Recap for “Cover For Me” PLL Episode 4x22

This week on Pretty Little Liars, Aria has a weekend fling, Mike gets dumped, and we learn Ezra’s theory on the identity of the new “A”.

Spencer’s back home from a three day stint in rehab.  She’s gone through a medical detox, so she’s irritable.  She keeps getting flashes of the last time she saw Ali and threatened her with a shovel.  Spencer’s mom asks if she is okay.  She tells Spencer to get some rest because they have things to discuss in the morning. 

Meanwhile, Aria is at a fraternity house making out with a mystery guy.

The next morning, Spencer can’t find her car keys.  She goes downstairs and sees a guy in the kitchen.  Spencer’s mom explains that the guy’s name is Dean.  He’s going to be staying with them for a few days.  She tells Spencer that she is not allowed to go to school for a few days.  She also needs to hand over her cell phone and computer, which are things she can earn back over time as long as she follows Dean’s program.

Dean tells Spencer that he is a drug and alcohol counselor.  Spencer can’t believe that her mom doesn’t trust her.  She reluctantly hands over her electronics.  She asks if she can call Toby and explain things to him, but Spencer’s mom says that she already talked to Toby and he understands that she will be out of touch for a while.  Dean then hands Spencer a cup to pee in.  Apparently his plan includes urine testing.

Aria, taking some time away from Rosewood and Ezra, is in Syracuse for a prospective student week.  Her dad thinks she’s there for some father-daughter bonding time and campus tours.  Over the phone, Emily tells Aria that the girls will all head over if she wants them there.  Aria declines, saying she’s not alone.  She hangs up when the mystery guy she was making out with, Riley, comes over.  Both of them are pretty hung over.  They decide to bail on the campus tour and grab some pancakes for breakfast.

Emily tells Hanna that she finally talked to Aria.  Hanna wonders if Aria is still mad at her.  Emily doesn’t think Aria is mad, she’s just hurting.  Emily asks if they are still going over to Spencer’s place.  Hanna says that she called Spencer, but Spencer’s mom picked up the phone.  Emily mentions that she saw Ezra’s car in the parking lot.  Hanna doesn’t understand why he came to school.  

 

The conversation is interrupted by a loud argument between Mona and Mike nearby.  Mike, furious, tells Mona that she should have told him before he bought the tickets.  Does she even want to go at all?  He storms off and leaves Mona standing in the hallway.  Ezra is standing near the door of his classroom, watching Mona.  Hanna and Emily wonder if Mona was dating Mike to spy on Aria for Ezra.  Emily decides that now is the perfect time to confront Ezra.  Hanna’s all for slashing Ezra’s tires, but she’s not ready to be in the same room with him.

Emily goes to Ezra’s classroom alone.  She doesn’t say anything at first.  She just stands there and stares at him until he speaks.  Ezra assumes that Aria told Emily everything.  He wants to talk to her, but he’d like to outside of the classroom.  Emily says that is not going to happen.  She says that Ezra did plenty of talking outside of the class.  He helped her with her college essays, he tutored her and he helped her when she lost her girlfriend.  What did he get out of doing all that?  Emily turns in her assignment and says that she won’t be staying for class.  She asks that he make sure a real teacher reads her assignment.

Hanna runs into Officer Holbrook at The Brew.  She apologizes for kissing him before, which she describes as accidently running into his mouth.  Officer Holbrook shows Hanna the letter that Paige left for the police in “She’s Come Undone".  He wants to know if she recognizes the handwriting.  Hanna denies that she wrote the note and asks if he’s going to start looking for Ali.  Officer Holbrook says that the note is probably from another crackpot.  Hanna quickly leaves, stating that she has to have dinner with her mom.  Officer Holbrook thinks it’s strange that Hanna is leaving for dinner so early in the day.  After Hanna leaves, Officer Holbrook seems to wonder about Hanna’s behavior.

Aria wakes up in bed.  Riley is in the room playing guitar.  Aria’s pretty hung over and is just grateful that she didn’t puke all over her shoes.  They totally ransacked the mini bar the night before and Riley estimates that tab must be a couple hundred dollars.  Aria wonders how she’s going to explain that to her dad, who is staying in the room next door.  Aria and Riley kiss.

Spencer, ready for bed, gets under the cover and discovers dirt in her bed.  There is a piece of paper on the dirt.  The note says “I know you dug her grave.  Now I’m digging yours.  A”.

At school, Hanna tells Emily that someone else knows Ali is alive.  Emily wants to know if it a guy or a girl, but Hanna explains that the note was anonymous.  Travis waves at Hanna, so she heads over to talk to him.  Hanna invites Travis and his family over to her house for dinner.  Hanna’s mom wants to thank his family.  Travis asks if the two of them could have dinner alone, on a date.  Hanna agrees to a date for the following night.

