S06.E06: No Stone Unturned

[Agent Dark]

In this episode: Spencer, Hanna and Aria get defeated by a Racoon*, Emily continues to get all the babes and Mr DiLaurentis is gonna get dead in his own son's grave.  These are the exact kind of reasons why I watch this show.

 

*Though I'm actually gonna call BS on that scene - as if Aria wouldn't just pull out a bowie knife and butcher that rat to turn it into a necklace or something.

[raytch]

In this episode: Spencer, Hanna and Aria get defeated by a Racoon*, Emily continues to get all the babes and Mr DiLaurentis is gonna get dead in his own son's grave.  These are the exact kind of reasons why I watch this show.

 

*Though I'm actually gonna call BS on that scene - as if Aria wouldn't just pull out a bowie knife and butcher that rat to turn it into a necklace or something.

 

They seriously need Mona. They would've been long dead without her .

[CloudySky]

 I thought we were going to get more in-depth on the girl's time being kidnapped, but honestly that whole thing is feeling like a letdown now too.

 

 

Yeah, I was really excited when Hanna started flashing back again hopeful for some new material. I still liked the scene and sentiment of letting the caged animals free but was let down because it was the same scenes.

 

Errr, ok, so I am no fan of Sara (nor of Emily, really), but Emily gets romantically involved in the exact same ways and number of times that all the rest of the girls do. New characters on this show pretty much EXIST to be romantic entanglements

 

What makes it so frustrating with Emily (for me) is that she doesn't have her OTP like the other girls do. She just hops from girl to girl and that cheapens her other relationships. She barely dated Maya before she died and saw Paige and Samara inbetween. She broke up with Paige a dozen times and 90 % of the time just did not seem that into her and it's been a whole season since Emison kissed and there has been no follow up...Meanwhile Emily has hooked up with Talia, Paige again and now Sara.

 

Whenever the other girls get a new guy for an episode it's because there's trouble in paradise but it's always obvious that it's a temporary thing and they'll be back with their boyfriends in 2 episodes. Even when that boyfriend is A or a stalker. Or a ghost/dead/whatever (never watched Ravenswood).

 

I get that you don't usually meet the love of your life in high school but it's a tv show and rooting for a couple is fun. It's challenging to root for Emily with anyone though and so whenever a new girl show up it's like *eyeroll* here we go again. Even if Sara turns out not to be shady and they have a legitimate relationship, it's a big joke because didn't Emily bury her love a year ago, send another one packing a month ago and hasn't talked to the first one all season?

Edited July 15, 2015 by CloudySky

[raytch]

This episode was terrible. It sucks when we already figured things out and we just have to sit around and watch the liars get there.

Leslie is not A. She hated Bethany (ok the latter we didn't know, but it doesn't change much).

The girls were chipped by A, which is something we speculated since the premiere and then saw in the A tag last episode.

Charles is alive (YOU DON'T SAY!)

 

That raccoon got more screen time than Ali!

 

I can't even with Sara and Emily. That's it I'm skipping through their scenes from now on.

 

I hope Ezra gets together with the australian chick, if it means it will be the end of Ezria, though knowing this show... it's just gonna be the motivation for Aria to believe in their True!Love! once again. Ugh. I swear I will start punching walls if she goes after him. Seriously? After all the stalking and the creepy "research", he broke up with her last season so she can have a different experience in college (though really, I think he just meant she's 18 now and no longer fits his young teen profile), she has to go after him and earn his love?

Aside from that, I'm still enjoying Aria this season. I'm just upset that they have completely isolated Emily with the Sara storyline. I can't believe she left Aria in that junkyard with Clark just to go say hi to her co-worker/friend!

 

Hanna and Spencer are the best. Though Spencer is getting stupider every episode. How is she not the one to notice that with that much medicine in his system, Charles' organs couldn't be donated? I get she's tired and traumatized but holy shit... this is the girl who figured out an invisible magic box! 

 

I love love love Spencer and Dean. Of all the temporary characters, I like him best. Maybe it's the way the actor plays him, giving him more depth, but I swear I am actually intrigued to know exactly what family this guy came from and what is it that he had to struggle with?

Also worth noting, he's the only guy in the history of Rosewood (aside from Caleb) not to make a statement in order to seduce a girl. He's torn because of what he feels for Spencer as he knows it's not right (she's young, she has a boyfriend, been through some serious trauma, so he says it to let it out and leaves; he didn't try to get a kiss in a vulnerable moment! Him and Caleb should be best friends. The ex hobo and the ex junkie. Building Website Pages together!

Seriously though, I hope this isn't the last we see of him, they have more chemistry than Spoby by miles.

 

I'm not a shipper by any means, but the Dean and Spencer stuff were the highlight for me, which again, says how bad of an episode this was.

 

So, are we to understand that Mona tracked the girls? How did she know where they were going if she was on house arrest?

 

Also, the last bit of info from Mona means that Charles CAN'T BE SOMEONE WE KNOW.

I just don't see how it's possible. If Charles actually stayed in Radley after faking his death (which, okay but then why fake your death!), and he was the other patient that ran away from Radley with Bethany on Endless Night Of Labor Day then this literally rules out any characters we've seen in flashbacks, or knew existed in the timeline before Ali went missing. This practically leaves us with Andrew, Holbrook, and Wren. If it's Wren then how the hell did he run away and then came back after 2 years as a doctor and no one noticed?

I guess there's a piece of information missing here (maybe he left then came back under a different name or something?), which we'll probably find out about in 6x09 right before the reveal.

 

Mr. D got ONE letter from A and was like FUCK THIS SHIT! He didn't even have glass in his hair! 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I was cracking up with Alison's dad saw Emily on her bike and started interrogating her. Yes, obviously she has been riding back and forth in front of your house for the past hour and taking notes on everyone she sees just in case some creeper left a note on your windshield.

 

Haha, this week's Website Page was Caleb talking about Smartpads.Why couldn't they just have him say tablet? Once again, Caleb is correct. No one really needs to know about Kimye.

 

Confirmation that Lesli is a super lame wannabe hipster nerd: FAKE GLASSES. And not just one pair. An entire BOX of her fake glasses!

 

Ezra continues to be the worst. No embarrassment whatsoever that Nicole recognized his FIRST name and knew he was Emily's teacher. I mean seriously, as far as I was concerned, my high school teachers' first names were Mr. or Mrs. But then he goes and opens his big mouth and inserts his foot into it with all the "Emily had to change her email address after the trial." Dude, STFU!

