TV Recap: The Pretty Little Liars Winter Premiere

Episode 14: "She's Better Now"

Pretty Little Liars returned for the second half of it's third season and came bearing a gift.  The gift of MonA, who is out of the nuthouse and back matriculating at Rosewood High.  Our favorite fibbers spent the majority of the episode understandably upset about having the only A they are aware of back in their midst.

Before we dive into the jam packed winter premiere, let's quickly recap where we left the Liars at the end of October's Halloween episode.  The girls barely made it through their own "Terror Train," as Aria was drugged and put in a box that also contained Garret's dead body.  Spencer confronted Garrett, before his demise, and was told of a confrontation that he witnessed between Alison and Byron, Aria's dad, on the night she died.  She was also attacked by MonA in disguise and saved by Paige(!).  Hanna and Emily did very little, except look hot in their costumes, Marilyn Monroe and Barbarella, respectively.  There was also a random Adam Lambert cameo.  Oh yeah, and at the end of the episode, there was a shot of Allison's backyard where her body was eventually found.  The soil is still fresh and before the screen faded to black a hand shot up with a purple string tied around her wrist, begging the question:  Is Allison still alive?

I have to say it is nice to have MonA out of the loony bin and back in school.  I am a fan of the shadowy, mysterious "A" stuff, but I prefer a nice verbal smack down, and I have a feeling we will be seeing one of the Liars going of on MonA soon, my money is on Spencer.  Let's take a look at how MonA's return, directly and indirectly, affected each of the PLL's.  First off:

Aria:  Aria is still reeling from Garrett's bombshell regarding Allison and her dad.  Whenever anyone tries to broach the subject with her, she shuts down like a woman's reproductive system during an illegitimate rape (some Todd Akin humor, for the folks at home).  Aria's denial system works something like this:  The information comes from Garrett, who is a suspected murderer, who used to bang Jenna, who is a liar and suspected member of the A team, so there is no truth to it.  The other ladies are not so sure, but back off.  Now, you think suspecting her dad of murdering one of her friends would be the biggest thing on Aria's plate, but you'd be wrong (and maybe not a regular viewer of the show).  Aria also has to deal with her dad's former student/mistress now girlfriend, Meredith, being her teacher and there is also the tiny problem of her not telling boyfriend, Ezra, that he has a 7 year old son.  The latter almost comes out when a baby basket is dropped off on Ezra's doorstep along with a card from A.  Luckily, Aria is able to intercept it and trash it before Ezra sees.  Aria also has a talk with poor fatherless Caleb about what it was like growing up without a dad.  Since, telling Ezra is what she should do, my guess is that somehow A will give Ezra the heads up and it'll be trouble in paradise for Ezria.  Aria also has some issues with Meredith who busts her for texting in class.  She basically tells the Liars that she knows they don't like her, but too bad, because they need her class to graduate.  When Byron talks to Aria about it later on, he tells a very different version of events.  That Aria was mature and handled the situation like an adult.  Aria is a little surprised that Mer defended her.  The girls witness MonA chatting with Harold, the creepy front desk worker from the lodge that housed MonA's lAir.  He is apparently a janitor at their school now and the girls immediately suspect him of being a member of the A team.  They break into his office during a fund raiser marathon and find one of Allison's diaries.  The section Aria reads details a confrontation that Byron had with Hell Bitch Allison about her blackmailing him in order to keep his affair with Meredith under wraps.  Aria is shaken and begins to question her dad's innocence.  They hear noises and Aria tears out some diary pages before they are stopped by Creepy Harold.  He confronts them but backs off when Toby shows up.  The girls escape but just as they get outside a shed explodes that injures Meredith.  At home, Byron accuses Aria and the other Liars of causing the explosion, based on a note that Meredith gave him that told her to get some more swag bags from the shed before it exploded.  Aria denies being involved and begins to confront Byron about Allison but shuts up.  Byron leaves and Aria immediately calls Spencer and tells her that they are being set up, which Byron hears because he is creepily listening at her door.

