Pretty Little Liars - Recap: Happy Birthday, Emily?

Episode 9 of Season 4 of Pretty Little Liars, “Into the Deep,” was another slow cooker. Most of the episode surrounded quiet tip-toeing around and eaves dropping for answers. Of course, everything came to a head when a bloody body floated into the scene of Emily’s (Shay Mitchell) surprise birthday party. Haven’t these girls learned to avoid lake houses by now? Nothing good can come from spending the night in a densely wooded area that’s basically enveloped by pitch-black water. With Toby and Caleb still out of the picture, it seems it was Paige’s (Lindsay Shaw) turn to screw things up for her boo, Emily. Seriously, was that not the worst birthday present you’ve ever witnessed? Here is the Recap and Review of Season 4 Episode 9 of Pretty Little Liars, “Into the Deep,” along with some video clips to refresh your memory!

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The episode opened with Mona’s (Janel Parrish) fifth repeat of her confession down at the station. Remember, Mona had previously turned herself in, falsely admitting to murdering Detective Wilden; however, at least according to Veronica Hastings (Lesley Fera), some of the evidence simply didn’t match up. For example, we witnessed Mona claiming to have shot Wilden twice, disagreeing with the officer interrogating her who’d suggested Wilden was shot three times. Thus, we can deduce that Mona has some tricks up her black hoodie sleeve, but was that ever really not the case? Springing Ashley Marin (Laura Leighton) from the slammer for Hanna’s (Ashley Benson) sake is one thing, but moving forward with her plans to reveal Red Coat and possibly reclaim her status as the one and only original A is of another priority level entirely. Man, I hope Pretty Little Liars never nixes Mona. She’s probably the most entertaining person to watch at this point.

Speaking of Hanna’s mother, Mona’s case, although seemingly purposely filled with holes, was enough to award Ashley the right to bail… set at $1 million. Much of the first half of Episode 9 showcased Hanna’s plight to find the $100k necessary to free her mother once and for all.

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After pleas through her father’s voicemail fell on deaf ears, Hanna would find solace in Pastor Ted, whom she coincidentally bumped into while wiping away tears on a park bench. Ted reminded Hanna to have faith, but what’s faith in the truth and the good in people when cold hard cash is on the line? Surprise! The universe works in mysterious ways, and Ashley was returned home to the Marin residence by Mrs. Hastings. Someone had offered the bail anonymously. With an ankle monitor keeping Ashley confined to her home, it seemed Hanna could breathe easy, if only for a moment. The monitor came with rules, and besides the unfortunate location constraints, Ashley was banned from ingesting… chardonnay. How will she survive?!

In other news, Paige’s early birthday present to Emily was what seemed to be a coveted meeting with an elite champion-making swim coach. Emily made the journey to sit down with the man, promising this Dominic that her work ethic remained intact following her devastating shoulder injury. What was that, Emily? Paige failed to mention to the coach, who had seemed very willing to train Emily should she commit the time, that her girlfriend had been sitting around waiting for a rotator cuff injury to heal. Just like that, Emily’s dreams of earning future swimming scholarships were dashed to pieces. Happy birthday, Emily? Love, Paige!

Meanwhile, Spencer (Troian Bellisario) chatted Aria’s (Lucy Hale) ear off via phone chat while the little’s Liar inquisitively gazed at Jake (Ryan Guzman), who stirred awake shirtless on her living room sofa. “Who’s Ezra,” wondered Aria. “Was it Ezra? Elliot? Elmo?..” In any case, Spencer seemed distraught to hear that Jake had started his rise and grind routine form Aria’s couch. Aria’s so tiny. “There’s room in your attic bed for a martial arts instructor!” Hastings reminded Montgomery. Of course, we didn't actually get to listen, I'm just stating the obvious.

More importantly, following Aria’s big reveal that her birthday present to Emily would be a picture that she’d taken herself, granted, a picture of Paige and Emily in swimsuits, she and Spencer would catch wind of a conversation between Shana (Aeriel Miranda) and Jenna (Tammin Sursock) in which Jenna, who’s eyesight has apparently rapidly degraded back to virtual blindness, revealed an intense fear of some looming woman of doom… someone who knows something about Alison, or, well, someone who is Alison. The problem with this situation was that Shana seemed to be playing “seeing eye dog” for Jenna,” and Shana is a pit bull.  With Paige planning a surprise birthday party for Emily under the guise of a quiet evening alone at her aunt’s lake house, the two would have the perfect scene set to trap Jenna and her new friend.

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Paige worked Aria and Spencer like dogs, ensuring that the melon platter was perfectly in place for the guests’ arrivals. Aria and Spencer were also privy to the need to make sure no bongs were made from Paige’s aunt’s home décor. Their efforts, however, paid off, as Paige promised to lure Shana and Jenna onto the scene. Seriously, Shana really fell for Paige’s lie that their swim coach would be attending a house party where students were looking to make bongs out of teakettles? Meanwhile, as the crowd began to form, Aria was caught off guard by the surprising sight of Jake… and a tall blond. In fact, Aria was so flabbergasted that she nearly forgot to hide when Emily arrived. Fields stormed into the house in a huff, immediately flaying Paige for neglecting to inform Dominic of her injury. SURPRISE! I was sure Pretty Little Liars was going to allow Emily to air all of her dirty laundry in a massive tirade here, but she barely got out that one little bit of information before the entire party jumped out of the shadows. Don’t these people know a hot piece of gossip when it’s dropped right in their laps?

