Holy crap did you see last night’s episode of Pretty Little Liars?! I did, and apparently so did a lot of the team because I received some super serious emails this morning.
Grace: WHAT THE EFF WAS THAT, THAT WAS CRAZYPANTS
Riese: all i have to say is OH MY FUCKING G-D
also i knew it, re: Nate, but i didn’t see Toby coming
Kate:
WHAT
DID I JUST
WATCH
WHAT JUST HAPPENED
BUT MOSTLY
TOBY
TOBY
FETUSFACE
I KNEW IT I HATED HIS FACE FROM THE BEGINNING I AM HAPPY AS A CLAM THAT ALL OF MY SEETHING HATRED FOR HIM CAN BE JUSTIFIED
Gabrielle: I have a question. How old is Wren supposed to be?
YES. A LITTTLE.
Probably yes but I think we all need a chance to talk about this:
WHAT?!?
and this:
HOLY SHIT!
and definitely this:
I HATE HIS FACE
Is Wren helping Mona sneak out? How long has Toby been A? Is Jenna a good guy now? How fucking lame is Nate? So while I pick my jaw off the ground enough to write a recap (and tell everyone “I told you so”) you all: DISCUSS!
UPDATE: The recap for The Lady Killer aka Mid-Season Finale BetrAyal is up!
I dunno, not convinced. There is a lot of interwebs speculation that Toby’s betrayal is to the A team and that he is trying to protect the PLL. This seems pretty likely considering how much the writers loooove twists!
ooooooooo that is a good point
i’m glad it was him under that hood because i have never liked him or his stupid caveman face so the revelation didn’t break my heart like it would’ve if it had been caleb or paige
but i really didn’t see it coming, i felt like his feelings about spencer were really genuine! but i guess that’s how it always is
also this police department is incompetent, andy belfluer would do a better job than these numbskulls
not to be a buzzkill on that theory but Marlene pretty much killed the “double agent” theory in an interview released today. She mentioned looking back, all the way to how none of the girls stepped up when he went to juvie for blinding Jenna.
but yes Caleb and Paige (so very much Paige) would have broken my heart if they were hooded A (which is apparently who the alternate ending shots were, in which, I want to see those! just out of curiosity).
Yeah, Marlene’s “No.” in response to whether he might have good intentions was pretty surprising.
I actually was so happy to see her say that he wasn’t being a double agent out of love for Spencer, because I hate when they do a reveal and then are like JK that didn’t mean anything. Also it’s so much more interesting that way! Although/also now the sex is so much more ick. Poor Spencer.
(She belongs with Aria anyway).
I mean, A does protect the Liars often enough, even while being a crazy psychopath. It’s like A wants them to be alive (barely) but without any other attachments. And that I could TOTALLY see Toby doing.
I agree with this. I don’t think A wants to snuff them out completely, just torture them indefinitely (so they need to be alive for that to happen)
Yeah, also I think Toby was def the one to save Spencer in the belltower that time.
Dunno why A wants them all to never be dating anyone though…Mona trying to create a lesbian separatist colony, probs?
mkay, the writes really love twists and stuff so maybe fetusface is being a double agent or whateffs.
it kinda pisses me off how the internet goes cray cray when one of the “hottie” boyfriends isn’t looking so innocent anymore … buuut when the hottie (note: no quotation marks this time) girlfriend is in doubt it’s all ‘Meh. she’s evil.I knew it.’
INORITE
Marlene King said in q&a that Toby isn’t trying to infiltrate the A team/help the girls.
“Did Toby ever really have feelings for Spencer (Troian Bellisario)?
King: That’s the story we’re going to tell [in the next part of the season] and you’ll get a better sense of it.
Could he still possibly have good intentions?
King: No.”
I wish I had more coherent things to say because that was a superb hour of television, but all my brain will allow is “HOLYFUCKINGWHATTHEACTUALHELL?!!!”
Also, can someone please give Paige all the hugs?
okay i’m going to be coherent for a hot second and post my “they seemed brilliant at the time” theory:
ezra is in a relationship with a high school student because of the extreme guilt he feels about having taken a normal high school experience from alex mac. think about it: he is trying to deal with all his unresolved issues about knocking up a teenager and “ruining her life” by making things work with his current relationship, one in which he is dating a teenager and recreating the situation, minus getting her pregnant. i don’t think he’s consciously doing this, but he’s doing what a lot of us do where we have a shitty and really scarring relationship or event, and we end up unconsciously cycling in and out of situations that reflect all the best and worst qualities of that original situation. this totally makes sense to me. i think once aria gets to college and is “successful,” he might start to lose interest or feel that he has to let her go because she can go on and be okay. again, he won’t do that consciously, but it will probably happen. you can quote me on this, it will probably be going in the book i will someday write called “the tao of pretty little liars.”
but ezria kate. :(((( EZRIA~~~
i just think they should have a threesome with his brother and get it over with
i’d be into that. add alex mac too!
I love this! Brilliant.
Smartest/most interesting take I’ve ever heard on Ezra. Honestly, I used to hope he was A just for the dramz, but I don’t think he has it in him.
HI HERE’S WHAT I WANT TO TALK ABOUT:
why were NONE of the liars suspicious about Nate? Everybody who was watching the show was hella suspicious, obviously, but I can’t believe that Paige let Emily go away for a weekend with a guy who had a crush on her and kissed her and that Emily’s Mom didn’t want to speak to his parents before letting her go away, or that Emily thought it would be a good idea to be in a cabin with somebody that she’s got no confirmation of (as in; she’s yet to meet any of “his people” — family, friends, anyone who could vouch for his existence) who she already knows wants to get with her.
