Despite the overdone outfits and at-times contrived script, we collegiettes truly love to love Pretty Little Liars. Unfortunately, these Liars are always doing what they do best – lying – so they continue to get into trouble at the most inopportune times (say, when we’re away for the week without Internet to crank up our Hulus, or when we have a date night that happens to fall right at 8 p.m. on a Tuesday). Don’t they know we college girls lead busy lives? Could they ever stop lying, just for one week, and give us a chance to catch up? Nope, no, they can’t. And that’s why we love them.
If you’ve fallen behind and don’t want to be completely lost when you settle down with next week’s episode (or simply have no clue what’s going on, despite watching religiously – no judgment here, this show has more drama than Broadway), look no further than HC’s season 3 recap! We’ll fill you in on all of the fibs and finds of the last few weeks.
MAJOR SPOILER ALERT!!
What’s going on with… Emily?
Last we saw Emily in season 2, she had just found out that her girlfriend, Maya, had been killed. Needless to say, it wasn’t the best of summers for Emily, who begins this season with a flask in her hand. After blacking out from drinking, she finds herself in front of Allison’s empty grave with a shovel in hand. She then begins working at the local café where she befriends Nate, Maya’s cousin who’s in town for college. There also might be a rekindled romance on the horizon for Emily, who reconnects with Paige at school. (We’re thinking it might be too soon for our Em, given the circumstances.)
What we know now:
Mona wasn’t the only “A” in town; it was a new, more violent “A” who dug up Allison’s body and took photos of the Liars around the grave site afterward. We also know that Emily didn’t just black out; she was drugged with sleeping pills… the same pills that Aria finds in Lucas’ camera bag. Coincidence? Probably not, given Lucas’ recent sullen and agitated state. Emily didn’t get to the graveyard all by herself, either; Jenna, who is no longer blind (thanks to surgery) drove her part of the way after finding her on the road, claiming that she was worried about her. The Liars believe her… as much as they ever believe anyone.
Hanna begins this season with a new, shorter ‘do and a not-so-new attitude (translation: she hasn’t stopped lying to our favorite bad-boy, Caleb). After he catches her secretly visiting Mona at the mental hospital, Caleb still can’t get Hanna to ‘fess up to everything, so he eventually dumps her. (Ignore the sound of our hearts breaking.)
What we know now:
Hanna spots Lucas visiting Mona, bringing even more suspicion onto the friendly nerd-turned-potential stalker. She also discovers that Mona knows there is another “A” out there, and is somehow still in the loop about Allison’s remains going missing. Is it Lucas who’s been updating her, or is there another source?
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What’s going on with… Spencer?
As if it wasn’t enough that Spencer discovered that Jason, Allison’s brother, is actually her own half-brother, the Hastings family drama just keeps heating up. Spencer’s lawyer mother agrees to defend Garett Reynolds, who was accused of murdering both Allison and Maya and who is now in prison awaiting trial. This puts a stop to Spencer’s secret visits with Garett at the jail, but not before she learns from Garett that someone close to her has been lying about medical records.
What we know now:
It’s actually not-so-surprising that Mrs. Hastings agreed to represent Garett in court given the fact that the person who has been “lying about medical records” turns out to be Spencer’s sister, Melissa. “Lying” is kind of the understatement of the year – it turns out that Melissa not only lost her baby months earlier than she claimed (and had been pretending to be pregnant ever since), but also lied about the father. Her baby daddy wasn’t Ian, her dead fiancé, but Garett himself. Drama, drama, drama! We also know that Melissa was the Black Swan from last season’s masquerade dance, making her an “A” suspect, but she explains that she was blackmailed into wearing the costume to the dance (we assume by “A”) and had no clue why.
Aria is still with America’s favorite naughty teacher, Ezra, and going strong. The strain that her illicit relationship put on her parents (namely her father, Protective Parent of the Year) has caused the latter to divorce, leaving Aria home alone with her mother. (Where is Mike? No one knows.) She also inadvertently causes her father to resume dating Meredith, the woman he cheated on Aria’s mother with, after admitting that it was she and Allison who trashed her father’s office years ago, not Meredith (on whom Aria basically laid the blame – not classy). Aria’s also volunteered herself as an intern with a local photographer in hopes of getting more info on “A” and those photos from the graveyard. The previous intern? Lucas. Hmmm…
What we know now:
The whole reason that Aria and Allison trashed the office was because they found a stray earring stuck in the couch, which Aria assumed belonged to Meredith. We now know that the earring wasn’t Meredith’s – so who did it belong to? Our wild theory: Allison planted it there. She always seemed creepily obsessed with Aria’s father’s adultery, right? Maybe she wanted to stoke the fire. We guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
If we tried to recap every detail of Pretty Little Liars, we could probably fill enough pages to constitute a senior thesis (an idea that might not be half-bad…). If you miss a few Tuesday nights, check in for HC updates before you give up on the show. It doesn’t take much effort to catch up, and you’ll be glad you did! We just hope Caleb will be back in Hanna’s arms before long… let’s be honest, his hair is half of the reason why we tune in, are we right?