And she's fabulous.

[impy]

And now it's time for the Pretty Little Liars roundup, post-show edition.



Prior to watching the episode (namely, I was at work and bored off my arse), I contemplated who my favorite characters were. I mean, I love my Holly something fierce, but Ella is a mom character on a teen show, which means I have to have someone else to cheer for until Ella gets her allotted three seconds of screen time per episode.

There's Spencer. Spencer is taking longer to gel with the other characters (excluding Wren and her own family, as they're exceptions to this rule) and still doesn't always seem like she's on the same show. It's not as bad as it was in the pilot, but prior to episode four, she still seemed on her own little planet. And sadly, Spencer has already taken the first detour that book!Spencer made that helped make me want to smack her something fierce. (Taking Melissa's essay. Wren has accent goodness and while he does tend to come across as a bit thick as to how much trouble he's causing, it's an accent and who the hell wouldn't pick Spencer over Melissa? Oi.) So, while I can relate to Spencer's drive being beaten out of her by her overly demanding family, she's still up in the air for me.

Aria has one big advantage over the other girls: Ella. Take that away, and the fact that I think Mr. Fitz is super cute, and... Okay. Aria is supposed to be weird and quirky, and I hope I don't ruin anything here, but she's one of the first to admit that Ali was a giant bitch... and I'm not really getting that from the show. Lucy Hale is adorable and this is one of those things I don't think can be stated enough. BUT I don't get Aria from her performance on the show. But she doesn't make me want to punch her in the face at times (...yet), so she ranks above Spencer.

Emily is presented as the nicest as the bunch, although honestly, Aria seems nicer than Emily. But there's something endearing about her and I'm a bit of a sucker for the Mom, there's something wrong with me moment. Sadly, episode 4 stomps all over this. But I digress. Or skip ahead. Whichever.

Which leaves us with Hanna. Whom I adore. Is it the dimples? The inability to stay off the police radar? Or the fact that the girl has some serious issues and is just. that. awesome?

I'm gonna go with awesome. She's easily my favorite and while I can understand if she's not someone else's, I llllllooooooooovvvvvvvvveeeeeeeee her. Plus the fact that she's the one picking up Aria's slack in pointing out what a bitch Ali was to them? Yeah. I can deal with her hero worship of Ali being ditched.



Sadly, I watched this a couple of days ago and I don't fully remember everything, but hey. This keeps you spoiler free in parts. Or something.

We open with the relatively minor fall-out from Hanna's joyride and subsequent crash with Sean's car. I love that her mother comments on how frequently the police have shown up in the last couple of weeks and how she never wants to see them again, understood. Love.

I'm sad that it took four relatively smart girls so long to get the idea to block unknown calls, IMs, whatever else, so that A couldn't stalk them as easily. And I love the really obvious, but no less awesome moment when they think they're free and then one of Alison's posters drifts their way with a gleeful "the witch is dead!" scribbled on it.

Emily's whole... thing with Maya irks me. Part of it is due to the fact that I'm not entirely sure how strict and conservative her family is supposed to be in this particular version, and so I'm not sure how freaked out she is by having feelings for Maya... or if she actually does until she admits she liked the kiss. She runs too hot and cold and the addition of her thing/not thing with Toby is complicating matters horribly.

I should say that I love Toby's mix of creepyness and insight into how Emily and other people work. The whole, "they don't want you to change" thing worked beautifully for me. I also like the fact that he seems to be fine with her and Maya and every relationship needs at least one person outside the couple to cheer them on. Especially when one of the people who might be in the relationship is still so freaked out about the idea that they won't even wear the scarf their friend gave them. Bah.

Believable, but still BAH.

The build-up for Hanna's phone call from her father was brilliant. I'd even seen the sneak preview clip of that moment and it was still a surprise. Well played. I like that she pretends it doesn't matter why he's showing up, just that she gets to see him, and then she still flips out when he mentions that he wants to keep his car looking nice, so he'll be driving, thank you very much. Poor Ashley, thinking she was going out to dinner with her ex and their kid and then... not. Also, is it okay that I adore the messed up way the two Marrin ladies bond over primping time in the mirror? Especially when daddy dearest undercuts it when he seems so surprised at how small Hanna is these days.

The essay thing. I've probably mentioned this before (here, I know I have elsewhere), but if Melissa's essay is so damn brilliant, why the hell didn't she get awards for it years ago? Yeah. That bugs me.

The scene in the kitchen where Aria lies to Ella about where she's going for dinner? Holly looks super prettiful. And later, Holly will break-ums my heart when she gets the letter of doom from A. (I'm sad about this change though. I swear book!A makes Aria tell her mother because otherwise A will spill about Fitz hooking up with Aria and that was one of my favorite twists. Then again, this way Aria doesn't seem like quite as much of a bitch as she did in the books because she's not sacrificing her mother's blissful ignorance so that she can continue hooking up with her English teacher. But oh, the lost dramarama moment. May we mourn?)

I'm actually sort of agreeing with bitchtastic!Ali when she tells Ari that she should tell her mother about her father and Meredith. Not necessarily the reasoning behind it, but still. I feel weird. I'll distract myself with admiring the pink stripes in Aria's hair.

It seems weird that Spencer told Hanna about the essay thing, but it makes sense... sort of. Spencer doesn't seem to have any other friends and with the whole A thing, she probably did get closer to Hanna again. If you're going to tell your friends something damning, you should probably pick the one with the least amount of room when it comes to moral outrage, huh? This is repaid when Spencer calls Hanna to pick her up after dropping Wren off. This makes Spencer more likable. Huzzah!

Though, with Hanna and Spencer bonding over stolen essays and returning fathers, it does beg the question: Where the hell is Hanna's best friend, Mona?

Oh, Aria, Aria, Aria... Everyone knows the best way to refute claims that you're acting childish is to completely flip the fuck out and act like a two year old being told no candy for you. Duh. At least she realizes she was being childish later, though. Sort of. This is seriously undermined when Fitz flips on the kid in class (guys! Quit going to his apartment, quit touching each other in school, and SERIOUSLY, stop having fights in front of Aria's classmates. Rosewood isn't supposed to be populated with complete idiots, y'know.) and then apologizes to Aria, but whatever.

Drunken Wren commanding Spencer to "Summon your father!" tickled me and made up for some of his assholish behaviour in the previous episode. As did:
"How about some black coffee?"
"I've been drinking Scotch. I'd rather not mix beverages."

I could love you, Wren, but little spoiler-wrens are informing me of Spencer's next boyfriend so... I'll enjoy you while you're around, I suppose. Having to get wasted to talk to Spencer's father is amusing and idiotic all at the same time.

Maya looked really pretty in the scene where she agrees to give Emily space... and I dislike Kate and Isabelle on principle. We'll see whether they get changed much for the show or not.


Overall, I really liked this episode and I think they get better and better with each new episode, which is always a good thing. Now all we have to do is amp up Ella's part in the show and find a way to fully bring Spencer into the fold or at least acknowledge the fact that she's a bit of an outsider there (and in more than just always ditching her at any given party).

Now I'm off to find something to eat. Two more days til vacation. Muhahaha!