Recap of “The Silence of E. Lamb” PLL Episode 5x07

More dead rats, Ali causes Hanna to self-medicate on booze, Aria almost gets squashed under a mattress, Spencer and Ezra bond, and Hanna drunkenly spills too much info to the wrong person.

Pam Fields, Emily’s mom, is at school for a parent-teacher conference.  Pam sees Ali, Aria, Hanna and Spencer walking down the hall.  She decides to invite Ali over for dinner, spur of the moment.  She invites Emily’s other friends, as well.  Emily is reluctant and mentions that Ali was over at the house the other day.  Pam says she didn’t get the chance to talk to Ali.  She wants Ali to know that she is an adult who is there for her.

In the bathroom, Emily tells her friends about her mom’s dinner party plans.  The girls aren’t enthusiastic about the dinner.  Emily admits that her mom is mainly interested in Ali coming over.  Ali is suspicious.  She knows Emily’s mom is a planner and doesn’t do things spur of the moment.  Annoyed, Hanna tells Ali that Emily’s mom isn’t Mona’s secret ninja.  They don’t have to be suspicious of everyone.  Ali thinks it saves time to suspect everyone.

Aria can’t make the dinner because she’ll be busy at Radley, trying to find out more about Bethany Young’s drawing.  Aria asks if Spencer is still planning to help Ezra move all his research.  Spencer says she’ll try to make the dinner party.  Emily can’t think of a way to convince her mom to put off the dinner.  Ali says they should just get it over with.  Hanna, irritated with Ali making decisions for all of them, says that Ali’s wish is their command.  Ali demands to know what that’s supposed to mean.  Hanna storms off and Spencer and Aria follow.  Ali and Emily are left alone.

Ali asks Emily to walk her home after school.  “A” attacking her at home was really intense.  Ali is concerned that teachers will notice the bruises around her neck.  Emily tries to calm Ali down, reassuring her that the concealer covers most of it.  Ali is wearing a scarf to cover up the marks, too.

Sydney comes out of a bathroom stall.  Apparently, she’s heard everything.  She introduces herself to Ali and compliments her scarf, touching it.

In the hallway, Sydney tells Emily about the dead rat in Paige’s locker.  The swim team heard Paige screaming after practice.  Paige was shaking all over.  She has a thing about rodents.  So far, no one has ’fessed up about the rat.  There will be a team meeting, but Sydney doesn’t think it was a swimmer.  She starts to say everyone loves Paige, but changes her wording to ‘everyone likes Paige’.  Sydney doesn’t think Paige came to school.

Mona approaches them and Emily asks what she knows about the dead rat.  Mona says it is such a creepy thing to do to someone as sweet as Paige.  A dead rat has ‘boy’ written all over it, but she doesn’t know which boy.  Emily notices Mona is holding Noel Kahn’s notes.  Mona says Noel lent her the notes as a favor.

Caleb is reading “Swamp Thing”.  He’s at school to take the exit exams.  He plans to wing the test, but Hanna says the exit exam is like all of high school in one test.  Caleb makes Hanna laugh with a joke.

Out of habit, Hanna grabs some of his fries.  She quickly puts them down, saying she should have asked.  Caleb asks what’s wrong.  She only eats three at a time when something is bothering her.  Is it about Alison?

Hanna tells him about the dinner party they all have to be at, in case Emily’s mom grills Ali.  Caleb wants to know why Ai needs so much “immoral” support.  If Hanna wants to make a break from Ali, she should just do it.  Hanna’s worried things will get messy.  She’s been through her parents’ divorce.  It isn’t just about cutting Ali off.  Hanna doesn’t want to end up in a weird custody battle over her friends.  Caleb says she always has him if she loses her friends.

At Radley, Aria has a run in with Eddie Lamb.  He thinks she looks familiar and asks if she’s volunteered before, but Aria tells him that they never met.

Caleb and Ali are both in the exam room.  Caleb’s taking the exam to get out and Ali’s taking it to get in.  Ali says it’s the same thing, pass/fail and win/lose.  Caleb implies that he doesn’t believe Ali’s kidnapping story.  When Ali says she got out, Caleb reminds her that it was because of the help from her friends.  When Ali says everyone needs someone to depend on, Caleb points out that Ali seems to need a lot of support.  Ali says she doesn’t know what he means.  Caleb doesn’t know her at all.  Caleb just knows her from what she leaves behind, like a tornado.

