Pretty Little Liars S06xEp15 : Do Not Disturb

Well, I must ask…Would it really not have been easier for them to just go to the police? Considering the terrors they went through five years ago, the police would most certainly take the threats much more seriously this time round.

The purpose of this whole episode was to make the sketch factor go through the roof on Sara Harvey, and for the most part it did work. I can’t quite fathom why she’s still on the scene. She’s a terrible character and she’s dragging the show down.

It’s pretty clear that she’s going to have some sort of proof that Sparia broke into her room. They didn’t use gloves, or at least tried to cover their tracks. It all seems that they’re pretty much asking to be terrorized. They’re being easy targets and they really need to be thinking about why they are such easy victims.

On another note, Aria’s dad Byron tells her that he has been keeping a secret from her, he has been “seeing someone.” Aria braces herself for the worst – then Byron announces that he and her mother Ella have been spending time together again and are getting back together. They just have been keeping it a secret from her and Mike until they knew it was for real.

 

Hanna receives a text from “A” telling her to hand over the drive ASAP. Hanna calls Aria and has her come over to the house after Ashley goes to work – they destroy the whole house searching for the drive and can’t find it. Aria thinks that they should set “A” up, and pretend they have the drive, even if they don’t.

 

Tonight’s episode ends with “A” plugging the fake hard drive from the liars in to their computer – but Caleb installed a virus on the hard-drive and it completely wipes out “A”’s hard drive.

 

 

 

 

Pretty Little Liars 6×14 “New Guys, New Lies”

Let’s talk about the new ‘A’, or whatever it is we’re calling them now. The new big bad of season 6B and beyond is a little bit rubbish. Maybe it’s a generational thing, and younger Pretty Little Liars fans love the new emoji texts, or maybe we’re not supposed to think this person measures up to either Mona or Charlotte in threat-level or cleverness.

I also just have to get one thing off my chest: Byron Montgomery is not the killer and has nothing to do with this whole thing. I get that he wants to play the role of protective father and all, but remember how long it took him to realize that Meredith was a crazy way back on season 3 ? He ain’t fooling anyone and the writers aren’t either.

 

Overall, the biggest problem with season 6B is simply that we anticipated things moving a little bit faster, and feeling a little different now that we’re five years into the future. However, that’s really not the same. While we may have different romantic pairings and a new villain, it feels like we’re dealing with the same thing all over again.

Pretty Little Liars S06xEp13: The Gloves Are On

Lucas resurfaced, Liam showed us his abs on video chat and Emily came clean…sort of. And then there’s the whole Caleb-Spencer thing. I think I’m equal parts scarred and intrigued by the developments on that front.

Spencer tells Hanna the truth about her feelings for Caleb before acting on them and then trying to keep their tryst a secret. (Sidebar: Gotta love Spencer’s insistence that she hadn’t yet hooked up with Caleb because, “I would never do that to you,” even though we were just reminded that Spencer totally would do that.) How mature and, frankly, how unlike everyone on this show! A+, Spencer. Just like old times.

Over at Radley, Ashley is having a little chat with Lorenzo. He clearly suspects that the security footage had been tampered with, and he demands a list of every staff member and every hotel guest from the night of Charlotte’s murder. Poor Ashley. She is the only mom on this show who gets interrogated by the police as much as the liars. Let’s hope she doesn’t end up hitting Lorenzo with her car too.

Emily’s mom receives a letter from Pepperdine University and discovers that Emily never actually graduated from there and has been lying to her about it for years now. I didn’t buy the whole Emily is broke storyline, or the subsequent news that she’s selling her eggs. That’s very unlike her and is the last thing I would have expected. It is comforting however, to know that she doesn’t have some sort of illness.

But dear lord, Ezra has surpassed himself this season. It’s a jump to accuse him of murder based only on the fact that he’s day-drinking and saw Charlotte on the night she was killed, but then I operate on the assumption that he’s a psychopath at all times, so why shouldn’t his previous victims do the same?

