The season 3 premiere of Pretty Little Liars kicks off 5 months after the action packed night that Mona was revealed to be A. The girls are reunited after another Summer apart. Hanna spent her Summer cooking with her hot boyfriend, Aria studied photography, Spencer, in true Spencer form, went to take college classes and Emily went to build houses in Haiti. Some of the time. The rest of the time was apparently spent getting increasingly drunk to deal with her grief of losing Maya.
Aria's parents seem to be getting a divorce, apparently Melissa is still pregnant and she's probably at her 14th month by now. Jenna has left town. Toby is shirtless. Lucas is walking around looking like a bum and hanging out with a girl who looks like the Black Swan. I feel like I'm supposed to care about this particular plot but it's easily the least interesting thing in the entire episode. The girls have become somewhat of a joke to the town and have to deal with annoying joke texts like "Show me your boobs. -A." The lull in their life is about to end real quick. I hope they enjoyed it.
During their sleepover, the girls wake up in the middle of the night in a scene reminiscent of the pilot episode to discover one of the group is missing. The camera pans to a drunken Emily holding a shovel and standing over an empty grave. An empty grave that once belonged to Alison's body. Who took her body? The girls find her there and realize they are once again being set up. They solve this problem by burning Emily's clothes and leaving the shovel in the woods somewhere. Haven't they learned ANYTHING? Burn the shovel too!
The prosecution against Garrett wanted the body exhumed so it's no coincidence that it was taken. Would it show that it was Alison's twin in there or something? Spencer continues to get calls from an anonymous number and finally answers. It's Garrett and he wants to see her. In exchange for what he knows, he wants Spencer's mom to defend him. Spencer, rightfully says "Bitch, please" and begins to walk out. Garrett starts to shout that none of them are safe and he knows who "took the body." If he didn't kill her, is he telling the truth about everything? What did he do to piss them off?
Hanna has been hiding something new from the girls. She's been visiting Mona. That's right. Visiting Mona. All friendly and reading her fashion magazines. For a moment there I thought Hanna was the one who should be on meds. But she wants closure and some answers. Mona isn't talking or looking at anyone. Except when she looks at an empty chair that she sees Alison sitting in with her red coat. She also moves to creepily stare through the door at Hanna and Wren. Because he's volunteering there now and thinks Hanna coming to visit is a good idea. Yeah. That's not suspicious at all. He's so beautiful with that accent that he could be guilty of everything and I'd probably still love him.
To add to the girl's troubles..it looks like they are anything but done with A. The texts are starting again and they are, of course, still being watched. It must be really amusing for whoever is following them at this point. They're so comical when they stupidly run around making their job so easy. Aria has a panic attack in the bathroom when she can't lock the door and someone else walks in and scares the crap out of her instead. Emily remembers being thrown in a trunk the night the grave was dug up. How drunk was she? She then gets a text prompting her to remember them. Who was it?
Spencer has been going back to the creepy motel room where Mona had her lair to try and recreate the walls of stuff she saw. The girls finally let Emily know that while Mona was being taken away, the room was completely emptied of all the evidence, including Alison's diaries. All of their secrets are still secrets but Mona clearly wasn't working alone.
They walk out to Spencer's car and discover it is full of pictures of the girls standing with the shovel over Ali's grave. Spencer, why are you running out of there and LEAVING YOUR LAPTOP BEHIND?
Ugh. These girls.
This episode was actually better than I expected. After that awful season finale a couple months ago, this episode has restored my hope a little bit for a great season because not only was this episode action packed, it made both Wren and Ezra look suspicious. Which I find incredibly interesting.
Watch the preview of next week's episode, Blood Is The New Black, here.
