The 'Pretty Little Liars' Dig for the Truth About Charles

In “Don’t Look Now”, the name of the game was unlocking the mystery of Charles. After last week’s episode ended with Ali and Jason demanding answers from their father, they finally got them. Among the girls other exploits was Hanna alienating Caleb, Spencer jonesing for drugs, Emily helping Sara and Aria opening up about her kidnapping for the first time, thanks to the catharsis of photography. The girls’ pressuring Hanna to keep Caleb out of the loop was one of the hour's more poorly designed plot points.


He knows all about A and has provided more help for them in regards to A, than anyone else. He is a tech wizard and proven loyalist. The danger excuse is wearing thin. Especially given Caleb has aptly survived all of A’s threats in the past. Plus, he and Hanna have already rehashed this issue over and over again with her backing down, every time. They’re better as a team than working alone. It just seems like another ploy to keep the girls’ isolated from their respective paramours. Currently all of the Liars' relationships seem to be in limbo.

Now onto Ali’s bizarre devastation over learning that the mentally ill brother she never knew existed was exiled to Radley and supposedly died. Even when she learned that he had attempted to kill her as a baby, she remained obstinately sad about it all and harshly judgemental of her parents and the measures they took to protect her and Jason from their disturbed brother.

It’s understandable that she was shaken, a little taken aback; however her deep streak of horror was surprising and strange. Did she miss the part where Charles tried to murder her? He was/is not on the short list for sibling of the year. Perhaps she’s just relating, though it seems to go a bit deeper. Ali appears to be losing all of her edge lately; trading in spiky barbs for wallowing (in this case misplaced) empathy.

The biggest question looming after the episode ended wasn’t whether or not Charles is actually dead (he is mostly likely alive), it was the status of Mona. We haven’t gotten a single update on how she’s doing. There are a myriad of questions surrounding her status. How is she coping? Has she gotten her hair back to normal? How are things with her mom? Is she ever coming back to school? Mona’s story should be running front and center. She’d been locked up a lot longer than the Liars and her mental state when they arrived was far more fragmented, than theirs were when they left.

Instead Sara, a complete stranger, is getting more screen time exploring her life post-release than one of the original and most vital characters of the series and it doesn’t sit well or make much sense, unless Sara is the key to a much larger mystery. Maybe she’s working with Charles? Why haven’t the girls learned to stop opening themselves up to complete strangers, by the way? Emily’s letting this girl share her room without as much as a psych exam.

Why on earth did Hanna stop digging because Jason had declared the headstone’s roots were too deep to have not been planted long ago? So what? A headstone is not the equivalent of confirming there is a dead body in a coffin. Not to mention, a headstone can be planted without anything lying beneath it. Hanna is usually not one to back down over an observation that is so trivial and fails to resolve anything.

The good news out of this entire storyline is that it is giving Jason, an always interesting and under-explored character, a chance to be more involved in the action. Why he has yet to indulge in any sort of romantic entanglement with Aria or Hanna is confusing. Whatever happened to his flirtation with Aria, anyway? They completely dropped that story like a hot potato for another forced reunion with Ezra.

Side Notes / Burning Questions: For the second week in a row, the girls’ boyfriends have made more sense than they have. Even Ezra is acting with greater rationale than Spencer. Why is no one demanding to meet Sara’s mom? It seems entirely suspicious that Mrs. Fields wouldn’t demand a meeting with this supposedly cruel woman and where has the media been in all of this? It’s hard to believe they’d be passing up on a story as sensational as a group of girls being kidnapped and rescued.

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