December 20, 2024

‘Pretty Little Liars’ Recap: Everything We Learned In ‘EscApe From New York’

Was that worth the wait, or what? “Pretty Little Liars” returned for its fifth season premiere on June 10, delivering a whopper of an episode that included a brand new murder, the resolution of an old one, and Broadway, baby! Let’s dig in to the night’s biggest reveals:

Baby’s First Murder
Well, that was quite the shock!

Our main gal Aria Montgomery — she of the hair streaks and forbidden love — became a murderer (in self defense!) at the end of the night, after it was revealed that Shana was A… well, one of the A’s, anyway. She was A-ish.

How did this all go down? Simple. After the ambulance came to collect Ezra, the Liars split up to coax A out of the hospital. Spencer, Hanna, and Emily went first and scouted him or her out in the lobby, then Aria and Alison arrived and somehow had the front desk call Alison over the loudspeaker. A perked up at this and followed Ali out of the hospital, with the non-Aria girls running behind to keep an eye on their friend/hopefully ambush A.

But of course, A was ten steps ahead of them, and when the ladies surrounded him in an abandoned playground, everything went straight to hell. “Are you sure that’s A?” a male voiced hissed. “Maybe I’m A… or maybe it’s one of them!”

At this, approximately 30 jerks dressed in black and donning “V For Vendetta”-ish masks closed in on the Liars, but thankfully they weren’t violent — they pretty much just danced around and acted generally terrifying until the cops showed up. Cool plan, A!

So the ladies ran away to the Broadway theatre that Ezra’s family owns (yep), where most of them waited (more on that in a second) until Shana arrived with a gun and the desire to use it. She admitted that she was behind the cabin fire — as well as a whole bunch of other crap — and was basically doing everything to prove her love for Jenna, who had no clue that any of this was happening. She lifted her gun up to fire, until Aria ran in to bludgeon her in the head. You see, Ezra had woken up for just enough time to see Shana at the hospital, and warn Aria that she was either A, the person who shot him, or both. We’re not entirely sure.

Crazy! Oh, and of course, the gals left her body there to rot. Later, Shana!

ASHLEY BENSON, TROIAN BELLISARIO, SHAY MITCHELLABC Family

CeCe’s Great Escape
Hey, you know who isn’t Red Coat and never was? CeCe Drake! But do you also know who killed Detective Darren “Jerkface” Wilden? CeCe Drake!

Early on in the night, the worried Hastings family got a call from Detective Gabriel “Meh” Holbrook, warning them that CeCe was on the loose. We soon learned that she had fled to New York, where she quickly found Alison at the theatre and pulled her away for a coffee shop meeting with Noel Kahn. Ali and Noel passed the “on the lam” lifestyle on to CeCe, giving her money and a passport so that she could safely escape prosecution.

We’ll miss you, CeCe!

TROIAN BELLISARIO, SHAY MITCHELL, SASHA PIETERSEABC Family

Melissa’s Big Secret
Don’t get too excited… Melissa’s secret wasn’t revealed, just very strongly teased all night.

As the Hastings family waited for news about Spencer’s whereabouts, Melissa (and her father) debated telling Mrs. Hastings the truth about what Melissa whispered in her father’s ear that night — a truth that we assume is tied to the body of the woman who was actually killed the night of Alison’s disappearance. Melissa seemed to be remorseful and ready to spill, but a liquored-up Mr. H freaked out and told her that her mother could never, ever know what she’d said to him that night.

So, yeah, sorry — we’re all going to have to wait a bit longer on this one!

Mona’s Sad Loser Club
Well, this was fun. Early on in the night it looked like Mona was hanging out with Red Coat, but that was all just a red herring — as it turns out, Lucas (!!!) just really likes to wear red coats.

Mona gathered Paige “Pigskin” McCullers, Lucas “Hermy” Gottesman, and approximately 15 other nerds, whores, and pus-faces to discuss the return of Alison, who had bullied them all severely during her first life. We’re not quite sure what their agenda is right now, but we do know that Mona believes in strength in numbers, and is fully capable of re-ruining Alison’s life if she really sets her mind to it.

Paige decided not to join the club, which would make me say “Yay, Paige!” if she wasn’t already a confirmed murder-by-drowning enthusiast.

Welp, that’s all she wrote. At the end of the night, Holbrook had effectively located the girls in New York, and the four friends (plus Ali!) were returning home to Rosewood as changed women. It will definitely be interesting to see how the entire town reacts to the slightly sociopathic girl next door’s return, as well as how quickly the show will spoil the girls’ happiness and throw more A’s back into the mix.

What did you think of the episode, Liars? Were you surprised at the Shana reveal? Are you shocked the Aria actually killed her? What do you think Melissa’s big secret is? Let us know in the comments!

A real go-getter. Follow Shaunna on Twitter @ShaunnaLMurphy.

About the author  ⁄ Shaunna Murphy

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