That said, there’s something about the new dynamic between him and Aria now that she’s an adult that makes all their interactions that much more disgustingly fascinating. She always had a ludicrous amount of power in the relationship given that she was a high school student and he was her teacher, so to see them just remain toxic as ever is weirdly satisfying. Of course she believes he’d kill for her, and of course she’d offer to protect him.

As the episode nears its end, one by one, the girls all get a text message. At the same time. OMG! The message reads: YOU KNOW WHO DID IT AND I’M GOING TO MAKE YOU TALK. It’s signed, not with an “A,” but with what looks like a devil-face emoji. It’s official! Our “big bad” is finally here.

 

Pretty Little Liars S06xEp12 : Charlotte’s Web

On the 12th episode, Aria had to get the girls to lie for her in order to stay well out of the frame for Charlotte’s murder, but if the girls can’t stop lying for each other, they’re never really going to have a drama-free life.

Although meeting in the dead of night won’t do her any favors, if she genuinely was innocent, she’d have learned from her mistakes by now. Nothing good ever comes from lying and they’re leaving the door very much open for a new A to rise and start exposing their ever-growing list of secrets.

As well as being realistic, it also serves the narrative. In the old days, watching Emily keep secrets about her health or seeing Spencer and Caleb grow ever closer right under Hanna’s nose would have felt false and frustrating. Now, though, why would they confide in each other before, say, their significant others? I’m sure the new villain will bring them back together sooner or later but, right now, there’s a chasm of distance between our main characters.

It should be fun to see Aria questioned about it anyway, now that Alison has turned her over to Lorenzo. If not, then Spencer’s next on the list, having written a paper on an almost-identical murder case for a criminology class in college and shown it to Ezra over a dinner for which I really would have liked to be a fly on the wall. The same mystery-fiction logic applies to Sara Harvey, who is acting so damn evil and suspicious that it’s probably going to turn out that she really did have Stockholm Syndrome. Something happened to her the night of Charlotte’s arrest, and it was the Liars’ fault, but she’s more of a Jenna figure and probably nothing more. I just want see what’s under those gloves.

Let’s discuss Liam and his hipster glasses. He seems very sweet, but also a little bit naive as to what is going on in Rosewood, and also the lengthy history between Aria and Ezra. If he realized the extent of their feelings we can’t imagine he’d be so okay with her traveling down and spending so much time pressuring him to get back into the writing. Work is work, but this stretches to a far deeper place.

Also, tonight we met Hanna’s fiance Jordan, who has a cool accent … and that may be the coolest thing about him.

Pretty Little Liars S06xEp11 : Of Late I Think Of Rosewood

Charlotte DiLaurentis is dead … or so it seems. What we were shown near the end of the episode was that the character, who had been released after the testimony from all of the Liars and Mona (Aria was the only dissenting opinion), it looked as though she killed herself by falling from a building. Judging from the fact that we saw her body at the funeral, we really hope that there won’t be some secret identical Charlotte twin out there or that she would still be alive.

Lorenzo then revealed that the death was a homicide, and she was dead before the body was even tossed out. We have our new mystery! Obviously the Liars have been advised to stick around in town, which gives us our first real reason why everyone is still in town.

The girls are still friends, but the ‘I saved your life, now you save mine’ kind rather than the kind that are so close they share their every thought, need, desire and alibi. Alison is a teacher at Rosewood High, Spencer in Washington with Mona in politics in one form or another, Aria in Boston working for a publisher, Hanna in fashion (often traveling the world) and Emily mixing pina coladas somewhere in California. She’s still dealing with the death of her father, and that is causing her to have a tough time.

Radley is now a fancy wine bar run by Ashley Marin, Byron is still keeping tabs on Ezra and Toby is still an inept police officer.

