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‘Pretty Little Liars’ Season 4, Episode 6: 'Under The Gun'

Kathy Zerbib |
July 17, 2013 | 8:35 a.m. PDT

Film Editor

Sorry, Caleb. Hanna is under house arrest and you and your luscious locks aren't allowed over (ABC Family).
Sorry, Caleb. Hanna is under house arrest and you and your luscious locks aren't allowed over (ABC Family).
Last week on "Pretty Little Liars," Spencer went into super-snoop mode at Cicero College, Emily is vying for a scholarship at aforementioned Cicero College, Aria pushes her mom to go to Austria, and Hanna gets arrested for trying to dispose of the gun used to kill Officer Wilden. Oh, Hanna...

"Under the Gun" opens with Hanna being interrogated by Officer Tanner. She's not talking, even when Tanner threatens her with seven years behind bars for carrying a concealed weapon, trying to dispose of a potential murder weapon, or even murder itself. Tanner makes it clear she knows Hanna is trying to protect someone. Hanna is released on bail and her parents come to get her. Tanner also lets it slip that the gun will be tested for residue. Unsurprisingly, the gun Hanna found and was trying to bury near Cicero College's Greek Row is, indeed, her dad's gun that was snagged from his desk.

For the time being, Hanna is on house arrest. No school for this pretty little liar. She and Emily are on the phone together (It's like Rosewood High is the only school in America without a no-phones policy) and discuss how "A" elaborately set Hanna up for destruction. Emily thinks Hanna should tell her parents about "A," but isn't Emily keeping "A" from her own parents, too? Tsk, tsk. Hanna thinks she doesn't have to worry, but that possible seven-year sentence is not to be forgotten. Is Hanna the real target, after all? Is "A" trying to save Ashley Marin? Or is it too soon to tell? We're betting on the third option.

As if things weren't already hectic (Are we even five minutes into the episode yet?), Shana walks into the locker room where Emily is sneaking her phone call. Surprise, surpise! She's now a Rosewood High student and part of the swim team. Mona told the girls before that Shana is into Jenna. Now that Melissa is gone, the two are getting comfy near each other.

Spencer, Aria, and Emily link up at the coffeehouse to discuss life. Spencer has to give Aria a quick lesson on ballistics, seeing as how Aria apparently didn't know a gun could be tested to see if it's a murder weapon. They discuss Shana's arrival and Emily calls her Jenna's new "seeing eye dog." She lowkey called her a beeotch. Nice going, Em!

There's a new kid working at the coffeehouse and he has a thing for dropping dishes. He's one of Aria's brother Mike's friends, so she goes over to help him out on his first day. His name is Connor and he's pretty cute, but we all know Aria isn't a cougar. Still, why talk to your little brother's friends? Aria even agrees to help poor little Connor on his essay so he can play in the next lacrosse game. Mike probably won't be too happy about this. Isn't that an unspoken rule that siblings have to not associate with their friends? "Guy Code" or "Girl Code" on MTV should do a segment on this...  

Meanwhile, Spencer is apologizing to Emily for "bulldozing" her college visit and basically calling Emily a skank for flirting with the college adviser to get her way. Now they're back to being best friends 4-ever. Aw. FINALLY FINALLY FINALLYY, Mona is back in the picture. According to Spencer, "Mo' Mona, mo' problems." Hashtag, LOL. Mona says she was off tracking her missing RV and tells the girls Spencer knew Toby took it. Welp. She isn't telling them it's because Toby needed it to trade for info about his mom, though. 

Hanna's dad Tom confronts Hanna's mom about the gun in Ashley's luggage. Ashley is shocked and appalled. She insists she didn't bring the gun home. I sense an "A" move... Hanna later overhears Ashley tell her ex-husband that Wilden was demanding money from her and Ashley couldn't come up with it. She also says Wilden grabbed the gun out of her hands and Ashley ran off. Mama Marin doesn't want Hanna's dad involved, but he makes it clear he's sticking around. Neither one of them wants Caleb involved, and he's promptly shooed away when he shows up at the house.

Emily and Aria hang out and discuss Spencer's treachery and Mona's insanity. "Mona's not 'A,' but she's definitely still a B." Oh, Emily. This is turning into quite a quotable episode! Hanna calls and tells them her phone was confiscated by her parents. She also says she can't tell her parents about "A" because "A" will frame her parents for murder. After Hanna hangs up, Aria and Emily decide they still have to do something, even if Hanna doesn't want them to.

Toby doesn't want Spencer to tell anyone about why he took the RV, though Spencer wants to. Toby went back to Radley and talked to one of the employees, Eddie Lamb, about what Dr. Palmer said. Apparently, Eddie knows something but can't tell Toby. Neither will Toby's dad. Sadly, "A" knows something and Toby is willing to bend over backwards for the info. Spencer decides to call Gamma Zeta Chi.

Aria is in full tutor-mode as she looks over Connor's essay. She disapproves of him using Wikipedia (How typical!) and Cliff's Notes... regardless of his proper citation. Mike shows up and is clearly flabbergasted that his buddy is over at their house to see Aria. Sidenote: Not sure if I just was too sidetracked by the show's plot before, but Mike Montgomery is QUITE the stud, isn't he? My, my...

