Recap of “Whirly Girlie” PLL Episode 5x02

This week on Pretty Little Liars, Ali is home and already telling some big lies, Jason acts suspicious, Mike and Mona reconnect and Aria deals with massive guilt over Shana’s death.

Aria, Spencer, Hanna, Emily and Ali get off of the bus in Rosewood, back from New York.  Ali hesitates and Hanna asks if she is okay.  Ali turns to get back on the bus, but Emily stops her.  Emily tells Ali that she does not need to run anymore.  “A” is gone.

 

Spencer tells Ali that she is making the right decision by coming back to Rosewood and finally telling the truth.  Ali wants to go home and talk to her mom before doing anything else, but Emily reminds Ali that her mom buried her. 

Spencer tells Ali that the police need to know she is alive before Ali’s mom, Ms. DiLaurentis, finds out.  Emily tells Ali to talk to the police about Mona being “A” and Shana taking over as “A”.  Spencer says that Ali needs to start the story before the night she disappeared.  She needs to tell the police about blinding Jenna because Shana’s motive for attacking Ali was to get payback for Jenna.

Ali doesn’t feel like she can go through with this.  Aria feels responsible for Shana’s death, but she thinks she’ll be able to handle taking responsibility for that.  Ali will have to handle the rest, though. 

The girls all go to the Rosewood police station together.  Officer Holbrook approaches them and says that he knows who Ali is.  He welcomes her home and he is glad that she came with her friends.  He wants to hear her story, starting with the night she disappeared.

 

Ali drops a bombshell, claiming that she didn’t disappear.  She was kidnapped and held hostage for two years.  If it wasn’t for her friends, she wouldn’t be standing there.  Her friends saved her life.

Spencer, Hanna, Aria and Hanna all look shocked and uncomfortable as they listen to Ali lie to Officer Holbrook.

Officer Holbrook sits with all the girls and asks them some questions.  Clearly he doesn’t believe Ali’s story.  He shows Ali the photo taken a month ago of all the girls together.  He says he doesn’t know who took it, but the photo is dated.

Ali claims the picture was taken the night she got away from her captor.  She jumped out of his car.  Not believing her, Officer Holbrook asks if she did that while she was blindfolded.

Ali says that she ran to the woods after jumping out of the captor’s car.  Officer Holbrook says that the photo shows she was in Rosewood with her friends.

Ali claims that she asked her friends to hide her.  Officer Holbrook wonders why Ali would find it more helpful to ask her friends for help, rather than the police or her family.  Ali tells him that she was scared of being out in the open.

Ali tells Officer Holbrook that her friends hid her in the woods in a shed that they all used to hang out in.  Officer Holbrook catches Ali in that lie, pointing out that Ali previously said that her friends came to rescue her in Philadelphia. 

Ali is saved from answering Officer Holbrook’s questions when her dad comes in.  Ali and her dad hug.

Hanna wonders if she was sleeping when kidnapping was discussed as a cover story for Ali’s disappearance.  Spencer, upset with Ali’s lies, says that they never discussed it.  The girls wonder why Ali’s mom isn’t at the police station.

Back at home, Spencer’s mom tells Emily that she is welcome to stay at their house until Emily’s mom flies back to Rosewood from Dallas.  Her flight is delayed due to a storm.  Emily leaves the room to call her mom. 

Spencer tries to go to bed, but her mom, Mrs. Hastings, stops her.  Mrs. Hastings wants to know where Spencer has been for the past few days.  She cannot believe that Spencer knew Ali was alive for over a month and kept it a secret.  Spencer says that they promised Ali that they wouldn’t talk.

Mrs. Hastings is furious that Spencer didn’t think the situation through.  There is still a dead girl buried in Ali’s grave.  Spencer gets defensive and tells her mom that she had nothing to do with the girl’s death. 

Mrs. Hastings clarifies that she is not accusing Spencer of murder, just poor judgment.  Mr. Hastings is in Philadelphia.  He went there with Melissa when Spencer’s car got impounded.