 

I am sure I am supposed to think that Emily's so sweet and considerate to be thinking about her new BFF Sara, but instead it is making her seem totally flaky. Why bother going to the junkyard with Aria to help her look for clues if she's just going to spend the whole time texting Sara?

 

By the way, I love that this junkyard is more like a crappy garage sale. I guess Stand By Me set my junkyard standards either really high or really low because I expect a "Chopper, sic balls" type situation with a chainlink fence and piles of old tires when I hear the word junkyard.

 

I cracked up when Clark said, "Hold in, this is where we were the other day." Considering that this junkyard seems to consist of two shelves and one mirror, it couldn't be THAT hard to find the same spot they were in a few days ago.

 

Clark is definitely creepy. First he asked, "Have they actually caught the guy?" and when Aria said not yet but the police were pretty close, Clark said, "How do you know?" Then he pointed her in the direction of the creepy doll. I have made it no secret that I disagree with Ezra just on principle but when he saw the Aria doll and said it was disturbing, I had to agree with him. Hilarious that Aria's explanation was "Oh yeah, I made this creepy doll of myself. No big whoop."

 

Nicole is obviously up to no good. Her "detour" from Florida to Pennsylvania was just so she could tell Emily about the Thailand trip in person? Riiighhhht. Because none of these girls ever text or call or email.

 

I was so annoyed that one of Emily's reasons for not going to Thailand was because she is helping Sara. Then once she changed her mind, she asked if she could bring Sara. Uh, hello? Who is going to pay for Sara's plane ticket to Thailand plus all of her expenses? And did she ever consider that having Sara run away from her problems isn't the best solution? Or that maybe Sara wouldn't want to go? Or that might not have a valid passport? And then Emily decides not to go because Sara can't go? GAWD. At this point, Emily is like one of those girls who would drop out of college because of her girlfriend (and let's be real, she was already making college plans around Paige before so this isn't too big a leap). There's being supportive and kind, and then there's letting your whole world revolve around someone you just met. Don't base decisions for your future based on some chick you've known all of two weeks.

 

On top of that, she told Nicole that there were moments when she was with Sara that she completely forgot about their nightmare experience in the dollhouse and that somehow that means Sara is helping Emily more than Emily is helping Sara. Look, I know they have been through some traumatic shit and they're only teenagers, but someone making you temporarily forget your problems just makes them a distraction. That doesn't mean it's healthy or healing or in any way helping you get over what happened.

 

When the beeping in the lab started, I actually thought it was a really loud guinea pig.

 

What kind of lab does experiments on raccoons, rabbits, and rats? Most labs that experiment on animals only work on one type of animal. Ha, I love that the girls were terrified of this raccoon and he just wanted a snack.

 

 

 

Was Ezra wearing one of Aria's shirts?

Ha, I thought the same thing too. I guess I should just be glad that he wasn't working a short sleeved button down shirt with a weird pattern this week.

 

 

 

Wait, so a piece of paper saying Charles donated organs isn't solid proof he's dead? I am so shocked.....shocked that they figured that out so quickly.

Ha, if by "they" you mean "Mona."

 

 

 

Anyone catch the freeze frame of the paper Mr. D had?

The list of names he had when he was in his car:

John Stekert

Craig Fisk MD

David Dowell PhD

Kenneth Lehn

Andrew Grant MD

 

The birthday card said:

Dear Daddy,

Coming home for my birthday.

You should plan a party. To die for. Just you.

Love,

Charles

 

 

 

And I thought Emily's friend said "Is your friend capable of sharing feelings?" I don't remember hearing Sarah, but I could be wrong.

Nicole definitely mentioned Sara's name. She said, "Is Sara capable of returning your feelings?"

Edited July 15, 2015 by ElectricBoogaloo

[raytch]

 

I was so annoyed that one of Emily's reasons for not going to Thailand was because she is helping Sara. Then once she changed her mind, she asked if she could bring Sara. Uh, hello? Who is going to pay for Sara's plane ticket to Thailand plus all of her expenses? And did she ever consider that having Sara run away from her problems isn't the best solution? Or that maybe Sara wouldn't want to go? Or that might not have a valid passport? And then Emily decides not to go because Sara can't go? GAWD. At this point, Emily is like one of those girls who would drop out of college because of her girlfriend (and let's be real, she was already making college plans around Paige before so this isn't too big a leap). There's being supportive and kind, and then there's letting your whole world revolve around someone you just met. Don't base decisions for your future based on some chick you've known all of two weeks.

 

At least when she was with Paige, they were already together and it seemed like a somewhat logical thing a teenage couple would do (plan to go to college together). This is absurd because 1) as you said she barely knows her, 2) she's a broken person, 3) they're not even together, 4) which makes sense because they've only known each other for 2 weeks, 5) after they met while held captive in a bunker.

 

I swear at this point I just look at a raccoon eating Cheetos and I'm like yeap, makes sense within this show. 

Edited July 15, 2015 by raytch

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I trust that raccoon more than I trust Ezra, Mona, Ali, Nicole, Clark, Lorenzo, and Lesli.

[ottoDbusdriver]

Nicole is obviously up to no good. Her "detour" from Florida to Pennsylvania was just so she could tell Emily about the Thailand trip in person? Riiighhhht. Because none of these girls ever text or call or email.

 

I just assumed Nicole was someone that Emily hooked up with in Haiti -- why else would she go way out of her way to visit Emily in Rosewood ?

 

So, was the sushi restaurant with valet service in Philly ?  Why would they "borrow" Lesli's security card and take it all the way back to Rosewood to clone it if there was no way they could easily return it back to Lesli's car in Philly unnoticed ?  And the entire lab break-in was just a setup for the PLLS to discover they had been chipped.

 

And won't Hanna get in trouble for stealing Lesli's car ? They have a witness and probably security footage, and if they dust for prints in Lesli's car they will evidence of both Hanna and Spencer (who are both in the system from being arrested multiple times) -- unless Hanna drove the Range Rover into the lake.

 

i guess none of the PLLs have ever watched '28 Days Later' -- releasing lab animals sounds like such a great idea until you find out what they were being experimented for.

