Pretty Little Liars -- Faking It
Last week's theme was getting some kind of unpleasant jewelry. This week it was people faking medical conditions. A remark from Hanna made Spencer start wondering if Garrett had been talking about Melissa instead of Jenna. And Lucas made a suggestion to Hanna and Caleb about Mona. The question is could they all be connected some how?
The Pills had their eyes on Jenna trying to figure out why she was pretending to be blind. Since Jenna had approached Aria to help her practice for a recital, Aria was sent in to get close to Jenna and see what she could uncover. She discovered a note where Jenna was going to meet someone named H Cobb and she needed ear plugs. Hanna and Aria followed her as a cab came and picked her up at her house at the appointed time. She went into a doctor's building, so they figured she was seeing some kind of doctor until they saw her drive by in the car Emily remembers being in and driven by Jenna. They follow her to a gun shop and figure she's doing target practice. Spencer wants to keep playing along with Jenna, but Hanna has had enough. She stands in front of Jenna's car as she's about to take off. The girls corner Jenna in an alley where Jenna claims she's pretending to be blind to protect herself. Someone tried to burn her alive and she's hoping by pretending to be blind she'll be able to figure who did it. She wants the Pills to keep her secret because they're the ones who made her as twisted as she is and because they owe her.
Jenna also admits to having Emily in her car the night someone dug up Allison's body. She said the only time she can stop pretending to be blind is in the middle of the night and she found Emily standing in the middle of the road crying about Mya. She was giving her a ride home when Emily bolted from the car at around 12:30.
The problem is Jenna is very believable and sincere. But there are a few spanners in the works where what she said is concerned. Why would she be driving her car around in daylight and texting Emily, "I bet you remember me." If Emily remembering was the last thing she wanted. And why the interest in Aria? First, at the masked ball and again at school. Jenna also revealed to someone she can see and told them they'd all be at the masked ball. So while I found myself believing what Jenna said [due in large part to the fact I like Jenna] there's also a lot of room for doubt that she was telling the truth.
Emily's not happy when she learns Ella fixed her grades. She's also worried that A will somehow find out and use it against her. She's afraid she'll get accused of cheating. It seems Emily's fears are well-founded. A student Anonymously [sorry, I couldn't resist] tipped off Vice Principal Hackett that Ella was fixing grades and named Emily as the student who got her grades fixed. Now the Vice Principal wants to talk to Ella about it and she's decided to tell the truth.
Earlier, Aria had told Ezra what Ella had done and he'd gone to talk to her. Before Ella has a chance to confess to what she did, Ezra and Hackett come down the hall together and everything is fine. The anonymous student's story is disbelieved. Ezra claimed he was sitting with Ella when she was grading Emily's paper and that's enough for Hackett to drop his investigation. Ezra says he protected Ella because he's a teacher and might have been tempted to do the same thing.
Okay, this is weird, but during that Ezra/Ella scene I thought the two looked good together and had some good chemistry. I couldn't actually see those two getting together romantically. Yeah, I know. Ezria fans around the world want to lynch me for that one. But it's just the way I felt about their scenes.
Emily had planned to go with Ella to tell Hackett the truth. She's tired of everyone feeling sorry for her and she expresses that to Ezra. He gives her the same English test paper to do the test to prove she could have passed it on her own.
Lucas has gotten a total personality transplant since we last saw him. When Hanna tries to talk to him about why he's in trouble with the Vice Principal, he shows her a letter that says he's not doing well in school and is supposed to show his parents. Instead he sets it on fire and throws it in a trashcan. Hanna tries to put out the fire, but luckily Caleb arrives and he tosses some water on it. Hanna asks Caleb if maybe he could find out what's wrong with Lucas. He agrees, but wants her to stop visiting Mona in return.
Caleb doesn't learn much. Lucas talks in metaphors. That the whole Mona being A thing was just the tip of the iceberg and it wasn't all over. It was like a current headline. Hint, hint, Caleb, he's talking about someone desecrating Allison's grave and stealing her body. Only I don't think Caleb got the implication. And did Caleb know what was buried beneath an iceberg? Lucas ends the conversation with telling Caleb he should be careful of icebergs.
