The next morning the Liars gather up to feel sad and scared about Mona. But before you can say “hey maybe we’d be more comfortable if we sat around in our lingerie” yet another package arrives at the door.
God these dildos just keep getting bigger and bigger
It’s a box. With nothing in it!
No dildos in here…
The best moment of Hanna’s life.
That is until Spencer works her magic on it and reveals a big old saw.
I’ve heard of scissoring but never sawing!
And second prize for feeling sharing at A-Camp
Let me show you my magic wand
The Liars hit the interwebs to see if there’s any magic shop in the area that they forgot about. What they do find is a magic show going on that very afternoon in Ravenswood. Goddamn it, not old gray-scaleville again.
Is unimpressed with straight porn
Most importantly, look at the gay-ass shirt/bra combo Emily is wearing!
Busted looking at crashpad.com
Back at the Mona House Stakeout ABC Family tries to push more TobAy and Caleb bromance chemistry on us. It’s still not working. Caleb is still a cat obsessed lesbian and TobAy is still Voldemort.
Two Guys Two Cups
TobAy sends Caleb home and takes over the stakeout. After sitting for a bit, a familiar blue convertible peels out of the driveway with Shana. TobAy tails her.
That crazy Dilbert. Always getting up to trouble at work.
The Liars show up in Ravenswood which is a dreary and grey as usual. I’m pretty sure that’s not how the outdoors works. The whole lighting scheme doesn’t just change because you go one town over.
Grey is the new Black.
The girls follow signs to The Great Charlemagne magician show! Obviously that’s the answer. Go to a creepy town, see a magic show!
Does this town at least have a nail salon?
The Great Charlemagne is like a creepy mime magician in white and black. Which is good because he matches the weirdly muted people of the town.
Audrey Hepburn?
He reveals a box and, yup he’s gonna put a girl in it. He picks Aria out of the crowd. She’s not into the idea, because it’s so much better out of the closet, but he insists. This is not consent.
I want YOU to join the gay baby army.
All eyes on Aria while the magician puts her in a box and makes her disappear. The magician gives the box a few spins and oolala Aria reappears.
It’s time to get into some box Aria
Spencer and Hanna really enjoyed the big magic performance. Those too really are suckers for a good trick. Too bad they lost Emily while they were distracted. I knew Paige should have come along.
Leave it to the straight chicks to forget about the lesbians.
A few Ravenswood and discount furniture commercials later, Emily wakes up in a box. Fortunately her phone still works and she immediately calls Aria.
This is not the box I thought I’d be getting into
Emily freaks out, realizing she’s in a coffin. Worse yet, she swears she can hear a saw cutting wood. Getting nearer. Upon hearing that, Spencer realizes they’re right near Sawmill Road. The three start to run in that direction, but not before catching a glimpse of Red Coat.
High School Senior Thesis in photography
The girls follow Red Coat right into a wood workshop where they hear Emily screaming from inside a chained-up coffin headed for a circular saw. It’s right out of a super hero movie.
If only Emily had attended Butchin’ it Up at A-Camp she would know how to handle power tools and get herself out of this.
The Liars try to cut the chains off, but are unable to because the media doesn’t want you to think women are strong. Fortunately, just before the coffin hits the saw, though, Red Coat hits the stop button. Which is weird because A is on the woodshop cat walk. Wait. There are two Red Coats. Hm.
One A
Two A
Red A
Other Red A
Spencer and Aria split up to chase after the Red Coats while Hanna pulls Emily out of the coffin. Obviously Hanna is the most gay for Emily.
PAAAIIIGGGEEEE
Spencer follows Red Coat One outside to a nearby house and up the stairs.
Stairs! The most complicated barrier of them all!
Aria follows the Red Coat Two up the stairs of the mill to some seriously unstable catwalks. Red Coat Two tries to push Aria off, but she’s been taking kick boxing classes. Nice work Aria.
This is not a love hug.
Aria kicks Red Coat Two’s mask off and, yup, it’s Cece. Just as Cece lunges for Aria, Aria moves such that Cece falls over the side of the catwalk. Aria tried to grab onto Cece’s hands but her coat rips and she falls to her possible death. If nothing else, this show should be played years from now to high school students to warn them of the dangers of a bad fall.
