#pll watching

[jaggedwolf]

pll rewatch 2x08

JENNA CAN’T HEAR US, SHE’S BLIND

A classic PLL line that has been memed on endlessly, and yet I’ve only just realized - is what Hanna means that even if Jenna hears their stomping, Jenna won’t be able to see that it’s them because duh, she’s blind?

Does Jenna have a kink for making out next to windows? I think her rape-by-blackmail vid with Toby was also taken near a window

Emily has terrible situp form. Is she even exercising her abs. She’s also making the terrible choice to do them the morning of the meet

I’m concerned Emily doesn’t have any friends on the swim team to discuss training regimens with :/ 

You know who I bet knows things about training regimens? Paige.

Hanna fussing over Emily’s overtraining is cute. Less cute is Emily witnessing Tom and Ashley’s morning after, this is the most family drama she’s experienced outside of her own coming out

In my notes I wrote “Wren is gross” and it doesn’t even matter what scene this is about

Mike’s friend who bothers him in school...I think he’s genuinely concerned about Mike, it’s just filtered through terrible teenage bro levels of self-expression (asking Mike if he’s going to be a crackhead next)

Aria lies to Ezra about the confrontation she had with Jenna in ceramics class and never told him about the Mike burglary shenanigans

On one hand, she doesn’t want to mention Jason to Ezra, on the other hand she is the most secretive of the liars

As a naturally secretive person myself I’m inclined to defend this behaviour

Emily’s so stressed she gives herself an ulcer. Her little “when can I swim again” :( :( :( 

Fun fact: Ulcers aren’t really caused by stress but by bacteria, though of course stress is not great for the immune system overall

Spencer is so cute when she’s defensive of Emily who has an ulcer, Do Not Scare Her Hanna! I love that when Aria shows up with a coffee Emily silently looks at Spencer to give the explanation.

Thus we can conclude the other three’s reactions to learning about Emily

Hanna: Stopped by her Mom’s workplace to borrow her car to go to the hospital, googled ulcers out of mild curiosity and went WAIT IT’S A HOLE IN YOUR STOMACH? THAT’S WHAT AN ULCER IS? A HOLE?  SPENCER A HOLE??? 

Spencer: Already knew what an ulcer is but re-reviewed to know what Emily can or cannot consume and to provide Reassuring Facts on ulcer healing.

Aria: Does not know what an ulcer is and does not care to find out, does know Emily’s favorite coffee order and wants to give her a nice treat. Foiled by biology :/ 

Spencer is so funny when she interrogates Hanna on her Caleb sitch while they’re in the elevator. “Where else are you gonna go?” Guess Hanna has to answer her.

Ashley telling Tom to fuck off. Hell yeah!! Maybe tell him to talk to Hanna first

We see more of Jenna & Garrett Evilly Plotting than I remember, I’ll want to compare this to later Evil Plotting scenes from other characters 

Emily gets hit with the second punch of steroid use. She is so scared and stressed about this :/ It is well-crafted emotional torture by A - to have first made Emily a liar and then a cheater, when Emily is the girl who cares most about fair play, whose mom stated back in S1 that her daughter was raised to earn everything she’s gotten

And all of it is in circumstances where no one would believe Emily telling the truth

Did the ulcer save Emily from getting kicked off the swimming team...

Mike seems to be actually doing his homework when Ella knocks on his door, which is a note I like

OK when Haleb is in Spencer’s family cabin, why is Caleb the one making the fire and Hanna the one to not know what kindling is? The camping scene last season had Hanna be the one with outdoor survival skills and Caleb clueless, I don’t like this arbitrary swap

All of Caleb’s shady shit happened in Allentown. I have memories of a fic where the backstory was Caleb & Paige being absolute disasters in Allentown and I wonder if the author chose that location because of this mention or just because, you know, it’s a place in PA

Was this whole plot so Haleb could get laid? Maybe a little bit

Wayne Fields is the one good father, he does not want Emily to stress about college and paying for it. Well sir please investigate your finances and military benefits

Emily wants to bail to Texas, Spencer appeals to her sense of justice in finding Ali’s killer. The limit to Spencer’s desire to protect her people, perhaps - she doesn’t want to be left alone

Hanna is really upset at Ashley saying she doesn’t want to get back with Tom, because that makes Hanna the sucker that is the only Marin who wants things back the way they were

2x08 is six weeks before the wedding. Enjoy fitting that into the timeline. 

While Emily is alone and depressed in her hospital bed in her very shitty situation, Spencer pops up to go “Hey Em, wanna read through our dead friend’s autopsy report with me? Look at this X-ray of blunt force trauma to her skull.”

