The return of Ella

[impy]

I now understand why most of the people who have Comic Con Frankie (the black and white version) tend to question whether or not to de-box her. In general, the MH dolls look fantastic in their boxes. Presentation gets a 10, normally speaking. But CC Frankie? Yeah. The metalic sheen to everything cranks that up to 11. I think I like the whole thing more than I might like the doll herself, but I'm not entirely sure since I just got her Saturday.



Okay, PLL roundup for... three weeks ago. Hunh. I didn't realize it had been that long.

Know Your Frenemies:

If you have to ask the question, you wouldn't understand my answer.
- Ezra Fitz to Noel Kahn

Okay, to be fair I watched this three days ago so my memory is a little hazy on some things. So we'll go with what the notes said, k?


Emily and Maya are adorable together and I'm glad they worked past that iffy stage where you didn't necessarily see them as a couple so much as the idea of a couple. If that makes sense. If not, well, sometimes shows seem to believe telling you that couple X are together is better than showing, or when they do show you, it feels weird and forced (imagine that!) and for a little bit Emily and Maya seemed to be skating around on that part of the rink.

As of this episode, oh sweet irony of ironies, they have definitely moved up the ranks on cuteness alone. But because Emily's mother is who she is, this cannot last. I wonder if she was this paranoid when Emily was dating... Ben? Is that the jerk's name. Hell if I remember. Anyway, she catches sight of Emily and Maya's feet up by the headboard as she spies on them through the crack in the doorway (yes, they left the door open) and freaks out. She bursts into the room only to discover, dude. They were studying. She cops an attitude with Maya who leaves, Emily says she's never been ashamed of her mother until now, and then Mother Dearest goes through Maya's forgotten backpack where she finds two joints. She confronts Emily who is beyond livid and then bans Emily from seeing Maya. Just to make things more interesting, she tells Maya's parents and they decide to ship her off to True North, where she will be rehabilitated.

But before Maya goes, the other PLLs arrange for Maya and Emily to spend part of the night together at Spencer's. I don't know which is more adorable. E/M or the PLLs anytime the happy couple is around. Seriously adorable.

Oh, and before I forget, the truly bitchy moment comes about when Emily's mother tells Emily not to bother calling her father (I guess to appeal the whole Maya ban) because he's just as disappointed in Emily as Mother Dearest is. To which I call B.S. Daddy likes Maya and while he's probably not thrilled with her smoking habit, I doubt he'd be half as cruel as MD. :/

I wonder if they'll be appropriating book!Emily's arc for Maya on the show. Book!Emily is sent away to get the gay out and comes back... with a new girlfriend, sort of, after breaking things off with Maya and claiming she's been straightened out because if she hasn't, her parents will banish her ass for Real.

This is one of the few episodes where I love, love, love Aria. She comes along in time to see the jock guys making fun of Hanna who is in the midst of finishing one of A's tasks (eating a half a dozen piggy decorated cupcakes) and effortlessly throws off a line that ends in or did you lose your balls like it's no big thing. She's genuinely nice to Hanna and not all wrapped up in Ezra drama... well, for a bit.

Speaking of Ezra, he's unwilling to change Noel's grades, so he's decided that he will resign and leave Rosewood so that Noel doesn't have any leverage on him or Aria. There's a very sweet but incredibly brief scene with her staying the night at his place, but they're just snuggled up on the couch. For a show that was flaunting the hell out of this storyline to sell the series, they're playing it incredibly safe.

Not so safe is Toby, who the PLLs know cannot be A and is most likely also not Ali's killer. He's escorted around school but no one does anything about kids spray painting Killer on his locker or attempting to pick fights with him. In public little kids cross the road to get away from him and I know I'm being played emotionally, but dude. Sad Toby breaks my little heart.

Spencer sees this last part and she sort of spies on him. I wish she'd gone over and said something to him but with anything involving Spencer, baby steps. Which leads us to Spencer, who is dealing with Ian and Melissa living in the barn behind the Hastings' house. The fact that Ian sets off the creep-o-meter something wicked is not allievated at all when Spencer finds out that Melissa is hoping to get pregnant right away, and HEY, Ian was indeed in Hilton Head with Alison the summer she died.

Not creepy at all, right?

Before Mr. Fitz can resign, Noel is busted for stealing numerous exams. A, it appears, does not want the group to believe that Noel is anywhere near awesome enough to be A.

Which sends Aria over the moon. It means she and Ezra can still sneak around and hey, A did them a favor! To which Hanna points out she still fucking got hit by a car, but Spencer of all people glosses over this.

The episode ends with A sending them an extended version of the video that damned Toby (Ali wearing his sweater)... and the identity of her older boyfriend is revealed to have been Ian. No big surprise there, except seconds later he grabs the video and the next time we see Ali, it's her hand clutching the ground after she's presumably knocked unconscious.

DUN. DUN. DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN.


Careful What U Wish 4

That was a suicide mission and you know it.
- Spencer to Aria

Wherein there is a danceathon. Each dance completed means the students are that much closer to their class trip. Hanna, you might recall, is still in debt to A (who stole the money Hanna's mother stole from her job) and this go round A offers her money to dance with Lucas. In doing so, she leads Lucas on (since she keeps dancing with him) and Sean breaks up with her.

Emily also pitches a fit because she finally gets through to Maya (in a tiny subplot involving a new guy, Caleb, who is dreamy in that bad boy way that PLL was sorely lacking) and Maya doesn't seem miserable or something. Em is sure this means Maya has moved on. Moved on in what, a weekend? Nyet.

Spencer and company decide they'll take the video on Spence's laptop to the police because it proves that something screwy was going on with Ian and Alison and hello snuff film like beginning. Only of course Spencer's laptop goes missing until the end of the episode. In the meantime she's convinced Ian has taken it to school and locked it in his desk in the athletic department.