Dean serves Spencer green juice as part of his program.  Spencer doesn’t see how drinking a glass of salad is supposed to help her get her life back.  Dean says that it will help her sleep and be healthier.  He heard Spencer doing laundry at two in the morning.  Usually people going through withdrawal sleep a lot.  He asks if she has nightmares.  Spencer asks about hallucinations.  Dean explains that hallucinations are possible, but they aren’t anything to worry about.  take away the drugs and things long forgotten and suppressed may resurface.  He says that healthy diet and exercise worked for him.  He suggests Spencer try yoga.  Spencer admits that she doesn’t excel in sports unless there is someone to beat.  Dean thinks her competitiveness may have contributed to her addiction issues. 

Spencer says that she is going to take a quick shower.  While Dean is distracted, she grabs the phone on the table and takes it to her room.  She calls Toby and leaves him a message, saying that she is starting to worry and needs him to tell her that she is not a horrible person.  Dean comes in, wondering why he doesn’t hear running water, and catches Spencer breaking the no phone rule.

Hanna is leaving The Brew with a skinny latte when Officer Holbrook and Lt. Tanner come up to her.  Lt. Tanner tells Hanna that it will not be hard to match the handwriting on the note to Hanna’s handwriting.  Once again, Hanna denies writing the note and leaves.  Lt. Tanner thinks that Hanna is putting the police through hell as payback for the police accusing her mom of murdering Wilden.  She tells Officer Holbrook to keep an eye on Hanna.  Maybe she’ll lead them to her friends, who could all be in on it.  Officer Holbrook is the only one that thinks the note is legit and he doesn’t think Hanna is messing with them.

Riley tells Aria that he doesn’t want to go to Syracuse University, but his family expects him to.  He wants to go to Berklee College of Music.  Aria admits left Rosewood because some jerk broke her heart into thirty three thousand million pieces. 

Spencer and her mom are washing dishes when there is a knock at the door.  It’s Ali’s mom, who came by asking if Ms. Hastings got the flyer in her mailbox about a charity event.  Ms. Hastings says that she needs to check the calendar. 

 

Alone with Spencer, Ms. DiLaurentis says that Spencer’s mom explained that Spencer was been sick.  Her outburst the other day was a reaction to an over the counter medication.  Spencer apologizes for everything she said that night and for grabbing Ms. DiLaurentis.  Ms. DiLaurentis says that there is no need for an apology.  She explains that the charity event is for starving children.  No mother should have to watch her child die.  Uncomfortable, Spencer says she needs to take laundry upstairs and head to bed.  Ms. DiLaurentis makes a cryptic comment about the laundry.  Spencer’s mom comes back and gives Ms. DiLaurentis a check for the charity, but says they can’t attend due to other commitments.  Of course, Ms. DiLaurentis knows that the real reason for not coming is because of the affair she had with Mr. Hastings.

Riley stops by Aria’s room and lets her know that he is leaving early.  He is going home to discuss Berklee College of Music with his family.  He tells her that the week was pretty great and thanks her.  He hands her a note before leaving.  Aria opens the note, which says “Beat up a jerk card.  But I have a feeling you can handle this one”.  After reading the note, Aria pulls out a suitcase.

Emily is at work when Mike storms in, asking if Emily’s heard from Aria.  Aria isn’t answering any of his calls or texts.  Emily asks what is going on.  Mike says that Aria got what she wanted.  Mona dumped him.  Emily tells him that she doesn’t think Aria was involved.  Mike can’t think of any other reason why Mona would dump him.  Emily offers to talk to Mona and find out what happened.  Mike tells Emily to tell Aria to call him.

Dean and Spencer are on a grueling three mile jog.  Dean wants to start a fourth mile as punishment for the phone stunt.  Dean says that Spencer is smart and has a sharp tongue, but getting under his skin isn’t the goal.  The goal is getting under her skin so that they can address what is going on.  As they jog through the woods, they pass a shovel, which triggers Spencer’s memories of chasing Ali with a shovel the night Ali disappeared.  Ali trips on the ground and Spencer raises the shovel and brings it down hard.  Spencer stops running, suddenly afraid that she’s the one that tried to kill Ali.

Back at home, Spencer sits on the couch.  She asks Dean if he ever thinks people see you more clearly than you see yourself.  Dean doesn’t understand what Spencer is asking.  Spencer admits that things have happened that other people remember, but she doesn’t.  She’s been using other people’s memories to fill in the blanks.  What else can she do?  Dean says that recalling what really happened might be too much to handle right now.  Spencer thinks she should have known she was capable of this.  She’s done bad things before.  Dean suggests that she look at today as a positive.  Now she is ready to take responsibility for her actions.  Spencer cries and asks how she can do that.  Dean gives her space and hands her a letter from Toby.

