Wednesday, April 19, 2017

PLL 7x11 “Playtime” Recap: A 'Pretty Little Liars Game' Similar to Jumanji

A.D. raises the stakes by forcing the Liars to play a Jumanji-style game in Pretty Little Liars episode 7x11 “Playtime”. Meanwhile, Nicole’s return causes uncertainty for the Ezria wedding, Hanna tries to restart her fashion business, Emily questions Alison’s motives and Spencer confronts her mom about Mary Drake’s claim to be her biological mother.

Pretty Little Liars season 7A ended with a few cliffhangers. Spencer was shot, Mary Drake revealed that she is Spencer’s birth mother and Toby and Yvonne got in a car accident as they attempted to leave Rosewood.

The season 7B premiere “Playtime” picks up where “The DArkest Knight” left off. Spencer is rushed to the hospital. In the ambulance, Spencer loses consciousness due to blood loss from her gunshot wound.

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The rest of the Liars rush to the hospital. They wonder if Noel and Jenna were Uber “A” the whole time. Noel and Jenna were connected to Charlotte and Rollins, but what is the motive? Maybe the Liars knew too much about something?

The Liars don’t know where Jenna is. (They didn’t see A.D. take Jenna). Aria wonders if they are finally free of “A”. If Noel was A.D., then his death should mean the Liars are finally safe.

The Liars are shocked when Toby is wheeled in to the hospital. Hanna wonders where Yvonne is.


Luckily, Toby pulls through. A week later, Toby is fine for the most part. Yvonne isn’t so lucky. She’s been in a medically induced coma ever since her surgery.

Meanwhile, Aria moving her stuff out of Ezra’s place. Aria is unsure where she stands with Ezra after his reunion with his ex-girlfriend Nicole. As she is leaving, bag in hand, Ezra returns. Ezra grabs her bag and takes it back to the bedroom.

So Ezra still wants to be with Aria, but he hasn’t told Nicole about the engagement yet. He wanted to talk to her on the plane, but it wasn’t the right time. Nicole is currently at a recovery facility in New York with her parents.


Hanna and Caleb are back together and they are just as adorable as they were a few seasons ago. Caleb encourages Hanna to focus on her fashion career again. He thinks Hanna will regret not pursuing her dreams.


Surprisingly, both Emily and Paige got hired at Rosewood High. (Coincidentally, Paige is wearing the same Dogeared Balance Tube Bar necklace that Emily wore in episode 7x08). Emily is now coach for the varsity swim team. And Paige is the new athletic department supervisor. Alison isn’t too happy that Paige now works at Rosewood High. And Alison is also pushing Emily away. Emily promised to go to the doctor with Alison, but Alison already went by herself.


A.D. leaves a present for the Liars. The Liars find a huge black box, wrapped with a red bow, in Spencer’s barn. It comes with a note that says “IT’S PLAYTIME!”.

The Liars open the box and find a board game titled “Liar’s Lament”. The board is a miniature version Rosewood. Of course, the game pieces are figurines of the Liars. It also comes with a cell phone to display messages from A.D., the first of which says “ENDGAME … BITCHES”. It is basically a Pretty Little Liars version of Jumanji and the Liars are forced to play along.

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For now, the Liars all decide to ignore the board game. They don’t take it to the police. Knowing A.D., the game would probably blow up before they could get it in the car. Only a few pieces left to play, then it’s all over, Spencer says.

Back at Rosewood, Alison is still upset that Paige was hired. She wonders if “athletic supervisor” was a position invented just for Paige. Alison also accuses Emily of asking Rosewood High to hire Paige. Alison feels broken and alone, so Emily assures Alison that she is there for her.

Mona notices Hanna sketching some designs for her fashion business. Mona is impressed with Hanna’s portfolio, but Hanna doesn’t have the confidence to submit her designs to a competition. Mona offers to help Hanna. She cryptically snaps photos of Hanna’s sketches. “Do you trust me?” Mona asks. “Sometimes,” Hanna answers. Make this one of those times, Mona tells her.

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Spencer stops by the police station to talk to Detective Marco Furey. The police checked the hospital records. Turns out both Jenna and Noel visited Archer Dunhill while he was pretending to be Dr. Rollins. And Marco doesn’t think Archer Dunhill is in France.

And Marco reveals that there were two guns the night Spencer got shot. The police recovered a gun from the crime scene (the gun in Jenna’s hand), but that isn’t the same gun that fired the bullet that hit Spencer. And the police don’t have any answers, since both Jenna and Mary have disappeared.

Aria doesn’t know if Ezra wants to postpone the wedding, now that Nicole is back. Hanna advises Aria to plan the wedding without him. That way, everything wedding-related will be waiting for him when he says goodbye to Nicole. “Trust me, he will say goodbye”, Hanna assures Aria.

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So Hanna and Aria go look for a wedding venue. Aria is surprised to run into her old friend Holden. (Aria and Holden pretended to date back in season 3. Aria was hiding her relationship with Ezra and Holden was sneaking off to martial arts tournaments). Holden is now a chef and his sister owns the venue.

Holden gives Aria a tour and asks questions about the wedding. Is Aria a spring, autumn or half-priced November through March bride? Aria seems overwhelmed by the wedding decisions.

Emily notices that Paige and Alison are signed up on the same committee. Emily tries to tell another teacher that Paige and Alison are not a productive mix. Paige overhears the conversation. Paige tells the teacher that they are all adults, so there shouldn’t be any conflict. High school was a long time ago.

Paige doesn’t know who Emily is trying to protect. "You don't have to protect me from Ali. And if you thought you had to protect Ali from me, you're not paying attention," Paige tells Emily.