Emily gets past Hanna's parents and enters the coveted Marin home with the excuse of delivering homework. Emily asks how she's doing and Hanna is clearly not doing well. She looked up the dictionary definition of "purgatory"... and this is Hanna we're talking about. Turns out Emily is interested in other things besides Hanna's well-being. She wants the footage from Wilden's cop car that Mona gave Hanna as proof of her supposed "loyalty." Hanna blatantly refuses. Her mom is shown in that video hitting a cop! No way she wants to hand that over and risk it getting intercepted by the cops or "A." But Emily is a good talker and convinces her it puts Shana and Jenna in the suspect pool, too. So Hanna hands it over.

The age-old statement "Give a foot, they'll take an ankle" proves very true this episode. Connor thanks Aria for her help and casually says they should do it again sometime... over burgers. Aria lightly turns down the offer. Connor leans in and kisses her and Aria's shocked face is priceless. Then she's a little less friendly about turning him down. 

Emily goes to the police station to "anonymously" drop off a CD with the footage from Wilden's car on Officer Tanner's desk. Silly Emily, doesn't she know police stations are loaded with cameras? Then again, maybe it's on us to think so logically in an environment like Rosewood where nothing is too logical. But the deed is done. 

At the Marin home, Ashley is freaked out when Spencer's lawyer mom Veronica says no news from the cops is bad news. Tom pushes her to admit it was self-defense, something that could be believable and help her out in the long run. But Ashley stands by her story.

Spencer meets up with Emily at school the next day, but it's clear Emily is pissed at her all over again about the RV. Spencer says she knows Carla Grunwald would disappear for hours at a time and then return and act like she had never left the house. Emily gives not a single damn and refuses to go with Spencer to find "the Grunwald." Emily finds Mona and tries to pressure her into saying what "A" has on Toby. Mona says she can't, as she's no longer in charge and "A" has dirt on all of them.

At school the next morning, an unfuriated Mike finds Aria and tells her he heard in the locker room that Aria and Connor hooked up. Turns out Connor isn't big on moving on. Aria stalks past Ezra and goes into the locker room (gag). She tells Connor off and he retorts with a comment about her and Ezra not just being "Scrabble buddies." This sweetheart even calls Aria a slut. Ezra is right behind them and overhears the whole thing. Aria is clearly not used to dealing with high school boys and their high school drama, so she's pissed. Aria hides out on the stairs and Ezra comes over to console her. Aria tells him to stay away from her. Ouch.

Spencer and Toby embark on an adventure to find the Grunwald. They find her in - Surprise, surprise! - Ravenswood. It was only a matter of time before "PLL" introduced its spinoff town. Ravenswood looks like a vampire's ideal community. It's dark and almost black-and-white. There's no street signs and no one is willing to talk to our beloved Spoby. The town has a fascination with its dead. Can we also just take a moment to note Spencer's horrific parking skills? She can't parallel park at a meter to save her life. And how about putting money into a meter like the rest of us? These details should be important during production. Spoby finds Mrs. Grunwald at a hair salon. Carla Grunwald proves to be of no help. She claims she doesn't know about Ali's death, nor is she aware of anyone named Alison or Vivian. Well, darn. Maybe this was just an opportunity to introduce Ravenswood, after all.

Aria is at home in distress and Mike comes in to cheer her up. He apologizes for being a total jerk to her. Finally, these siblings are on good terms again!

Spencer wanders off and sees a group of people surrounding a statue. One of them, she notices, is a brightly-colored Shana holding a mysterious package. Spencer sees Shana going into Jenna's car. Spoby immediately hops into Spencer's ride to tail them. Unfortunately, a bird crashes into Spencer's windshield and they lose Jenna's car. What a shame.

At open-mic night at the coffeehouse, Tanner comes into the coffeehouse to take Emily to the police station. There, she sees a video of herself (it's clearly "A" with an Emily mask on) in a red coat holding up a sign that says GUILTY. Tanner also shows her the CD Emily tried to drop off incognito. The handwriting on the note is a match to Emily.

Back at the coffeehouse, Connor is on garbage duty as Emily's punishment for spreading vicious lies about Aria. Connor goes outside to throw out the trash and sees someone in a hooded jacket smashing the windows in his car. Well, isn't that terribly awkward. Whoever it was - probably a guy - also painted LIAR on the side. Ezra? Probably not. Mike? More than likely.

The Marin house is a drama hotspot this episode. Tanner arrives and arrests Ashley Marin for Wilden's murder. The results are in and Tom's gun is definitely the murder weapon, with Ashley's fingerprints all over the bullets. Her last words to Tom are a plea to look after Hanna, no matter what happens. We feel your pan, Hanna.

The last scene is of "A" in yet another mask, breaking into a car and proceeding to drive off.

So, there you have it. Nothing but dead ends all episode and some good filler material to hold off the fAnatics for another week. "Ravenswood" is looking to be a great spinoff, though. Until next time! 

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



 

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