Pretty Little Liars - Season 3 Episode 19 - Recap and Review - What Becomes of the Broken-Hearted

When I grow up, I want to be like Spencer Hastings (Troian Bellisario). I’m a twenty-something dude, so I have time. “What Becomes of the Broken-Hearted” saw Spencer snap in the best way possible. Pretty Little Liars never fails to deliver the goods (and bads), and as its third season begins to wind down to an end, I don’t expect this malicious momentum to slow anytime soon. Spencer nearly flashed her “cupcakes” for a spot on an academic team. Spencer snapping is the best!

The episode opened with Spencer’s three best buds, Aria (Lucy Hale), Hanna (Ashley Benson), and Emily (Shay Mitchell) discussing the downfall of the lead Liar. Aria, the token romantic teen that she is, gave Spencer leeway to mope over her breakup, while Hanna had already decided she was fed up with Spencer’s newfound tude. Emily decided cupcakes were the answer. Across the courtyard, the trio spied Spencer and her fellow mathlete team member bickering. Apparently, Mona (Janel Parrish) had been coercing the rest of their peers to kick Spencer off of the team for failing to keep up with practices. The majority ruled, and Spencer was axed. Emily, having overheard what went down, attempted to comfort a tearful Spencer as she worked through her frustration, only to be shrugged off.

Seriously, though; would Mona ever survive a true high school environment after what she put these girls through? I mean, I come form a suburb kind of similar to Rosewood, and I’m pretty sure the crazy clown would be ostracized for good. Aren’t decathlon competitors supposed to be smart? Why doesn’t one of these people speak up and say, “Remember when Mona viciously harassed Spencer and her friends for several months? Maybe something is up?” Beats me, but it’s fun T.V. Not that I’d normally condone bullying, but…

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At The Brew, Hanna and Aria discussed Caleb’s (Tyler Blackburn) current reconnection with Jamie, the uncle who was most likely his father. Aria advised Hanna to stop meddling without Caleb, only to be interrupted mid-conversation by a phone call from Ezra’s horrible mother.

Aria: “Why is she calling me? We’re not friends!”

She’d been searching for Wes (Gregg Sulkin), and assumed he’d been crashing at Ezra’s. Meanwhile, Emily attempted to handle her own awkward phone conversation with Cece Drake (Vanessa Ray), who was too busy to even really bother responding. Still, she did note that she had no idea who Wilden was. Emily was, of course, attempting to uncover who knocked Ali up the summer she’d spent in Cape May with Cece.

Back at Hastings Manor, Spencer juiced carrots with a really angry face on. Someone had to take the residual pain left over from Mona’s latest attempt at unnerving Spencer! Sorry, vegetables! The head nerd from Spencer’s former decathlon team stopped by to attempt to make nice with her, only to end up taking the heat off of her carrots. Spencer was livid once she realized he’d been the swing vote to eliminate her. In an attempt to win her spot back, she challenged him to a game of strip historical trivia! For every wrong answer, they’d have to take off an article of clothing. Spencer managed to only lose a sweater and a bra, while the boy was left in nothing but his undies. Emily arrived, much to the kid's horror. Spencer reminded him of her lesbian-ness, but he still bolted before even getting dressed. Emily scolded smarty-pants Spence for using her boobies to win over her former teammate, but Spencer wasn’t up for another lashing from a friend.

Hanna snuck back to the boonies to meet up with Caleb’s alleged father alone. After convincing him to meet Caleb half way, Hanna felt accomplished for a brief period before Caleb exploded. Enraged that she would go behind his back in an attempt to force a family reunion, Hanna found herself caught off guard by his lack of enthusiasm. Hanna used the fact that Caleb had been sneaking around behind her back in an attempt to uncover A’s latest schemes as an excuse. Hanna decided to meet “Uncle” Jamie for coffee alone, regardless of Caleb’s decision.

Aria found Wesley storming through Ezra’s bachelor pad. The fear of God had been put in him when his mother showed up out of the blue around seven in the morning. Aria questioned why she’d call her in the afternoon if she’d already discovered Wes’s hiding place. As Wes put it, she was being tested. Well, she is pretty and she is a liar. She’s on the right show, ladies and gents but mostly ladies! Cece called in a panic, as the photographer she’d hired to do a shoot for the store showed up with nothing but a jank camera phone. Knowing that Aria worked for a photographer, Cece enticed her to do the shoot. Aria managed to get Wesley a job as her assistant.

Emily decided to go to Jason (Drew Van Acker) with information surrounding Ali’s possible pregnancy. Mainly, she wanted to do some damage control after Spencer blurted out the rumor over Ali’s freshly sealed tomb. I’m surprised they didn’t build Alison a damn pyramid after all of this hoopla. Jason admitted to talking to Wilden about the incident, but found himself at a dead end. Emily, remembering the image of Wilden at the dock, found herself with a new piece of the puzzle as Jason vaguely remembered photos of Alison on a boat that summer.

Later that night, the new dynamic duo stopped by Jason’s house, before heading to his father’s office building to look for the photo among moving boxes. Outside the house, Jason found the front porch literally covered in whiskey bottles.

A Text: “Better tell him to save a couple. He might need it."

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After some digging at the office, Emily found a collage Ali had made for her father that contained the pic. After prying it from the rest, the two realized that Wilden and Cece were in the photo of Alison on the boat. Oh, Cece. True; a summer full of binge drinking and slutting up Cape May could have meant that Cece ended up in a picture with a frat boy she’d go on to forget the next day, but we’ll assume that’s not the case. The two also discussed who would play the whiskey prank on Jason. Emily used it as an excuse to bring up Mona, to which Jason quickly responded that he’d been using Mona as a link to Alison’s body snatcher. He knows she’s involved. Still, we remember that grotesque wound on Jason’s side Mona had tended to. Did Jason attempt to kill Aria on the Halloween train? Did he attempt to dump Garrett’s body without realizing that Aria had been sealed inside with the corpse?

