“Charlotte’s Web” (Season 6, Ep 12)

Welcome bAck, Little Liars! This week on the blog I’m going to be recapping Season 6, Episode 12 “Charlotte’s Web”. If you haven’t seen the episode yet, stop here because SPOILERS…ya know?

The girls are just chilling in The Radley lobby, still in their funeral best. (Is this going to become their new go-to hangout? I don’t hate it.) Aria says that she has to go back to Boston because she’s missed too many days of work. The other girls seem skeptical of Aria’s quick departure, especially Hanna. Lorenzo did just talk to them about staying in town & all of the sudden Aria’s all, “Ok, g2g, l8er!” It looks like Sara Harvey is staying at The Radley as well—she’s at the front desk & they try to hand her a pen, presumably to sign something & she declines. The man that accompanied her to the funeral takes the pen & signs the paper, while Sara stands there looking sketchy/pathetic. I think we can assume at this point that something is definitely wrong with Sara Harvey’s hands, but what do the girls have to do with it?

Hanna makes a comment about Sara potentially lying about her hands, just like she lied about having “Swedish Syndrome”. Spencer corrects Hanna, pointing out that Stockholm syndrome is a real thing. The general consensus seems to be that Sara used it as a way to get a reduced sentence, absolving herself of her role in torturing the girls. This is where it gets kinda tricky, because we still don’t know a great deal about what happened to Sara Harvey in the dollhouse—she had been missing for a long time though, so it’s possible she was there much longer than the girls ever were. I’m in no way trying to defend Sara Harvey, but if the girls are struggling with PTSD from their weeks in the dollhouse imagine the detrimental effects of Sara Harvey’s months (or years) in the dollhouse. What we (and the girls) saw was the end of Sara’s time there, Charlotte obviously had built up a level of trust with her & I would be interested to see what her experience was like earlier in her captivity. If she wasn’t being held captive & she was choosing to help Charlotte, where did they meet? What motive would she have to torture people she had never even met? Either way, Sara Harvey showing up at Charlotte’s funeral supports her claim of having Stockholm syndrome so it was a smart move on her part if she is faking it. I swear, this girl should have been born in Rosewood.

Aria goes to leave to catch her flight & Hanna offers to walk her out. Out of earshot of Emily & Spencer, Hanna tells Aria that she knows she left the hotel the night that Charlotte died. Instead of taking this opportunity to be honest with Hanna, Aria says that she had to check her messages & then her phone was dead so she had to get her charger out of her car. Hanna challenges Aria, saying she tried to wait up for her but Aria didn’t come back before she fell asleep. My first thought is of course that this has something to do with Ezra. When Aria lies to her friends, it almost always has to do with Ezra Fitz. Will this girl ever learn? (Probably not.)

The intro rolls & this week we have Emily as the shhhh-er. I’m beginning to think that whoever does the “shhhh” at the top of the episode is who the episode will focus on. I’m really glad it’s Emily this week, because it seems like she’s hiding some serious secrets from her friends & family.

Alison is at the Rosewood Police Station meeting with Lorenzo about Charlotte. While she’s waiting, she watches Sara Harvey get released. Sara looks right at Alison & it’s hella creepy. When Lorenzo comes in, Alison asks why they’re letting Sara go. He states that because of the violent manner of Charlotte’s death & Sara’s severe burns, they had to rule her out. Apparently Charlotte’s neck was broken by blunt force trauma before she was thrown from the bell tower & the police just don’t think Sara Harvey physically could have done it. Why they then think any one of the girls could have done it is beyond me, but that’s just Rosewood PD for you. These girls are their favorite suspects. Lorenzo pointedly asks Alison if she thinks her friends had anything to do with Charlotte’s death. Alison says no. (Sidenote: Did anyone else find themselves semi-distracted during this scene remembering how Alison & Lorenzo used to date? So glad THAT’S over.) My biggest takeaway from this scene? Sara Harvey’s hands are burned to the point where she can’t use them—how the hell did THAT happen?!

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Cut to Emily on the phone scheduling an appointment for the next day. You can tell from her body language & the way she’s speaking that she’s trying to be as secretive about this call as possible. Pam comes in, asking Emily how the funeral was. (Only in Rosewood is it normal for your mom to strike up a conversation with you about a funeral you went to earlier.) Pam asks if Emily went to the cemetery, because the DiLaurentis plot is right by the Fields plot where Wayne is also buried. It’s clear that this is a touchy subject for Emily, who apparently hasn’t been to visit her dad’s grave since he was buried. Pam tries to talk to Emily about going to visit his grave, but Emily just says, “I’m gonna go take a shower.” (Woah, Emily…that’s Shower Harvey’s line!)

We finally get to see Hanna’s fiancé Jordan in this episode & he appears to be “the perfect man”. Not only is he clearly head over heels for Hanna, but it seems like he’s not hurting for money either. He came to Rosewood because the police want to talk to Hanna & he knows how they’ve treated her in the past. (Okay, this is good! Hanna seems to have been honest with Jordan about her history…maybe.) He’s good looking, sweet, & protective…so why does Hanna not seem all that happy to see him? When he mentions that his uncle said they could use the Hampton’s estate for their wedding, Hanna’s reaction is pretty bland. Is she not excited to be marrying Jordan? This whole scene I kept thinking, “What’s the catch?” Sure, this guy seems like Prince Charming & everything that Hanna would want, but she doesn’t light up around him the way we saw her with Caleb. Is there something wrong with him? Or does the issue come from Hanna’s heart? Does she still have feelings for Caleb? Whatever it is, I just really don’t want to see Hanna marry Jordan. Yuck.

