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pretty little recap: the night she (almost) died


4.23-4.24 Unbridled, A is for Answers
And we're back. After a botched recording of last week's episode, I'm back this week to recap the last two episodes of season 4b! A lot went down in these two so we'd better dive in lest we find ourselves buried alive! (How's that for topical PLL humour?)

Freaking out is what they do best. Photo credit: ABC Family

Pretty Little Highlights

1. Jason is back! Too bad I don't remember much about Jason's storyline after so long, but I've always preferred bringing back old characters to introducing news ones. So I'll call this a highlight.

2. Travis is no substitute for Hot Caleb, but I do really like the guy and hope he can somehow stay on the show even after Hot Caleb returns next season (!). He is good boyfriend material for someone, just not Hanna. Or Emily. Let's not go there, PLL.

3. Emily and Hanna searching the bedroom in their wedding gowns. I think they could have done more with this, but it was pretty funny seeing them flail around in those giant skirts.

4. Paige and Emily are officially on the outs and yeah, for me, this is a highlight. Now that Ali is back, I'm curious as to where the relationship between her and Em might go, but I think I'd prefer to see Em with someone more worthy of her time. You know, someone who isn't emotionally abusive or tried to drown her.

5. Hanna and her cookies. Love her. 

6. Shifting into finale territory, really, Ali's entire story was a highlight for me so I'm not going to break it down. I loved seeing all the old faces and as someone who needs things to be neat and orderly, I liked seeing the flashbacks to that fateful night all laid out in chronological order. Of course, that's assuming you believe Ali. I think in this case, I do. But I do still have a lot of questions about that night...

Pretty Little Mistakes (a.k.a What Aria Did)

1. Aria. Tartan dress. Yeah. I think that covers that.

2. The contrived charity fashion show storyline. I feel like this is just another one of those tropes that teen dramas use to get the main characters all together in one place in gorgeous clothing and then, drama ensues. Sure, there are a lot of similar tropes that I'm okay with (I've spoken before of my love of the theme dance), but the charity fashion show always feels extra contrived.

3. Spencer going into the woods when a) she's wearing a wedding dress and b) she was scheduled to walk the runway momentarily and c) why do these girls keep thinking it's a good idea to wander into the woods like that?? That said, I totally called the fact that it would be some part of her bridal outfit that got caught in the bear trap on account of her not screaming bloody murder when it happened.

4. The Spencer drug storyline needs to end. Now. Can we please move into Season 5a without its extra baggage? Thanks.

5. Oh Ali. You're not the smartest of the liars, but really, with everything you did the night you died, now that we get to see it all play out, it's no surprise you got a whack to the head. Why does nobody on this show ever just ask for help with anything? I get being scared, but come on, you're making it so much worse.

6. Do I even have to point out the fact that Mrs. D burying her own daughter is possibly the biggest mistake anyone in Rosewood has ever made? But I still don't understand if she did it on purpose or by accident or what. But there were an awful lot of hints that she was protecting someone else... another child perhaps?

Pretty Little ZOMG WTF?!

1. The finger bones in Spencer's corset belt thing. Holy crap! How did she not see those when she put it on? Like, what really happened out in the woods? Cause Spencer looks way more banged up that I would have thought...

2. So we now know that Mrs. D is the one who put Ali in that grave (or... was it even Ali?). We know she was concerned about something earlier in the evening too, when she was on the phone. Perhaps another child escaping from Radley? Maybe. We know a lot of blonde girls who look similar were involved. We know a lot of these people are known liars. So where does that leave things? Still pretty up in the air, but I do feel like we're getting closer.

3. The biggest ZOMG WTF moment of the night was, of course, Ezra getting shot. But what was he doing there in the first place? And is he going to live? (I'm thinking yes.) Whoever did the shooting is clearly athletic and dangerous. The body type looked like a man, but it's hard to say for sure. Hanna sure did look like a BAMF with that gun though! My pulse was definitely racing throughout the confrontation.

4. And for our final scene we have someone (the same someone who shot Ezra?) dragging a knocked out (dead?) Mrs. D into an open grave before shoveling dirt on top of her. Ruh oh. Things aren't looking good for Mrs. D. Maybe she, like everyone else in this town, should have spilled her secrets while she still could...