Emily does look at it, I ponder if Emily and Spencer were partners in bio class and they realize page 5 is missing. Oh no! 

I have literally no memory of this plot point, would simply like to note that when Hanna asks “How can one page just disappear” I went yeah PLL I have that question too

You know Hanna is really broken up about her dad because she and Caleb literally sit on the curb while staring at the happy family. Do you think the parents of that family are going hey why is that teenage couple staring at us?

[jaggedwolf]

pll rewatch 1x03-1x04

this is happening, apologies in advance to everyone who did not experience pll-era jaggedwolf, including the two knuckleheads dragged into watching this show

I was so distracted by the horror of having to actually watch the Ezria of it all that I entirely forgot about Wren, and the Hastings family going "boo you whore" at Spencer for the audacity of being kissed by a grown man. What's the point of being lawyer parents if you don't threaten the fully adult man kissing your daughter instead of being mean to her.

but who are the Hastings if they don't pick the "Be Mean To Spencer" button whenever it appears? I forgot it started so early

other thing that starts early: A liar going, well, what the fuck do we do, Spencer?? and Spencer going ??? I don't know!!!!!???

First appearance of Noel's cabin! It has a foosball table. Noel did you have to spend money on that photo booth or did your parents have that lying around.

Here I contemplate the economic stratus of the parents of Rosewood (~7k population, along the Main Line, unincorporated?) and their frequent traveling for work, though here the Hastings are Out of Town for Melissa reasons.

I've never thought about Toby punching out Ben in the context of what we later learn about Toby, but huh. considering that.

you know, Sean did nothing wrong. Dude did not want to fuck and got his car wrecked for it. Just remembered the other plotline he's briefly involved in this season through no fault of his own and am laughing, he is here to be utterly clueless.

Hanna is still so good though <3

Group flashback time - when Alison tears into Hanna, it's Aria who speaks up. Something to keep track of, maybe, for the pre-disappearance dynamics

The first two episodes have Emily-Aria and Hanna-Spencer link up as pairs, the former feeling like outsiders to the town, the latter the shining stars on the edge of flaming out.

These eps have no Emily-Aria, each wrapped up in their own secrets, but we get a bunch of Hanna-Spencer. Spencer tells Hanna about the plagiarism first, Hanna talks to her about dad dinner outfits, Spencer asks Hanna when she needs a ride from the motel. ....Is S1 going to make me contemplate Spencer/Hanna? I have no complaints.

(To be fair, I'm not sure Emily has her own car at this point. We only see her with the bike and in other people's cars so far, which would make sense for the Fields. Am I going to start tracking proof of car ownership? Maybe.)

A's responses when the girls block unknown numbers are good. The missing girl poster, the frickin song dedication, the jungle red lipstick on a mirror! Can't wait for A to hit the girls up on Excel

god does tom marin suck. and byron. and ezra. and wilden. let's stop there before I list every man in rosewood

except for toby, whose only crime these episodes is failing to make non-creepy expressions. then again, he spent a year in reform school wearing that terrible durag. that must do damage to a fella.

am reminded that Aria can be fun when she's not mired in Ezra bullshit (very insistent on the difference of gnats vs flies! utterly aghast that Spencer hasn't started a paper! decides to tell her mom too late when it shouldn't have been her problem from the start!). this week's fashion crime was an earring so big i thought it a shawl or part of her shirt until someone pointed out it wasn't

Emily's plot mildly stresses me out now that we've gotten past the locker room scene because I don't remember what happens when. I just want this kid to be okay! She's the only one still wearing the friendship bracelet, yeah? I don't remember how long it lasts for

mentions of writing on facebook walls...this show is so 2010...

[jaggedwolf]

pll rewatch 2x04

The Great Gatsby billboard staring at them from above after they get an A text!! Conveniently in this sketchy location for the girls to maybe wonder if there’s a camera in that eye. Okay, maybe they didn’t wonder, but I sure did

Everyone did a solo session with Dr. Sullivan before Hanna does this episode, hmm. Emily might’ve talked about moving to Texas, Aria about her parents cheating or blustering on about something else, but I bet Spencer showed up, brought her homework, and said nothing.

When her mom stops her in school, Aria immediately assumes Ella wants feedback on her teaching. I’m starting to enjoy when Aria is like this to her mom because my opinion of Ella as a parent has sunk compared to my memory of her.

When Caleb makes fun of Lucas’s room being filled with toys, Hanna immediately defends them as collectibles. Hanna probably does get it, given her own 1001 handbags and shoes.

Wren sucks more every time he shows up, he is passing out drugs to his ex-fiance and should lose his medical license.

