We’re back in Rosewood 5 months after “A” was revealed and Maya’s body was found, and everything is strangely familiar. The liars are having a sleepover, complete with alcoholic beverages that Emily keeps downing like water. But honestly, who can blame her? In the last two years, she’s watched two of the girls she loved being carried off in body bags. The girls spent the summer apart: Aria took a photography class, Spencer had a full load at Hollis, Hanna took cooking classes with Caleb and Emily built houses in Haiti, and because Mona is in the nuthouse, the girls have this obscure idea that everything is over. Have they watched this show? Nothing is ever “okay” and normal in Rosewood.
Aria wakes in the middle of the night to an open door and a missing Emily. Similar to the night Alison went missing, Emily’s gone and Spencer has looked everywhere. Hanna, Spencer and Aria find her at the graveyard covered in dirt with a shovel in her hand, standing over Alison’s empty grave. Emily has absolutely no idea how or when she got there because she’s wasted, and Spencer realizes that someone used her phone to call Emily. These liars seriously need to stop drinking and falling into deep sleeps. Don't they know by now that they're going to wake up to headaches and missing people? Being the brilliant mind that she is, Spencer devises a plan that puts the girls miles away from Rosewood the night Alison’s body went missing. Instead, they were at the Hastings lake house, roasting marshmallows, talking about boys and senior year and summer – you know, the things normal girls chat about. ‘That Night’ never happened. (FINALLY, THEY CAN NOT TELL PEOPLE ABOUT SOMETHING OTHER THAN 'THE JENNA THING.')
Ironically, Alison’s body went missing before it could be exhumed for evidence, and Veronica Hastings doesn’t think this is a coincidence. The Rosewood Reporter also says that Maya may have kept something that connected Garrett to Alison’s murder. Perhaps Maya was on her way to tell Emily what she found, but someone got to her first.
It’s the anniversary of Alison’s disappearance, and that means it’s also the anniversary of the day Aria made out with her soon-to-be English teacher. So they have a 35 second make out session to recreate the “romantic” moment. Meanwhile, Hanna and her mother are shopping so Hanna can get her mind off of the fact that her best friend had been torturing her and almost killed her after running her over with a car. Retail therapy can work miracles, people. Spencer wants to forget about the unknown number who repeatedly keeps calling her and catch a movie with Hanna, but she’s got an appointment with Dr. Sullivan. And by an appointment with Dr. Sullivan, she means sitting in the psych ward while Mona stares into the abyss. As “Miss Rivers” is leaving Radley Sanitarium, she runs into our favorite Brit making his rotations, and now Wren has a secret of Hanna's to keep. More importantly, Toby is taking showers at Spencer’s house because… something about the renovation of a loft? Honestly, I have a hard time focusing on anything else when Toby is shirtless.
Summer is over, and the girls are finally back at Rosewood High where nothing says “Welcome Back” like a visit from “A” in the bathroom. Aria is trapped in a stall as a hooded figure walks around aimlessly and does absolutely nothing, but that's enough to scare her into a panic attack. Truthfully, the black hoodie and boots are probably just the new fashion statement in Rosewood. Since Emily didn't make it to senior year and is still distraught over losing Maya, she meets up with Toby at The Brew for a therapy session. Remember when they were kind of “dating” and actually went to Homecoming together? Yeah, that was weird. But I’m glad that there’s someone in town that Emily can confide in, because she’s totally not talking to the girls about how depressed she really is.
While Spencer is supposed to be studying, she actually makes a trip to the Lost Woods Resort. She basically sets up camp in A’s empty lair with her computer, cell phone and any other technology device she can get her hands on (such a Hastings). After getting an unknown call again, she finally answers, and it turns out that Garrett has been the one calling nonstop. During their meeting at the jail, he tries to convince Spencer that he didn’t kill Alison and Garrett tells her that she can’t even begin to understand the things that have been happening. Now, on to the real reason of why he's been calling: Garrett actually wants Veronica Hastings to be his attorney because she’s the best in Rosewood (let’s face it, she’s the only attorney in town – funny how things work out) and Spencer refuses to even consider her mother as an option… until Garrett says: “I know who took the body.”
After all the mayhem and madness in Rosewood, possibly one of the biggest shockers of the night happens: Aria, Ezra... and Ella have an anniversary dinner. Meanwhile, Hanna makes another trip to Radley because Wren thinks her visits may be helping Mona. Just when you think she's about to snap out of her silence after Hanna asks if she should keep visiting, Mona "sees" Alison sitting in a chair wearing a red jacket and reading Lolita. Light bulbs start going off left and right – was Alison the visitor at the end of the finale?
During her morning run, Emily sees a car that she recognizes from ‘that night’ at the graveyard and she receives another anonymous text message. The girls finally make a trip to the Lost Woods Resort during the daytime like normal people should, and they tell Emily that the morning after Maya was murdered, they found A’s lair completely empty. However, Spencer has been making trips to the resort to create a full layout from everything she remembers in the room. She basically recreates the room perfectly, and a key memory is that there were multiple hoodies just hanging there waiting to be worn. Obvious conclusion: someone is helping Mona. Even though she’s a mastermind and all-knowing, Mona couldn’t have been giving Emily a massage and riding horses with Hanna at the same time, right?
While the girls have this revelation that Mona’s locked up and someone else has to be behind Alison’s missing body, Spencer’s car alarm blares and the girls return to a fully-opened vehicle covered in hundreds of pictures of them near Alison's grave ‘that night.’ Staying true to Pretty Little Liars fashion, all 4 cell phones sound, and the girls receive a text that reads: “Mona played with dolls. I play with body parts. Game on, bitches.” -A
SumOlogy: A new 'A', a missing DiLaurentis, and more secrets: Just another typical day in Rosewood.
Grade: B+
Leftovers
Drunk Emily is one of my all-time favorite characters.
Lucas is back with a little facial scruff and he’s lurking around Rosewood in the middle of the night.
“Bitch crazy” -Spencer Hastings
"Someday we will all have jubilation." Hanna enhancing her vocabulary is probably one of the greatest and funniest things to happen to this character.
Byron and Ella have split up again because they can’t agree on how to handle Aria and Ezra’s relationship. JUST LET THEM BE TOGETHER!
Hastings apparently “bounce back like Super Balls.”
Remember that in Rosewood, nothing is as it seems.
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Follow Jaymie Bailey on Twitter: @jaymie_bailey
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