S05.E19: Out, Damned Spot

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Senior high school students focus on their future college careers and feel the high pressures that come along with it, and Aria, Emily, Hanna and Spencer are no different. With a grade contingent acceptance, Aria needs to buckle down to improve her grades and looks to Andrew for some tutoring help. Also having college acceptance anxiety, Spencer decides to take a break and help Jonny with a new project. Hanna is doing just fine on her college acceptances but finds out that she has been turned down for financial aid and turns to her dad to help. Meanwhile, Aria and the girls concerns about Mike increase after an incident at the school blood drive.

 

Promo:

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Clips:

 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

In a weird coincidence, the title of next week's episode of Empire is also "Out, Damned Spot." I know it's from MacBeth and it's not exactly an obscure quote, but what are the odds of having two shows use that as episode titles in the same week?

[mercfan3]

So for 5 seasons we get "Aria's an excellent student" stated numerous times...and Aria is amazing at writing..stated numerous times..but now she's nervous about honor roll. Okay. 

 

And that is not how financial aid works...they'll give you the loans...*grumbles*

[AmandaPanda]

I'm so glad Hot Andrew is back. If they're going to break up Spencer and Toby, I'd much rather her date Andrew than stupid Jonny.

[Jack Shaftoe]

What bugs me is that they once again turn to some outsider for tutoring. It was odd in Emily's case but even odder in Aria - not only she could turn to Spencer instead (or even Hanna nowadays) but also to her boyfriend, her father or her mother all of whom happen to be teachers. Though she might need tutoring in some subject that they aren't good at...which would be a first for Hollywood where being smart means you know all about all scientific disciplines (see Wanderwaal, Mona).

 

Do the writers seriously believe that the "What if Mike is A?" is suspenseful or exciting in the lightest? Obvious filler if I ever saw one.

Edited February 5, 2015 by Jack Shaftoe

[cuddlingcrowley]

So for 5 seasons we get "Aria's an excellent student" stated numerous times...and Aria is amazing at writing..stated numerous times..but now she's nervous about honor roll. Okay.

 

 

 

While I can understand Aria freaking out -- I was always a great student and yet it took me very little to lose my shit and believe I was gonna fail--, something tells me that while Aria probably gets a couple of As, she's probably a solid B student in most subjects. That would still make her a good student... I believe. I'm not american so I'm way over my head in this conversation as it is and people on TV seem to either get straight As or Cs and Fs, but to make "honor roll" one would need straight As right? If so, I can see that being daunting to anyone.

 

The part of that clip that bothered me the most was the "conditional admission". Is there really such a thing? It sounds horrible.

Edited February 5, 2015 by cuddlingcrowley

[mercfan3]

No, at least in my experience, you essentially had to have a B average. 

 

And excellent student (which which she was literally called 3 or 4 times in the entire series), suggests A-/A student. Good student would be B's. Average C's..poor D's..etc. 

 

And I can understand her needing help..and maybe she simply struggles in one area (it'll be math.). But it's silly to even have this plot line where, it was blatantly stated otherwise, and it's just filler. 

 

With Hanna...there's been hints all along that she's smart. She doesn't particularly care about school and she's impulsive, but she's always been the smartest liar, IMO. (Spencer gets called the smartest liar. And she's obsessive. And she cares a lot about her education. But in terms of actions..she really hasn't proven that she's some genius. To me she's about the same as Aria. And in fact, that's what I liked about this Hanna plot line..because Aria and Spencer were always the two to correct Hanna, and now she's more successful than they are with colleges.)

 

Also, anyone ever notice that it's always the other three apologizing to Hanna. 

 

In terms of conditional acceptances, I think there are in some cases, but I'd say those are usually scholarships. 

Edited February 5, 2015 by mercfan3

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Some colleges have conditional admission but it's mostly to make sure that the students don't totally blow off their last semester. I've never heard of a school specifically stating that if you don't make honor roll, they will revoke your acceptance.

Honor roll works differently depending on the school. Some use a simple GPA cutoff for honor roll. For example, everyone with a GPA of 3.75 or higher is on the honor roll (and the schools can specify different GPAs).

Other schools will say the top X percent of each grade level constitute the honor roll. Depending on how competitive the school is, that can make it easier or harder to get on honor roll. If you go to a highly competitive school with many of the students taking AP classes (which are calculated using a 5 point scale), it will be really difficult to be in the top 10% of your class. You could have a 4.0 and still not make the honor roll. If you go to a less competitive school with fewer students in AP classes, it can be a lot easier to get into the top 10% of the class. You could have below a 3.5 and make the honor roll.

