Pretty Little Liars - Recap: Spencer's Big Sleep

Episode 19 of Season 4 of Pretty Little Liars, “Shadow Play,” was the show’s first black-and-white special! Seriously, though, about fifteen minutes in I realized that I wasn’t actually going to be able to recap anything because the episode was essentially not real. We got one big revelation, but the actual narrative was something to be seen not read online. What I’ll try to do instead is to analyze the thoughts of Spencer (Troian Bellisario) as she slept. Here is the Recap and Review of Season 4 Episode 19 of Pretty Little Liars, “Shadow Play!” It was the black-and-white special!

Episode 19 began just as the show normally does. The Liars sans Aria (Lucy Hale) gathered to discuss the possibility that Ezra Fitz (Ian Harding) is indeed A. Funny enough, these ladies are more angry than anything else. It’s kind of hard to be terrified of a guy who wears New Balance sneakers everywhere he goes, I guess. In any case, the girls witnessed Mona (Janel Parrish) slipping in and out of Fitz’s classroom just after they’d done some snooping themselves. Immediately, they reacquired the diary that had been stolen during their trip to Ezra’s cabin. Emily (Shay Mitchell) was the first to point out later that this was quite the easy find. Had they been led into a trap yet again?

At this point, Spencer’s happy pill problem caught up to her. As she sat analyzing the book alone at home, the old film playing in the background entranced her to the point of passing out. Boom! There we were, stuck in the mind of Spencer Hastings painted as a piece of 1940s film noir. Also, just to reiterate, this is the point where things get difficult to recap, Liars. Just do yourself a favor and watch Episode 19 if you can and you’re interested in the visuals of the special.

First, Spencer seems to be internally struggling with keeping secrets from Toby (Keegan Allen). Alison (Sasha Pieterse), as symbolically represented via a mysteriously placed portrait in the Hastings’ living room, seems to be casting a dark shadow over their relationship. Remember, Toby is unaware that Alison is alive. Also, Spencer seems to be uncomfortable keeping her pill situation from her beau, though in her mind Toby was not happy about it at all. I think one of my favorite scenes during this special came later when P.I. Toby interrogated his lady in his office. They were not going to pull off this film noir special without an iconic “private investigator vs. bombshell” moment, were they? Could Spencer get away with murder?..

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Much of Spencer’s current stress, needless to say, involves keeping Aria in the dark regarding her recent discoveries. First, Ezra and Spencer had an encounter at The Brew where the man voted "Most Likely to Be A" picked up her fifteen-cent coffee. Honestly, I forgot for a moment that we were taken back in time because I literally shouted, “Fifteen cents?!” as though I could actually go to The Brew anyway. Ezra is plaguing Spencer’s mind. She knows there’s something evil about his shady ways, and she doesn’t like the condescending way in which he’s been treating her. Later, we witnessed Spencer, joined by 40s-clad Emily and Hanna (Ashley Benson), in the school bathroom as they tiptoed around the possibility that Aria could be secretly dating Fitz again. Of course, we know that she was at his cabin all throughout last week’s episode, but it seems Spencer is now officially on to her as well.

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I think my favorite 40s interpretation had to be Hanna as an old school telephone operator. I very much enjoyed that Spencer for sure knew that Hanna would have been juggling gossip with plugging the lines back in the day. I also liked that Spencer characterized this Hanna as a man-hater and accordingly had her trail Fitz and Mona for information, though she failed. Mona alerted Spencer to the blonde sitting trapped in Ezra’s apartment. There, the four folks involved chatted regarding the fact that Spencer and Hanna don’t have any impossibly incriminating proof that Ezra is the villain they think he is. Mona mixed cocktails, but the two Liars left in a hurry anyway.

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Toby also starred as Spencer’s conscience this week. She has all the pieces. She just needs to put them all together. That’s reassuring. Season 4 is almost over, and I don’t think we can take many more loose ends or convoluted plots. It’s time to simply analyze that which we already know and move on. I’m assuming, although this special was merely a for-fun interpretation of Spencer’s mind, that Pretty Little Liars didn’t waste an entire week on cool costumes and interesting hair. Ali also popped up in the Hastings house to repeat the information Toby had delivered, but with a twist. Should Ali fear Spencer? More on this later.

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Paige (Lindsey Shaw) returned this week as talk of her relationship with Shana, who remained missing, previously made Emily upset. In Spencer’s dream, the Emily and Paige had more of a romantic arc, a plot that emphasized the homophobia of the 40s and their taboo steamy romance. It was nice to see another solid love scene between these two, though. It’s been too long, even if Spencer had to dream it up for it to happen. We pretty much know that we can trust Shana for sure, by the way, considering the fact that A chased her out of town; however, the Liars do not have this information yet.

Aria’s own uncertainty in her relationship with Ezra was also highlighted during Episode 19. Obviously, Spencer hadn’t even yet figured out that Ezria was back on, but I think it’s okay to assume that some of this dream sequences reflected the internal struggles of the other Liars as well. Spencer and Aria had a talk at the café after noir Ezra revealed that he knew Ali was still alive. Aria and Ezra had this perfect romance at one point in time. He brought just the right amount of danger into her life and helped her to grow up. Now, however, something has changed, and Aria can sense it.

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The  black-and-white part of the episode closed with Hanna tracing a specific call back to Alison’s place of employment. As a club performer, Ali hid in plain sight performing three shows a night. This was a very Alison thing to do, of course, and blowing up at the Liars for showing up uninvited was also characteristic of their former leader. It was nice to see that, at least in Spencer’s mind, the girls remained united even against Alison. Ali tried to vilify Spencer, painting her as some sort of tyrant leader who uses her friends to get what she needs. Mostly, this plot was here to signify that we don’t know how much we can trust Alison yet. Is Ali just setting her old friends up or using them as pawns that are still manipulated into doing her bidding? Only time will tell, but gunfire in the back of the club sent the Liars plus Ali scurrying. Ezra appeared to make his presence known, calling out to Aria from the shadows and promising to keep her safe. As Aria treaded forward, Alison continuously pointed out Spencer’s fear and lack of guts. In her efforts to protect her friend, she could be letting her sleep with danger. Luckily, Ezra was rendered unconscious by Toby the conquering hero, and the Liars drove off, still unwilling to confess the whole truth to Aria.

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Boom! Back to real world with one last piece of advice from noir Toby, who was way more useful than plain-old carpenter Toby. It’s not about the book, it’s about the pages. "LOOK AT THE PAGES!!!" Okay, Toby. Spencer, back in her 2014 kitchen, realized that she’d subconsciously figured out that she could compare the returned diary with the photos she’d snapped on her phone. Sharing the news with Hanna and Emily, the group now knows that seemingly unimportant changes had been made. Those changes, when coupled with Spencer’s original copies, point out exactly who, what, where, when, and why. A inadvertently pointed out exactly what he needs to hide. With no time to spare, the trio ran over to Aria’s house to find their friend canoodling with Ezra inside. Suddenly, this all looks like a substantially more difficult situation.

What did you think of Pretty Little Liars Season 4 Episode 19, “Shadow Play”? Did you like the film noir twist in this black-and-white special? Just how evil is Ezra, and why, if it’s true, do you think he tried to kill Alison? (My guess is that he thought he got her pregnant. His family had already swept the Maggie situation under the rug financially, and he wouldn’t be given another pass.) How will Aria handle all of this when all is revealed next week?

Thanks for reading my Recap and Review of Pretty Little Liars Season 4 Episode 19, “Shadow Play”!