S3 Episode 6: The Remains of A

Apologies for the late post. The weekend got in the way.

Anyhow, on to the recap. One thing to lookout for: the liars set up a trap for A.

Church Trap and Garroting Garrett

• Spencer and Hanna set up a trap for A using the note they took from Mrs. Reynold’s medical bracelet.
  
  They replace it with a fake note that says, “Rosewood church by the organ in the main sanctuary tonight.” (Note: When they run out, there’s a blonde female watching them. I’m not sure if she’s holding a camera but it seemed like she was. It’s difficult to get a screencap but it’s right after this:)
  
  
• Spoby: Toby talks to Spence about an upcoming job he is excited about and Spence appears distracted. Peter Hastings arrives from his run and Toby leaves. The Hastings start discussing Veronica Hastings representing Garrett, and it turns into an argument. PH tells Spence that the physical evidence against Garrett cannot be retested, thus cannot be used against him. Spence is angry, and then leaves.
• As the Church Rummage Sale (CRS) continues, Hanna continues to help sort out (by season) the clothes they collected. Ted asks about Ashley, obviously interested in her. He tells Hanna about the “Thank You” party at the Church. At first Hanna declines, and later accepts after realizing that it affects their plans to trap A.
• Spencer and Hanna meet at the grill to discuss their plans. Spencer mentions that she asked for Jason’s help—plus the NAT videos, Garrett, and possible A-involvement. Aria arrives. Then, it’s Hanna turn to fill them in about the Church Party on the night of the “trap”. She says Em is going to be with her. (Cheese Fries, anyone? I end up getting hungry everytime I watch or remember this scene). Aria is still thinking of the sock drawer contents and starts asking about Jason’s $50K reward—if he would just have that amount of cash lying around the house. Spencer has an opinion about that which might have instigated an idea in Aria’s mind.
• PH approaches Jason and begs him to stay away from his sister. Which sister? J. They end up arguing, as usual. It’s the Hastings way. Jason is still bitter. PH is quite a demanding father.
• Back at the CRS, Ashley and Hanna see eachother. Hanna wants to leave, again but Ashley wants to say Hi to Ted. Ash tells Hanna that she is Ted’s date to the party. Hanna tells her mom that she is going and Toby is taking her (lying about another volunteer she is trying to avoid).
• At Spencer’s, Hanna is complaining about the dance and asks if Toby can take her. They argue about Toby’s involvement in their trap. Spencer also has the Police Academy Roster, checking if another cop might be involved (part of the A team? Wilden?). Spencer says that she sometimes fantasizes what might her life be if she didn’t meet Ali? Hanna says she does that too. Then, Spence explains that if she didn’t meet Ali, she wouldn’t be friends with Hanna and the rest of the liars. So, she asks what time Hanna wants Toby to pick her up. Hanna says, 7:30p. It’s now or never!
• At night, Spencer hurries down to leave when Jason arrives and tells her that he found April Rose. It’s a store and they head there together.
• At the Church Party, Hanna arrives with Toby (uh, he reminds me of a younger Joaquin Phoenix). Hanna asks about the guy that’s been bothering her and she randomly points towards a group of guys (LOL). We later see Ashley (cleavage, et al) arrive with Ted. Then, Wilden arrives (Ha!).
• Hanna calls Em, who got hung up at Sputnik’s – and will leave in 5 minutes. Toby is bored, and knows they lied to him. He asks Hanna to dance. She first declines and then accepts. Toby asks her why they lied to him. Toby thinks it has something to do with Caleb then calls Spencer, leaves a voicemail, asking why they lied to him.
• Ted & Ashley are talking about his Summit Adventures at a table. He asks Ash if she wants to go and Ash tries to set up a schedule. After Ted declines Sunday invitations, a few times, Ashley finds out that he’s a Pastor.
• Later, Ashley is freaking out at Hanna because H didn’t tell her about Ted being a Pastor. (I don’t recall Ted specifically mentioning that to Hanna). Then, Ash goes over to Ted eventually and asks him to dance. Wilden interrupts. He knows the pastor. Wilden appears surprised at the pairing (who isn’t?). Ted senses something between the two and Ash explains that Wilden was part of Ali’s investigation. Wilden walks away but Ash is affected by his presence. She excuses herself from the party, due to a “headache”.
• Hanna and Em finally run into eachother. Em tells Hanna about her conversation with Holden (All Seeing Eye Flashback section). She said she’ll follow Hanna later but she needs to track down Holden first. Hanna heads over to the sanctuary and hides between one of the benches. Someone walks in. Lalalala. It’s Wilden! He has the note with him. He says someone from the hospital handed it to him. (What do you think?) Wilden grills Hanna about helping Garrett. He thinks the liars are siding with him. Creepy Wilden is threatening her but she gets to leave.

April Rose

• Spencer, while running an internet search on April Rose, waits for Jason. She solicits her brother’s help in finding more info about April Rose. From afar, PH watches them.
• The Hastings Siblings (Spence & Jason) talk about April Rose, and the possibility that she might have been someone from their (NAT) videos. Spence mentions that she knows about NAT and ask about its members. As far as Jason knows, just the ones we already know. However, he did feel that Ian had help or he might be filming for someone else. Jason explains that he was really messed up then. He tells Spence that the whole thing was his idea but Ian & Garrett would pay girls to set up their friends.
• At the April Rose Antique Store, Jason and Spencer search the items. Jason asks about something that might have been dropped off a while ago but was not picked up. He says that someone they know asked them to pick it up. Spencer spots the anklet and takes it using her scarf.
  
