Pretty Little Liars - S6E9 - Last Dance
Previously on Pretty Little Liars, ‘Framed’
I started tonight’s episode thinking that it was the summer finale and the long-anticipated face-to-face with “A.” But alas, that is next week. Supposedly Oh, it’ll be a summer finale, but this face-to-face business I am real skeptical about. Still, tonight’s episode is monumental in its own right. So let’s get to it.
The Liars are all informed they won’t be allowed to go to prom or graduation and they each throw a hissy fit and organize a makeshift prom in Spencer’s barn. It’s totally legit and logical on the school board side, but for the Liars it honestly sucks the big one. Aria says Clark isn’t returning her calls. Lorenzo and Ali have an awkward (and silent) run-in when she gets a text from Charles saying she “better be at prom.” Mama Montgomery comes bearing great news: Aria has won the photo contest. She’s got a cash prize and an internship in L.A. starting the Monday after school ends. Aria is less than thrilled and refuses to leave. Mama M. thinks she just needs a sandwich.
Hanna spies Caleb bringing a “hardcore laptop” with him on a quick trip up to New York and he gives a plausible - but altogether unlikely - excuse. Emily asks Miley Cyrus - er, Sarah - to go to prom, but Sarah is already going to her old school’s prom. Good. I don’t like her anyway. Emily can do so much better. Spencer tries to take the heat for Toby so he isn’t suspended from his “police job” but no-go. Caleb isn’t answering Hanna’s calls, but she’s discovered that he isn’t going to New York at all. Told ya.
At the coffee shop, Spencer rallies for Ali with Officer Handsome, but gets nowhere. Seeing as how her happy candy got Toby indefinitely suspended, I’m not sure why he was talking to her at all. She suggests he surprise Ali at the Barn Prom which would be ridiculously adorable and super convenient since he’s a cop and all and we know something bad is gonna go down. So hopefully he takes her advice.
The mamas all congregate in the Hastings kitchen and chit chat over wine and crudite. Has this ever happened before? Parents actually being present and communicating? I’d be happy to rewatch all 6 seasons on Netflix, but I’m almost certain it hasn’t. Ali arrives in a yellow dress (a shade that is startlingly similar to the infamous yellow shirt she wore the night she “died”) but spies a figure in the woods. So of course she goes to follow it. Because surely nothing can happen when she’s alone in the woods with a killer on the loose and she’s in inappropriate-for-running footwear and attire and judging by the winds and thunder, a storm is coming.
The remaining Liars are posing for pics - sans Ali - and Aria creeps on Ezra’s phone to see a flight confirmation to LAX. While Ali is now conspicuously absent, the Liars aren’t concerned. Way to stick together, ladies. Ali is at the school prom, following the mysterious hooded figure. And guess who’s there taking pictures - Clark. Of course. But Ali pays him no mind and continues to follow Red Riding Hood.
The other Liars spot Ali at prom from the background of someone’s Instagram photo and book it over to the high school. The mamas get buzzed on the porch and gossip and opt not to check on the girls. Parenting at its finest. At the prom, Aria confronts Clark, but some sassy staff member interrupts to politely ask Aria and her pals to leave. They spot Ali, but then lose her (she’s in a bright yellow dress in a dark room - how did they manage that?) because she’s still following Red Hood (perhaps it’s the same person as Red Coat?). The Mamas are good and drunk now and decide to demand answers from Daddy DiLaurentis. Oh, this ought to be good. They don’t find him, but they do find an envelope with some shocking evidence inside (that we don’t get to see), and a young blonde gentleman who could very well fit right into a DiLaurentis family portrait. Et tu, Charles?
At the prom, Ali asks to be left alone to “handle” her business and Spencer chases her down anyway pleading with her not to follow her “bad judgement.” Uh, pot, this just in, you are calling the kettle black. Sarah shows up to surprise Emily and okay, fine, that was really sweet and okay, fine, she looks kinda pretty. But she still isn’t good enough for Emily. Then Caleb pops up to surprise Hanna. He cops to not meeting his father, but still says he was in New York. Trying to get a job so they can both move to New York - making her dream come true and having nothing to do with “A.” Someone is so getting laid tonight!
Young blondie(the same man Hanna and Spencer met with when they inquired about Hanna’s scholarship) tells the Mamas he will come back another time and they, too, think he’s Charles. But that would just be too easy. So he either is not Charles at all, or he is Charles because it’s just so obvious. And basically, we still know nothing. All the Liars are dancing and enjoying the prom they’re not supposed to be at (proving that everyone in Rosewood, including the entire high school faculty, is terrible at their jobs) and Aria tells Ezra not to go to L.A. But he’s not - it was a layover on his way to Thailand. He’ll be with Habitat for Humanity (and the perky little Aussie) for the summer. Awkward! And sad. Will these two never get back together?!?
At the DiLaurentis house, the Mamas make wise and logical decisions just as their daughters do. They opt not to call the cops and follow a sound down into the basement where they are promptly locked in. At the prom, as the Liars close in on what they think is Charles, Clark busts in and reveals he’s an undercover cop. Wow. I could not have been more wrong about him. I’m truly pleased that PLL has flabbergasted me this way. When the Liars return to the prom, they discover that Ali is gone. Dun, dun, dun.
Ali is wandering off alone - always a good idea - and gets grabbed from behind. Lo and behold, Officer Handsome does show up to surprise Ali (Isn’t this prom just so full of surprises?) and they all break off to find Ali. The Mamas are locked in the dark, finally realizing a tiny smidgen of what their daughters went through and just how terrible of a job they’ve done as parents. Back at the prom, Ali comes face to face with “A” / Charles and he slips his hood down for Ali to see.
But. We. Don’t. Of course we don’t. Of freakin’ course we don’t. We’re promised to see it next week, but I’m not holding my breath. I’ll leave that to Ali who gasped and said, “Oh my God” (ABC Family speak for “What.The.Fuck”). And then I gasped and said “What.The.Fuck.” and rewound my DVR about 37 times trying to find some glimmer of a glimpse of something I might have missed. Oh, PLL, you are a devious little bird aren’t you. This highly anticipated summer finale cannot come soon enough.
Until next week…