Sullivan: “I’ve talked with a lot of young people about loss” Maybe Sullivan specializes in teenagers, with a focus on grief. Give the Liars’ parents a half-point for finding a relevant therapist.

Hanna is guarded about saying that a combination of guilt, anger, and fear is what she feels about Ali - so far, the girls haven’t really discussed with each other the experience of being friends with Ali. They gesture to it, like with Spencer pointing out Emily’s easy acquiescence to Ali, but they do not expose their own vulnerability in depth to each other

And I think Hanna would be the least likely to do so with the others

Aria is forced to endure sports and I am forced to endure too many shots of shirtless dudes (in a Philly November? Wear a a shirt!)

At least Aria gets rewarded with getting to ogle Jason. That man’s biceps are gigantic and I did not recall this about Jason

Omg there’s more Emily/Samara scenes at swimming meets. RIP Paige hope you’re oblivious to this

Doubt she is, because Pam Fields is yelling DANBY all over the stands and you know Nick McCullers is going “see if you got anchor you would’ve gotten a guaranteed offer too and not mere interest”.

Nick McCullers exposing the letter lie after doing some digging would’ve been so funny and so bad and both Paige and Emily would have wanted to melt off the face of the planet

Spencer wishes she could sleep over at Aria’s :( Last time she wanted Emily to stay over. Someone be a nice non-threatening sleepover buddy for Spence already :(

Pam is extremely charmed by Samara, who talks about the challenges of glue guns and the delights of crafting (with her mom). Samara gives good parent.

Generally speaking I spent very little time contemplating Samara back in the day, but I appreciate the way she functions in the context of Emily and Pam’s mending relationship 

Samara does all do this before a second date though, which, wild. Wild as well is Emily telling her the letter is fake. The unearned guilt must be eating at her.

So, Hanna in 2x04. It is specifically helping Lucas with his Danielle date and him thanking her that drives her back to Sullivan’s office. With every Liar, there’s the damage that Alison does to the girl and there’s the girl’s complicity in Alison’s cruelty, and somehow it is Lucas saying he no longer sees the latter in Hanna that drives Hanna to fully reject the former. As I said above, I don’t think any of the other liars have gotten as far as Hanna does this episode in extricating Alison from herself. Hanna’s the only liar whose present version we’ve seen interact with Alison so far, and there’s no regression to her flashback behaviour. 

All of the liars felt chosen by Alison, and all of them had an angle Alison was working. The way Alison comes at Emily and Hanna, I think, is that both girls are experiencing adolescence as their bodies betraying them. But where I don’t think Emily’s personality was wildly different pre-Alison, for Hanna I always get stuck on Mona’s anecdote of Hanna as a child bowing after a successful backflip, even when covered in vomit. A kid happy to get attention, fond of some showmanship, in contrast to the more muted one in the flashbacks. That isn’t all Alison - female adolescence in general gets some credit - but it’s hard to separate it from Alison. 

Hanna’s imaginary Alison suggests Hanna is scared of the liars moving on from her. I don’t think this is (as of yet) a fear we’ve seen any of the others express, and it’s a fear that has no basis in the current liar dynamics, so that’s interesting. I do read Hanna as the most guarded in S1 about the gang getting back together. I like that her conclusion here is that this has nothing to do with the liars or Alison (or Ashley, or Caleb, or Mona, or god forbid her dad), that she has herself and always will. Am reminded of a different blonde teenager who replied to “Take all that away...and what's left?” with “Me.”

I thought she was wearing a robe when Lucas came by her house in the morning and I was so thrown that she was wearing the same outfit at Sullivan’s till I realized it was a regular top

Why is Aria so pissy about Mike not playing basketball? The audience knows it’s bad vibes but girl, your parents pay zero attention to what y’all do after school, that’s how you have so many hours to waste in Fitz’s apartment or hang out with your friends you are banned from seeing. Do you want to rock this boat. 

Emily wants to call Garrett when they all shadow Melissa and Wren. I STG Emily it worked out with Toby but not all sketchy-seeming men are worth your trust. Glad Aria is a “No” on calling Garrett

As the four liars approach the abandoned barn (1) Emily would like take a photo, to prove to the cops they are honest kids (2) Hanna would settle for not getting murdered (3) Aria wonders if Ian has a gun, because “he’s a bad guy” (4) Spencer is laser-focused on Melissa

Yeah, that tracks.

