In a single sentence, I’ve seen better Pretty Little Liar episodes. The episode concentrated more on adding depth to their characters but a few of those additions were inconsistent with what we were lead to believe in earlier episodes; for instance, Hanna’s decision to attend a virgins club. I thought Hanna was image conscious and was feeling pressure from peers to go all the way. All of a sudden she doesn’t care about publicizing that she is a virgin by going to that club meeting. As for that revelation from her therapist, I hope it was mean to be confusing! Are we to believe that he counseled Jenna as well?

Another one of these inconsistencies is seen in Toby’s character. He was portrayed as someone really sensitive and perfectly normal when he is around Emily but grows strangely quiet around other girls. I’m sure there is a more creative way to portray mystery in the character. Now with Emily and Toby developing special feelings for each other, I guess that means Maya is out!

Spencer is still having it bad in her family. The mom and sister are as rude as ever but the dad is always full of praises for her. He comes up with a business plan that involves her losing her tennis match. Alex, a new character, is seen watching the match. Perhaps there would be future between them.

The most convincing part of the episode was with Aria’s character. The pressure of her parents’ constant fighting gets to her. To add to it, she can no longer go to Ezra for consolation. After his angry side set foot, the two seem to be done for good.

As for ‘A’ they sure want us to believe that it is Jenna – with her texting and the message written with lipstick. I’m pretty sure it’s not her though. From my years of thriller movies and TV shows experience, I can say that the mysterious X is never the one who is obvious.

Finally the girls realized that they can actually block unknown senders on their phones! In today’s world, won’t that be the first thing anybody would think of? Anyhow, they block A from sending them threatening text messages but A has other tricks up his/her sleeve. ‘A’ falls back on music dedication – Pretty old fashioned huh! This episode revolved more around the much needed character development than the puzzling character ‘A’.

A new character is introduced with this week’s episode. Hanna’s father comes back into their lives after having so callously abandoned them. He adds injury to hurt by waltzing in with a fiancée and a step sister for Hanna. He seems unaware of Hanna’s legal issues, but his cutting joke about not letting Hanna drive proved otherwise. Hanna’s mom must’ve surely appreciated his return though! His money means fewer cops to sleep with to get their daughter out of jail.

Quite predictably Spencer’s stolen essay turns out to be exceptional. Her teacher suggests entering it into a national competition. Well, if I were Spencer, I’d be more worried about plagiarism charges than she seemed to be! She furthermore gets caught on video camera going at it with her sister’s drunken ex-fiancé.

Aria is still feeling guilty for not having told her mother about her father’s indiscretion, but luckily for her somebody else does it; her mother receives a letter from an anonymous source. So that’s one little secret off her chest but the more debilitating one for her is still a secret. Her fling with the teacher guy is still going strong. It’s surprising that nobody has noticed her going in and out of his apartment! It is a small town isn’t it?

Emily, mixed up with lesbian feelings towards a new girl in town (Maya), still can’t decide which way to go. She is seen struggling to conceal her lesbian instincts when a picture of her kissing Maya in a photo booth makes its appearance. To add to the confusion, she also starts having a thing for Jenna’s brother Toby (the neighborhood creep) after he rescues her.