And all I can think about it how dirty Aria’ white outfit must be getting.
Red Coat done in by her red coat. I see what you did there ABC Family.
You know it was a bad fall because her leg is bent. But her make up? Flawless.
Spencer reappears from tracking Red Coat One and the four gather around Cece’s body. Aria clearly feels terrible. I feel terrible for Aria. Or at least I would, if Cece didn’t get up and disappear as soon as the Liars turned their backs.
Guys lets get the hell out of here before someone else doesn’t die
The Liars realize Cece’s gone and decide to get the fuck out of the place full of sharp edges. Probably a good idea.
Spencer leads the Liars back to the house she followed Red Coat One into. She explains that she thinks the Red Coat she was following was actually Ali, and leads them upstairs.
Follow the leader wherever she may go!
The Liars walk into a room covered in huge pictures of Ali and big huge timelines of all the Liars. Yup, for the millionth bajillionth time, the Liars walked into “A’s Lair.” As far as I’m concerned A’s Lair is basically just a Ke$ha song. It’s technically different each time but really it’s just the same shit over and over again. it just keeps coming back. Same song different chorus.
Spencer is not impressed with A’s interior decoration.
This A’sLair is also equipped with a super computer monitoring the Police and the Liar’s home security systems. Who knew anyone in Rosewood was practicing any “security.”
A is not an apple user.
It also has a timeline of all the events that the girls have gotten up to. Well thank god someone is keeping track of it.
I had a dream of doing this once but every time I tried I curled up in a ball to cry instead.
Elsewhere, Shana gets out of that lovely blue convertible and walks into a B&B where none other that Mona sits on the porch knitting.
Alright. Let’s get on with the rug munching.
TobAy watches from the bushes because he’s creepy like that.
Caveman is in awe of the magic of “knitting”
The Liars hang around A’s Lair like it’s area right outside the Hot Topic. Which, if they’re anything like me in middle school, means they meet all their friends and then dye their hair purple in the bathroom. Or maybe they just go through everything. Hanna even tries to break into A’s system with a little phone help from Caleb.
But where is A’s vintage Playboy collection?
The Liars look at A’s bank statements and realize that A has made recent payments to Cece. The wonder if perhaps A paid Cece to dress up like Red Coat to lure them away from Ali. I wonder how A is rolling in the dough.
And $300 to Babeland
While discussing who she is exactly, Hanna busts open a closet to reveal a whole bunch of suits. Suddenly is seems that A might be a guy. Or a really well dressed butch lesbian.
See this! This is how Caleb should dress!
The Liars agree this must mean that A is Ali’s former fling “Boardshorts.” Whoever Ali was dating that summer. They discuss possible options, maybe Wren, maybe Ian, but I have this sudden overwhelming sense that I know who A is. In fact, I think you’re supposed to know in that moment who A is too. It suddenly becomes so obvious.
P.S. I’m starting to have some complicated feelings about my friend Emily. Her hair is just so shiny.
Aria walks around the timelines a bit and realizes that A has also been following Ali. Not just before she died but since then too. It seems even that A is planning on tracking Ali to an event in Ravenswood that night.
I just really need us to wrap this up so I can go back to Sleepover Week at Paige’s house.
So once again it’s time to play Find It Before A Does. This time at a period themed party.
Pennsylvania: where there are as many costume parties as there are men sleeping with underaged girls
The girls walk out of the house and Mrs. Grundle The Old House Mother stops them. She tells them not to go to the party and that they should stop searching for Alison.
This technicolor town ain’t big enough for the both of us.
Mrs. Grundle says she has a “gift of insight” and that she was using it to help Ali figure out who was threatening her that summer. Wait. Either Mrs. Grundle is a hotline psychic who scammed Ali out of her money, or this shit is about to go supernatural.
Supernatural? Are you fucking kidding me?
Cue the pastel flashback.
Mrs. Grundle said that the night Alison went missing she “felt something terrible” and drove to Alison’s house. In the backyard she saw Alison’s hand, helped pull her out of the ground and drove her to the hospital. While Mrs. Grundle went inside to get help, Alison disappeared into the night.
Are you my maker?
In other words, Alison is alive.