Best A message of the episode: NOSY BITCHES DIE, painted in red across the wall in Sullivan's office

[jaggedwolf]

pll rewatch 1x07-1x08

while watching previous episodes, I was thinking, wait, Emily has to have a car this season because of [SPOILER]. Does she just randomly start appearing with one?

of course not. instead she wins a car (the BEAUTIFUL TOYOTA) in a raffle the same night she falls down in a mirror maze

1x07 begins with us still on Homecoming night, where we get (1) Spencer, Hanna, and Aria clinging to each other like frightened puppies while looking for Emily and (2) Toby bringing Emily to the hospital

Spencer suggests the trio split up and is immediately indignant at the idea she be the one to go alone lmao

Poor Toby. No one is nice to him :( Spencer said her classic "The devil has a name and it's Toby!" line but Pam also said "people cross the street when they see him", poor fricking teenager.

Emily is like, as someone who has exchanged more than one sentence with Toby, I don't think he's a murderer? and Spencer cannot stand it she is so annoyed

Emily phrases it as "why am in my bed and not in a body bag" <3 Emily's horror movie visceral imagination

FIRST BARRY MAPLE APPEARANCE. HE'S HERE. THE ONE KIND-OF OKAY COP IN ROSEWOOD. ALL HAIL BARRY MAPLE.

Hanna is back to winning her one-woman #BestAlly competition and she's doing so good! I'll repeat this in the tags of a future post, but it is so interesting to me that this is the first step in Hannily becoming close as a pair - before Hanna gets the photos, Aria and Spencer are the ones expressing individual concern over Emily, but once this arc happens, Hanna is all-in

And says exactly what Emily needs to hear. Also saying things to injured Emily: Pam Fields, who is stressing her daughter out and has no idea why.

Ella, Byron is a cheating douchenozzle but go to your son's sportsball game! Mike's done nothing wrong!

Spencer has zero concept of having a job, let alone a service one. Of course she can waltz right into the kitchen to chit-chat, of course Alex must be lying if he says he's working on a day the club is closed. Oh, Spencer.

She does take to making fruit kebabs to hang out with him

Alex says he's never seen her photo with devil horns before and I don't think he's lying...so an A thing? But I prefer to think that it was the kitchen employee from the day before who was all het up about Spencer's health code violations

can any of the liars look normal when talking to the blind girl. (Spencer about Jenna to Emily: You didn't eat one of her cookies, did you?)

well, Emily did okay, but Emily had to deal with Jenna straight up sitting on her bed. Who does that?? But very funny in light of the S2 Halloween episode, isn't Emily dealing with enough.

Aria playing peacemaker as Spencer and Hanna argue in the woods. Oh, Aria, it's like watching a terrier trying to get in between a bloodhound and a golden retriever.

and here we get our first inter-liar callout of Spencer's parents being there to bail her out! I completely forgot it was Hanna who does this, but very fair, Hanna, very fair

Lucas and Hanna bond over watching the stupidest youtube videos, which makes so much sense for them. SMH Sean, not even a smile for turkey on a skateboard? Between that and sending Aria flowers, you deserve the shenanigans you accidentally find yourself in later this season

Emily and Maya get to have nice cute banters about going on a date and manage to make out at a zombie movie without anything bad happening! Good for them!

Especially since everything non-Maya makes Emily look so distressed

like Toby, which leads to the best conversation Emily, Spencer, and Hanna have on Emily's window seat

Emily, clearly upset: I couldn't bring myself to ask. Jenna was so upset. But his bike… it looked like it was… like it was wrecked.

Spencer: Well, I'm not gonna cry over this, and neither should you.

Hanna: Spencer, if she liked him she can cry about it!

Spencer: Well, I'm sorry for speaking.

Spencer: ......Look she's right, I can't tell you what to feel.

and yet Spencer will never stop attempting to, love this maniac

good god I forgot about the Jason recasting, I look forward to when this dark-haired suit-wearer with a stick up his ass is gone

Best A message:

SUBJECT: THE DEDICATION

DO IT RIGHT. I'LL BE WATCHING. JUST LIKE TOM SAWYER. --A

Why did A prepend the message with a subject, do they miss emailing Spencer? I had to explain the Tom Sawyer reference too haha.

A's gonna trick them into painting a fence next

We get so many flashbacks of Alison being terrible by the lakeshore that summer day

Flashback dynamic notes: Emily smiles and laughs at everything Alison says, no matter how mean; Aria is horny for Noel and pays the least attention to Alison; Hanna laughs at the first insult Ali throws at Lucas but then very weakly tries to defend him; Spencer is...Spencer is almost getting bored of Alison's terribleness?

and yet "that's immortality my darling" remains, and so does Alison's bracelet in her nightstand drawer

I like to think Aria had to dig through all her shit to find her bracelet, compared to the other three XD

"what about justice" re: never finding out who killed Alison, Spencer my sweet summer child....sometimes Spencer is the most naive of the liars, in her own way

Spencer's already sent two S.O.S texts this season. Did the girls agree on this code or did Spencer just decide this is her way of asking for help and everyone automatically understood it

isn't this memorial a bit too revealing of her dynamic with y'all, I'd be so self-conscious

and yet, even after an episode filled with flashbacks of Alison's cruelty, I understand all four of their speeches for her.