 

ETA: Based on Nicole's pitch to Emily about going to Thailand, she says they leave mid-June right after high-school graduation.  Which means that they are most likely sometime in May 2012.

Edited July 15, 2015 by ottoDbusdriver

[apgold]

This ep was a mess.  I didn't miss Ali.  Yay for Hanna and Caleb Sex but is that really going to solve their problems? 

 

I did have to laugh that the Cheetos were Hanna's dinner and when she wanted to release all the animals. 

 

I hope that's not the last of Dean.  I miss him on The Orginals, and he and Spencer have amazing chemistry.  I know Spencer has chemistry with a broom (well unless that broom is called Toby).

 

I don't care about Emily and Sara or Emily's need to save her.  And has it really been only a couple of weeks since they escaped the dollhouse?

 

Once again Mona knows everything and is only telling after the Liars get themselves into trouble.

 

And yet again, we have another fake A lead in Lesli which turned out to be nothing other than a troubled girl who wears fake glasses and experiments on animals in a college lab?

 

I'm sorry, if I found out I was chipped, I would go to the doctor immediately to have it removed.  I wonder how long the liars will keep the chips?

[tldryolo]

And yet again, we have another fake A lead in Lesli which turned out to be nothing other than a troubled girl who wears fake glasses and experiments on animals in a college lab?

I'm sorry, if I found out I was chipped, I would go to the doctor immediately to have it removed.  I wonder how long the liars will keep the chips?

 

 

 

I love that the Lesli details will never come up again-- just *why* does she have ten pairs of identical glasses in her backseat?  The same reason that Sydney and Jenna were dressed identically that one time.  No reason, it's just a silly and creepy thing to insert.  

[gesundheit]

Whyyyy are they not going to the police with everything? It could always be justified in previous seasons but makes no sense whatsoever now. FIne, if they want to keep the Charles stuff quiet. But the doll? The chips? The police could trace those back and maybe find A...

This drives me crazy. This season's premiere (or half-season? I can't tell anymore) seemed so promising because it actually felt like we weren't going to get cookie-cutter episodes anymore. Finally we were going to deal with the trauma, deal with the cops knowing everything and investigating it, deal with families being there for their daughters, etc. But now we've just gone back to the exact same episodes as always -- they are inexplicably always alone with no security, they're always breaking into places or getting locked into places, they don't tell the cops or their parents anything at all. AGAIN. The promise of a new paradigm this season is now completely dead. Bummer.

 

What makes it so frustrating with Emily (for me) is that she doesn't have her OTP like the other girls do. She just hops from girl to girl and that cheapens her other relationships. She barely dated Maya before she died and saw Paige and Samara inbetween. She broke up with Paige a dozen times and 90 % of the time just did not seem that into her and it's been a whole season since Emison kissed and there has been no follow up...Meanwhile Emily has hooked up with Talia, Paige again and now Sara.

 

Whenever the other girls get a new guy for an episode it's because there's trouble in paradise but it's always obvious that it's a temporary thing and they'll be back with their boyfriends in 2 episodes. Even when that boyfriend is A or a stalker. Or a ghost/dead/whatever (never watched Ravenswood).

 

I get that you don't usually meet the love of your life in high school but it's a tv show and rooting for a couple is fun. It's challenging to root for Emily with anyone though and so whenever a new girl show up it's like *eyeroll* here we go again. Even if Sara turns out not to be shady and they have a legitimate relationship, it's a big joke because didn't Emily bury her love a year ago, send another one packing a month ago and hasn't talked to the first one all season?

I was about to say the same thing -- the other three have Caleb (yay!), Toby (boo!), and Ezra (puke!), whom the show seems to promote as their primary great loves. Emily just seems to fall for half the girls she meets. And it would be okay if that weren't unique to her, or if they changed up someone else's narrative. (Aria's, please! Give her a new true love, please!) Maybe for Emily it's been an actress availability issue. If so, I'd like to recommend Ian Harding for ANY OTHER ACTING JOB AT ALL PLEASE.

[raytch]

i guess none of the PLLs have ever watched '28 Days Later' -- releasing lab animals sounds like such a great idea until you find out what they were being experimented for.

I was thinking more like Fringe. There was a very creepy episode where animal activists release animals from a lab and among those a giant hybrid of snake and spider or something. God I miss that show!

[raytch]

This drives me crazy. This season's premiere (or half-season? I can't tell anymore) seemed so promising because it actually felt like we weren't going to get cookie-cutter episodes anymore. Finally we were going to deal with the trauma, deal with the cops knowing everything and investigating it, deal with families being there for their daughters, etc. But now we've just gone back to the exact same episodes as always -- they are inexplicably always alone with no security, they're always breaking into places or getting locked into places, they don't tell the cops or their parents anything at all. AGAIN. The promise of a new paradigm this season is now completely dead. Bummer.

I was about to say the same thing -- the other three have Caleb (yay!), Toby (boo!), and Ezra (puke!), whom the show seems to promote as their primary great loves. Emily just seems to fall for half the girls she meets. And it would be okay if that weren't unique to her, or if they changed up someone else's narrative. (Aria's, please! Give her a new true love, please!) Maybe for Emily it's been an actress availability issue. If so, I'd like to recommend Ian Harding for ANY OTHER ACTING JOB AT ALL PLEASE.

Honestly for Emily they could have just gone with Ali. No matter how much some people were gonna hate it, it would've been heaven compared to this pseudo Ali broken person Emily will convert to lesbianism. It doesn't do any of the actresses any good that shay isn't a great actress to begin with. And to have most of her scenes with a model turned actress is really not smart.

I was never invested in Emison but their interaction has always been plausible and grounded.

As for Ezra, I wouldn't mind him staying as long as he stays away from Aria. I pick on him a lot because of the "research" he did and mainly because he tricked Aria into falling for him, but I wouldn't mind the actor staying on the show as long as they give more attention to the character.

[gesundheit]

Honestly for Emily they could have just gone with Ali. No matter how much some people were gonna hate it, it would've been heaven compared to this pseudo Ali broken person Emily will convert to lesbianism. It doesn't do any of the actresses any good that shay isn't a great actress to begin with. 

She really isn't but, yes, if they pair her with someone who elevates her, that helps.

 

I don't think they really could have pulled off Emily/Alison from the get-go, though, since the actresses were, what, 13 and 23 in the first season? Something like that? Eesh. Even the first kiss they showed between them creeped me right out. It's a little different now but the two really don't read as contemporaries to me.