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Knock, knock…who’s there? Aria’s at Ezra’s apartment! **facepalm** Ezra tries to invite Aria in, but she says she’s on her way to the airport. All she came to say was that they “didn’t see each other the night that Charlotte died” & they “didn’t walk around & talk”. So that basically means that’s exactly what happened that night. I’m mad at Aria for a few reasons here: (1) She just made herself a standout in court earlier in the day, the last thing she needs to be doing is roaming around Rosewood after hours. Period. (2) What is she doing with Ezra? Seriously, this relationship is always toxic no matter what iteration it is. Ezra is clearly going through a very tough time & the last thing he needs is to be spending alone time with Aria. It’s not good for either one of them. (I said last week that I wasn’t sure who was going to fall back on old romantic habits first—now I’m saying it’ll probably be Aria & Ezra. These two just can’t seem to stay away from one another.)

Emily is at the Hollis medical center getting blood drawn & the nurse mentions injections that Emily will be getting as well. What in the hell is going on here? Obviously Emily is having health problems, but what could it be? The nurse taking Emily’s blood mentions to her that she should do her treatments all in one place instead of traveling from San Diego to Rosewood for them, because travel puts a lot of added strain on the body. (If Emily is suffering from an autoimmune disease or cancer, this added strain could be very bad for her health.) When Emily leaves she tries to pay her parking, but her credit card is declined. Emily seems to panic, highlighting again that she seems to be having money issues. I wonder if Emily is paying for her medical bills out of pocket, not using her insurance because she doesn’t want her mom to know what’s going on. That would certainly put a strain on her bank account. Luckily Sabrina notices her & comes over, trying her card instead. Emily is embarrassed, nearly on the verge of tears. Sabrina asks if she’s okay & Emily says that she’s fine. I get the feeling that Emily is very far from fine right now.

Alison is with Hanna & Spencer, looking over the case file from Charlotte’s murder. (Is Alison allowed to be sharing this stuff with them? Aren’t they suspects? WTF is this?) The flowers were placed in Charlotte’s hands & her nails/hands were wiped clean of any DNA. Whoever killed her, they knew what they were doing. Spencer has a strange look on her face when she hears these details. (We’ll find out why a little later.) Alison says she spoke to Byron & he said that Aria left a day earlier than she had planned. She’s clearly suspicious of Aria & still mad at her for what she said in court. Alison says that Aria was still angry with Charlotte & Spencer says, “She wasn’t angry, she was scared.” This was interesting to me, because it seemed like Alison was saying that Aria had no right to be angry with Charlotte. I agree with Spencer that Aria was scared, but I think Alison is also right—Aria was angry. And why shouldn’t she be? The things that happened to her were terrible & they’ve impacted her life in a huge way. I don’t understand why Alison can’t accept Aria’s anger here, when Alison expects everyone to accept her emotions no matter what they are, no questions asked. (Alison was allowed to disappear for years & then just pop back in to Rosewood & act like nothing happened.) I think for Alison, other people’s feelings simply aren’t as valid as her’s. Alison invites the girls to a dinner at her house & of course Spencer & Hanna agree. She also invites Caleb, Emily, & Jordan to come to dinner…so this will definitely be interesting!

Spencer was freaking out over the details of Charlotte’s murder because they match the details of a murder that she wrote a paper on for a Criminology class during her Sophomore year. She shows Caleb, panicking that someone knows about this paper & killed Charlotte in a manner that would connect back to her. Caleb tells Spencer to calm down, that it’s “just a coincidence”. Spencer isn’t stupid, she knows that the Rosewood PD base entire cases off of coincidences. She’s right to be nervous. I honestly can’t believe that Caleb doesn’t get how the Rosewood PD would be all over this—it’s exactly the kind of evidence that they love to use against the girls. (If only Toby hadn’t been passed up for that promotion, we wouldn’t even be worrying about this. Detective Toby would never let Spencer or the other girls get framed!)

Aria’s back to work in Boston & we get to see Liam for the first time—they work together & Aria addresses him as “Mr. Green”. (Oh man, this girl has a thing for authority figures, doesn’t she?) They wait until they’re alone to kiss, so obviously they’re trying to hide it from their coworkers. Liam asks if Aria saw Ezra Fitz & at first I thought he was asking as a boyfriend, but Aria simply says that he was thinking of giving back the advance for the second book. Liam looks concerned, saying that Jillian won’t be happy about that. When Aria relays this message, she definitely isn’t happy & threatens to take Aria off the project & give it to Liam. Aria says she knows Ezra, that he was her teacher, so she can get through to him. Jillian tells Aria she just needs someone to “bring back the book we paid for.” So wait…do none of these people know that Aria dated Ezra? Does she still just lie all the time? You’re killing me, Smalls.

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Emily goes to The Brew to find Sabrina. She’s been managing the place since Ezra & Nicole went to South America. Emily asks Sabrina not to mention to anyone that she saw her outside the medical center. Sabrina promises not to tell, but does mention that she had cancer several years back & tried to keep it from friends & family. Eventually she realized she needed the support system, so she hopes that Emily doesn’t try to go through what she’s going through alone. Emily deflects once again, saying that she’s fine but that she doesn’t want to give her mom anything else to worry about. This really breaks my heart; Emily is obviously going through something serious & no matter what Pam is feeling, I know that she would want to be there for Emily. A mother always wants to be there for their child, period. Emily may be trying to protect her mom, but the longer she keeps this secret the more she’s actually hurting her.