Usually a college cares more about your actual grades than if you make the honor roll.

I didn't recognize Andrew in the clip so I was glad that Aria mentioned his name. Did he always look this old? He definitely seems too old to be a high school student.

ETA: I just remembered that one of my friends in high school who had really good grades (almost straight As with some AP classes thrown in) was accepted to Columbia and they had a clause that said if his grades dropped then his acceptance would be rescinded. This was years ago so I don't remember if they gave a specific GPA he had to maintain or if it was a generic "don't flunk your final semester" kind of warning.

Edited February 5, 2015 by ElectricBoogaloo

[cuddlingcrowley]

Thank you, guys. That cleared things out a lot.

 

I didn't recognize Andrew in the clip so I was glad that Aria mentioned his name. Did he always look this old? He definitely seems too old to be a high school student.

 

 

Now he has lost the little baby fat he had so he definitely looks older. His face used to be fuller and the glasses helped make him look younger as well, I think. 

 

He has always been...huge so I never bought him as student. But he has nice chemistry with Spencer, so he can come back whenever. I couldn't see them dating, though, 

Edited February 6, 2015 by cuddlingcrowley

[mercfan3]

Well, I guess if in some places Honor Roll is that strict, than it makes sense. In CT, we have "honors" and "High honors"..neither of which are that tough, although High Honors wasn't easy. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

There are so many school districts in California so the way each one determines who is on the honor roll varies greatly. The high school I attended was five miles away from another high school in a different district and they calculated honor roll differently.

 

The funny thing about when schools use the top X% of GPAs to determine honor roll is that it's a total crap shoot and a surprise. You don't know if you are on the honor roll until they calculate everyone's GPAs for the term, establish the cut off, and then notify everyone (as opposed to having a set GPA for honor roll which means you know once you get your grades for the terms whether you made the honor roll or not). When I was in college, my school used the top X% for honor roll (although at my college they called it the dean's list). One quarter I had 3 As and 1 B which is a 3.75 so I thought I might make the honor roll but I didn't. The next quarter I had a slightly lower GPA (and it was an odd number because I was taking one class that wasn't the usual number of credits so it came out to something weird like a 3.68) and I got a notification that I was on the dean's list.

 

Andrew just looks too old to be in high school. It's not that he's big but that he has the face of a guy who is well into his 20s. I mean, Ezra looks younger than this guy. For the record, that's not a knock on the guy playing Andrew. There is nothing wrong with looking like you're in your 20s (especially when you are actually in your 20s). It's just really jarring when you look that way and you are cast as a high school student. This guy is almost in Ian Ziering territory in terms of looking like an adult in high school. Tyler Blackburn is actually older than the actor playing Andrew but Caleb looks younger than Andrew to me.

[superman1204]

Did Hanna really need Spencer to tell her the reason she was not getting finical aid was because of her dad?  I get that letter from colleges can be a somewhat professional in how they are written, but I would think anyone reading at above a fifth grade level (which Hanna clearly can) would be able to figure out what the letter said.  They might as well have just had Hanna say "Help Spencer I don't speak academia!"

[mercfan3]

I don't know if that's what it was. The letter might have been a rejection, but FASFA (the financial aid form) is just a bunch of numbers. Hanna likely filled in her parents income, and didn't realize that her father was going to play a role. Spencer probably just looked at her dad's salary. 

[hqtextbook]

this show clearly has absolutely no idea how college and college admission works. They have gotten zero things right. I think we should just go with it

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Ha, they don't really know how high school or police departments work either, so I'm not sure why I expected them to know anything about college. The stupid thing is that they could easily hire someone as a consultant for really cheap so they could get the basics right. I'm pretty sure most high school counselors (who are well versed in the way both high school and college work) would love to get paid a couple extra thousand dollars to tell the writers that this is not the way anything works.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Another clip:

 

Canadian promo:

 

Australian promo:

[tldryolo]

When Andrew asked if anybody knew how to drive stick, I was about 99% sure that Emily would say, "Yeah, Paige taught me."  I don't know why, it just seems like Paige would know how to drive stick and insist that Emily learn.

 

So, clearly we're during the stretch of episodes when nothing happens in the mystery arc.  On the character arcs:  In a subversion of expectations/usual fan grousing (i) Emily came straight out with Talia about what the issue was and (ii) Ashley fessed up to Ted.

 

One at a time:

 

1) Talia is not a gold star lesbian, for anybody playing the home game.  What's more, she's old enough to have finished high school, married her high school sweetheart, realize she's gay, come to a detente with her husband on the issue, and have several jobs in professional kitchens.  So, like, at least 25?  Hitting on high school students? Gross.