Veronica Hastings rushes home from Europe when she finds out Spencer was shot. Spencer tells her that Mary Drake claims to be Spencer’s birth mother. Veronica calls Mary Drake ‘clinically insane’, which isn’t the denial Spencer was hoping for.

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Veronica finally tells Spencer the truth. Years ago, Jessica DiLaurentis showed up at the door. Jessica told Veronica about her twin sister Mary Drake. Turns out Peter Hastings, Spencer’s dad, mistook Mary for Jessica and slept with her. Mary ended up pregnant, but by then she was locked up in Radley.

Spencer is in disbelief that her dad did this to Veronica again. (The first time was when he had an affair with Jessica DiLaurentis, which ended after Jason was born). “Some people have a great capacity for repeating mistakes” Veronica tells Spencer.

Veronica couldn’t stand the idea of the baby disappearing into the system. So she turned to Judge Kahn, who helped arrange for Veronica to keep the baby. Veronica waited in a car while Mary gave birth. Within five minutes, Veronica was holding baby Spencer in her arms. She’s held on to Spencer ever since.

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Veronica clearly loves Spencer, but Spencer is in a lot of pain. “You aren’t my mother” Spencer yells at Veronica. Veronica insists that she is Spencer’s mother, but Spencer doesn’t feel sure of anything anymore.

Aria and Holden are walking down the street when Ezra runs up to them. Ezra got a call from Nicole’s parents, so he is rushing back to New York. Is the wedding going to be postponed after all?

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Mona promises that Hanna’s designs will be in the Sunday Times Style section and her plan seems to be working. Mona sets up a meeting with Katherine Daly, daughter of a New York senator. Katherine promise to wear one of Hanna’s dresses at an event.

The problem? Katherine thinks Mona is Hanna’s boss. Caleb thinks Mona is trying to push Hanna off the label. Mona assures Hanna that it is just a misunderstanding. Mona has no motives other than helping Hanna grow her business. Mona was just excited to work with Hanna on something other than kidnapping an ex-boyfriend (Noel). Mona immediately calls Katherine to clear up the misunderstanding. And Mona promises to get Hanna business cards that list Hanna as the boss.

Alison doesn’t play nice at the faculty committee meeting at Rosewood High. Alison starts acting like the high school mean girl she used to be. She attacks Paige, telling the other teacher to remember Paige’s aggression in high school. Paige tries to ignore Alison’s comments, but Alison keeps hurling insults her way. Alison keeps trying to get Emily to agree with her, but Emily tries to stay out of the conversation. Emily finally yells at Alison to stop.

Spencer, upset after her conversation with Veronica, decides to play the ‘Liar’s Lament’ board game. She’s given the choice of truth or dare. Spencer chooses dare. The dare is surprisingly tame. She has to go visit Toby and then she’ll get a reward.

Spencer had been avoiding Toby, but she finally visits him. Toby thinks A.D.’s torture is over now that Noel is dead. Spencer, wanting to protect Toby, agrees with him.

Yvonne’s condition isn’t good and Toby blames himself. He never should have made her leave Rosewood. Spencer tells him that the world doesn’t work like that. What happened to Yvonne isn’t his fault.

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Emily is upset with how Alison acted at work. They were in the teacher’s lounge, not the cafeteria before homecoming. Emily doesn’t know if Alison is afraid of Paige or if Alison just wants to punch a familiar face.

Alison lashes out at Emily, asking if Emily and Sabrina are still taking a break. Emily snaps, saying she hates this part of Alison. Alison swats people away like bugs. “Why do we have to keep showing you we love you?” Emily asks.

Alison says Emily and Paige have real memories. Alison doesn’t feel like she has that. None of her memories are real. They are all lies.

Emily asks about the Emison kiss. Did Alison kiss her because she wanted to or was to keep Emily from leaving? Alison doesn’t know the answer. Emily tells Alison not to kiss her again until she figures it out.

Spencer gets her prize for completing the dare. An envelope with the words “For my child” comes out of ‘Liar’s Lament’. The envelope contains a letter written by Mary Drake. In the letter, Mary says she wanted to punish and hurt the Hastings and Jessica. Spencer came from a hateful act, but Mary is sorry that Spencer ended up in the Hastings house. Mary hopes Spencer can forgive her someday. There is also a puzzle piece in the envelope, which fits on the ‘Liar’s Lament’ board.

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Emily and Paige have a talk at Rosewood High. Emily tells Paige to expect an apology from Alison. Paige doesn’t need and doesn’t want an apology, though. Emily says that Alison has been through a lot, but Paige isn’t interested in hearing it. "Don't make excuses for her, it's demeaning," Paige says. Alison is always the victim and always needs to be rescued. And Emily has a habit of jumping in to rescue Alison.

Spencer tells her friends about the letter from Mary that she got after playing ‘Liar’s Lament’. Hanna is ready to pry open the game with a crowbar to see what else is hidden in it, but A.D. threatens them with a video of the Liars burying Archer Dunhill/Elliot Rollins. “Can’t stop playing now. Winner takes all”, the game says.

Jenna is still being held by A.D., but she doesn’t seem distressed. Is she being held against her will or does she want to help A.D.? A.D. gives her tea and papers written in Braille. Jenna starts reading the pages. “Endgame” Jenna reads with a smile.

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What did you think of Pretty Little Liars episode 7x11 “Playtime”? I love the idea of the Liars playing a Jumanji style game. Can’t wait to see what happens when the other Liars play. And I really like the scenes between Mona and Hanna. Post your thoughts/comments/theories below!

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