Hanna goes to visit Mona again, and this time it's old Mona she's dealing with. Mona claims they changed her meds. She does say something really creepy about how Hanna [and I think she met the other Pills, as well] would always have her. That she wouldn't forget about them.
As Hanna is leaving she sees Lucas coming to visit Mona. She leaves and runs straight into Caleb who thought they had a deal she wouldn't come and see Mona again. During their conversation she lets it slip to Caleb that it was Mona who hit her with the car. Just then Lucas comes out and Hanna confronts him about visiting Mona. Lucas claims he came to try and see if she was faking it. Then Metaphor Man suggests it would be better for everyone if Mona stays crazy. I also thought he was insinuating it might also be safer for Mona.
Which gives a bizarre coincidence between Mona and Jenna. Jenna is faking blindness so she can be safe. And Mona could be faking being crazy so she'll be safe. Jenna even kind of said the same thing about Mona to Aria and how it worked out the best for Aria this way. And at the Masked Ball Jenna and Lucas were together and talking with the Black Swan. Now Jenna mentioned Mona out of the blue and Lucas went to visit her. Could they all be connected somehow?
Caleb goes to visit Mona to warn her not to hurt Hanna. After telling Caleb he was a lousy kisser, she screams and fakes a mental breakdown. Later, she lays in bed singing as she holds a Queen of Hearts playing card in her hand. So she definitely seems to be faking it. Mona may be crazy, but she's not as crazy as she's pretending to be.
Melissa's home and she's no longer pregnant, but there's no baby in sight. Veronica arrives to tell them she's going to defend Garrett. She claims his mother asked her to. Veronica is doing it pro bono. Spencer believes Melissa is behind getting Veronica to defend Garrett. She says she stopped caring about this mess three months ago when she had her miscarriage. Melissa also says Garrett is the only man who was ever honest with her so innocent or guilty she hopes Veronica gets him off.
Hanna makes a rather nasty suggestion that gets Spencer thinking that when Garrett was talking about medical records not lying he wasn't talking about Jenna, but Melissa. Hanna suggests that maybe Garrett was the real father of Melissa's baby. Spencer does some investigating and learns that Melissa didn't have her miscarriage when she claims she had it. That when Veronica supposedly went to see her in the hospital, she wasn't in the hospital. Veronica stayed at Melissa's hotel with her for three days.
Spencer confronts her mother and wants to know just when Melissa actually had a miscarriage. Veronica won't tell her and tells her to ask Melissa. Fat chance Melissa will tell her. Since Garrett already knew about this [if it was Melissa he was talking about] that means she would have had to have been faking it before Garrett got arrested. Of course, the question is why? Like Mona and Jenna was she doing it to protect herself? Did someone believing she was pregnant with Ian's baby somehow keep her safe?
If Melissa wasn't pregnant at the time of the Masked Ball it could have been her who came to the party as the Black Swan. Which means she, Jenna and Lucas could be connected. The Black Swan had black hair just like Melissa does.
I have to admit I had another wild idea. What if Melissa didn't have a miscarriage. What if she had the baby and New A had taken the baby as leverage against Melissa to do what she's told to do?
We got a glimpse of New A at the end of the show playing with a coffin. But wasn't Allison's coffin left behind in her grave? So it appears to be a different coffin, unless New A had left a fake coffin behind and took Allison's real coffin with her, instead, since people had put things in Allison's coffin. Like Aria had put those red earrings in the coffin. It also looked like New A had somehow retrieved the teeth necklace that got sent to Emily and flushed down the toilet, only it had been taken apart. Unless that was more teeth.
If it wasn't Jenna who texted Emily, "I bet you remember me," when Emily saw Jenna's car, that means it's New A. That she was in Jenna's car waiting for Emily and that she knows Jenna had picked up Emily that night and that Jenna can see.
Since Jenna, Melissa and Mona have been faking it, could Lucas be doing the same thing? Could he be putting on this whole anti-social act to protect, himself? If so, just why and what do they need to be protected from? The plot has definitely thickened.
