Pretty Little Liars -- The BetrAyer Is Revealed

They've been promoting this big betrayal for a month and for once the episode actually lived up to the hype. In a lot of ways it was better than the reveal of Mona as A. There were so many clues that Mona was A, that all that was left was for it to be confirmed. At the beginning of the episode I had a feeling who it was going to be, but I couldn't be sure, so it left a bit of mystery. I also went into the episode a virgin. By that, I mean I didn't watch any of the sneak peeks. i also avoided spoilers for the episode.

The episode began with Spencer still on her Paige witch hunt, and Hanna and Aria were right there with her. Although Hanna started to poke some holes in Spencer's theory, which annoyed Spencer. Yes, Spencer doesn't like to have logic ruin one of her witch hunts; if she did she might have to face she was wrong. Emily arrives and she doesn't buy what they're selling for an instant. She points out that A could have planted the earring in Paige's purse to frame her. You know, like A planted the tooth necklace in Emily's purse?

Emily has basically had enough of them, not that that's going to stop Spencer in her crusade against Paige. They run into each other at their lockers and Spencer tells Paige she knows who she is. You know, people were rolling their eyes over Jenna saying she wasn't going to let Spencer bully her, but Spencer really is a little bully. She tried bullying Paige and got a little more than she bargained for when Paige slammed her locker in anger. Like a true bully, Spencer got scared when her victim stood up to her and wasn't intimidated by her.

Aria seemed to have spent her required amount of time worrying about Emily, and got back to her Magnificent Obsession, Ezra. She told Hanna about Maggie and the secret love child. Hanna urged her to tell the truth. Just as she was about to do that, Maggie showed up and persuaded Aria to keep her mouth shut.

Paige is with Emily when she gets a text telling her to come to the Rosewood Cemetery and she makes an excuse to leave. The other three liars also get a text from A telling them to come to Ali's grave. Caleb doesn't plan to let them go alone. When Hanna sees Caleb has a gun she's freaks out and demands Caleb get rid of it. He puts it in a drawer, but when Hanna isn't around he secretly takes the gun with him.

Meanwhile, Toby's back and he and Spencer get back together, but there were signs from their first scene together that all wasn't kosher. When they had their reunion scene the camera kept spinning around them in a circle which gave the whole scene a weird quality. While in one way it made it seem like they were in their own world and everyone else around them disappeared, it also killed the romantic feel of it.

Spencer finally decided to have sex with Toby. It was a hot scene, but then Toby said he had to go, again. Spencer questioned if Toby didn't keep leaving because he wanted to get away from her. While they both declared their love, when Toby hugged Spencer he had a strange look on his face.

Like I said, I suspected who the betrAyer was when the episode started. Ever since last finale I haven't trusted Toby. The story he and Sullivan came up with just didn't make sense. So I suspected Toby would be the betrAyer. When I heard Spencer would finally have sex with him, I thought it was the perfect set-up to reveal she had just given her virginity to the enemy.

Over at Radley, Mona dressed as a nurse sails out the front door as she waves to the nurse on duty. She heads to A's new lair and dons a hoodie. She calls someone to tell them the plan has changed. Then she meeting with another hoodie cloaked person sitting in the lair of A's homage to Allison and the liars. Seems they were planning on framing Paige for Maya's murder. They even planted Maya's phone on her. Of course, when Paige showed up, she would have tried and convicted Paige. Only problem is Nate grabbed Paige before the plan could be put into motion.

I feel like the writers screwed Emily over by having her decide to go away for the weekend with Nate. It made no sense for a lot of reasons. Like, would Emily be that insensitive to Paige? Wouldn't it make more sense for Emily to go away with Paige, instead? Not to mention the last time she saw Nate he got nasty telling her she was a user just like Maya. And when he wanted her to go out of town with her, she refused. But the writers needed Emily to go off with Nate, so all that was forgotten and she went off with Nate.

Anyway, an A calls Emily telling her she has one minute to get out of the place. Instead of doing what she was told, she goes through Nate's things and finds the letter she wrote to Maya's parents and gave him to send to them, only he never sent it. She puts two and two together and realizes Nate was Maya's stalker, not her cousin, and that he's the one who killed her.

Emily finally takes A's advice and makes an excuse to leave the cabin, but when she tries to run-off she comes face-to-face with Nate. Lyndon reveals he blames Emily for stealing Maya from him and he planned to get his revenge on her. Part of his revenge is to make Emily watch as he kills someone she loves. At that point, he reveals a tied-up Paige in the closet.

Caleb and the girls realize A isn't going to show up and think Paige has gone after Emily. They find two possible locations for where Nate has taken Emily. Caleb takes one, the girls take the other. Meanwhile, Paige signals for Emily to make a run for it. She does and Nate gives chase. He traps her at the top of a lighthouse and Emily stabs him with his own knife when he attacks her. A few minutes later, Caleb arrives on the scene. He puts his gun down and comforts Emily. From outside a shot is fired.

The girls arrive on the scene to see Caleb taken away on a stretcher with a gunshot wound. Paige and Spencer share a look as Spencer realizes she accused the wrong person, yet again. Meanwhile, an A in a hoodie escorts Mona back to Radley. When he turns around it's revealed that it's Toby. So the irony of the whole thing is while Spencer was trying to convince Emily her girlfriend was the bad guy, the real bad guy is the guy she's sleeping with.

Of course, it leads to a lot of questions and perhaps an answer to the Sullivan mystery. In short, Toby was able to convince Sullivan to return to town because he was the one who scared her into leaving town in the first place. He was able to find her because he knew exactly where she went.

The girls are at the hospital waiting for news on Caleb, when their phones ring. A is calling up Emily again. This time to tell her she/he owes her one. At that point, Veronica comes in to say all charges have been dropped against Garrett and he's a free man. As Garrett smirks at the liars, they realize what A meant on the phone. That Emily uncovering that Nate was the killer set Garrett free. It also seems to pretty much confirm that Garrett is also a member of the A Team.

Back in A's lair, a hoodie-cloaked person using something to distort their voice gets tickets on the upcoming Halloween Train for two. Since Toby could easily buy two tickets for him and Spencer as himself, that suggests the tickets are for two of the A Team. Mona and somebody else. Perhaps the Head A.