Spencer is surprised that Melissa is back in Rosewood.  Mrs. Hastings said not to expect any souvenirs from London.  All Melissa brought back is attitude and secrets. 

Meanwhile, Hanna’s mom, Ms. Marin, is upset that Hanna didn’t tell the truth about Ali being alive.  Hanna says that she was going to tell her mom as soon as it was safe.  Hanna claims she feels safe now, but Ms. Marin doesn’t believe her.  How can Hanna feel safe if there is a kidnapper on the loose? 

Hanna tries to change the topic to cheese, but Ms. Marin keeps questioning Hanna, asking how Hanna felt when she found out that Ali was alive.  Ms. Marin doesn’t understand how Hanna could get up and go to school every day knowing what Ali was suffering through.  She feels so bad for Ali and everything she must have gone through.

Hanna, wanting to end the conversation, tells her mom that Ali just wants to move on from this nightmare.  It’s harder for Ali to move on if people keep asking questions.  Everything is over and she needs it to end.

Aria, worried about Ezra, calls the hospital to check on his status.  She is interrupted by Mike, who comes to her room and wants to know if it is true that Ali is alive.

Mike overheard their dad talking to their mom about the freak who kidnapped and blindfolded Ali.  Aria, annoyed with the questions, snaps that this isn’t a videogame.  Mike says that he wasn’t joking.  Ali is so tough; he is surprised that she didn’t strangle her kidnapper with her bare hands.  Aria begs him to stop talking.

Mike, who overheard Aria on the phone, asks why Ezra is in the hospital.  Aria tells him that Ezra was in New York for the weekend and got hurt.  Mike asks if Ezra will be okay and Aria says that he’ll be fine, she already saw him.

Mike asks how Aria saw Ezra if she was in Philadelphia over the weekend.  Aria, realizing she slipped up, tells Mike that she didn’t see Ezra.  She just talked to him on the phone.  She tells Mike that she’s exhausted and needs some sleep.

Emily, talking to her mom on the phone, explains that while Ali was kidnapped she was locked in a room and only heard the kidnapper’s voice.  Spencer waits for Emily to finish her call outside the house. 

Spencer is furious that Ali blindsided all of them with her lies.  They made a pact to tell the truth now that “A” is finally dead.  They were going to go back to their normal lives, but Ali changed her mind and went rogue at the police station.  Spencer says that they are back on Planet Alison.  It’s ninth grade all over again, like they are on a whirly girlie ride.  Ali goes rogue and they are just expected to back her up.  Ali is still trying to control them.

Emily tells Spencer that Ali may have lied to protect her mom.  Spencer cannot believe that Emily is defending Ali.

Spencer and Emily notice Jason, Ali’s older brother, next door.  He is cleaning his car.  They wonder why Jason is taking the time to clean his car when his sister just came back from the dead.

Once Jason goes inside, Spencer and Emily head over to peek in his car.  Ali is at her bedroom window.  She throws a roll of toilet paper down to them.  There is a cell phone in the roll. 

The phone has a text message that says “The truth will bury you in a New York minute”.  The girls ask Ali who sent her the text.  Ali draws a question mark on her window. 

Ali looks through her closet and picks up a doll in her room.  Ali’s dad comes in and suggests that Ali sleep downstairs so she doesn’t have to be by herself.  Ali says that she’s been dreaming about sleeping in her own bed for a long time.  Ali’s dad admits that he doesn’t think he can let her out of his sight again.

Ali asks if he has heard from her mom.  He and Jason have been trying to find her mom, but they are worried.  Ali’s dad tells her that he wants her to feel safe.  He asked the police to put barrier up at end of the street.  Lots of people want to hear her story, but she doesn’t have to talk or leave the house until she is ready. 

