Pretty Little Liars - Recap: I Know Why The Caged Bird Rings

Let us begin this week’s recap and review. Episode 2 of Season 4 also brought a new woman into our lives. Tippy the sassy parrot spent enough time with Alison to fill her feathers with secrets. Of course the fact that she manages to squawk almost as annoyingly as Ali certainly threw a new thorn in Spencer’s (Troian Bellisario) side. Emily, meanwhile, found herself looped out on painkillers, while Hanna (Ashley Benson) began questioning her mother’s involvement in Wilden’s murder. Of course, the show did a bang-up job of making Ashley Marin (Laura Leighton) look like a terrifying psychopath with the help of shadowy lighting, blank stares, and a glass of pinot grigio.

“Turn of the Shoe” opened with our four original Liars rehashing the lodge night fire with the use of common grill grub. Clever Spencer knew Hanna’s mozzarella stick would make the perfect plane, while Aria’s fries were adequately used as the wooden walls. Could “Ali” have gotten to the lodge in time to pull the girls from the flames, or had Spencer seen another person all together? Following the discovery of Ashley’s phone in Wilden’s casket, Hanna rescinded the virtual peace treaty she’d signed with Mona following the latter’s choice to selflessly hand over the incriminating cop car video chip. Mona, in a last-ditch effort to gain the trust of the Liars, agreed to allow them to scour her RV all they liked, promising to be firmly planted on their team. Unfortunately, the RV had previously been carjacked by Toby (Keegan Allen), unbeknownst to them.

ABC Family "Pretty Little Liars"

Things weren’t initially looking up for the former A, as Mona had no proof that she hadn’t moved the Winnebago herself. Mona took to the front seat of her car, alone, to sulk for a moment. Thankfully, a near death experience would occur to seemingly switch the Liars’ minds. Mona went from sad to strangled in a matter of seconds, as our latest villainess, whom I shall dub “Ali China Doll Face,” materialized from the darkness of the back seat of Mona’s car, squeezing the life from her throat. Mona managed to struggle her way back out into the dirt road just in time for Aria (Lucy Hale) and Emily to run to her rescue. Of course, the three weren’t behind the wheel of the charging car, so in an effort to save their skins, Emily tackled the littlest Liars out of the way, smashing her shoulder in the process. In other news; what a waste of gas. Haven’t these girls ever heard of carpooling?

Mona nearly died, but who cares, really, when we consider what would come next? Spencer was rejected from UPenn! Panic, panic, I must take a moment. I know Melissa is our top suspect at the moment, but I couldn’t help but think that for a bit there, Spencer probably stopped wondering if her sister had tried to kill her friends on several occasions and just felt lame about not being able to stick it to her with a matching Penn acceptance letter. Also, we don’t even truly know if Spencer applied. Remember, Cece Drake handed her application in for her. How could Spencer not get into her dream school?

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In an effort to keep Ezra (Ian Harding) relevant, Pretty Little Liars allowed Spencer to keep her animosity and disappointment bottled up just until she had a minute alone with Fitz. I guess venting to your English teacher about a college rejection does make sense, although we know Mr. Fitz will always truly be Mr. Aria Montgomery. Ezra offered Spencer a shoulder to cry on, but not literally because, I mean, prison; however, he did reach out to give Spencer advice on her next string of college application essays. Of course I was Team Hastings in the battle between whether or not she should get emotional and raw in her responses. Fitz recommended she leave out all of dead friend, A stalking, and total mental breakdown nonsense in favor of, well, who knows what. In truth, I agree with Spencer that colleges, at least how I remember things, love stories about survival and strength. This girl in the leader of the Pretty Little Liars! Write, Spencer! Write!

Toby was certainly ready to hand Spencer new material. How about the gift-wrapped bomb of having your boyfriend reveal that he sold all of your deepest darkest secrets to a psychopathic stalker in exchange for information on his mom, who’s already dead? Write, Spencer! Write! In reality, Toby had been carrying around the burden of not knowing whether or not his mother actually killed herself in Radley. The hospital transcript sent over from A certainly seemed to shed some light. Mrs. Cavanaugh seemed to be healing and hoping to get to a place where she could make up the time wasted away from Toby. Spencer called bull on A’s source, while Toby chose to go the opposite route. Was his mother pushed from a hospital window that evening? We’ll have to wait and see how this puzzle unfolds, but for now, Spencer agreed to keep her beau’s secret. Let’s be real, though. This show loves to make Keegan Allen cry, so this will surely be a long and winding road for Toby.

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A light hug from Paige (Lindsay Shaw) nearly knocked Emily unconscious. No, not merely because Paige is looking hotter than ever, but because Emily’s shoulder situation was not turning out well. With a big meet only a few days away, Emily secretly turned to powerful painkillers as a temporary fix. Rather than dragging Paige back into the A-game, Emily chose to deal with the immense pain on her own. As she sat reeling, Paige shared a new 3D model of their future dorm room that she just casually drew up on her computer. I forgot college dorm rooms are like massive New York apartments on television. I basically slept in a prison cell for a few years while I was away at school.

