PRETTY LITTLE LIARS: “Who’s In the Box?” and 4 More Questions from Winter Premiere

This week saw the winter premiere of Pretty Little Liars, a show that never fails to keep us on the edge of our seats. The episode, “Who’s In the Box”, was sort of a quiet one, lacking the ‘OMG!’ moments we’re used to, but not every episode is filled with shockers. I seem to recall that the fall premiere was kind of subdued as well.

That being said, the ep did offer up some very interesting things that we can mull over till next week.

1. The obvious question the girls tackle is brought up by Hannah. Just who is in the box, if Ali is alive? This question sends the girls on a quest to find any missing girls in the area around the time that Ali went missing. They find one girl who, eerily enough, could be an Alison clone, not only in looks but in the way she treats her close circle of friends. One of them even hopes that she remains missing. But this also brings up a couple other questions: did Ezra know this Sara Harvey or was she just at the wrong place at the wrong time? Also, if Ali was buried by Ezra, we can assume he thought she was dead. Or he buried her alive, in which case she’d still be dead. Why kill another and bury her under the gazebo? How would he know that she may still be alive?
2. I asked the question on Twitter, which one of the girls would be the first to discover the truth about Ezra. I thought it would be Spencer, and perhaps it still will be if we only consider the four liars. But Mona was sort of grafted into the group, although the girls never really trusted her. However, it is Mona who figures out that Ezra has been a very bad boy. Showing bad judgement, Mona baits Ezra but only ends up getting a clear threat from him. So now we have to ask what will Mona do with this knowledge? Will she tell one of the girls or keep it to herself, knowing that they don’t trust her anyway? Perhaps she’ll share with Shana? Those two were up to something when we last saw them, and we don’t know what that was. Shana returns in upcoming episode so perhaps we’ll get some answers then.
3. Mrs. D is seeing Alison too, but she thinks she’s dreaming. Or does she? I still wonder if she has known all along that Ali was alive and has been helping to keep her hidden.

1. What is under the floor of Ezra’s cottage?
2. While it was sad that Hannah and Caleb broke up, and I know that I. Marlene King got a lot of hate for that, I am glad it happened. I feel that it was necessary to split PLL and Ravenswood, seeing as how Ravenswood is such a different show and can stand on its own. Hannah was pretty involved with her own troubles last season and Caleb seemed to only be a crutch for her. She wouldn’t involve him in her problems with A, and only reluctantly let him in when her mother was arrested for Wilden’s murder. Kind of an incomplete relationship if you ask me. There are clearly trust issues. Now Caleb is involved with the curse in Ravenswood and doesn’t want Hannah to know about it. It was time for the two to part ways. Moving on…

All in all, though the winter season premiere didn’t roll in like a semi, it was fun to watch things play out now that we, the viewers, know about Ezra. Hannah surprised us all (and Spencer!) with her investigations and speculations, proving that without Caleb, she can focus pretty well on the Alison issue. She learned a lot from Caleb. Mona is going to be very interesting to watch. The episode gave us a good launch into the second half of season 4.

Join me next week as we discover what Alison wrote in that diary of hers, in Love ShAck Baby (8/7c).