^ this yep, all of it.
All this time chasing Emily Fields apparently all Paige really had to do was claim to be Maya’s family to be able to go away with Emily for a weekend, alone, in the woods.
Oh well, at least Paige getting all framed by Mona pretty much makes her the only person who can’t be an A so yay for that, cause she’s about the only character that makes any sense in the odd storytelling of PLL.
What if Paige is just lower on the ‘A’ totem pole?
Would an A go against another, newer A?..
Paige is still reeally creepy..
But I think also misunderstood..
Last night’s episode confused me so much!
My thoughts exactly. WTF?
Yeah… that was so weird. Like where did it go from, “Wow, this guy is seriously creeping on me/other girls, and doesn’t seem to understand boundaries”, to, “Let’s go away for the weekend!” One thing I don’t like about the writing in this show is that the girls are supposed to be savvy, but are made conveniently stupid.
And when will these liars learn to stay at the Holiday Inn? Remote hotels are always a bad idea.
I’m also surprised that Hanna wasn’t suspicious of Nate after she had to remind him Emily’s gay.
I was totally thinking about this too!
Here are my thoughts:
a) I kept asking that/poking my roommate and yelling at her “why is Paige allowing this??” but once she turned up all duct-taped in the closet etc. I started thinking that Paige had been acting kind of MIA since she got the scary text from A, and probably either didn’t say anything really when Emily said she was going away from the weekend or was literally kidnapped already by then? Idk, I can’t figure out the timeline exactly. But I don’t think Paige was in a position to stop it.
b) Grossly/upsettingly enough, I read Mrs. Fields as being all into Emily being “corrected” by Nate, and that’s why she was so into the idea, sketch as it was. Remember when she appeared for the first time in like six months just to say, “He’s still just a friend, RIGHT?” in a wink, wink kind of way? As great as she’s mostly been towards Emily, I think she still has a hope that her daughter is just going through a phase, and I think that’s why she didn’t triple-check the plan.
c) As for all the other liars: Well, Aria never does any sleuthing unless it involves Ezra, Hanna is not the brighest crayon in the box, and Spencer was busy having sex with A/on her typically single-minded murder-accusation rampage against Paige. So even though it was SOO obvious to us for like 15 episodes that Nate was psycho, I think it actually made some sense that no one thought to protect Emily from him. And of course Emily herself is so sweet and trusting even when she shouldn’t be.
I don’t think the Nate thing is too weird. Maya’s killer was caught and about to go on trial. So it isn’t like there was some mysterious murderer out there. And he did know a lot about Maya so thinking he was her cousin isn’t insane. I wouldn’t ask for ID if someone said they were a loved one’s cousin. She should have been wary after she let him know she wasn’t interested and he flipped. But she thought other members of Maya’s family would be there.
The Paige witch hunt was out of control (and how awesome is it that Em didn’t buy into it for a second I was so convinced they would wear her down). But she had a motive and a history of violence (but 85% of teenager have some violent act in their past).
I was not surprised to see Toby and happy to see Marlene’s interview today killing the idea of a double agent thing happening. Serves Spencer right for hating on Paige- check your own affairs first. Toby has always been ten times more suspicious than Paige. Like oh no, Paige was bullied by Alison, obvi she’s gone psycho and engineered this whole madness to torture you and kill Emily…or maybe the guy who went to juvie because he took the fall for you BLINDING HIS SISTER might have something to do with it?
The only reason I’d be into the double agent thing is because I really liked his arc from the beginning and I thought there was actual progress. :/
BUT WHAT ABOUT CALEB.
I thought it was suspicious that he happened to show up right as Emily was done stabbing Nate. So I asked myself, what if he were part of the A-team? Assuming the A-team also has Garrett, the A-team would want Nate dead because then the cops could pin Maia’s murder on Nate and Garrett would walk free, no chance that Nate would protest (note that he never said that he killed Maia!).
Caleb then was there the whole time to make sure that Emily did her job in getting rid of him without her getting hurt. Notice how he chose which Lighthouse Inn he was going to check out and sent Hanna to the other? He could also have been the person who called Emily right before Nate came back from his hike, since the person who called must’ve been there outside seeing exactly where Nate was.
Hm, interesting to say the least.
there’s got to be a way we can work queer temporality into this COME ON RACHEL YOU’RE NOT TRYING HARD ENOUGH
/disappointing english house
XD
i feel like they always have people show up at convenient moments — not just on this show, but on all teevee shows ever
i just really love caleb, he’s one of my favorite lesbians on tv
Bahahaha he is one of mine too, and I am so glad I’m not the only one who sees it.
“I owe you one Emily” could have referred to Nate getting Garrett out of jail, and/or getting Caleb out of the way. I don’t think Caleb is part of the A-team and his technical skills make him one of their biggest threats.
I’m glad I’m the only one who noticed that Nate NEVER actually said that he killed Maya. He was going to kill Paige in front of Emily so I’m not defending him, but I think he was way too in love/ obsessed with Maya to actually kill her
also are we supposed to think that nate is one of the As, or just a creepy fuck who killed maya?
I think he’s just a creepy fuck. I liked that contrast about this episode. The girls are always being terrorized in this sort of unreal way and Nate was a creepster in a fairly normal way. Maybe that’s why all the liars missed it. He’s not weird in the A way, just in the creepy fuck way.