 

2) I don't really care much about the Ted subplot, but the way they worked around not having him in this episode was really forced and artificial.  If they're going to do this plotline, then cough up the dough so we can actually see Ashley and Ted talk instead of hearing about it secondhand.  

[AmandaPanda]

I would so much rather see Spencer and Andrew together than Aria and Andrew. Put Aria with Jonny. They can go be lame artists together.

 

I am super excited to see where they're going with the blood theft, though. Whoever this A is, they're the scariest one yet.

[tldryolo]

With Hanna...there's been hints all along that she's smart. She doesn't particularly care about school and she's impulsive, but she's always been the smartest liar, IMO. (Spencer gets called the smartest liar. And she's obsessive. And she cares a lot about her education. But in terms of actions..she really hasn't proven that she's some genius. To me she's about the same as Aria. And in fact, that's what I liked about this Hanna plot line..because Aria and Spencer were always the two to correct Hanna, and now she's more successful than they are with colleges.)

 

Hanna is the most "it depends on the writer" character in the show.  Sometimes she's smart but doesn't like to show it.  Other times she really is a dumb blonde (c.f., her memorable but absurd line that a cop car GPS couldn't possibly work if the car was in a lake because, "Nothing works underwater!  It's a scientific fact!"-- take that, submarines!!!!!).

 

EDIT: Also on the "Hanna is sometimes" dumb theory, I remember a time when she found a gun she thought was connected to a crime, drove it to a college campus that Aria/Spencer were at for some reason, couldn't find them, randomly decided to bury it in the dirt on campus and got caught doing so.  It says a lot about this show that, for the life of me, I cannot recall exactly what that was all about or how Hannah got out of that mess.  

Edited February 11, 2015 by tldryolo

[mercfan3]

I actually kind of like Spencer/Jonny and Aria/Andrew. It's like they would be dating the male versions of each other. And since I'm #TeamSparia..

 

Hanna's father is the worst. Seriously. Like, Spencer's parents are cartoonishly bad. But at least they care about Spencer on some level. And with Hanna it's just a realistic kind of awful. Why wasn't Caleb in this episiode? He makes everything better. 

 

So who here thinks Mike and "Hank" are working against Allison? I still think the show inferred that "Hank" raped Ali (of course, that could have been fabricated), so I don't like him. And I don't want Mike near him. (That actor is 18? right?)

 

Ugh..Talia. Can we have Samara back? She wasn't obnoxious (Maya), Crazy (Paige) or annoying (Talia). Sure, she was way too normal for this show..but she was cute..and can't Emily have something normal? Or hell, just get to the inevitable Emison. #Ishipit #Iknowthatsawful #Idontcare

 

I'm glad the characters confessed this episode. But other than that, it was a tiny bit of Mike info and mostly about relationships. I found this episode a little bit boring. Then again, I might just be in mourning from the Jon Stewart news. 

 

Also..on Ezra..you know..the show missed the boat on this guy too. He could have been an interesting mentor type of character for the girls...or they could have made him big A. Instead..blah..but I like him so much better when him and Aria aren't together. 

Edited February 11, 2015 by mercfan3

[tldryolo]

Also..on Ezra..you know..the show missed the boat on this guy too. He could have been an interesting mentor type of character for the girls...or they could have made him big A. Instead..blah..but I like him so much better when him and Aria aren't together.

 

Yeah-- in principle he could still be big A, but now that he's been suspected by the PLL he probably won't be.  The hardcore fans would have called it as being too predictable, but it was their best/most plausible solution to the mystery.  As it stands, assuming he is guilty of no further malfeasance, than it truly is bizarre that his entire relationship with Aria was premised on a lie, he was really out to write a book on her and her friends, and it's just no big deal in-universe.  Like, when he tells Hanna he used to be her teacher, there's the unspoken caveat that, "I used to be your teacher... because I wanted to write a book on you and your three closest friends.  But your friend has a bomb-ass pussy, so now I don't.  Annnnnnnnnyway, I knew you were college material ever since the day I met you, or at least since I started chapter four of the book that I'm no longer writing.   So, you're looking for daddy validation, eh?  Well, Aria and I are on the outs.  You're a bit old for my tastes, but we could work something out."  (okay, I might be paraphrasing).  

[GaT]

So I was bored again, they are just dragging it out for no reason. Now they've added Andrew, who doesn't look a day under 35, as another guy hanging around? Please no more characters. Don't care about Ashley/Ted, Spencer/Jonny, or Emily/Talia, & I don't want to spend the rest of the season watching Hanna learn a dance routine for her talent portion of the pageant. 

