for the trunk show! Because Spencer used the word "snake," she became even more sure that Paige is on the crazy train. Hanna was disgusted by the idea of sharing a dressing room with a snake. Also, the rusty old knife she stabbed herself with last week went missing from Emily's room. Hanna seemed sure A snuck in to steal it. Spencer noted that A wouldn't have to sneak in if A were Paige. Spencer also hinted that the shadow that grabbed Maya in the surveillance tape was a female shadow. Caleb?

Spencer managed to convince Hanna and Emily to help with Cece's bogus event. Hanna left the group to try on a dress and was swooped away in a flash by A!.. No, just Caleb. Apparently, he talked to Hanna's mom about the tape and used the image of Officer Wilden watching Hanna undress as "evidence" to turn Ashley off from turning the tapes into the cops. Caleb knew how to sneak in. Hmm...

Emily showed up late with not invited Paige. Cece gave her an uncomfortable stare, and Spencer was terrible at hiding her disdain for her new target suspect. Spencer Hastings doesn't waste good lies and faux smiles on the likes of Paige. Paige attempted to talk to Spencer one on one. She apologized for acting out in the past and opened up about being uncomfortable with attention. She likes being under the radar. Spencer reasoned that she was simply trying to kill them with kindness before killing them for real. She convinced Hanna to help her dig through Paige's purse for the stolen knife. Only problem, Emily caught them and stormed out with Paige and the purse.

Spencer failed?! Absolutely not. She found something. It wasn't the something she was looking for, but it was the missing earring Aria had put in Ali's grave! Did Paige dig up Alison's remains? Back on Emily's porch, Paige confessed to lying about knowing Alison. Paige's description paints Alison as utterly ruthless, even going as far as to say she virtually pushed Paige to the brink of suicide. Paige, however, would not let Alison win. This episode mostly made us feel for Paige.

That is, until the very end. Jenna showed up while Paige was inside to warn Emily about being "very careful" around her friend. When Jenna noticed the second cup of tea, she booked it the hell off of Emily's front lawn. In truth, she could have assumed it was Nate. Maybe Nate isn't Maya's cousin. Maybe he's a jealous ex-boyfriend. While Emily stood dumbfounded, Paige declined a call from Spencer on Emily's phone with a clearly devious smirk.

All's well that ends well. Ashley blended up the flash drive after finding footage of herself and Wilden partaking in some hanky panky. She just wants to forget it all. Pastor Ted showed up, too. Just another theory, but it would be something if this violent, boozing, new A turned out to be a Pastor. Previews of the summer finale show Hanna looking beside herself with grief.

The episode closed with TWO A's playing oldies on a jukebox.

What did you all think of the episode? Are you ready for The BetrAyal? Are you worried for Ashley or Caleb after seeing the coming attractions? Is Paige good or evil? Are you as done with Cece and Nate as I am? Do you secretly love Jenna? Could Jenna have been referencing Nate as opposed to Paige? Could Nate be lying about how he knew Maya? Who do you think is THE BETRAYER?

ABC Family "Pretty Little Liars"

ABC Family "Pretty Little Liars"