Alison’s dinner party is in full swing as Hanna & Jordan finally arrive with tons of food. The presumed super-awkward meeting of Caleb & Jordan actually isn’t too terrible—Jordan is being a gentleman & so is Caleb. Hanna is clearly anxious though. (I feel you girl, it’s weird.) Emily tells Hanna that she’ll be staying in Rosewood for a few weeks, at her mom’s request. Hanna wonders whether the Salk Institute will mind Emily’s absence & she quickly says no. When Hanna asks what Emily does at work, Emily simply says, “I research cures. For Alzheimer’s. Diabetes. Infectious diseases.” It seems like this lie is tied in to whatever is going on with Emily’s health—perhaps she’s been getting treatments at the Salk Institute, not working there? Maybe it got too expensive & that’s why she’s starting treatments in Rosewood? We find out that the beginning of Spaleb happened in Madrid. Spencer tells Jordan about them meeting by chance at a train station & Spencer smiles in a way that suggests she & Caleb had some fond memories there. Meanwhile, Hanna & Caleb are looking for wine glasses & a bottle opener in the pantry. Caleb congratulates Hanna on her engagement, saying Jordan seems like a really nice guy. We find out that Caleb left Hanna to go to Europe & Hanna was going to focus on her job. She ended up meeting Jordan. It’s unclear at this point why Caleb went to Europe—did Hanna ask him to leave or did he choose to go?

Alison gets off the phone with Lorenzo, who called to update her about Charlotte’s case. They determined Charlotte’s time of death to be around 4am. Alison seems distant, not entirely herself here. She asks everyone at the table to say grace. Alison proceeds to make a super threatening prayer wherein she essentially thanks god for helping to find the person or persons who killed Charlotte & anyone who is protecting him or her. The look on Alison’s face after she says this is haunting & terrifying. This prayer was clearly directed at Aria & the girls, because Alison thinks they’re covering for her. Honestly this might be one of the creepiest/scariest things Alison DiLaurentis has done to date. She’s holding nothing back & it kind of feels like she invited the girls over for dinner just so she could accuse them of being involved in Charlotte’s murder. (Best friends forever though, right?!)

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Hanna tells Spencer that she knows that Aria left the hotel around 3am, but doesn’t know when she came back. Spencer suggests that since Ashley is the manager of The Radley that Hanna might be able to gain access to the security footage to see if they can figure out where Aria went. Hanna is hesitant, saying that she doesn’t do those things anymore. If Aria won’t be honest with them, it seems like the girls have no other choice but to look into it themselves. This is where we start to see the girls slipping back into old habits & surprise, surprise…it’s all because one of them isn’t being completely honest. Aria’s making herself such an easy target here, it’s sickening. It’s much easier to run away when someone is accusing you of something you know you didn’t do than to stand up & fight for yourself, but that doesn’t mean it’s the best thing to do. Aria left without telling her truth, which heightened any doubts the girls were already feeling about her story. This makes Alison’s job waaaaay easier, because Aria isn’t there to defend herself. As much as the dinner was about Alison confronting Hanna, Spencer, & Emily it was also her way of trying to turn them against Aria. But will her plan actually work?

While at The Brew with her mom, Emily sees Aria go up to Ezra’s apartment. I’m sure she’s thinking, “What is this bitch doing back in Rosewood? She said she had to be in Boston!” No matter which way you take it, Aria looks ridiculously sketchy here. Pam notices an alarm on Emily’s phone for her appointment at Hollis health center the next day & Emily lies, saying that it has to do with graduate school. Of course Pam is ecstatic at the idea of Emily moving home & going to school at Hollis. (Too bad Emily never graduated from Pepperdine…) It’s gonna be hard for Emily to figure her way out of this lie, but I have a feeling she’s definitely gonna give it her best shot.

Upstairs, Aria goes into Ezra’s apartment. I don’t know if it’s because he’s living in Toby’s old apartment, but Ezra is speaking in his best Bros Watch PLL Too Toby Voice in this scene. The apartment is a mess, most likely meant to be a representation of Ezra’s mental state. Aria tells Ezra that her bosses won’t take back the advance they gave him, they want the book. Ezra tells Aria that they’re not going to like the second book, that it’s nothing like the first one. He has a first draft, as far as he got with it anyway, stored on a flash drive which he ends up giving to Aria. Now that she has the book, Aria asks Ezra where he went after she left to go back to The Radley that night. Ezra is extra creepy here, saying “What exactly are you asking me?” It’s clear that he gets Aria’s implication. Without looking at Aria, Ezra says he “went home”. Okay, so Ezra is acting really weird here…but is it real? Or is this another red herring, distracting us from the real killer? If I know anything about Pretty Little Liars, it’s that the first person you suspect as the killer never really is. But we’ve been down this road before with Ezra & he wasn’t the bad guy then…so why repeat that? Could he actually have crossed a line here?

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Spencer helps Caleb make up the couch in the barn, asking him if he’s still okay sleeping on it. He assures her that he’s fine on the couch. (I’m wondering if Spencer was trying to angle for some Spaleb cuddling perhaps?) We get to find out a little more about their encounter in Madrid—Caleb took Spencer to a bullfight & Spencer hated it. Then they snuck into a park with several bottles of Sangria & watched the sun rise. I’m getting the impression that Caleb & Spencer have yet to hook up, but there’s definitely an attraction there. It makes perfect sense given Spencer’s friendship with Hanna that both Caleb & Spencer would have been hesitant to cross any romantic lines. I’m still not sure how I feel about Spaleb, mostly because I’m getting the feeling that Hanna & Jordan won’t be making it down the aisle. If there’s any hope for Haleb, that’s who I’m pulling for! Sorry, Spaleb.

Despite her earlier resistance, Hanna has found a way to access the security footage at The Radley from the night Charlotte died. They see Aria leave around 3am…with Ezra. She arrives back, alone, at 4:28am. Based on what Lorenzo told Alison, Charlotte would have been dead by this point with enough time for Aria to get back to The Radley. Emily seems unsure of what they should do & Hanna says they’re going to talk to Aria about it directly, because they aren’t in high school anymore. I love moments like this where we see the girls growing, making very different decisions than their high school selves would have. It’s refreshing. Hanna, Spencer, & Emily go to confront Aria. At first Aria seems confused about how they knew she was back in Rosewood, but Emily says that she saw her going to see Ezra. (Again, Aria…see a pattern here?) The three confront Aria with what they know, giving her little opportunity to lie. I enjoy seeing these girls taking a new approach to conflict resolution—where before they would have spied & made assumptions, they now look for concrete facts & speak to one another directly. We get to see a flashback of that night here: Ezra came to The Radley to see Aria when she said she couldn’t sleep. (I’m not sure if this is sweet or creepy, TBH…) They talk about what Aria said in court & Ezra is quick to assume that the girls are giving Aria a hard time about what she said. (This is a pattern I’ve noticed with Ezra, he’s constantly trying to separate Aria from her friends in whatever way possible. I’m not sure if this has to do with the fact that she was in high school when they started dating, or if this is an actual part of Ezra’s personality.) Aria & Ezra decide to leave The Radley, per Aria’s request. As they’re walking around Rosewood after 3am, a car pulls up to the church. Charlotte gets out & walks into the church, which just so happens to be unlocked.

I have SO MANY QUESTIONS HERE. Why wasn’t the church locked at 3am?! (You’d think after all the crazy shit that’s happened in that bell tower over the years, Pastor Ted would at least lock the place up at night. Oh well, that’s Rosewood.)  Charlotte drove herself there, but was she going to meet someone or to be alone? It seems odd to me that Charlotte would leave Alison’s house to get some alone time, so let’s assume she was meeting someone…but who? Mona? Sara Harvey? Holden? (Probably not Holden, but I just like throwing him into the mix sometimes so he doesn’t feel left out…ya know?) I know the Rosewood PD have ruled out Sara, but I sure as hell haven’t. I don’t care what is wrong with her hands, that girl has ways. At this point, Mona is a usual suspect…it would almost be boring if she was the one who killed Charlotte. But she still has motive, so I’m keeping her on my list. However, I’d really prefer if it was someone who’s motive isn’t obvious to us yet—like Wren or Pastor Ted. Or even Lucas. Someone who’s been around, but that we haven’t been able to directly point a finger at yet. Like I said last week, whoever killed Charlotte knows the girls well enough to be framing them. They’ve been waiting for their chance, which means they are as patient as they are sadistic. Whoever this person is, they’re the only A I’ve ever been truly afraid of.

As soon as they see Charlotte enter the church, there is a noticeable shift in Ezra. He makes a comment about how “people like Charlotte get to walk around free while people like Nicole…” It’s almost as if everything that happens around Ezra, he sees through the lens of Nicole’s abduction. This suggests to me that he still hasn’t processed his feelings regarding Nicole’s disappearance. I would imagine it would be hard, because he’s not ready to mourn her loss (she could still be alive after all), but he also has to be realistic about the situation—Nicole is most likely dead, given the circumstances. (Then again, girls get buried alive & live to tell the tale in Rosewood all the time…so maybe there’s hope for Nicole yet!) Ezra is quick to put Aria into a cab, getting her as far away from Charlotte as possible. He’s obviously being protective, but to what end? Is he trying to get Aria away from Charlotte for her own mental wellbeing? Or is he trying to get her away so she doesn’t see what he’s about to do? They’ve really been playing up Ezra’s “darkness” in these first two episodes, almost to a point where I feel like this is a case of misdirection. Ezra seems like the obvious choice for Charlotte’s killer at this point, but I think that’s exactly why he’s not. Does he have motive? Sure. Did he have opportunity? Yes. And that’ll probably be enough for Rosewood PD to arrest him & put him in jail, at least for a little while. (I’m seeing Ezria jailhouse visit scenes in our future…how about you?)

After Aria has finished her story, it’s clear that she is now doubting Ezra. She tells the others that when he told her he “went home” he didn’t look her in the eye. Aria knows that Ezra can’t look her in the eye & lie, so does this mean he was lying? Hanna’s quick to think so. Emily says, “This is a giant leap.” Remember, she worked for Ezra at The Brew & even though she was hella suspicious of him when he was writing that book…I think it’s hard for Emily to see Ezra as someone who could take another person’s life. Spencer retorts, “It’s not a giant leap. In fact, I think I taught Ezra how to do it.” Jiggawhaaaaaa?! Spencer is of course referring to her paper for her criminology class where the details matched Charlotte’s murder, but what does that have to do with Ezra? Apparently Spencer had lunch with Ezra while he was on his book tour. (Damn, Spencer is hanging out with ALL her friend’s exes…huh?) They started discussing his ideas for a second book & he mentioned doing something with true crime, so Spencer shared the details of the case from her paper with him. She had recently written it at the time, so it probably felt like a normal thing for her to be talking about, but now Spencer is wondering if Ezra used that information for something other than a book. My issue with this is that it’s been years since that lunch. Are we really supposed to believe that Ezra has held onto that information all these years & has just been waiting to put it to good use? I really doubt it. If Ezra was behind Charlotte’s murder, it would have been a crime of opportunity more than something that he planned out. He just happened to be there when Charlotte showed up (as far as we know) & the crime that Spencer researched was clearly premeditated. It would require preparation. Even the Rosewood PD are viewing Charlotte’s murder as premeditated, so I feel like that rules Ezra out. (Unless he’s now some extremely skilled serial killer who’s been honing his craft in South America…which I guess is still possible? But not likely.) The main lesson I think we all learned here? Never help Ezra Fitz with anything. Not a book. Not life. Nothing. That man is trouble.

