S05.E18: Oh, What Hard Luck Stories They All Hand Me

[AmandaPanda]

Aria, Emily, Hanna and Spencer have been burned before by newcomers to Rosewood, so it's no surprise the four ladies are wary when someone new crosses their path. Spencer lets down her guard a bit as she spends more time with Jonny, and Emily continues to try and figure out Talia as she keeps getting mixed signals from her co-workers. When Mona's friend Lesli shows up in town, Hanna is tasked to get her back story and find out if Lesli is really who she says she is. Are the girls wise to keep an eye on everyone, or can they allow a bit of comfort room without worrying it is an "A" trap? Meanwhile, Aria becomes concerned about Mike's recent behavior and Holbrook returns to town.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtrnvQtjwpk

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Clips:

 

 

 

[AmandaPanda]

"A $200 commission." Good, maybe you can go buy your own eggs and get off my TV.

[Crim]

What is up with so many new characters now?

 

Mona, improving people even from the grave. Show, I will never forgive you the fact that she is dead while Ezra, Toby, Jena and Other Jenna are alive.

 

Holbrook is officially the new Wilden. Boooorrrring.

[scarletregina]

What is up with so many new characters now?

 

Mona, improving people even from the grave. Show, I will never forgive you the fact that she is dead while Ezra, Toby, Jena and Other Jenna are alive.

 

Holbrook is officially the new Wilden. Boooorrrring.

 

I can't figure out why they did this. First Wilden was the creeper cop, then Garrett and now Holbrook. The story is convoluted enough without all of these other police officers. 

 

Wilden was tied to the NAT club (does anyone on the show remember that was a thing?), it doesn't make sense for them to have killed him off. 

 

I don't feel like Garrett, despite his relationship with Jenna, or Holbrook have any real ties to the story. They seem shoehorned in.

Edited January 28, 2015 by scarletregina

[mercfan3]

Garrett was also part of the NAT club. I still think that's tied in there. 

 

Gut feeling is Wilden is actually not a creep cop. (I mean..creepy in that he was kissing Allison, but that's not any creepier than any of the other guys minus Caleb and Emily's dad.) 

 

Oh, speaking of Caleb..there he goes again, being a better boyfriend to one of the other girls than said girl's actual boyfriend/girlfriend. 

 

I like new dude...and I think I could like new girl..but I have to give it time. 

[scarletregina]

Ah, thanks for the reminder about Garrett and NAT.

 

 

[cuddlingcrowley]

Wilden was tied to the NAT club (does anyone on the show remember that was a thing?), it doesn't make sense for them to have killed him off.

 

 

I miss Wilden. I always enjoyed the hell out of his scenes with Hanna. They had an interesting history with his involvement with Hanna's mom and the Nat club of course. 

 

 

 

Gut feeling is Wilden is actually not a creep cop. (I mean..creepy in that he was kissing Allison, but that's not any creepier than any of the other guys minus Caleb and Emily's dad.)

 

I was gonna ask if you actually mean Holbrook with the kissing Ali thing then I realized Wilden macked out Ali was well right?

 

But do you mean Holbrook here? Because if yes, then I also have a feeling he might not be corrupt and that Tanner and him are working on something together.

[mercfan3]

Yea sorry, I meant Holbrook. Wilden is obviously a creep. 

 

We didn't actually see him kiss Ali right? We saw Ali kiss a santa, and Holbrook was a santa. 

[dwmckim]

Well, yes and no.  Holbrook was the one kissing Ali when they filmed the scene and publicity photos for the episode showed Santa Holbrook kissing Ali, but in the episode's final edit, he never turned around enough to where the viewer could see it was Holbrook.

[mercfan3]

Okay then. As far as I'm concerned, it may or may not have been Holbrook. 

 

Don't forget, they filmed 3 different edits of the scene when Toby was A. (Caleb and Paige also filmed it). Just so it couldn't be spoiled. That's not to say Holbrook wasn't their intention (and they planted the "he likes younger girls" seed early on, with his comment about Hanna), but it's not truly established in the story. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Yes, right now it's the PLLs (and their boyfriends) jumping to that conclusion, despite the fact that we (and they) saw more than one guy dressed as Santa at the party.

[Crim]

Well, he also acted and looked like a creep when Aria bumped into him. The show wants us to believe it is Holbrook. Of course, him or not, it's likely that the Liars are wrong anyway, because Ali is not A (at least right now).

[Chaos Theory]

This whole town is strung together by whispers.

 

The Liars should know by now when someone says "I don't want to get you into trouble" they are trying to get you into trouble

 

I thought it was funny that Spencer had to look twice to check to see if it was her mother.  What has it been two seasons since we have seen her last?  