The patients at Radley are having an art class.  Aria spreads prints out and the patients come to look.  Aria has slipped Bethany Young’s drawing among the prints, hoping a patient might recognize it.  Big Rhonda sees the drawing and calls Aria a thief.  She accuses Aria of stealing her drawing.  The Radley staff dismiss Rhonda’s accusations.  The Radley staff member tells Aria that the police upset Rhonda earlier, questioning her because Bethany Young was her former roommate.

Melissa comes out of the barn with a trash bag.  Melissa got back last night.  Their dad has been living at her apartment.  Melissa came back to talk some sense into their mom.  She asks if someone has been in the barn lately.  Spencer says no one has been there ever since mom fired her sober buddy, Dean.  Melissa says he must have left food out. 

Spencer realizes that their dad wants to sell the house.  Melissa thinks it may be for the best, but Spencer can’t believe they want to get rid of their home.  Melissa says they can talk after she throws out the trash.  Spencer grabs the trash bag, despite Melissa’s protests.  Spencer insists that she wants to do something.  She asks what is in the trash bag and opens it, but quickly drops it after looking inside.  She is horrified to find a dead rat in a rat trap.  Annoyed, Melissa says it is because there was food left out in the barn.  Melissa grabs the dead rat and throws it in the garbage.

Caleb comes by Hanna’s house with beer.  Hanna is furious at him.  Ali left her a pissed off message.  What was Caleb trying to do?  Catch Ali in a lie?  Caleb doesn’t get why Hanna cares.  Hanna wants to dump Ali, anyway.  Hanna tells Caleb that she doesn’t need him to do it for her.

Caleb drinks one of the beers.  He’s celebrating his freedom.  He walked out of the exit exam, realizing that a test doesn’t mean a damn thing in real life.  He thinks Hanna is pissed at him because he can make decisions and she can’t.  Hanna kicks Caleb out of the house.  Caleb leaves one beer behind.

Spencer arrives at Ezra’s apartment.  She is shocked by the amount of spy stuff and research he has.  Ezra is worried about Aria being at Radley by herself.  He wishes he could have talked to Eddie himself.  Spencer doesn’t think Eddie will talk to Ezra, since he’s big on self-preservation.  She says Aria will be fine.  Concerned, Ezra asks Spencer where she parked.  She tells him she parked around the corner.

Spencer suddenly asks Ezra if she can borrow one of his spy cameras.  There is someone she wants to keep an eye on.  After a moment of hesitation, Ezra agrees.

Mona watches as Toby’s house is being rebuilt.  Emily sees Mona and tells her that she’s out of her neighborhood.  Mona says she likes to walk around.  She says things change so quickly.  One day you are someone’s girlfriend, the next day you aren’t.  One day there’s a house, then the next day … poof.  Emily still thinks either Mona or someone on her goon squad put the dead rat in Paige’s locker.  Mona denies making such an amateur move.  She tells Emily to give her love to Ali.

Spencer thanks Ezra for showing up on the roof in New York and saving them all.  Ezra says it is turning into his greatest hit.  Spencer says that what he did for them was impressive.

Ezra admits that writing a book about Alison DiLaurentis’s murder wasn’t what he really wanted to write.  He’d always wanted to write about his family, about how he and his brother dealt with their parents’ divorce.  How his parents changed into who they really are.  He was going to figure out his family’s problems on paper, but he couldn’t do it.  So he tried to write about a mystery he could solve, only he didn’t solve it and probably made things worse.

Spencer knows the feeling.  The cameras she needs are to spy on her sister, Melissa.  Melissa is connected to all of this, but she has to figure out how.  Ezra suggests that they both put down the puzzles and walk away.  Spencer tells him to call her when he figures out how to do that.