 

Are drops of the liars blood really going to start turning up everywhere? Sounds stupid to me, & I'm also sick of Mike. 

1) Talia is not a gold star lesbian, for anybody playing the home game.  What's more, she's old enough to have finished high school, married her high school sweetheart, realize she's gay, come to a detente with her husband on the issue, and have several jobs in professional kitchens.  So, like, at least 25?  Hitting on high school students? Gross.

 

 

That's why she works for Ezra, he's her mentor.

[hqtextbook]

I don't want to spend the rest of the season watching Hanna learn a dance routine for her talent portion of the pageant. 

 

Why the hell not?? Comedy gold potential there. 

 

Also really? Talia has to be married? I mean obviously, but why cant emily just have one small win.

 

In an alternate universe, when Ezra asked Hanna if she wanted to tell him anything, she pulls another "Your a grown ass man and were just children!"

[lorikauai]

So sick of the new characters. Where's Melissa? Wren? Jenna? Other Jenna? Noel? Lucas?

The girls are dummies. Who gives blood when they are worried about a super villain planting evidence that will implicate them in a crime?

So Hanna's dad is still an asshole. Spencer is still easily tricked into committing crimes. Andrew aged so much that even Aria finds him attractive. Talia is an old married lady. Ezra worked odd jobs to pay for college (yet had enough cash to set up extensive surveillance, assemble a high-tech lair, and put Cece on his payroll). Mike is passing something (probably cash and not blood) to Cyrus and has $18,000 in his bank account for some reason (would be so hilarious if it actually turned out to be drugs like they told Andrew).

[tennisgurl]

Poor Hannah. Her dad is just the worst. Granted, non of the parents on this show will be getting many parenting awards, but dang. Talk about cold. Where was Caleb? They`re cuteness and willingness to trespass places will make it all better! 

 

It tickles me that Aria and Spencer are now into guys who are basically the male versions of each other. Although, I don't see Spencer becoming a Fight the Power artist anytime soon. She stopped Emily from eating a cookie at blood drive for Gods sake! 

 

Gee Ezra. Kind of sucks when the person your dating keeps secrets from you, don't it?  

[Agent Dark]

ahaha, this show is crack.

 

Spencer and Aria are cookie nazis.  The Church Ladies think Ashley is a bad influence on Pastor Ted.  Spencer is tricked into graffiting a school.  Emily is having an affair with a married polyamorous lady.  Mike is colluding with criminals (and Andrew now thinks he's dealing drugs).  POWER MASS: NOW WITH ADDED LIAR BLOOD.  Andrew is cockblocked by Emily again.  Ezra: "My parents didn't care about college because they didn't think I'd amount to much" - WELL THEY WERE RIGHT.  Hanna, Spencer and Aria are freaked out that their blood has been stolen which means group sleepover.  Emily is like "whatever, I had my face stolen.  Later." 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

When I saw the clip with Spencer and Jonny, my biggest takeaway was, "Spencer eats frozen microwave dinners?" Good to know there was an actual payoff for that, barely, but why wouldn't Jonny or her mom just mentioned that he was allowed to keep stuff in the refrigerator? And why would Spencer think that her mom suddenly started buying random frozen food? I know when I was in high school, I was in the refrigerator constantly so I always knew if my mom bought anything new. Spencer must know that her mom would never buy anything like frozen mac and cheese! Anyway, glad that mystery got solved - although why don't they just put a mini fridge in the barn? I live in a non-creepy non-Rosewood place and even I wouldn't want my tenant traipsing in and out of my kitchen at all hours to get food.

 

Hanna's dad is the worst, but there really is a simple solution to her problem that doesn't require dressing up like a hot dog or entering beauty pageants. She just has to tell the financial aid office that her circumstances have changed and then fill out a form. The tax information you submit is from the year before so they know that shit happens. My dad got laid off the summer after my sister graduated from high school. The tax info was from the year before. Obviously he no longer had that income after being laid off so my family just filled out a form explaining what happened and my sister got a shitload of grants (and I was so jealous because my dad was working when I started college so I just got stuck with a bunch of loans).

 

Hanna is not the first kid with divorced parents who has a dad that doesn't want to pay for her tuition. Again, you explain the situation to the financial aid office and they have you fill out a form that says my dad is contributing X amount to my tuition. The fact that he is paying for Kate's tuition to Dartmouth would actually work in Hanna's favor because you get more financial aid offered to you if your contributing parent has more than one student in college at the same time.