Ali’s dad cries as he expresses regret that he can’t give her back the years she has lost.  He promises to do everything he can to help her forget.  He takes out a picture of Ali as a little girl that he’s kept in his wallet every since the night she disappeared.  He tells her that he refused to let her go.  He kisses Ali on the head and pulls her window blinds down. 

Ali’s dad tells her that he and her mom are divorcing.  Ali says that Emily already told her.  Ali cries as she says sorry to her dad.  He says that he’s sorry, too. 

Aria falls asleep reading in bed.  She has nightmares of Shana playing the violin and relives the moment when she pushed Shana to her death.  Aria wakes up suddenly, but she still hears violin music outside.  Aria, wearing a t-shirt that says “You’re no good”, goes over to the window to listen.

Hanna calls Aria, wondering who sent Ali that cryptic text message.  Aria doesn’t know what Hanna is talking about and Hanna realizes that Emily and Spencer hadn’t told Aria about it.  Hanna explains that Ali got a text message on her phone at the precinct, which caused her to lie to the police. 

Aria freaks out at the idea that “A” is still sending text messages.  Hanna reassures Aria that “A” is dead, but Hanna has to get off the phone when her mom calls for her.  Freaked out, Aria closes and locks her window.

Ali can’t sleep and she sits up when she hears a noise.  She lies back down and her bedroom door opens.  Jason enters her room and watches Ali, who is lying in bed facing the other direction.

Ali’s dad pays a visit to Hanna’s mom and asks her for help.  Hanna secretly listens to their conversation.  Ali’s dad wants Hanna’s mom to go through Ms. DiLaurentis’s emails to find out where she is.  Hanna’s mom is uncomfortable with doing that and asks if Jason can help find Ali’s mom. 

Ali’s dad shows his anger towards Jason, expressing his disbelief that Jason hasn’t shed a tear since Ali’s return.  He doesn’t know if it is due to shock or his brain has become so deadened from drugs that he can’t act like a human being anymore.  Hanna’s mom suggests that’s probably the shock.

Ali joins Jason on the porch.  When he sees her, he quickly puts his phone away.  Jason tells her that she can’t be outside.  There is a line of cars down the street.  Cops and the press.  Ali points out that Jason hasn’t asked her many questions since she’s returned home.  Jason says he figured Ali needed some space.

Ali asks Jason what their mom’s reaction was when she found out that Ali was alive.  Jason seems surprised by the question.  He says their mom was stunned. 

 

A car pulls up and Jason tells Ali to get inside, but Ali doesn’t listen.  A woman from the county shelter steps out of a van with a dog named Pepe.  She says that Ms. DiLaurentis wanted to adopt him. 

Jason denies that his mother order this.  The woman tells him that it’s a dog, not a pizza. 

Ali immediately comes to pet Pepe and asks why he was at the shelter.  The woman says the dog has issues, mostly with men.  She pointedly looks at Jason as she says this.  Angry, Jason demands that she put the dog back in the van.  Ali asks what will happen to Pepe if they don’t take him.  When Ali hears that this was the last chance for Pepe, Ali takes Pepe’s leash.

Mike runs into Mona outside the Brew and asks if she needs help carrying a large box and her coffee.  She declines his help, but he walks with her. 

Mike asks if she’s heard about Ali.  Mona says that it’s quite a story.  And now there is a psycho circling town looking for his next victim.  They need to fight back, which is why Mona ordered whistles for every girl in school.  She also asked Principal Hackett for special apps for their phones, since the all the girls at Rosewood High can’t hire full time bodyguards.  Mike says he would apply for that job if she could stand being around him that much.  Mike tells Mona that he misses her.

Emily leaves Spencer’s house and Spencer chases after her, telling her that they are supposed to stay at home.  Emily just wants to give Ali her phone back.  Spencer tells Emily that Hanna told Aria about the text message.  Now Aria is freaked out thinking that “A” is back and she is one text away from being turned over to the police for killing Shana.

Emily and Spencer both believe that “A” is dead.  Spencer thinks the text might have been from Jenna.  Emily isn’t concerned about Jenna, since it is five against one.

