‘Pretty Little Liars’ season 5, episode 10 review: Shay Mitchell shines as Ali flounders

Ever since the beginning, “Pretty Little Liars” has always revolved around Alison DiLaurentis. Even though she is seemingly not the one responsible for tormenting the stars of the show, she has had an active part in it. She doesn’t make life easy on them, and more than anything else, she has this nasty habit of constantly thinking of herself before anyone else.

This all continued on Tuesday night’s episode, which we may officially call “the one where everyone gives up on Ali.” After Emily spent almost the entire series trying to defend Ali (mostly because of the repressed feelings that she has for her at times), she finally decided to let most of this go after Ali deciding to incriminate Cyrus. This was not something that she and Ali discussed at length beforehand, and it was a complete betrayal of her trust. Easily, this was the best episode for Shay Mitchell of the entire season.

Of course, through all of this we did learn yet again that Ali really isn’t up to a whole lot of good. She ended up being the one to help and even eventually release Cy from his position while the warrant remained out there for his arrest. We still have no clue what she is up to, but her presence has not made much of anything that much clearer … other than that we know “A” has something horrible coming for her. This information seems to be coming via Melissa, who prepared a big secret near the end of the episode.

As for some other events of the hour, Aria remembered that Ezra has shady tendencies, Hanna tried to use a play to get away from her recent problems boozing it up, and Aria’s mom managed to at least open her mouth again after her engagement ended. While Shay was great and Ali’s web is starting to fall apart, the lack of other major events is probably this hour’s biggest flaw. Grade: B.

What’s your take on tonight’s episode? Let us know with a comment below, and be sure to also click here to get some further news on “Pretty Little Liars” (including a preview for what lies ahead). Also, sign up to get some further TV scoop on everything we cover courtesy of our CarterMatt Newsletter.

Photo: ABC Family