 

On top of all that, the schools that Hanna talked about are private colleges and they have a lot more leeway with tuition. They can give you special scholarships, grants, or loans directly from the school. Sometimes they call it a school grant and just remove a chunk of the tuition or waive certain fees because they would rather make a lower profit on one student than not have that student attend at all.

 

The problem is that Hanna isn't asking the school for any help. She is just assuming that $45K tuition - $10K from her dad = $35K cash that she has to raise on her own. I went to a small private college that was really expensive and I got by with loans, grants, work study, and a summer job. When there is still a balance due, private schools will often have the family (the parent, in this case, Ashley) take out a supplemental loan. Of course none of this is ideal and it would be way easier if Hanna's dad would just fork over the cash but it's not like Hanna can't go to one of these colleges just because her dad is being a dick. And it can't be said enough that he really is being a dick.

 

Jonny was boring to me from the episode he was introduced but now he is also a dick. You don't have some assist you in a crime without telling them ahead of time. If your friend wants to help you rob a bank or do a driveby, more power to them, but it's a dick move to lead someone to believe you are doing something totally legal when they are not. I don't care if his intention was for Spencer to have fun. He could have found a million other ways to help her have fun legally.

 

On the one hand, I get that Emily and Talia are still at the beginning of their relationship so they aren't ready to share all of their deepest darkest secrets, but I think that a person should know if you are married or have kids before they decide whether or not they want to date you. If you are a high school student who is constantly being hit on by a coworker, you shouldn't have to ask her if she's married or not. The one good thing about this situation is that Emily confronted Talia about it immediately.

 

One interesting thing this season is that the girls are being a lot more secretive about the problems in their relationships with their boyfriends. One of my favorite things about this show is the friendship between the four girls. I know they have sometimes kept secrets from each other in the past, but it was really obvious in this episode that they are not telling each other everything. Aria hasn't told anyone that Ezra dumped her (although Emily has been suspicious since last week). Spencer hasn't told anyone that she and Toby had that huge fight and aren't really talking right now. Emily told Caleb she liked Talia but she didn't tell anyone when she found out that Talia was married. I'm not saying that they HAVE to tell each other everything about their boyfriends, but in the past they have been pretty open about that kind of stuff.

 

Aria continues to be so dumb. I can't believe that she answered Mike's phone and then asked if it was Alison. Even worse, when she confronted Mike she told him the fake name that Aison had used to send him a message. IDIOT! I don't know what Mike is up to but I laughed my ass off when Aria said, "You have to tell me what's going on!" and his response was to say, "No, I don't," and then slam the door shut in her face. HA! I was also cracking up when they zoomed in on her math test. Aria is taking algebra as a senior? The problems on her test were ridiculously easy. I haven't taken math for years and I could still solve them.

 

1. Solve for A:

A (A-21) = 100

 

2. Calculate:

a) 8.9 x 10^33 / 6.4 x 10^-33

b) cube root of 1,000,000

 

3. Simplify the following:

a) square root of 108 x^2 y^2

b) cube root of 108 x^2 y^2

Points for the first problem saying "solve for A." Ha!

Edited February 11, 2015 by ElectricBoogaloo

[Agent Dark]

Points for the first problem saying "solve for A." Ha!

If only Aria was good at maths!  She could figure out who A really is! 

 

Though on that note, do 25 and -4 (the roots of that quadratic) of any significance as an easter egg?  Or even just the fact that it's a quadratic equation, meaning there are two answers for A, have significance?

Edited February 11, 2015 by Agent Dark

[Kaboom 2.0]

I guess it was nice to see Andrew again but to me he looks waaaay older than the last time we saw him, he may have looked shifty at times but he did come to the Liars' rescue with his bat so yay. Mike still annoys me, I'm sure Andrew being told about Mike possibly being into drugs won't come back and bite anyone in the ass AT ALL.

 

Usually I demand "where the hell is Noel Kahn?!" and I still do, but during this ep I was all "where the hell is Caleb?!" Poor Hanna just got kicked to the curb by her truly awful father, who chose his STEP daughter over her, and I was expecting to see Caleb or hell, even have her speak to him on the phone if the show couldn't afford to have TB appear. I can actually see Hanna picturing that she needs to come up with cash vs applying for loans, she wouldn't want to stick her mother with the tuition bill, but don't many teens looking at/applying for colleges know about grants and scholarships?

 

I felt for Ashley but dammit, why couldn't we SEE her conversations with Ted. Show us, show, don't tell us!

 

I can't even with Ezra, Talia and Jonny.