The Liars are still awful, selfish people, and that leaves room for their friendship to remain an anchor in their lives. Their flaws are what draw us in, and watching Aria immediately rush to the Brew to hear Ezra’s tragic backstory or Emily hide her prescriptions in her handbag just made me feel right at home. It’s not just what they do for a living, but who they’ve become since facing off with A the last time. Not many shows could transition from high school to adulthood so gracefully, but Pretty Little Liars seems to have pulled it off.

Hanna is all ‘why are you here but I have been waiting to see his face for 50 minutes! Spencer called him about Charlotte’s suicide and he’s still conditioned to come to her aid. It seems like Caleb and Spencer are tight and he may go work with her in Washington. He is even staying in her mom’s barn. Are they together?? Nothing really comes of this reunion. Hanna says she’s traveling a lot but based in New York; however, she doesn’t show off the ring on her left hand which clearly has to be a sign there are still some lingering feeling there. When Caleb leaves her room he runs into Spencer in the lobby. They seem quite chummy, but I’m still not convinced — at least I don’t want to be — that my theory is right.

The episode was a refreshing restart to the mystery drama that has seen so many twists and turns over the years. It was eerily similar to the pilot of the show, but had a feeling of its own. As crazy as it sounds, it was almost the start of a fresh, new series.

Though the episode focuses mainly on the past, current secrets haunt the liars and their actions. “The Sara Thing” has become a new form of “The Jenna Thing”

How to get away with murder -S02xEp09 – What Did We Do?

Where do we even begin? Let me just begin by saying that was a very entertaining episode.

I’m tempted to recap this episode backwards and begin with the biggest bombshells, because you and I both know what we want to discuss: Wes shooting Annalise. Annalise and Christophe (who is…Wes?). Asher killing Sinclair. Frank drugging Catherine. Connor maybe almost shooting Michaela. Laurel making rash decisions. Bonnie looking under a car.

After the elder Millstone committed suicide, and Mrs. Millstone coldly disowned her son, I began to think the show was setting us up to have Asher be the one who pulled the trigger on Annalise. Instead, they had Asher snap and back over Sinclair in a parking garage. Cold blooded. From that moment on, things became chaotic, and Annalise went into full panic mode.

The thing is, I cannot really overlook the gigantic problems with all of these scenarios. I mean the D.A.’s blood is going to be all over that parking garage, where there was also a witness who got a good long look at Asher and 95,000 security cameras? It seems none of them are going to get away with this because it’s a complete mess. Asher is a complete mess, because he’s smart enough to know how all of this looks. The D.A’s bones are broken in ways that her fall won’t justify. His DNA is all over her.

“What Did We Do?” does rely on some of the character development that has been building all season, character work that suddenly becomes all the more urgent within the high stakes of what goes down in this episode. The season’s sudden focus on Asher Millstone, arguably the least compelling of the Keating Five, makes a lot of sense given that the events here revolve largely on his psychological undoing. While I was perfectly content with Asher back when he was little more than comic relief, his breaking point here does end up being effective and believable given everything he has gone through this season. Believable within the show’s constructed universe in which almost everyone is capable of murder, that is. But in all seriousness, Matt McGorry does some of his finest work here, viscerally showing how Asher gets pushed to the edge. He owns some of the episode’s most emotional moments.

The episode’s climax, undoubtedly its finest moment was the second Annalise picks up that gun and calls for help. Of course it was Annalise’s own idea to be shot to get them out of this mess. Annalise has no limits. She always has a way out. The scene turns to chaos immediately, but it’s gripping chaos that’s impossible to look away from. And again, there are emotions at play that have been building all season. Connor very seriously contemplates killing Annalise, but at the same time, he knows that pulling the trigger would just be giving into the darkness that he resents her for. His friendship with Michaela also becomes important to the scene, with Michaela literally throwing herself in front of the gun to stop him from doing it. Nobody was game, and it took her dropping some valuable information on Wes to convince him to change him mind: Rebecca is dead.

