There is one week remaining of that guilty little pleasure Pretty Little Liars, and things are really starting to amp up for the show’s resident lesbian Emily and her best pals Hanna, Spencer and Aria. While Paige (Lindsey Shaw) waffles about coming out Emily (Shay Mitchell) becomes smitten with a deceptively lovely but likely dangerous blond named Samara (Claire Holt)
There is one week remaining of that guilty little pleasure Pretty Little Liars, and things are really starting to amp up for the show’s resident lesbian Emily and her best pals Hanna, Spencer and Aria.
So many questions are just begging to be answered in the season finale that it’s tough to believe PLL will get to all of it. Will Spencer (Troian Bellisario) take the fall for their bitch dead friend Alison’s (Sasha Pieterse) murder? Is Hanna (Ashley Benson) really going to let pretty boy Caleb (Tyler Blackburn) stay in Arizona with so many untidy emotions hanging between them? Does Aria’s (Lucy Hale) pedo / pedagogue boyfriend Ezra (Ian Harding) do time in the pokey for carrying on with an underage student? Will we ever find out exactly what Jenna (Tammin Sursok) has on all the girls? Penultimately importantly, wiill they reveal who the fuck “A” is? But most importantly for our purposes, who will be our little Emily’s (Shay Mitchell) final love interest of the season?
But first, here’s a quick catch-up on Em and her latest lady friend Paige (Lindsey Shaw). Once Em’s first girlfriend, the adorable free spirit Maya (Bianca Lawson), was carted off to rehab / ex-gay camp when Em’s uptight mom Pam (Nia Peeples) accidentally-on-purpose discovered weed in Maya’s backpack, Em took about an episode and half to mourn her absence. Then Emily opted to sublimate all that excess lesbian energy into something useful like her swim strokes, only she did that a tad too well and pissed off the team captain / bully Paige. Paige bullied Em, tried to dunk her in the pool with Dick Cheney-esque fervor, fondled Em’s bra in the locker room and eventually kissed Em in a car.
The unlikely duo has been back and forth as Paige at times appears to be a helpless closet case and at others endlessly attracted to Emily. They sang a P!nk song together at a dive bar, kissed outside to “Glitter in the Air,” Paige fixed her ridiculous bangs and bob haircut and then Em gave Paige the relationship brush-off when she realized Paige couldn’t handle being out. That sent Paige into the arms of the nearest boy until she realized boys are icky (for some girls, not for all), and she went running back to Em. At the close of last week’s episode it seemed as though Paige was ready to embrace her inner dyke and the two of them made out in Em’s bedroom!
Pretty Little Liars: Monsters in the End, SPOILERS
We first encounter the gay storyline this week with Em vigorously texting away to God knows who when Paige -- in a puffy vest --pulls her aside excitedly to tell Em she got tickets to a concert they wanted to see. It turns out that Paige’s controlling, homophobic dad has connections and scored her tickets to a sold-out show.
“That’s awesome. How much was it” an ecstatic Emily asks.
But Paige, stepping out of the comfort zone, grabs Em’s hand -- in public -- and insists, “My treat, that’s why they call it a date.”
Cue the sound of many “awwwwwws,” because it looks like Paige is really coming around. But hold on – she’s not finished.
“Troy Sattler will pay for his own,” she adds, to the sound of a collective, “who the hell is Troy Sattler?”
“Troy Sattler’s coming too?” Emily asks, pulling her hand away. Full of excuses, Paige says that since she got the tickets from her dad – and since her dad’s a homophobic ass who once tried to accuse Emily of getting special treatment on the swim team because she’s gay—she thought she’d ask a boy to join them as a buffer to throw her dad off the trail.
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“I really wanna have that talk with my dad. I do. I even went on line and looked for – what to say,” Paige confesses.
She explains that nearby Sheridan Prep has a Pride group and support meetings, but that she can’t make it to a meeting because it’s two miles away. Two miles? Wasn’t this the same Paige who hauled tail on her bike in the rain to see Emily one night? Please, two miles is nothing…but Em has a good suggestion.
“Well, then meet someone from the group for coffee,” Em offers, adding that she’ll go along with Paige if it helps.
A few days later, Emily walks into a coffee shop solo, clearly looking around for someone.
“Hey, are you Paige,” a cute blond girl asks.
“Uh, no, I’m Emily, her, uh…friend,” a generally composed Emily stutters. It turns out that the cute girl is Samara (Claire Holt) the liaison from Sheridan Prep’s pride group.
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“Yeah, sorry… I didn’t realize you’d be so... punctual,” Emily says, clearly surprised by the adorable out gay girl before her.
A while later Em and Samara are having coffee but there’s no sign of Paige.
“Emily, not to be rude but is there a friend?” Samara asks, thinking Em’s afraid to discuss being gay.
“Oh no, no…It’s not me. This is about Paige, someone I’m starting to date. That’s why this sucks. It feels like a step back for me,” Em says.