I think just a creepy stalker fuck. But maybe we’ll find out more about him. They didn’t really fill us in on his backstory as much as I’d hoped they would.
creepy fuck who killed maya
meaning A has only killed allison, and that they were hoping to pin 2 murders on paige
besides, nate is too dumb for real to be part of the a-team
But he never said that he killed Maia explicitly – I think they want us to assume it was him when really it was someone else.
actually yes i remember!
during that scene i kept on thinking, ok so he blames maya’s death on emily, which wouldn’t make sense if he killed her himself…
i forgot, but what did he say about jenna seeing him? why would he need to freak and leave town if he hadn’t done something really bad?
He just remembered Jenna seeing him and Maia together. I guess if he got mentioned at all in the trial they would figure out he isn’t related to her/lied to everyone and then automatically assume it was him because he’s CRAZY.
i assumed that he was assuming that jenna skipped their date because she remembered that she’d seen him with Maya, because he still doesn’t know the real reason that she stood him up
Jenna was still pretending to be blind when Maya was killed. I think the clincher was that Hanna told him Jenna had been faking her blindness, so he realized she might have seen something he previously thought she’d be incapable of seeing. At the same time, she’d been willing to go out with him until Cece left her that crazy message and she backed off, so maybe she really didn’t see anything at all.
But Jenna must have known something extra about Nate if she felt it was important to warn Emily about him. Of course, that could have been that since she stood him up he’s been a total psycho and stocker-ish toward her. But Emily saw all that we saw of Nate being creepy to Jenna.
P.S.
this was more of a reply to donnamartingraduates, but the reply button was missing from her post.
When he said that Emily took Maya from him, I just thought he meant that Maya chose Emily over Nate.
just a creepy fuck on his own agenda. And the whole thing about Jenna seeing him I think was that now that he knows she was faking being blind at some point, that she may have seen him grab Maya in the woods that night
i think he is just a creepy fuck which totally sucks, because i hate sideplots ruining the girls’ lives, I JUST WANT THEM TO BE HAPPY
I actually really don’t think Nate killed Maia. He didn’t explicitly come out and say it, and I still have a lot of questionz about her association with Noel Kahn and his crew. Plus that random time that she was talking to Jason? What was that all about?
Are people finally going to cut Paige some slack now? Yeah I know, probably not. They’re probably working on their theories right now about how getting tied up and nearly having her throat cut proves she’s a psycho bitch and secretly A. Whatever.
But Goddess I love her! What an amazing addition to the show. I fall in love with her more every single week.
And hey where the hell was the scene of them kissing after Nate died? I was really looking forward to that.
ME TOO also she is getting sexier
God, I love her. She is so great. After her scene with Spencer I want her to never leave. The two of them sending Em off to a psycopath in the woods so they could have a pissing contest over who loves her more… It was fantastic.
my sister: OH MY GOD DID YOU WATCH IT
me: watch what?
my sister: ……..
me: ……..
my sister: ARE YOU KIDDING ME PRETTY LITTLE LIARS YOU JERK
me: oh. no. but who was it?
my sister: IT WAS TOBY AND ALSO NATE IS A CREEP TOO AND HE TRIED TO KILL PAIGE
me: I TOLD YOU I TOLD YOU IT WAS TOBY BECAUSE HE IS THE FUCKING WORST I TOLD YOU AND ALSO NATE DIDN’T I TELL YOU ABOUT HIM BEING SHITTY AND CREEPY?
my sister: ….. whoa. it’s just a tv show. calm your tits.
I will never understand why “calm your tits” is considered a reasonable thing to say.
Yeah… It’s never made much sense to me.
also re: toby
was i the only one laughing my ass off at the irony
like ha! that’s what you get for accusing everyone’s bf/gf of being A
I thought this too!
Spencer really cranked the ‘Paige witch hunt’ into high gear this episode (that first Liar meeting re: Paige was almost too ridiculous to watch).
As soon as Toby McAwfulFace came back into town, complete with SPINNING CAMERA EFFECTS and SAPPY ROMANTIC MUSIC and GRATUITOUS LOVE SCENES, all I could think was “God, I hope he’s A.”
My gosh, that spinning camera effect. And they kissed IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET! People get run over in this show all the time, what were they doing? I seriously thought “Is this real life?” for a moment.
So did Aria and Ezra back when they reunited! In the city no less!
i had to stop watching, it made me nauseous from dizziness and also from grossness
I literally thought it was a dream sequence because of the shift in the camerawork. Like, pretty much all the way up until after they had sex and they never cut back to Spencer snapping out of the dream.
I KNOW, that spinning camera kiss way too sappy for PLL, and then it was actually just setting us up for later when we found out he was a cyberbully stalker psycho, and I was like, oh good, my show is back.
Ok, I change my theories from moment to moment, but here is the latest one, jumping on the Caleb bandwagon:
Paige and the Liars were all told to show up at the grave at 10pm. When Paige is talking to the police at the end, she just says a “he” got her before she could make it there. I say that Caleb got Paige before she could get to the cemetery then put her in his car, then he delivered her to Nate or Nate somehow picked her up from him…I’m thinking Paige wasn’t in the closet the whole time Emily was napping/Nate was collecting firefuckingwood, so my question is when did she arrive and how? Anyway, assuming Caleb was involved, then maybe while Nate, Emily, and Caleb were in the lighthouse, Paige managed to escape and then also got into the lighthouse and shot Caleb out of vengeance.
