Bit of a mixed bag from PLL this week. There was the good and the bad, the funny and the unintentionally funny, and the clever and the downright idiotic. Then there was the realization that the only character on the show with an ounce of common sense is second tier, at best. Well done, Paige – a dubious honor.
First off the bat: well thank god the other three girls aren’t as dumb as Aria! Not that it did them any good, but going back to the basement for Ali’s diary at least showed that they had heads on their shoulders. And it did give us (and Hanna) the opportunity to learn that Lucas is still working at A’s bidding. Or, more accurately, Mona’s. Bribery good times! But it also raised some important questions, like how did three students find it so easy to break into their school in the middle of the night? We know Spencer can pick locks, but we didn’t know she could crack alarm systems, too.
We learned that someone is definitely helping the girls. Or are they helping Mona? Maybe a mix of both. That prank A pulled with the bike last week was to take out Spencer’s opposition in the race for captain of the decathlon team – but did A do it to let Spencer win or to open the race up for Mona?
We learned that Lucas is the one who tried to blow up Mona. The kids in Rosewood, they breed them tough. Does he show an ounce of remorse for nearly killing Meredith (because having a burned arm is life threatening)? Of course not. Do we care? Of course not. Meredith is a pain in the ass. Not that we’re advocating murder, but she’s really pissing us off. Mostly because she’s such a psychopath. Like, clinically. Did you see her cold dead eyes? She’s a practiced and skilled liar, which had us wondering why Aria would buy anything she had to say about Byron (i.e., that Byron came to see her that night, then went to see Ali, all while Aria’s mom said Byron was passed out next to her, and that she caught him going through Aria’s room and going through her own purse, thinking it was Aria’s) and had us screaming at the TV when Aria drank that stomach-settling tea without making Meredith taste it first. How are these girls not suspicious of EVERYONE at this stage?
The one person who is suspicious of everyone and everything is Paige, which is why she’s our favorite character of the week. She’s got some form of PTSD after the first half of the season. Almost getting killed and then being in close proximity to another murder would do that to a normal person. Normal = exactly what the four friends are not. While Emily is thrilled to go haring off into the dark woods to a swim team party (dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb), Paige gets more and more freaked out the further she gets from town. And rightly so. They spend ten minutes away from the car and they return to find a slashed tire. And then Emily sees someone in a black hoody lurking in the trees, so A is clearly after them. Then Emily chases after A, abandoning Paige. She nearly catches A (who, in this guise, is TobAy) but Paige stops her in time. Not quite sure, though, why TobAy was lurking out in the woods in the first place, or why he would slash Paige’s tires. What was his plan?
By the way, Aria was feeling queasy? Queasy, eh? PREGNANT, eh? We’re jumping the gun colossally here, but nothing shakes up a show like a teen-pregnancy scandal – just look at One Tree Hill, Glee, 90210, Veronica Mars… Plus, we know the original books had a very pregnant Emily. As that road is basically 100 percent closed to the writers, all they need is a character switcheroo. Pretty Little Teen Mom Liars. It’s gonna be huge. – B+K
Quoteworthy: “It was certainly calculating, but I wouldn’t call it Trig.” – oh, Aria. Zing. Zing.
PS Mona is stalking Byron.
PPS Pissing of Mona probably wasn’t your best idea ever, Hanna.