When last we saw the Liars, Toby was (possibly) dead, and Spencer had infiltrated Radley Sanitarium, which is another way of saying, she went cray cray.
At the start of Tuesday’s episode, Hanna, Emily, and Aria are making what seems like their weekly visit to Rosewood High School, and wondering why Spencer isn’t there.
As Mona skillfully uses her make-up mirror to spy on the girls, Melissa and Vice Principal Hackett approach the trio in the courtyard, asking if they’ve heard anything from Spencer, who has gone missing.
Melissa is also probably totes p.o.’ed that the girls haven’t commented on her new haircut. When the girls say they don’t know where she is either, Melissa decides to call the police, which in PLL world is real bad.
Over at Radley, Spencer is playing cards and probably lamenting the fact that, much like when Mona was there, they took away her frizz fighting shampoo. She makes some half crazy / half witty comments to one of the attendees about being named Jane Doe, and asks about what her classification of 302 means. The random attendee named Eddie (who knowing this show, won’t stay random for long) explains that it allowed her to be sent to Radley for a psych evaluation, instead of county prison. When Spencer asks if Radley is considered luxury, Eddie answers, “Compared to County, this is Vegas.” I’m not sure Vegas, with its giant cowboy hats and card snappers, is really the gold standard of luxury, but at least the lighting is better.
Back at school, the girls try and figure out where Spencer might be, despite the fact that she told Emily to stop looking for Toby. “What are we supposed to do,” Aria asks. “Just sit in our rooms and do our homework?” Apparently Aria, with her planner full of teacher dating and multiple murder mystery solving, has lost touch with normal high school behavior. Emily (aka replacement Spencer) decides they should keep their eyes on Melissa to see what she comes up with.
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Later that day, Hanna and her mom are still wondering what happened to Detective Wilden, with Ashley unaware that Hanna the Hulk pushed his car into the lake. Just then, Ashley’s far-too-sweet boyfriend Pastor Ted calls, and Hanna arranges a coffee date for them, saying they should proceed as if nothing has happened. Under a lot of stress, Ashley fantasizes about the thought of eating a pretzel, which I wasn’t aware people considered to be a form of caloric indulgence.
Back on the set of Girl, Interrupted, Spencer is playing the piano, because even at the nut house, Spencer stays classy.
Behind her, Dr. Sullivan says Spencer’s name, and Spencer realizes she is Jane Doe no more. “Olly olly oxen free,” says an emotionless Spencer. Dr. Sullivan asks why Spencer decided to fake amnesia and stay incognito, and Spencer reveals that Toby is dead. As skeptical as I am about this news, Dr. Sullivan tells Spencer that she will be calling the Hastings and then the cops, two of the most un-trustworthy groups in the Liars’ eyes.
Over at the church, Ashley, who still thinks she may have murdered the guy she once slept with to get her daughter out of trouble, is trying her best not to spontaneously combust on hallowed ground. She and Hanna are talking to Pastor Ted, when speak of the devil (literally), Detective this guy! appears, explaining he took a little time off to go fishing.
The tension is lost on happy-go-lucky Pastor Ted, but the Marin Ladies are clearly spooked.
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After talking to Ezra about his desire to get back to teaching (What was it that made him leave his old teaching job again? Oh, right...), Aria decides to take matters into her own hands. She goes to her dad, who has been briefed about the fact that, as Aria put it, Ezra went “from zero to daddy in sixty seconds.” Despite his involvement in Ezra’s dismissal from Hollis, Byron says he will see what he can do. Smells like an ulterior motive.
The next day, Emily is filling in the pretty little non-crazy liars about Spencer’s whereabouts, which she learned from Melissa. Since they aren’t family, they won’t be able to visit their friend, but Emily left Dr. Sullivan a message because she is the only one not distracted by paternal boyfriends and ghost cops. Speaking of which, Hanna gets a picture message of Ashley and Wilden at his car the night of the attempted murder, in case an abandoned cop car in her garage wasn’t enough of a clue that A knows what’s going on.
Back at Radley, Spencer learns that her new friend Eddie is actually Eddie Lamb, Toby’s sanitarium pseudonym. Should she be rethinking the shock antibiotics he just gave her?
Hanna tells her mom about Spencer’s new digs, and Ashley decides to cancel the upcoming seminar she has in NYC. Hanna advises her not to, despite her current preoccupation with undead police and crazy best friends. With Ashley up for a promotion that would relocate them to the Big Apple, Hanna says she’s happy to get out of Rosewood and away from the drama. Wanting to reassure Ashley that she will be safe while her mom is gone, Hanna says she’ll stay with Emily.
Leaving her office, Dr. Sullivan is confronted by Emily, who is clearly stressed from weeks of playing the role of Spencer. Emily asks a bunch of questions about Spencer, which Dr. Sullivan willingly answers, throwing that whole doctor/patient confidentiality thing by the wayside.
Dr. S tells Emily that Spencer thinks she saw Toby’s body. While Sully seems skeptical, the cryptic clues about Toby’s death that the girls’ received last episode are clearly fresh on Emily’s mind.