[jaggedwolf]

pll rewatch 2x05

2x05 gives us Emily leading an investigation while Spencer would Like To Rest (“can we please slay one dragon at a time” is an actual line she says) 

Very fair of Spencer to have been more scared of Ian than A. She still suggests that her parents give Ian a funeral. She can’t help these bursts of sentiment, as vulnerable as they make her

Oh, this is the episode in which Spencer accidentally yells at her maternal grandmother on the phone! I hope at least her nana is nice to her :/ Also still waiting for Spencer to get a threat-free sleepover :/ 

“Pookie Bear” and “Z”. I would ask which nickname is worse except Aria’s is a cute kiddo family thing and I bet Ezra felt soooooo cooooooool being called Z in college. I would forgive this in another character but not in him. 

Ashley’s spiel that the year after Ali’s disappearance she was terrified every time Hanna went out the door - it recontextualizes her panic the night Hanna went camping with Caleb, yes, but I wonder if she’s the only parent this was true of. It would be easy for all the other parents to think of their girls as immune to whatever happened to Alison but Ashley seems the least likely to fall prey to the just-world fallacy. 

Pam is out of town, likely visiting Wayne. I idly wonder how their marriage is doing with the distance. I mean, look, this is the only parental marriage I’m going to care about, y’all understand that right?

Ashley and Hanna discuss Ashley leaving home when she was 17 and not going to her dad’s funeral but paying for it. Ashley is also the parent most likely to be honest about her upbringing to her kid, with Hanna clearly comfortable asking her questions about it, and I think it gives her a better understanding of both her mom and Caleb.

...I don’t think Wilden was the first time Ashley engaged in quasi-transactional sex

Emily scrapbooked her way through an investigation. Emily is absolutely the kind of kid who grows up to be quite similar to her mom (and be annoyed by anyone pointing it out) and I would find the idea of Emily as a mom endearing if it was not for uh....canon....

Best A message of the episode: Hey, Em. Is it just me? Or does that suicide note look familiar?

A is like, Emily is not the solo deranged investigator type that Spencer is, I need to give her helpful prompts

Emily and Pam watch Wheel of Fortune together. I bet the Hastings watch Jeopardy (the rare times they are in town) and are very competitive with each other, the Marins watch the trashiest dating shows and the Montgomerys Do Not Believe in Reality TV (Mike watches Jackass)

Emily wants justice for Alison. Spencer wants safety for the living. Her living, which boils down to: the Liars, her family, Toby

Logan Reed yells “I don’t know how to describe voices!” Same, bro, same. 

Veronica apologizing to Spencer....I forgot this scene entirely. Veronica says “You work so hard. You always have.” and apologizes for letting a monster into their home and you can see something light up in Spencer and it is so sad even if I cannot remember how/if/when/where Veronica betrays her promise here in the future

Caleb once went without a meal for four days and has seen a dead body before :( He says it’s a short trip from Eat, Pray, Love to Drink, Snap, Slap :( 

I’m glad Hanna’s absurd “Erin Brockobitch” ploy worked to get him cash, even if I don’t understand why the Marins buy ice instead of using their freezer to make it.

Do like that the way they get back together is Hanna seeing him have a bad time and basically going ok I’ve got to do something about this. Hanna ends up going to a graveyard after this so maybe Caleb did not ditch his Goonies date with Lucas.

Other Caleb facts: clearly does not like Goonies, does like kung fu flicks

The note Jason found in his pocket has the same odd capitalization of “T” that Ian’s fake suicide note does, huh

Garrett pays off Logan Reed and reports back to Jenna. I ponder the times that PLL departs from our protagonists’ perspectives/immediate contexts and to what degree the show succeeds in playing with that.

Ella is spooked by Ian having been a regular adult at her kids’ school, someone she said hi to on the hallway and someone she trusted as a fellow authority over kids. ....are they trying to make Ezra seem terrible here or what???

Spemily are united in the graveyard hunt bc Spencer is back in bulldog mode after getting yelled at by her sister, and it’s a good look for them, while Team Haria is like :/ the ground is squishy whyyyy :/

Boom, Alison was alive after Ian left her. What the fuck else did she do that night huh.