 

So what are Mona's three wishes my guesses:   a stop watch, Adrenalized Hyperreality, & a never-ending hoodie supply

[superman1204]

The scene with Hanna and Holbrook was awesome.  Ashley Benson should get to play badass more often.   Also I love how someone on the creative team realized that if they are going to repeat Wilden's storylines with Holbrook they at least need to change the tone of the scenes.

 

Other than that nothing too interesting.

 

I didn't get what Emily meant when she was 'whispering' to Talia and she talked about being lonely because she was so good at something.  I assume she is was talking about swimming but I thought if anything being a good swimmer would have helped Emily make friends.  The only reason she wasn't popular on her own was because she wasn't very outgoing and she was uncomfortable with her sexuality.  I could have seen Spencer saying that to someone, because I could totally see Spencer alienating people with her need to do destroy academics but Emily honestly just seems like an average girl who has something she is good at.

[flyingexpectations]

Did anyone else immediately think of that Nickelodeon movie Clockstoppers when Mona described her watch?  

[ottoDbusdriver]

So what are Mona's three wishes my guesses:   a stop watch, Adrenalized Hyperreality, & a never-ending hoodie supply

 

I'm assuming that Mona watched 'Clockstoppers' at some point.  (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0157472/)

 

ETA:  @flyingexpectations beat me to it.

Edited February 4, 2015 by ottoDbusdriver

[Dusty]

So...Mike is a fan of The Great Gatsby?  I could only focus on the stupid green light at the end of the dock during that scene.  I've written stupid papers on that stupid green light.

[GaT]

Kind of a boring episode, except for You Go Hanna! Loved her Holbrook takedown. That whisper machine thingy seemed like a waste of time to me, the only reason I can think of for spending so much time on it is one of the liars will be conveniently sitting in the chair with her elbows in the correct spot & her hands cupped around her ears, when somebody whispers something important & she hears it. And then we'll have another red herring to add to the collection.

 

Does Leslie look like Mona to anybody else? At first I wondered if that was actually Janel Parrish made up to look like someone else, but it's not. Still looks like her to me though.

 

It feels like the writers have no plot & they're just trying to get through the season. 5 episodes of "What is Mike doing?" is not going to be interesting to me. 

[dwmckim]

Kind of a boring episode, except for You Go Hanna! Loved her Holbrook takedown. That whisper machine thingy seemed like a waste of time to me, the only reason I can think of for spending so much time on it is one of the liars will be conveniently sitting in the chair with her elbows in the correct spot & her hands cupped around her ears, when somebody whispers something important & she hears it. And then we'll have another red herring to add to the collection.

 

Does Leslie look like Mona to anybody else? At first I wondered if that was actually Janel Parrish made up to look like someone else, but it's not. Still looks like her to me though.

 

It feels like the writers have no plot & they're just trying to get through the season. 5 episodes of "What is Mike doing?" is not going to be interesting to me. 

 

That's actually probably not too far off.  At the start, tptb typically mentioned they figured on the show going five seasons.  When they learned they got picked up for not just one more, but two more years, the writing team probably had to adjust from the goal of working towards the conclusion/wrapping things up to stretching things out.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Oh, Aria, you are so dumb to think that telling Mike not to visit Ali in jail again would have any kind of effect. She really overestimates her power as a big sister.

 

I loved Hanna's scene with Holbrook. Not only did she tell him that he could have chosen not to follow Ali's orders, but she also told him that he's the grown up in this scenario so he's not allowed to play the victim AND she racked him pretty good.

 

Caleb is awesome. I love how whenever he has a scene with any of the non-Hanna liars, he is still the best boyfriend in the world. He was great with Spencer a few weeks ago and this week he was awesome with Emily. But Talia has got to go. She's creeping on Emily but in the most boring way possible. It's Rosewood so if you're going to get your perv on, then really commit to it! Talk to Ezra if you need some pointers. Ha, hilarious when Aria had no idea that Ezra was gone and she tried to play it off but Emily flat out asked if Ezra didn't tell her he was going out of town.

 

Johnny is not interesting to me at all either. I know he's supposed to be all artsy and smart and alternative but I just don't care.

 

Lesley, on the other hand, is sketchy as hell. It cracks me up that PLL is going the tried and true method of nerding someone up by casting a pretty girl and then slapping some huge glasses and dorky clothes on her (which is the same thing they do with flashback Mona).

 

Mona's doll collection was creeping me out every time there was a scene in her bedroom. I want to hear what else was on that tape!

 

Did anyone else immediately think of that Nickelodeon movie Clockstoppers when Mona described her watch?

I thought Mona had been watching old episodes of Out of this World or Saved by the Bell. I bet she would really love to have Hermione's time turner for maximum mischief making.

[SadieT]

It feels like the writers have no plot & they're just trying to get through the season. 5 episodes of "What is Mike doing?" is not going to be interesting to me. 