Alison just got born.
Mrs. Grundle tells the Liars, however, to get the fuck out of Ravenswood. Basically she says that A is there and is hoping the Liars will lead him to Alison. I’m sort of hoping that too because this shit has been dragged out long enough.
Are you kicking us out because our friend is gay? Because we will not be discriminated against!
Despite Mrs. Grundle’s warnings, the Liars decide to grab some costumes and crash the party.
Do I look like someone who turns down a costume party?
Elsewhere, Caleb boards the most old-timey bus ever to Ravenswood. I feel like he’s not coming back.
Butch Takes a Bus
We won’t get to see that party though, not until a two hour Halloween special in October.
We will, however, get to see a man who has followed the Liars to Ravenswood. One who heads directly upstairs into A’s Lair and freaks the fuck out when he realizes it’s been broken into.
It’s Ezra.
Holy crap. 
I fucking knew it.
I know I can’t prove to you guys that I knew it, but I totally did. When I was in high school I had a boyfriend (these were different times) who used to always get mad at me for trying to guess the ending in the middle of movies. He told me, one day you’re gonna get it right and ruin a really good plot twist for yourself. So that happened.
But it was just all so heavy handed. First of all, basically nothing bad has happened to Aria in ages. But also, when the Liars rule out Wren as Ali’s Board Shorts Guy and then also decide that Board Shorts Guy is A, it’s like who’s left? We know it isn’t Wren or Ian because they’re dead. We know it isn’t TobAy because they already did that. We even know it isn’t Caleb because he’s going off to his own TV show. There really aren’t any men left on the show.
And let’s address the big age-inappropriate elephant in the room: Ezra is clearly into younger girls.
So here’s my theory.
The summer before Ali went missing Ali was dating Ezra and also Ian. Cece was dating Wilden. When Cece was done with Wilden she asked Ali to break it off with him for her. Ali did this but Wilden freaked out and hit her, knocking her unconscious. He thought she was dead, buries her and then later Mrs. Grundle dug her out.
Things that Ali put into motion before she “died” eventually get Cece kicked out of college, Cece gets back at her by telling Ezra she lied about her age and that she was cheating on him. Ezra was mad but, what can you do, she was dead. Cece left town thinking Wilden had killed Ali and that she was going to get sucked in. And Wilden started trying to figure out how to frame someone else.
Now Mona was A in the first two seasons. Everything we saw, all the black mailing and texts. That was all MonA with intel from Ali during the summer. Ali gave MonA the dirt on the Liars thinking that Mona could use it to get popular with her friends. She didn’t realize Mona would end up fucking with them. At some point, I think, A/MonA was threatening Ezra. My guess is he was buying videos from the NAT club or something. Something that would get him super fired.
When “Ali’s body was found” people like Ezra, Garret and Cece started to get squirrelly. They realized other people knew about NAT/Ali/some other shit yet to be learned. I think at this point Ezra learned that Ali was alive, and maybe wanted to track her down because she was pregnant with his kid or something. Ezra was particularly pissed at MonA because she kept trying to bust him and Aria. So EzrA became Big A and hired Cece to get MonA back in the game and eventually turn on her and screw her over.
Once Ali started popping up, EzrA used Cece to run around in a Red Coat to confuse the Liars but also get them searching for Ali. Unfortunately, Cece was a bit of a loose cannon. As were other people EzrA hired because he needed, like TobAy, LucAs and WrAn. In the process he ended up hurting the Liars a lot more than he meant to. Either that or he had reasons for hating the Liars that we just don’t know.
Or something. Wait… did that make sense? I think I just confused myself.
Oh well. If any of this turns out to be true I’ll be here singing and dancing a big old Told You So dance when the show comes back October 22.
Oh wait! Before I go I should tell you about the last scene! It was this guy:
I hope that tubing is connected to a beer bong
Because that DEFINITELY isn’t going to give me nightmares.
Pages: 1 2See entire article on one page
Dammit Paige shoes OFF THE BED.
Kids these days.
