Say Cheese! Jenna's obviously loving checking out all her party pics... but what other photos might she have her hands on? "Pretty Little Liars", ABC Family Tuesdays at 8. (Image courtesy of ABC Family)

It might be time that “Pretty Little Liars” considers a name change. Perhaps “Pretty Little Lunatics”… or “You Thought You Needed Therapy After High School.” The name game could go on for ages (here’s another one: “Heathers 2.0”) but let’s just call it as it is – a hot damn mess.

After a 14-day hiatus, I can say with certainty that “That Girl is Poison” was not worth the wait. The liars may have called Mona’s antics child’s play, but at least she was active. This sleeper agent “A” is becoming something of a bore. Plot lines and details seem to be picked up everywhere (i.e. the second tooth bracelet, Mona’s visitation access, Jason’s reward, Spencer’s campout at "A’s" lair…) and then dropped unceremoniously. I have no doubt that all the loose ends will come together eventually in a satisfyingly creepy way, but this isn’t “Lost,” get on with it already. But it wasn’t all bad. Pacing issues aside, Tuesday night’s episode was actually a wealth of teasers and information you didn’t see coming.

At the start of the hour, the girls (minus a dumped and despondent Hanna) were just finishing up dinner when they “coincidentally” witnessed a medical drama unfolding across the street at Garrett’s house. As ambulances raced up to the home and Mrs. Reynolds was pulled out on a gurney (still alive… for now), Aria saw a hooded figure in the shadows. What was “A” up to now? Why did he/she/they want Mrs. Reynolds out of the house so badly?

The next morning, Aria abandoned all worries of “A’s” sinister plans in the face of a much more daunting nemesis – a furry lime. Seems that Ezra’s fridge’s lone occupant convinced Aria that she needed to help out her boyfriend, if only by buying him lunch. Ezra was annoyed, understandably. Unemployment is one thing, accepting charitable donations from your teenage girlfriend is a whole other level of sad. As Ezra left for a much more promising scenario (a job interview), Aria saw Lucas outside the photography studio, pounding on the windows and demanding to get his stuff back.

When Aria finally arrived at school to divulge the latest development in the deterioration of Lucas’s sanity, she was greeted by the aftermath of another passenger of the Rosewood crazy train – Jenna. Like a beautiful batshit crazy butterfly, Jenna shed her sunglasses and decided to embrace a new outlook on life (pun absolutely intended). As she glided around “like a Thanksgiving float”, Emily and Spencer tried to sift through all the recent changes. Why didn’t Jenna feel like a “target” anymore? Was Lucas the mystery graveyard photographer? (Remember- Hanna and Aria saw him leaving the photography studio in the middle of the night when they were fleeing to the lake house.) And, much to Emily’s chagrin, Garrett had been released from jail to see his mother, possibly for the last time. Did “A” arrange this? As Spencer astutely noted, Mona isn’t the only person in Rosewood who owns a black hoodie. Right on cue, Jenna glided up to the girls with envelopes filled not with Anthrax, as Spencer had guessed, but invitations to her birthday bash.

Not only is Jenna hosting a party aptly timed right when she miraculously regained her sight and on the same night Garrett is being released, but it also happens to be booked in the same café Emily works at. Which means even if Em doesn’t want to go as a guest, she has got to be there as staff. The only benefit to this arrangement is that it provided Emily the perfect opportunity to lurk around Jenna’s café meeting with party photographer Laurel, who just happened to mention firing an assistant because he was stealing equipment and developing his own negatives.  Em’s covert op was interrupted by Maya’s cousin Nate, freshly furious from hearing about Garrett’s release, and even more frustrated by his new friend’s “Que Sera Sera” attitude towards it. Which left him the perfect prey when Jenna’s flirty eyes went lingering his way.

