‘Pretty Little Liars’ Recap: Sororities, Guns, and Handcuffs – oh my!

Spencer and Emily visit Cicero College and unravel even more of a mystery while Hanna finds a possible murder weapon.

Thanks to Spencer’s savviness, she figured out that Tippi’s phone number is from Cicero College. Perfect timing now that her other has hired a private, college counselor named Brendan to help Spencer get into another Ivy League. Oh, rich, white girl problems! Spencer chooses Cicero College as her first place to visit and drags Emily along, unaware that her friend is actually interested in such a Podunk place.

While Spencer and Emily head off to for their visit, Aria and Hanna are dealing with some personal drama of their own. Haunted by dreams about her mama being in prison and having no hair (which means Hanna probably just ate some Oreos at like 2 AM or something), Hanna is determined to uncover what her mother is hiding. When she learns that her mom’s already with Mrs. Hastings for legal help, Hanna searches through her closet – do these girls have no boundaries? – and finds the gun wrapped in a fancy silk scarf – classy! And naturally Hanna decides to steal the gun.

Aria is busy trying to convince her mother to leave town and run off with her boyfriend. (Does this feel a little One Tree Hill for anyone else?) Ella is attacked by bees – FREAKING BEES. It feels like one of those bad sci-fi bee-apocalypse movies. Instead of getting out of the car, Ella stayed there and swatted and screeched and flailed around while Aria watched.

Anyway, Ella is leaving town because Byron has convinced her. See ya later, Mrs. Montgomery!

Back at the party, Spencer and Emily come to blows over why they’re really at Cicero. Spencer accuses Emily of flirting with Brendan to get college help and Emily accuses Spencer of being a spoiled, rich girl.

The two part ways and Spencer is forced to navigate a drunken sorority house all alone, which was one of the few – and boy do I mean few – highlights of the episode. Hanna shows up with the gun in her bag and Spencer understandingly thinks she’s insane. Spencer’s attempts to find someone who knows Ali are nearly thwarted until she goes looking for Emily and uncovers a secret passageway in one of the walls. Instead of following the safety in numbers rule, Spencer goes down the hall and discovers the phone that used for Tippi’s number and claw marks are one of the walls.

Meanwhile, Emily notices Hanna leaving the sorority house and follows after her, Brendan in tow. If anyone shows romantic interest in you, Em, they’re probably a psychopath. Somehow Emily ends up in a bunch of woods and gets doused in silly string. Oh, college.

Spencer and Emily aren’t able to catch up with Hanna, who has acquired a large beer stein and is off in the very same woods digging a grave for her the gun Ashley most likely stole from her father. Note: this is just another major assumption because these girls act so wildly and rashly, never thinking ahead or even bothering to think period. Hanna is going to wish she had done that because before she gets a few inches into the ground, she’s surrounded by police and arrested!

Emily and Spencer watch as Hanna is taken into custody before the episode ends with A’s familiar little trickster scene. This time she’s sipping tea and staring at a picture of Carla Grundwald, the house mother for the sorority the girls were visiting at Cicero College. Dun, dun, dun!

What did you think about this week’s episode? Who exactly is Carla Grundwald? Why is there a phone inside the walls of the sorority house? What do you think will happen to Hanna? Sound off in the comments below!