Thank you! That was all I could think about when I first saw that scene.
paige can put her shoes on (or under) my bed anytime
i’m crossing my fingers that “ezra is The A” is final. on the other hand, it’s pretty little liars and nothing is 100% final. ezrA can just be another monA and tobAy. i don’t know why i’m sucked into this show so much. the cast and crew are strangely brilliant but they don’t make sense. i honestly have to get drunk to watch.
hey liz, of course you can. you’re awesome enough to ombre your hair. btw, the recap this week is fast. shay and lindsey should read your recaps too. i wish you can get them in an interview.
If EzrA is another TobAy I QUIT I s2g.
Autostraddle is not allowed to post these recaps before I plan to go to bed, because I am now also terrified. I’m going to have weird nightmares about that guy and my quiz on amino acids tomorrow.
There better be no take backs like with Toby! I LOVE this development! Ezra just looks like pure evil now. The next question is how much is Aria involved in the A stuff.
Man, Paige was awesome in this ep! No, she doesn’t want your croissant! LOL She was so hot too. And hey, all the crying and worrying about her and fears she was going to die or be dumped turned out to be needless! She’s still home safe and sound. <3 Too bad she won't be in the Halloween ep. I can't wait!
Thank you for the wonderful recaps this summer Lizz! I'll miss them so much. I hope you'll do some other show if you have the time. (^_^)
I like Ezra as A. A guy in his mid-20s who dates/ creepily pines over a 16 year old that he has power over is the kind of person that would actively fuck with the girl. The whole Ezria relationship was something that really bothered me about the show, but making his sketchiness unambiguous goes a long way towards fixing that.
I know! My point exactly. :D
Hmm, when I originally wrote that I intended to mention that I was agreeing with your Ezra feelings, but then I got caught up in my own Ezra hate.
I also loved the “you are so adorable and amazing” look on Paige’s face when Emily busted out her French phone app., but was sooo bad at speaking French.
biggest reveal of the episode – emily and paige share shoes.
I’ve been waiting for this to happen since the beginning of the show! Once it was obvious that it was going to be EzrA I was cheering and clapping and luckily the only person home at the time. I think I was even happier than the time I thought EzrA was being arrested. EzrA has always been the odd one out in so many weird ways. More than anyone else his role on the show could not make any sense if he weren’t connected to Ali, and yet he was the only person in Rosewood at the time who was not shown to be connected to her.
I wasn’t sure if they were going to do it though because EzrA seems to be so popular with a large percentage of the fanbase. I’m still not convinced that they aren’t going to cave to the pressure and reverse it like they did with TobAy.
Oh and about the psychic woman Lizz, there’s definitely supposed to be supernatural shit going on. The whole set up for the Ravenswood show is that Caleb and some others have to break some sort of curse on the town.
So if there’s magic it sure would explain a lot about this crazy show! LOL
No way is Ezra A – I think he followed Aria to Ravenswood because he was concerned that she may still be in trouble with A, and he freaks out when he gets to the lair because he realises it’s true.
That big ‘you made me fall in love with him’ speech about his kid from the last episode is far too mushy to come from A.
I only realised how much I like Mona when the doll arrived and I thought she might actually get killed off this time.
Yes, exactly! You took the words right out of my mouth.
As soon as Ezra and Aria had their cuddle session at the coffee shop, he thought “Gee, maybe we will finally get back together!” He thinks, Why don’t I follow her for old time’s sake, and she leads him to Ravenswood. He doesn’t want her to know he’s there, so he waits until they leave the lair and goes in there himself to see what the crap they’re doing in Ravenswood anyway.
His show of anger is because he’s pissed that A is still alive and well and still fucking with the liars. It’s not a They’ve found me out! rage, it’s a Concerned for Aria rage.
I totally agree!! I think he followed Aria because he thought she was in trouble again.
Also, if he was The Powerful A, he’d be able to get fake paternity tests or find a way to make Alex Mac agree to let him have custody of the kid. I don’t think Ezra is A either.
I totally disagree with you guys! I think they already did that “trying to protect his girlfriend” thing with Toby! There’s no way they’d do that twice!
Besides, isn’t it sort of more exciting when characters change/develop? I don’t want him to just be a one dimensional love monster!