And that's it for Season 4b! That seriously flew by. I'm not sure when Season 5a is set to debut, but it'll probably be close to when I go on mat leave, which means potentially more timely recaps...or at least more timely viewings. The reaction post is another story, but I think it'll be doable. Hooray!

~PLR~

pretty little recap: nowhere to hide


4.22 Cover For Me
Things are still tickling along at a slower pace this week, but I have a feeling it's building to something big. That's how PLL tends to do it and I have faith they'll continue to raise the stakes. But with PLL, even a relatively slower episode is full of quality entertainment...

Such a sweet, intimate moment for a one night stand... Photo credit: ABC Family

Pretty Little Highlights

1. Aria continues to impress. She's more laid back than we've seen her in ages and her clothes, while still not exactly "mainstream" aren't half as bizarre as they usually are (at least until she returns to Rosewood, then ick). Free spirit, recovery-mode Aria seriously isn't half bad. I've said it before and I'll say it again, this season has me liking her. Mostly. And her hot fling was kind of adorable in a hope-they-used-protection kind of way.

2. The Hanna and Emily dynamic duo. With Spencer and Aria both off in their own states of rehab, it's up to Emily and Hanna to take care of business. Love Hanna's sassiness as always, but Emily was spot on in this episode too, confronting Ezra and digging into the whole Crazy Mona stitch. 

3. Ali's mom is surprisingly crazy. Yes, we have officially been thrown on the mom-as-A train, which always colours perception of anyone on this show, but more often than not, it's a mislead. Mrs. D's comment about fresh sheets was just weird. And the whole situation that happened while Hanna was on her date was super sketchy. I don't think Mrs. D is the killer (cause Ali = alive or not, somebody died...), or even A, but she is up to something (more on this below).

4. Do the liars' SOS texts remind anyone else of the RALLY messages they used to send on Ghostwriter? Bit of an aside, but hee :)   (And seriously, Spencer's mom, you don't know what SOS means? Remind me to never hire her lawyering skills.)

Pretty Little Mistakes (a.k.a What Aria Did)

1. The Spencer drug storyline is getting old. Seriously, she's too smart for this. I know it's not unheard of for overachieving high school students to go down a bad path, but we've seen many times before that Spencer puts her brain ahead of her emotions. Any drug storyline with her is unlikely to have ever been this explosive. And really, I don't know what she's so worked up about.  A mandatory vacation with extra time to sleep? Piles of dirt in the bed side, it sounds pretty good to me. 

2. Hanna's many boys. It's not that these boys aren't adorable and charming (and sure, mysterious, but who isn't in Rosewood?), but for reals, Hot Caleb needs to come back stat. Ravenswood is cancelled, so what's he still doing there anyway? (as an aside, I do hope we get a mini wrap-up of how Ravenswood would have ended if we'd been able to see it with our own eyeballs.) Also, I feel bad for Travis. Can we maybe hook him up with Aria instead?

3. Flying to NY to return an advance? It's probably because I work in publishing and no better, but the way the industry is portrayed on TV is always frustratingly inaccurate. Haven't these people heard of mailing cheques? Online banking? Did Ezra show up at the publisher's HQ with a sack with a dollar sign on it filled with singles?

Pretty Little ZOMG WTF?!

1. Aria told Ezra to leave town. And she meant it. I never thought I'd see the day. Of course, now that Ezra is all mysterious and interesting, I don't want him to leave town! I have a feeling/hope that this isn't over.

2. Mrs. D in Spencer's room! What the hell??? At first I thought Spencer was hallucinating again, except that she didn't see her, only the viewer did, so seriously, what is up with that woman? Creepy. 

3. What's with the wedding dress? I didn't see the preview for next week's (I guess this week's) episode so no spoilers please, but I can't think of anyone who is poised to get married.... Hmmmmm....

~PLR~



the friday5 for March 7, 2014


First up, the Pretty Little Recap is a bit delayed this week (but there will be one! probably on Monday) because I haven't had a chance to watch the episode yet... no spoilers please, I've heard it's really good (which, natch, it's PLL). That said, there are lots of exciting things happening in the pop culture world this week so let's talk about a few of them, shall we?

