Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Recap of PLL 6x09 “Last Dance”: Alison Sees Charles Unmasked

PLL 6x09 "Last Dance" is all about prom for the Liars.  The Liars crash their own prom, the PLL moms drink wine and act just like their daughters, and Alison finds out who Charles DiLaurentis really is.

Principal Hackett has made it official.  The Liars have been disinvited to their own prom.  Rosewood High doesn’t think the other students will be safe if the Liars go to the dance.  The PLL moms are sympathetic, but they do think there are valid security risks after the gallery incident.  Charles won’t have any problem crashing a school party.

Veronica Hastings, Spencer’s mom, offers to let the Liars use the backyard barn to have their own prom.  Spencer isn’t enthusiastic about a party in a small room stuffed with Melissa’s stuff.  The barn isn’t big enough for the girls, their dates and their poufy dresses.  Twinkle lights hanging on Melissa’s shower isn’t exactly a prom.

The Liars are also getting kicked out of the commencement ceremony.  Spencer wasted time writing her graduation speech, since the Liars won’t be allowed to walk across that stage and get their diplomas.  The valedictorian offer has gone from a pity toss to a humiliation hurl.

At The Brew, the Liars vent about getting disinvited to prom and try to look on the bright side.  Prom wouldn’t have been that great anyways.  Everyone would stare at them all night.  And they wouldn’t be safe from Charles.  The Liars already attended one psycho prom that Charles hosted.

Aria hasn’t heard from Clark, but she’s left him five messages.  They still don’t know why Charles was meeting up with Matthew Rhys at the abandoned doll warehouse.

Lorenzo comes in and he’s clearly still upset that Alison stole his police key card.  Spencer thinks Lorenzo will eventually forgive Alison.  Alison gets a text from Charles that says “Better be at prom.  It’s our last chance to dance.  Come alone”.

Aria makes another call to Clark.  Ezra wonders why Aria hasn’t told the police about him if she thinks he is connected to Charles.  Aria doesn’t want to do that unless she’s sure.  It wasn’t too long ago that she accused Andrew Campbell of being “A” and it turned out Andrew was trying to rescue the Liars from “A”.

Aria’s mom, Ella Montgomery, rushes over to The Brew with good news.  Aria won the photography contest.  Aria will get a cash prize and an internship at a magazine in Los Angeles.  Aria’s mom and Ezra are thrilled, but Aria isn’t.  She can’t leave Rosewood with “A” still on the loose.  “A” would probably wait for her at the baggage claim.

Aria’s mom suggests that Aria live in the moment.  She should focus on the barn prom.  Ezra offers to go to the prom with Aria.  He wasn’t eager to share a punch bowl with former students at Rosewood High, but he doesn’t mind attending a prom in Spencer’s barn.

Hanna won’t have a date for the barn prom.  Caleb is heading to New York to visit his dad.  Hanna doesn’t believe him when she sees that Caleb is taking an industrial strength laptop with him.  She suspects Caleb is tracking down “A” himself.


Emily also won’t have a date to the prom.  Emily asks Sara Harvey to prom, but Sara’s old school has prom on the same night.  Sara already has plans to go to that prom with Claire and some of her other friends.


Toby has to deal with the fallout from the failed attempt to catch Charles at the arcade.  He faces disciplinary action at the Rosewood police department.  Spencer feels guilty for everything that happened to both Toby and Lorenzo.  She asked Toby not to tell the police that Charles was heading to the arcade.  And Lorenzo never would have gotten hurt if Toby hadn’t eaten her pot candies.  She should have told Toby how messed up she was after the dollhouse.

Toby isn’t holding a grudge against Spencer.  She didn’t force him to go to the arcade that night.  Maybe what happened was for the best.  The police will catch Charles even if Toby isn’t on the force anymore.

Lorenzo tells Toby that his suspension is for an indefinite amount of time.  There will be an investigation and a hearing.  Spencer wants to say something to the police department in Toby’s defense.  Lorenzo, still angry about getting hurt and Alison’s betrayal, tells Spencer that no one is interested in what she has to say.


Emily hangs out at Hanna’s house while Hanna repeatedly calls Caleb.  Since Caleb isn’t answering his phone, Hanna decides to call Caleb’s dad.  She finds out that Caleb lied about visiting his dad.  Now Hanna is sure Caleb is hunting down “A” himself.  