Where has Hanna been all this time? Skipping school and proving my “no sweatpants on ‘Pretty Little Liars’” rule null and void, that’s where. Despite her mother’s best motivational words, Hanna couldn’t get over Caleb. All she wanted to do was listen to every sad song she ever downloaded on repeat. Mrs. Marin suggested that her daughter help out at a clothing drive at the church that her company is taking part of. Maybe she’ll even find some cute new clothes there!

Earlier in the episode, Paige reappeared out of the woodwork to swoop in and save the day by claiming Hanna’s abandoned ticket to the Katy Perry movie, and giving Em a date for Saturday night. Emily had to cancel in light of being Jenna’s cater-waiter that night, but the chemistry was still sizzling between them as Paige helped Emily adjust the tie on her uniform. Taking a cool down from all the hormones, Paige happened across Em’s flask from the night of the graveyard blackout. When Emily offered for Paige to have it, it was just too obvious that the flask had been unknowingly tampered with and something was about to go horribly wrong. 

Hanna finally made an appearance at Spencer’s house, sadly just a little too late to participate in the baby squirrel conversation (In which Spencer told Aria that she was baby squirrelling Ezra and taking away his nuts – she needs to give him his nuts back), but just in time to defend Lucas against Aria’s accusations. He can barely lift a textbook above his head, there is no way he could have dug up that grave. Hanna blames Jenna; too bad her mom found out about her skipping school again and signed her up for triple duty at church right when the party is so she can’t spy on her prime suspect.

So Aria and Ezra will just have to go instead. Despite his reluctance, and surprise at Jenna’s invitation, Aria convinced her boyfriend to accompany her to the party briefly before a fancy dinner out. Because Aria was a good girlfriend and left his furry lime alone (or, you know, because he loves her), Ezra gifted her with a vintage Rolleiflex camera. Aria was beyond thrilled, though suspicious of how her unemployed boytoy could afford such a fancy gadget.

Meanwhile, Spencer hid out at the hospital, waiting to see just who Garrett was visiting. She recounts to Em his every move, down to the bodyguards, the handcuffs, and the tacky flowers he picked out for his mother. But wait. He is writing her a note! Comatose women can’t read notes. Who is he really writing to? Spencer is surprised by Officer Wilden, who knows that she is there to watch Garrett despite her most pathetic attempt to deceive him. This guy is so creepy and so everywhere; he is my new #1 suspect for “A.” It’s unlikely, I know, but he definitely has something up his sleeve.

At Jenna’s party, which I deduced must have been an Alice in Wonderland Mad Hatter theme, Emily had her hands full with more than just drinks. Nate was there, crushing on Jenna, and Paige was there, crushing on Emily and thinking that Emily was crushing on Nate. All so confusing. Paige ended up pouring herself a little something extra from Em’s flask just to take the edge off. As Aria and Ezra arrived, they were greeted by an overly enthusiastic and flirty Jenna, who justified her staring by claiming she was trying to connect faces with what she remembered… or in the case of Ezra, what she imagined. Aria took this opportunity to ditch Ezra with Jenna and track down Laurel for some photog talk. Laurel confirmed that Aria’s new camera was top dollar, and Aria offered to be Laurel’s new assistant, discovering that Lucas’s camera bag was still in the studio until his parents paid for what he stole. Knowing she needed a way into the studio that night, Aria barged into the kitchen and trashed Laurel’s spare equipment.

After her showdown with Wilden, Spencer returned home to a pleasant surprise – Toby! He was frustrated at his inability to escape Jenna even though he moved out of their house. They kiss and talk about Jenna and kiss and talk about Jenna. They have seriously got the worst pillow talk ever. Spencer is amazed that the most honest person she knows shares parents with the most deceitful.

Speaking of the devil, Jenna nearly has a conniption when she sees a Jersey-Shore-drunk Paige finger licking the cupcakes and then putting them back. Paige is angry at Jenna because she wants a coconut cupcake and they all taste like old pennies instead. Paige is mad at Emily because she is being ignored and neglected. So she decides to dance about it. She dances her way into a wall and takes a nasty spill. Next stop on the Rosewood crazy train – the hospital.