 

I agree. This Mike thing just seems like pointless filler. They'll spend several episodes making him look super shady just to reveal he's not shady at all and just had some other ridiculous ulterior motive... like being blackmailed, or being a double agent, or protecting a loved one, or writing a stupid book.

 

My guess is he's trying to protect his sister in the way he wasn't able to protect his girlfriend. Or he's trying to find out where Mona's body is. Or A is somehow using Mona's death to blackmail him into helping. It doesn't even matter but it's likely something stupid that won't matter by the end of the season once his not-evil plan is revealed.  

 

And when he tells Aria, "be careful going home through the woods" all intense like he's threatening her, he's probably just warning his dumb ass sister to stop traipsing through the woods alone late at night when there's someone trying to kill her. 

 

I do hope he was the one who wrapped Aria in plastic wrap and nail gunned her to the wall in the bookstore so he could steal Mona's laptop though (maybe because he thought she was in danger while she had it), because it would be kind of funny to find out Aria's scary A run-in was actually just her brother trying to keep her alive. He was the one who sent her the text to lure her there to pick him up and then never showed. 

 

We all know little Mike Montgomery isn't going to be the mastermind behind the whole A plot so why do we have to waste time on this. I'm tired of these fake outs and red herrings and twists everyone saw coming. It's obvious the writers are just bidding time until the big reveal at the end of the series, but it's like they're not even trying anymore. And until it's time for the reveal they're just going to throw every fake out possible at us, making everyone and their mom in Rosewood look like they could be A but then turn around and say, "nope, not them either" before moving on to the next one. 

Edited February 4, 2015 by SadieT

[Kaboom 2.0]

Where the hell is Noel Kahn?!

 

This ep totally bored me. I have no interest in that Jonny person, Talia is quickly ascending to Ezra-levels creep in my eyes, Mike acting shady is what we all know going to be nothing but yet another red herring.

 

Two highlights for me: Caleb being the best boyfriend ever to not just our Hanna but to the other Liars as well. And of course Hanna telling Holbrooke off and actually harming him.

 

Oh and Mona's dolls are soooo creepy.

[dwmckim]

Oh, Aria, you are so dumb to think that telling Mike not to visit Ali in jail again would have any kind of effect. She really overestimates her power as a big sister.

 

Lesley, on the other hand, is sketchy as hell. It cracks me up that PLL is going the tried and true method of nerding someone up by casting a pretty girl and then slapping some huge glasses and dorky clothes on her (which is the same thing they do with flashback Mona).

And Aria learns nothing from her father who pointed out the fastest way to encourage Mike dating Mona would be to tell him not to do it.  How quickly we forget!

 

Despite her glasses, I didn't get nerd vibe from Lesli's looks, on her they actually looked really chic (glasses doesn't always instantly equal nerdy) plus her wardrobe was actually really stylin'!  The overall thing I took from her appearance was between the glasses and the style/color of her hair (like it could be a wig), she looked like someone who has semi-disguising herself.

 

...But indeed, though i thought Lesli was an exception, i too find the trope of putting g;asses on otherwise fine looking person = instanerd gets ridiculous.  Andrew Campbell, anyone?

Edited February 4, 2015 by dwmckim

[FineWashables]

I enjoyed that there weren't any dramatic A messages.  It's interesting to see the plot broaden out just a bit.  I'm intrigued by the return of whichever bad cop it is they've got now -- there does seem to be an endless supply of them, no?  Loved the scene between him and Hanna.  Good plotline.  Also enjoying being creeped out by the dolls.  Wish they'd come up with an excuse to go back to that scary doll hospital from an earlier season.  Or the mask guy's workshop.

 

Don't care about Emily's new romance except to say that I'm not warming up to this new girl at all.  She's just not interesting.  

 

Really don't care about Jonny.  He's just so -- random.  And the ultimate sin on PLL: not attractive.  I really don't want to see Spencer fall for him.  More Toby and less whoever-the-hell this guy is, please.

 

Lesli's storyline is much more interesting.  She can't possibly be as sweet as she seems.  There was a lot more going on with Mona than just a sugar-sweet friend, even Mike said so, which leaves me wondering what Lesli's agenda is.

 

Having a hard time buying Mike as an evil, tortured genius.  Just me?

 

What the hell kind of chiffon scarfy number was Aria wearing to hike to the cabin and then into the woods?  Bizarre choice, even for Aria.

 

 

[ottoDbusdriver]

Lesli's storyline is much more interesting.  She can't possibly be as sweet as she seems.  There was a lot more going on with Mona than just a sugar-sweet friend, even Mike said so, which leaves me wondering what Lesli's agenda is.

