Wilden’s case is still unsolved and his murderer is still at large, but there’s a break in the case this week…
Emily: and her mom have moved into a motel while their house is being repaired. Emily’s mom tells her that she’s going to look for a new job tomorrow, although this doesn’t help any of Emily’s guilt-laden worries. Later at school, Emily meets Ezra for a college counseling meeting. He reminds her that he knows about the first A, who ended up being Mona, and asks if there is anyone else who is trying to hurt Emily and her friends. Emily’s lips are sealed, however, so they go back to discussing possible colleges. Emily doesn’t think she looks desirable to colleges since she can’t swim, but Ezra tells Emily that she can highlight her volunteer work in Haiti on her applications because colleges love volunteer work. Ezra encourages her to ask for a reference letter from her volunteer supervisor, Zoe, so later Emily meets with her, played by Rumer Willis. Zoe talks to Emily about how e-mail anti-social she’s been and reminds her about how much fun she had in Haiti, complete with model-like pictures of her volunteer work. Zoe also invites Emily to spend the entire next summer with her and Habitat for Humanity in Nicaragua. After the meeting, Emily returns to her and her mother’s super nice motel, excited about her upcoming trip. However, the more excited Emily gets, the sadder her mother becomes until she bursts into tears. Emily comforts her mother who keeps repeating that she’s sorry.
Hanna: gathers with her gal pals in her kitchen, waiting for Spencer’s mom to tell them the verdict of the arraignment. Spencer’s mom enters and tells the girls that they pleaded not guilty, but it wasn’t granted. She also drops the bomb that Hanna’s mom is being moved to the state prison. In true Hanna fashion, she is upset and shouts “You promised!” at Spencer’s mom before storming out of the room. Aria and Spencer follow her upstairs and try to convince her to go to school, but Hanna doesn’t want to go, saying that she has to go talk to her dad. If her mom doesn’t get released, she might have to live with him and his step-wife and evil step-daughter. After the girls leave, Hanna looks away creepily, so we all know she’s not going to see her dad. At school, Caleb looks to Spencer for help with Hanna, who’s going to need all the help she can get. Hanna has recruited Mona for help with the ultimate lie: saying that Hanna was the one who killed Wilden. Mona coaches Hanna in lying, and they work together tirelessly to create a convincing story. Mona even convinces Hanna to picture murdering Wilden so that she knows what it feels like, which triggers a morbidly cool fantasy sequence. While Hanna and Mona are planning, Caleb is visiting Ashley in jail. She asks him to watch out for Hanna for her, and he agrees wholeheartedly. Caleb quickly makes good on that promise by interrupting Hanna and Mona’s plotting sesh. Caleb doesn’t believe Hanna’s excuse for Mona’s presence, so they argue and Hanna shouts at him to leave her alone. Caleb leaves, and Mona tells Hanna that they’re almost done. After Mona leaves, Hanna gets ready to go to the police station and confess, but is blocked by Caleb (who’s perfect and would never actually leave her alone with Mona). Hanna confesses her whole confession plan to Caleb, who is glad that he was able to stop her.
Aria: is filling in for both mom and dad when Mike checks in with her before going to a party with his lacrosse team. Aria also learns that Mike’s been taking a martial arts class at her ex-boo, Jake’s, dojo. Later, Aria goes to Jake’s martial arts school and asks him about Mike. He says that Mike said something along the lines of: “I’ts hard to play the game when your teammates are against you,” which worries them both. Jake offers his help, sans complications. Later that night, Aria calls Mike to check up on him at the party, but one of his friends picks up. He says that Mike is unconscious and hangs up, which worries Aria. She tries calling again, but when that doesn’t work she calls up Jake to help her. After Jake comes over, Mike calls Aria, tells her that he’s fine, and says that he’s staying over at friend’s house. Aria apologizes to Jake for the wild goose chase, but he can tell that she’s scared so he offers to stay and make her feel better. He promises to keep an eye out for Mike, but admits that he’s more worried about her. While Aria and Jake are hanging out, they see a commercial for Insidious 2. (Nice sneak ad, ABC Family, no one noticed that one.) Jake asks Aria if she wants to see it with him next weekend, and she says yes. She almost says it’s a date, but stops herself since they already went down that road to nowhere.
Spencer: is missing Toby this week since he’s away in New York investing the three possible people attached to the mysterious phone number. Of course, she can’t be missing him too much after she meets Becket, her mom’s pretentious but admittedly cute intern. Uh oh. Spencer has come home to check on Hanna, but forgets about her when she is immediately attracted to…the massive amount of files sent to Spencer’s house from the District Attorney’s office. They’re for her mother, but Spencer makes her own use of one particular file–an interview between E. Lamb, a worker at Radley, and Detective Wilden. Later, Spencer visits Radley, bringing E. Lamb a box of cookies complete with the incriminating file. Spencer tells him that she knows that he was interviewed by Wilden about Toby’s mother’s death the night that she died. Wilden’s interview says that E. Lamb reported that Toby’s mom jumped from the roof, not the window of Radley. Spencer wants to know why Wilden would write that, and E. Lamb tells her that Wilden lied in the report to get a quick promotion. Spencer thinks that this means that other people wanted Wilden dead. Later, Spencer goes home and finds her mom and intern working late night on Wilden’s case. Beckett reveals that he knows Spencer took that file and asks if she wants him to return it for her. She smiles and says that she can do it herself. (In case anyone is wondering, this is what flirting looks like between over-achieving nerds.) Later, Spencer shows the stolen file to her mom, but her mom doesn’t think it’s going to help in the case. In the middle of their heated discussion, Spencer’s mom gets a call from the police saying that Mona is there confessing to Wilden’s murder. Spencer alerts the media (aka Aria, Emily, and Hanna) about this break in the case, and they all rush to the police station. Mona smiles at the liars, especially Hanna, as the blinds close on the interview room.
The Final Scene: Black gloves drill holes into a floorboard below a desk in a school, possibly Rosewood High.
Reader’s Digest Version: Do we know who A is? No. Are we impressed by how many characters know how to use power tools? Yes.