Aria is cleaning at Radley when Big Rhonda comes up behind her and touches her hair.  Rhonda wants the drawing Aria ripped out of her book.  Rhonda says Bethany gave her the drawings.  She says that thieves get their hands cut off.  Aria takes the drawing out of her bag and gives it to Rhonda.  She asks why Bethany gave Rhonda all the drawings.  Rhonda becomes agitated, thinking Aria is accusing her of stealing the drawings from Bethany.  She calls Aria a thief again.

Eddie Lamb overhears Rhonda and asks what Aria stole from her.  Rhonda doesn’t give him an answer.  After Eddie and Rhonda leave, Aria texts Emily that she will be late to dinner.  Radley just got interesting.

Emily shows up at Hanna’s house, annoyed that Hanna is trying to bail out of dinner because of cramps.  Spencer has already bailed and Aria is stuck at Radley.  It can’t be only her and Ali at dinner. 

Emily notices the empty beer bottle and asks when Hanna’s mom started drinking beer.  Hanna says her mom washes her hair with it.  Hanna confesses that she’s hit her Ali limit for one day.  Every minute with Ali sucks all the energy out of her.  Hanna says she’s got a bad headache, so she can’t come to the dinner.  Emily says Ali is really nervous about dinner.  Hanna thinks Ali should practice getting her story straight.  Emily insists that Hanna be at dinner.  Hanna asks what is going on between Emily and Ali.  Emily says Ali has been really needy.  Hanna finally agrees to come over.

While Rhonda is in the shower, Aria sneaks into her room to get Bethany’s sketch book.  Rhonda returns to the room sooner than Aria expected, so she has to hide under the bed.  While Aria is under the bed, Rhonda lays on the mattress.  The mattress sinks down and almost squashes Aria.

Emily stands on the porch uncomfortably while her mom and Ali laugh.  Hanna arrives and apologizes for being late.  Emily gives her mom a hand in the kitchen, leaving Hanna and Ali alone.

Ali asks if Hanna talked to Caleb yet.  Hanna assures Ali that Caleb isn’t going to make any trouble.  Ali thinks a boy like Caleb will make trouble without trying.  Hanna trusts Caleb, but Ali makes it clear that she doesn’t.  She tells Hanna that now would be a really bad time to make a mistake. 

Hanna insists Caleb isn’t a mistake.  He is the most unmistaked thing in her life.  Ali says it is hard to keep a clear head when you are kissing someone.  Annoyed, Hanna asks what Ali wants and to keep it simple, since Hanna isn’t very smart.

Ali tells Hanna to cool it.  Make sure she is doing the right thing for everyone.  Hanna asks if Ali is telling her not to see Caleb.  Pushed to the limit, Hanna grabs some booze to have with dinner.

Aria is leaving Radley when she is followed into the parking lot by Eddie Lamb.  Eddie says most volunteers don’t stay this late.  He asks what Aria is looking for.  Aria leaves and Eddie calls Ezra.

At dinner, Emily’s mom tells the girls about the deal she got on the replacement windows for the house.  Since it was the second time, the store gave her a bad luck discount.  Ali says she could use that.  Emily says they all could.  Hanna thinks people make their own luck.  Emily’s mom says sometimes things happen that aren’t anyone’s fault.  Hanna agrees up to a point, like when a meteor falls and hits your car.  However, the walking around is usually someone else’s fault, right Ali?

Emily tries to diffuse the tension by explaining away what Hanna meant, but Hanna says that “Hanna knows what Hanna meant”.  Ali says Hanna may be right about setting yourself up for bad things. 

Ali puts it on heavy, using her excellent lying skills.  Ali says that while being kidnapped, in the dark she would think about what she did to deserve this.  Emily’s mom says Ali can’t blame herself.  Ali says she knows that in the light of day, but in the dark there is no one to blame but yourself.  Ali says she was so ashamed by what happened.  Hanna, annoyed with Ali’s dramatic lying, rolls her eyes.  Ali says the shame was why she asked her friends not to tell anyone when she came back.  Ali knows that must have been hard for her friends.  Emily and Hanna both look uncomfortable during Ali’s performance.

Emily’s mom says that Ali has some special friends.  Ali knows that and grabs Emily’s hand.  Hanna sarcastically says that Ali is the special one.  There is no one in the entire world like Ali.