[Primetimer]

Seriously, when did Mike become such an asshat? No one with such good abs should be so angry.

Read the story

[Artsda]

Poor Hannah, her dad is an ass. The Dartmouth tuition for the lying child that isn't his was more important to him. Hannah should have nothing to do with him.

Another boring episode.

[Chaos Theory]

This show is crack. You know its bad for you and it will drive you insane but you just can't quit it.

This show has never and is never going to make sense. I love it because it is a cornucopia for my senses.

I actually like both Johnny and Talia. Neither is going to last very long but they are fun distractions.

Hanna's father may have leapfrogged to worst father ever and that is no small feet in Rosewood. At least the other contestants attempt to care about that pesky thing called their child's welfare but not Hanna's dad. It's all about the might dollar with him. Father of the year.

Edited February 11, 2015 by Chaos Theory

[Black Knight]

I feel like the writers put that bit in with Ashley offering Emily her brownie just for me. Sooooooo, if Ashley can sleep with someone Jason's age and Emily can date an older married woman...just saying. #crackship

 

Back on planet reality, I'm not feeling Talia. She doesn't annoy the living fuck out of me like Paige did, but she's just dull. I would've preferred Emily to take a break and be single for a few minutes before the Emison restarts, which it totally will the minute Emily realizes Ali isn't A and starts feeling all guilty for having turned her back on Ali, left her in jail, etc.

 

I have a feeling it's going to be a key plot point that Emily's blood couldn't be collected and so she's not in the same danger (of being framed, I guess?) as the other girls.

[superman1204]

I get that this is the same show were Ezra and Aria are one of main ships, but the relationship between Emily and Talia seems really messed up, even by this show's standards (still not worse that Ezria but nothing is worse than that).

1. Based on Talia's back story, it's safe to assume she is at least 25 or 26, so Talia dating a high school senior is creepy.
2. Talia hid that she is married.  I would understand if Talia just wanted to see if Emily was even interested first or if Emily had been the one pursuing Talia but it really seems like Talia had no plans to tell her in the near future, which is a really crappy thing to do, if not manipulative.
3. The way Talia explained her relationship with her husband, it does not sound like a healthy relationship.  I get that a lot of people are happy being polyamorious and if Talia had explained her relationship as 'I love my husband, but I am bisexual so we decided polymory was best for both of us' I would be somewhat okay with this story line.  But her explanation felt much more like she didn't want to choose between being married to her husband and being able to date women, so she worked out this deal with her husband that left everyone in emotional limbo but let her avoid making a tough decision.
4. If you look at Emily's relationship story lines over the past two seasons, they make Emily look like a desperate, hugely insecure person.  In Rosewood time, over the past four months, Emily broke up with Paige because she was too controlling, hooked up with Alison like a week later, broke up with Alison the next day because Alison is a manipulative bitch, got back together with Paige a few days later, dated Paige until she moved away, and is now is a relationship with a much older married woman.  I get that this is just the writers making filler and its not meant to actually affect Emily's character, but I am just saying if a high school senior's dating life looked like that in real life, they would most likely be a complete train wreck of a person.  (I'm not trying to pick on Emily with this point.  Spencer and Aria are just as bad if not worse.)

[Chaos Theory]

I feel like the writers put that bit in with Ashley offering Emily her brownie just for me. Sooooooo, if Ashley can sleep with someone Jason's age and Emily can date an older married woman...just saying. #crackship

.

You are not the only one. I believe there are a few Ashley/Emily fics on fanfiction.net going all the way back to when Ems was a houseguest. Edited February 11, 2015 by Chaos Theory

[ottoDbusdriver]

So what part did Spencer paint ? I know she didn't see the red paint that Johnny applied, but couldn't she read what the hell she was painting on ? And where was Hollis campus security ?  It wasn't like they were hiding what they were doing -- they were out in the open with flashlights and a ladder.

 

Per the newspaper where Spencer discovered the criminality (newspapers, really ? No tablets available) I'm more curious about what the mayor has been up to -- and who or what he has been abusing while in office.

Edited February 11, 2015 by ottoDbusdriver

[Crim]

But her explanation felt much more like she didn't want to choose between being married to her husband and being able to date women, so she worked out this deal with her husband that left everyone in emotional limbo but let her avoid making a tough decision.

This is what seemed the most WTF to me: when Talia said she was still married to that guy because he was her best friend, I thought "Wait, if you are into women now and you guys are still married, but not romantically together, doesn't this mean he would date other women too, but then he'd have to also tell them he is married? Isn't this basically the worst setup possible?"