 

Leslie is likely working for A -- of course she is.  A close family friend of Mona's that Mona never ever mentioned to Hannah. And could Leslie speak in a more monotone unemotional voice.  Never did see Mrs. Van der Waal in this episode so Leslie may have just moved in.  It's also kind of surprising that Mike had no idea who Leslie was.

[Primetimer]

Talia gets an attack of shy, when all Emily wants to do is whisper in her ear via a machine at The Brew that's totally gonna get a latte spilled on it.

Read the story

[Writing Wrongs]

What happened to Aria and Mike's parents? Or Emily's? They must love Laura Leighton, because she's the only consistent parent on the show.

 

 

It feels like the writers have no plot & they're just trying to get through the season.

That sums up every season lately.

[Artsda]

This episode was boring. 

 

Ezra leaving town without telling Aria and Hannah's attack on Holbrook were the best parts.

[joelene]

God, can't the writers let these girls be without a love interest for five minutes? Or throw them a potential new one at the first sign of trouble with their current love interest? I mean it's nice to have had a lesbian character with so many girlfriends but at this point I couldn't give less of a fuck.

Is there anything in this show that isn't filler at this point?

[Crim]

Emily was so smoooooth in this episode. I actually lol-ed at the final scene. Well played, show.

 

Hanna was bad ass and that shot of her eyes in the mirror made me pause and take a few deep, deep breaths.

 

Nothing else was even remotely interesting in this episode. The Mike storyline I find not only boring, but actively irritating, because all I can think about is how no one is telling Aria to get the fuck over herself and suspect Mike, like the others would have (and did) if it were someone in their life. Also, Aria could have reminded Mike that they are not playing sulky teenagers here - she too might be at risk for murdering or jail time or any such things. It's like she didn't even consider the possibility of emotionally blackmailing him into being on her side. And this is why Ali is awesome to watch, because she would have gone there, anywhere, everywhere.

 

Good thing that the show put it out in the open that the Lesli(e?) thing is totally a rehash of CeCe... except that CeCe isn't "the last time" this thing happened: the last time was Shana. Shana and Leslie are also more similar in that they are both out-of-town friends that met when Ali / Mona visited family, which is different from everything about Ali and CeCe. To me, it felt like the writers were actually trying to mask how much of a rehash this is by bringing up CeCe.

 

ETA: I wonder if there is any evidence that Bethany was talking about Ali in the rest of that tape. The Liars assumed so from the start, and what we did hear was definitely not definite proof.

Edited February 4, 2015 by Crim

[hqtextbook]

Hanna telling Holbrook (something like ) "you're the adult male and she's just a girl" might be the best thing this show has done since that CTRL-A joke. FINALLY! Someone acknowledges the male predictor problem in this town and stands up to it! I would pay money to see hanna give Aria a little talk about abusive males in authority positions.

[Jack Shaftoe]

This might well have been the most boring PLL episode as far as I am concerned. I can't even summon much energy to bash because it was so bland I can hardly remember what happened even though I just finished watching it. So much silliness:

 - Emily wondering if Talia was into her, never mind the latter specifically told her precisely that.

 - Jonny. That guy makes Ezra look not quite as pretentious and boring in comparison.

 - The Liars abandoning the Hollbrook is an A minion for no reason other than him, gasp, denying it.

 - Stop trying to make the Mike and Mona romance relevant, show. It wasn't relevant and never will be.

 

And the dialogue was atrocious throughout the entire episode.

 

Oh, and Caleb? You call yourself a hacker yet you have only just now turned off remote access on the Liars computers? Seriously? Though, mind you, they should have done it themselves long ago.

 

Why on Earth would Alsion's lawyers ask Spencer's mother for help? "Sure, let's hire the mother of the previous top suspect who has made it perfectly clear how much she hates our client. What can possibly go wrong, am I right?".

Edited February 4, 2015 by Jack Shaftoe

[cuddlingcrowley]

I loved Hanna's scene with Holbrook. Not only did she tell him that he could have chosen not to follow Ali's orders, but she also told him that he's the grown up in this scenario so he's not allowed to play the victim AND she racked him pretty good.

Hanna telling Holbrook (something like ) "you're the adult male and she's just a girl" might be the best thing this show has done since that CTRL-A joke. FINALLY! Someone acknowledges the male predictor problem in this town and stands up to it! I would pay money to see hanna give Aria a little talk about abusive males in authority positions.

 

 

That scene might be my favorite scene of the entire series! I loved just everything about it! The imagery of the all american blonde riding in her car alone late at night listening to loud music and instead of us getting the tired old dumb blonde victim cliche we get Hanna kicking ass and teaching a pervert a lesson.

 

Word on Hanna giving Aria some lessons.

 

This whole town is strung together by whispers.

 

 

This was one of many great lines in this episode. Not all of them landed great (Emily's speech fell incredibly flat to me), but most did, imo.