Spencer digs through the DiLaurentis’s trash can, looking for what Jason threw out the night before.  She finds a bag from Boyanjian Bakery in New York.  Emily says that Jason’s rehab visit was a lie.  What if Jason was following Ali under Ms. DiLaurentis’s orders?  Emily thinks Jason was the one who sent Ali that threatening text.  If Ali started talking, Ms. DiLaurentis would go down.  And who would Ms. DiLaurentis cover for besides Jason?

Aria, unable to get Shana out of her mind, looks through breaking news stories on the New York Bulletin website.  She types in “Dead girl theater Georgia”, but deletes the words before completing the search.  Aria hears violin music again, this time from her MP3 player.  She switches songs and another violin music piece plays.  Freaked out, Aria yanks her earbuds out.

Emily and Spencer are in Ali’s room and Ali is sitting on the bed with Pepe.  Emily explains that it can’t be a coincidence that Jason came back from New York the same night that Ali returned. 

Ali tells the girls that that Jason was in her room last night, watching her sleep.  Emily is horrified and tells Ali to spend the night at Spencer’s.  Ali doesn’t think her dad isn’t going to let her leave the house for sleepovers.

Ali asks if Spencer thinks that she should be afraid of their big brother.  She tells Spencer that she knows Spencer told Jason that he is her half-brother.  Ali says not to worry about it; she thinks her dad might know, too.  Ali wants to know if Spencer believes that Jason is the one who slammed a rock against her head and almost killed her.

Spencer thinks it’s possible, but she’s not sure.  Ali had been needling both Spencer’s family and her own family with the Peter Hastings and Jessica DiLaurentis affair, so probably both families wanted to shut Ali up.  If Ms. DiLaurentis chose Jason over Ali, then Ms. DiLaurentis would have every reason to make the girls look bad.  They’ve been framed as pathological liars ever since Ali went missing and no one would believe anything the girls said. 

Emily begs Ali to stay at her house, but Ali says that she has a few ideas of what to do.  Spencer tells Ali to let them in on the ideas, so the girls aren’t left paddling around like idiots trying to play catch up.  Ali tells Spencer that she lied to the police to protect Aria, since Aria killed someone.  Spencer tells Ali that she could have consulted them before coming up with the kidnapping lie.  Emily interrupts the fight and says what is done is done.  They need to focus their attention on who is sinking them now.

Hanna’s mom is on the computer, working on finding out where Ms. DiLaurentis might be.  She was about to open some of Ms. DiLaurentis’s emails, but she just can’t do it.  The last thing she wants to do is get in the middle of a divorce.  It’s both an invasion of privacy and a betrayal. 

Hanna points out that Ms. DiLaurentis would probably prefer her snooping, oppose to the police going through her emails.  Hanna also says that Ali really needs her mom.  When Hanna’s mom leaves to answer the phone, Hanna looks at the computer.

Spencer comes home to find Toby in her kitchen.  Spencer’s mom tells her that Melissa claimed to have come back to Rosewood after Toby got her in London.  Toby says that is not what happened.  When he got to Melissa’s place in London, Wren opened the door.  Wren said that he was staying there and Melissa isn’t in London anymore.

Spencer’s mom says that it doesn’t make sense.  Toby suggests that she call Wren, but Spencer’s mom says she’d rather stick a knife in toaster. She leaves for work and tells Spencer to stay close to home.

Toby explains that he went to London to get answers for Spencer.  He thought he could get Melissa to tell the truth if he confronted her face-to-face.  Toby says he heard about Ali’s return, but he wants to hear the whole story from Spencer.

Aria is in the shed putting blankets and a pillow on the floor.  Emily comes in and tells Aria that she got her text.  Aria is busy making it look like Ali has been living in the shed, since that is the story Ali told the cops.  Emily tells Aria that she can’t do this now, but Aria says it should have been done the night before. 