While Hanna is out of the room, Hanna’s mom comes in.  Emily tells Hanna's mom that she doesn't feel like dressing up for the pity prom.  Emily and Hanna won’t even have dates.  Hanna’s mom advises them to dress up, dance and feel beautiful.  Senior prom only comes once.

Alison gets a call from Charles.  She tells him that she can’t go to the school prom.  She begs him to talk to her, but he hangs up on her.

Spencer asks Lorenzo to meet her at The Brew.  She understands why Lorenzo is angry at Alison.  Stealing his police key card was stupid, impulsive and put Lorenzo in a terrible position at work.  Even so, Spencer wants Lorenzo to give Alison another chance.  Alison has never had someone like Lorenzo who saw something vulnerable and genuine in her.

Lorenzo is starting to think everyone was right about Alison being a master manipulator.  He gave her a chance and he got screwed over.  Spencer knows how he feels.  She’s been used and abused by Alison more times than she can count.  Spencer believes Alison has changed after everything she’s been through, but Lorenzo isn’t ready to forgive her.  Spencer invites him to the barn prom, in case he changes his mind.

While the Liars have their prom in the barn, the moms stay close by in Spencer’s house and have a few glasses of wine.  They wonder how Jessica and Kenneth DiLaurentis could keep their son a secret for so long.  Veronica Hastings, who clearly had a bit too much wine, almost spills about Jason not knowing Kenneth wasn’t his biological father.  The other mothers immediately pick up on that slip and ask for details.

Alison is heading to Spencer’s barn when she sees someone in a red cloak and mask watching her.  Alison sneaks off to the Rosewood High prom to meet Charles.  When she arrives, she spots Clark taking photos at the prom.

Ezra snaps photos of the Liars, who look gorgeous in their prom dresses.  Aria accidentally sees an airline confirmation for Ezra on his phone.  Aria isn’t happy when she sees that Ezra is flying to Los Angeles.

Since the Liars are stuck in Spencer’s prom, they spend most of the time looking at photos of their classmates at the real prom.  Bridget Wu, Noel Kahn’s date, has her dress on backwards and is 85% tequila.  Hanna is disturbed to see Lucas took Jenna as his date.  Spencer thinks Lucas and Jenna were just near each other and didn’t actually go to the dance together.  The Liars are shocked when they see Alison in the background of one of the prom photos.  They realize that Charles lured Alison to the prom.

The Liars immediately rush to the prom to rescue Alison.  The Rosewood High prom is fairy tale themed, so the Liars are dressed perfectly.  Spencer's dress is inspired by Ariel, Emily is the Evil Queen, Hanna has a Rapunzel dress and Aria’s dressed like Snow White.

Aria asks why Clark is at the Rosewood High prom.  He isn’t even a student.  Clark claims that someone on the prom committee saw his photos at the gallery.  Aria asks why he was at the old doll factory, but a chaperone interrupts before Clark can answer.  The chaperone rudely tells Aria to leave with her friends.

Alison gets a text from Charles that says “Don’t look for a wolf, seeing red is enough”.  Alison starts looking for someone dressed in red.

The PLL moms continue to drink in Spencer’s kitchen.  Veronica Hastings vents about Jessica DiLaurentis.  She stole Veronica’s husband and then Jessica’s sick son buried her in the backyard.  The deranged freak tried to frame her family.

Pam Fields wonders if Charles wasn’t the one who buried Jessica in the Hastings backyard.  Maybe it was Alison’s dad Kenneth DiLaurentis.  He could have killed his wife to get revenge for keeping Charles a secret all those years.  Maybe Kenneth wanted Peter Hastings to find the body.

Veronica Hastings, now drunk, decides to go over to the DiLaurentis house and confront Kenneth.  The other moms follow Veronica and find the DiLaurentis front door open.  Veronica calls out for Kenneth.  She knows he’s home because there is a glass of scotch on the table.  Pam notices a police envelope used for evidence next to the scotch. 

Veronica opens the envelope and the moms stare at the photo of Jessica DiLaurentis with Charles and Jason at the Campbell Farm.  While they are looking at the photo, Matthew Rhys comes in.

The Liars finally find Alison, but Alison isn’t happy that they showed up at the prom.  She thinks the Liars will scare him away, just like at the arcade.  Alison tells her friends to leave her alone.  She knows what she’s doing.