 

 

I didn't get what Emily meant when she was 'whispering' to Talia and she talked about being lonely because she was so good at something.  I assume she is was talking about swimming but I thought if anything being a good swimmer would have helped Emily make friends.  The only reason she wasn't popular on her own was because she wasn't very outgoing and she was uncomfortable with her sexuality.  I could have seen Spencer saying that to someone, because I could totally see Spencer alienating people with her need to do destroy academics but Emily honestly just seems like an average girl who has something she is good at.

 

 

Yeah, I was either incredibly bored or incredibly confused by Emily in this episode. I didn't get her little speech and I felt the urge to foward through all her scenes. And then I forced myself to go back and watch them properly. Mistake.

 

Talia is absolutely the worst. She's remending me of Maya at this point, given how much I'm growing to detest her. I think it's ridiculous that Emily would be involved with someone this soon, even though I called it. I don't care how lonely or whatever she is. Paige left five minutes ago and Alison is in jail. Surely that would cause enough emmotional turmoil for her to swear off women for a while, but nope!

 

 

Does Leslie look like Mona to anybody else? At first I wondered if that was actually Janel Parrish made up to look like someone else, but it's not. Still looks like her to me though.

 

 

Yes! That was my first thought when she came up on the screen. And I echo whoever said she's not supposed to look geeky or nerdy at all, even hollywood geeky. She looked incredibly stylish to me and I liked the look of the actress a lot and i think the character is interesting but I felt she had some trouble with her lines. Same goes for Mike, actually. They both pulled me out of the story because their line reading sounded so artificial at times. The lines weren't great, to be fair.

 

 

Good thing that the show put it out in the open that the Lesli(e?) thing is totally a rehash of CeCe... except that CeCe isn't "the last time" this thing happened: the last time was Shana. Shana and Leslie are also more similar in that they are both out-of-town friends that met when Ali / Mona visited family, which is different from everything about Ali and CeCe. 

 

 

My thoughts exactly. But now I'm thinking they might have mentioned Cece and not Shana because:

 

a) Aria, you know, killed Shana, so that's an uncomfortable name to bring up;

 

b) I don't think they ever let their guard down around Shana like they did with Cece hence why she might be more appropriate to mention given the context;

 

 

On another note, I like Johnny (sp?) and I was as impressed by his machine as Spencer. He can stay. Also, I always appreciated Spencer's ability to flirt like a pro and make me completely forget she has a boyfriend. I think she forgets too. But who can blame her? Toby needs to never come back. I also liked the scenes between her and her mother and how she put her doubts about the college thing. Have I mentioned Toby needs to never come back?

 

Unlike most, I didn't think this episode was boring AT ALL. I wish it had aired last week instead of the one we got! I'm so happy the girls finally realized Holbrook isn't the one after them and Mike is in the spotlight, after weeks of build up. I really appreciated the editting and the character details through out.

 

I'd like to make special mentions to: Emily and Caleb chatting (adorable!), Hanna and Spencer making up (double adorable!) and all the Mona/Hanna flashbacks with creepy!Mona. I actually thought Mona was making reference to the british children's drama series called "Bernard's watch". I used to love that show! But I know it's unlikely.

Edited February 4, 2015 by cuddlingcrowley

[AmandaPanda]

This show already has enough characters. They really don't need to bring in new people. I'm already sick of Jonny. He's so pretentious and annoying. I'm not seeing any point to his episode. Talia is just as creepy as Ezra, Holbrook, Wilden and every other older person who wants to hook up with these high school girls. Leslie is just a rehash of Cece and Shana. There's no need for her.

 

The continued trope of not needing to open a big package from a college because it's an acceptance is so outdated. Colleges don't send giant packets like that anymore. They hardly even send acceptance letters anymore. So much of that is strictly online now. Minor nitpick, but just something that grates on my nerves.

 

Holbrook's tantrum when he got suspended was hilarious to me. I work with pre-schoolers and his tantrum was on par with some of the ones that they throw when have to clean up their toys.

 

I really think Mike is somehow involved in Mona's death. I'm not entirely sure she is dead, but regardless, Mike knows more than he's letting on. Also, his new haircut is terrible.

 

I would love for the writers to release Mona's "must-watch movie" list. The movie Mike was watching was Them! I was almost expecting it to be another Hitchcock movie because I know the writers love Hitchcock. Trying to catch all the allusions to his films is one of my favorite things about the show.

 

I definitely thought Caleb had dropped out of school, but guess he needs to do something in between all his hacking. 

 

Overall, it wasn't my favorite episode, but this felt like one of those episodes that will end up being important later on. 

[kitmerlot1213]

So, the Mona flashbacks were supposed imply that she's alive and well and living in Rosewood in disguise?

