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‘Pretty Little Liars’ Season 4, Episode 4: 'Face Time'

Kathy Zerbib |
July 3, 2013 | 12:38 p.m. PDT

Film Editor

Aria comes face-to-mask with a row of Alisons (ABC Family).
Aria comes face-to-mask with a row of Alisons (ABC Family).
Previously on "Pretty Little Liars," "A" has a new target - Emily's mom, Pam. Someone wants Pam pinned for child abuse. Speaking of moms, something is seriously suspicious about Hanna's mom and Officer Wilden's murder. Is she guilty? Let's delve into this week's goodies and analyze for hints...

The episode begins with Emily hugging her dad at home. This would be a touching "Army-Daddy-Returning-Home," but we know it's because Emily's parents are currently in the Hot Seat for child abuse and this is a sombering scene. Nonetheless, it's nice to have her dad back in the picture.

The scene cuts to Hanna and Caleb having yet another talk about her mom's involvment in Wilden's death. Did she, didn't she? Caleb, led by his recent conversation with Hanna's dad, is almost certain that Ashley Marin stole her ex-husband's gun and used it to kill Wilden. Hanna is ready to forget the whole thing, but Caleb knows ignoring the situation won't help it. Wise guy.

Hanna takes her frustrations over to Spencer and Aria, and accuses Spencer of trying to protect her sister Melissa (Ironic, much? Hanna's protecting her mom!). Hanna wants answers about the masks and she wants them now. But do the masks prove Melissa is "A"? All these girls want to talk about are Melissa and masks. Yawn.

As the girls bicker back and forth, a distant cop car observing the group is brought to our attention. It's the new stud-muffin cop Holbrook and an unfamiliar, older cop named Tanner. The older cop wants the stud-muffin cop to watch the girls closely. Uh-oh...

The Hastings ladies come together and discuss Melissa's imminent departure. Spencer is less than thrilled and there is obvious tension in the room. Spencer's mom accuses her of being jealous of Melissa. Spencer denies it. We know Spencer was rejected from UPenn, so maybe she is a tinge green with envy. Her family assures her that she can still get in, that she missed out on just early admission. Fingers crossed for Spencer!

Hanna arrives to her mother's workplace at the bank and is met by the two cops. They go through Wilden's safety deposit box and find cash, two passports, and a stashed gun (with the serial number filed off, might I add). Meanwhile, Ashley is standing by, fidgeting. Come on, Mama Marin, could you look any guiltier? She admits she would be the only person who would be aware of the deposit box's contents. Tanner is making it clear she's onto the Marin family. We don't blame her. Things look bad.

Poor Emily. Hanna's situation looks bad, but Emily's looks terrible. She tries to set things straight by going back to her doctor and trying to prove to him that her family is normal, but Doctor Vargas is not convinced. He even thinks she was pressured to come talk to him. As if that wasn't enough, he also lets her know she needs rehab and possibly surgery for her injury. After surgery, she isn't guaranteed back into the life of a swimmer. Bye-bye, swimming. And Stanford. And maybe Paige. Yikes.

Hanna talks to Tanner, for the simple reason that she wants to make things better. Bless her naive, naive heart. She tries to pin all the cash found in Wilden's box to him being crooked or part of the Russian mob. LOL, Hanna. ELLE OH ELLE. Tanner isn't buying into it... Obviously. But she is definitely all ears when Hanna mentions how close Melissa and Wilden were. Tanner grills Hanna and asks her about her connection to Wilden. Hanna is speechless and Tanner notices. Caleb the Boy Wonder comes along and steals Hanna away, thank goodness.

Our very beloved Spoby are together discussing a certain Dr. Lewis Palmer's whereabouts. Toby wants answers about his mom's death and Spencer is staying behind. Aria sees him leave and thinks Toby is going to stake out the lair. Silly Aria, he has bigger worries on his mind. Spencer keeps quiet for her man.

The girls try to make connections with the little knowledge they already have. They know Melissa had masks made of her face. So who would be able to provide a costume to couple the mask? Shana, of course. Hmm...

Paige and Emily link up, and we know Paige has yet to tell her girlfriend that Stanford is looking like a bleak possibility at this point. The only thing she manages to fess up to is that her doctor wants her to skip some practice sessions for a while. Paige doesn't have a reason to be fazed over a statement like that. 