There is definitely another member of the A Team because Mona was talking to an A team member on the phone while Toby was inserting his penis into Spencer. So it *could* be Caleb (“There are two of them and four of us,” he said to Hannah…maybe the four actually refers to number of A Team members?). Also, Toby said, “I love you” to Spencer in this episode; Caleb said, “I love you” to Hannah on the phone while on the way to the lighthouse (doing everything in my power not to make a Woolf joke here). If this was a literary analysis, that would be part of my proof these two are linked and it is specifically via their evilness, amirite Rachel and Kate?
Also, Wren has to be involved because how the fuck else is Mona allowed to freaking leave so easily? Although I wouldn’t be surprised to learn she is at a fake treatment facility (flashback to the creepy dolls in the abandoned-but-accessible-wing segment).
I can buy Caleb being on A but I think Nate acted all alone in his crazy. Grabbing Paige, the cabin, locking her up, I think that was just all him and his plot to kill Paige in front of Emily.
OH MY GOD i legit almost wrote a long rambling thing earlier about to the lighthouse so yes you’re right.
Also the lighthouse itself = oppressive phallic symbol, yes?
so was caleb maybe trying to protect her by calling emily out of the house in that one minute? like maybe we’ve got the wrong double agent here, maybe it’s caleb not toby. after all, they nearly killed his mom and maybe a is using him but he’s also trying to protect the liars.
It seems that A (Mona or Toby) knew about Nate (which makes sense because the A surveillance and adrenalized hyperreality mean that Mona is omniscient) and didn’t want Emily to die, both because she’s the most innocent of the liars and because they love torturing her themselves.
I like it! all men are evil
#BOTP
What I want to know is, do the cops know that Emily stabbed Nate? Or do they think/assume Nate & Caleb were in a fight, and Caleb stabbed him? And if they do think that, is Emily going to let them keep thinking that? Because I really don’t think Caleb is going to die but if he has to go on trial for manslaughter that would be fucked up.
Also WTF Toby!? Poor Spencer and her poor Spencer face. :(
Sidenote though, what was that dress with the horses (donkeys?) on it with the giant bow on the back? That was weird, even for this show.
I’m gonna justify the dress as PLL’s subtle endorsement of the Democratic party
Good call, my brain did not even go there. I was stuck on wondering since when does Spencer wear clothes with weird things on them. Later in the episode she had on a shirt with some type of costumed people on it or something. So strange. Maybe they’re trying to tell us that Spencer’s losing her marbles.
i want that dress and i will wear it to vote.
I actually LOVED that dress. I remember thinking Spencer’s dress redeemed the FUGLINESS of Aria’s metallic royal blue tennis skirt. All bad. #ThankYouBasedGodSpencer
Yeah, Caleb definitely seems super sketchy. It was pretty hilarious that they stood at the cemetery at like presumably 9:55 p.m. discussing their plan in loud voices. Like they wouldn’t have planned it out earlier so that maybe Caleb could arrive separately?
Also, I like that they metaphorically put Paige in the closet…
Maybe I’m simple minded (no, I definitely am) but I just assumed that Nate wasn’t all dead and reared up to shoot Caleb in the lighthouse.
But yeah, this being PLL, it was probably someone else. Which means Emily would have seen that person.
Unless that person was Emily herself!
Maybe Paige got herself untied, made it to the lighthouse, saw Caleb and Emily hugging, and shot Caleb. That would explain why Emily doesn’t go right to Paige when the police are questioning her, but instead goes over to Spencer Aria and Hanna.
Whoa…
Yea, Emily was definitely giving Paige the cold shoulder…
Um, that’s just crazy talk. You’re joking right?
but paige doesn’t do jealous, i think, if that’s what you’re implying?
Yeah, plus Hanna is over there sobbing her eyes out. I don’t think it was Emily giving Paige the cold shoulder, and more Emily being a good friend and Paige probably understanding that.
Paige purposely distracted the cops questioning Emily so Emily could go hug sobbing Hanna. Yea, she did that for her girlfriend’s friends, the same ones who were accusing her of murder 24 hours ago.
Caleb isn’t dead, just shot. If it wasn’t Nate, the truth should come out pretty quickly. Or Caleb is going to be killed in the hospital.
I think they’re operating under standard horror movie rules here: the bad guy is never dead the first time, don’t ever drop your weapon, don’t have sex (oops, Spencer’s fair game now too)…
Of course Caleb set the gun down next to the man who’d been stabbed in the gut by a tiny pocket knife. Did they really think that sort of wound would kill him? And that quickly?
The sex thing totally conforms to that trope, which is unfortunate if unintentional.
wait, i thought that nate shot caleb, i thought that was for sure what happened, that he raeched up and grabbed the gun and shot caleb with it before dying
one of writers confirmed that this is what happened
Then why didn’t we get to see it? I am so confused about who shot Caleb, this shit makes no sense.
I learned a long time ago not to ask logical questions about PLL, it just makes my head hurt
I always thought Nate was creepy. I don’t really like Toby, so whether he is A-team or pretend A-team, I don’t really care, but that was pretty surprising.
Why did Emily run out of the house and just leave Paige there though? also, afterwards, she offered no comfort to her gf that was just tied up in a closet.
I feel really bad for Aria and her entire situation, like so much could happen with that.