Over at Rosewood High, Byron and Ella have found an empty classroom (surprise, surprise) to discuss their daughter’s unemployed father of a boyfriend. They decide to help Ezra get back on his feet, in the hopes of getting him to stabilize his new family. Ah, the ulterior motive is revealed!
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Dr. Sullivan meets with Spencer and expresses her doubts about Toby’s death, pressing Spencer to see if she ever saw the dead body’s face. Clearly, Spencer is conflicted, and in one of the first displays of human emotion by Spencer in a while, tells Dr. Sullivan if she sees the girls to, “Just tell them I miss them.”
As we saw in earlier this week in PLL’spromo, Paige’s ex Shana gives Emily a much welcomed break from super sleuthing to meet Olympic gold medalist Missy Franklin.
Clearly star struck, Emily later thanks Shana, adding that she didn’t even know Shana was a swimmer. In her charmingly passive aggressive way, Shana wonders aloud why Paige never mentioned it. We’ve still got our eyes on you costume shop gal.
Over at the loony bin, Spencer and Eddie are bonding over pudding and confidential subject matter. He tells her that there were a lot of issues with their old staff badges, and Spencer reveals how she found his badge with Toby’s photo on it. Eddie explains that visitor badges were altered as well, making me really worried about Rosewood security, considering all the 302s running around. He said the problem came from within the staff, but refuses to go into further details. Before leaving, he offers up a comforting fact about Mona: while staying at Radley, she stayed in the very room Spencer was in. Always a good idea to creep out a patient in a mental hospital. Moving a desk lamp, Spencer sees the message “Will the circle be unbroken?” carved into the desk in her room.
Spencer flashes back to an afternoon in church with Ali and Mona, singing a hymn with that phrase in the lyrics.
Ok, if Mona and Ali are allowed in a church, I think Ashley will be fine. Afterwards, Spencer asks Ali about the diary she is carrying, which Ali says is one of many. When Spencer asks if she can read it (man, these girls are close), Ali mysteriously tells her that she’ll have to wait until after Ali is dead and that Spencer will need these notes to carry on after she’s gone.
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Meanwhile, Byron visits Ezra to tell him he is looking into getting him a job, but nothing is currently available at Hollis. Byron explains he feels he may be trying to make amends for something, and Ezra responds, “there’s no shortage of bad judgment in this world.” I’m not sure if Ezra is talking about Byron’s reaction to him and Aria, the fact that he got Maggie pregnant, or that cardigan he’s wearing.
Making up for lost time at school (albeit loitering in the bathroom), the girls discuss Spencer’s meltdown and finally humor the possibility that she could actually just be crazy. Hanna suspected all along that Spencer would be the one to snap, saying, “there’s a downside for being too smart,” a flaw she has happily avoided thus far.
Just then, Mona walks in and is not so convincingly surprised to learn that Spencer is staying at her old stomping grounds.
Aria threatens Mona, but is interrupted by the PA system calling her to the principal’s office.
Vice Principal Hackett tells Aria that there is a chance Fitz may be coming back to Rosewood as a substitute teacher. Before he can hire Ezra, he first asks Aria about her relationship with him, and his phrasing of this question is about as ambiguous as Jodie Foster’s Golden Globes speech. Aria says the relationship wasn’t what it looked like, and that there is nothing going on between them. But didn’t they make out right outside the high school once? Phew, glad they were wearing their invisibility cloaks!
Since Radley visitor badges are apparently all access passes, Mona comes to visit Spencer with cookies and sass. With Ali’s diaries on her iPad, Mona reveals that not only was Ali not pregnant, but that Mona has the answers to questions Spencer hasn’t even thought of. She leaves Spencer with a decidedly non-comforting piece of reassurance: “You’re not crazy. You’re as sane as I am.”
Outside of Emily’s, and with Ashley on the way to New York, Hanna and Emily spot Detective Wilden driving down Emily’s street in a much drier car than his previous ride. After butchering a line from The Big Lebowski, Hanna confronts Wilden. He explains that all he wants is his police car back, and there’ll be no more trouble. While this statement is pretty unbelievable itself, it’s a moot point, considering his car is six feet under (underwater, that is).
Spencer, meanwhile, is usurping group therapy, which doesn’t seem to matter, since the other patients are basically comatose. After Dr. Sullivan insists that Spencer has her share of problems just like everyone else in the group, Spencer proves her right by talking about how she lost her will to live after seeing Toby’s body in the woods. Looking at Sully and two patients who appear to be extras from The Walking Dead, Spencer imagines her three besties sitting in front of her. Expressionless, she tells them, “You don’t know me. I’m sorry, but that’s true. You don’t know who I am anymore, and you can’t count on me.”
In the final scene, one of the hooded A figures is preparing for the world’s creepiest road trip, driving a Winnebago decorated with photos of the Liars, a picture of Ali, and one of the A team’s notorious weird looking dolls. It looks like A is on his or her way to some sort of carnival celebration. I meanwhile, am wondering more if Hanna and Emily are on their way back to the Rosewood lesbian bar. I guess we’ll have to wait until next Tuesday to see!