Identifying with Em’s predicament Samara says, “I get it. I was with a closeted girl when I first moved here, and nothing but drama… I started to realize that if it was meant to be it shouldn’t be this hard.”
Emily and Samara decide Paige is likely blowing them off altogether but Samara says it’s okay since she needed to be in Rosewood to set up a booth at The Founders Festival, the event that appears to have the whole sleepy town in a tizzy.
It turns out Samara is not only beautiful and proudly out but she makes her own jewelry. And it’s clear Emily is just a goner.
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“That’s cute. Did you make that?” Emily asks about Samara’s bracelet, after Samara not so subtly pointed her in its direction.
“Yeah, thanks," Samara says. “Hey if you wanna see more you should come by early, get the first choice. Are you free tomorrow morning?” Something tells me Samara’s not talking about jewelry but we’ll see…
Like clockwork Emily’s at Samara’s booth bright and early and fondling Samara’s jewelry.
It seems that Emily is drawn to a pair of Samara’s earrings and the cute blond wastes no time in finding an excuse to touch Em’s ear by holding the earrings up to her.
“Wow, they look amazing with your skin tone,” Samara flirts. “You should have them.” But when Emily protests the gift Samara says, “Okay, steal them. I’ll turn around.”
Emily is giggling like the schoolgirl she is and appearing clearly smitten when Paige walks up.
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“Paige, this is Samara from Sheridan Prep, who you were supposed to meet at the Grill,” Emily says to an embarrassed Paige.
“If you ever want to reschedule, grab a coffee, talk about your dad…” Samara says. And this is where my red flag goes up for Emily.
She may be cute but this is one manipulative girl taking something Em said and throwing it out to Paige knowing it may drive a wedge between them. File this under "none of Samara’s damned business!” Paige is clearly not impressed. But if that weren’t bad enough Samara adds, “Tell your friend how hot she looks in those earrings.”
Later, when they are alone at the festiva, Paige asks, “What did you tell her about me?”
“Nothing… I told her you were dealing with stuff, you were scared your parents would…” Em says before Paige interrupts to say she wishes Emily hadn’t essentially told a hot stranger Paige’s life story.
“If I didn’t show up there was a reason,” Paige says.
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And just like that here comes Samara like a bad penny that doesn’t have a hippy-dippy jewelry booth to run. “The second you guys left everybody got thirsty,” Samara says.
It’s more like Samara got thirsty for another gander at Emily, but okay. At least Emily has the wherewithal to give Samara money for the earrings at this point. Owing this girl anything spells trouble. Meanwhile, Paige is throwing killer side-eyes at Samara, and frankly I don’t blame her.
Paige may be a little mess of a closet case currently but I have faith in her. This is a girl who sings “So What” at karaoke.
As if she hasn’t alienated Paige enough by mentioning personal matters and hitting on her girlfriend Samara says, “Look Paige, I hope it didn’t seem like I was calling you out. I get it. We’ve all been there.”
“I know you’re trying to be nice and everything, but honestly, you don’t even know me,” an irked Paige says. Emily censures Paige for being less than accommodating.
“I’m sorry Emily but I’m not looking to join a club and ride down on mainstream on a rainbow chopper,” Paige says, although she and Em would look adorable leading the “Dykes on Bikes” segment of Philly’s Pride Parade.
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“Actually I drive a jeep,” Samara offers. Of course she does…is all I have to say.
Emily doesn’t want to get in the middle of this pissing match between one closeted suitor and one I surmise does not have the best intentions. She tries to make an exit saying that she’s got a paper due.
Paige calls to her to wait.
“What? So you can be rude to me too? You know what Paige? This is becoming way too much drama. I don’t want to be your secret,” Emily says, turning on her heel, which she is getting really good at doing. That's a little hypocritical of Em. Turning on one's heel is always laced with high drama.
Back at home, on the bench where she and Paige held hands and made out just last week, Emily excitedly tears into a bag with Samara's earrrings in it.
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She takes them out and stares at them a tad too lovingly when what is likely a little daydreaming session about Samara is interrupted by a text from Paige.
But Emily ignores Paige's text, which is fine if she's trying to get her bearings on how to handle Paige, but this Samara is no good I tell ya!
And just like that 'A' helps confirm my suspicions with a text. Juxtaposing the text about Em having a type with a flashback to highly manipulative Regina George wannabe Alison aligns Samara with Alison and over more than just their blond hair.
"A" essentially warns Emily to beware. And if that weren't enough of a visual cue that Emily should cut and run from Samara, her flashback includes some feigned munificence on Alison's part from when Alison gifted Emily with a snowglobe that none of the girls could know about, thereby tying Alison's gift in with Samara's attempt to give Em the earrings. Not so incidentally the flashback triggers Em to pick up the snowglobe and shake it around, loosening a key that may unlock the answers to the mystery of "A."
Tune in next week to find out if i'm just paranoid or if Samara really does turn out to be a bad seed. Plus, we may find out if Emily falls prey to her hormones and falls for Samara, if Paige gets her shit together and comes out or if Em just decides to go it solo after a pretty active first year of coming out!
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