I like Mona. Ali was mean. Cece is interesting. This show is causing me so many feels.
That part where Emily left Paige alone with Nate was bugging me too, but I think that she figured that Nate would only kill Paige while she was watching, so by leaving Paige she was actually buying her time.
i assumed she knew her friends were coming and would rescue paige while she ran off to distract nate!
Yes this bothered me more than anything. You don’t leave your girl tied up like that (peh heh heh) when someone is trying to kill her. No matter
if you think that he won’t kill her when you’re not looking. WTF Emily.
And also I knew Nate wasn’t really Maya’s cousin and Nate wasn’t his real name. Also I knew he was evil all along.
Also, I think Mona said something about how their end goal had been to get Garrett out of jail. Plus, they received that call telling Emily that A “owed her one” which, I assume, also related to clearing Garrett’s name.
Doesn’t that pretty much confirm that Garrett is involved/on the A team? Otherwise, why would they care?
Also that creepy smile Garrett has when the girls see him in the hospital? Yeah, he’s definitely on the A team.
Toby straight up looks like Voldemort in that last picture.
My friend completely ruined the Toby thing for me and I am still incensed.
Oh wow, that really sucks. :(
Okay, okay, I’m finally calm enough to write some things.
First the little things:
1.) Lindsey Shaw is an amazing frickin’ actress. I could see her going on to do big things, which is funny because the boys I nanny love “Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide” and I always think of her as Moze.
2.) What was up with the slow-mo Spencer/Toby kiss? I legit laughed out loud. Also, if watching the love scene wasn’t gag-inducing enough, Toby’s amazing manbush under his armpit was enough to make me so, so happy I’m a lesbian. I mean, I have loved many a woman who doesn’t shave, but it still seems so different. Or maybe it was just Toby.
3.)I like Caleb. I think he’s one of the most stable characters on the show and somehow seems to always dance around the drama without going crazy because of it. I hope he’s not bad.
4.) Did anyone else suddenly have to get up and turn on all the lights when Emily got the call in the cabin? I hate electronically-altered voices.
5.) I thought Mona was going to be killed in this episode. I thought she’d get out, got orders from the main “A”, then turn on “A” in the room when she said “There’s been a change in plans” to protect Hannah, leading to an epic “A” on “A” showdown that would prove how fierce the new “A” is (because seriously, this 2nd A hasn’t been nearly as creepy as Mona was) and that’s why Hannah was crying. When Caleb was shot I felt a little let down because that’s what I assumed from the beginning was going to happen.
Now for the bigger stuff:
Nate: My theory? Just super crazy. I think he hatched this plan alone and the A team realized who he was and started taking advantage of him. He was doing a lot of things they wanted done so they let him go unchecked. This season has been kind of A-light and I think it was because Nate was doing everything they needed him to without prompting. His storyline was way too obvious to be crucial. Though I have to say, I was never more empathetically terrified watching this show than I was for Emily and Paige in this episode. Nate scared me even more than “A”, probably because I can see a storyline like his being possible in the real world.
Toby: Creeper. Seriously. If he’s been planning revenge since getting out of prison, then all the ways he’s played Emily and Spencer put him on par psychotically with Mona. I don’t think he’s the big bad A, though. I think he’s a minion of Mona’s and Mona is taking orders from someone else. Toby is the little bad, if you will. I also don’t think he was the one slinging around body parts. He’s a pawn.
Mona: Obviously playing the system and obviously still crazy. I do think she’s taking orders from someone she’s scared of, though: The person in the Ali-esque red jacket from the beginning of the season. (I don’t think that jacket was really Toby’s color ;) ) I think this was the person she was talking to on the phone early in the ep, when she looked scared/intimidated.
CeCe: Okay, I think this chick is way more sketchy than people are talking about. Everyone keeps drawing comparisons to her and Ali, we know she was Ali’s role model and in a lot of the flashbacks she seems to be instructing Ali in her mean girl ways/egging her on. We know she’s unhinged and impulsive. I think she planted the snake, tried to frame Paige (which Mona revealed was the A team’s plan) by sewing distrust between her and Spencer and we know she’s incredibly manipulative. We know from the halloween ep that Ali was also getting texts from “A” and more than once the show has hinted at Ali being scared of a few different people, as if she were Spencer-level paranoid. I think CeCe will turn out to be pretty important to what happened to Ali if not an original member of the A team (I firmly believe there have been generations of the team. It’s not a new thing.)
Side Notes: I’m totally on board with the secret Ali twin theory, mostly because of the twin murder story Ali told in the Halloween episode and the fact that Ali’s alter-ego, Vivian, was obviously not Ali at all (she didn’t recognize Hanna at the salon.) Why a twin would be kept secret/be so insane is another mystery and it really makes me question every adult on this show (especially Spencer’s parents.) I don’t think Ali’s murder was the real sketchy thing happening in Rosewood. I think it was a result of other sketchy things.
Also I want Ezra to be found doing something sketchy because he creeps me out and doesn’t seem to have any real connection to the show anymore. If he and Aria broke up, he’d be pointless. Aria’s parents don’t even seem to care anymore (speaking of Aria’s family, where is her brother?!) and I want the show to either prove he’s not just staying on because the teen fans love him or I want him to just go. All the other liars’ significant others are deeply entrenched with A, but Ezra is oblivious. Which is a bit sketchy considering he has access to loads of money and “A” isn’t trying to blackmail him. He just seems superfluous.
It seems I had a lot of feelings.