 

As for Ezra, I have nothing against Ian Harding, I just don't care about this statutory rapist/stalker and I've long thought the only way he can work moving forward is if they make him go full-on dark (like they backed down from). But as long as he's around, we're going to be told he was Aria's really great boyfriend and true love. 

Edited July 15, 2015 by gesundheit

[Black Knight]

Me too. But if she had been in the episode she'd probably just be gazing forlornly off her porch because she apparently can't step foot off the DiLaurentis property ever again.

So true, unfortunately. When Caleb made his remark that if Ali does know who kidnapped the girls, that person isn't long for this world, I found it simultaneously amusing and sad the same way I found it simultaneously amusing and sad when Mona was worrying that Ali would be going after her for the whole "framed for her murder" thing. I wish! Would they please give Ali her fangs again? They can be smaller fangs if necessary, to denote her character growth, but this defanged thing is such a waste.

 

So Emily sleeps with Sara, big surprise, but they made sure to underline it for us that Sara is an Ali stand-in since Charles made her pretend to be Ali when she was locked up. Great, like we didn't already know that several episodes ago. Can we move this along already and have Emily have her realization? Original recipe Emison was a lot better than stand-in Emison, even if Ali is currently defanged - at least the actresses do have chemistry.

 

I absolutely hated Ashley giving Caleb a key to the house and Caleb accepting it. It shows he's learned nothing from what Hanna said to him. Even if everything was hunky-dory with Haleb and she'd never been kidnapped and held prisoner, Hanna still might not necessarily want her boyfriend having 24/7 access without even needing to give a heads-up when he's coming over. It was completely inappropriate of both Ashley and Caleb to do the key thing without Hanna's consent, and it's especially creepy since Haleb was in an off period at the time at Hanna's insistence. At least with Caleb it is consistent with his characterization lately, but Ashley is usually the best parent on this show and I'm really disappointed in her.

[itainttippithebird]

 

I just assumed Nicole was someone that Emily hooked up with in Haiti -- why else would she go way out of her way to visit Emily in Rosewood ?

 

This was my first thought too, but no, that was Rumer Willis, who already came by on a 2k mile detour to thirst for Emily a couple seasons ago! Rumer, aka "Zoe" on the show, was supposedly her supervisor - she wrote a letter of reccomendation for Emily. So then who is Nicole?! Maybe they wanted Rumer back (I actually did hear a...um...RUMOR that she was coming back this seaz) to do this part, but she was busy, so they snuck in a new supervisor, Nicole. Anyyyywayyyy, when Em came back from Haiti, she was supposedly the world's best Habitat volunteer, who changed everyone's lives with her lustrous locks and penchant for power tools, so I guess Nicole is just really invested in bringing back the #1 draft pick...?

 

 

[mercfan3]

It's not creepy of Ashley to give Caleb a key to HER house..other than maybe she's trying to get her cougar on again. (Joke..) 

 

Actually, it seems like Ashley and Caleb do have a closer than normal relationship for a teenage boyfriend/mother. (Not sexual guys..they just confide in each other, she cares about him etc..) 

 

Caleb is reacting the way a normal human being would react to someone they loved being kidnapped and tortured for 3 weeks and being unable to help them. He got a little overprotective daddy-ish. (Someone permanently in this town needs to be a good dad..). But Hanna would have done the exact same thing to him. And then she shut him out and continued to run around, when previously, Caleb was always an honorary fifth liar. I know we're used to neglectful people. The tracker? On the one hand..that was a little bit like when Emily's father put up the alarms in the house. But I think that was more A related than anything. 

 

It was actually an interesting incite into Hanna's character, where she doesn't want anyone to think she's weak. 

 

As for the couples..Personally, they should let Toby and Ezra go. I don't know why they are so popular. But I always thought of Emily and Allison as THE couple of the show. They'll be the last to get together permanently because they are the most important. Ezra/Caleb/Toby are all side characters..Ali and Emily are central to the story, a thread that kept the original group together..and a slow build. 

[raytch]

As for the couples..Personally, they should let Toby and Ezra go. I don't know why they are so popular. But I always thought of Emily and Allison as THE couple of the show. They'll be the last to get together permanently because they are the most important. Ezra/Caleb/Toby are all side characters..Ali and Emily are central to the story, a thread that kept the original group together..and a slow build.

Thank you!

There hasn't been Michael character development for Ezra or Toby aside from the to the dark side and back arcs.

Which is why I'm not so invested in them because I always feel like they're somewhat expendable. But the shippers want what they want. I wish this show was on a different network because I feel like they could have gotten away with more twists. For example Ezra could have died from that gunshot which would have been interesting for Aria to deal with losing her first love, who turned out to be a stalker liar. Especially that she was the one to kill Shana...

Or with spoby they could have ended last season after he became a cop and developed some sort of a friendship. I really preferred Toby in season 1 when he was friends with Emily.

She really isn't but, yes, if they pair her with someone who elevates her, that helps.

I don't think they really could have pulled off Emily/Alison from the get-go, though, since the actresses were, what, 13 and 23 in the first season? Something like that? Eesh. Even the first kiss they showed between them creeped me right out. It's a little different now but the two really don't read as contemporaries to me.

As for Ezra, I have nothing against Ian Harding, I just don't care about this statutory rapist/stalker and I've long thought the only way he can work moving forward is if they make him go full-on dark (like they backed down from). But as long as he's around, we're going to be told he was Aria's really great boyfriend and true love.

As mercfan13 said, Emison has been a slow build so I don't see why they wouldn't go there at this point. Emily's main arc has been about Ali since day 1, and I loved what her come back did to her. Sasha is a bit on the melodramatic side but I like their chemistry together (especially in comparison to Shower Harvey)

[Spencer Hastings]

I really preferred Toby in season 1 when he was friends with Emily.

I still ship Emily and Stoop Kid. They had an interesting chemistry and Keegan played Toby better back then. For whatever reason they were set on making Emily a lesbian and Toby...whatever wooden character he is now but they had the best chemistry together.

[Artsda]

I preferred Emily with Toby too.Toby and Emily had some great chemistry.

 

 I can't take Emily with her billion relationships seriously because she starts them and falls for them so fast. She's had more romantic partners than anyone. So I don't see anyone with her as the main pair of the show. Especially compared to Aria and Hannah who have been in love with the same 1 person for years and most of the duration of the series. While Emily jumps from partner to partner.