Aria is furious that Spencer and Emily kept her in the dark about the threatening text message Ali received.  She’s not a child.  Emily says that they only did that because Aria was a mess when her dad came to pick her up at the police station.  Aria doesn’t understand what they were thinking, that she’d get a good night’s sleep and wake up in Candyland?

Emily tells Aria to calm down because the text didn’t come from “A”.  After all, Emily was there when “A”/Shana was killed.  Emily thinks Spencer is right.  It is one thing not to contradict Ali’s story, but it’s another thing to add onto the story.  They can’t go down that rabbit hole again.

Aria says that she can’t sit around and do nothing.  If “A” knows about Shana, then Aria will be the one to go down.  Emily tells her that Shana used them as target practice and Aria acted purely in self-defense. 

Aria has a meltdown and says that it doesn’t matter if it was self-defense.  The fact is someone is dead.  Shana cannot graduate or apologize because Aria killed her.  Aria doesn’t know how she can live with that.

Emily says that she knows how it feels.  She went through this after she killed Nate (the stalker who killed Maya).

Aria picks up an empty soda can and throws it.  She remembers how they used to sneak out to the woods.  The biggest problem they worried about was how to eat peanut butter with braces.

Hanna’s mom leaves the room to get more paper for the printer, and Hanna looks at Ms. DiLaurentis’s emails.  She finds an email addressed to “Unspecified Recipient”.  The email says “I can’t protect you anymore”.

Toby and Spencer kiss in Spencer’s room.  Spencer tells Toby to take her with him the next time he goes to London.  They’ll go to London and never come back.

 

There is some major tension between Jason and his dad.  Mr. DiLaurentis is furious that Jason wants to leave for Philadelphia.  Jason says that he has to drop something off for a friend after dinner, but he can wait until Ali falls asleep.  Mr. DiLaurentis says that it is a news story every time someone walks out of the house.  The last thing he wants is Jason to speak to reporter.  Jason is furious and says that he won’t embarrass his dad any more than he already has. 

Emily walks in, ready to take Pepe for a walk.  Mr. DiLaurentis is annoyed that Jason brought home a dog.  Jason says that his mom rescued the dog from a shelter.  Mr. DiLaurentis, convinced that Jason knows where Ms. DiLaurentis is hiding, tells Jason to let her know that there is more than a dog waiting at home.

Aria walks in on Mike and Mona, who are cuddly on couch.  Mike says that he ordered pizza for dinner, but Aria isn’t hungry.

Mona acts shocked that Aria was walking around in the dark by herself.  Given everything that happened to Ali, she wouldn’t walk to the curb without a police escort. 

Mike hands Aria her MP3 player and says that he borrowed it again.  He says he needed it to compile music for a social studies project.  Aria asks if the violin music she heard was from his room, and Mike vaguely acknowledges that it may have been.  Mona asks to be dropped off at the library for research and Mike leaves the room.

Aria asks Mona if she is doing research in the library or in Aria’s house.  Mona says that Mike invited her to dinner. 

Mona is supposedly glad to see Aria.  Now she can give Aria her whistle in person.  Aria doesn’t take the whistle and stares at Mona suspiciously.  Mona says that what happened to Ali was a wake up call.  No one is safe.

Aria wants to know what Mona is trying to prove.  Is Mona trying to threaten her?  Mona acts like she doesn’t know what Aria is talking about.  Aria tells Mona that they know Mona was with Ali at the Lost Wood Motel room the night Ali ran away.  Aria knows that Mona has stories of her own to keep quiet. 

Mona smiles and asks if Ezra is making a full recovery.  Mike interrupts them and asks Aria for the car keys so he can take Mona to the library.

At the DiLaurentis house, Hanna hands Ali’s dad a paper with the name of a meditation center that Ms. DiLaurentis went to before.  Maybe he can look for her there.  Ali’s dad invites Emily and Hanna to stay for dinner.  Emily says yes, but Hanna quickly says that they can’t. 