Hanna coughs after another sip of booze.  Ali offers to help Emily’s mom clear the dishes.  When Emily and Hanna are alone, Emily grabs Hanna’s glass and takes a sip.  Emily is pissed that Hanna is drinking.  Hanna, making a reference to Ali’s lies, says she needed something to wash down all that baloney they had at dinner.

Aria and Spencer flip through Bethany Young’s sketch book.  Spencer says Aria can’t go back to Radley, but Aria thinks she has to.  Maybe Rhonda knows who Bethany’s friends were and if anyone visited her.  They are now one step closer to exposing “A”. 

Aria and Spencer realize the drawing Eddie left Ezra was the last one in the book, so it was the last thing Bethany drew before leaving Radley.  Spencer flips to earlier drawings and is struck by how normal they are, like the kind in an art class.  They flip past a drawing of a horse.

Aria asks how things went with Ezra.  She’s concerned that Spencer may have said something about her.  Spencer asks why she would slip Aria into the conversation.  Aria and Ezra have done enough slipping on their own.

They see a sketch of a woman falling from a building.  Spencer immediately thinks it might be Toby’s mom.  Is Bethany Young the fragile patient that was on the roof the night Toby’s mom died?  There is also a sketch of Ms. DiLaurentis with horns and a sketch of Ms. DiLaurentis with the word ‘Liar’ written all over her.  Spencer knows Ms. DiLaurentis was on the board at Radley and was part of the coverup.  So after leaving Radley Bethany went looking for Ms. DiLaurentis.  Someone, maybe “A”, was waiting for her with a shovel. 

Spencer wants to show Toby the sketches.  Aria tells her to take a picture.  She has to get the sketch book back under the mattress because Big Rhonda really doesn’t like people touching her stuff.

Emily kicks Hanna out, but makes sure Hanna doesn’t try to drive home.  Emily says Hanna isn’t helping, so she’ll lie and say Hanna’s mom called.  Even though Hanna’s drunk, she is seeing things pretty clearly.  Before leaving, Hanna tells Emily that her mom isn’t buying Ali’s story about blaming herself.  She was watching Emily’s mom, and she wasn’t buying any of Ali’s sob story.

Hanna stops by The Brew to grab some coffee.  Sydney introduces herself as Emily’s friend from the swim team.  Hanna says she just had dinner at Emily’s house and she’s heading home.  Sydney can smell the alcohol on Hanna’s breath and suggests that Hanna stay at the Brew a little.  Sydney offers to wait it out with her and split a Panini.  Hanna decides that it might be a good idea to sober up a bit and stays with Sydney.

Melissa is unsuccessful at coaxing her mom to eat.  Spencer says that their mom knows whose side Melissa is on.  Melissa denies being on a side, despite letting their dad stay at her apartment.  What was she suppose to do, send their dad to a hotel just because Spencer is mad at him?  Spencer isn’t mad at their dad.  She is just trying to figure out who he is, who Melissa is and what her mom and her are up against.  Melissa points out that Spencer is on their mom’s side.

Melissa says fighting isn’t helping.  Things are bad enough between their parents.  Parents aren’t supposed to stop loving each other.  Spencer doesn’t think this is about love.  If it were, there wouldn’t be bodies buried in backyards up and down the street.  This is about lies and whispered conversations that stop when someone comes in the room.  This is about what really happened to Ali and what happened to the poor girl that ended up in the ground.

Melissa looks like she’s about to confess something, but she stops herself and says that Spencer is right.  Melissa says that it is still about love.  Sometimes people do things they can’t explain and do things they regret, but it still about love. 

Hanna decides that melted cheese really is the best booze blocker.  Sydney gets her a napkin and seems to intentionally show a newspaper article about the Cavanaugh house explosion.  Sydney asks if Hanna knew the people living there.  Hanna says their friend Toby used to live there with his stepsister Jenna. 

