The Lying Game Recap: "Black and White and Green All Over"

After claiming her life back, Sutton falls right back into her old habits. She is snippy with her mother about the dress that Emma picked out for her for the upcoming Black and White Party. She becomes a little cheerier, however, when she discovers that Ethan is her date.

Sutton runs off to her room and finds that Emma is helplessly waiting there. The two of them discuss how Emma has nowhere to live, now that Sutton was back in the picture. Sutton admits, though, that she must keep Emma around because she would never be able to forgive herself if anything bad were to happen to her twin sister.

The conversation quickly ends as the twins hear Laurel approaching the door. Emma hides in the closet. Laurel comes in seeking sisterly advice from Sutton. She tells Sutton in confidence that Justin accused their father of inadvertently killing his mother. Dr. Mercer was operating on Justin’s mother after she was in a car accident and instead of finishing the job himself, he let an intern wrap the surgery up as he hastily left the hospital after receiving a mysterious phone call. Laurel discloses that she is confused and does not know how to move forward with her relationship with Justin.

Sutton is shocked that Laurel would even consider going around him after he made such an obvious attempt to seek revenge on Dr. Mercer by taking advantage of Laurel. Sutton proposes that Laurel call the police.

The two head to school and Justin tries to approach Laurel. He asks if she is okay.

“As okay as I’ll be since my world’s been flipped upside down,” she snapped back.

She continued to tell him that she was having a hard time accepting that the beginning of their relationship was fake.

Meanwhile, Ethan approaches Sutton and expresses his concern about Emma’s lack of living arrangements. He takes matters into his own hands and tells Sutton that he would help Emma move into the Mercer’s secluded cabin.

He also explains to Sutton that he is completely opposed to going to the Black and White Ball with her and that he was only going beforehand because it would have been Emma as his date. Sutton tries to win him over by apologizing about their secretive past, but Ethan is not buying Sutton’s manipulative jargon. However, Sutton finally convinces him to go with her because they need to convince Sutton’s potential killer that nothing has changed in the twin’s swap.

Later that evening, Ethan helps Emma move into the cabin. He tells her that the two of them would be much safer if they just got out of there and that he was willing to go anywhere with her. He tells her that he wants to take her to Lake Canadaigua, a beautiful location he went with his father when he was a child. Emma desperately wants to go with him, but she knows she can’t leave Phoenix until she and Sutton figure out who is trying to harm them. Emma also reasserts that Ethan needs to go to the dance with Sutton to keep up the façade of normalcy.

Everyone is preparing for the Black and White Ball. Mads plans on taking her brother, but she is later convinced that she should try to take Ryan, a recent love interest. Madstries to play matchmaker and set her father up with Rebecca Soole. When Mads makes that suggestion to her father, he nearly spits out his Coke.

Sutton tells her parents what Laurel told her about Justin. Ted is immediately concerned and goes directly to Justin’s room at the country club. When he arrives at Justin’s room he finds his daughter there. He demands that Laurel leave the room so that he and Justin could talk privately.

Ted tells Justin that he is sorry for his mother’s death and that his past mistake haunts him everyday.

“There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about your mother,” Ted reveals to Justin.

Justin is not satisfied with Ted’s apology; he is looking for some answers. He asked Ted where he went that day, but Ted continues to keep that bit of information a secret.

Meanwhile, Ethan devises a plan that will officially sever his tie to Sutton. He says that at the Black and White Ball, he will break up with her loudly and publicly. As soon as he makes the move, he can go and be with Emma and they can both leave Sutton in the past.

Thayer makes a trip up to the cabin to visit Emma. He brings her some necessities and comfort food. Emma is curious to know if Sutton is still working on solving their mystery in the midst of obtaining her old life back. Emma assures Thayer that she still wants to solve the puzzle. She brings up that Alec may have had something to do with Sutton’s attempted murder.

“My dad is many things,” Thayer explains to her. “But he is not a killer.”

Kristen tries to calm Laurel down after she realized that there was some truth to what Justin said about her father. Laurel’s mother understands why both Laurel and Ted are upset about the Justin situation. Kristen explains to her that Ted had to give up his residency in Los Angeles after Justin mother’s death and the whole family had to relocate.

Before the dance, Sutton makes a trip to see Emma. Out of the blue, she suggests that Emma should stay and they can solve the mystery of their past together. After they figure things out, Sutton will be prepared to tell Ted and Kristen about Emma and they can all live as a family. They would never have to bring up the fact that Emma had been posing as Sutton for the past few months. It will be the do-over that Emma had always wanted.

