Pretty Little Liars S5.01 Review – EscApe from New York « 

Pretty Little Liars S5.01 Review – EscApe from New York

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Pretty Little Liars S5.01 Review – ‘EscApe from New York’

After a long hiatus, the Liars are out of Rosewood and on the hunt for ‘A.’ What ‘EscApe from New York’ lacked in suspense (please, they’d never kill off Ezra) it made up for guilty pleasure goodness. From sisters with secrets to angsty love affairs, it was truly an over the top adventure leading us to yet another person claiming to be ‘A’ who isn’t. Seriously, no one bought that right? Will we ever meet the real ‘A’?

If nothing else, after a rough and ever changing season four, season five kicked off great hair for Hanna, so total win.

Last season ended with Alison telling Aria that not only did she and Ezra never do the deed (guy was a perfect gentleman prior to finding out she was jailbait), but he was looking for Ali to win Aria back. We’re all ignoring the fact that he hadn’t lost Aria when he first started writing his novel because Ezra did manage to get himself shot on the roof in the name of protecting Ali and the Liars.

Aria worries prettily about whether or not Ezra will survive but it’s all for naught because of course Ezra is going to survive; the Ezria fandom is huge! The Liars and Ali run off to lure ‘A’ away from the hospital and Shauna shows up, telling Aria she’s there to keep an eye on her for Alison.

It cannot be said enough that the Liars are way too trusting for girls who have been hunted by a psychopath for over a year! Aria gives Shaun the side-eye but lowers her guard down and falls asleep next to her. This is going to end well.

Ali and the Liars minus Aria decide to trap ‘A’ in a park and end up surrounded by a flash mob of people in masks and black hoodies. Who is bankrolling ‘A’? These people had to be paid, right? I know Alison managed to piss off more people in a summer (maybe a few summers) than I have my entire life, but there can’t be that many people who hate her and have moved to New York with nothing to do but wait around to torment her.

Realizing they can’t stay out in the open, lest they be attacked by drama and dance majors again, Ali brings them to a deserted theater that Fitz’s family owns that he brought her to once on a date. All I can say about that Ezra managed to be more boring than he is with Aria, so maybe Ezria really are the OTP of PLL (kidding Spoby, Haleb and Paily fans) and Ali’s dress was super cute.

Ali feels left out when the Liars mention the TV shows they watched together when

and it’s almost a little sad, but being Ali, she quickly turns the tables on the girls and wanders off to make a private phone call to friends who have helped her all this time and worry for her. The Liars are both suspicious and jealous and you’ve got to give it to Ali. She knows how to make everything about her, all the time.

When Alison falls asleep, the Liars try to figure out what to do. Emily, of course, defends Ali’s every action and it’s really sad. Love should not make a person this stupid! At least Hanna and Spencer know they have to watch their backs.

Do you ever forget the Liars are in high school? I blame the lack of parenting.

Alerted by the police that all four of their daughters are missing, and possibly with a girl who has been presumed murdered for over a year, and the Liars’ moms take to the phones. Yes, you read that right, their answer to this problem is a telephone tree! If you did a shot every time a parent in Rosewood didn’t parent, your liver would be worse off than Mr. Fitz could ever be.

While Veronica promises to call the other mothers if she hears from Spencer, Mr. Hasting glowers and Melissa blames Alison for every mess Spencer’s ever gotten into. Was it just me or was her anguish the first time you ever considered that Melissa has been trying to protect Spencer all along? Whether it’s the desire to be a good big sister or preparing a motive for her confession, Melissa’s ready to tell Veronica the secret she told Mr. Hastings on the finale.

Before she can admit to knowing something about the death of the girl in Ali’s grave, Detective Holbrook ruins it all with the news that Cece has escaped police custody. He begs the Hastings to help him help Spencer by telling him everything they know.

Mr. Hastings does what any concerned father of a missing 17 year old girl would do, he forces his wife and daughter to stay silent, hits the bottle after the cops leave and tells Melissa that Veronica must never be told her secret.

Parenting doesn’t get much better than it does in Rosewood, does it?

Back in Rosewood, Mona’s not about to give up her crown as Queen B and starts building her army. Old friends (hi Lucas, we’ve missed you!) and new join together planning to defeat Alison when she comes home. After losing Emily, Paige is over being Alison’s victim and doesn’t want to be anyone’s solider in this war, but decides not to leave when Melissa shows up. Is Paige going to turn double agent and report back to the Liars?

Back in New York, Cece meets up with Ali, pulling her aside while the Liars sleep, and begs for help. Ali calls in Noel, who really does seem to know all Ali’s secrets, and they give Cece the passport and money Ali was going to use to leave the country. Who cares if Cece killed a cop, he was dirty and she was protecting Ali! Cece’s good people!

Or at least that’s the story Alison sells to Emily when she gets back and finds her lovestruck friend angry with her. Ali insists they don’t tell the other Liars what happened because that would make them accomplices and Emily falls for it again. Spencer and Hanna demand to know what happened to the passport and money when it seems ‘A’ has found Ali yet again and they want to help her get away.

Over at the hospital, Shauna’s managed to send a recovering Ezra back into v-fib and take off with the gun that Aria’s been carrying around since they struggled with ‘A’ on the rooftop. Wonder where she’s headed? Also, will these girls ever learn to keep track of their guns?

Ezra manages to stabilize again and whispers to Aria that Shauna is ‘A.’ Say what now? That doesn’t work. ‘A’ has been after Ali since way before Shauna got involved.

Yet, there’s Shauna at the theater, gun pointed at Ali and the Liars, claiming to be ‘A’ to avenge Jenna. Oh Shauna, love has made you as dumb as it makes Emily. Jenna would so not lift a finger to help you, let alone point a gun at them. While Shauna rants at Ali and the Liars, Aria swoops in and hits Shauna with a rifle, sending her flying over the stage to her death.

Showing their usual good sense, because abandoning dead bodies has never gotten them into any trouble before, the Liars make an anonymous call and get the hell out of dodge. Seriously, ladies, if you learn anything from all this, it needs to be to keep track of your weapons and not leave dead bodies lying around.

‘EscApe from New York’ was soapy fun, but I’m ready for the Liars to get back to their real lives in Rosewood. Do you believe Shauna’s ‘A’? Can the Liars stop themselves from reverting back into Alison’s minions? Team Mona/Melissa or Team Ali? Were you happy to see Lucas? What’s going on between Noel and Alison? And what happened to Ali’s mom? Share all your theories in comments or at the forum.

By Jenni Tetzlaff on June 11, 2014   /   Reviews   /   Leave a comment

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