Welcome back to my weekly review and recap of Pretty Little Liars. To catch up on previous coverage, click here.
This episode of Pretty Little Liars proved to be a massive improvement from last week’s show. With multiplying lies and an intense chase scene, “We’ve All Got Baggage” proved to be an entertaining addition to this season.
We open at Sara Harvey’s Radley Hotel room where the entire place is a mess. Emily (Shay Mitchell) and Hanna (Ashley Benson) hope to show Ali (Sasha Pieterse) the mysterious hole in Sara’s closet but are in for a shock when they learn the hole is no longer there. However, they don’t have much time to process this once a housekeeper enters the room. They hide in a closet and wait for a free moment to escape and when they do, we see the housekeeper rip off her glasses and a mask!
Hastings family drama
At Spencer’s (Troian Bellisario) urging, Veronica (Lesley Fera) finally decides to come clean about her cancer and releases a video saying she won’t give up without a fight. While Veronica’s honesty makes her look good in the election polls, their troubles are far from over. A story about Yvonne Phillips having an abortion in high school gets leaked from Spencer’s IP address. This doesn’t look good for Yvonne’s mother, Christine, who is running against Veronica on a pro-life platform. Caleb (Tyler Blackburn) takes the fall for it and moves out of the Hastings barn. He swears to Spencer he’ll find out who leaked it.
In other Hastings family news, Melissa (Torrey DeVitto) is starting to look like a possible suspect with each passing moment. She gets rid of her suitcase with the broken handle and says it became broken because her cab driver from the Philly airport hit every pothole while trying to avoid baseball game traffic. But Caleb points out to Spencer that the Phillies had an away game when Melissa came back into town.
To throw more suspicion her way, Hanna tells Spencer and Caleb about a time when she ran into Melissa at London Fashion Week a few years ago. Melissa was visibly upset because Wren left her and believes it’s because Charlotte told him about how she buried Bethany Young alive. Do we really care why Wren left Melissa? Can we just get Julian Morris back on the show please? Ok, thanks.
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Can we get over Ezra, already?
Byron (Chad Lowe) and Ella’s (Holly Marie Combs) wedding is fast approaching. Aria’s (Lucy Hale) parents gladly enlist the help of Hanna and Aria to help Ella find the perfect dress and to officiate the wedding, respectively. Hanna, who swears she is happy for Spencer and Caleb, dodges Jordan’s phone calls several times and implies to Ella she will find her way back to her first love. Then, Ella informs her that Byron was actually not her first love, prompting Hanna to officially set a May 17 wedding date. But is she really ready to leave Caleb behind?
Meanwhile, Aria comes clean to Ezra (Ian Harding) about writing chapters for his book. Aria is initially confused and says “I can’t tell if you want to hug me or punch me.” Aria, this is not something you should ever question! But anyway, Ezra decides to read the chapters Aria wrote before making a decision on what to do.
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Later, Liam (Roberto Aguire) meets Ezra for the first time and Ezra attempts to reassure Liam that his romance novel is not about Aria. This is how Liam inadvertently finds out about his girlfriend’s past relationship. But they make up in the end because Aria says Liam is her happily ever after. Let’s keep it that way, Aria!
Emiy’s discovery of the hollow metal object with a rectangular shape on the end
Emily accidentally meets Damian Hayes (Blake Berris), the blogger who tried to expose the Hastings family. She doesn’t know this at first until Hanna puts the pieces together. Rather than ditching this guy for manipulating her, she decides to grab dinner with him instead. She learns Melissa was back in town way before Charlotte’s murder and decides to check out the Two Crows, the diner where Charlotte received a phone call.
At the creepy abandoned diner, Emily peeks through a window and sees a light coming from the kitchen but she gets distracted from her thoughts when a van tries to run her over! In the epic chase scene, her phone gets smashed. She climbs up on the roof and finds a hollow metal object with a rectangular shape on the end. When the van drives away, Emily climbs down only for the van to appear again. She climbs back up but loses the hollow metal object with a rectangular shape on the end (there needs to be a shorter way to describe this weapon!). The driver snaps that weapon up and leaves.
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Later on, Emily is shaken up when she talks to Hanna. She doesn’t believe Sara is behind this attack because Sara wants the killer exposed. Meanwhile, the person who attacked Emily wants the murder to be covered up. But why would someone call Charlotte from this diner only to kill her in the bell tower? And why would this person return and throw the weapon on the roof? It sounds like this entire scene can be used against I. Marlene King in a future plot hole!
More wedding bells!
Ali gets her first text from Devil Emoji asking if Dr. Rollins (Huw Collins) knows why Charlotte ran out of her house emoji (this villain is more obsessed with emojis than the millennials watching the show) that night. It turns out Charlotte was upset after her sister confessed about her relationship with Dr. Rollins. While Ali feels guilty about this, the good doctor tells her he wants to spend the rest of his life with her. It’s a good thing they have a newly-ordained minister as a friend!
Creepy Devil Emoji (or is it the Devil Emoji?) Epilogue
We catch glimpses of wigs, hairbrushes, universal remote control user manuals and a piece of wedding cake. That means this person was at the wedding! What a shocker! Only, not really. Is anything shocking on this show anymore!?
Closing Thoughts
While this episode was far from perfect, it showcased what made the show great. If the girls keep lying and we see more chase scenes like Emily’s, the rest of the season should be fairly entertaining.
Who do you think is the Devil Emoji stalker? Sound off in the comments!
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