Later on, Ethan goes to visit Emma. She tells him of Sutton’s kind gesture to help her and share her family. Ethan is reluctant to believe that Sutton has changed her ways and fears that she is just trying to suck Emma into another one of her lying games. Emma understands that Sutton is usually selfish and vindictive, but she is hopeful for a family and cannot dismiss Sutton’s offer. She urges Ethan to call the breakup off so she can stay and work with Sutton.

At the Mercer residence, Sutton is getting ready for the ball. Laurel storms in, accusing Sutton of going back to her old, mean ways.

“I knew it was too good to be true,” Laurel remarked. “The new leaf thing was just an act.”

Sutton is unaware of what she did to hurt Laurel. Laurel explains that she trusted Sutton to keep her secret about Justin. She continues to mention that she kept Sutton’s secrets in regard to Ethan. Sutton is apathetic towards Laurel’s feelings and feels no remorse for her actions.

Sutton goes downstairs to meet Ethan. When he arrives, they both compliment each other on their apparel and Sutton thanks him again for accompanying her to the ball.

The Mercer family drives over to the country club for the occasion. Justin is also there in his tux, hopeful that he can win Laurel back. Before he has a chance to talk to Laurel, Kristen spots him and sends him away.

Sutton is dancing with her father and Ethan comes over to cut in. Sutton demands that the two of them kiss to make it seem that their date is realistic. Ethan is very tentative about kissing her and tries to avoid it. Sutton does not accept this. She leans in and gives him a passionate kiss. Ethan is taken aback by her actions and immediately pulls away. He angrily storms off, telling Sutton to make up a good lie as to why he is leaving.

Meanwhile, Mads and Rebecca discuss their ball dates. Rebecca thanks Mads for setting her up with her father. Alec comes and interrupts the conversation. Mads leaves the adults to themselves and goes off to dance with Ryan. Rebecca decides to make a bold move and ask what happened to Caroline, Alec’s ex-wife. Alec avoids the question and notes that Rebecca previously mentioned that she did not want to discuss the past.
“Oh, I thought we weren’t going to talk about that past,” she responded with a wink.

After leaving the ball, Ethan went straight to the cabin to see Emma. He tells her that Sutton tried to kiss him, but he pulled away. Emma feels foolish for believing that Sutton would actually try to help her. To make her feel better, Ethan kisses Emma and tells her that he’d much rather kiss her than Sutton.

Back at the ball, Ryan approaches Sutton and thanks her for being cool about dating Mads. He reveals that he and Sutton once hooked up, but Sutton always denied it. IT was Sutton’s fault that he got sent away to prep-school because she set him up for the police to catch him with drugs and alcohol. Sutton continues to deny that she ever had any interaction with Ryan, but she does casually mention that she could be into him now.

“Just let me know when you get tired of Mads,” she whispers as she leaves him in the corner of the dance floor.

Alec and Ted get together at the bar. Alec tells Ted that the Justin situation can’t escalate and that no one can ever find out why Ted really had to leave the operation room that day. Dan comes over and interrupts the conversation. He pulls Alec aside and tells him that Annie Hobbes was found on a park bench near the Mercer home. They picked her up and she was being held in a private room in Phoenix Presbyterian hospital. Sutton overhears the whole conversation and immediately leaves to go find Emma and tell her.

Sutton busts into the cabin, interrupting Emma and Ethan’s alone time. She explains the urgent situation and tells Emma that they need to get to the hospital to see their birth mother before Alec gets the chance to move her.

Emma, Sutton and Ethan rush over to the hospital. Emma is relieved to finally meet Annie. Annie is joyous to see the girls, however, she says that she needs to tell them the truth. Annie admits to not being the twins’ birth mother and she has no idea who actually is. The girls are devastated, but before they can ask any more questions, a nurse comes and kicks them out. Annie warns the girls that they are in danger as they are herded out of the room.

Back at the Mercer home, Kristen is noticeably upset. Ted realizes that it is about Justin’s mom and he tells her that he knew that day would always come back to haunt him. Kristen discloses that she is upset because Ted never told her about the phone call. She is hurt by his failure to include that detail and she says that she can no longer trust him. She also questions what could be so important to bring him away from an operation.

The twins were not the only visitors Annie Hobbes had that night. Rebecca Soole also goes to visit Annie. It appears that the two have known each other beforehand and Rebecca may know something about the twins’ past.

“Oh Annie, what have you done now?” Rebecca regretfully asks as she enters the room.

Annie looks at Rebecca in horror, apparently shocked to see someone from her mysterious past.