In perhaps the most emotional scene of the episode, Emily goes to visit her father’s grave. Shay Mitchell is beyond amazing here—the presence & honesty that she plays Emily with make a scene that could have very easily fallen flat wonderfully dynamic. Monologues are hard, period. But talking to a deceased character? Even harder. Shay manages to have Emily maintain the same energy with which we saw her speak to her dad while he was alive & it’s unbelievably powerful. Emily was always the most honest with her dad, even if it took her awhile to get there. So naturally, this is how we find out a little more about Emily’s last five years. After her dad died, she flunked two classes & lost her scholarship. She dropped out of Pepperdine, because she was too embarrassed to go back. Emily tried to tell her mom, but Pam was such a mess after Wayne’s death that Emily couldn’t bring herself to burden her with more bad news. Any secret is hard to keep, but I would imagine that what Emily is keeping hidden is especially difficult. She’s having to lie about finishing college, about what she does for a living…even about her health. Emily hasn’t told anyone, family or friends. She has no safe space. That level of stress can’t possibly be good for her health, whatever she’s currently suffering from. I’m really hoping that Emily confides in someone soon, because she seems to be on the verge of a total breakdown.

Sara Harvey shows up at the graveyard & Emily sees her, since the Fields plot & the DiLaurentis’ plot are near one another. It’s hard to tell what the look on Sara’s face is when she sees Emily—she doesn’t seem “caught”, but she also doesn’t look as angry as I would have expected her to. (Perhaps she noticed the name on the headstone Emily was sitting near?) Emily runs off, leaving Sara Harvey standing by Charlotte’s grave. I would have loved to see what this conversation was all about (if there was one).

Meanwhile at The Radley, Hanna is deleting the footage of Aria from the night Charlotte died. On the surface, it seems like a good choice…one friend protecting another. Yet this highlights one of the biggest problems for the girls throughout the series as a whole—the appearance of guilt. Whether or not these girls have done the things they were accused of in the past, they have acted in ways that made them look suspicious. If Aria truly had nothing to do with Charlotte’s death, why would she want the footage deleted? Even if the police do get ahold of the footage, if she didn’t do it she shouldn’t care about it existing…right? But Aria Montgomery has a history with the Rosewood PD, one that makes her feel additionally wary of their ability to see things clearly. That’s why in her mind, it makes more sense to get rid of the footage than to try & explain why she didn’t do something that she actually didn’t do. In a way, the Rosewood PD made these girls into Pretty Little Liars; from the very beginning they have always assumed the worst of them. Back when they were most likely to be honest, Wilden railroaded them & made it so they stopped trusting the police entirely. It didn’t help that the girls were lying, just not about the things the police thought they were. And thus a vicious cycle began—the girls would lie to avoid getting questioned & appearing suspicious, then the police think would think they’re suspicious because they lied in the first place. Had Aria, Hanna, Spencer, & Emily felt like the Rosewood PD could be trusted to do their job without bias I think they would have behaved differently in a lot of situations over the years. They wouldn’t have been trying to “cover their tracks”, because they could have trusted the Rosewood PD to look at all the evidence before jumping to a conclusion. Unfortunately, none of these girls have this luxury. They’re dealing with law enforcement officers who process crime scenes practically looking for clues connecting it to one or all of them. I have to remind myself of this as I watch sometimes, because it can be hard to understand why they avoid just telling the truth. I live in a world where if I say I didn’t do something, the default is for people to believe me. That’s not the case for Aria, Emily, Hanna, & Spencer. They live in a world where everyone knows them as “Pretty Little Liars” & everything they do is processed through that lens.

At the end of the episode, Lorenzo is at Alison’s house. She called him to come over, because she wants to change her statement from earlier. Alison tells Lorenzo that she does believe her friends had something to do with Charlotte’s death. Whoaaaaaaa! After all these girls have done for Alison, I am stunned that she turned on them so quickly. (She ran away from home & they got accused of murdering her! The Jenna Thing!) At this moment, I’m beyond mad at Alison DiLaurentis. I understand that she’s grieving, but she has no proof that any of these girls killed Charlotte—it’s downright wrong of her to plant ideas in Lorenzo’s head, especially when he’s already looking for any reason whatsoever to go after these girls! Shame on you, Alison.

Cut to Charlotte’s grave where someone is leaving a bouquet of roses. (Roses? Very A.) They then proceed to walk to a waiting town car with a driver who says to the individual, “I’m sorry for your loss.” In the infamous words of Aria Montgomery, “Who IS this monster?!” Seriously, who the hell is it? When Sara was at Charlotte’s grave she didn’t appear to be holding flowers, but when I looked more closely I did notice that I couldn’t see one of her hands at all. So I suppose she could have been holding a bouquet that was covered by her body from one side? I think the time difference is meant to imply that it was someone other than Sara, but we’ll see. It’s someone who can afford to have a town car driving them around, but that’s not necessarily uncommon in Rosewood. I mentioned both Wren & Pastor Ted earlier, but I was also thinking about another curveball option for Uber A—Noel Kahn. Think about it. He’s been around since the very beginning. He knew a lot of people’s secrets. Alison mentioned before she came home that Noel Kahn “had secrets of his own” & we have yet to find out what those are…could that mean we’ll be seeing him again? Like I said before, I strongly believe this A is someone who knows the girls very well. It can’t be some random character, it has to be someone from years ago because they knew enough to murder Charlotte & make it look like the girls. There’s something really terrifying about someone who has the ability to weave this complex of a web—it takes intelligence, patience, & a persistent (or growing) level of hatred. This person must really hate these girls to still want to ruin their lives after all these years. Sure, we all have people we didn’t get along with in high school, but after a few years you usually don’t care. You’re over it. This individual is certainly not “over it”, whatever “it” may be.

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What did you think of “Charlotte’s Web”?

Do you have a theory about who killed Charlotte?

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Thanks for reading & I’ll be back next week with my recap of “The Gloves Are On”!

“Of Late I Think of Rosewood” (Season 6, Ep 11)

Hello, Little Liars & welcome to my first post on the Making A Pretty Little Liar blog! In lieu of making recap videos, I thought that a blog might be a better medium for me to delve into my feelings & theories—so we’ll see how it goes! This week I’ll be discussing the Pretty Little Liars Season 6 Winter Premiere “Of Late I Think of Rosewood”. This should go without saying, but if you haven’t seen the episode yet this is your official SPOILER ALERT. Cool? Cool.