 

After Spencer told that moron she had been arrested for murder (I cheered. Srsly. Take that, wannabe rebel hipster asswipe.) and Emily told Talia there were scary things that she could confess, I really wanted Emily to go "I get into situations where murder is a possibility. I actually did kill once. And I'm currently being framed for another murder." THEN take her hand. Emily has always been too easy. We always joked Emily was into psychopaths, but Talia's secret is just soapy and selfish and sad.

 

Troian has chemistry with everyone, but the current storyline is very contrived (she thought her mother bought mac n cheese? srsly?) On the bright side, no Toby.

 

The Mike thing annoys me. I know the Montgomery parents are pretty much absent, but this is like they live completely on their own. How will the show explain that Aria, as she finally accepts that Mike could be involved in framing her, doesn't come clean with their parents about it? It's not like they wouldn't find out once she is arrested. At least the Hastings were explicitly throwing Spencer under the bus in favor of Melissa; this is Aria not even trying.

[tv-is-addicting]

I thought Hanna's Dad said he was going to provide no more than ten thousand per year [?] Still substantial contribution...

[superman1204]

I thought Hanna's Dad said he was going to provide no more than ten thousand per year [?] Still substantial contribution...

Yes but this is Rosewood were apparently you have to pay for college up front, instead of taking out loans like what happens in the real world.  It's the same stupid conflict were Emily's only hope of going to college was a full ride swim scholarship.

[cuddlingcrowley]

I loved all the little nods to continuity but this one just about won the entire episode for me:

 

 

It was bad enough when he (Mike) was stealing Jenna's pottery.

 

Also, can Andrew drive the girls to all their crazy adventures from now on, while making cute inquiries and standing nearby with a bat while shit goes down? After this episode, I felt the PLL group is seriously missing a key member.

 

Also..on Ezra..you know..the show missed the boat on this guy too. He could have been an interesting mentor type of character for the girls...or they could have made him big A. Instead..blah..but I like him so much better when him and Aria aren't together.

 

 

It's scary how accurately you described my feelings during the Ezra & Hanna scene. He wasn't half bad there. Actually, he was sort of awesome! I kept thinking what if, up until this point he had been a minor character, a young, "hip" teacher Aria had a crush on at some point but never went anywhere BECAUSE HE'S HER TEACHER and now that they're with a foot out of highschool and he has openned the brew, he becomes a mentor and an ally and why the heck not A FRIEND and OH TO DREAM.

 

 

 

So who here thinks Mike and "Hank" are working against Allison? I still think the show inferred that "Hank" raped Ali (of course, that could have been fabricated), so I don't like him. And I don't want Mike near him. (That actor is 18? right?)

 

 

Yup! My theory as well.

 

Along with Andrew, I'd like for us to keep Jonny. I know what he did was messed up but he really seemed to regret it after Spencer dropped the "I've been arrested for murder" bomb. I don't even find him all that cute or necessarily would like the type of person he is in real life, but mostly, I'm really sold on the connection between him and Spencer. I can see quite clearly what's drawing them together and it feels belivable.

 

Cardboard Toby better watch out. Spencer looks more and more infatuated by the episode and I can see this very clear picture of her getting in Oxford and having this hipster boyfriend her parents would loathe. And, I don't know, in this crazy picture of the future she actually smiles around her boyfriend.

 

Also, the Evil Church lady  is A. i'm calling it!

 

All in all, I thought this was a great episode!

 

ETA: I will not talk about Talia. Maybe if I ignore it, it will go away.

Edited February 11, 2015 by cuddlingcrowley

[AbFabGab]

I didn't recognize Andrew in the clip so I was glad that Aria mentioned his name. Did he always look this old? He definitely seems too old to be a high school student.

 

This bugged me. That guy is obviously in his 30s, and the only way I could continue watching is to tell myself that he's still in high school and good at it because he got held back multiple times..

[Jack Shaftoe]

 

Andrew aged so much that even Aria finds him attractive.

 

LOL, your logic is much better than the show's writers.

 

Overall, I found this episode much less annoying than the previous one. Still, too much filler and nonsensical plots. Mike stealing the blood in full view of everyone. Jonny existing. Talia's ridiculous backstory. Not showing us Ashley confessing her, ahem, sins to Ted. I like the guy a lot but if they want us to root for him to marry Ashley he needs to be in more than 2 episodes per season, you know.

 

Isn't Cyrus wanted by the police? Instead of waiting for Spencer to arrive Aria and Emily could have called the cops.

