Pretty Little Liars Recap - "Playtime" (S07E11)

Pretty Little Liars is back for the final season!

We open with Spencer being rushed to the hospital followed by the Liars. As she is rushed into the emergency room they try and piece together what just happened and where Jenna and Mary Drake disappeared to. As they talk they see Toby being rushed in on a gurney.

Flash forward to a week later and we learn that both Toby and Spencer survived their respective injuries, but poor Yvonne is in a medically induced coma. Aria visits with Toby to see how he's doing before heading to Ezra's apartment. She packs a bag and as she is leaving, he finally arrives. He asks where she's going then basically asks her to stay. They talk a little about Nicole, but Ezra doesn't say much. Aria gets a text from Spencer and goes to see her.

Meanwhile, Hanna wakes up next to Caleb and wants to start looking for Jenna. He hands Hanna her sketchbook and tries to remind her of her passion. He encourages her to continue pursing fashion even though it almost broke them up before. He wants her to find herself again. Emily and Paige both get hired at the high school, Emily as the swim coach and Paige as an athletic department head. They both now work with Alison who shows up late for work. When Emily asks if she's ok, she says yes and she was late because she went to the doctor. She starts pushing Emily away already.

Aria arrives at Spencer's and the Liars are waiting for her with a big gift box sent from AD. They are upset to realize that Noel Kahn was not AD and they were wrong. They open the box to find a giant interactive board game set up like Rosewood with each of the girls as a game piece. It's so creepy! Spencer thinks AD wants them to play, but Hanna thinks AD want to play with them. They all agree not to play the game.

Hanna asks Aria what's going on with her and Ezra and Aria tells her about their conversation. Hanna assures her that Ezra will tell Nicole about them and things will work out between Ezra and Aria. She suggests Aria works on planning the wedding so that when Ezra is ready, everything is set. Mona runs into Hanna while she is sketching and looks through her book. She comes up with a way to get Hanna's name out there in the fashion world.

Spencer meets with Detective Fury and he tells her that they don't think Dr. Rollins is actually in France anymore. He shows her a gun and Spencer insists it's the one she saw Jenna holding. Fury tells her that it doesn't match the bullet that they pulled out of her shoulder. Spencer doesn't understand, and he suggests that someone else may have been there and took the shot at Spencer. Spencer heads home and awaits the arrivial of her mother. When Veronica arrives she apologizes for not making it home sooner and says Mr. H is on his way. She asks what happened and Spencer gives her the run down of what went down with Jenna, Noel, and Mary Drake. She tells her that Mary Drake claimed to be her birth mother. Veronica doesn't deny it, just reminds Spencer that Mary is crazy. Finally Veronica breaks down and tells her that Jessica DiLaurentis had come to visit her and told her about her twin sister who was in Radley. They said she was pregnant and while they didn't know the father of Charles/Charlotte, they knew the father of this baby. Apparently Mr. Hastings thought he had run into Jessica, when it was actually Mary Drake, they slept together and she got pregnant. Veronica agreed to take the baby. She waited outside and Spencer was brought to her. Spencer can't believe it. She doesn't understand why her mother stayed with her father with everything he has done to her. She disappears into the barn.

Hanna takes Aria to look at wedding venues. At their favorite one they run into Holden. Remember him from high school? Yeah. Hanna gets a call from Mona and disappears. Holden offers to show Aria around his sister's place. He asks how she's doing and who she is getting married to. When he finds out it's Mr. Fitz, he is supportive. He asks Aria what they want for their wedding, and she can't answer. Holden and Aria run into Ezra on the street. He tells her that Nicole's parents called and he's going to New York. Aria looks visibly saddened about this, but says goodbye.

At Rosewood High, tension brews between Paige and Ali when they resort trading insults during a committee meeting. Emily tries to intervene, but is unsuccessful. These three working together is going to be nothing if not interesting. Emily confronts Ali about it afterwards and she blames it on her pregnancy and her ruined life. Em reminds her that nothing is going well for anyone and Ali brings up that she's pregnant with her scheming sham of a husband who used her, robbed her, medicated her, and is now gone. Emily tried to remind her that she's not alone. Ali questions if she should tell the others.

Meanwhile, Spencer drinks some wine to drown her sorrows and decides to play the game. She picks up the phone attached to the side and places it on the "home" section. The creepy game lights up and asks her to pick "truth or dare." Spencer picks "dare" and is told to visit Toby. She visits him and they sit and talk in the hospital. He can't believe a deer caused his accident and wonders if they'll ever really get out of Rosewood. After she meets with Toby, she returns home and the fame spits out an envelope. She reads a letter from Mary written while she was in Radley to her newborn daughter. She wishes her daughter well and is sorry she was born in a madhouse. Spencer falls asleep with the letter and Veronica is saddened when she sees it.