(Photo credit: http://www.entertainment-focus.com/tv-section/tv-news/pretty-little-liars-6×11-of-late-i-think-of-rosewood-preview/)

I’ve gotta say, they had me from the very first minute with all of those throwback quotes as the camera pans through the familiar halls of Rosewood High School—it felt like the perfect nod to fans of the previous seasons while clearly establishing the fact that time has passed & these girls have changed. We start with a pretty obvious change: Alison DiLaurentis is INSIDE Rosewood High School. (I know, weird!) Crazier yet? She’s. A. Teacher. Then again, I guess they do have a tendency to hire borderline too-young, ridiculously attractive teachers at Rosewood High School…at least she’s not writing a book about her students or dating them! (…right?)

Dr. Rollins, Charlotte’s ridiculously attractive doctor, comes to see Alison after her class to tell her that Charlotte has a hearing for release…in 4 days. Now most people would panic, but not Alison DiLaurentis; 4 days is just enough time for her to wrangle up her friends, get them to put their lives on hold, & come back to their hometown to speak on Charlotte’s behalf! The court will be contacting the girls & asking them to be at the hearing, but Alison chooses to add her own letters to them. This bothers me, because it feels like something that a younger Alison would have done. The girls have to show up by order of the court, so why does Alison feel she needs to write them? How well has she actually stayed in touch with them over the years? Has she ever once asked how their recovery was going? (I’m going to go out on a limb & say she hasn’t.) Even though 5 years have gone by, it seems like Alison still doesn’t have a strong grasp on what it means to be a good friend.

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So Alison is a teacher at Rosewood High, but what are the other girls up to? Aria works in publishing, seemingly in Boston at the moment. Hanna is based out of NYC & working in the fashion industry. Spencer is involved in politics in D.C. & Emily appears to be a bartender somewhere very warm. We get to briefly see Charlotte in the mental hospital that she’s spent the past 5 years in; she seems genuinely worried about whether or not the girls are still upset with her. I appreciate her concern, because it says that she recognizes the weight of what she did to the girls. Alison completely brushes Charlotte’s concerns aside, assuring her that they’ll be fine. Again, Alison is speaking for the girls instead of listening to them & finding out how they really feel. I don’t think her intentions are malicious (because all she wants is to see Charlotte come home & be well), but Alison is still thinking predominately about herself & what she wants.

The girls all arrive back in Rosewood, but it’s very clear that it no longer feels like home. As you get older, returning to places that were once such a huge part of your life can be emotionally confusing. There’s a sliver of you that feels nostalgic, but there’s a bigger part that knows you’d never go back for all the money in the world. Places where terrible things have happened to you are particularly difficult—especially when you see other people there who are completely unaffected by the awful thing that never seems to leave your mind. Take Spencer seeing that group of girls outside the cupcake shop; all of the girls phones ring at once & we watch as Spencer seems to hold her breath with these girls. As sick as it sounds, it might be almost comforting for Spencer to see them going through the same thing—that would make what happened to her more normal, less traumatic. It’s only when they all start laughing that Spencer releases her breath, coming to the realization that she doesn’t connect with these girls at all. What happened to her wasn’t normal & neither is she.

Despite the nostalgic parts, a few things have changed in Rosewood since we last saw it—Radley Sanitarium has become The Radley, a luxe hotel renovated by none other than Ashley Marin & Pam Fields is dating…sort of. (I don’t know about you all, but I’m just glad that the PLL Moms definitively made it out of the DiLaurentis basement!) Hanna is drinking wine with Ashley at The Radley & Ashley wants to know why Hanna didn’t bring her fiancé with her. (Yeah Hanna, where is this mystery man? We’re ALL anxious to see him!) Ashley also mentions that Hanna hasn’t been to see her in Rosewood since she opened The Radley, but the minute that Alison writes to her she’s on a plane here. Hanna states that it was the court that really asked her to be here, but Ashley astutely points out, “It’s still Alison.” Alison is the one who’s been petitioning the court, she’s the one who wants this release for Charlotte. This IS about Alison, just like it always is. It’s not really even about Charlotte at this point, but what Alison wants for her & their relationship. Never once do we hear Charlotte saying she wants to go home, but it’s all Alison ever talks about. This is the fantasy, the story that Alison has crafted in her head that she will now fight tooth & nail to make come to fruition. Has Alison grown up in these last 5 years? I think her fantasies have. Her commitment to her stories has. But her bottom line is still seemingly the same—it’s all about Alison.

Now to focus on one of my favorite characters: Ezra Fitz. According to Byron, Ezra is back from South America & living in the apartment above The Brew. Apparently Ezra “got sick & they sent him home”—the question is, what kind of “sick”? Of course upon hearing that Ezra is potentially a broken human being at the moment, Aria thinks it’s a good idea to go see him! (Because if there’s one thing Ezria can’t resist, it’s their other half at their weakest!) During their conversation at The Brew we garner a few important bits of information: Nicole is missing, Ezra got sent back from South America, is writing a second book(?!?!?!), & is really angry. This is not the angry that we saw back in earlier seasons when we thought Ezra might have been A, this anger is much darker. I’m not sure how to take this, quite honestly. I love Ezra, but my gut feeling was that he was putting on some kind of act. The words he was saying didn’t reach his eyes & although his anger felt very real, I wasn’t so sure that he was really angry at revolutionaries for “kidnapping Nicole”. Who knows, maybe this situation has really impacted Ezra’s perception of the world & as a result he’s coming off more detached, but something is weird here. You’re on my list, Ezra Fitz…I’m watching you.