1. You guys. YOU GUYS. There is but one week (less than one week for me) to go until VERONICA MARS THE MOVIE hits the theaters and--AND--in case you haven't heard, it will also be hitting the inter-webs and such at the same time for your home viewing pleasure. This is (almost?) unheard of, for a film to be making this kind of global debut and I hope it pays off. I really do. Because I want there to be more VM movies for me to consume. I already have my tickets for the cinema (for two shows--an early one on Thursday, March 13th and then again on Saturday, the 15th) so I will be enjoying it on the big screen. My Kickstarter reward includes the digital download and Blu-ray/DVD combo, but for me, it's still really important--and really exciting!--to see this one on the big screen. I will probably be writing a little review of the movie after I see it, but for now, let's enjoy these newly released clips from the film. I could not be more excited for this.

2. Have we talked about Reign? No, we probably haven't. Well, we're going to talk about it now. When it was first dubbed as CW's answer to The Tudors, I thought, surely it wouldn't end up being that similar, and yet....






RIGHT??? It's like a younger, opposite-gender, mirror image! But really, the surprising commonality between these two series is their raciness, despite their disparate target audiences. I suppose that's just a sign of the times, but Reign has been pushing boundaries above and beyond what other CW shows have done before. And I for one think it's kind of awesome. Maybe I just love a good scandalous storyline, but given the huge crossover audience of most YA offerings, it makes sense that things would eventually move more in this direction. And as for the younger viewers, I'm a firm believer in "teens can handle it" and "if parents are concerned they should take an interest, be aware of what their kids are reading/watching, and then talk to their kids about it openly and honestly". So  yeah. If you like a good scandalous, sexy, historical drama, Reign is a younger, hipper, possibly more historically inaccurate companion to The Tudors.
Also, this:
Marie de Guise: Mary may be Scotland’s Queen, but I am its King.
Catherine: Has Scotland noticed that its King has rather overexposed breasts?
Marie de Guise: It is beginning to.
3. Catching Fire is out today! Having only seen the film once in theaters (such is the life of a parent of a toddler), I am very excited to pick this one up on Blu-ray and enjoy it a second time. Plus, deleted scenes and extras! I just need to figure out if any retailers are selling a collector's edition that comes with a bonus homicidal monkey muttation I can call my own :)

4. Lousy Smarch weather. March is a weird month. It's good because it brings us closer to spring, but it can also be just as nasty as January and February (at least up here in the great white north) or rainy and slushy and miserable. Plus, it sometimes has a long weekend in it and sometimes doesn't, thanks to the ever-shirting Easter weekend. The years it doesn't just make the wait for the font of hope I call April and May seem even longer. So when those years come around, I make myself a long weekend (usually not coinciding with March break, though this year it does). I am very excited to be heading to the cottage for, yes, more snow, but at least some fresh country air and an extra day off on Monday. It's not much, but in the middle of a long winter, it's something. I highly recommend the impromptu March "long weekend", unless you get the whole week off for March break. In which case... I am scowling at you. But not really :)

5. This week's Noteworthy YA is the follow up to a book I featured on the blog a while back. Cured by my agentmate, Bethany Wiggins, is the second in a duology that began with Stung, and I'm going to share the covers for both because they look AMAZING together:



Seriously? How gorgeous are they? Stung is so pared down and then Cured seems to promise something miraculous and otherworldly. Just lovely. Here's what book 2 is all about:
Now that Fiona Tarsis and her twin brother, Jonah, are no longer beasts, they set out to find their mother, with the help of Bowen and a former neighbor, Jacqui. Heading for a safe settlement rumored to be in Wyoming, they plan to spread the cure along the way--until they are attacked by raiders. Luckily, they find a new ally in Kevin, who saves them and leads them to safety in his underground shelter. But the more they get to know Kevin, the more they suspect he has ties to the raiders. He also seems to know too many details about Jacqui and her family—details that could endanger them all. For the raiders will do anything they can to destroy the cure that would bring an end to their way of life. Bethany Wiggins’s reimagining of our world after an environmental catastrophe won’t fail to stun readers. (Summary from Goodreads.com)
Excitement, adventure, and environmental accountability--this book has the whole package :) If you haven't already, make sure you check out Stung and then, hooray, you can move right along to Cured! Everybody wins!