Melissa (Torrey DeVitto) returned to cook some lemony broccoli! I guess they figured they had to use her to film a flashback that would air later on in the episode, so why not have her cook, too! Wren (Julian Morris) returned as well, having been sent to visit Spencer by none other than Mona! Mona, “concerned” with Spencer’s mental state, suggested that Wren pay her a visit. Okay, this is getting all “American Horror Story” up in this ish. Mona is attempting to get Spencer locked up in the loony bin! Again, why didn’t Wren question Mona’s motives here? I know these people don’t have the whole story, but don’t they know enough to know that she would hate Spencer? Spencer, who’d grown accustomed to telling people to go screw themselves as of lately, crossed a line at this point. Instead of exploding, she let her anger seethe. Playing dumb, she invited Wren to a film festival a good distance away that night. It just so happened to be near the decathlon… Go, Spencer, go!

Hanna, not wanting to stand up Jamie, decided to continue with their coffee date. Just before leaving, Caleb arrived looking spiffy and kind of nervous. At the café, things went from bad to worse. His father was a no show, and Hanna had run out of excuses. Just before giving up and going, Jamie arrived. After convincing Caleb to stay and chat, the two hit it off. Hanna snuck out, pleased with herself, and headed home to blab with her mother Ashley (Laura Leighton). Knowing that Pastor Ted had been working on renovating the church, Hanna begged her mother to attempt to land Jamie an interview. It would be an excuse to get him to stay in Rosewood with Caleb.

Ashley pulled some strings and landed Jamie an interview that night. Hanna and Caleb waiting in the candlelit pews, while Jamie attempted to land the job. Score! Hanna’s plan had worked, and she even left a five-dollar bill in the church donation box. This specific bill was rockin’! It had a pair of dice sketched on it in marker. At home, Ashley ordered some pizza and served up some beer (to those over twenty-one). When the pizza arrived, Jamie opted to pay to show his gratitude to Hanna for not giving up on him. He paid with Hanna’s five! Oh, man… stealing from a church is going to be difficult to overcome. He’d already been arrested for stealing in the past! I knew he was trouble when he ordered “anything decaf” at The Brew. What a shady fool!

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From the moment she laid eyes on the little Fitz, Cece attempted to push Aria towards him. Why not go for both brothers? They always do it on vampire shows! In any case, Cece left to pick up dinner while Aria and Wes set up the shoot. After spilling some wine all over Cece’s shaggy white rug, the two got to more bonding while they attempted to soak it up. Wes ended up getting a little too comfortable and let it slip that he was sleeping in his car that night. Aria, of course, invited him to crash on her couch.

Back at the Montgomery’s, Aria and Wes finally went there. I knew she was in trouble when Wes starting discussing literary tastes and reciting her poetry from heart. Aria kissed the Little Fitz That Could. Then she remembered that they just “can’t.” I have to admit (Sorry, fangirls!), I like this as a potential couple much more than Ezra and Aria.

Spencer and Wren drove all the way up to the restaurant that was hosting the competition. After ditching him for a few minutes, Spencer the Barbarian strutted into that room and the whole lot of those geeks went silent. Her former strip trivia pal attempted to intercept her b-line for Mona.

Spencer: “Relax, Moose. I’m not here to see you.”

That was maybe my favorite Spencer line ever. After going toe-to-toe with Mona, it happened. #SpencerSnapped. “Die!” The catfight we’d all been waiting for ended pretty quickly, but Spencer got in a few good moments of clawing before being pried off. Mona attempted to play the victim, most likely convinced that she’d gotten Spencer to do what she wanted. Still, Spencer looked infinitely cooler. Spencer could punch me in the face anytime!

Jason brought up a drunken flashback for Emily. In it, we got a glimpse of Melissa and Cece (!) talking at the spot where Alison went missing. Jason passed out on a lawn chair shortly after. He neglected to inform the police for fear of incriminating himself.

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On their way out, the two used the elevator. After the machine broke down, we witnessed what was one of the scariest moments the show has ever put up. After prying open the door, Emily would have to attempt to jump the gap (!). As if that wasn’t bad enough, the elevator kept flashing between on and off. After making it across safely, Emily struggled to hold the doors open for Jason. That is, until the elevator booted back on entirely and dropped. I’m talking free-fall! Death. R.I.P. Jason.

Kidding, Emily sent out one of those infamous “S.O.S” group texts, and the Liars dropped what they were doing to visit Jason in the hospital. Even Spencer showed up to support her big half-bro and to apologize to Emily. The photo had been stolen from Jason, but he’d survived. Someone is most definitely trying to kill the N.A.T. Club, and he’s the latest target. Just when they thought it was over, Jason disappeared!

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The episode ended with the A-Team sharing some whiskey poured out of a bottle with Spencer’s face taped to the top. They had a separate whiskey for each girl and played “spin the bottle” to determine who’d they drink. Only, they selected Spencer anyway. Toasting to her madness?

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What did you all think of Pretty Little Liars Season 3 Episode 19, “What Becomes of the Broken-Hearted”? Is crazy Spencer about to evolve into crazy-amazing Spencer leading into next week’s episode, or will the snap lead to a new level a misery? Which Fitz are you supporting? Are you glad Jason survived the big drop? Where the hell is he?

Thanks for reading my Recap and Review of Pretty Little Liars Season 3 Episode 19, “What Becomes of the Broken-Hearted”!