 

There were quite a few things I enjoyed:

 

I love how Spencer wanted to make things right with Hanna and that she looked genuinely pained when Hanna said there wasn't anytning to fix.  Of course the girls would be friends again, their stress was getting to them.

 

I liked that when Holbrook was having his hissy fit at the station, Caleb and Hanna looked alarmed and then when Holbrook stomped by, Caleb stepped in front of Hanna--that was awesome :)  And the most awesome part of all was Hanna's telling Holbrook off that he was the adult in the situation and he shouldn't have been so easily manipulated.  And of course, I loved that she hit him--Hanna's so fabulously badass :):)

 

I think Spencer's mom genuinely wants her daughter out of Rosewood--can you blame her?

 

Mike's cracking me up with his vague threats to Aria or were they warnings?  I couldn't quite tell.

 

Things I didn't like:

 

Talia.  Emily is pretty but Talia's kind of freaking me out with her weird desperate moves to her.  Isn't Talia supposed to be an adult woman?

 

Johnny and his faux hipster artistic attitude is getting extremely old and very lame.

[Mabinogia]

I was wondering about that. How old is Talia supposed to be? IDK, her instant interest in Emily comes off very odd. I know Emily is hot, but she's also a teenager, and Talia had no idea if she was gay or straight, and that checking out Ezra's ass was the stupidest way to find out. One way might have been "so, tell me about your ex?" Emily would have had to use either a name or pronouns that would give away sex. IDK, Just not feeling Talia at all.

 

I do like Johnny though. I like anyone who can make Spencer forget about all the shit she's dealing with. I like that he's sort of a refuge for her, away from Toby's judgment, A's torment and all the fear and suspicion in her life. Plus, "this town is made of whispers" or whatever he said was brilliant.

 

As others have said, but which can't be said enough, Caleb is the best boyfriend ever, to Hanna and her friends. His convo with Emily was adorable. His sleuthing with Spencer was awesome. I loved him moving between Hollbrook (that's the one we have now, right, not Wilden? Is there a difference? I forget which is which.) and Hanna. Adorably protective.

 

I thought it was a good ep, but then I love any ep with Flashback Mona. And I love how competent Hanna is getting. Inspecting the book after hearing the rattling. Not letting Mike take the book. Her smack down of Hollbrook. Girl is on fire!

 

One small detail I loved. When Spencer heard her mother coming and went to put everything back, she realized she put the file upside down and turned it right side up. IDK but I liked that tiny detail.

 

PS: Johnny's whisper machine was really cool. You know A paid him double his commission from Ezra for that one, because it's only a matter of time before one of the Liar's sits in that seat and hears a "very special message" from A. Seriously, it's like Johnny made it for that exact purpose.

[hqtextbook]

I love love love Caleb but how exactly does he make a living since he dropped out of hs? Is he a professional boyfriend? Like do all four girls chip in?

[ottoDbusdriver]

Talia.  Emily is pretty but Talia's kind of freaking me out with her weird desperate moves to her.  Isn't Talia supposed to be an adult woman?

 

If Talia is the same age as, oh say, Ezra for example, wouldn't that also elevate her relationship with Emily to the same level of creepy. Because an adult woman also shouldn't be getting it on with teenagers in high-school.

[hqtextbook]

If Talia is the same age as, oh say, Ezra for example, wouldn't that also elevate her relationship with Emily to the same level of creepy. Because an adult woman also shouldn't be getting it on with teenagers in high-school.

Yes creepyish, but DEFINITELY not Ezra level of creepy. Ezra seduced a sophomore in high school knowing exactly who she was and that he would be in a position of authority over her. He also had a relationship with her dead best friend who was 15 years old. AND he stalked her and her friends using professional spy equipment. 

 

Talia may be older, but shes not in any position of authority over emily nor is she likely to write a book about her and her friends. Also i'm assuming at this point that Emily is an adult. 

[hqtextbook]

Does anyone have any theories on that random bag of gummy bears mike had?? what was up with that?

[superman1204]

Yes creepyish, but DEFINITELY not Ezra level of creepy. Ezra seduced a sophomore in high school knowing exactly who she was and that he would be in a position of authority over her. He also had a relationship with her dead best friend who was 15 years old. AND he stalked her and her friends using professional spy equipment. 

 

Talia may be older, but shes not in any position of authority over emily nor is she likely to write a book about her and her friends. Also i'm assuming at this point that Emily is an adult. 

The writers need to add some dialog so we know how old the Lairs are.  I don't even care if the dialog is natural or not, just include it.  It probably wouldn't be worse than some other scenes on this show and if the Lairs all turned eighteen already that would make a lot of things better.  Well Aria and Ezra would still be insanely creepy because he staked her for years and I am pretty sure Aria's emotional maturity was stunted at like age fourteen or fifteen.  And Spencer and Toby isn't really an issue of age, Toby is just a jerk and he comes off borderline controlling at times.  So really it would just make Emily and Talia better, and any future adult hookups the girls have, which considering the amount of filler the writers need to come up with, there will probably a few.