Awesome post. Yeah, Cece is messed up. What kind person coaches a protege in how to screw people over? I feel very much the same about Ezra too.
Oh and, manbush. lol
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b9/Areane/manbush.png
Yes yes yes to so much of this. But re Nate, I’m just trying to figure out when and how the A Team realized their own plans weren’t going to work out. The timeline of an episode never makes any sense, but Mona broke out for a reason (to carry out the “10 o’clock at the cemetery” plan, presumably meant to frame Paige and thus help free Garrett), but then she gets the phone call indicating that there has been a change of plans (and this call can’t be from Toby)…who got clued in when, by who, etc that Paige would be taken? What were their new plans/what did Mona and Toby actually do all evening? Could a member of the A Team have been solicited by Nate for help? kasjdfkljdf I don’t know
The timeline did seem crazy in this episode. I didn’t get everything that was going on the first time around.
The only thing I can think is that the plan changed when Paige went missing. Or maybe someone saw Nate kidnap Paige, since she was on the way to the cemetery when it happened. Nate and Emily weren’t keeping their plan to leave a secret. There was a whole day for “A” to realize Emily was going off with Maya’s killer and then when Paige was kidnapped it wasn’t hard to figure out what was going down. I don’t think there was as much time between Mona cancelling the plan and her returning to the hospital as there seemed to be. They may also have spent the evening stalking Nate to make sure everything went down the way it was supposed to. That’s only an educated guess, though.
Also I want to know where the new A hideout is, because I think someone would have noticed Toby’s room/Mona visiting if it was at his house.
OMG yes to knowing where the new A hideout is. I’m gonna call Ezra’s old lady neighbor’s apartment haha.
Yes.
YES MARY THIS SO MUCH.
Ah! New theory. I definitely think they were near the cabin. I forgot the call Emily got before Nate came back. Since Toby made a call with the same voice at the end of the ep, it’s logical that Toby made the call to Emily. I’m assuming it was to warn her about Nate. (“You have one minute to get out of the house” then Nate returns about a minute later.) Big question: why would he want to help Emily? Also, how did he get cell service?!
Ooooh good call. And yeah, why would he want to help Emily? The original texts to Paige and the Liars said to meet at the cemetery or else Emily would get hurt…wonder where they wanted her in the first place?
but remember, a also had those pictures that would frame the rest of the liars but not emily, and it just happened to mean that it would confirm their belief that paige was a. maybe that “emily will get hurt” was just a bluff, and someone on the a-team definitely wants to keep emily around.
What if they want Emily on the A team. Think about it..everyone on the A team was fucked over by Ali, including Emily who was led on to fall in love with her. And if Toby/Mona don’t want Emily to get hurt and they can’t frame her, they can only use her as a pawn against the other liars. Because the only secret she was holding is that she was gay. Just a thought I just had reading these comments.
Do we know for sure it was Toby who made the call? Because I thought it was a third “A”!
Mona looked fine in that jacket. That’s how I like my serial killers.
basically. Mona was flawless in this episode.
Omg!!!!! so im so fucking happy that nate is gone, and that the only happy relationship at the moment is the lesbian one :) i am also fucking pissed at the fact that emily did not run over and kiss the obviously traumatized paige when she said she was going over to talk to her friends, i mean excuse me! your girlfriend was tied in a closet and had a knife held to her throat and you can’t even bother to hug her at least! there had better be some serious kissing in the next episodes to make up for this
Oh and then the A team… im fine with toby being A, i mean i already thought he was pretty pathetic, but we’re still missing the A that they showed with the pink nail polish in one of the previous episodes.
Re: Emily not going over to Paige, Emily was begging to go see her friend (Hanna, because of Caleb), and Paige quickly jumped into the conversation to distract the cops that were talking to Emily so Emily could leave.
Oh! This clears some stuff up for me.. I was seriously confused as to why Emily didn’t comfort her girlfriend… But it turns out Paige was possibly just trying to help Emily comfort her friends..!
Yeah I mean Paige had gone through hell, but Hanna was like having a breakdown because she thought her boyfriend was dying, so I actually thought it made sense/was really sweet of Paige to step in.
YES TO ALL OF THIS!
Reading this whole thread got me thinking about Caleb now. I was so stuck on Toby being on the A team and how he’s trying to help instead of harm.
My theory for Caleb getting shot (because I was totally unsure of how a gun would have randomly gone off) is that MAYBE, while Caleb was “comforting” Emily, that he went and reached for the gun and there was another altercation, leading to her shooting Caleb on accident?! When she was being questioned by the police officer, they didn’t specify WHICH victim they were talking about…
COULD THAT BE A POSSIBILITY?! It seems logical right?!
UGH. I will be losing sleep because of this episode.
Sign you’re right: Caleb was shown with a wound on his ribs when he was wheeled into the ambulance. Last we saw, he was hugging Emily (so would have been shot in the back if it was Nate.) If it was an exit wound on his chest, then Emily would have been hit, too if he was still hugging her tight. The other option would have been someone else grabbed the gun, Caleb turned around to shield Emily and was shot.
Still, I can’t help but feel Emily would have said something to the liars in the hospital if she’d shot Caleb.
no no no!!!! we don’t know how much TIME passed between any action we witnessed in the lighthouse and the gun shot. PLL fucks with time
What on earth was with Emily ignoring Paige? I mean, really now, that’s some shitty girlfriending right there.