Hanna and Travis are on their date when Ali’s mom runs into them.  As she is leaving, Officer Holbrook and his partner pull Ali’s mom aside to talk to her.  Hanna texts her friends that the cops are talking to Ms. DiLaurentis.

Mona is backing her car out, when she sees Emily in the rearview mirror.  She slams on the breaks to avoid hitting her.  Emily says she needs to talk and asks if Mona is on her way to meet Ezra.  Mona tells her to get in the car. 

 

Emily asks Mona why she helped Ezra.  Mona is surprised it took them so long to figure it out.  She thought it would be Aria.  She says that Ezra should have told Aria about the book.  Mona found about Ezra around the time she bought Jenna’s car.  She wanted to stop him from writing about her, since she did things that could land her in jail.  They made a deal.  She would answer his questions and he would edit out the things Mona did that were less than legal.  Mona hasn’t read Ezra’s book, only the parts that she was written into.  He never let her read the whole thing.

Mona dated Mike to spy on Aria, but Mike was so sweet that Mona really fell for him.  She told Ezra that she wanted out of their deal, but he wouldn’t agree to that.  Mona didn’t want to drag Mike into her mess, so she broke up with him.  Mona says that Ezra has a theory on who the second “A” is.

Aria shows up at Ezra’s apartment.  She tells Ezra that he needs to leave.  He says that he understands that she needs space and that he already requested a leave of absence from Rosewood High.  Aria says that is not enough.  Ezra needs to leave town for good.  Ezra wants them to work through their issues, but Aria doesn’t want to.  She doesn’t want to run into him around town.  She doesn’t ever want to see or hear from him again.  Ezra gives Aria a copy of his manuscript.  He says that she should read it because he found out some stuff that could help her.  He also mentions that the only reason he was in New York was to return his publisher’s advance.  Aria says it is too late.  She takes the manuscript and leaves.

Spencer is reading Toby’s letter when she hears her phone ring.  Spencer breaks into a locked desk to take her cell phone.  Aria has texted Spencer with an SOS. 

Hanna gets a text to meet up with the girls.  Hanna apologies to Travis, but says that she has to leave.  Travis says that Hanna has been distracted all night.  Hanna promises it won’t happen again.  Before leaving, she kisses Travis and tells him that she had a really great time.

At Emily’s house, Hanna notices a blue envelope in Emily’s room.  The handwriting matches the anonymous note that the police have.  Hanna asks about the envelope and Emily says it is from Paige.  Aria comes in with big news.  Before she can tell them about it, Emily blurts out that Mona dumped Mike.  Aria asks if Spencer is better and Spencer claims that she is. 

Aria tells the girls that Ezra thinks “A” is Ali’s mom.  Emily and Hanna think that is ridiculous.  Hanna thinks Ms. DiLaurentis is too old to even know how to text.  Since “A” wants to bring Ali home, Aria doesn’t get why Ms. DiLaurentis would think the girls are standing in the way of that.  Spencer thinks that would make sense if Ms. DiLaurentis thinks that Spencer tried to kill Ali.  She tells the girls about the dirt in her bed and the cryptic comments from Ms. DiLaurentis. 

Emily gets upset that Spencer is trying to pin that on Ms. DiLaurentis.  Spencer admits that she argued with Ali and had been both drinking alcohol and on pills that night.  She doesn’t remember everything and she has been seeing things, which she thinks could be due to a guilty conscious.  CeCe and Ms. DiLaurentis witnessed the fight.

Emily points out that Ali is alive.  Spencer says that Ali is not here to help them.  Emily gets upset with the conversation and leaves to get snacks.  Hanna follows her out.  Alone with Emily, Hanna asks if Emily told Paige about Ali being alive.

Mike is watching television on the couch when Aria comes home.  Aria tells him that she heard about Mona.  Aria is really sorry and she knows how much it hurts.  She wants Mike to know that she would never be the one to make Mona dump him.  Mike says that he knows that, but it was easier to blame Aria than to admit that she was right all along.  Aria lets him know that there are plenty of things she’s been wrong about.

Spencer’s mom catches her sneaking back into the house at night.  Her mom asks if she has to resort to locking Spencer in her room at night.  Spencer says that it was really important.  Her mom thinks that she was out looking for drugs.  She demands that Spencer hand over her phone and she looks at Spencer’s texts.  Spencer blurts out that her mom should stop protecting her.  Her parents covered for her the summer that Ali went missing.  Spencer wants to know what they were covering up because she doesn’t remember.  Spencer’s mom says that it is a blessing that she doesn’t remember.  She tells Spencer to go to bed.

Spencer checks under her covers to make sure there are no surprises from “A”.  Spencer notices the light come on in Ali’s bedroom.  For one second, we see Ms. DiLaurentis standing behind Spencer. Then we see Spencer’s mom behind her.  Her mom asks if she is okay.

“A” finishes sewing a wedding dress.  “A” zips the dress into a black garment bag.