Pretty Little Liars Recap: "Ctrl:A"

Tonight’s episode kicked off with a celebration and an arrest – of a computer, that is. Emily’s swim team won a giant trophy while Caleb’s computer was taken into custody for supposed computer hacking. Meanwhile, we learned Holden’s not-so-big secret, met the person meeting with Vivian, and saw Maya’s true colors.

What is worse than Lucas’ gambling secret? Holden being in a fight club while having a heart condition – yes, that’s his big secret. Not that his father is beating him. Or that he’s running wild at gay clubs in the city. He’s living every day to the fullest because he never knows when the aneurysm in his chest might explode and kill him. Aria was so worried about him that she cancelled her date with Ezra, which worked in her favor since A let Byron know exactly where she was going. How amusing was the look on Ezra’s face when he saw Byron sitting in the French-vegan restaurant? And what the hell does a French-vegan restaurant serve?

Spencer sees Jason talking to Maya on the street. Is this the guy who couldn’t take no for an answer? Please, no. Jason and his hair deserve so much better. Despite trying to avoid talking to Spencer, he ends up telling her about a box of love letters and $15,000 he found in one of Ali’s boxes. This leads them to believe that Ali blackmailed their father to keep their family’s intact. Of course, Peter says he has no idea what she’s talking about when she confronts him later on. The question is whether or not we believe him.

Jason sure didn’t, but eventually admitted that he wanted Ali to be blackmailing Peter because it would make things so much easier for him. Not only do Jason and Spencer have seriously inappropriate brother and sister chemistry, but they realize they think the same way. This leads Spencer to telling Jason she knows why Alison needed money, but he has to give her $2,000 so she can get answers.

Why does Spencer need $2,000? Because the girls met with the voice on the other end of the phone and it turned out to be Jonah, a scorned former cell phone company employee. Vivian came to him asking for help for her friend Alison who was getting harassed from an anonymous number. She promised to pay Jonah for finding out who it was, only she refused to pay him after he told her. Determined to get paid, he tells Aria (who he thinks is Alison) that if she can pay him, he’ll tell her who the harasser is.

Caleb’s laptop wasn’t the only thing taken into custody. First, Detective Wilden shared a photograph with Garrett, which prompted Hanna to be called to the police station. It’s a security camera image – which they should have thought about in the first place – of the girls outside the morgue, which leads the police to believe they stole the missing page from Alison’s autopsy file. Hanna’s mother is agitated that she had to 1) bring her daughter to the police station when none of the other mother’s did 2) stare into the face of a former lover and 3) have Hanna continue to lie to her.

Detective Wilden didn’t keep Hanna, which gave her time to get back to her house and the party she was hosting for the swim team. Maya rained all over Emily’s parade, crying about an old joint that her mom found in her stuff. Is anyone else wondering if the fact that she mentioned finding more of Alison’s stuff is important too? Emily’s sympathy was short-lived because she later found Maya getting ready to light up outside the party. When confronted, Maya snapped about how Emily was so good at fitting in with the team and it’s all about the team with her and stormed out. Sounds like she needs more than rehab. Emily deserves better, so Maya can get the hell out of Rosewood if you ask me.

Back at the station, Caleb was also brought into custody and called Hanna for help. Earlier in the episode, he explained to her how hacking a computer works. Had Hanna known she would actually have to do this maybe she would have paid closer attention because when Caleb gave her the password she was frazzled.

While Hanna and Spencer struggled to figure out the code, Caleb logged on to his computer at the station, giving the police full access to the files A had planted on it. This lead to an amusing, but stressful scene as Hanna tried to remember Caleb’s password. It was something along the lines of the first letter of every town he’s ever lived in, alternated with capital and lower case letters, an exclamation point after four numbers, and probably even more ridiculous things. Somehow – by the grace of God perhaps – Hanna manages to crack the code and get into the computer. Deleting the files was also difficult for her, prompting Spencer to scream, “Control A! Control A!” Was anyone else laughing during this scene? The files disappeared right in front of Detective Wilden and Garrett’s eyes as Caleb watched on. Just like that he is free and back with Hanna.

Whew. Things were more than a little tense tonight. And how about that ending? Emily being watched through the window by A. She’s A’s favorite target, which makes this a little less exciting, but I’ll take it. After all, in the last two weeks we’re getting bits and pieces to the much bigger puzzle. It feels like we’re getting somewhere. Let’s just hope that Jason comes through on that two grand and Jonah gives us an identity.