Hanna meets Mona who introduces her to a Senator's daughter who is interested in her clothes. The woman comes to Hanna's and tries on some outfits before telling Hanna that she'd email the boss lady her top choices to wear. When she leaves, Hanna is furious that Mona is selling herself as the boss. Mona comes over and the girls talk it out. Mona tells Hanna that it was a misunderstanding and she will fix it, she promises that she knows Hanna is running the show.

The girls meet at Spencer's and she confesses that she started playing the game. Everyone is pissed. She apologizes and says she wasn't thinking. The girls try to decide what to do and Hanna goes to destroy the game, but before she does a video starts playing on the phone screen. It's a video of them where they buried Rollins' body. It says "can't stop playing now." They realize that they're trapped and must finish the game or the video will go to the police and the accidental murder and ensuing cover up of Archer/Elliot will be discovered.

We finally see Jenna who looks a little scared until she is handed a book by a stranger. She begins reading the book in Braille and slowly smiles as she says "endgame." This is not good.

Pretty Little Liars is Coming to an End

Well is everyone else just as depressed as I am?! Pretty Little Liars has been a Tuesday night staple for me since it premiered June 8, 2010. I had just finished my freshman year of college and had gone from having close friends to no one I could trust. My boyfriend, whom I was convinced I was going to marry, wasn't doing great health wise, and he lived in Nevada, so I was kind of lonely. I remember seeing previews for this show, and thought I would give it a chance. After spending my first hour in Rosewood something changed- I had friends. Obviously I'm not talking about real live breathing friends as this show is fake and so are the characters in it (no matter how great they are). However, I felt like I belonged. I felt a connection to these characters and I desperately needed that.

You see ,my 2 best friends both lived in Iowa by this point (don't ask why, I don't get it either). My friend from high school that went to college with me had completely betrayed my trust and our friendship ended. My 1st college roommate ended up moving home to California after not doing so well mentally during the first semester. My 2nd college roommate basically went MIA after our last day of school (only to randomly show up on Facebook 3 years later). So between this and the fact that my only real friend lived in Canada, I was desperate to find some sort of connection- even if it was fake or pretend. I mean in reality, isn't that why we get so attached to shows? The show itself and the plot is great, but we connect with the characters and we care. I care about these girls and I care what happens to them- that is why I have continued watching and I will continue watching until it ends next year. I have always loved shows where they have strong female friendships. I mean at any point these girls could have gone their separate ways or fought or ratted each other out, but they haven't. They have been to hell and back together and they stand by one another without question. I think part of the reason I love them so much is because I want friends like that and I want to be that kind of friend.

I will miss Aria, Hanna, Spencer, Emily, and Ali when they finally leave my life. I hope these girls actually get happy endings- they really deserve it after everything they have been through. I love them and I love their screwed up crazy lives. I am so sad that there won't be a Halloween episode though, I mean those were tradition! I am glad that they have gone as long as they did and after all, all great things must come to an end.

Thanks to Marlene King and her team for this incredible show with these incredible characters.

RIP (almost) Pretty Little Liars, you will be missed Bitches.

Pretty Little Liars Recap - "Tick Tock Bitches" (S07E01)

Holy....Wow.

So we start back at the Lost Woods Motel where Hanna has been taken. The girls receive a text thanking them for Hanna and it's signed A.D. So who the hell is AD aside from the obvious Alison DiLaurentis?!

They are running to the police station-everyone is obviously freaking out-when they see Mrs. D's twin walking to the station. Toby goes in and asks her what he can do for her. She introduces herself as Mary Drake and says she owns the Lost Woods Motel and it was broken into. So this is Mary Drake aka Charlotte's biological mom and Ali's aunt.

They try to figure out who has Hanna and the girls get a text saying the bells toll for Hanna. The church bell tolls and they run for the bell tower and see Hanna's body hanging from the ceiling. They pull her down and think she's dead until Caleb notices that it's not Hanna, it's a mask. They pull off the mask and a creepy doll is looking back at them. Emily finds a pull string and the doll tells them that they have 24 hours to hand in Charlotte's killer to A.D. or Hanna will die.

The group meets at Spencer's house and all write down who they think killed Charlotte. All most all of them think it was Ali. Mona and Spencer were both a suggestion. Aria and Ezra share that it might have been Ali they saw the night of the murder. They say that she was wearing a red jacket and it was hard to tell which one of them it was but they were driving Ali's car.