I’m just going to assume that Emily and Paige got all their hugging and girlfriending out of the way in between the time Caleb got shot and what we saw with the police and ambulances. So by the time the circus is around and Hanna starts crying, Paige does the noble thing and distracts the cops so Emily can console her friend.
At least, this is what I’m choosing to think because I refuse to believe Emily would otherwise be so senseless….
Obviously they had to cut the scene of Paige and Emily regrouping after a shared traumatic experience so they could devote 20 minutes to Ezra getting a cake from his neighbor while Aria whispered with Alex Mack. It was totally essential to the episode and couldn’t have waited for a later one.
They obviously consulted with the Glee writers in which scenes to cut.
Oh shiiiiiiit!!
Did I miss something, who shot Caleb or do we not know that yet
Spencer and Toby spinny kissing scene was so annoying. Then later I feel like the try to act like them banging is a big deal but in my mind they already do this, sometimes I forget they’re in high school
I always feel so bad for the actress who plays Spencer because she has to, like, act turned on by Toby. When they had that shot of her gripping the sheets during the ‘sex scene’, I was just like, “haha yeah okay sure.”
Don’t know if this has been posted yet, but I. Marlene King answers a bunch of these questions, you guys.
http://www.tvguide.com/News/Pretty-Little-Liars-Toby-1052473.aspx
This answers so many of my questions! Also glad to see I interpreted the Emily/Paige comfort thing the right way. (They cuddled it out earlier and Paige was voluntarily blocking the cops so Emily could be with her best friend whose boyfriend was shot basically attenpting to help Emily.) Also so happy we get tide-over webisodes.
Basically you rock for posting this.
I know I’m in the minority here, but I always liked Toby. Yeah, he kinda seemed like a creeper, but honestly everyone in Rosewood does. He was a good lesbro to Em, always encouraging her to be herself, and telling her that what made her different made her great. He saved her from Ben when he attacked her. Plus, I always kinda felt bad for him because:
1)He was sent away to juvie for a crime he didn’t commit
2)His step-sister raped him (and that was caught on video)
3)His mom died
4)Everyone in town either ran away from him when he walked down the street or taunted and bullied him
5)Emily, as much as I love her, wasn’t the greatest friend in the world to him. First, she made plans with him, and then blatantly ignored him when she saw her friends were at the same restaurant. Then she freaked out on him and pushed him into a cabinet full of glass, when he was trying to tell her something, after he had listened with open ears to her feelings about Maya.That led to her tripping and busting her head open, which led to the police going to his house, and finding the bloody sweater, which made him a suspect in ali’s murder, which then forced him to leave town. Then, he came back to town just to tell her “the truth” about what happened last summer, and she refused to listen, and when he went to the church to meet her later he ended up getting arrested. After, that he seemed to forgive her and let their friendsip start anew, but seeing as he is on the A-Team the whole thing could have been a ruse. Oh well.
Although, I think it’s worth noting that “A” did save Spencer from Ian in the belltower, eventually pulled Emily out of the barn before she died of carbon monoxide poisoning, and warned her to get out of the cabin before Nate came back. So maybe he, or someone else on the Team, genuinely cares about them, but is on the Team for reasons unrelated to just wanting revenge on them.
In the end, I’m just glad Paige wasn’t on the A-Team. I really didn’t want to sit through another psycho serial killer lesbian storyline. There was probably a good amount of time between when Caleb shot and when the ambulance, and the other liars showed u. So I’m going to assume that emily and paige already had a moment before that, and Paige purposefully distracted the officers so that emily could go to hanna, who was an inconsolable mess. That would be a great gf move on Paige’s part. It was obvious that emily was still shell-shocked and felt guilty that caleb was hurt coming to her aid, and was shot in her arms.
me no know!
I think Toby really likes Spencer and cares about Emily. On one hand A could be manipulating him like she does everyone else. But he seems to have a whole mastermind-like surveillance setup. But, it could be his own personal surveillance to protect them and maybe he’s playing A?
Who knows. I didn’t read the books, so at this point A to me is Ally. She’s not dead or she has another sibling. Everything relates back to her.
I was really annoyed by the whole idea that Toby could be playing double agent, mostly because that would mean that even if he was still trying to protect the Liars, he was still willing to throw Paige under a bus to frame her. And even if he was doing some serious Severus Snape levels of espionage, being remotely unkind to Paige is my limit.
Also i’m a little worried about Spencer/Paige. even if they did have a “moment” at the end of the show, nothing about Spencer’s theory for Paige has changed. If they come to the conclusion that Nate was just a random psycho acting alone, then every Spencer theory about Paige still holds true, meaning a happy little liar family of five may still be difficult. Also, my theory is that after Ali’s body was found, Paige biked out into the rain with a rusty shovel and dug up Ali’s body to break all her bones, all the while shrieking “You don’t win!”
About who shot Caleb– I’ve been stalking the PLL writer’s twitters, and Bryan Holding says it was Nate. He also said that Emily and Paige aren’t soul mates and that we should be “patient” for when we meet that person, so, whatever…
Every Spencer theory about Paige holding true won’t mean anything. Every Spencer theory about Jason still holds true. He is creepy, Ali was afraid of him, he was taping up his windows, he had a creepy Aria shrine and so on and so on. But once she found out he was her brother he became the best guy in the whole world.
Every Spencer theory about Toby holds true (and is!) but once she liked him it was over and he most definitely wasn’t A.
Every Spencer theory about Noel Kahn held true.
