Pretty Little Liars Season Finale Recap: A Is Revealed?

If you’re like me, you’re still reeling from this hour of TV. Yes, reeling. And if you’re also like me, you had no freaking idea what to think about what happened. Talking it out helps, which is what I’m going to try and do for you here. Tonight was the episode viewers have been anxiously waiting for since the show began. Fans believed that “A” would be the same as in the books, yet low and behold it sure was. Or was it? Confused? Let’s break this down.

The episode “unmAsked” culminated tonight on a masquerade ball where the girls were ordered to return A’s phone by midnight or else. This led to lots of snarky comments on behalf of Spencer (doesn’t she get the best one-liners) – who refused to give into A and give what she wanted. Instead, she decided they were going to unmask A and end everything.

Now prior to the ball, Alison’s bag of random clues led them to the Lost Wood Resort, where A spied on them through a peephole. This was a room Alison had stayed in while using her alias, but they didn’t find anything too interesting upon their initial inspection. Hanna took a shower while A snuck into the room. Emily missed a call from Maya thanks to a poor cell signal. Aria and Spencer proved they were the most capable of their foursome and inspected the resort. Unfortunately, they left empty handed.

Meanwhile, Jenna met up with someone in the woods, handed over a concealed item, and told someone they knew what they had to do. Dun, dun, dun. By the way, how gorgeous is Jenna looking now that she has her eyesight and probably her confidence back as well?

So, at the ball the girls showed up in what may be their worst wardrobe choices, but they weren’t there to take photos. Mona made sure that Caleb was there to be with Hanna, which prompted Spencer to compliment her on what a good friend she is. In return, Mona confesses about seeing Ali alive before she died. This caused the wheels to turn in Spencer’s head and before we knew it, they were headed back to the resort while Hanna, Aria, and Emily got to enjoy the dance.

Hanna hung out with Caleb. Ezra met up with Aria, who was being followed by Jenna. Did she see them together? Not that it matters because Ezra pulled Aria on the dance floor, took off their masks, and kissed her for the entire world to see. Byron and Ella will not be happy about this. Emily received a declaration from Paige, who popped up out of nowhere, but the two decided they would stay friends since that’s all Emily needs right now.

Meanwhile, Spencer and Mona were at the motel because Spencer figured out that A was staying in Room 2 and Ali in 1 since she knew A was in 2. Whew. Spencer got into Room 2 to find A’s creepy lair, equipped with photos, dolls, filing cabinets, and just about anything A would need to wreck the girls’ lives. Mona finds a picture of a costume and says it must be A’s. It’s of a black swan and Mona says she’ll call Hanna and let her know.

Now back at the dance, the girls spy the black swan entering, but can’t recognize her. However, she’s hanging out with Lucas. Remember him? Yeah, he also kind of disappeared for a while.

Flashback to A’s lair where Spencer finds Ali’s diary and mentions Melissa being the black swan at the charity ball in Philly last year. Mona then asked questions about Melissa, which sent up all kinds of red flags for Spencer.

And bam, Mona is revealed to be A.

This is where things got insane. Mona knocked Spencer out, who then woke up in a car with Mona driving recklessly and telling her she could join Team A or get out. Team A – did you catch that? Let’s here one for technology because Spencer video phoned Hanna and the girls were able to see what was going on. They headed for the resort, while Spencer pulled the emergency break and was able to escape just as the girls drove up. For a second, I didn’t think Hanna was going to stop. And in a scene straight from the book, Mona and Spencer fought and Mona tumbled over a cliff, leaving us all to expect that she was dead.

Except she wasn’t. Better yet, Dr. Sullivan was back after her son was threatened by Mona and revealed that Mona had a multiple personality disorder and would be shipped off to the mental institution. Toby apologized for lying to Spencer about not caring for her and saying it was all apart of the plan. Say what? What does Toby know? Why did he have to lie? How long has he been in cahoots with Dr. Sullivan? Is Jenna on their side? And then a body was found at Emily’s and her mother said they thought it was Maya. Was it actually Maya? Or someone else? Like whoa. Whoa. And whoa.

Even better, in the hospital, Mona received a visitor who wore a red jacket similar to the one Aria wore when Ali’s plane flying boyfriend saw her. Mona said she did what was asked of her, which means that Team A has a leader, likely whoever A is and that Mona was just a minion. So, was A actually revealed? That’s for you to decide.

The important question, which it took some perspective for me to see, is where do we go from here. Mona is clearly working with someone else, possibly several people, to take down our favorite liars. The girls were beginning to accept her and bring her into her circle, which makes me wonder how long she’s been on Team A. Did this start as spiteful revenge and she simply got in over her head? Would whoever is running Team A not let her stop?  And what caused her to go this far off the deep end?

This episode also created a ton of questions that will carry us through the summer season. Why was Lucas hanging with the Black Swan? Who is the Black Swan? Who is in the red jacket? Why was Jenna at the ball when all she did was see Aria sneak off to meet Ezra, who then took their relationship public? Where was Jason? Where was airplane boy? Did Garrett really kill Alison? Or is he just covering for Melissa? Why was Melissa’s ice cream the same flavor as Mona’s lipstick? Who tried to kill Jenna? Why was Melissa creepily rubbing her belly as Maybe-Maya’s body was taken away by the coroner? Did the writers pull the ultimate troll on viewers and trick everyone who knew what happened in the books to eliminating Mona as a suspect when it was really her? If Mona is a minion, then who is her leader?

So many questions and the only way to get answers is to tune in when the show returns this June. The hiatus is long enough for viewers to recover before the show keeps us guessing all summer.