In the car, Emily tells Hanna that Jason is going to Philadelphia, which might be code for New York.  Maybe Ms. DiLaurentis is there.  Hanna tells Emily about the email Ms. DiLaurentis wrote the night before she skipped town.  Ms. DiLaurentis didn’t get the chance to send the email.

 

Hanna is scared when Jason bangs on her car window.  Jason tells Hanna that he saw her give information to his dad.  Jason says Hanna should stay out of places that she doesn’t belong.  Jason gets in his car and drives away.

Emily tells Hanna to hurry up and follow Jason, since he might be going to see his mother. 

Emily and Hanna watch Jason enter an apartment and then drive away.  Once he’s gone, they get out and ring a couple buzzers, hoping Ms. DiLaurentis will answer.  A man comes up behind them and scares them off.

Spencer’s cell phone rings, but Spencer ignores it and continues to kiss Toby.  The phone keeps ringing and Toby says that someone really wants to reach her.  Spencer turns off ringer.  Toby asks what’s going on with her.  Is it about Ali or Melissa?  Spencer says no, but she doesn’t tell him what is bothering her.

Ali takes a rose to the mausoleum and touches the place where she was supposed to be buried.  Mona comes in and Ali asks if she followed her.  Ali says that she is not supposed to be out of her house, but she had to come and say goodbye.  The girl they made this for really is gone. 

Ali tells Mona that she can’t be that person anymore.  She knows Mona hated her and wanted her to go straight to hell.  Going there was easy; it’s coming back that’s hard.  Ali says that she and Mona understand each other.  Surprisingly, Ali says that she needs Mona as a friend.

Mona tells Ali that “the truth will bury you in a New York minute”.  Mona was the one who sent the text to Ali.  She should have signed her name because she doesn’t have to pretend to be someone else or hide anymore, but Ali does. Mona grabs Ali’s rose and tells Ali that she’s gonna wish she stayed dead.

Aria is freaking out that “A” is going to go to the cops and tattle on her.  Hanna tells her to breath and Emily wants her to wait until Spencer gets there.  Spencer went to distract Mr. DiLaurentis so that Ali could sneak out and meet them.

Aria tells them that Mona knows that they were in New York.  It’s just a matter of time before Mona runs out of whistles and starts handing out balloons that say “Aria killed Shana”.

Hanna and Emily try to convince Aria that “A” is dead, but Aria won’t listen.  If “A” is dead, who is screwing with her?  Who is playing the violin outside her window?

Emily tells Aria that Jason sent the text to Ali.  They just have to find a way to prove it.

Spencer knocks on the door at Ali’s house and the door swings open.  Spencer enters and calls for Ali.  She is startled when she sees Jason.  Jason says Ali may be asleep, or did Spencer come to take out the trash?  Clearly Jason knows that Spencer has been digging through his trash.  Spencer asks Jason if he was in New York the night that Ali came back.

Jason asks why she wants to know.  Does she think he’s the one who kidnapped her? Jason thinks that theory must have come from his dad.  His dad is probably at the precinct sharing that idea with the cops now.  Without his mom around, who’s going to stop him?  Again, Spencer asks Jason why he was in New York.  Jason is saved from answering when Pepe starts barking. 

Emily, Hanna and Aria go over to see what’s wrong with Pepe.  Aria is confused as to whose dog it is.  She wonders when Ali had time to get a dog.  The dog barks at something in the ground.  The girls scream when they see what the dog is barking at.

Spencer runs over to investigate.  When she sees what’s in the yard, she tries to stop Jason from looking.  Jason looks shocked as he stares at the ground.  A hand is sticking out of the ground.  Pepe has found Ms. DiLaurentis’s dead body.

The police come and Ali’s backyard is once again a crime scene.  Ms. DiLaurentis’s body is zipped up in a body bag.  Everybody is in the backyard now, including Ali’s dad.  Spencer’s mom hugs Spencer. 

Ali is also in backyard, with a hoodie over her head.  She watches silently as people rush around her.