Pretty Little Liars – Goodbye Mr. Fitz, hello Jason

I thoroughly enjoyed last night’s episode of Pretty Little Liars. That said, I can’t really think of anything spectacular to write about it. Perhaps it’s because it was one of those “transitional” episodes that sort of moves the story along without really developing anything specific. (More on that later.) Or perhaps it’s because old characters were brought back into the mix this week, and others who had previously returned have disappeared again, and it’s hard for me to keep track of them all.

I do appreciate the way the show rarely lets us forget that certain peripheral characters exist — namely, Noel, Lucas, Caleb (but who could forget Caleb?!), Emily’s love interest Samara, Alison’s brother Jason, and Hanna’s dad. (Have we ever met Hanna’s dad before? I’m not sure we have.) Introducing and then reintroducing all of these characters is great for the plot, because it keeps us guessing who A is.

By the way, is it too obvious for Mr. Fitz to be A? Probably. But I just got this strong eerie vibe when he told Aria to wait for him at his apartment while he finishes up a “meeting” at Hollis. Plus, he could have put his own diploma in the doctor’s office, and would have the ability to stalk the girls during the day and send them messages. I realize he’s probably not A, but the cause of his and Aria’s mini-breakup would give her reason not to trust him, which in turn would give the audience a reason to suspect him.

What I didn’t expect was for he and Aria to have a full-on make out scene as he was leaving! Um, hellooo!?!? Sure, you’re not officially faculty anymore, but isn’t it still kinda looked down upon? At least pretend like nothing’s going on until you’ve pulled out of the parking lot, Mr. Fitz. There was even a school bus in the background! (And, um, isn’t she still underage?) I guess they really didn’t care if anyone saw them.

Another person who’s probably getting on everyone’s creep list is Jason DeLaurentis, Alison’s brother. But, although he threw a newspaper at a dog (A’s dog?), I don’t think he’s dangerous. Just misunderstood and odd, like most Rosewood residents.

Here are the transitions I was talking about earlier, for anyone who missed the episode or wants a recap of what’s changing:

• Ali’s brother Jason returns to Rosewood, gets rid of some of the stuff from his sister’s memorial, and plans to build a fence around his house.
• Emily goes on a movie date with Samara, but worries that she shouldn’t “start anything she can’t finish.”
• Emily gets scouted by a representative from Darby U, who tells her she has a great chance at a swimming scholarship. She uses this information to try to convince her mom to stay in Rosewood so that she can finish out high school in the same program and better her chances of the scholarship.
• There is a family interested in buying Emily’s house.
• There have been several burglaries around the neighborhood, including some camping equipment taken from Emily’s family’s garage.
• The girls wonder what do to for evidence now that A has wiped Emily’s computer clean of all its data.
• Toby lands a contracting job, but then loses it just as quickly when word of his past gets out to his boss.
• Spencer and Emily dance around each other awkwardly; we know Spencer is hiding knowledge of Ian’s secret text messages to Melissa, and that Melissa is hiding something (such as going out in the rain and lying about it), but we’re not sure what. (By the way, anybody think their relationship is way too “normal” for someone who accused her sister’s fiance of trying to kill her and then being murdered?)
• Hanna’s dad returns to check on things after hearing of all the recent events and plans to stay for a little while.
• The girls are being advised by Dr. Sullivan as well as their parents, to maintain a low profile and take some time apart from one another.
• Mona apologizes and she and Hanna make up.
• Mr. Fitz has his last day at the high school and makes a speech to the class that is obviously intended for Aria. Very sweet, but again, so obvious!
• Aria notices a break-in at Spencer’s house, and someone comes barreling through and knocks her over. The girls are trying to figure out who it is.

By the way, in case any fans have been living under a rock and haven’t gotten their tweets lately (or visited the ABC Family site), there’s this new feature where you can, as the site says, “Make A’s move.” Kind of like those Choose Your Own Adventure books, but for adults. (Um, I mean, teenagers? I should hope I’m not the only adult who enjoys PLL.) I won’t give away anything so that you can try it for yourself, but it’s pretty cool, and it only requires a few minutes of clicking to see A do creepy things in black gloves.

Have I missed anything? Let me know in the comments!

Clacked by Rachel Blum-Jose
on Jun 22, 2011 @ 12:00 EST5EDT