Meanwhile, Hanna reluctantly sorts old panties while her mom shares a cookie with a dashing stranger. Her volunteer work actually pays off when she recognizes Emily’s grey jacket from the graveyard blackout night. She shoves it in her bag but is made to pay for it by the dashing stranger before being relieved of duty and meeting up with Em at the hospital. Recognizing the pink stitching in one of the pockets, Emily confirms that the jacket it hers. She doesn’t remember when she took it off that night. Who donated it? Jenna would have just given it back. The girls consider it too coincidental to just be a coincidence.  Hanna scampers off, leaving Emily and Nate to talk about what happened with Paige. She explains that they dated in-between her first and second relationship with Maya. Spencer shows up at the hospital and then a lot of things happen at once. 1) Garrett comes out of the elevator accompanied by his guards. 2) Nate goes cray cray and attacks Garrett, despite the presence of his guards. 3) Spencer sneaks behind the fight and into the elevator to go see Mrs. Reynolds.

Back at the party, Ezra has gotten fed up with Aria’s delays. He asks her if this is about the money, and seeing an easy way out, Aria says yes. Ezra explains that he wanted to take her out to dinner as a celebration of his new job. Aria was super happy for him. Even happier for herself when Laurel sees her ruined equipment and takes the bait, giving Aria the keys to her studio. At the studio, Aria quickly locates Lucas’s equipment and rifles through it, nabbing the questionably incriminating film. But Aria wasn’t alone, as she searched Lucas’s belongings, a human shadow glided across the wall. She managed to get out safe but was confronted at the door by Lucas, who threateningly demanded to be let in. Ezra drove up and scared Lucas off, but let’s take a moment to really play this battle out. Lucas has size on Aria (but then again, so does everyone), but, as Hanna said, he has trouble lifting a textbook. However, he is unhinged, which makes him dangerous. Aria was pretty damn determined not to give him the keys, and she is nary without spiky heels and/or accessories (who could forget these H&M weapons) with which to puncture any attempted assailant. Just about an even match, I figure.

When Paige was released at the hospital, she found Emily and explained that the doctors found traces of sleeping pills in her system, which made her behavior even more erratic. Oh yeah, she didn’t remember anything, either. Sound familiar?

Spencer’s mission in Mrs. Reynolds’s room turned out to be a bust. The note in the flowers actually was to Garrett’s mother. But, proving that she has the smartypants reputation for a reason, Spencer noticed a slip of yellow paper tucked under Mrs. Reynolds’s hospital wristband. It read: April Rose has the proof. Say what now?

Back at Ezra’s apartment, Aria looked through the negatives of Lucas’s film as Emily googled the sleeping pill Paige had ingested. Aria discovered that the photos were mostly for the yearbook and Emily discovered that when mixed with alcohol, the pills would cause memory loss. They pondered when the flask had been tampered with that night, and realized just how lucky they were that Emily wasn’t in a sharing mood – the blackouts could have happened to all of them. Aria asked what the pills looked like. Were they light blue and round? Yes, why? Because they were hidden in Lucas’s camera bag.

In the final “A” scene – A rifles through Maya’s purse until they found a prescription bottle for her. Uh oh, is there more drugging to come?

I have a feeling that this week’s episode was more of a buildup for some crazy, intense Action to come. But still, all the unanswered questions are starting to become a burden. Adding to this list are: who the hell is April Rose? Was Garrett’s mom a courier? Who was meant to find that note? Did “A” swap out Lucas’s film? Or put the pills in his bag? Or did Lucas really drug Emily? Why did Jenna abandon her blind protection? As much as I hate to say it – only time will tell.

Check out the promo below for next week as the girls set a trap (involving lots and lots and lots of cold, hard cash) for “A.” Do you think they can outsmart their tormentor?

Reach reporter Kelly Hanelt here.