The Lying Game: A Long Episode’s Journey

Thayer said it best; the day was just not going to end and that’s exactly how this episode felt.

Previously: Emma and Sutton are twins, who traded places while Sutton searched for their birth mother. While pretending to be Sutton, Emma falls in love with Ethan (Sutton’s secret boyfriend) and realizes that Sutton’s adoptive father is covering something up involving Annie. The season ended with Sutton returning home on her birthday, determined to unveil Emma’s secret because she feels like her sister got a little too comfortable and stole her life. Unfortunately, Sutton’s car ended up underwater and Annie Hobbs freed herself from the facility she’d been locked away in and crashed Emma’s birthday party.

Thayer said it best; the day was just not going to end and that’s exactly how this episode felt.

It picked up exactly where the summer finale ended, the birthday party with Emma, Kristin, and Annie standing out in the rain. Viewers were led to believe it was Annie Hobbs, but come to find out there is a second Annie, Char’s aunt, who now goes by Rebecca. They made sure to explain this as soon as she was introduced. It felt like a cheap trick, a way to make things even more confusing and complicated than they already are.

Rebecca clearly has some messy history with the adults. Her sister doesn’t want her around. Ted and Alec are unnerved by her presence. Kristin is the only one happy to see her, but she’s also clueless about the strings that Ted and Alec have been pulling behind her back all these years.

So, the tale of two Annies leaves me wondering about the tie between all of them. Annie Hobbs is locked up and hidden away for a reason, but Rebecca seems connected to a secret as well. The Twittersphere is abuzz with the possibility that Rebecca is actually the twins mother, but I’m not buying into that. I just hope there’s a good, valid reason to introduce a second Annie aside from throwing viewers off. Rebecca wants to keep the past buried and also lock her sister up for a while for getting a DUI. She’s hiding something, but I’m not convinced she’s evil. We deserver better, writers. We really do. Stop purposely trying to confuse us.

The Mercer’s missing car was the driving force behind this episode, but it wasn’t an exciting mystery. It was found by a fisherman, Emma and Ethan stuttered their way through a confession and weren’t charged, and Sutton wasn’t found. Accusations were thrown all around, from Ethan’s brother Dan to Alec to Ethan to Thayer, who managed to convince Emma that Ethan did something to Sutton.

I’m firmly in Emma’s corner, but she’s so gullible. If someone plants an idea in her head, she lets it fester and starts to believe it, not the typical street smarts I’d expect from someone who’s been in foster care and fending for herself her whole life. Really, what is going on between Ethan and Thayer is a pissing contest (which is kind of attractive in that silly boy way), both for Sutton and Emma. Typical male issues, so it was nice when Emma finally told them they all needed to work together.

No sooner than she said this had Thayer picked a package up from her bed, pointing out its black and white wrapping and no card – why did he notice this? That aside, Emma opens it, finds a piece of Suttons dress, and a very cryptic note. Keep on being Sutton… or you’re next.

Given how things go on this show, I expect this to be some scheme of Sutton’s. I’d like to be proven wrong, but her character keeps things interesting. Killing her off now wouldn’t make very much sense. She’s necessary. She knows too much. What do you think?

Maybe it’s because the show followed Pretty Little Liars, but I wasn’t as impressed as I thought I would be. Hopefully, it kicks things into gear and we’re not thrown a bunch of cheap tricks and distractions in an attempt to keep us interested. We’ll just have to see where this season takes us.