ABC Family’s “Summer of Answers” continued with another all-new episode of their hit original series, Pretty Little Liars on Tuesday. Now free of the dollhouse, Aria, Hanna, Spencer, and Emily struggle to transition back into their normal lives, Ali seeks answers about Charles’ identity, and Ella, Ashley, Veronica, and Pam attempt to understand the trauma their daughters have endured. Here’s a recap to get you up to speed or to help you re-live your favorite moments all over again:
The episode opens with the girls in the hospital. They contemplate whether or not Andrew and Charles DiLaurentis are the same person. Meanwhile, Rosewood PD intercepts Andrew and Toby decides to rough him up a little as payback for torturing Spencer and the girls.
Cue opening theme.
After the opening theme, Ken chides Ali for putting herself at risk to help her friends, but she brushes him off, saying it was the right thing to do. Ali also questions her father about the identity of Charles DiLaurentis and Ken claims he doesn’t know who Charles is.
Back at the hospital, Emily sneaks off to visit Sara. When Sara notices Emily at her bedside, she realizes that Emily was also kept prisoner in the dollhouse. Sara tells Emily that she ran away and thinks someone hit her on the head while she was in a parking lot. She wound up at the dollhouse shortly afterwards. Emily tries to get more information from Sara, but Sara isn’t willing to share anything else.
Later, Toby visits Spencer in the hospital and tells her that Rosewood PD has arrested Andrew. There’s a large amount of evidence against him and the town doesn’t need to “have another trial.”
In another part of the hospital, Emily talks to her dad on the phone before she prepares to head home. When Emily mentions wanting to say goodbye to Sara, her mother, Pam informs her that Sara’s already been discharged. Pam tells Emily that the police said Sara was kept prisoner at the dollhouse for two years.
Meanwhile, at the Marin house, Hanna has trouble adjusting back into her old room after memories of she and the girls’ ordeal inside the dollhouse start to surface.
At the Montgomery house, Aria gets settled into her room and shares a conversation with her mom, Ella. Ella knows that the police are investigating Andrew’s background and that the girls will eventually need to talk to them. Aria is against waiting out the inevitable and thinks she’s ready to talk to the police at present.
At the Hastings house, Spencer clashes with her mom, Veronica when Veronica tells her she made sure the hospital didn’t give Spencer anti-anxiety medication. Veronica thinks it wouldn’t be good for Spencer to have any pills around, because of her previous abuse of amphetamines. Spencer knows she’s really home.
At the Fields house, Emily breaks into her dad’s safe and steals her dad’s gun. She also takes his Army jacket.
Back at the Hastings house, Spencer can’t sleep. She has flashbacks of her life inside the dollhouse, which include Charles forcing her to hurt her friends.
The next day, Ali tells Spencer that her father doesn’t know of a Charles DiLaurentis. Spencer gets upset and thinks Ken is lying, but also feels it’s best if she and the girls let the police handle it. Spencer also thanks Ali for saving them. Ali knows if the tables were turned, Spencer and the girls would’ve done the same.
Meanwhile, Aria runs into Ezra at The Brew and what starts off as a seemingly easygoing conversation quickly turns sour when she rejects his advice about how to cope with what happened inside the dollhouse.
At the same time, Emily goes to a gun range and practices firing at targets.
Back at the Marin house, Caleb visits Hanna, who’s hellbent on remodeling her entire room. She wants to erase any recollection of what happened inside the dollhouse. Later, when Ashley becomes aware of what’s going on and starts to ask questions, Hanna freaks out, unwilling to open up.
At work, Toby and his new partner, Lorenzo are approached by Ali. Ali’s glad everything’s almost over and the girls are safe. So is Toby.
When Emily returns home, she and Pam clash, because Pam knows that Emily went to the gun range. Pam thinks there are other ways of getting over what happened and wants to talk, but Emily won’t budge.
Meanwhile, Hanna sits on the floor of her now-empty bedroom and Ashley enters, asking questions about the dollhouse. At first, Hanna won’t talk, but soon enough, she fills her mother in on some of her ordeal. She says Charles played a lot of games with her and her friends.
At Rosewood PD, Aria and Ella talk with a detective, who lets them know that the evidence against Andrew is circumstantial. They need direct testimony saying someone saw him. Aria crafts a lie saying she came face-to-face with Andrew inside the dollhouse, but the detective seems to catch on and ends the conversation.
While Aria is down at the precinct with her mom, Toby takes Spencer on a picnic and informs her about new developments in Andrew’s case. He’s not totally sure if Andrew is responsible anymore. He’s also worried, because Spencer hasn’t really talked much to him about what happened inside the dollhouse.
Simultaneously, Emily has returned to the gun range where she fights off flashbacks of having to torture her friends at Charles’ command. Pam shows up, and later, when they return home, they get into another argument about Emily using violence to cope. Emily breaks down and explains that she thought learning how to fire a gun would help, but it only made things worse.
At Rosewood Church, Ali spots Lorenzo and they chat briefly after the service is over. Ali is trying to turn over a new leaf and Lorenzo promises he won’t tell anyone he ran into her. Later, Ali bumps into Lorenzo at The Brew and they chat. She tells him she didn’t want to give off the wrong impression at the Church and he seems to overlook her qualms.
Back at the Montgomery house, Aria tells Spencer she really screwed up in crafting her lie about Andrew. Spencer agrees that Aria made a bad decision, but understands why Aria was so desperate to label him as their tormentor. The girls begin to talk about going back to school, when Ella calls Aria from downstairs. While Aria is gone, Spencer eyes her anti-anxiety medication, preparing to steal some of it.
At the Marin house, Caleb helps Hanna set up an inflatable mattress in her room, since she’s cleared everything out and has been sleeping in her mom’s bedroom. He also reassures her that she and her friends will be able to get past their experiences inside the dollhouse. Later, Caleb keeps Hanna company while she sleeps.
Meanwhile, Aria takes photos inside her living room, when Ella questions what happened earlier at the police station. Ella says all the girls’ parents want justice for what happened to their daughters. Aria still thinks Andrew’s to blame.
At the Fields’ house, Emily’s still awake. When she goes for a walk, she notices Sara outside. Sara explains that she got Emily’s address from the hospital and ran away again. Sara said she made a mistake going home, because her mom was happier without her. Pam comes outside and offers to let Sara stay with them for the night. Meanwhile, Sara questions Emily about whether or not Andrew is really responsible for their torture. Later, Emily calls the girls.
At the Hastings’ house, Spencer is still struggling to sleep and contemplates taking a pill she stole from Aria, but quickly thinks better of it when she hears her mom coming. When Veronica enters Spencer’s room and sees that her daughter is still awake, she says they’ll stay up and watch a movie until they both fall asleep.
At Rosewood PD, Andrew is questioned by police. Meanwhile, at the DiLaurentis house, Ali looks through an old family photo album.
End of episode.
Image Credit: Jennifer Graylock/INFphoto.com.
Pretty Little Liars airs every Tuesday at 8 p.m. on ABC Family.