Pretty Little Liars - If At First You Don't Succeed, Lie, Lie Again recap/review

Aria realized that the picture the girls received of Alison walking through her yard was taken from Alison’s bedroom. This intrigued stupid Aria so much that she stayed up all night thinking about it. We know that most of you think that A is Mona, Alison (that she’s not really dead), or Melissa Hastings (or Melissa whatever-Ian’s-last-name-is), but wouldn’t it be fantastic if it were Aria? What if Aria was an evil genius with a master plan, and that she was only pretending to be useless? Spencer took the photo to Alison’s brother, Jason, to ask if he took it. He admitted that he could have and told Spencer that he would show the photo to the family’s private investigator to see if it was fake. He told Spencer that he didn’t remember what he did that night because he spent most of that year getting high with Ian.

Aria set up a date with Ezra Fitz that would take place in another town, at an art show. First of all, Life Unexpected did that first. Second of all, an art show? We like art, but it doesn’t exactly scream “hot date for your guy.” Spencer figured out where the bracelets were made. You know those bracelets with their names on them? Alison had one? Or maybe two? So Spencer went to find out who A was, because A made a few to taunt the girls. Spencer went to the home of a Mrs. Garrett, an old woman who ran a jewelry shop out of her house. Mrs. Garrett checked her records and said that the bracelets were purchased by a “Spencer Hastings.” Spencer was creeped out.

Mrs. Potter, the old woman that Hanna’s mom stole money from, notified the bank to say that she was coming for a visit way too early. Ashley Marin (the mom) was freaking out and getting teary, but she tried her best to keep Hanna out of it. Hanna got a Mother’s Day card from A with a drawing of a mother and daughter frolicking through a field together and a drawn-in speech bubble coming out of the mom’s mouth that said, “I Need Money!” Inside the card was a ticket to the art show Aria and Ezra would be going to, and a message that said A would save Ashley if Hanna would arrange for the inappropriate pansies to get caught by Aria’s mother. Ern shrieked and cackled with glee. But then Spencer gave a mini speech (in a class on World War II) about how you can’t give into bullies, so Hanna tried to warn Aria not to go on her date. Aria accused Hanna of being jealous. As if. Hanna has lots of guys after her, and they are her own age and way cooler than Ezra Fitz. At least they have personality. At least HANNA has a personality, unlike Aria. Seriously, Hanna is one of the wittiest, most enjoyable young female characters on TV right now.

So Aria went on her date. She wore a red dress that did her already pretty self a LOT of favors. He was hot too. Ahhh, if only the “Chester the Molester” around the corner was this hot in real life. Sadly, he is not. He is just nasty and wrong. Ezra got a limo for them to take, and Aria is young and insipid enough to not think that was cliche. But hey! Dark windows makes for more convenient molesting.

That guy who helped reprogram Emily’s phone last week, Caleb the technology nerd, has been paying attention to Hanna. There was some definite bantering going on. Caleb decided to help Hanna by breaking Aria’s mom’s car so that she couldn’t get to the art show. Ella Montgomery (Aria’s mom) had to get a ride with her ex-husband, and they ended up making out in front of the art show, rather than catching their daughter getting taken advantage of by an authority figure. Hanna also caught a lucky break when Mrs. Potter had a heart attack right before her appointment. It seems that A didn’t give Hanna any money back for Hanna’s attempt at a bad deed. Either A found out that Hanna tried to sabotage Aria’s demise, or A gave Mrs. Potter a heart attack.

Emily had trouble with a teammate on the swim team named Paige (Kat from the tv version of 10 Things I Hate About You!! - One of us was very excited for this), who didn’t like her record getting beaten down by Emily’s athleticism. She made a comment about Emily being gay, and Emily told Spencer. Spencer wanted someone to put Paige in her place, so she told Emily’s coach. Emily didn’t appreciate this and told Spencer that she could take care of herself. Spencer retorted that Emily couldn’t stand up for herself when Alison bullied her, and Emily got even more mad. Near the end of the episode, Paige pushed Emily’s head down under the water several times while Emily was trying to get out of the pool after doing some laps. BATTERY. Seriously, that’s over the line and Paige could have gotten suspended for that, at least. But it seems that Spencer is right about Emily, because Emily just rolled over and let it go. Well, Emily told Paige off a little. But she could have (and should have) done more. This show should just end with someone giving Spencer a sword, having her hack down everyone in her path, and then having her just run off to join the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad or something. Because Spencer is awesome.

Spencer confessed to the girls that she was the shadow following Alison in the picture. Minutes before it was taken, Alison had confronted Spencer about making out with Ian (despite his relationship with Melissa). Alison said, “I made you, Spencer,” talking about how Spencer was a just an unpopular nerd before Alison discovered her. Spencer threatened Alison, saying that Alison might be nothing without her posse, should they choose to ditch Alison. Spencer said that Alison was dead to her. Alison walked out and Spencer followed her. Spencer felt guilty because she had sort of wished death on Alison, and Spencer shed a few tears as she told the girls about it. We wouldn’t have. Alison was a tool. Then the four girls looked out the window and saw Jason walking around in Alison’s old bedroom and got freaked out, and justifiably so because that was creepy, seeing as how it's not his family's house anymore. The episode ended with the old lady at her home/jewelry store, and she was talking to A, saying that she told Spencer the lie she was instructed to give. She also said something creepy about eyes being the window to the soul and A having interesting eyes. Cue every fangirl in the fandom slow-motioning episodes, looking for strange eyes on characters. We doubt that will help, ladies.

There was blogger disagreement on this episode. Ern thought it was cheap the way they keep dangling the idea of Ezra/Aria getting caught and then not delivering. AGAIN. Plus, Hanna’s mom’s theft ended too neatly. This was definitely a filler episode in Ern’s mind. Leeard enjoyed Hanna’s storyline, loving that A is trying to make a rift in the group and made Hanna rat Aria out. Leeard thought it was a great set-up for future storylines. The episode gave a little more insight into A, taught us more about Caleb and Jason, and started some potentially interesting complications among some of the girls. Also, it continued the awesomeness that is Hanna and Spencer. And including a Justin Bieber joke guarantees at least a B from Leeard.

Leeard’s Grade: B+
Ern’s Grade: C- (the show still rocks though)