 

I think Toby can go now though, especially if they keep Dean. While Caleb and Ezra are the main/ride or dies for Hannah and Aria. 

[CloudySky]

The promise of a new paradigm this season is now completely dead. Bummer.

 

 

Yeah. At least in the past the episodes were usually entertaining. This season I feel like I'm watching the same episode every week: Spencer and Hanna chase a dead end lead while Spencer "struggles with her addiction" and Hanna shuts out Caleb; Aria hangs out with Clark and creepy dolls snapping pics; Emily obsesses over Sara; Alison is stuck on the couch on or offscreen; Mr. D screams at someone and Caleb feels helpless. Rinse repeat. Thank god for Mona popping in every once in a while to move the plot an inch.

 

 

Maybe for Emily it's been an actress availability issue.

 

Sasha Pieterse is a series regular and right there. Besides, they promoted Toby (who was supposed to die) and Caleb to series regular so they could have done the same for Emily with Paige or whoever. Unless Emison has always been the intended endgame but they're doing a shitty job of building that up.

 

As for Ezra, I wouldn't mind him staying as long as he stays away from Aria.

 

 

 

As for Ezra, I have nothing against Ian Harding, I just don't care about this statutory rapist/stalker and I've long thought the only way he can work moving forward is if they make him go full-on dark (like they backed down from). But as long as he's around, we're going to be told he was Aria's really great boyfriend and true love.

 

 

 

Aria works so much better as a character without that dead weight tied to her. Ezra can stay (familiar face with history at this point so why the hell not) if they find a purpose for him. Hopefully that is going to jail for his crimes during the timejump. Not likely.

 

Actually, it seems like Ashley and Caleb do have a closer than normal relationship for a teenage boyfriend/mother. (Not sexual guys..they just confide in each other, she cares about him etc..)

 

 

It makes sense that they would've grown closer together during the time the girls were kidnapped. They're the two people who love Hanna the most and although Ashley has Ted now it's not the same. And let's be real, it's not like Tom gives a shit.

 

As for the couples..Personally, they should let Toby and Ezra go. I don't know why they are so popular. But I always thought of Emily and Allison as THE couple of the show. They'll be the last to get together permanently because they are the most important. Ezra/Caleb/Toby are all side characters..Ali and Emily are central to the story, a thread that kept the original group together..and a slow build.

 

Agreed, but if they weren't brave enough to get rid of them when it made sense I doubt they'll do it now.

I hope Emily and Alison end up together, but it's frustrating to see all of their issues go unaddressed. There's still a lot of hurt there on Emily's side (and guilt now probably) and Alison must feel betrayed because Emily stopped trusting her and threw her under the bus. They can't postpone that conversation forever. And whatever goodbyes will be said in the finale will most likely not live up to the hype after all this time. They could start fresh after the timejump all healed and stuff but the unresolved past still lingers and to address it after 5 years seems ridiculous.

 

I really preferred Toby in season 1 when he was friends with Emily.

 

Me too. Oddly enough they had a nice chemistry despite being the weakest actors. Too bad that friendship got ruined when Toby slashed her tires. Oh wait, we're supposed to forget that ever happened.

 

 

 

 

[WhosThatGirl]

I like Aria a lot more this season than any other season. My favorites have always been Spencer and Hanna. I've never really had any feelings towards Emily but season A last year. Seriously bated howlovestoned she was all over Allison to the point for choosing her over everyone else. And this season she seems to be diunbv the same thing with Sara. I just am kind of over it.

[lorikauai]

DIsclaimer: I was reading about Pluto and only sort of watching this episode, a sad fall from the days where I would rewatch and look for clues.

 

We find out the girls have been chipped and Mona just happens to have shown up where they were breaking and entering the second episode in a row. Did this not occur to them? Did they check to see if she had a tracking device in her neck too?

[weevilswobble]

I'm calling it now... the time jump will be everyone coming back to Rosewood for stupid Ezria's wedding and they are going to walk down the aisle with bags over their heads.

[itainttippithebird]

 

Especially that she was the one to kill Shana...

 

WHEN IS SHE EVER GOING TO ACTUALLY BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR THIS?! That they dropped a straight up murder investigash plot is still killing me.

 

 

I can't take Emily with her billion relationships seriously because she starts them and falls for them so fast. She's had more romantic partners than anyone. So I don't see anyone with her as the main pair of the show. Especially compared to Aria and Hannah who have been in love with the same 1 person for years and most of the duration of the series. While Emily jumps from partner to partner.

 

I'm not sure why it matters that Emily has dated multiple people and has no obvious OTP - does...everyone have to have one?! Why? For the sake of shipping? If anything, Emily ships are more interesting because there's possibilities for rivalry, I would think. Then again, I don't really care very much about the romantic pairings of the show, so I guess I don't relate to the indignance - I'm here for the friend(ships).

Edited July 15, 2015 by actnormalbitch

[gesundheit]

I'm not sure why it matters that Emily has dated multiple people and has no obvious OTP - does...everyone have to have one?! Why? For the sake of shipping? If anything, Emily ships are more interesting because there's possibilities for rivalry, I would think. Then again, I don't really care very much about the romantic pairings of the show, so I guess I don't relate to the indignance - I'm here for the friend(ships).

It doesn't matter, it just feels a little off that the only one who doesn't is the one lesbian. But as I said earlier, this could easily be rectified by ending the Spencer/Toby and/or Aria/Ezra never-ending merry-go-rounds. 

 

But I do think Mitchell's not really a strong enough actress to sell any of the pairings. I believed that Paige was madly in love with her, but that's the only one. And I never bought anything the other way around (i.e., didn't buy that Emily was hot for a single one of her love interests).

 

Heck, I'd much rather they cut the love interest budget to beef up the family budget.

[Crim]

I liked the shot of Mona's appearance. But, as soon as she opened her mouth, I said "Oh, Summer of Answers Mode On!" and, lo and behold, that was a huge info dump that was accepted as true at face value in the interest of moving forward. Of course, Mona could have volunteered all this info when they caught her with Leslie's file, but she only did it after the Liars managed to outshovel their criminal ways. (I assume Hanna returned the car, or there wouldn't have been a point in cloning the access card as opposed to just taking it. Still, it was a huge risk.)