Hanna, fed up with all of the shady women in her life, reached that boiling point this week. You remember, that point she gets to during every season where she simply snaps and rips whomever is closest and bitchiest a new one. Episode 2 of Season 4, and we’re here! Unlucky day for you, Shana (Aeriel Miranda). I do often find myself wondering why these Liars don’t approach their enemies more directly more often, so I was onboard with the entire #GoHanna moment this week. Am I right? Why not just straight-up ask these people what they want or what they’re doing? They’ve seen footage of Shana rescuing Wilden. Emily’s personally witnessed her bickering with Melissa and Jenna. She was a stranger to Hanna until just a few episodes ago, so why wouldn’t Marin crank the sass meter up to ten and embarrass her a bit?

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Shana decided to take her frustrations out on Emily in the locker room before the swim meet. With one spot left at Stanford, Shana was Emily’s stiffest competition, and she was happy to rub it in Fields’ face just before the race. Emily, in an effort to solidify her place on top, downed a few extra pills. Who didn’t see where this was going? Emily lost track of her count while swimming, only to crack her head on the opposite wall. After being disqualified, Emily and Paige finally had the heart-to-heart they needed. Emily revealed the return of A and her motives to protect Paige. Remember when Paige kicked the crap out of Wilden on the A-Train? Yeah, we know that now. I think Paige will be just fine.

ABC Family "Pretty Little Liars"

ABC Family "Pretty Little Liars"

Thank you, Aria, for deciding to take private self-defense lessons. Why has it taken you girls this long to figure out that learning martial arts is probably an excellent idea? Season 4 Aria needs a fight scene. More importantly, maybe, is that Aria officially has a new viable love interest. Holden couldn’t cut it, I’m assuming. Jake (Ryan Guzman) was Aria’s instructor one moment and Aria’s kissing buddy the next. Well, it was more like Aria sucked on his lip for a second before panicking and running out of his dojo. Later that evening, Jake would show up at her home (Jake, are you A?) to talk.

Maybe you’re not comfortable with the whole student/ teacher thing?

Did that do it for Aria? She accepted the invitation to a coffee date with Jake. Here’s what I like about Jake, already. Ezra was always emotionally available, but he never really asked questions or prompted Aria to think about herself or what she needs outside of their relationship. Jake is already stimulating her in both departments.

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Remember that plot line from last season where we discovered that Ali’s mother (Andrea Parker) hates Hanna for falsely reporting seeing Alison after her disappearance? Well, maybe in all of her presumed craziness she forgot all about that, because she seemed pretty excited to catch a glimpse of Hanna outside of Spencer’s house next door. In what was one of the creepiest flashback sequences the show has ever put up, Ali’s mom recalled a lunch date where Alison begged to use their Cape May house for a girl’s weekend to close out summer. After her mother, who apparently has issues with alcohol, refused to let her teenage daughter take a mini vacation without supervision, Ali held her breath until nearly passing out. When it came to deciding between giving Ali the house or watching her pass out onto the concrete, Mrs. DiLaurentis gave in. Crazy certainly runs in that family. It’s becoming clearer and clearer. Hanna noted that she’d never actually been invited to Cape May.

More importantly, Hanna was introduced to Tippy, Ali’s former best feathered friend. This bird spoke just like Alison, even revealing little bits of conversation it’d overheard from being roommates with the girl. Long story short, Hanna made an impulse decision to become a pet owner, taking the obnoxious bird off of Ali’s mother’s hands. Mrs. DiLaurentis allegedly has enough voices swirling around her brain. Of course, my favorite part about Hanna thinking to swipe the bird was that she saddled Spencer with it.

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Tippy continuously whistled a tune that seemed like nothing of importance at first. That is, until Spencer pieced together that the bird was actually whistling the tones to a phone keypad. Alison must have made some obsessive calls to a certain “Mr. Board Shorts.” Spencer managed to derive the number, but whoever was on the other end of the line refused to bite. Maybe she’d taken down an incorrect guess? (Impossible, she's Spencer Hastings.) Too bad someone snuck into her room and helped Tippy to fly the coop.

Mona had managed to eavesdrop on a few private investigators outside of the police station. Apparently, Wilden’s footprints at the scene of the crime were coupled with those of a woman in very high heels. First, Ashley Marin played dumb with regard to Hanna’s return of her cell, “guessing” that she must of left it on the hotel lobby desk just prior to her check-out. We, of course, know that the phone had been missing for the entire trip. In addition, Hanna found a pair of very mud-caked heels wrapped up in a bag under her sink. Hanna had no choice but to quietly ask if her mother had, well, killed someone. Ashley denied, but the final scene this week showcased her nighttime disposal of said heels. Uh oh, Marins. you're always getting yourselves into trouble!

Season 4 Episode 2, “Turn of the Shoe,” closed with our latest cloaked villain *gulp* slicing up a personal portion of “chicken”… only to feed it to Tippy.

What did you think of Pretty Little Liars, Season 4 Episode 2, “Turn of the Shoe”? Is Ashley Marin a murderer? Do you like Aria’s new love interest? Has Emily blown her future in California with Paige? Will the quest to learn the truth about his mother’s death drive Spoby apart? Is Tippy a cannibal?

Thanks for reading my Recap and Review of Pretty Little Liars, Season 4 Episode 2, “Turn of the Shoe”!