[jaggedwolf]

pll rewatch 1x20-1x21

plot ramps up as we approach the finale. Caleb boards a literal bus, Paige gets on a metaphorical one, a new lesbian appears to go oh hell yes to Emily's face and as always: Spencer has a bad time

Spencer sounds most like a teenager when she whines "make them stop" to her mom about the cops searching her room. she is a sixteen year old, easy as it is to forget.

Hanna/Caleb are so domestic already - we will meet more queer women as the show progresses, but Haleb will beat all of them in the art of u-hauling by virtue of moving in together before getting together and oh god I just remembered another future Caleb line

Hanna has told the liars that she had sex with Caleb and Emily's first question is "have you had another opportunity" ok Emily

The girls all :eyes_emoji: at Paige and Sean having lunch together and Hanna reassures Emily, saying "it's okay, Sean's a good guy"

do the liars now think of Paige as Emily's friend or at least a neutral? Hanna's response here is quite different from when she called Paige a knob a few episodes back

Aria being the one to go "woah when did that start happening" cracks me up Aria you pay the least attention to your schoolmates out of everyone why would you expect to notice anything

She then accidentally sends an Ezra text to her mom instead. This bewilders me because (1) even phones of ye olde 2010 showed SMS threads by recency and I assume Ezra is at the top of Aria's list (2) does she have her mom saved as "Ella" instead of "Mom"?? (3) in a contacts list, Emily would appear between Ella and Ezra.

Ella is very understanding. and believes in giving Aria her privacy. She will not at all be rewarded for trusting her daughter. Poor Ella.

So, why does Sean think Emily would know whether Paige is dating anyone anyway? Gives Emily the opportunity to say "we swim on the same team" and that's all that really matters.

Sean describes Paige as "fun" a descriptor no one has ever used for S1!Paige. I kid, kid, she does seem more at ease and is probably less palpably full of turmoil outside of the contexts of Emily and/or swimming.

Emily's reaction to being handed a bag of full of Ezria totems is my reaction, this episode is Emily dealing with real or forced heterosexuality

Emily interrupts Paige putting up...swimming posters? Are the Sharks still recruiting team members? Anyway, here we get Paige saying "he makes me laugh" about Sean and unfortunately for our Ken Doll I think that comment is merely a trite recitation of what you are supposed to say about the boy you like

Paige tries to walk away from the conversation and Emily still follows her, like Emily, you have no reason to poke your nose into this. (Other than petty petty jealousy, but Emily would not admit such a thing when she can subsume it into generic concern.)

So what's up with Caleb not replying to any texts right when the liars tell Hanna he's sus and they all see the owl necklace/USB on Jenna? Does he know he's been caught out, is he trying to figure out a way to come clean, is he planning his bus trip out of here?

Regardless it gives Hanna time for her anger to build, and for her to figure out that 214 is Caleb's locker combination (Pick a better one, dude). This means Toby heard Caleb and Jenna mention Spencer's name. What's up with that.

I'd forgot Spencer's story about running away as a seven year old, and no one noticing. Sad little Hastings. The writers foil me by there being literally no Disney princess films released between 1999 and 2002, what re-release did she watch, and more importantly, what was each liar's favorite Disney princess as a kid?

Spoby right now are really bonding over being pariahs...Toby repeated the line about people crossing the street when they see him....my poor guy...

Hanna's slapping of Jenna felts way more violent than I remembered, those glasses flew!

At some point in this ring Aria is wearing a gigantic black ring with a pointy bit and all I could think about was how easy it would be to take someone's eye out with that

Aw, Paily's first scene in Emily's room, featuring the window seat of course.

And of course, the introduction to PLL's soundtrack of a theme literally called Guys Like Paige. Not the last time we'll hear it :D :D

Veronica is really good with Spencer this episode, helping her understand the legal circumstances, getting the police to back off, keeping Spencer in the loop...but she is still a C+ parent for not kicking Ian off her property imo

1x21 is all about the founder's festival where the people running booths range from the Ackard's church (what denomination are they, anyway), Hanna and Mona (don't even know what they're selling), and students from Sheridan Prep

+ Garrett lurking ominously in the shadows

Love the scene where Caleb tries to talk to Aria about Hanna and Ella mouths "HE'S CUTE" about Caleb to Aria. Caleb has now talked one-on-one with every liar and is the first love interest to do so. Ella is should interact with the teens instead of just her family, Byron or Ezra, it is actually pretty fun seeing her in that context

Paige is cute in this next scene, before it all goes badly. She grabs Emily by the arm because she's so excited, and she is so very smug that she got tickets to a sold-out concert and is treating Emily to them

We will never see Nick McCullers on-screen again but I'm trying to construct a picture of the type of stress-inducing parent he is and I don't think it's a micromanaging one or one who knows what Paige is up to every minute - she doesn't seem time-constrained at the karaoke or picnic dates, and he gets her these concert tickets via his connection.