And so on. Once Spencer has a road block to any theory she gets over it.
I think everyone needs to re-examine Spencers gut feeling list:
1: Toby, she initially didn’t trust him, guess she was right.
2: Ian, turns out he was a creep.
3: Garrett is still a creep.
4: Mona, she didn’t really care for her.
5: Noel, he is creepy.
6: Ali, was always suspicious of her.
7: Jenna, doesn’t trust her.
8: Paige, doesn’t trust her.
9: Jason, she thought he was creepy.
10: Melissa, still doesn’t trust her own sister.
I wouldn’t be surprised if everyone on this list except Jason is in on it. I’m not shocked by Toby being on the A-Team it makes perfect sense he wants revenge on the 4 girls. I’m calling it now Emily gets a new love interest later on this season, plus Ezra and Aria will finally have some legitimate holes put in their ship.
What leads you to believe that Emily will have a new love interest?
This quote from Marlene “Em still hasn’t found her soulmate. I think Paige is a part of Em’s journey, not the destination.”
Actually that quote is from Bryan Holdman not Marlene. But yes it doesn’t sound good. That doesn’t have to mean it will end this season though.
And hey Marlene could change her mind and overrule him. The awesomeness of Lindsey Shaw has already caused her character to be greatly expanded from what they originally planned.
How is it that all of these beautiful lesbians just fall out of the sky and land at Emily’s feet? What is in the water in Rosewood?
I read a tweet from one of the writers I think? saying Emily has more to explore, as if Paige was just part of it, but not ‘endgame’.
I think it’s a confederacy of the underdogs from times by gone by. Toby + Lucas + Mona. People who were targeted, bullied, excluded and/or made to feel inferior in Ally times.
And the opposing overlord evil clique are the oldschool power holders — Ally’s brother + Garrett + Cece possibly? Cece showed up so recently, which tells me she’s important or they wouldn’t have added her. Agatha Christie trick: drop in a lynchpin late in the game = less plot baggage to work out.
Lucas always felt to me like a closet mastermind. He’s smart!!!! Circus handler. And does techno stuff.
So this whole show tells us: Don’t bully clever people. They may create sociopathic cliques and haunt you forever through their technologically advanced methods!
I fail to follow the PLL’s personal story lines most times, but for me the only person that would make sense as A or head A in charge would be Caleb simply because they haven’t introduced anyone else as tech savvy enough to pull off anonymous text and CIA level espionage and safe houses.
It could really be any of them though. it would only really surprise me if it ended up to be one of the pretty little liars.
Also, where the fuck are Mona’s parents and Aria’s brother?
Actually, Aria’s brother is definitely A or they just realized how useless his character was.
blehhh the PLL writers’ tweets are ruining all of the fun! i call intentional fallacy and will just keep doing close readings of the episodes
I just love that I’m not the only one who hates Toby’s face. When he appeared in the hoodie I just said to my gf, “Fuckin good! Now Spencer can get away from him and his goblin face!”
What the FUCK happened to Samara, Aria’s brother, Lucas, that dude that Spencer used to date (Aaron? Alex? dunno) Aria’s dad and Melissa?but most importantly what the fuck happened to Samara?
of that list the only people we really should be seeing around more are Mike and Lucas because they go to the school and Aria and Mike seemed to get along. The rest dont really exist in any of the places the show is most frequently set and/or dont have relationships with the Liars anymore. Alex is just a guy who works at the club, Aria is on the outs with her dad right now, Samara goes to another school and isn’t dating Emily anymore, and Melissa lives in Philly and I think is in law school, and if you’ve ever known someone in law school.. you never saw the, either. That said though…. WHERE ARE MIKE AND LUCAS???? And Holden?!
Just wanna say that if I were a cute lesbian being chased by a creepster with a knife, I would surely run straight up to the top of a lighthouse. Cause that’s a safe place to be when he catches up to me. Riiiight.
Someone needs to teach these girls that they don’t need cell service to call 911.
I just realised that Spencer is the last one of the girls to pop her cherry. Woot woot ! And by A…
Really, the only thing coherent thought I had during this entire episode was: “OH MY FUCKING GOD I CANNOT HANDLE HOW ATTRACTIVE EMILY IS!!”
Otherwise, I am so so so sooooo glad Toby is A and that Nate is finally dead, that fucker.
and holden? how do you just give an actor two kind of creepy lines out of twelve episodes and not address where he has been this whole time? also, also, remember when Hannah had a mean step sister at school? and her dad and his wife moved back to town? Maybe kate made sexy friends with samara and thats why we dont see them anymore
and holden? how do you just give an actor two kind of creepy lines out of twelve episodes and not address where he has been this whole time? also, also, remember when Hannah had a mean step sister at school? and her dad and his wife moved back to town? Maybe kate made sexy friends with samara and thats why we dont see them anymore.
In hindsight I can’t believe I never made any connections between the fact that Toby just randomly left town and told no one (even Spencer) where he was going to “get some answers” or whatever and the fact that during that same time A travelled all the way across the country to California and ran Caleb’s mother off the road. I think that was really our big clue and we missed it. I remember thinking “how the hell did A manage that?!”. I can’t wait for the next season. They’ve added a whole new dynamic to the show because for once we know something the girls don’t, and I honestly think this Toby story is going to be really good, plus Spencer and Aria’s relationships just got expiration dates, so maybe it’s Emily’s turn to be happy for a while and actually get to date someone a full season like the others have.