(Photo credit: foreveryoungadult.com)

Things are essentially what you would expect in the House of Hastings—Veronica is running for State Senate, Peter is off doing grunt work for Veronica, & Melissa is nowhere to be found/not even mentioned. Of all the families, the Hastings seem to be the ones who’ve undergone the least change…at this point. Spencer & Toby get to have a little reunion, highlighting the fact that they are no longer together either. Toby is building a house, a la Noah Calhoun in “The Notebook”. For who, we don’t know. All I kept thinking was, “Where has Toby been living these last 5 years? Did he really wait all this time to rebuild his blown up house?” (Maybe he’s been building it for 5 years already? Who knows.) Point being, Toby is trying to build a house & there’s something really hysterical/sweet about it. I’ll go ahead & say it—that chair he built for Spencer would look really nice inside a house he built for them. Just sayin’. Toby is the second person to point out how the girls all came running when Alison called & Spencer tries to deny it, but doesn’t fully succeed.

Why does Ali still have so much control over the girls? I’m not entirely sure. In previous seasons it always seemed like the girls stayed close to Ali because she knew their secrets, but that can’t possibly be the case anymore, can it? They’ve all drifted apart & it’s unlikely that Alison knows all of their secrets from the last 5 years. Unless of course it has something to do with my favorite untrustworthy bitch—Sara Harvey. Several times in this episode Sara Harvey is brought up as a potential threat, that the girls did something to her that night at Radley that they don’t want anyone else to know about. All we saw was Emily slap/punch her in the face, but there’s got to be more to it than that…right? Apparently criminal charges were pressed against Sara, so she won’t be allowed to testify at Charlotte’s hearing. CRIMINAL CHARGES? What do they have on Sara Harvey? Sure, she was gonna blow up Radley…but wasn’t Charlotte in on that too? Why is Charlotte having a release hearing while Sara Harvey isn’t even allowed to speak at it? Sounds like there’s a lot we don’t know about Sara Harvey & I’m eager to find out more.

When Ali meets with the girls she essentially asks them to tell the judge that they aren’t afraid of Charlotte. When the girls seem hesitant about this, Ali immediately starts guilting them into agreeing. She argues that they have nothing to be afraid of, that they should trust her. (Her being Alison, not Charlotte.) Essentially Alison is saying to the girls, “I know you went through some terrible things, mostly because of me, but I need you to set all your feelings about that aside because of MY feelings, okay?” Alison tries to play the victim, saying that she needs their help to have a chance at having a family. This really irks me. I’m all for forgiveness & if Alison wants to forgive Charlotte, fine. But you don’t get to ask someone else to set aside their own feelings for yours. You just don’t. Especially when these girls would never have been in the situations they were in if it weren’t for Alison. As Ashley noted, Alison is the reason for all of the problems these girls have had. It’s not just the Charlotte thing, it’s everything. These girls lost their childhood because Alison decided to run away & pretend to be dead. They lost their sense of security in their own homes & eventually their own heads. Alison should be offering to help these girls in whatever way she can, not once again asking them for favors. At this point they aren’t even favors, because Alison has no intention of repaying them. She asks others to do things for her that she would never do for them. I guess that’s the crux of my issue with Alison DiLaurentis at this point—she takes way more than she gives. These girls barely have anything left to give, but here they are holding out their hands to her, offering themselves up once again. In the end, the girls do assert themselves more than we’ve previously seen them do with Alison–they call her out on asking them to lie to help Charlotte. The bigger question is, will they stand behind their words in court when it really matters?

On the day of the hearing, most of the girls fall in line with what Alison wants them to say. Spencer states, “I’ve learned that people are not always the things that they do.” Hanna simply says she isn’t afraid of Charlotte. Emily talks about how her father taught her that fear is a natural reaction, a good one, but also a choice & that she has decided she is not afraid of Charlotte DiLaurentis. Alison looks pleased, seeing all her dolls do as she asked of them. When it’s Aria’s turn, she struggles. Aria tries in vain to read from what she has written, but the judge tells her that she wants to know how Aria feels, not what the doctors think. At this point Ezra bursts into the room, interrupting Aria. Why? Who knows. (It’s probably for his next book guys, okay?) Aria resumes her statement, saying that she would not feel safe if Charlotte were to be released. Ali is clearly not happy with this, which immediately makes me concerned for Aria’s wellbeing. Lucy Hale does an amazing job here with this monologue, detailing a panic attack Aria has on the subway, remembering all of the dark boxes that A has trapped her in. After Aria’s testimony, Mona comes forward. After her conversation with Spencer about still having nightmares, seeing several shrinks, & taking multiple prescriptions we all probably thought we knew which direction Mona’s testimony was going in. But as per usual, Mona throws us a curveball. She goes the sympathetic route, saying she understands Charlotte because she spent time in Radley herself. My question is, did Mona change her testimony after hearing Aria or was this her plan all along? Is she hoping to gain Alison’s trust? Or is it something more sinister?

The girls meet up for drinks at The Radley, which is somewhat weird considering their history with the place. But as Spencer puts it, “If you’re gonna chase away the demons, you’ve gotta go where the demons are.” Emily confides in Spencer that she was really worried about Sara Harvey showing up at the hearing. She says that she could have walked in & “shown everyone what we did to her.” Now all the alarm bells are going off in my head—what did these girls DO to Sara Harvey? (The way Emily is talking it sounds like something very visible, so what could they possibly have done?!) While they’re at The Radley, the girls receive a text from Ali thanking them—Charlotte is getting released. As they continue to drink, Spencer admits that she thought they could get away with lying for Ali one more time because she never thought they’d actually release Charlotte. This highlights a very important lesson for the girls (and the audience)—you have to say what you feel & you have to stand up for yourself because no one else has to. All too often we convince ourselves that we can avoid saying things that are difficult, but still get the result that we want—because hey, our feelings are too obvious to even need to state, right? Wrong. I’ve learned that you can’t assume that anyone knows what you’re feeling/thinking unless you tell them. People can’t read minds, so we shouldn’t expect them to. The moment that Spencer assumed she could avoid saying how she actually felt so that Ali wouldn’t get hurt, she made a huge mistake. Everyone but Aria made a huge mistake in that courtroom–if they didn’t want Charlotte out in the world, they should have said so. If every single one of them had spoken up & said their truth, despite the fact that it was uncomfortable, maybe Charlotte wouldn’t have been released. People listen to the words you say, so you have to be very careful what you choose to tell them.