I also think this might be the final A reveal. I mean, in addition to Ezra being inappropriately into underage girls, the fact that nothing particularly terrible has happened to Aria while she’s been under his wing, and that Ezra has access to enormous piles of money through his family…
…and what if Alison really did get pregnant? By Ezra? Who then tried to kill her to get rid of that evidence, only Alison did something to trick him into thinking she was dead so she could get away, maybe even still having the kid. That would also explain, in PLL universe terms, the subplot involving how immediately involved with and possessive of Malcom Ezra became.
Haha, Alex Mac.
Lizz, I can see where you’re coming from, about them already doing that with Toby. And while, yes, they’ve done it before, I don’t think they’re above doing it again.
It would be way more exciting if it actually is Ezra, though.
And Emily, Aria totally almost died during that Halloween ball when she was in the box about to get thrown off the train. I don’t even remember where Ezra was at that point, though…maybe he was off wherever Alex Mac & Malcolm lived?
I don’t know. It’s possible that it’s Ezra and all the sleeping with underage girls does connect and it would make sense. I just feel like this show has gone on forever and they always try to make you think a certain way to distract you from what’s really going on. I guess we’ll see what happens!
Ezra has never really been some sweet, trustworthy guy. He is a creep. It is illegal for high school teachers to sleep with their students for a reason. As the adult in the situation he had a legal/ moral responsibility to keep it in his pants until she graduated from high school and the fact that they met at a bar ONCE before he realized that she was his 16 year old student does not change anything.
It is also not impossible for an emotionally abusive asshole (if he is A he definitely qualifies, I would argue that he does regardless)to get upset when someone lies to him about the paternity of a kid.
That said, the reveal scene is ambiguous enough that it’s possible that PLL will back down from Ezra being A, but I really hope they won’t.
We know that Ezra dresses in a boy scout way (his unending supply of sweaters and dinner party patterned shirts) and in his A Reveal scene he’s wearing a black baseball cap to conceal his face and dark clothes. So if this is NOT an A reveal scene, the show is officially fucking with us as viewers.
Nobody is one thing so definitely he could be upset about paternity (who wouldn’t be? also he was USED for free childcare and emotional work — Alex Mack is a jerk!!) and that’s no reason for Ezra to not be A.
I agree that this explains a lot about Ezra.
I like your take on why it can’t be a fake A reveal. I will now go forth confident in the fact that PLL is finally acknowledging how shady Ezra is.
Since nobody has said it yet, YES, YES, YES to going all ombre on your locks, Lizz. It’ll look totally hot.
i second
“I fucking knew it”… the exact same sentence I sent in a text to my gf when I saw this.
Fucking Ezra.
FUCKING EZRA!
I wish I had filmed my reaction. Mistakes were made.
Maybe that’s the way forward for these recaps. A video commentary of the entire show.
google hangout!
I feel like the reveal of Ezra would have had a bigger impact had they not done the same thing with Toby and then back tracked eight episodes later.
I would love it if Ezra actually is A, but given their track record (Toby, and to an extent, Mona) and all of the Aria/Ezra fanatics I’m not going to give in to this storyline until they show something less ambiguous than Ezra just looking around the room and seemingly getting pissed off. I think it’ll either end up being that he was just following the girls (which, also pretty creepy) as others have mentioned. Or, they’ll turn it into some Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde type of situation because you know how PLL loves literary references. If went in that direction they can still appease all of the fangirls by saying that the real Ezra is the one in love with Aria, and his alter ego is the one stalking and torturing all of them due to some form of Multiple Personality Disorder.
As for the whole supernatural development, I have to say that as much as I love Pretty Little Liars, Twin Peaks did it better.
Ok can we talk about this? I need to talk about this: Red Coat used to have dark hair and Aria got mistaken for Vivian Darkbloom when she wore a Red Coat. When and how did Red Coat turn blonde?
When the girls started seeing her she was blonde. I don’t think we’ve ever seen Red Coat with dark hair. Only Ali/Vivian ever had dark hair.
TWINS OF WIGS
TWINS OF MASKS
WIGS AND MASKS
MASKS AND WIGS
My biggest takeaway is they found A’s lair AGAIN and didn’t call the authorities. Like seriously A has hacked the police department and is generally doing creepy shit and they didn’t even discuss it? Why. Just why. Will they ever learn?
