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‘Pretty Little Liars’ Season 4, Episode 11: 'Bring Down The Hoe'

Kathy Zerbib |
August 20, 2013 | 9:47 p.m. PDT

Film Editor

Spoby make quite a cute cowboy/cowgirl couple! (ABC Family)
Spoby make quite a cute cowboy/cowgirl couple! (ABC Family)
Last week on "PLL," Wren and Mrs. DiLaurentis took center stage. Wren is up to no good, presumably, and Mrs. Di is just going through all things tragic. Ezra ended up not being the father. Someone accused Veronica of making Mona confess. Also, the Liars discovered "A" or/AKA Red Coat is bunking under Mrs. Di's house. Creepy and disrespectful, much?

The episode opens with Hanna telling the Liars at lunch that her mom is meeting with a new lawyer. Unfortunately, the Marins discover no lawyer cares about Ashley quite like Veronica did. Officer Tanner comes sliding through the school and sits right with the girls. She informs them that the police found one of the muddy Manolos in the pile of rubble at Emily's house and is still investigating the case. Emily's mom has been cleared, but that doesn't mean Hanna's is. Hanna has a silent freak-out moment and gets up to go hurl in the bathroom. Tanner makes a note of it.

The girls link up later and decide to investigate the hidden lair under Mrs. Di's house. Meanwhile, Hanna is in charge of keeping Ali's mom busy at Macy's as they shop for the school hoedown that night (apparently, a cutesy little high school dance). As corny as a hoedown sounds, it's bound to be an interesting night. After the other girls leave the scene, Hanna is alone in the hallway and starts sniffling up. A student down the hall notices, but we're not sure who he is and neither does Hanna.

Paige stops Emily and asks if they're dates to aforementioned hoedown. Emily isn't sure if she's going. In her hands is Zoe's recommendation letter, which Paige says is a clear indication that Zoe likes her. Emily gets worried the letter is too "glowing" and goes into Ezra's office to ask his opinion. Ezra's still really upset about no longer being the daddy and he snaps at her, saying people have more serious problems than having really good letters of recc. He immediately apologizes and spills that he isn't Malcolm's dad. He wants to tell Aria himself, so asks Emily to keep it on the hush. Does he not realize that these Liars rarely keep secrets from each other, and never for long?

Jake stops Aria in the school parking lot and asks her to an impromptu coffee date, which she turns down. He gives her the name of a good lawyer for Hanna, which she also turns down. He looks a little dejected, so she asks him to the hoedown instead. He's on board, of course.

Caleb and Hanna link up. Ashley texted Caleb to take her daughter to the hoedown, and that's exactly what he's planning on doing. She's less than excited, which probably means she can't two-step. Soon after, Hanna finds an envelope full of cash in her locker. There's even a note, saying "Maybe this will help your mother." She looks up and sees the mysterious student staring at her again. She's not sure if "A" slipped her the cash, but we're willing to bet it was the mystery guy. Funny thing is, the envelop is from Cece's old job, Diva Dash. Weird envelope for a mystery guy to use.

Spencer and Toby are in his car. As soon as he turns it on, "Any Time" starts playing. The singer, it turns out, is Toby's mom. He's instantly in tears and pulls out the disk. "There's more where this came from," is written on it. He tries to call Dr. Palmer, but the hospital won't connect him. Conveniently, "A" texts him the addess to Dr. Palmer's car.

At the Brew, Hanna sees the mystery guy again. He's officially a stalker. She goes up to him and tells him off for following her. She leaves before giving him a chance to explain.

When Emily and Aria are under Ali's house, Emily tells Aria to call Ezra. Aria's trying to avoid doing so, to prove that she's successfully moving on. There's a noise behind them, which turns out to be Spencer. Then, there's a different noise upstairs, someone heavy-footed. Hanna is with Mrs. Di, so who's walking around up there? Aria tries to look through some holes in the cieling and almost gets stabbed in the eye for her bravery.

As usual, Spencer is talking quietly with Toby and then going to the Liars without telling them. This infuriates the girls. Secrets? Between the Liars? Absurd. Aria accuses Spencer of living a double life. ELL. OH. ELL. Aren't they all, though? Spencer gives in and tells the girls "A" is fueling Toby's hunt for the truth. Surprise, surprise... They're don't approve.