Oh foolish foolish Paige. What you do is, you tell your dad you are going with your friend Pru, you go to the concert with Emily, you tell your dad that you are meeting Pru there and after, oh Pru's parents already picked her up. For bonus points, you ask Pru to cover for you without coming out to her, because the whole school already knows your dad is a homophobic douchenozzle about Emily and so it's not that weird.

Paige is too fucked up about herself to even contemplate logistics like that though, so of course she goes with bringing a guy. Though I assume Nick doesn't know the third ticket is for Emily anyway or else he'd be miffed so what's the point of insurance boy anyway.

"What even was your plan here, Paige" <- a question I will have many times

Paige I know you've been looking up how to come out to your dad but I wish you had also stumbled across how to excel at being closeted while still going on gay dates and not piss off your girlfriend lmao.

When explaining why she can't go over to Sheridan Prep's support group Paige mentions it is two (2) miles away and Emily nods understandably and I am left going wait does Paige not have a car. Did she pedal furiously on her little bike to the karaoke place. Did she fill panniers with picnic supplies for that date.

Tell me more about Paige McCullers' traveling logistics, show.

Keeping things subtle, Aria knocks Ezra's coffee onto his pants in the middle of a hallway at school and goes WOW I CAN'T BELIEVE I DID THAT I AM SUCH A KLUTZ and. I hate this. I hate them. Just text like normal people. You are doing a worse job of hiding this than Paige is of her sexuality.

Aria then proceeds to be distressed because guys, she looked at his WEBSITE PAGE (...are they not allowed to say facebook anymore? because Aria said facebook in the second or third episode) and saw you know what? A woman! With a ring! In a photo with him! Egads!

All of the liars project on to Aria's concerns - Emily says to be honest and clear the air, Hanna says fuck it find out for yourself by befriending the girl in the photo, Spencer says sometimes people look guilty but they aren't guilty okay :(

S1 Spencer is more suffused with guilt than I expected....real guilt, false guilt, imputed guilt, all of it

Toby and Spencer negotiate no one wanting them to spend time together and being trailed by the cops, and instead of arranging to meet somewhere normal like a restaurant or a movie theatre or even in Spencer's car in a random alley, they arrange a rendezvous at the festival's creepy clown maze

Paige stands up Emily and Samara, once more causing her own problems, as Emily is intrigued by Samara and her handmade jewelry, Paige feels exposed and explodes, and it all goes to shit. Not the right time yet, kiddos.

You'd expect a scorched earth response from Ashley towards Caleb for hurting Hanna, especially considering how heartbroken Hanna sounded in the bathroom, but Ashley isn't mean to him at all, saying he reminders her of herself. Young Ashley probably hurt a person or two while looking out for numero uno.

Spencer gets fucked up in that festival maze, man, and that's before some traps her in some kind of enclosed turnstile and freaks her the fuck out. If she didn't have claustrophobia before, she definitely does now.

Spencer is so dramatic in choosing to kiss Toby in front of her family and Mrs Ackard, but well, Spencer's always had a romantic streak. She loved doing that.

Emily gets her first A text that refers to Paige - thoughtful of A to wait till it's over - leading to an Ali flashback. The day she disappeared, Ali gave Emily a snowglobe.

In that snowglobe is a key. The key opens a storage unit. In that storage unit is a Tweety Bird lunch box. In that lunch box is a USB stick. On that USB stick are videos of the girls in Ali's room.

Worst russian doll surprise ever.

[jaggedwolf]

pll rewatch 1x09-1x10

tornado warnings and glamping, we've arrived at the end of Season 1A!

two kinds of people the night before the SATS: (1) Spencer, Hanna, and Aria quasi-studying and bantering at Spencer's place (2) Emily, very distraught and muddy, runs into her bedroom, apparently only owning one pair of sneakers

"Emily, very distraught" is the subheading of 1x09

Spencer does not want to be thought of as scary, which is very funny of her

also very funny is Hanna trying to push Aria/Noel by asking Aria if she doesn't want "someone you can scratch n sniff"

A underlines GREAT EXPECTATIONS in the text they send to Emily, just to make sure Emily understands it's a book reference

When Emily lies to Wilden that she was with the girls studying the previous night, Aria is the one to back Emily up while Hanna and Spencer look confused

did A solely send Spencer the text SEEMS LIKE YOU'RE ABOUT TO LOSE EMILY? is A also responsible for the way Spencer is about Emily?? though we'll also get a non-A example of that later this season....