Ella appears out of nowhere (Yay!) and spends 99.9% of the episode playing matchmaker between Mr. Fitz and Simone, Aria's babysitter who is decidedly more age appropriate for Ezra. Aria gets insanely jealous and only a well timed dance between Spencer and Ezra saves Aria from blowing up in the middle of a school dance. Simone, who is very pretty, believes that Spencer has a thing for Mr. Fitz. Which leaves me wondering if Alex will ever be seen again, and by the end of the episode I think Caleb has flirted with three of the four stars of the show. Huh.

Emily swipes Hanna's flask and gets really drunk and miserable because of Maya and Hanna being so cruel to Lucas. (Em doesn't know that Hanna is doing this on orders from A and none of the group knows exactly what dirt A has on Hanna to force her to be so incredibly bitchtastic.) In a bit of a superficial vein, Hanna looks a lot like Ali while at the dance and talking to Emily.

Also, superficially, we love Aria's dance earings, how cute Aria is when jealous, and we do not love Spencer's Heidi hair.

A sends a picture of Alison outside Spencer's house the night she disappeared and there's a shadow behind her. Given Spencer's reaction, it's obvious she knows something about that. They figure out that the picture has to have been taken from Ali's room, probably by Jason.

The episode ends with Ella talking to A.

DUN... you get the idea.


If At First You Don't Succeed, Lie, Lie Again

You look like a strung out Powerpuff Girl.
- Hanna to Aria after an allnighter

So... Hanna. Hanna's mother finds out that the client/customer/whatever whose account she lifted the money from is coming in to see her. Ashley is freaked because, you know, missing money that she hasn't had time to pay back. Hanna gets a note from A who offers some serious cash if Hanna sends Ella to the art exhibit that Aria and Ezra will be attending as a date. It's out of town and Aria is thrilled that Spencer got her tickets. Hanna is torn because Aria is probably Hanna's closest friend (where the fuck is Mona?) but we're talking about mama going to prison versus a relationship I'm not really sure Hanna approves of anyway.

So Hanna leaves Ella a ticket and says it's from the PTA. After one of Ella's classes, Hanna changes her mind about setting Aria up and tries to get Ella to not go, but since Hanna's been blowing PE off, the swim coach busts her for ditching and gives her detention. She walks Hanna to the detention room and Hanna grumbles to Caleb who is most definitely flirting with Hanna (better than Sean, but not Lucas) and he manages to get out of detention early.

Aria and Ezra get really dressed up and head to Philly for the exhibit, but the artist never shows up. There's a moment when Aria goes to hold Ezra's hand and he pulls back before remembering they're in a completely different city and it's okay to break out the PDA. Aria and Ezra, we're told later, have an amazing time.

But what of Ella, you ask. Well, her car won't start and she calls Byron to come fix it. You find out that he's got a date and Ella's a bit crushed.
Byron: Ella-
Ella: What?
Byron: You walked out on me.

ELLA. Your next line should have been, Yeah, after you cheated on me. But she doesn't say this. Byron drives Ella to Philly and it's heavily implied that the reason Ella doesn't make it to the exhibit is because she and Byron do more than kiss just once in the car. But later, Ella will tell Aria that she was at the same exhbiit, but Aria will miss the telltale proof that Ella wasn't. (The fact that Ella claims to have met the artist while there.) Dude. Ella and Byron totally hooked up but Aria thinks Ella's about to bust Aria/Ezra. GASP.

Emily time. Because Maya's still MIA, we need to fuck with Emily in another way. We find her back on the swim team, doing an amazing job. Her coach is thrilled with her and as an aside, we like the coach. We also meet really high strung Paige, who has her heart set on either becoming team captain or retaining this position, I don't remember which. She hands out presents to everyone on the team and has a little freakout when someone goes to open the gift before Paige can make her speech. The coach cuts her off, makes an example of the awesomeness that is Emily, and Paige waits til everyone else is gone and makes a less than positive remark about Em's sexuality.

Em mentions this to Spencer (and Aria) and Spencer tells the coach. Which pisses Paige off even more and she damn near drowns Emily for going to the coach about their little talk before. Erp.

Spencer gets an earful from Emily who then bails on their plans to check out the only mystery related subplot of the week. Remember Paige's gifts? Well, they were bracelets, just like the ones Ali gave the Liars and aha! Still in their boxes. So Spencer makes a visit to Mrs. Garret! Charlotte Rae's beading character, who finally informs Spence that the person who bought the fake Ali bracelet was "Spencer Hastings." DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUN.

Spencer also learns from Jason that Ian was pretty big on getting high when Ian and Ali were together and after her disappearance. Spencer is disturbed by how much this does not fit in with the Ian she thought she knew, murderer possibility and all.

Randomly, I never realized that Ashley Benson in heels towers over a barefoot Laura Leighton. But dude, she does.


If the previous episode lacked quotability (but it did have Adorable Aria), this one more than made up for it.
I will hitchhike! Ella to Byron when discussing the deadness of the car. I love you, Holly.
We named a penalty after her. Spencer, about Paige's temper during the field hockey season.
Is Mrs. Montgomery running a terrorist cell? Caleb to Hanna when she's freaking about not being able to stop Ella from leaving.

Soooo... I'm liking Caleb quite a bit, although I'm still rooting for Lucas to win Hanna over. I can dream, dammit.


Oh. Your cliffhanger. Mrs. Garret talks to A and says that she told Spencer exactly what A had requested. Insert creepy look HERE.

DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUUUUN.


So Ella returned two of those episodes. Pictures later. I killed my back and now I'm off to die. Diiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeee.