‘Pretty Little Liars’ season 5, episode 20 review: Is Ali really ‘A,’ and is Mona actually dead?
“Do you want to know what happened to Mona or not?”
Near the end of “Pretty Little Liars” tonight, this was a question that Mike finally said to Aria, and we got some of the most significant answers that we’ve had in a long time. We finally got a sense of what Mike has been up to, and it turns out that he’s not nearly as evil or seedy as you may have thought. He was just a guy in love trying to preserve the memory of his lost girlfriend. He wanted to do what he could to protect her secret, which was that she actually intended to fake her death and go away, since this would get a chance for her to draw out “A” and expose them once and for all. We do think that she is truly dead, but we wouldn’t put it past this show to stage some shocking resurrection.
Also significant here? That it appears that Alison is not actually “A,” after all … or at least this is how it seems. It’s always possible that Mike has bad information, and while he trusts the wrong people sometimes, he may be right here.
Elsewhere – We’re really enjoying the Hanna – beauty pageant story, mostly because it’s so different than anything we’ve seen on the show before. Emily seems now invested in doing it for Hanna, who seems to lack the confidence and the coaching. Meanwhile, Emily is also seemingly done with Talia, after realizing that her husband has a different opinion of their relationship. He thinks it is some sort of experiment.
As for Spencer, let’s just say that her kissing Jonny makes things very complicated. Also, Toby is trying to protect her, just in the rudest way imaginable.
Overall, this was by far the meatiest and most interesting episode of the show in a while. Let’s hope this continues. Grade: B+.
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