Happy weekend!

pretty little recap: she wasn't really all there to begin with


4.21 She's Come Undone
And we're back! Back to regular PLRecapin goodness! Things in Rosewood are falling apart so let's get to it!

Things are getting messy. Photo credit: ABC Family

Pretty Little Highlights

1. I am officially feeling sorry for Aria. She looks like crap (and I don't even mean her clothes.. though, a sweater with skulls all over it? Come on Aria. At least try...) and everything Ezra has done is really messing with her mind. This is definitely the most interesting Aria has been in, well, ever. Plus, the liars are rallying around her and that's always warm and fuzzy :)

2. Spencer also looks like crap! But it's for a good reason. The drug abuse storyline has finally run its course (I hope) and she is officially on the mend. Kinda. She's still in pretty rough shape but she seems to  have realized that all her crazy Spencer antics are going to start affecting her chances of getting into a good college. I don't know why she didn't think of that before. Did she not see the I'm so excited episode of Saved by the Bell?  Oh. Wait. No... never mind. She's taking the pills again. Seriously? Okay, consider this a Pretty Little Mistake.

3. Hanna being all sweet and helping the intern from Bones, even though he's not Hot Caleb. This isn't really about them being cute together as much as it's about Hanna being her usual awesome self. Okay, I admit, the intern from Bones is cute, but now that Ravenswood is kaput, I want Hot Caleb back in Rosewood stat and there can't be any interns from anywhere getting between him and Hanna!

4. I don't know what is happening this half season, but I'm not only feeling sorry for Aria, I'm really starting to feel sorry for Creeper Toby too. And this right after the whole Toby is A thing! How do the writers of this show do it? I am seriously impressed. And confused. But mostly impressed.

Pretty Little Mistakes (a.k.a What Aria Did)

1. Aria's freak-out at Ezra's. Okay, I get it. You're mad, and feel betrayed. But dude, don't break all the glass in the room. You're just going to hurt yourself, dummy.

2. Emily's envelope of money. I have to admit, I'm not really following what's going on with that thing, but every time it shows up, I feel certain something bad is going to come of it. Right? It has to!

3. Emily and Paige. What is going on there? Their relationship is so hard to understand sometimes. They definitely seem to fight and not trust each other more often than they act like a healthy, loving couple. And didn't they have a whole conversation last half season about how they could never last long term? Why not just end it already?

4. Hanna kissing all up on anything with boy parts. Come on, Hanna, you're a great girl. Your self esteem and self respect should stem from that. Don't let Hot Caleb's absence make you desperate for boys' approval.

Pretty Little ZOMG WTF?!

1. Spencer's drug spiral is getting violent! I am concerned for our poor girl. It's no secret that this drug storyline is not my favourite, but things are getting wildly out of control. Between this and the Radley storyline, is it possible that Spencer really is unhinged at her core?

2. Paige is getting the police involved! I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. I mean, in reality, it would probably be a good thing, but this is PLL so almost definitely a bad thing, right? I guess time will tell.

3. No major ZOMG WTF moments in this episode. The ending was kind of quiet. Sure, Aria says she's leaving town for a while, but is anybody really surprised or worried about that? I know I'm not. This felt like a bit of a filler episode, but hey, even a filler episode of PLL is better than nothing :)

~PLR~

pretty little recovery: catching up on season 4b


4.14 - 4.20
Hello fellow PLLers! It's been a while, but there have been many episodes of PLL that I'm all caught up on and it's time to do a catch-up recap! I recently shared my thoughts on the PLL spinoff here, and well, let's kick things off by addressing the dead black bird-shaped elephant in the room. Ravenswood has officially been cancelled. Obviously I feel a bit bad that Tyler Blackburn's show didn't make it to a season two... And I'm never a fan of when a show ends with a bunch of dangling cliffhangers and unresolved plots... But overall, am I sad about this news? Hells no. I want Hot Caleb back in Rosewood stat! The possibility of that not happening (there is no confirmation yet that he's returning, at least that I've seen, but come on! They'd be stupid to not bring him back!) is something I don't even want to think about. But enough about that, we're here to talk PLL!