Jenna merely wanted to make her rounds and leave, maybe *gasp* even skipping the cake, but Spencer was adamant in attempting to corner the girl without Shana on her arm. Drumming up a scheme to wrangle the swim team, alone and outside, for a group photo, Aria would simply need to keep an eye on Jenna in order to prevent her from leaving. Of course, Aria’s seething jealousy over Jake’s hot new thing was a distraction. Inevitably, the two had a one-on-one interaction in which the dude expressed his confusion. Aria refused to invite him to the party, yet got upset when someone else did. By the way; bye, Jenna! Not so fast, though. Having entered panic mode, Aria decided to outright confront Marshall, pleading with her to hand over any information she had surrounding her probably dead/ maybe alive friend, Ali. Unfortunately, Paige’s cake cutting ceremony would put an end to the interrogation before it even got started.

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Paige and Emily, who’d refused to even partake in the party activities and instead chose to, you guessed it, mope by the lake in the dark alone, ended up having a heart-to-heartbreak kind of a conversation outside. Paige admitted via her deafening silence that part of the reason why she’d been so unwavering in her support for Emily’s swim career was because of her own insecurities surrounding the possibility of a future college separation. The two admitted to realizing that if Emily fails to attend Stanford with Paige, their thriving romance would come to a screeching halt.

As all of this was unfolding, Hanna and her mother enjoyed their time at home together. In fact, Pastor Ted even stopped by with pie, looking to console Ashley following her time locked up. Ashley always finds a sense of comfort in Ted. I’m sure six pieces of pie helped ease the burden of the lack of chardonnay in her system. More importantly, Ashley confided in Ted surrounding her dark history with Wilden. Even though she did not, indeed, kill the man, she very easily could have, to which Ted replied, “We all have our breaking point.” Ted left with a smooth *wink, wink, nudge, nudge* of a line that hinted very much so that he’d been the one to pay her bail. Hanna was, needless to say, disappointed her father hadn’t come through to save the day, but grateful to Ted in any case. Hmm… Could Ted be hiding something? Was threatening Ashley Marin his own breaking point?..

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Before I recap and review the close of the episode, it’s also important to note that we spent some time alone with Ezra (Ian Harding) this week. “Into the Deep” saw Ezra feuding with Maggie, the mother of his son, as she’d agreed to take a job across the country at the University of Washington. Basically, she filled Ezra in on the fact that he’d no longer be seeing Malcolm, to which Ezra responded with a visit to Spencer’s mother, the unflappable lawyer extraordinaire, Veronica. If Ezra’s name isn’t on the birth certificate, in conjunction with the fact that Maggie neglected to introduce Ezra to his son for the first seven years of his life, he’d have no case to legally fight for custody. Of course, there’s always the option of a paternity test. Immediately, the pretty little light bulb went off in my own twisted head. This boy is not Ezra’s child, I’m guessing. In fact, I'm certain. What a clever way to write off Ezra’s dead weight just as Aria is beginning to get cozier with Jake. Also, as I’ve said before, Ezra can’t be A with a kid. Pretty Little Liars would never do that to an innocent child, or would they?..

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A red flag was sent up to Aria and Emily once they realized that Spencer had been missing for some time. Of course, the sight of a brunette body floating face down in the lake was enough to send Emily into a dizzying panic. Spencer, however, was safe on the shore. It was Jenna who nearly swam with the fishes this week. The ambulance arrived in time to save Jenna’s life, but she would close out Episode 9 unconscious in the hospital. Aria, on the other hand, would finish her Episode 9 arc by swapping spit with Jake on her living room couch. After he’d been let in on the insanity plaguing Aria’s life, it seemed to be enough to push the littlest Liar into his arms.

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At the hospital, a frantic Spencer would encounter Shana, yet again, but Jenna’s near death experience was enough to send Hastings into desperate territory. Begging Shana for clues as to who it was that Jenna feared so much, Shana, quite dramatically turned back before heading into Jenna’s hospital room… It’s Cece Drake.

Who do we think clunked Jenna on the head, leaving her bleeding and drowning in the middle of an awful surprise party? Everyone from Jake to Spencer to Shana seemed to be floating around the area when Jenna “fell” into the dark water. Most likely, it was someone cloaked in black or red. There has to be something more to this Cece Drake storyline. She’s never been that compelling as a character, even as a villain, on her own. If this truly is her pulling the strings, I’m guessing that she’s Alison’s sister. By the end of the episode, we’d catch a glimpse of Red Coat sneaking under the porch of Alison’s mother’s home. Wouldn’t that be kind of a creepy? A long-lost, crazy, sinister sister who lives under the porch of her family’s home?

On the other hand, A, cloaked in black, closed out the episode by spilling red wine (Meaning, he/ she is a grown adult) and playing “Any Time” on the piano (So A is musical!) before “mailing” the sheet music to Toby. Not so fast, though, A… Mona is back in Radley, and that signature smirk of hers says that her plan is working out perfectly. Home sweet home, original A.

What did you think of Pretty Little Liars, Season 4 Episode 9, “Into the Deep”? What does Mona have up her black hoodie sleeve? What does Toby’s mother have to do with this? Is Cece really behind all of this? Are Jenna and Shana enemies to the Liars, or unknowing allies? Is Ashley Marin still in trouble? Is Malcolm Ezra’s son? When will Emily stop glooming up the show with all of that moping? Oh, Happy Birthday, Emily!

Thanks for reading my Recap and Review of Pretty Little Liars, Season 4 Episode 9, “Into the Deep,” complete with video clips!