Unfortunately for Annalise, what she didn’t realize here is that this set off enough of a trigger to make him want to kill her in the flesh. He shot her, and right before he was about to kill her for good, hearing a certain name from his past in Christophe sent a trigger down his spine. This was his former name, back when he was young … and Annalise / Eve may have had a connection to doing away with his mother.

Well. in another word,It’s all done. The puzzle pieces have come together – at least some of them.  Annalise told Eve “It’s him” because they met ‘Christophe’ years ago, just after his mother died. At their hands? I don’t know.

Has Annalise been getting away with murders, or at least being involved in them, for years? After this insane winter finale, we’re left to question … well, everything

Grey’s Anatomy – S12xEp08 ‘Things we Lost in the fire”

Meredith is basically being mean to everyone, which feels troublesome. We need this character, our main character, to be someone we root for. And right now, I’m not feeling very much like rooting for her. Meredith will always be “dark and twisty,” and we want her to be. But, she shouldn’t be so dark and twisty that she becomes a villain.

It’s one thing for her to snap at Jo over and over. I accept that Meredith doesn’t like Jo. I don’t like her either. But I do have to say, if I was Jo, I’d be upset about Alex’s priorities, too. It’s also another thing for Meredith to tell Amelia that she isn’t her sister. It’s cold, and it’s mean. Meredith can stay loyal to Cristina, and I’m glad we’re still talking about Cristina, for that matter. But Meredith crosses a line in her treatment of Amelia, and it’s truly difficult to watch.

On a brighter note, Jo comes home, still angry with Alex, and tells him their relationship isn’t working. Alex already had champagne ready, and he pulls out a ring. That’s why he and Meredith were being so secretive — because Meredith had been holding on to it.

Maggie is enjoying her time with Andrew, and who can blame her? Maggie has never been too comfortable being apart of a couple, she’s just happy to be able to enjoy herself. Her first instinct is to shy away from Andrew even when he tries to comfort her. Andrew tries to break down Maggie’s barriers and they at least manage to meet each other halfway for now.

After spending the night with Jackson, April does her best to avoid him at work. Jackson finds this new development as frustrating as when she wouldn’t leave him alone. She explains she saw the expression on his face, and she doesn’t want him to tell her it’s over. Jackson is angry that she’s always the one making all the decisions. Finally, she tells him to just say what he has to say. Does Jackson still want a divorce, or is he having second thoughts?

We also meet again with the firefighter, John, Owen’s mother’s boyfriend, who happened to have been caught in that fire tragedy… and whose presence at the hospital gives us another major clue about the nature of Owen’s problem with Riggs. When Owen’s mom sees Riggs in the hall, she immediately hugs him. The hospital has already been full with gossip about what might be going on between Riggs and Owen, but this sets off a whole new wave of speculation. Meredith wonders, “Do you think Owen’s mom is Riggs’ mom? Because THAT has happened to me before.”

While Amelia’s at the bar, Meredith’s telling Owen he needs to pull it together before he gets in trouble. And that’s when she drops the bomb that turned the winter finale into a proper winter finale: “You never told me you had a sister,” she says to him, matter-of-factly. Well, then. That doesn’t explain much, but it does give another hint about Owen and Riggs’ messed-up past.

 

Grey’s Anatomy – S12xEp07 -‘Something Against You’

Every once in a while, the docs encounter a very special patient. We’re not talking about the ones who teach them life lessons each week, but ones they really love. Mr. Jaffee is one of those patients. Suffering from end stage renal failure, Mr. Jaffee has been waiting for a year and a half for a kidney to match his specific needs. That kidney has arrived. It’s late, but the docs leap out of bed to rush to the hospital. This includes Penny, who is in mid-makeout (and nap) with Callie when she gets a call from Meredith. Callie doesn’t like the fact that Meredith seems to be running Penny ragged, but Penny’s not complaining. She’s already throwing on her pants and rushing out the door.