Mentions of Rosewood specifically being in Delaware County, which tracks

oh god why is Aria singing I had no memory of this, at least we immediately go into an Emison flashback

Ali really does flirt/toy with Emily via quoting Great Expectations lmao - Ali's finished the book by this point, Emily hasn't

Every Ezria scene remains terrible, and I laughed at Aria dramatically saying "you told me at homecoming you got a haircut for me!"

flashback!Emily is such a pushover and holds herself smaller too, you understand why the other liars are so shocked whenever she gets snappy with them

Alison was as a awful in the locker room flashback as I remember. Poor poor Emily, not even getting the meager dignity of running away from her humiliation

Emily's letter to Alison that Wilden grabs wasn't a love letter, but a letter expressing how angry she was with the way Alison treated her. Can't underestimate Emily's anger, even back then.

Forgot Veronica's lumpectomy reveal was in this episode

Spencer is so shaken by that, naturally, but also by the fact that her mom never told anyone in the family. such is life in The Last Dynasty of Rosewood

Veronica approves of Alex btw

Pan to Lucas's muddy shoes, DUN DUN DUN

look this town is too fancy for any teen to not own multiple pairs of shoes. okay, maybe one teen, but we haven't met him yet.

Spencer getting groomed by creepy field hockey coach Ian is the flashback she's seemed the most bullyable in, with Ali taunting her about it (was Ali's reaction jealousy, given what we learn later?)

I know that field hockey team was cursed freshman year, we'll come back to that later

every other episode Spencer turns to a member of her family and goes "do you still love me/can you tell me the truth?" and they are always like UGH FINE I GUESS IF I HAVE TO

this episode it's Melissa's turn, as Spencer tries to set up Melissa/Ian again to make up for her sins that aren't really her sins

the FBI...are here....

i have no memory of this, i guess Veronica successfully scared Wilden away

the FBI also believe in talking to minors and showing them creepy videos without their guardians present

god how much money do Mona's parents make, looking at this glamping party

you can tell I'm an adult on this rewatch because I'm also saying Ashley, I know you want as little to change for Hanna as possible, but maybe the two of you should downsize from this giant-ass house to an apartment, given the financial situation?

Hanna is really trying to be a good kid ;_; she's still selling off her stuff, she refuses going shopping with Mona and even tries to beg off skipping school because Ashley disapproves

the other three have their parental complexes (oh boy @ emily almost coming out to her dad while her mom stares at the photos A sent of Emily and Maya kissing) but none of them are as of yet concerned about being a financial burden

and then Ashley robs an old lady. Ashley, you're gonna have to launder that cash!

Aria has an honest conversation with Ella about Aria's reaction to the Alison wearing Toby's sweater news - they do strike me as a mother-daughter pair that would be very open with each other, if it hadn't been for BYRON MONTGOMERY and EZRA FITZ

Speaking of Toby, my boy's PR continues to be the worst. He's officially wanted for Alison's murder, creepily rises from the backseat of Emily's BEAUTIFUL TOYOTA, and then scurries off into the woods before getting arrested at The Church (is it Sean's dad's church?)

Did one of the girls call the cops on him? Unclear

Emily and Maya cuddling on the bed but I'm worried that they were wearing shoes while doing so. SMH what kind of Asian household is this.

Forget Emily running in with muddy shoes, Pam Fields has so much to clean as it is, no one's running into her house with any shoes, I reject canon on this.

Spencer is so, so happy to be hunting down clues to A, she would love an escape room. It's enrichment for her.

Sparia vibes beginning to rise these episodes, with Aria going "A little" to Spencer whiningly asking if she's scary and also going "You're a freak and I love you" about Spencer remembering the exact number of steps to where they found the Alison bracelet

My favourite A message of these episodes was: YOU'RE AS IN THE DARK AS JENNA. LOOKING FOR ME IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES.

no one can be normal about the blind girl. who is incredibly not-normal about her step-brother. that's the rosewood ouroboros for ya.

Spencer repeatedly mutters "looking for me in all the wrong places" while making a smore and the unnamed girl next to gives her the best wtf look.

Sorry Spencer, all other kids definitely think you are scary. Probably your teachers too.

Aria's dedication to wearing her hat even under the CAMP MONA hoodie: respect it.

Aria kissing Ezra again: do not respect it

Hanna had to see that too, Hanna did not ask to see all her friends kissing! She's minding her own business when this happens

And then she gets hit by a fucking car for her trouble, literally rolling across the top of it

Hope the Marins health insurance isn't shit.