I accidentally had this recap queued for next Wednesday, instead of its original air-date. I suck! Of Lies, Peanut Brittle, Hit and Runs and Drugs. Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists, again, loses its steam and relies on old tricks instead of new. Let's hope it picks up again as the series progresses, considering the pilot really set the stage for some mysterious and fashionable excellence.


Of Lies, Peanut Brittle, Hit and Runs and Drugs: The Patchwork Girl is not the series' strongest episode, but is still relatively entertaining. Set to the tune of some hypnotic pop music, the episode starts with its claws front and center.

Ava, Caitlin and Dylan are bickering at the start of the episode. Something that has boiling beneath the surface of all of them and continues to threaten any chance of friendship the trio have. Just as it begins, we slip back into our timeline: 24 hours before. We see the scenes split off. Taylor, speeding away, with Alison locked in her trailer; Mona, seemingly ready to square off with the sketchy janitor from last week's episode.

Who is, you know, living at BHU illegally.

Mona, being the stealthy genius she is, gets some answers about the writing on the wall. She is also treated to some peanut brittle. Her first scenes of the episode is a classic Pretty Little Liars move. It is comfortable but tense. Normal and informative. As always, Mona Vanderwaal is the highlight of the episode.


Meanwhile, the situation at hand with Taylor and Alison is awkward. Just plain awkward. Which is not an insult, it definitely leads into some tension and more questions. Let's just say that Taylor isn't pleased with Alison showing up and putting her at risk. Not to mention the fact that Alison actually broke into Taylor's trailer. Which wasn't everyone's favourite former missing girl's best and brightest move.

As for the trio: 

Ava's anxiety is on an all time high, something I was equal parts afraid of and expecting. It seems like everything is just going to continue crashing into her and it definitely weighs her down. In all of this, she seems to not understand the definition of "simple plans" and things escalate pretty quickly when she gets it in her mind that the only way to get answers and a confession out of Mason, is to drug him.

Yikes.

This leads to a lot in terms of questioning just how far the trio will go to get answers. In particular, Ava and Caitlin. Caitlin is trying desperately hard to get back in Ava's good graces, but doesn't seem to be making as much progress as she hoped. Of course, in the end, this plan backfires in many ways and leaves the group in shambles--at least, for a little while.

While Caitlin tries to make it up to Ava and set up some traps for Mason, Dylan has a bit less to work with in terms of plotlines. I feel like they really just phoned it in with his character this week and that is disappointing, considering each of the characters are massively important to the central plotlines and there should have been something more for him to do.

As for Ava, she begins receiving messages from who she believes is her dad. Turns out, it was merely Booker screwing with her and trying to catch her in the act of something illegal. Ava has just enough skepticism in here that this doesn't work to Booker's plan. Can we all take a moment to cringe at how much of a garbage person the investigator is?

Booker may just be doing her job--but damn, I'm getting some Wilden vibes from her. And it's NOT a good look.

Hits you with a throwback: 

The episode ends on a high note that will be frustratingly familiar to fans of the original series: Caitlin is hit by an unknown person driving a car. I can say from experience, this is not a fun situation to find yourself in. Duh. There's something about this plot "twist" that makes the episode even more dull and unoriginal than it should be.

I mean, couldn't we have come up with something more interesting? It felt like an exact reboot and play-by-play of Hanna getting hit by a car in season one of Pretty Little Liars. The structure is only a little differently but even the scene felt like a complete copy of the original. It's one thing to do little callbacks and have this little nods to the series, but at this point the nostalgia fest is terribly boring.

By the end of the episode, we're once again struck with more questions and little answers. Did Mason kill Nolan? If no, why is he so sketchy? What is the janitor's deal? Why did Mama Hotchkiss seem to pick Alison in the ways that she has? Where did Taylor go? Is Booker the person Mona is talking to online? Who hit Caitlin? Where in the world are Alex and Mary Drake, and how did they escape Mona?


Instead of what I liked vs. what I didn't like, this week I'm skipping straight to theories: 

• Mason didn't kill Nolan. I think at this point, we're making it a little too obvious that he could be the bad guy. I don't necessarily think he is the biggest of the bad. I do think he's going to be similar to Mona in the series. He's not the good guy, he might be pulling some strings, but he is not the series' full time villain. I do think there's a good chance that he is the one who hit Caitlin. But, he's not actually my number one suspect for that. 
• I think it's possible that Taylor is the one who hit Caitlin, but purely by accident. We know she abruptly left her old place/Alison's place. What if that was her making a run for it and Caitlin, and the trio, were just in the wrong place at the wrong time? 
• Claire Hotchkiss is pulling all the strings. We already know that she is a part of the surveillance of everyone at BHU, but I think it's more than that. Especially since we know--or currently we assume--that she is focusing on Alison in the hopes that it leads her to her supposedly dead daughter. 
• Definitely get the feeling that Mona is talking to one of the following online: the janitor, Taylor, Mason, Booker, Alex or Mary. 
• Still feel that maybe the janitor has a massive part in the stories. Just not sure what. 
• I'm always going to be waiting for the multiple personality disorder of the books. I'm now adding Mason to the list for that one. He really has an interesting series of changes to him at any given moment and I have to question a lot of it. Maybe he'll be the one who is like *book character* in feeling so much guilt over his friends death, that he begins to think he is the friend/the friend is still alive. I.E., something that would make his intentions in becoming Nolan 2.0 clearer.
• Booker is going to not only cause more trouble for Ava, I think she's going to create more drama for herself and maybe find herself in some hot water.