Aria is at the coffeehouse. Aria sees Ezra and tries to avoid looking over at him, but he comes over anyway. Before he can tell her his daddy issues, Jake shows up. Ezra leaves in shame. Jake has a present for Aria, a pair of stylish blue boots for the hoedown. They're so cute on her. We're jealous.

Emily decides she's had enough of crashing at Mrs. Di's and is moving into Spencer's house. While Spencer is helping Emily pack, Emily has a flashback of Ali doing her toe nails and telling her to break up with Ben. Ali said she routinely breaks people up if they don't have the guts to do it themselves. She told Emily that a guy pulled a gun on her for it, a guy who didn't go to their school anymore. Could it be Cece, dating Jason and Wilden at the same time? Did she need Ali to end things for her with Wilden?

We then see the lady in question herself, in a room with articles on Ali and several other pictures. There's even a red coat on the back of a chair. Yup, it's basically official that she's Red Coat. Cece's on the phone with someone and asking them to come to her, since she's not going to Rosewood. Wren, maybe? The mystery stalker?

The hoedown is underway. It's essentially awkward people dancing rather awkwardly. Hanna and Caleb walk in. Caleb goes to get the pair drinks, and the mystery guy comes by and asks Hanna to dance. She refuses. He tells her he gave her the envelope. She's interested in dancing now, and ditches Caleb to pump the guy for more info. He tells her his name is Travis. The night Wilden died, he called Travis' family's towing company to get his police cruiser out of the lake. Travis saw Ashley leave the scene and heard gun shots after. This makes him a crucial witness. He fled the scene without his truck, but both the truck and the envelope showed up at his house later. Apparently, Travis overflowed with guilt and now feels like he has to give Hanna the money that was given to him to shut him up. Hanna wants him to tell the cops, but his dad and Wilden had bad blood so he refuses to sell out his family to help hers. 

Emily, Spencer, and Toby show up soon after. They see Paige and Paige sees them. Whoops. Emily didn't tell Paige she was coming, even after she was asked several times. Emily continues to avoid Paige throughout the night.

Aria and Jake are also at the hoedown. Side note: Who knew Aria had such beastly line-dancing abilities. It must be the shoes. She also wins for best dressed, though the competition is fierce. Ezra sees her from across the way, and Jake sees him looking. He goes over to Ezra and tells him to back off from his girl and move on. Womp.

Hanna fills Caleb in on what Travis said, but Caleb is hesitant to trust the guy. Too bad Hanna does. She slips past Caleb and secretly follows Travis out the door. She follows him to a gas station and convinces him to go to the cops. He does, and tells his story to Officer Tanner while Hanna is outside the station. She seems disappointed that Ashley is off the hook.

Spencer accidentally tells Toby that she told her friends about "A" and his mom. Toby is totally ticked off and tells Spencer that she picked her friends over him. He's right. He storms out to go find the car and Spencer enlists Caleb to tail him.

Emily again tells Aria to talk to Ezra, this time telling her it's because of Malcolm. Aria comes to her senses and approaches Ezra, but he's wary after being confronted by Cowboy Jake. Meanwhile, Emily spots Red Coat and she and Spencer tail her outside. They find a truck with the keys inside, hoping to zoom off after Red Coat. They notice the coat in the back of the truck and lose sight of Cece. Looks like Cece needs a new coat to wear. Perhaps one with a more discreet color?

We see Toby trying to break into Dr. Palmer's car. Caleb shows up and tells him to stop. They argue for a bit. A police cruiser notices and its sirens go off, so the boys run.

As the hoedown comes to a close, Emily goes up to Paige and demands a dance. Yeah, because Paige is the one holding out? They share a cute moment, anyway.

Jake takes Aria home at the end of the night, but she doubles back to meet Ezra at his apartment. There, he tells her that he doesn't want to drag him into her problems. Aria takes his hand. He finally tells her everything. Little do they know, Cece (now in a blue hoodie) is outside of the door listening. Witnessing a stalker in action is less glamorous than simply getting a text from a mysterious "A."

The last scene is of "A" knitting dolls, one for each of the Liars. "A" also has an extra doll - wearing a blue hoodie - to represent Cece. Oh, the chills.

So there you have it! The summer finale is next week, so be sure to tune in to the last recap of the season. Get ready for World War A, fAnatics!

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



 

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