I’ve read lots of interviews with producers/writers/cast members/etc and it seems that they are definitely hinting that Ezra’s involvement with ‘A’ is very real but very complicated. They’ve also been putting small clues about him being A since the beginning of the show. The writers have also said that Ezra’s storyline will be a “Jekyll and Hyde” situation. I saw someone theorize that Ezra has a personality disorder and truly does not know that he is A. I hope this isn’t true because it would be a really ableist storyline. Another theory is that Ezra has a sort of “evil twin” (which would kinda work into the Jekyll and Hyde thing too). The only reason I’m humoring this idea is because in an interview with Sasha Pieterse where the interviewer asked her if Ali had a twin, she said this: “If there is such a thing as a twin in Rosewood, it’s probably not for Alison, that’s also something to keep in mind.” This sounds to me like it could be a hint at some sort of twin storyline for someone other than Ali.
I have a shaky theory about Red Coat(s), too. We’ve been thinking Red Coat is the ‘head A’ but that’s only because Mona assumed that. I think Mona assumed wrong. My immediate thought after seeing this episode is that Red Coat is Ali’s attempt to hide herself. Cece and her had a really intense relationship according to Ali’s mom, so it seems like Cece would be willing to do something so dangerous for her. Ali gets all the masks of her face made so she can have multiple people posing as her, making it harder for A to find her. It’s kinda like in Harry Potter where they all take the Polyjuice potion to look like Harry to keep the real Harry safer. So Ali/Redcoat is on the run from A. My theory for the backstory is that Ali dated Ezra, for whatever reason he starts stalking her, still believes that she is alive, and continues to look for her. In an earlier episode we see Cece talking on the phone and she is in that same lair (there’s an image comparision floating around online; Cece was def. in the lair) and the owner of the lair made payments to Cece. This makes me think that maybe this isn’t A’s lair but instead Redcoat’s lair. Ali and Cece are tracking every detail to stay one step ahead of A. The pictures of Ali don’t necessarily make sense but maybe she just wanted them? Of course this theory can be very wrong, but it’s fun to make stuff up. Also, who’s eye was peeking through the hole in the wall? Also, how did the owner of the lair not realize there was a hole in their wall? So I think whoever was peeking owns the lair. The eye is VERY round and doesn’t look like Ali’s unless you compare it to the picture of Ali with her eyes widened, so it could definitely be Ali. I also wonder if it is Mona.
There are a lot of inaccuracies in this (like I think my theory would mean Mona, Shana and Jenna would all have to be working on keeping Ali safe which wouldn’t make sense) but I am obsessed with this show so okay
i like your polyjuice theory. very smart.
cece was double agent for ali and A makes sense.
A) It’s Grunwald not Grundle. (nitpicky)
B) This entire recap was made by the ‘holy crap’ cat gif. I just laughed for like 5 minutes watching it.
C) I’m surprised no one has mentioned the Aria is A theory. I’m like 99% convinced Aria is the ultimate head A. Ezra is the big reveal before we get to her like… maybe mid-season 5 lol.
I think we should all just call her Grindelwald. You know, for Harry Potter reasons.
why do you think Aria is A????? that makes no sense to me.
Lex, omg……. I have spent hours lost in a tumblr hole reading theories on why Aria is A hahaha…. so many reasons!http://idontneednoroad.tumblr.com/ariaisa – some of these are pretty reaching, but others make a lot of sense. Ali as Vivian Darkbloom, trying to find the person cyberstalking her? The red coat, and Aria saying it was her coat? All those creepy ass photos of Aria Jason developed that were Ali’s? My favorite is a gif of Aria VERRRRRRRY subtley nodding at Noel to send a text. The fact she’s always either not involved at all with the A shit, or the one leading the charge/giving hints.
So many mixed emotions! But i did watch the halloween promo on youtube, and Ezra was with the girls and they were all looking at something shocked?! I dont think he is A.
omg I don’t know im just confused now!
“I had a dream of doing this once but every time I tried I curled up in a ball to cry instead.”
All of my feelings about PLL in one sentence.
“YOU KNOW IT WAS A BAD FALL BECAUSE HER LEG IS BENT. BUT HER MAKE UP? FLAWLESS.” Bahahahaa! I love this whole recap SO much!