 

On top of that, she told Nicole that there were moments when she was with Sara that she completely forgot about their nightmare experience in the dollhouse and that somehow that means Sara is helping Emily more than Emily is helping Sara.

I thought that was telling, but not in that straightforward mode. It's not about how much Emily does (she obviously, objectively did a lot). Emily sees that she is not enough, which makes sense since Sara is more broken. This was the moment when I thought that Emily might realize that she cannot "fix" Sara, that Sara needs more/different help than she provides, and that she should push her towards getting it. Which would push Sara off screen, a wonderful thing indeed.

 

Mr D is as hardcore as Mrs D was. No hesitation in digging that grave over just that one letter. I'd like it more if A was just trolling with this and Charles' decomposed body was there. (Alas, it is not to be...)

[raytch]

^ did Ali tell him about the grave?

I can't remember if she did and I'm wondering how he knew about it because from what he knows Charles was cremated.

[Black Knight]

Yeah, I was hoping Mr. D would come across a skull...

 

And Ali sniped at her father in the previous episode about Charles being buried there. The one spark of the old Ali she's shown in forever.

Edited July 15, 2015 by Black Knight

[Crim]

^ did Ali tell him about the grave?

I can't remember if she did and I'm wondering how he knew about it because from what he knows Charles was cremated.

Yes. She mentioned the grave during a fight.

[SadieT]

I can't even with Sara and Emily. That's it I'm skipping through their scenes from now on.

Aside from that, I'm still enjoying Aria this season. I'm just upset that they have completely isolated Emily with the Sara storyline. I can't believe she left Aria in that junkyard with Clark just to go say hi to her co-worker/friend!

I love love love Spencer and Dean. Of all the temporary characters, I like him best.

I'm not a shipper by any means, but the Dean and Spencer stuff were the highlight for me, which again, says how bad of an episode this was.

So, are we to understand that Mona tracked the girls? How did she know where they were going if she was on house arrest?

This practically leaves us with Andrew, Holbrook, and Wren. If it's Wren then how the hell did he run away and then came back after 2 years as a doctor and no one noticed?

Mr. D got ONE letter from A and was like FUCK THIS SHIT! He didn't even have glass in his hair!

All the Emily and Sara crap is just irritating to watch. Who on the PLL writing staff thought we'd want to see Emily ignore her friends and her own needs in favor of some annoying needy traumatized stranger who clearly needs professional help.

I've never disliked Aria, I actually used to find her self-absorption fondly amusing, but seeing her more aware and active in the A hunt is refreshing. It's like her and Emily just switched roles. Now it's Emily who's totally wrapped up in her "relationship" to the detriment of her and her friends' well being, except Emily isn't even in a relationship with her obsession.

And Emily leaving Aria in that junkyard, forcing her to accept a ride home from Clark was a shitty thing for her to do as a friend. Aria looked clearly uncomfortable with the idea, which is totally understandable because someone has been stalking, kidnapping and trying to murder them for years now so I don't blame the girl for not wanting to get into cars with guys she barely knows, but Em was just like, "k bye" and peaced out on her.

I want to keep Dean so bad. He's so cute and supportive and not annoying or creepy. I'd pretty much accept anyone (except Jonny...cause, ugh) as a love interest for Spencer over Toby because I think Spencer desperately needs to move on from Spoby but Dean would be my first choice.

Mona just knows everything....because she's Mona. The girls don't even question her suspicious ability to know everything and be everywhere anymore, they just accept it.

Charles/A cant be Holbrook because Holbrook was hooking up with Ali last season. I know Charles is weirdly obsessed with his sister and had no problem being fake Alison's prom date but I think masquerading as a garden variety pervy Rosewood cop in order to sleep with your little sister is a whole level of disturbing this show will never touch, thankfully.

I do think based on what we know about Charles being a male in his 20s, there's only a handful of characters it could be, the most obvious being Wren, which is going to make the reveal either anticlimactic if Marlene didn't lie about it being a character we're familiar with, or rage-inducing if it's another "A is Charles!" type moment where it turns out we waited all this time to find out A is some rando.

I kind of loved Mr D flipping out over the card from A...like, buddy, you couldn't handle a day in the life of these teenage girls who have been dealing with this shit for years now.

[Jack Shaftoe]

The plot of this episode made no sense but Hanna was in rare form, Spencer not too bad when away from Dean the Bore and I actually kind of felt bad for Sara for a moment. Ashley seems to be planning the wedding of Hanna and Caleb already and I'm down with that.

 

Not too excited that they actually went with the chipping or with Sara's ridiculous emancipation/job storyline. And really not one, but two patients escaped from Radley on a night of a highly publicized case of a disappeared girl and we learn that only now? Yeah, right.

 

When Nicole said how volunteering helped Emily get over Maya's death I said "Lady, that was the booze, not volunteering".

 

I'm usually all for Emily getting some action but her "seduction" of Sara was like copied from a bad porno movie. First with the tattoo and the choice of clothes and then in the end with the checking for a chip which turned into foreplay. Everybody with eyes knew those were going to hook up but I kind of wish the writers had tried a bit harder to make it seem less forced and corny.

 

 

I liked the shot of Mona's appearance. But, as soon as she opened her mouth, I said "Oh, Summer of Answers Mode On!" and, lo and behold, that was a huge info dump that was accepted as true at face value in the interest of moving forward.

 

Yes, Mona is either super competent when it's infodump time or even more clueless and scared than the Liars (the rest of the time). It's jarring. And how freaking long was Lesli in Radley? Must have been five years at least. Then again, seems like spending some time in Radley is almost a normal rite of passage in Rosewood, so...

 

 

I was never invested in Emison but their interaction has always been plausible and grounded.

 

Not really, Emily has rejected Alison emphatically a number of times only to go back to pining desperately after her soon after. At least Sara is supposed to be a mess. Emily on the other hand, is all over the place mostly because the writers can't seem to decide which shipper faction they want to pander to and decided to go for a bold third option that pissed everyone.

 

I wish they would make the show a dramedy, centered around Hanna and Spencer's wacky detective adventures and Emily's wacky love life (which can be fun if they stop taking it so seriously). Aria can hunt raccoons or something.

