kelly duncan breaks the circle…
As tonight’s episode begins, Hanna, Emily and Aria are in the high-school’s courtyard trying to figure out where, oh where, Spencer could be. We all know that she’s been sent to Radley, the psychiatric hospital, as a Jane Doe after discovering Toby’s dead body in the woods. But as far as Spencer’s friends and family are concerned, she’s MIA.
It doesn’t take long for Spencer’s older sister Melissa, who has been on the girls’ suspect list since season one, to show up freaking out because Spencer never made it home the previous night. This gets the girls a little rattled giving Emily a chance to step up and start taking charge. She tells everyone that they have to try to find her by checking all of her favorite places and that they need to keep in touch.
While everyone is running around trying to find her, Hanna is at home dealing with her mother, Ashley. As you’ll recall, Hanna’s mom had run over Det. Wilden and his body has yet to turn up. She’s become consumed with her crime and has been avoiding seeing her boyfriend, Ted. When Ted calls a few minutes later, Hanna answers and sets up a date for him and Ashley. They go to the church to meet him and who shows up to say hello? Wilden! Whaaat?! That’s right, I said Wilden. Hello, crazy-town. Sure it’s possible that he didn’t die when hit by that car, but he sure as hell would have some bumps, bruises or a broken leg. But, not this guy, he’s walking around as if nothing had ever happened at all. Consider me baffled. Hanna also pushes her mom to go to a work seminar in NYC, where she will potentially be offered a promotion that will take her and Hanna to the city permanently, which is something Hanna is more than willing to do in order to get away from Wilden.
Back to Spencer. While she’s in Radley, she becomes friendly with a male nurse, by the name of E. Lamb. Not in any inappropriate way, but he’s become something of a confidant for her. Let’s not forget, E. Lamb (AKA Eddie) was the alias Toby had used when he sneaking in and out of Radley to see Mona. He seems like a nice guy and Spencer is taking advantage of that. She asks him why she’s there and he tells her that she’s supposed to have amnesia. Her response? “Well, if I do, I certainly don’t remember it.” So witty in the nut-house. He also tells Spencer that the staff and visitor badges had been compromised a while back and their system had to be changed. The kicker was that someone on the inside had been the one to compromise the system. So, now it seems like Mona’s even got adults helping her out. As the episode progresses, Spencer digs for even more information by telling Eddie that Toby had been using his name to get in to Radley and she asks if he knew him. At first he doesn’t say much, but he eventually comes around he tells her that he does remember a Toby that used to go to Radley to visit his mom. Neither one of them thinks it could be a coincidence.
Let’s not forget, Spencer is at Radley for a psych evaluation and it is being conducted by Dr. Sullivan. Right off the bat Spencer tells her that she doesn’t have amnesia and she remembers everything that happened — including finding Toby’s dead body. When the good doctor tells the police, they aren’t able to find a body, which only makes Spencer seem even crazier.
On the lighter side of things, Aria asks her dad to help Ezra find a job. That is a pretty ballsy move when you consider everything Byron had gone through to get Ezra fired for dating Aria in the first place. However, he does consider it for the sheer fact that if Ezra finds work and is able to stabilize his family, there is a chance that he’ll end things with Aria. I for one wouldn’t count on such a thing. Ezra seems to be completely invested in their relationship. If anything Aria is the one that seems to be second guessing things. Anyway, Byron isn’t able to get him a job, but he decides to go to Ezra’s apartment anyway, apparently just to chat. I don’t know what to make of any of this. Honestly, I like that they’re trying to give Ezra a little something, he needs more screen time, but the story line is a little too boring for me.
At this point, Emily has even less going on. Sure, she’s becoming more of a leader than a follower, but there’s no real drama with her. However, there was a fantastically lame cameo by Olympian Missy Franklin. I don’t think I will ever understand the need people feel to put athletes on TV when they can’t act and they have to write parts specifically for them. Basically a friend of Emily’s invites her for coffee, and when she gets there, Missy’s just hanging out. Apparently they had met in an airport and became fast BFF’s. Silly and unnecessary is all I can really say about it.
Back at Radley, Spencer finally gets a visitor, but it isn’t a welcome one. Somehow, even though Hanna, Emily and Aria aren’t allowed to visit, Mona gets to see Spencer. While there she continues to push Spencer’s buttons and tells her that she has all of Ali’s diaries, and that her pregnancy had only been a scare. Apparently, there is more to the story than Spencer could ever know. I can’t help wondering if Mona is going after Spencer so hard because she’s clearly the most fragile member of the group, or if there is something bigger. Side note, I’m still blown away by the fact that Mona is running around town like you’re average high-school girl after trying to kill Spencer and being locked in a psychiatric hospital for roughly less than a year. I just don’t understand.
Anyway, before the night is over, Wilden makes one more appearance. Ashley drops Hanna off at Emily’s house, Wilden pulls up and tells Hanna that he wants his car keys back and he’ll back off of her and her mom. Hanna looks like a deer caught in headlights as she realizes that she could have finally gotten rid of Wilden if only she hadn’t ran his car into the lake. With only a few episodes left in the season, I hope next week starts giving us some answers.