These girls know how to do edge-of-your-seat TV. And look totally fab while doing it. Photo credit: ABC Family

Pretty Little Highlights

1. Everything Hanna says/does. It's not secret that I love the girl, but losing Hot Caleb to Ravenswood has done nothing to slow this girl down when it comes to one-liners and being the hottest little liar in town.

2. Last week's black and white noir homage episode. I didn't think they could pull it off, but they totally did. I'm generally not a fan of dream/drug-induced haze episodes, but it was entertaining enough that I let that aspect of it slide. The hair! The clothes! Even Creeper Toby played his role well.

3. Minimal Creeper Toby. Or maybe I've just been ignoring him (aside from the above mention). The only downside is that the times we do see him, he's still drawing out the Creeper Toby's mom storyline (see below). I will give him the exception of this week's episode though. I actually felt kinda bad for him.

4. I feel weird typing this but... Aria! Yes, I'm as shocked as you are. Maybe it's the fact that she's been the unknowing prey (until recently) to Ezra's hunter, but I've actually been enjoying Aria's storyline this half-season. Yes, she still dresses like a crazy person who tripped and fell into a dumpster full of designer rejects, but I've barely been annoyed by her at all during these six episodes. And the ski lift scene between her and Ezra in this week's episode was chilling, revealing, and so good! This is why I love PLL!

5. Ezra's cabin/lair. It's isolated and spooky and has made for some seriously tense scenes during these episodes. I can't help but think the whole thing is going to go up in flames before the season is out.

Pretty Little Mistakes (a.k.a What Aria Did)

1. Spencer's drug problem. I was so, so over this story before it even began. I think they're trying to recapture the magic of Spencer's descent into madness last season, but it's not working. It just feels a little PSA-y to me. 

2. Emily's mistrust of everything and everyone. I get that our little liars have a lot on their plates on the reg, but Emily is handling it almost as poorly as Spencer is with the drugs. Only Emily is a lot more annoying about it. It's like she's campaigning to be the next town Aria or something.

3. Mona and Ezra. Just ick to even the thought.

4. Why are we still talking about what happened to Toby's mom? Nobody cares! Oh, you care? Okay fine. One person cares. It's still not something I'm interested in unless his dead mom is somehow A.

5. Not nearly enough Hot Caleb! Yes, this is a bit of a no-brainer and I already covered it quite a bit in my aforementioned post about Ravenswood, but it's worth mentioning again, because his absence makes me sad, even if the show is still quite strong without him. 

Pretty Little ZOMG WTF?!

1. Ali is all over the place! It feels soooo weird! We go from seeing brief flashes of someone who may or may not be Ali and then suddenly there she is, having conversations with the liars like no time has passed. It feels unreal every time it happens. That said, I'm not convinced that's actually Ali.

2. Ezra is Board Shorts and has weird taste in pie/beer. Yes, we know Ezra is maybe/possibly A, but we didn't know he was Board Shorts--and now Aria knows it too! That was a big reveal and I feel it came together nicely. And made him so much creepier because seriously Ezra, have you ever dated a girl your own age? Gross.

3. Emily in the schoolhouse of horrors. Now THAT was seriously creepy. And poor Emily's dad! I was so happy when he came to her rescue, but then so certain that something bad would happen to him. And sure enough...

4. Hanna's emergency dental procedure. Again with dialing the creepy factor up another notch! Teeth stuff is bothersome enough as it is, but the thought of her lying unconscious while A worked away on her teeth is terrifying. Poor Han. Hot Caleb would not have stood for that if he'd been around!

5. Aria's brother's hookups. I don't even know what to say about this one. The Hanna bit was actually kind of endearing, but then the Mona stuff. Again, ick. Mona is a pretty girl, but she's too creepy to be with anyone in that way.

I know the above really only scratched the surface of what happened in these past episodes, but now that I'm all caught up, I hope to have some more in-depth recaps in the coming weeks!

How have you been enjoying this season so far?

~PLR~