Edited July 15, 2015 by Jack Shaftoe

[CloudySky]

I do think based on what we know about Charles being a male in his 20s, there's only a handful of characters it could be, the most obvious being Wren, which is going to make the reveal either anticlimactic if Marlene didn't lie about it being a character we're familiar with, or rage-inducing if it's another "A is Charles!" type moment where it turns out we waited all this time to find out A is some rando.

 

 

I hope it's not some stranger but ever since we've gotten the name Charles that's what I've been afraid of. The whole thing about 'the backstory' is more important than 'the who' indicates that it's not someone we know personally. The personal reveals will probably be Red Coat and Black Widow.

 

If it is Wren (I hope it is) I don't think it would be anticlimactic depending on how it's handled. There's been enough hints over the years that it would be satisfying, buuuut it could also be a complete miss because there are inevitable logistical and continuity issues. Regardless there are some things that need to be cleared up wih Wren like his drawings/confrontations with Mona/manipulation of events in S3/4. And his drawing in Ezra's cabin!

Edited July 15, 2015 by CloudySky

[raytch]

Jack Shaftoe! I was wondering what you'd have to say about this episode!

I meant Emily and Ali had chemistry. Ali did screw her over times and times again but it was believable. Ali was the girl to take love and adoration from people and feed on it. She 'let' Emily kiss her telling her it was practice for the real thing, was it a terrible thing to do? Hell yes, but this was actually very realistic as a lot of gay women will tell you they've been traumatized by a person like that at some point.

[raytch]

I hope it's not some stranger but ever since we've gotten the name Charles that's what I've been afraid of. The whole thing about 'the backstory' is more important than 'the who' indicates that it's not someone we know personally. The personal reveals will probably be Red Coat and Black Widow.

If it is Wren (I hope it is) I don't think it would be anticlimactic depending on how it's handled. There's been enough hints over the years that it would be satisfying, buuuut it could also be a complete miss because there are inevitable logistical and continuity issues. Regardless there are some things that need to be cleared up wih Wren like his drawings/confrontations with Mona/manipulation of events in S3/4. And his drawing in Ezra's cabin!

THIS

The problem is not just with Wren but pretty much every suspect.

Especially with what we learned this week from Mona unless they're going to tell us otherwise later.

If Charles was still in Radley on labor day 2009 then this would rule out anyone we've seen at any given moment before that. Which honestly rules out everyone but Wren! We know Wilden was in Cape May that summer and we know Ezra was seeing Ali that summer.

The big question is why fake your death and stay in the mental institution where you're being held? Let alone that he went back there 2 years later as a doctor...

[Jack Shaftoe]

 

I meant Emily and Ali had chemistry. Ali did screw her over times and times again but it was believable. Ali was the girl to take love and adoration from people and feed on it. She 'let' Emily kiss her telling her it was practice for the real thing, was it a terrible thing to do? Hell yes, but this was actually very realistic as a lot of gay women will tell you they've been traumatized by a person like that at some point.

 

Alison was more than believable, yes. Emily pining after her, never mind that half her character development was tied to rejecting Alison and all she stood for, not so much.

[Giuliano Lanzilli]

Does Emily ever run into a straight girl (besides her closest friends)??? As in EVER???

[Crim]

Does Emily ever run into a straight girl (besides her closest friends)??? As in EVER???

Have you seen Emily? Girl got game. Wait, no, not so much now with the horrible Sara scenes. XD It does happen though. The swimming champion chick? This Habitat chick (allegedly?). Heck, she served coffee for plenty of straight women. Yes, that was sarcasm. Sadly, by the nature of the show, the Liars tend to interact with potential love interests. This and previous friendships are pretty much the most used reasons for having a new recurring character on the show. Look at Dean, he had a role in Spencer's life, but the writers wanted to shove some romantic conflict there. Or Lorenzo: the only named cop introduced lately not only perved on Ali, but got the (pointless, disgusting) love interest gig. He could have been supportive/suspicious without kissing her, but I guess... that would be a different show.

 

The big question is why fake your death and stay in the mental institution where you're being held?

Didn't he escape though? I suppose if the organ donation document was fake, there is no telling when it was written and if the date on it was the one when he left Radley. Mrs D covered up it all up. You are right, it is very unbelievable, even for the bastion of professional standards and transparency that is Radley. Also to consider: security was still shit after both Bethany and Charlie escaped in one night, as seen in Mona's ability to waltz around.

Edited July 15, 2015 by Crim

[Giuliano Lanzilli]

Was Ezra wearing one of Aria's shirts? That navy thing with the wide, round neck and the tiny polka dots looks all kinds of wrong on Ezra, but it would be really cute on any of the girls. I keep thinking he needs a string of pearls.

 

AHAHAHAHAHA OMG you guys are making me crack my shit up! I thought it looked like a feminine shirt, too!

Edited July 16, 2015 by Giuliano Lanzilli

[CloudySky]

The big question is why fake your death and stay in the mental institution where you're being held? Let alone that he went back there 2 years later as a doctor...

 

 

He's a total psycho so who knows what he got upto in there. Bethany hated him apparently, probably because he had a weird Alison fixation with her. Maybe they wanted to transfer him to a higher security facility. Wasn't Jessica on the board? She could have helped fake the documents, paid some people off, fired/hired new staff, changed his name,...We know she was paying special attention to Bethany - one of the few people who probably knew the truth. 

 

If he was there that night he must have seen Melissa bury Bethany. Did he get fixated on her, follow her to England and seduce her? The question is how did he simultanously hold Sara Harvey captive? With the help of Mrs. D? So traumatized by what happened that she replaced Alison with Sara too?

 

Does Emily ever run into a straight girl (besides her closest friends)??? As in EVER???

 

 

"I'm not GAY, Emily" said Sydney after making googly eyes at Emily all season. The lady doth protest too much.

 

 

[cuddlingcrowley]

I echo everything said about Ezra's girly shirt, Emily being the "new Aria" and the trainwreck that is Emily/Sara. DId they actually try to spin this as a good thing? I'd like to take a moment to adress this:

 

Dear Emily, "helping" Sara isn't helping you. For one, you're not actually helping her, not by suggestion emancipation to someone who's three months short of becoming eighteen, not by suggestion to take her away to Thailand, away from everyone she's ever known, after knowing you for two weeks. Pretending to take care of such a broken person makes you feel strong, though, and that rush is all that is to your supposed feelings. And it's all kinds of gross. To the point that if Sara is revealed as Charlie himself, I won't be sorry.