 

The characterization was half-decent for a change. Hanna's dad is the worst - check. Aria thinks Mike would listen to her, but of course he doesn't - check. Spencer is jumping to conclusions about who might be A or A's minion - check. Even Aria said that Spencer was wrong about Melissa in that regard. She might as well have added "...and Paige, Jason, Noel Kahn, the milkman...".

 

I know I have said that before but Hanna's father is cray-cray - he cut ties with Ashley and Hanna and chose to live with that bland Isabel and her horrible daughter with the most annoying voice ever. Don't you have any standards, Tom?

 

P. S. When Ashley said she was going to take care of the small financial troubles they are having, we were all thinking "So, which old lady are you going to rob this time?", right?

Edited February 11, 2015 by Jack Shaftoe

[Wishing Well]

Apparently the actor who plays Andrew is only 26, and two years younger than Tyler Blackburn. Jeez.

[cuddlingcrowley]

I'm not arguing against the actor who plays Andrew looking way too old but I'll say it doesn't bother me, terribly. Same goes for Troian, for that matter. The only one who constantly pulls me out of scenes is Shay. They're even making a point of seriously dressing her down lately, but the girl doesn't look a day younger than 27 to me. The fact that Emily is constantly frowning and looking tense makes it worse.

 

Talia looks between 33 and 35 to me.

[Chaos Theory]

I'm not arguing against the actor who plays Andrew looking way too old but I'll say it doesn't bother me, terribly. Same goes for Troian, for that matter. The only one who constantly pulls me out of scenes is Shay. They're even making a point of seriously dressing her down lately, but the girl doesn't look a day younger than 27 to me. The fact that Emily is constantly frowning and looking tense makes it worse.

 

Talia looks between 33 and 35 to me.

 

To each is own.  Shay looks the youngest to me.  Then again she is my 2nd favorite character next to Trojan.  I love Shay's acting and I think she has done a wonderful job.  I am not sure what to make of Talia.   I am willing to give her a chance because they have chemistry but I am not sure I like the pairing.  Then again I really like the Emily/Paige pairing. 

[cuddlingcrowley]

I don't have a problem with Shay's acting. I think she has grown a lot as an actress since the first season and she's perfectly competent. That said, I believe Emily's storyline in 5-B is possibly the worst she's had and I include the mourning of Maya through the first half of season 3 which is almost universally hated but I dug it, mostly. But I think it's near impossible to seem young and fresh when you're written to be basically carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders while interacting with the most boring character in the history of this show. Imo.

 

But yeah, to each its own on the age thing. That's very subjective. I have a case of Lucy Hale where I look way too young for my age so that probably has something to do with my opinions.

Edited February 12, 2015 by cuddlingcrowley

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Ha, I still get carded when I buy alcohol at the grocery store (and unlike Talia, I didn't get married right after high school so I am not one of those 22 year olds who is like "Whaaaaat, I'm still getting carded?").

I was expecting to see Caleb or hell, even have her speak to him on the phone if the show couldn't afford to have TB appear.

Hanna was on the phone with Caleb when Ashley came into her bedroom and said she needed to talk to her. Definitely not enough Caleb for me. I expected him to be there in person to tell her they would figure out a way to get her some financial aid.

Maybe I watch too much Person of Interest, but after Emily took Mike's ATM receipt I expected the PLL to have Caleb hack into the bank to see whose name was on the account, when all the deposits and withdrawals were made, and find a mysterious wire transfer from an off shore account that Caleb would spend the rest of the episode trying to trace.

Andrew was doing nothing for me this episode (although it was nice of him to offer to tutor Aria) until he showed up with that bat. I almost expected the girls to yell at him for following them, disobeying orders to leave, and interrupting their negotiations with an alleged kidnapper and possible rapist for their bodily fluids. They're not always the most grateful when it comes to outsidr help.

On a related note, I was rolling my eyes at Aria defending her cheating to Andrew. "I couldn't focus! I've been stressed!" Oh, okay then!

Edited February 12, 2015 by ElectricBoogaloo

[allonsyalice]

I don't have anything constructive to add (once i get around to episodes, you lovely people have already said everything I want to say) I just kinda want to ask if 5B is just plain boring anyone else. 

Also, at least Talia is only married. in this world she could also literally easily be a murderer. 

[lorikauai]

I don't have anything constructive to add (once i get around to episodes, you lovely people have already said everything I want to say) I just kinda want to ask if 5B is just plain boring anyone else. 

Also, at least Talia is only married. in this world she could also literally easily be a murderer. 

Ugh, I am starting to wonder if they are intentionally boring us to death so that the inevitably lame uber A reveal seems interesting by comparison.