"Pretty Little Liars" wasted no time last night, picking up right where the girls left off last week with Hanna, Spencer and Aria racing down the hall in search of Emily only to find her phone, a lot of broken glass and blood in the chem lab. Did Toby really murder her?
No! Emily is still alive! Toby pushed her out of his car at the Emergency Room entrance just in time (hey, it works in the movies, right?). Her cracked skull was all bandaged up and she won the Toyota Corolla, so, overall, pretty good night, I'd say. But troubled Toby is never happy. He traded mom's slow sedan for a motorcycle and took off into the dark night, crashing on one of Rosewood's windy, forest-lined roads. But is Toby dead or alive? Can Jenna cry real tears if her eyes were burned in an explosion? There is so much we still don't know!
But, back to the girls, who are all still dealing with the aftermath of the dance. Confined to bed (where she can look at her brand new Corolla in the driveway), Emily received a steady line of visitors. Hanna showed up with some surprising depth and maturity, letting Em know that who she likes, boy or girl, doesn’t change who she is ("90210" producers should take note) and gave Emily the courage to tell Maya she wants to be with her. Jenna stopped by to let Emily know that she needs Toby's file back, Alison told her a lot of secrets, you know, so that's a threat. (Seriously, who didn't Alison tell secrets to?)
But Jenna and her walking stick were tapping up the wrong tree. That file was traipsing all over town with Hanna — just thismuch too big for her purse, plainly showing TOBY CAVANAUGH CONFIDENTIAL FILE, but what can you do? The girl slept for three hours in her homecoming dress, in her homecoming hair for that matter, just so she could do make-up yearbook photos with Sean (who, by the way, went overnight from President of Real Love Waits to Rosewood's New Playboy — I feel like RLW would frown on sending your girlfriend's best friend flowers …but I guess if they aren't "doing it," maybe it doesn’t matter?). The sooner he is out of the picture, the sooner Hanna can watch all the funny YouTube videos she wants with my new favorite character Lucas. The geeky teen also revealed that it was Alison that dubbed him a "hermie" when she didn't like the glasses he was wearing — meanwhile, I still don't get how bad spectacles would give him lady parts. There is so much mystery in this show.
Anyway, Hanna had real business to take care of! Hopping into her Mercedes (where did that come from BTW?), she rushed Aria and Spencer to the woods to burn Toby’s file ... in a forest … full of sticks and leaves and trees. Spencer tried to explain the concept of fire to the girls. "But I've crashed a car! I was caught shoplifting sunglasses. I can't add stealing medical records to the list," Hanna explained. "You mean the Gucci's with the gold frames?" Aria inquired. "My mom had to sleep with the detective and the mall security guard to get me out of it and I think Toby's therapist is married," Hanna whined. "But they were Gucci, right?" Aria's pupils turned into interlocking G's. "Snap out of it, Aria, I have a date with a ball boy later," Spencer snapped. Out of her designer sunglasses-induced haze, Aria grabbed the file and threw it into the creek. "Works for me," Hanna shrugged. "Everyone back in the Benz I stole." "OMG, my KIN is working …" Aria mumbled.
And then the moment everyone was waiting for: Spencer's steamy date with Alex. Aside from a few boring kisses between Aria and Ez (who, we learned last night, was interviewing for a new job?! Oh no!! On that note: nice cameo from "PLL" author Sara Shepard, who played substitute teacher Miss Shepard. We guess the name really had to be obvious), there really hasn't been much action on this show. I had high hopes for this kitchen scene. Spencer got down and dirty, she helped skewer fruit kabobs (hot), Alex followed her into the supply closet (hotter), she found a picture of herself with devil horns. Sigh. The moment is over. But wait … is that Diego Boneta's (wink, wink) "Siempre Tu" playing? Spencer is lured back by the music and Alex makes his move. It was no Marissa and Ryan, but it wasn’t a half-bad kiss.
And finally, the girls get a text from A (remember him/her?): "Thanks for getting Toby out of my way." Creeeeeeeeppppy!
What did you think of the "Homecoming hangover" episode, Crushers? Do you believe Toby is really dead? Were you as amazed by the throwing-of-the-file into water as we were? Did you like the dance between Spencer and Alex? Finally, is Sean really into Aria or is it an act?