Aria and Spencer discuss Aria's messy love life. Spencer thinks Aria deserves less complicated relationships. Aria shrugs it off. Later, she meets up with Jake and - AWKWARD! - Ezra's kid comes up to them and asks why Aria doesn't come over anymore. A-W-K-W-A-R-D. If Ezra showed up right now, the awkward-ness would just be too much to handle. AND GUESS WHAT?! ...He doesn't. Biggest disappointment known to man. Jake is suspicious and asks who Ezra is. Aria half-lies and says he's just a teacher. 

Later on, she tells Jake the whole truth. He looks freaked out. Jake says Aria is clearly not done with Ezra... Darn it, we had the same fear. Aria tries to kiss him and convince herself that she's moved on. Jake isn't impressed. He throws in some analogy about fighting into the conversation as evidence that Ezria isn't over. Corny, but not the cheesiest thing we've heard on this show. 

Toby tracks down Dr. Palmer and asks him about his mother's death. The good doctor admits that he doesn't think Toby's mom killed herself. Toby inquires about visitors and Dr. Palmer gets a little shifty. He starts rambling about "forces" and "the air" being too "heavy." Toby's face says it all - the doctor who worked at Radley (AKA the loony bin) now belongs there. But is there more to it? By the "heaviness of air," could he mean ghosts affecting the environment? ...Just an idea, probably far-fetched. Toby realizes the doctor has lost his mind, especially when he tells Toby to come back soon and bring his mother. 

Just as he's walking away, Dr. Palmer tells Toby to tell him mom to stay away from "that blonde girl." Instant chills. The doctor says she's very troubling. Alison? Definitely Alison. 

Mama Marin tells Hanna that she's been temporarily banned from taking clients back to the vault of safety deposit boxes. So much for things getting better with Wilden out of the picture. Ashley says things have only gotten worse than ever. She assures her daughter that none of this will negatively impact Hanna, but how can she be so sure?

Back at the cozy Hastings abode, Spencer and Aria film Melissa. They notice her going through a suitcase with her personalized mask planted inside. Melissa realizes it's the one made of her face and heads over to Hector's shop where the Liars went to last episode. Spencer tails Melissa and sees her destroying all the masks made of her face. Aria investigates the shop and finds a row of masks made from - Guess who! - Ali's face. Aria confronts Hector for making the masks and he recounts a story about Alison heckling him for money he owed her. Then she asked for directions to Route 30 and left with an owner of a black car. Who could that be?

Outside, Spencer approaches Melissa mid-mask-breaking. Got you! Finally, a confrontation. Melissa says she believes Alison is alive. She admits she was in the Queen of Hearts costume on Halloween night, same as Wilden, but that "they" were all afraid of him. She also says that "somebody" was telling Wilden what to do. Here's the shocker - Melissa tells her sister that she's been protecting her this whole time... What? Melissa said she sent Shana and Jenna to the lodge to see who the Liars were planning on meeting. They saw Wilden set the fire, but someone else saved the group. Spencer asks Melissa if she killed Officer Wilden. Melissa declines to respond and is gone by the time Aria runs over. Maybe Mama Marin isn't suspect number one, after all?

Emily is being confronted by her family. They're sick of her keeping quiet about her injuries. They should be, they're facing child abuse charges and Emily keeping secrets doesn't help them. Emily flees the house, her parents yelling after her. If "A" videotaped that, there's another nail in her paents' coffin. Good going, Em.

She meets up with Paige, who is having a one-girl practice session at the pool. Paige tells her she can find another dream. Gee, she's taking this pretty well... What happened to being super excited about moving in with your girlfriend in California? Emily doesn't want to be on the sidelines watching Paige win. They head back to Emily's house and see police everywhere. Someone called the cops on the family for their mini shout-fest earlier. Sigh. They just can't catch a break...

Meanwhile, "A" texts the girls and tell them Melissa isn't "A" material. But what if Melissa sent that text herself? Or Shana? Or Jenna? Nothing in Rosewood can be taken at face value anymore.

The final scene is of "A" reconstructing one of Melissa's masks. "A" had to fish for them in the water, after Spencer tossed the remains. What does "A" need it for?

Last note: Still no sign from Mona.

That's it for this week, see you fAnatics next week for episode 5 of "PLL"!

Reach Film Editor Kathy Zerbib here; Follow her on Twitter here.



 

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