Wow. Pretty Little Liars pulled out all the stops for their midseason finale. “The DArkest Knight” has more reveals than Marilyn Monroe’s skirt blowing up in The Seven Year Itch. It also has a number of shocking moments and at least one gruesome, if not totally believable, death.
(Note to Dead of Summer, the decapitated head in Pretty Little Liars looked, BOSS. Look and learn chaps.)
Some things in last night’s episode were merely a follow on from previous events. For example, one huge downer for Aria is the news that “dead” Nicole is alive. (Of course she is, Liars has prior for bringing characters back from the dead.) Ezra looks ecstatically happy, but now, like the old song says, he is going to be Torn Between Two Lovers.
Oh dear.
Revelations:
The amount of shocking, or disturbing, revelations were many. Ali is pregnant with her psychotic former, and dead, hubby’s baby. Noel is not Mary Drake’s second “out of wedlock” child. Apparently that second baby was (drumroll please) Spencer.
Cue jaw-drop.
Of course Mary could be wrong or delusional. Either way it was a real “what the fudge” moment.
Other reveals were equally surprising. Jenna and Noel were working seperately from A.D. (although why Drake was hanging out at the former school for the blind has yet to be explained).
Jenna being kidnapped by A.D. was a brilliant touch. More of the old latex masks and a hooded figure driving the van away gave things an added fillip.
Meow:
Paige and Alison really do not like one another. However, it seems that Emily’s old girlfriend may be right about Ali. That kiss on the couch signals the sort of controlling behavior that Paige accused DiLaurentis of. All of a sudden, Alison is interested in Em just as her former lover turns up? More than a little suspect.
What the Fudge:
Noel deserved to die for being such a crappy partner in crime to Jenna. A little help would have made her, “Now you can see what I can” moment really effective. As it was, when Jenna turned out the lights, the Liars could see well enough to move out of the way of a black bowling ball. Later, they all step gingerly around the decapitated body of Noel.
And for the record…A bowling ball?
The death of Noel was a case of poetic justice but…
What are the odds of the axe falling with on one bladed edge up and Noel falling hard enough to cut off his own head? Logic fail on this one. (Although to be fair it was pretty darn cool.)
Shocking Moments Times Two:
Toby and Yvonne slumped in the cab of the mini truck that has crashed into a tree. Are they dead? Probably not as A.D. (who clearly had something to do with this) does not want Spencer’s ex to leave. The more the merrier.
Mary Drake cooing to a wounded Spencer that she would never hurt her own daughter. Once again, Drake may not be completely compos mentis, she did after all, aid Archer in his torturous treatment of Alison.
Ain’t Love Grand:
Hannah and Caleb share a special moment. So too do Marco and Spencer. Not wanting to be left out, Alison and Emily also “connect” or at least it looks like they do.
In Pretty Little Liars no amount of tension or fear will stand in the way of a little “lovin'”
Although in Ezra’s case love may be a grand pain in the backside. While it is nice that Nicole was not killed in that jungle, Aria is screwed…and not in a good way.
Final Thoughts:
Jenna being kidnapped was a case of irony in the extreme. Clearly she and Noel were attempting to exact revenge over and above what A.D. wanted. As The Joker says in Batman, “Never rub another man’s rhubarb.”
It was odd that the blind woman would choose a handgun to dispense her version of justice. It could be argued that her sense of enhanced hearing would enable her to get close when shooting at the Liars but… The gang were making enough noise that Jenna should have heard them repeatedly before finally pulling that trigger.
Regardless of the few bits that irked, Pretty Little Liars really upped the stakes. This double cliffhanger, (Triple?) has given fans enough fuel for thought that the long wait for the next installment will be filled with more than a little angst.
This was an impressive midseason finale. Rock on 2017 and the next chapter in the lives of the Pretty Little Liars.
Cast:
- Troian Bellisario – Spencer
- Lucy Hale – Aria
- Ashley Benson – Hanna
- Sasha Pieterse – Alison
- Shay Mitchell – Emily
- Andrea Parker – Mary Drake
- Huw Collins – Dr. Rollins
- Ian Harding – Ezra
- Tyler Blackburn – Caleb
- Brendan Robinson – Luca
- Keegan Allen – Toby
Guest starring Brant Daugherty as Noel Kahn
Mikes Film Talk 
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