The next morning, Hanna receives a call from Alison saying that Charlotte is missing. Ali asks Hanna if Charlotte came by her hotel room, but Hanna says no. Alison asks Hanna to call the other girls & come to her house. I find it interesting that Alison chose to call Hanna first & that she assumes that the girls aren’t together—despite all these years, the four of them are still a unit & Alison is the one on the outside. We don’t have to wait long to find out what’s happened to Charlotte…she’s dead. Her body is found below the bell tower at the church, initially appearing as if she threw herself off to commit suicide. (Let’s be real, none of us really thought this was a suicide, right? There are never suicides in Rosewood, only murders.) Another guilty admission? My first thought when we didn’t initially see Charlotte’s face was—“She’s faking it! Charlotte faked her death & ran off & we’re totally gonna see her again!” (Obviously that thought was pretty quickly squelched by the open casket at the funeral very clearly showing Charlotte inside, but you can’t blame a girl for crying “hoax death” in Rosewood…can you?)

Caleb stops by Hanna’s hotel room to make sure she’s okay, giving us all kinds of nostalgic Haleb feels. Obviously Hanna’s engaged, I’m sure the guy is great & all but…this is Caleb we’re talking about here! Apparently Caleb was “with Spencer” when she got her letter from Alison, so he wanted to see if he could help. Pause, WHY was Caleb with Spencer? What’s going on here? Are they hooking up? (I get it, Hanna isn’t dating him anymore but really Spencer? I feel like that breaks all kinds of girl code.) Hanna offers to get Caleb a room at The Radley (since, you know, Ashley runs that shit), but he says that he’s “staying in Spencer’s barn”. Uhm…okaaaaay. Hanna & Caleb discuss the fact that they are “still friends”. This was interesting to me, this concept of “still friends”…I think we’re going to be seeing this idea explored more in depth throughout this season with all of the girls & their exes. No one can deny that these couples went through more together than most high school couples do, so it seems only natural that there would still be some unresolved feelings involved. (Again I ask, who is Toby building that house for?) Who will be the first to fall back on old romantic habits? I’m not sure we can tell from one episode, but I have a feeling at least one “classic couple” could make a return.

It wouldn’t be a Pretty Little Liars premiere without a funeral & this time it’s Charlotte’s. Like I mentioned earlier this funeral features an open casket, which I’m sure is the writers’ way of saying, “Yes, she’s REALLY DEAD. This is not a drill.” Of course the Liars are there, looking funeral fabulous…like they do. And like all Rosewood funerals we’ve got to have a surprise, uninvited guest in a black veil…so in comes Sara Harvey. Finally! Our Sara Harvey prayers have been answered! Of course I’m looking this girl up & down trying to figure out what happened to her…but nothing really looks out of place. She looks at the girls, so obviously “bitch can see”. (I figured we should try & rule that out pretty quickly since they did blind Jenna that one time…) There’ve been some theories floating around online that maybe she doesn’t have hands, hence the gloves that she didn’t take off? Or maybe they’re badly burned? I’m also thinking it could be something with her leg(s), since we didn’t get to see those at all & she had that guy helping her walk. Whatever’s wrong with her, I’m just glad that Sara Harvey has picked up on the Rosewood tradition of facing down your enemies at a funeral. 

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The cherry on top of all this? Once again, our Little Liars are suspects in a murder & they’re being advised to stay in Rosewood. Apparently it didn’t take the Rosewood PD long at all to figure out that Charlotte was murdered—according to the autopsy she was dead before she was thrown from the bell tower. (Way to go, Rosewood PD, doing your job & shit!) We end the episode with a shot of someone watching the girls from inside a car; it can’t be Sara Harvey since the car she was in already drove away. The window rolls up before we can see anything, leaving us wondering—who is in that car? Whoever it is most likely killed Charlotte & is now framing the girls, so we can assume that they have something to do with Uber A. I’m hoping it’s Wren Kingston. Or Pastor Ted. They both creep me out to no end & I really think either one would be an interesting/dark twist for Uber A. Whoever is in that car, I get the feeling that they are more dangerous than anyone the Liars have previously faced. But if this person killed Charlotte, they must already be familiar with the Liars. They know them. They’ve been watching & waiting for their turn to strike, playing the “long game”. Their anger has most likely grown over the years & now it’s finally their time. I’m both excited & scared to see how the Liars handle this new (old?) threat.

I absolutely loved “Of Late I Think of Rosewood”— I appreciate the ways in which it mirrored the pilot episode & other premieres/finales that came before it, but I also love how it very distinctly announced itself as a different show. The characters are the same, but they’ve grown up & so have their problems. These are no longer high school girls playing a secret game, but young women trying to navigate real careers & relationships that have very real consequences. The stakes are higher than ever before & the Liars have so much more to lose. This new era of Pretty Little Liars poses questions that are much harder to answer than the seasons before & I for one am excited to try to answer them. To me this episode was all about owning up to your feelings, even when it’s extremely uncomfortable to do so. Aria may have succeeded in being honest about her feelings, but what trouble is it going to cause her down the road? And there’s still someone out there trying to harm the Liars, but who is it? What’s their motive? Let me know down in the comments what you think & come back next week for my recap of “Charlotte’s Web”!