Sara Harvey shows up at the Rosewood High prom.  She decided that she wanted to dance with Emily at prom.  Whatever happens, she wants Emily to know that she means a lot to her. 

Spencer begs Alison to leave the dance while they still can.  Alison still thinks Charles won’t hurt her.  The text he sent her wasn’t threatening.  Alison turns on Spencer.  She says that Spencer never understood her and never liked her.  Charles is her brother, not Spencer’s.  Alison isn’t leaving until she asks what she did to make him hate her.

Matthew Rhys asks if Kenneth DiLaurentis is at home.  Matthew explains that he is from the Carissimi Group, which was sponsored by Jessica DiLaurenitis.  Since Kenneth isn’t around, Matthew leaves.  The PLL moms have the same idea as their daughters.  They think Matthew Rhys is Charles DiLaurentis.

The Liars dance with their significant others while keeping an eye on Alison and Clark.  Spencer wonders why Alison said she never liked her.  They all came to protect Alison.  The Liars missed out on the typical high school experience because they tried to solve the mystery of Alison.

Aria tells Ezra not to come to Los Angeles with her over the summer.  She needs to go by herself.  Ezra isn’t planning to go to Los Angeles, though.  He bought a ticket to Thailand.  He decided to do the Habitat for Humanity trip.  His flight has a layover in LA.  Ezra isn’t going to follow Aria, but he also isn’t going to stay in Rosewood.  Aria is glad that Ezra is heading to Thailand.  He needs to move on.  Ezra agrees that change could be good for both of them.


Spencer tells Toby what she wrote in her commencement speech.  She wrote what it means to support someone unconditionally even if that person hasn’t been honest.  The importance of having someone who inspires you and puts your needs before their own without resenting them for it.  Someone who always expects you to do the right thing and then forgives you when you don’t.  Spencer wrote that speech about Toby.  Toby and Spencer kiss while Alison slips away.

The moms search the DiLaurentis house for more photos, but they hear a noise coming from the basement.  They assume Kenneth is down there.  When they go to investigate, someone locks them down there.  Unfortunately, they didn't bring phones with them.

Caleb surprises Hanna at prom.  He’s even wearing the suit she picked out for him.  Hanna demands to know what Caleb was doing in New York.  Turns out his trip had nothing to do with “A”.  Caleb was making Hanna’s dream of New York a reality.  Caleb got a job as an information risk analyst.  He can’t tell her the name of the company, but it’ll be his job to keep hackers out.  The job will pay enough to cover Hanna’s college tuition and a place to live.

Alison gets another text from “A” following the Little Red Riding Hood theme.  It says “My, what big eyes you have.  Use them.  Time’s almost up.”  Alison follows someone in a red cloak.

Clark follows Alison, but the Liars stop him before he can reach her.  Toby takes a gun from Clark and they demand to know who Charles is.  They all think Clark was hired by Charles, but they are way off.  Clark is actually an undercover police officer.  He has a badge to prove it, but it’s too late to protect Alison.  She’s already gone.

Alison ends up alone, surrounded by mirrors.  She gets another text that says “Now it’s just the two of us”.  “A”, wearing a black hoodie and mask, grabs Alison and drags her away.

Meanwhile, the Liars are trying to find Alison.  Clark and Toby already called the police for backup.  Lorenzo shows up and asks where Alison is. 

Still locked in the DiLaurentis basement, the PLL moms wonder how their daughters managed to survive everything “A” put them through.  The moms are just getting a taste of what the Liars have lived through the past few years.  The moms were supposed to keep the girls safe that night, but they failed.

Alison runs from “A”, but suddenly stops and faces him.  Alison begs Charles to talk to her.  Charles takes off his mask and Alison finally comes face-to-face with him.  Alison says “Oh my god” when she finally sees who her brother is.


It was great to see all the PLL moms get drunk together, but were you disappointed that the moms didn’t deal with “A” any better than their daughters do?  Spencer’s mom, usually the cautious lawyer, didn’t have any problem trespassing on the DiLaurentis property and opening the police evidence envelope.  And it was so easy for “A” to trap them in the basement.  It would have been nice to see Noel, Lucas and Jenna at the prom since we know they attended it.  Do you think Alison is in danger?  Who do you think Charles is?  One more week until we finally see “A” unmasked!

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