Emily agrees to go see Ali, Ezra and Aria are going to check out Ali's house, Caleb and Mona will follow Mary Drake, and Spencer and Toby will investigate Mary Drake.

Toby and Spencer find out that she has traveled a lot and has books in other languages including a book about cyber war. Emily runs into Elliot at the hospital and doesn't give him too much information but begs to see Ali. He tells her that Ali's mental health has seriously declined and he wonders what she did to be so consumed with shame and guilt. Ali starts freaking out from her room and Em watches as the nurses and Elliot hold her down and tranquilize her. At the DiLaurentis house, Ezra and Aria find a hope chest at the end of the master bed but it's locked. Elliot comes home and they hide. He turns on the British news and comes to the bedroom getting a key from a lamp and unlocking it. He takes out a backpack and stuffs things in it and then gets a bag. He moves to the kitchen and pulls out a saw and puts it in the bag full of surgical tools. Ezra and Aria sneak out the window. Caleb and Mona keep an eye on Mary Drake and notice she's loading her van with things like bleach and charcoal.

Everyone gets a picture of Hanna and she looks terrified. They all want to find her. Hanna is sprayed with water by her torturer and then shocked repeatedly. It's so scary. Meanwhile, Caleb and Mona follow Mary Drake to the Hasting's house. Caleb texts Spencer to warn her. Spencer doesn't see the text and answers the door for Mary who introduces herself and asks if Spencer is Spencer or Melissa. She mentions that she used to know the Hastings and she met Spencer before but she wouldn't remember. Spencer invites her in for tea and they talk a little. Spencer finds out that Mary was born first and thought Jessica was jealous of her so she turned the town against her which is why Mary left. She and Jessica hated each other. She commends Spencer on being friends with an ex because she could never do that and she insists she has no children. She leaves and warns Spencer to lock her door because no one is safe. Creepy!!!!!

Hanna dreams about Spencer coming to her in her sleep. Dream Spencer tells Hanna to be strong and she will need her strength to get through this. Hanna tells her that she thinks she's going to die there and she should have listened to Spencer. Spence holds her and tells her that if there is a way in then there is a way out. Hanna asks Spence to stay with her and Spence tells her she always will. She holds Hanna and sings to her as Hanna goes "back to sleep." It was heart wrenching.

Emily goes to visit Ali again and is allowed in. She tells Aria she is there and she sits with Ali who is sleeping. She begs Ali to wake up and tell her what happened. She asks Ali if she killed Charlotte and Ali wakes up freaking out and asking God for forgiveness. Emily leaves really upset, but tells Aria she didn't get to see Ali.

Caleb and Mona follow Mary again and wait for her to do something. She's on the phone and all Mona can pick up from the conversation is that Mary is talking to a guy who is either British or Aussie. Caleb tracks the call to a bar by Hollis and Aria goes to scope it out, but finds nothing. She goes back to Ezra's apartment and tells him she doesn't care what they are right now, but she wants to stay the night there. Meanwhile, Emily uses her key to get into the DiLaurentis house and finds Elliot passed out on the couch. She goes to the bedroom and finds Ali's broken music box. She reminisces in the room and sees the boxes Ali was packing for Goodwill. She opens one searches through it, finding a red jacket. The same one Ezra and Aria had seen on Ali or Charlotte the night of the murder.

Spencer tells the rest of the crew that Mary Drake has been in and out of Radley. She was admitted as a teenager when a kid she was babysitting died. She was released at age 18 and was in and out. Emily comes in and tells them that she went to see Ali again and she had lied to Aria. She tells them what happened and that she looked at the boxes Ali had packed and found the jacket which she shows them. Caleb says they have to bring it to AD because they're almost out of time. Emily says she isn't sure they should do that because she loves Hanna and Ali but doesn't know if it's right to hand Ali over to AD. Caleb leaves with the jacket before anyone can stop him. He leaves it outside the Lost Woods and texts AD that Ali did it and the proof is there.

Hanna wakes up and remembers what "Spencer" told her. She finds a way out. Her torturer comes back to find an empty shack and someone bags the jacket. Hanna runs through the woods and finally finds a road. A car drives by and comes back and guess who is driving?! Mary Drake.

Caleb returns and asks if anyone has heard anything, but no one has. They're waiting in silence to find out what happened to Hanna. Em is worried and wants to go see Ali, but Aria and Spencer remind her that she's in a safe place and the mental institution she's in is well guarded.

Elliot goes in to visit Ali and drugs her with something while telling her that he knows she killed Charlotte and karma is a bitch just like her.

//pictures from Freeform