[GaT]

a) Aria, you know, killed Shana, so that's an uncomfortable name to bring up;

 

 

Thank you. I had completely forgotten about Shana until I saw her name in someone's comment, & then I started wondering where she went to. I had forgotten that Aria had killed her, great job on the interesting plot, show. 

 

Yes creepyish, but DEFINITELY not Ezra level of creepy. Ezra seduced a sophomore in high school knowing exactly who she was and that he would be in a position of authority over her. He also had a relationship with her dead best friend who was 15 years old. AND he stalked her and her friends using professional spy equipment.

Unfortunately, Talia could be doing the same thing & we wouldn't know it. We only know who she is because of what the show is presenting her as, on this show there's a very good chance she'll turn out to be A.

Edited February 5, 2015 by GaT

[mercfan3]

Also, in defense of Talia..she might not know that Emily is even a teenager. I mean, Emily doesn't look like a teenager. Emily looks like the the definition of gorgeous. But I still can't stand the character. She's just annoying. She kind of reminds me of Monica from friends. 

 

I also really like new dude. (Jessie?). And if Hanna is not up for sharing her boyfriend, He'll will do. He doesn't seem like a creep. He probably is. But he doesn't seem like one yet. 

 

On that note, I don't remember...when did Holbrook go from being a good guy to being a creep? I remember when Hanna could trust him. Also, what happened to the Shana plot? Like..isn't there a murder investigation still going on for that? 

 

As for the Mike thing..we aren't close to the end yet for him to be the real thing. But he's up to something. After all, Toby was A (and wasn't it kind of revealed that he was doing A stuff to find out more info on his mother too..), Ezra was stalking them, etc...typically those who they suspect are doing something bad..(They really wasted the ultimate A on Ezra though.) 

 

Also, obviously, Bethany wasn't talking about Ali on that recording. She was probably talking about her mother, or CeCe, or someone else. 

Edited February 5, 2015 by mercfan3

[SadieT]

The writers need to add some dialog so we know how old the Lairs are.  I don't even care if the dialog is natural or not, just include it.  It probably wouldn't be worse than some other scenes on this show and if the Lairs all turned eighteen already that would make a lot of things better.  Well Aria and Ezra would still be insanely creepy because he staked her for years and I am pretty sure Aria's emotional maturity was stunted at like age fourteen or fifteen.  And Spencer and Toby isn't really an issue of age, Toby is just a jerk and he comes off borderline controlling at times.  So really it would just make Emily and Talia better, and any future adult hookups the girls have, which considering the amount of filler the writers need to come up with, there will probably a few.

 

What year is it on the show? It’s hard to tell since multiple seasons cover a single year in the girl’s lives. It can’t possibly be 2015, I think it should still be 2012 or 2013, but I kind of feel like the writers forget about that. The show started in summer 2010 and I think that was meant to be right before their junior year, right? Because Allison goes missing labor day before sophomore year and her body is supposedly found a year later in the pilot. If it's now spring semester of their senior year, they should all be 17 or 18 depending on when their birthdays are. PLL wiki has birthdays listed for all of them but I have no idea where they got that information or how legit it is. The only one with a source is Spencer's date of birth which apparently was shown on a prescription pill bottle in season 2 as June 12, 1994, so if the girls started their junior year in Fall 2010 then they'd be graduating Spring 2012 and Spencer would be 17 right up until graduation in June, but since this show exists in some sort of weird time continuum they could be like 35 by now. 

 

I love how Spencer wanted to make things right with Hanna and that she looked genuinely pained when Hanna said there wasn't anytning to fix.  Of course the girls would be friends again, their stress was getting to them.

 

One of the things I actually do love about this show is it's depiction of female friendship. The girls are never pitted against each other over silly things like love interests, and remain genuinely supportive of each other through everything. And while they do fight occasionally, they always eventually apologize and work it out. It's a surprisingly mature and meaningful representation of friendship amongst a group of young girls on TV. 

 

Talia is just as creepy as Ezra, Holbrook, Wilden and every other older person who wants to hook up with these high school girls. 

 

Holbrook's tantrum when he got suspended was hilarious to me. I work with pre-schoolers and his tantrum was on par with some of the ones that they throw when have to clean up their toys.

 

Yeah, I'm not liking Talia either. I wasn't really a fan of Paige so I was prepared to like whoever was introduced as Emily's next potential girlfriend but Talia came on so suddenly and she's too damn old for her, not to mention kind of weird. And maybe it was just the way it was shot or because Emily looks perpetually confused, but the apron scene came across as more creepy than sexy to me because Emily looked uncomfortable with it. 