  Flashback: Ali is getting ready at Spencer’s room. She says that her friend is coming to get her so they can get fake IDs. Spencer tells Ali that she always ditches when something better comes up. From the flashback, Ali refers to her friend as a ‘she’.
• Spencer asks if they can purchase it (despite it having no label). After some bargaining, Jason pays $400 for it.
• Outside the precinct, Spencer waits for Jason and listens to Toby’s voicemail. We find out that Jason has turned over the anklet from an “anonymous tip”. Later, Spencer asks Jason about the letters Jason found that led paternal revelations. She asks if she can see them. Jason explains that it’s not a good idea because it’ll just cause hurt. Spencer tells him how different he is from Ali. His reasons for not showing the letter would the same reasons why Ali would want to show them. Jason says that he learned a lot about dealing with these kinds of issues as he is helping out other kids deal with their own issues.
• Towards the end of the episode, PH talks to Spencer about the important piece of evidence that was turned over the next day (from when they declared the other evidence unusable). PH knows that Jason and Spence found it. He says that the anklet contained two sets of DNA (blood). One of Ali, and another unidentified individual—not Garrett. They just helped Garrett. Spencer runs back to her room and screams into a pillow. (Is she crying because she freed Garrett or because she fell for a setup? If G isn’t the killer indeed, why is she crying?)
• Spence gets a text from A: Hey Spence, I have one more surprise for you. Garrett isn’t the killer. -A

All Seeing Eye Flashback

• Em is working at a very contemporary café with a very old cash register. Hanna arrives and hands her a note with the pickup location of the jacket she found at the rummage sale: Riverside and State St.
• Em goes to the address, checking the location of the donation box (from where the jacket was recovered from). She spots Sputnick’s and it triggers a flashback from THAT NIGHT.
• Em heads in Sputnik’s and orders a meal. She gets a text from Hanna regarding the Church Party. As she stares down her placemat—which contains several puzzles, including a maze, she gets another flashback: The lower portion of the maze is filled out and a note that says, “I’m sorry I left you.” Looks like a female hand. Then, the waitress starts talking to someone next to Em, warning him that Em looks like she’s about to pass out. From the reflection, it looks like Holden. We see a green/camo colored jacket. The wrist stretches out and we see a stamp of an eye-design. There also seems to be a notebook/book of puzzles in the background. We see hands holding (Holden? And Who?) The other person is wearing a puffy-ish jacket (Was that Em’s jacket? Did she hand it over to that person and that person dumped it into the donation box? That seemed to be a very long night? I’m getting confused at how much has happened in so little time.)
• Em arrives at the Church Party and sees Holden (really?). She spots the stamp, thinking it was a tattoo and asks him about it.
  
  He rubs it off his wrist (Shower much, Holden?). Holden says it’s from a party that changes venue. He also says that he use to see Em’s friend at the party…her girlfriend. Then, he makes a weird face. Em mentions Maya’s name and Holden’s reaction gets weirder. He  then makes an escape from the conversation. As he leaves Em gets another flashback and confirms that it was Holden with her at Sputnik’s.

The Sock Drawer

• Aria is getting updates from the ‘hospital note switch’ while Ezra talks to her. Obviously distracted, she lies and tells him that the text is from Laurell – regarding her first day as her assistant. Aria says she wants to cancel & Ezra tries to reason with her…eventually by using the RoloFlex and wasting precious film on snapshots.
• While Ezra is taking a shower, Aria goes searching for socks and runs across a pack of moolah stashed in E’s sock drawer. She panics and tells him she’s leaving. Ezra comes out of the shower and Aria starts acting weird and leaves. (Does this rule out Aria as a suspect? Are they turning the tables and making Ezra a suspect? Hmmm)
• Later that night, Ezra is watching an old movie when a distraught Aria arrives. He asks about her day and she tells him. (She punctured a bounce? Huh? That’s not exactly easy to do.) Then, she mentions the sock drawer. Easily, Ezra tells her that he sold one of his Grandpa’s cars ( a ’64 Jaguar) and the buyer paid cash. (I thought he got a job?). After much discussion, the two settle by the couch and continue watching the movie. Ezra makes a brilliantly awkward reaction towards the sock drawer!!! (Favorite scene of the episode)

A’s Antics

• At the end, we get our gratuitous peek inside A’s world. Someone, aka alleged A, wearing a black hoodie and black leather gloves is enjoying some sherbet while reading The Rosewood Observer. (The movements and gestures look female to me.) After reading the headlines, A turned to the classifieds, and circled an ad for Room for Rent.

My Thoughts

• Aside from the ones in parens above, I also think that Garrett might have set up the liars. The suspects have always found most, if not all, the liars as meddlers so they must’ve thought that they would try something knowing that Garrett is out. The question is, did this setup mean that G is still part of the A Team?
• I can’t stop thinking about the blonde in the earlier part of the episode. Is that Cece? Ali’s Twin?
• Last observation: Sometime in Season 2, the end-of-the-episode-with-a-gloved-hand scene became more and more prominent.  It might represent the introduction of an unknown character (or characters). I’m sticking to my theory that there is a big A manipulating little As. Whether in the form of blackmail or voluntarily, I’m not sure. Yet.
• Why do I keep thinking that Ezra did get the money from Jason? Does that clear Jason from being part of the A Team?