 

On another note, I'm in the minorty that I liked both Nicole and Clark and don't think they're creepy at all. The one who's ten kinds of shady this season is Aria, imo, she's out-shading with Sara, and that's saying something.

 

My girl Hanna is on fire!! Consistently the best character of this show for 6 seasons!

 

I thought the last part of the episode with the girls on the lab was comedy gold, but my favorite part were a couples of lines:

 

 

 

Dean to Spencer: the fact that you have a boyfriend isn't the problem. It's that I don't care.

 

Anyone else thinks that's a commentary on Spencer's character? Girl hooked up with a couple of different guys last season while still with Toby and was probably on the way to the third with Dean. I don't think she has cared for a while. I don't blame her, it's frigging Toby, but I think that realization is what made her go to the meeting at the end of the episode.

 

 

Mona: if you caught A in a photo, it's because A wants to be caught.

 

I'm calling it: the reason Aria has come alive this season, in a nutshell. She senses something is wrong and is subconciously trying to get caught. It's telling she's the only one getting A threats: she's leaving them to herself to give herself a clue.

Edited July 15, 2015 by cuddlingcrowley

[Bort]

Anyone else thinks that's a commentary on Spencer's character? Girl hooked up with a couple of different guys last season while still with Toby and was probably on the way to the third with Dean. I don't think she has cared for a while. I don't blame her, it's frigging Toby, but I think that realization is what made her go to the meeting at the end of the episode.

 

When Dean said that, I totally thought the same thing. Spencer isn't bothered by having a boyfriend either, she cheats on him all the time!

[jjjmoss]

Besides, they promoted Toby (who was supposed to die) and Caleb to series regular so they could have done the same for Emily with Paige or whoever. Unless Emison has always been the intended endgame but they're doing a shitty job of building that up.

No, I don't believe Toby's ever been a regular, which is weird given that he's been in the majority of each season.

[SadieT]

When Dean said that, I totally thought the same thing. Spencer isn't bothered by having a boyfriend either, she cheats on him all the time!

 

Spencer being a cheater is like one the show's few consistent character traits. In a way, I don't blame her because her boyfriend is Toby and he sucks, but it is a major character flaw and not all that nice of her. If she wants to explore other dudes, and again-I wouldn't blame her, then break up with Toby and date other people. Don't just make out with random guys whenever Toby's busy. 

 

I know the show's costume designer Mandi Line is beloved by cast, crew and fandom but I've been questioning her choices for a while now. It's one thing to style Aria in one completely ridiculous outfit after the other, and I can forgive all the feathers, mixed patterns, and cat sweaters on Aria because that's Aria's thing--she dresses like a ridiculous crazy person, but now they got Alison dressing like a 40 year old soccer mom, and Ezra wearing swoop neck women's shirts, and Caleb's jackets and tops tend to be 3x too large for him, and Emily is consistently wrapped in head to toe plaid like it's some sort of mandatory lesbian armor, and Spencer has had her share of silly looking outfits too... the only one who doesn't suffer at the hands of the wardrobe department is Hanna who's usually dressed in something cute. 

No, I don't believe Toby's ever been a regular, which is weird given that he's been in the majority of each season.

 

I believe Keegan Allen wants to remain a guest star so he could do other projects. 

[GaT]

I want to keep Dean so bad. He's so cute and supportive and not annoying or creepy. 

 

Then he doesn't belong in Rosewood.

[Cranberry]

Heather Hogan's suspicion of Sara is still cracking me up:

 

Hanna: Booo, you are not one of us! You work with Lesli Stone who was in Radley with Charles and Bethany, boooo!

Mona: You can hear from my voice that I have a cold, and I spent ten times as long in that dollhouse as y’all did, and you’re still three miles behind me.
Spencer: Lesli and Bethany were best friends and Lesli hates us because Bethany ended up buried in Ali’s grave!
Mona: For starters, Bethany and Lesli hated each other, so if you know of anyone who is trying to get at Lesli, like by framing her for hit-and-run or something, you might consider that that person is Bethany Young. Especially if she looks like Bethany Young.

Spencer: We don’t know anyone like that.

Mona: Fine. Second thing, Bethany and Charles snuck out of Radley on the same night. They were great friends, knew everything about each other. So, again, if you know an orphan who has appeared from nowhere looking like Bethany Young and worming her way into your inner circle and gaining access to your vital organs and Caleb’s top secret hacker stuff, that’s probably Bethany Young.

Aria: Spencer told you, we don’t know anyone like that!

Mona: Okay. Well. Goodnight.

[KaveDweller]

ETA: Based on Nicole's pitch to Emily about going to Thailand, she says they leave mid-June right after high-school graduation.  Which means that they are most likely sometime in May 2012.

 

But Caleb talked about pictures of Kimye. They weren't a thing back in 2012 were they?

[ottoDbusdriver]

But Caleb talked about pictures of Kimye. They weren't a thing back in 2012 were they?

 

Per Wikipedia, they started dating in April 2012.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanye_West

 

But Caleb's right, nobody needs to know that.

[Spencer Hastings]

Heather Hogan's suspicion of Sara is still cracking me up:

That genuinely cracked me up. I'm not on the Bethany Young boat per se, but I'm paddling the "Emily you dope, you're literally sleeping with Charles' brainwashed helpmeet" boat. I didn't even think about her having access to Caleb's equipment because I can't get over how incredibly stupid Emily is.

Mona gives the best info dumps but why haven't they realized that she always knows where they are? Like maybe she or someone she's helping is tracking them? I don't think she's in charge at all but I do think she's working with Charles, which is why she knows so much. They would have been toast 3 seasons ago if it weren't for Mona though, so I just kind of see her as an animal wrangler who lets them roam free but not outside of their pasture where they'll harm themselves. I can see Charles threatening her if she actually helps them so she drops clues and hopes that at least Spencer will bite.

Edited July 16, 2015 by Spencer Hastings

[mercfan3]

I feel like Mona is "Snape" 

 

I don't think Sara is Bethany Young. Honestly, I just see her as Emily's coping mechanism after the Dollhouse. Emily's using photography, Spencer was using pot, Hanna's trying hard not to show "weakness" and Emily is trying to "fix" Sara. IMO, that's all she is. But Heather is too funny about her suspicion. 

Edited July 16, 2015 by mercfan3