If you tuned in to this week’s episode of Pretty Little Liars, anxieties ran high as a secret, completely unexpected, re-surfaced the broken memories of the past. Last week’s episode ended with Hannah hiding a small silver diary containing stories and secrets of each of the girls. As we were left to wonder what could possibly be in this diary, the question of Aria’s affair with Ezra was also left on the table. Did Hannah and Caleb really break up? Is Ezra really a bad guy? And what could be in this infamous diary? All of these questions are vaguely answered in this week’s episode.
The opening scene was a flash back of Aria, Spencer, Hannah, and Emily in the mausoleum containing Ali’s grave. Immediately following Hannah’s confession that she had, in fact, been concealing the diary for some time now, the girls became enraged in a mess of arguments and screaming clamor that left Aria as the mediator. Perhaps that was the first foreboding hint that Aria had much more to do with the demeaning diary. As the scene began to close, it was clear that Hannah was hiding something detrimental to the A Team.
In whimsically set lighting, Emily awakes from a deep sleep only to find her thought-to-be dead best friend, Ali, standing in her room. Although they recently found out that Ali had been alive the entire time, understandably, it seems that no one can clearly grasp their true feelings surrounding Ali’s subsistence. Still seeming like a dream-like state, Ali reminds Emily of the times they shared together at the kissing rock and reminisces through the disguised stories written in her diary. As Ali points out Emily’s bracelet that was once given as a gift to Emily from Ali, she awoke the next morning to find the bracelet in her jewelry box. At this point everything is already a confusing mess as we are left to question whether or not that was actually a dream.
Made clear by Hannah in the beginning of the episode, the names and stories in the secretive diary were all changed and left for the girls to figure out, however, we soon find that there is a page missing under the story entitled “Cradle Robber.” As the pretty little liars attempt to decipher the meaning of each story, it becomes clear that Hannah has been trying to hide something from Aria as she swiftly snatches the diary away from her. Could Hannah be hiding something about one of the stories, or particularly, the “Cradle Robber?”
To be completely honest, at this point in the show my level of anxiety had evidently risen to an all-new high as I dramatically gasped for air while jumping on top of my unsuspecting friend waiting to see why Ezra was monotonously stalking the girls and keenly watching secret diary of Ali. However, as soon as the words slipped out of Hannah’s perfectly glossed lips, I had to struggle to lift my jaw off of the softly carpeted ground. This week’s biggest moment: The “Cradle Robber,” as Hannah suggested was all about her and her scandalous hook-up with the younger Mike Montgomery. Yes you read correctly. As Ali called her, then “Hefty Hannah” had a secret hook-up with Aria’s younger brother! I’m pretty sure my life just changed in a way I never thought it could, and so did Aria’s.
Hannah revealed her dark secret in the heart of Ezra’s secret cabin, after Emily’s car mysteriously broke down, where he handed Aria the key just the night before. As Ezra is seen once more stalking the girls from outside of the cabin, Aria and Spencer are locked in the linen closet while Hannah and Emily wander around the property. Just before that, however, the drawing of the train is seen once more and only has me even more convinced that it holds some sort of great importance in the story of what is to come, or perhaps what has already come.
So it’s true! Ezra is on the A Team, or is he? Could it be that the series is just setting him up to look like the bad guy, or could he be trying to protect Aria? I know that sounds naïve, but a part of me still does not want to believe that he is completely bad. Also, why did Hannah and Caleb really break up? As that seemed to be the topic surrounding the entirety of the episode, was it really because he “found someone else?” Finally, who took Ali’s diary? Was it really Ezra or was it really Ali or maybe I’m just being naïve again.
Whatever the case may be, the missing journal leads to another threatening text from the still unknown A, who is probably Ezra. As Aria makes an interesting statement in the midst of the episode claiming that “no one is hiding anything from anyone.” However, I’m pretty sure everyone is hiding something from everyone. What do you think?