 

I love that Holbrook was genuinely upset and confused that he got in trouble for manipulating evidence at the behest of his teenage lover. Not only is he a spineless creep but he's also an idiot. 

 

Hanna telling Holbrook (something like ) "you're the adult male and she's just a girl" might be the best thing this show has done since that CTRL-A joke. FINALLY! Someone acknowledges the male predictor problem in this town and stands up to it! I would pay money to see hanna give Aria a little talk about abusive males in authority positions.

 

That was awesome, Hanna was awesome in general this episode. She's really stepping her game up. At first I was questioning her decision to get out of her car and investigate an empty cop car on a dark deserted road by herself but at least she was smart enough to bring a weapon along. Hanna's response to Hollbrook's whining reminded me of something Troian said in an interview a while back when the dumb host said that Spencer was wrong for "stealing" her sister's boyfriends or something and Troian was like, "well, Spencer is a kid. Why aren't we holding these adult men accountable for kissing an underage girl?" and just kind of shut the host down. It's rarely acknowledged on screen or off that so many adults in Rosewood are sleazebags who prey on underage girls so I always appreciate it when someone, be it a character or cast member, points out how gross it is, especially because Marlene and the writers seem to think Ezra and Aria is a romantic tale of true love and not the case of a sexual predator targeting a 16 year old girl for his own personal gain. 

 

Really don't care about Jonny.  He's just so -- random.  And the ultimate sin on PLL: not attractive.  I really don't want to see Spencer fall for him.  More Toby and less whoever-the-hell this guy is, please.

 

Oh glad I'm not the only one who thought that about Johnny because I feel shallow admitting it, but he just doesn't strike me as attractive enough to be a resident of Rosewood. That town is composed entirely of beautiful people and while he certainly isn't unattractive, he isn't cute enough to be a potential love interest or whatever he's meant to be for Spencer. 

Edited February 5, 2015 by SadieT

[racked]

 

As others have said, but which can't be said enough, Caleb is the best boyfriend ever, to Hanna and her friends. His convo with Emily was adorable. His sleuthing with Spencer was awesome. I loved him moving between Hollbrook (that's the one we have now, right, not Wilden? Is there a difference? I forget which is which.) and Hanna. Adorably protective.

 

 

 

I loved that moment so much. I genuinely do not care about any of the other relationships on this show (Spencer and Toby) or find them downright creepy (Aria and Ezra and now Talia and Emily), but somehow this show managed to make me adore Hanna and Caleb. I'm so glad they quickly got past the weird drinking phase they had him after Ravenswood. 

[mercfan3]

I know Keegan has great abs, but he's a butter(is) face. I actually like Johnny's face better. I also just dislike Toby, so I'm rooting for Spencer and Johnny. 

[lorikauai]

I think the last couple episodes have been insanely dull and I attribute that to the introduction of Johnny and Talia. Talia and her claim of inexperience -gag. It was like the writers were trying to excuse the relationship. I suppose the lame whisper machine has the potential to be relevant. They'll probably hear Mona's voice in it or something. But Johnny himself can go away and take Talia with him. Bring back Melissa and Wren.

Mona's flashbacks at least felt like part of the story. I still think she is alive. I wondered if Bethany was really talking about Alison on the tape. She didn't mention the person by name, did she?

Holbrook's confrontation of Hanna seemed a little out of character to me (felt more like Wilden) but I loved Hanna standing up to him. She has become so strong, especially when compared to Aria who couldn't handle confronting her own brother.

[Nightbaron]

I wondered if Bethany was really talking about Alison on the tape. She didn't mention the person by name, did she?

 

She did not.  I did think she was talking about Alison, but since the Liars also believe that, I'm now convinced she wasn't.  When are they ever right?

[Law Mom]

Lots of excellent moments sprinkled throughout a mediocre episode. The Hanna/Holbrook scene was pure gold. But for me, the best part was seeing A look for the tape and finding it missing. A is rarely foiled, so a A tag ending in an A fail is meaningful, like maybe a turning point.

 

I do think the book thing is a huge clue. Mike was irrationally upset about seeing it out of Mona's room, which means it is likely that he was the A looking for the tape that night. While I do think Mike is a current A minion, there is no way is Uber A because he was like 12 when this started. I am definitely on board with him helping Mona fake her death, and I predict we will learn that Mona loved gumdrops any day now.

 

BTW, I have a senior who is applying to colleges. These days most send an email with a link to your results. Usually those are followed up with a packet in the mail, but by then you already know. Only a couple she applied to sent letters first and both of them were large packets that said "Congratulations" and "Welcome" on the OUTSIDE of the envelope.

 

Talia-Don't care.

 

Johnny-Don't care.

 

Question: Do we know what movie Mike was watching?