Pretty Little Liars: Over a Barrel
January 21, 2015 8:28 AM - Season 5, Episode 16 - Subscribe
Spencer searches for Mona’s missing laptop with Caleb’s help but where the search leads them could cross the “Toby approved” line. Aria tries to come clean to Ezra about her lie when she gets diverted by a possible goose chase. Hanna is stuck in the middle having to cover her mom’s secret when Pastor Ted returns with big news. Emily has to put up with Talia’s annoying suggestions at work, as she struggles to come to terms with the end of her relationship with Paige.
Recaps and Reviews
Entertainment Weekly
Washington Post
Onscreen Hashtags
#WhoIsH
#WhatsInTheBarrel
#SpencersSecret
Recaps and Reviews
Entertainment Weekly
Washington Post
Onscreen Hashtags
#WhoIsH
#WhatsInTheBarrel
#SpencersSecret
OH GOD and that guy living in Spencer's barn! He is the worst! Don't fall for him, Spencer, you're better than that! He is TERRIBLE! GOD what a tool! "Oh yes, I will trade you a travelogue for an egg for my homemade tempera paints. What a suave douchebag I am." UGH NO RUN SPENCER!
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 9:03 AM on January 21, 2015
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 9:03 AM on January 21, 2015
Also the receipt thing was awesome. I wonder how A got that letter to print only on Aria's receipt? I kind of thought it would show up on every receipt that day which would have been super great! Very funny! Huge waste of paper, everyone in the town would know that Aria had dated Ezra and then claimed she was sorry to have done it (P.S. she was obviously not sorry, she totally loved dating Ezra), would have been fantastic.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 9:05 AM on January 21, 2015
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 9:05 AM on January 21, 2015
I'm pretty sure Talia is not flirting with Emily, but I had the same sense. Maybe she's testing to see if Emily would be interested?
I wish Pastor Ted well, but he's almost certainly going to get ruined by some sort of A reveal. Maybe Hanna will save the day and keep it from happening, but the threat is definitely coming. The guy living in Spencer's barn is terrible even if he's not Up to No Good which he clearly is. Stupid artists.
All blondes are CeCe Drake until proven otherwise.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 10:40 AM on January 21, 2015
I wish Pastor Ted well, but he's almost certainly going to get ruined by some sort of A reveal. Maybe Hanna will save the day and keep it from happening, but the threat is definitely coming. The guy living in Spencer's barn is terrible even if he's not Up to No Good which he clearly is. Stupid artists.
All blondes are CeCe Drake until proven otherwise.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 10:40 AM on January 21, 2015
All blondes are CeCe Drake until proven otherwise.
New life rule.
Oh man, thinking about what you said about Pastor Ted, it feels like it's been a while since they really had any regular life secrets like cheating parents or whatever; most of A's torturing of them recently has been trying to set them up for stuff or threatening reveal things they've done in pursuit of A itself or just be an eternal, creepy presence and maybe try to hurt them. The show started out with a lot of blackmail but it's moved away from that and I think it would be sort of nice to get back to stuff like "Hannah can save her mother's relationship but only by selling out Aria to Ezra" or whatever. You know, PLL classic.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 10:58 AM on January 21, 2015
New life rule.
Oh man, thinking about what you said about Pastor Ted, it feels like it's been a while since they really had any regular life secrets like cheating parents or whatever; most of A's torturing of them recently has been trying to set them up for stuff or threatening reveal things they've done in pursuit of A itself or just be an eternal, creepy presence and maybe try to hurt them. The show started out with a lot of blackmail but it's moved away from that and I think it would be sort of nice to get back to stuff like "Hannah can save her mother's relationship but only by selling out Aria to Ezra" or whatever. You know, PLL classic.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 10:58 AM on January 21, 2015
At this point the "liars" part of the show is mostly them lying to cover up other lies they've told to avoid telling anyone about A. They used to lie more about other stuff, like being a lesbian or sleeping with a teacher, and that's stuffs all been out in the open for years at this point.
They're also not that little, given that the actress are all in their mid to late 20s. They remain pretty, though, because it's TV and they all have time to hit the gym and do their makeup before facing Danger.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 11:04 AM on January 21, 2015
They're also not that little, given that the actress are all in their mid to late 20s. They remain pretty, though, because it's TV and they all have time to hit the gym and do their makeup before facing Danger.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 11:04 AM on January 21, 2015
Yeah, besides lying about A, what else is still a secret? Emily's out, Aria's parents are divorced and know about Ezra, Hannah's no longer bulimic and her Mom's stolen money was returned and she's gone from that job, Spencer's sister moved away and isn't dating anyone on whom Spencer has a crush plus everyone knows about her retconned pill addiction, the stuff with Jenna's blindness and Toby going to juvie is behind them -- why can't they just come clean about everything now? Before they at least professed to be protecting Ali, but clearly that's not the case anymore, and even if they think Ali's directing things from jail (clearly not since this show is so ridiculous although maybe later there will be a reverse twist and she is which I might enjoy) why wouldn't they just go to the police about all this? So Aria's boyfriend doesn't find out that she wrote a letter bashing their relationship to his ex-girlfriend to get into her safety school? But that just happened and isn't THAT big a deal anyway. They should really have told some fucking adults about all this nonsense.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 11:12 AM on January 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 11:12 AM on January 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
At this point they could tell the adults and I doubt they'd get in trouble, because the adults wouldn't follow the thread well enough to figure out when they broke the law. They'd wouldn't make it through season two before experienced detectives became so confused trying to keep straight who was who and who was on what side (or pretending to be on what side) that they'd just throw up their hands and walk away.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 11:26 AM on January 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 11:26 AM on January 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
That's a fair point. God, how WOULD you explain this to someone? Show time is even shorter, too, so all of this crazy nonsense has happened to them in a really, really short span of time. They really should go into therapy, although I suppose that worked out badly before when they tried.
This is actually something I potentially find interesting about the "Aria didn't get into any colleges" plot, though; I think it's pretty reasonable for the characters to have a high degree of paranoia and even PTSD (haven't most of them survived multiple explosions? And two of them have killed people!) and that's not really dealt with, but if they start assuming that every bad thing that happens to them is A, even when it's a normal shitty thing like not getting into good colleges, I think there's somewhere to take that. I think it would be great if they'd really explore how living in this crazy world with this intense pressure where multiple people really have been engaged in a conspiracy to destroy you affects the way you live your life later. I could deal with PLL becoming a bit more psychological, is what I think I'm saying here.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 12:05 PM on January 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
This is actually something I potentially find interesting about the "Aria didn't get into any colleges" plot, though; I think it's pretty reasonable for the characters to have a high degree of paranoia and even PTSD (haven't most of them survived multiple explosions? And two of them have killed people!) and that's not really dealt with, but if they start assuming that every bad thing that happens to them is A, even when it's a normal shitty thing like not getting into good colleges, I think there's somewhere to take that. I think it would be great if they'd really explore how living in this crazy world with this intense pressure where multiple people really have been engaged in a conspiracy to destroy you affects the way you live your life later. I could deal with PLL becoming a bit more psychological, is what I think I'm saying here.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 12:05 PM on January 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments
I like Pastor Ted a lot and I hope he is happy and I hope that Hannah's mom does what's best for her. I think she does care for Pastor Ted but I'm not sure she's in love with him.
God so psyched for that locker being a thing! Yes! Who do you suppose the blonde mentioned by the teacher was? It's got to be CeCe Drake, right? Unless it's not! Maybe it was MONA HERSELF in a WIG!
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 9:02 AM on January 21, 2015