Meanwhile, Jackson and April worked together on a case with a young boy from Jordan who has extensive tumors in both of his hands. The case first seems hopeless but April ultimately inspires Jackson to fight for the boy’s surgery and is able to save the boy’s hands.

However, the doctor who brings the boy in turns out to be someone Dr. Owen Hunt has history with, he reacts with a small PTSD flashback as a result of Riggs’ mere presence. Riggs has an ego, which being a cardio surgeon in a combat zone he has earned. Hunt sees Bailey praising the new guy and flies off the handle. He tells Bailey that she should not have hired him before storming off. Remembering her promise to Cristina to look after Owen, Meredith checks on her friend. She doesn’t ask what happened, she just asks “Do we hate him?” Just like that, Dr. Riggs has no friends here.

These things combined make for an episode that’s heavier than what we’ve recently become accustomed. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but in this case, the more dramatic stories have become a little too redundant. Add to that the fact that Amelia worries over whether or not she’s been racist.

How to get away with Murder – S02xEp08 – Hi, I’m Philipp

There was no case of the week, just the Hapstall case and that was fine by me. With the flash forwards mainly taking place at murder mansion, aka the Hapstall residence, we’ve know they would be involved somehow.

No matter what they do, Emily Sinclair always seems to be one step ahead. Asher is the one who puts it together: Sinclair is bugging the house. Everyone then starts to search for the bug Asher eventually finds. They spout misinformation at the bug, which sets Emily Sinclair’s case up to fall apart.

The only time we see Bonnie this episode, other than the flashforward, is in a brief scene where she is huddled on the floor of her steaming shower. Bonnie is in a very dark place. Annalise keeps setting up Laurel to be the “new Bonnie.” As for what her real motives are, no one knows, but it’s causing tension in the Frank and Laurel relationship.

It looks like Catherine actually is guilty. Wes realizes one of Catherine’s paintings was in Phillip’s possession even though Catherine claims to have never known of his existence. Caleb reveals to Michaela that he found the gun Catherine must have used.

There was no shocking flash forward ending this week, just the image of Philip and Catherine together. On a lot of shows, this revelation would piece together a lot of clues and give you that “aha” moment. But I was left with way more questions than answers.

How to Get away with Murder – S02xEp07 – I want you to Die !

Ollie sets Connor up on a Dude4Dude date to spy on Phillip, the secret child of the Hapstall twins’ racist aunt. Thing is, Phillip’s been spying on both of them via webcam, so he knows he’s being set up. Instead of meeting Connor at the coffee shop, Phillip follows Ollie home and utters the line that will haunt us all week: “How’s your night going?” …oh god ! my heart skipped a beat !.

A very drunk Bonnie attempts to stand up against Annalise after realizing Annalise shared her childhood sexual abuse with Asher. Things get very heated. Example Annalise line: “You killed a girl in my basement and put a plastic bag over her head.” Example Bonnie line: “You don’t know how to love anyone.” There’s a lot to unpack here, but essentially Annalise insists she LOVES Bonnie because she’s keeping her out of a jail cell, and Bonnie HATES Annalise for having pinched her entire existence into a tiny dark box that Annalise controls with her thumbs. “I want you to die,”

Wes is originally assigned to the case of the week, but then he gets reshuffled to keep tabs on the Nia Lahey murder case, where Nate is casually being framed for a second murder tied to Annalise. He watches the case unfold and reports back to Annalise when he suspects that Eve has thrown the case. In the end, Eve and Wes share a quick moment outside of the courtroom when Eve realizes that the person Annalise has been protecting all along has been Wes. Annalise tries to rebuff her questions, but finally gives up and says, “He’s not some student. It’s him.” HIM. It sounds like someone might be admitting to a smidgen of motherhood

Pretty simple episode this week with not many details, right? Wrong. Where did Oliver go? Could Annalise really be Wes’ mom? Was Annalise making a really passé joke about trophy Millennials by offering Laurel the trophy? So many unanswered questions and so few episodes left until we find out who shot Annalise.