Sydney says Jenna’s name keeps popping up.  People seem to have a lot of beef with Jenna.  Sydney thinks someone thought Jenna’s house would make a good barbeque pit and Hanna replies that she’d love to rake Jenna over the coals.  Hanna then quickly says that’s not true.  The whole time they were fighting someone else’s battle.  Sydney wonders if Hanna wants to make up with Jenna and stop the fighting.  Hanna, still drunk, says that was always a possibility with Shana.  Hanna quickly catches herself and changes the name from Shana to Jenna.  However, Hanna slips up again and says that after New York it was too late.

Emily asks her mom why it was so important for her to have Ali over.  Emily’s mom wanted to see Emily and Ali together.  Her mom realizes that maybe Emily thought of Ali as more than a friend before Ali disappeared.  Emily admits that she did.  Her mom knows a lot has changed while Ali was gone and asks how Emily how she feels now.  Emily says she’s still working on it.

Turns out Hanna isn’t as dumb as people think she is.  Despite being drunk, her belief that Emily’s mom didn’t buy Ali’s story is correct.  Emily’s mom tells Emily that she still have friends on the police force.  She heard that Ali’s kidnapping story has some problems with it.  Her mom knows that she can’t tell Emily’s heart how it should work, but she wants Emily to remember that saving Ali once doesn’t mean she has to keep saving her.

Sydney gets the coffees and offers to take Hanna home.  Hanna tells Sydney she’ll walk home after seeing Caleb come in. 

Caleb sees Hanna and asks if she blew off the dinner.  Hanna tells him that she got kicked out.  Caleb realizes that he probably shouldn’t have given her advice about her friends.  Hanna can handle Alison however she wants to.  Hanna doesn’t want to talk about Ali.

Hanna knows she’s been having a hard time making decisions lately, but so has Caleb.  He’s been on the fence about her every since he came back.  Caleb says that they already talked about this.  Travis is a great guy.  Hanna says Travis isn’t in the picture if Caleb is back in town. 

Hanna asks what Caleb wants, but he doesn’t know.  The time he spent away from Rosewood made him question things.  He’s not the same person he was before.  He’s learned things about his family and the world.  He looks around the room and doesn’t see the same things he used to.  Hanna asks if he sees her.  Caleb says yes.  Hanna thinks they should start there.  She kisses him.

Spencer watches the footage from the camera Ezra set up.  She sees someone walking in the yard.  When she stops the footage and zooms in, she sees that it is Ali.

Emily leaves Paige a message.  She feels responsible, since she believes Mona was behind the dead rat and Emily pushed Paige into the middle of all this.  Emily asks Paige to call her if she needs anything, then asks her to call even if she doesn’t need anything.  Emily almost says she loves Paige, but changes it to ‘I’d love to hear from you’.  After hanging up, Emily gets a S.O.S text from Spencer.

Aria also gets a call from Spencer.  Aria tells Spencer that she’s walking out the door, but she hasn’t talked to Hanna yet.  When Aria opens her door, Ezra is standing there.  He wants to know if Aria saw Eddie Lamb before leaving Radley.  Ezra says Eddie called to set up a meeting with him, but he never showed.

Spencer shows Aria and Emily the video of Ali in her backyard.  Ali is wearing different clothes than what she wore to Emily’s house.  Spencer asks if Ali was acting weird at dinner.  Emily says it is hard to tell.  Ali left early, but that might have been Hanna’s fault.  Emily tells the girls that Hanna was drinking at dinner, in front of her mom.  Emily thinks Hanna won’t show up, since she knows how mad Emily is.  Spencer says Hanna has to come because they need to figure out what Ali’s up to.  Spencer, Aria and Emily all get text messages.

Hanna arrives.  She’s late because she ran into Caleb and they had a few things to talk about.  The girls ask if Hanna got a text from “A”.  Hanna checks her phone, but she doesn’t know what text they are talking about.  Spencer hands over her phone and Hanna reads the “A” message aloud.  “New York, New York, it’s a hell of a town.  Ali’s keeping secrets.  Maybe that’s because of Hanna’s big mouth”.  Spencer asks Hanna to fill them in on what the message means.

“A” uses steam to open a sealed envelope.  Inside is an invitation to Ella (Aria’s mom) and Zach’s engagement party.  “A” takes a photo of the invitation, and then seals the envelope again.  We see that the invitation is addressed to Pam Fields (Emily’s mom).