Pretty Little Liars: Back To Square One

After last Tuesday’s episode it is safe to say that A wasn’t only fooling the girls, but the viewers as well. Every clue we’ve been given about Alison’s death, the suspects, primarily Ian, and what happened the night Alison died was demolished in a single hour.

1) The delivery guy who showed up at the church wasn’t hired by Ian.

Emily played detective in several ways last night, one of the biggest being by recognizing Logan at a local delivery service and forcing him to answer her questions about the night at the church. Unfortunately, we have no way of knowing whether Logan was being honest or not since he was paid off by Officer Garrett, who promptly called Jenna to tell him that Logan was taken care of.

Was Logan lying when he said a woman called him? Or was it actually Jenna? And what reasons does she have for having him show up that night? Is Officer Garrett in on it? Or is he just another man that’s found himself wrapped around Jenna’s finger

2) Aria’s brother, Mike, not Ian, was the one doing the local robberies.

The missing tents from Emily’s were not for Ian. No one had broken into Spencer’s with the intention of hurting her. They were just the actions of a bored teenage boy. Too bad Mike plowed Aria down on his way out the door. Nothing worse than finding out that your brother is not only a thief, but that he was willing to hurt you in the process. Ouch.

The strange part was that Jason chose not to call the police on him. He sighted his relationship with Alison as an excuse. Their relationship was tumultuous and she was always hard on him, but is that an excuse for Jason to turn a blind eye to Mike breaking the law? Or does he have something more to hide in his house?

3) Ian didn’t commit suicide.

Okay, so this is probably the least surprising thing that happened. I honestly couldn’t believe that the girls were so quick to believe that Ian committed suicide because he felt so guilty about murdering Alison. It screamed of A’s actions, and it took over half the episode for the girls to figure it out.

In another stellar detective move, Emily pieced together the suicide note from messages A had sent the girls, showing yet again that A is and always will be in control. And just like that, the girls found themselves in A’s grasp yet again.

4) Jason thought he was the one that killed Alison.

I couldn’t help but laugh when Emily referred to Jason as a freak in the cemetery. Given her past with misunderstanding Toby, you’d think she wouldn’t be so quick to judge. This didn’t deter Aria from heading straight for Jason in the cemetery. It’s becoming increasingly obvious that these two are being thrown together over and over for a reason. Is she going to end up being Jason’s biggest defense to the rest of the girls?

It’s clear she has a soft spot for him, especially when she doesn’t take his confession straight back to the girls. After Ian’s funeral, Jason admitted he was feeling jealous of Alison and had a little too much to drink the night she died. He has spent this entire time thinking he murdered his sister. To him, Ian’s faux confession is a relief. It lets him off the hook, but given that Ian didn’t actually murder Alison, does this mean Jason’s a suspect again? Will Aria eventually confess the truth about what they know? Or will she quietly keep him on her suspect list?

5) A was texting Melissa as Ian.

So much for thinking that Melissa had secretly been in touch with her husband and was planning on leaving with him. A was just leading Melissa and the girls straight to Ian’s dead body.

And not only that, A planted the phone in Spencer’s purse, too. I feel kind of bad for Spencer. Yes, she tends to like her sister’s boyfriends. Yes, she stole her sister’s wedding ring and pawned it for money to buy her boyfriend a truck. Her heart is in the right place though. Instead of getting caught for something she really did, A planted the phone in her purse and let it ring at just the right moment. This prompted a screaming fit from Melissa that left both girls in tears.

6) Alison was alive at the end of the video with Ian.

A put the video from the night that Alison died in the girls’ hands a long time ago. It made things look simple: Alison in the woods with Ian, some kind of friction off camera, and Alison’s limp hand at the end of the video.

Another clue led the girls back to the cemetery where the complete version of the video played, revealing that Alison got up off the ground, thanked Ian for meeting with her, and the two departed without a murder. Summary: Ian was definitely not Alison’s killer. Like everything else, this video was just a clue from A that steered the girls in the directions she wanted them to go.

That’s just what A has been doing all along. She’s given the clues, the suspects, and made the rules.

So, what do you think about last Tuesday’s episode? Are we all just pawns in A’s game? Did Jason accidentally kill his sister? Or are you like me, still baffled by the twists and turns, and wondering if any clue we’ve been given along the way is true?

Before you go…here’s your dose of obligatory Drew Van Acker (Jason Dilaurentis) hotness (from season 2, episode 4):