Spencer:  Spencer still has no idea that Toby is a member of the A team.  Now, I know that a lot of people think that Toby is protecting Spencer by helping A, but I don't think so.  The things that I've read from the EP's of the show say that Toby is a bad guy and wants to hurt Spencer and the other Liars.  That being said, Spence is a smart girl, so how she hasn't figured Toby out is beyond me.  Now that we know he is a bad dude, boyfriend can't go five minutes without making a menacing look directly at the camera.  He might as well grow a mustache specifically for twirling, and talk loudly about how he is planning on tying Spencer to the nearest railroad tracks.  That being said, as long as this keeps happening

I'm willing to forgive just about anything.  Otherwise, Spencer continued to be the loud, aggressive voice of reason with Aria about Byron, with Hanna about MonA, and with Jason about MonA.  Spencer told Jason to steer clear of MonA, but at the end of the episode MonA is tending to a wound Jason obtained during the explosion.  Also, at the start of the episode, Toby tried to run Lucas down while he was riding on his skateboard.

Hanna:  Before we get into Hanna's trials this ep, let's talk about the return of Grandma Marin.  I love that lady.  I'm not sure if they explained where Ashley was, but I didn't really care.  I love Laura Leighton but I wouldn't be sad if she took a permanent sabbatical and left Hanna with Grandma Marin full time.  I LOL'ed when she decided to sing the National Anthem before the start of the marathon and when she was cut off by the starting pistol when she tried to launch into the second half.  Am I the only one who didn't realize the song didn't end after "home of the brave?"

The formerly Hefty Hanna was awakened in the middle of the night by MonA, who decided to break in for a bedside chat.  Listen, if you were trying to convince someone that you were no longer clinically insane, I can't think of a better way than breaking into their bedroom in the middle of the night.  Am I right?  MonA tells Hanna that her parents are forcing her to go back to school even though she doesn't want to.  She begs Hanna to help her and be by her side and Hanna, feeling guilty, agrees.  The next day at school, all eyes are on MonA as she attempts to get back into the swing of things.  After the Liars confrontation with Meredith, they are greeted by a surprise at MonA's locker.  Someone has stuck a cow brain in her locker with a butcher knife.  MonA takes the brain and the knife and tosses them in the trash.  She whispers something to Lucas, who limps away.  Is he limping because Aria stabbed him on the terror train or because of his run-in with Toby on the skateboard?  Lucas shows up at Hanna's later on to give her the rest of the money he owes Caleb, and she confronts him.  Lucas spills the beans that MonA was escaping the sanitarium before she was officially released, but other than some vague warnings Hanna doesn't get anything else out of him.  Caleb hacks the schools files and gets a transcript of MonA and her parents meeting with the school principal.  Turns out that MonA was the one who lobbied to get back into Rosewood High and her parents were totally against it.   MonA also releases a video to the student body explaining herself and looking for forgiveness and sympathy.  Hanna watches the manipulative video and begins to question MonA's motives.  The video seems to work and the tide of public opinion seems to start turning back in the master manipulator's favor.  

Emily:  Emily did very little this episode.  Not a big surprise, since so much of the first half of the season dealt with her and the hunt for Maya's killer.  All Ems really did this episode is fight with her over protective dad and disable their new alarm system with an iPhone app.  Seriously?  Does that seem very secure to you, guys?  I'm questioning it.  Here's hoping Emily gets a little more play in the coming weeks.  I'm wanting to get more invested in her relationship with Paige, now that we know she's not a member of the A team.  Or at least, we hope she's not.

The episode ends with A loosening one of the bolts on the wheel of a bicycle.  A man gets on the bike and after he rides off screen we hear a crash.

So, time to turn things over to you, guys.  What did you think of the premiere?  Is Spencer too blind to be believable?  Will Hanna fall for MonA's good girl act?  How long will it take before Ezra finds out that Aria's been lying to him about having a son?  And speaking of Aria, will she confront Byron?  Will Emily get more to do in next week's episode?  And, finally, and most importantly, are we cool with Toby being evil as long as he continues to be shirtless in every episode?  Hit the comments and let me know.