PRETTY LITTLE LIARS: Turning the Tables on ‘A’

In tonight’s winter premiere of Pretty Little Liars, “Through Many Dangers, Toils and Snares”, we pick things up a month later and the girls are all doing community service. Emily and Spencer are at odds and finally break out into a cat fight. Watching all this go down is Garrett, sitting nearby in a police car with a smile on his face. Clearly he’s enjoying the girls’ humiliation. I’m sure he’s also patting himself on the back for being part of the reason the girls’ friendships seem to be falling apart.

I thought this episode would be a flashback showing the girls’ progression from besties to beasties, but I was delightfully wrong. This was better. All the cat fighting and arguing in public places lead up to a well laid plan between the girls to set Emily up as “the weakest link”, so that ‘A’ would contact her. ‘A’ took the bait. In a showdown which took place in an old greenhouse, Emily confronts ‘A’ with the promise of showing her/him what was inside the box found in Allison’s house by her brother, Jason, and given to Aria. Emily opens the box and shows it as empty, but says that ‘A’ made a mistake in believing that the girls had anything at all.

I don’t know about you, but I did a colossal “hooray!” shout from my living room, especially as I watched the girls chase ‘A’, lose ‘A’ and then find ‘A’s’ cell phone. What a game changer! For the first time, the girls will have ‘A’ on the run. We watched as ‘A’ realized the mistake he/she just made, slamming fists into the car and shattering the mirror. We will have to keep our eyes peeled for this kind of damage to a vehicle in Rosewood.

Hannah actually arrived on the scene late but she ran into ‘A’ with her car as he was running out of the greenhouse. Hannah was delayed when her Father of the Year, Tom, shows up to let her and Ashley know that he, his new wife and Kate are moving to Rosewood, and that Kate will be attending Rosewood High. Lovely. You get the sense that he is doing it to punish Hannah, knowing full well of the relationship between the two girls. This guy is such a douche. He cheats on Ashley, dumps her and Hannah and runs off with someone else, not to be seen again for ages, then comes back to town and thinks he has every right to discipline Hannah. Meanwhile, Ashley just stands there and lets him do it!

Speaking of parents, we can’t forget the outstanding Ella and Byron Montgomery. Every time I see them on the screen I want to punch them both. This episode was no different. Aria and Ezra finally confess their relationship to the Dynamic Duo, and Byron is appalled. Really Byron? Because your track record has been squeaky clean, right? And Ella has no clue whatesoever about how to be a mother, let alone have any idea who her children are. I hope we are supposed to feel this frustrated and annoyed with these two. The actors playing them are doing a fantastic job of it, if that is the case.

Then there’s Jackie, the little darling. When Aria goes to Ezra’s office to return a book, Jackie walks in and threatens her further by telling Aria she is going to go to her parents and tell all. Ezra walks in at that moment, thank Heavens! So now we have Ezra finding out the whole reason behind Aria’s breakup with him, and the Ps know all about the couple. And, Ezra throws Jackie out of his office and tells her he never wants to see her again. Ha! Take that, beyotch! You lose!

Spencer and Toby continue to have relationship problems, mainly because Toby won’t let Spencer go. Good for him, I say! It’s understandable that Spencer is looking out for his safety. After what happened with Dr. Sullivan, all the girls are concerned for their loved ones and what ‘A’ will do with them.

Finally, Emily’s chances at re-joining the swim team are not looking great, even though she has received a clean bill of health. Her legal issues are causing the coach to have reservations about allowing Em back because of appearances. Hopefully Em can overcome that as well.

Take Aways

• The Liars are on to ‘A’s’ games and are using them against ‘A’.
• Aria and Ezra are exposed but it still may cause problems for them in the future.
• Toby may yet be allowed into the girl’s secret. Spencer told him she would tell him everything after the night this episode takes place.
• ‘A’ is beginning to get sloppy.
• Hannah’s headed for double-trouble with Kate’s return in her life.
• All of the parents are still stupid.

I can’t wait for next week’s episode where it looks like Hannah begins to crack under pressure and the girls may crack ‘A’s’ cell phone.