I always have a hard time with Halloween episodes; I generally dislike them. Maybe it’s because I generally dislike Halloween. I always hated dressing up in costume and going trick-or-treating. I still snicker in disgust when I pass houses “decorated” for Halloween (which pretty much amounts to making them look decrepit and cheesy). I know, I sound un-American.
But this Halloween special was a great episode of Pretty Little Liars. Every scene had an element of nostalgia mixed with that of surprise. I guess that’s what happens when you create an episode in which the entirety of its events take place in the past.
Here are my top ten favorite things about the Pretty Little Liars Halloween special:
1. Aria’s red streaks.
2. Mona as a supernerd.
3. Jenna as a MILF-y version of a slutty high-schooler. (Easy on the cleavage … this is ABC Family for God’s sake!)
4. Spencer as a slightly nerdier version of herself. By the way, Spence — those glasses? Are kinda hot.
5. Emily deciding to go to Noel Kahn’s party as “an Indian.” Totally offensive! What was that?!
6. The girl from Center Stage playing “that tart” who Aria’s dad cheats with.
7. Aria bumping into Ezra at Hollis while he’s still a student there.
8. Mona and Lucas teaming up against Ali and the Liars.
9. The use of Giant Drag’s song “Pretty Little Neighbor,” which was playing at the party.
10. Ali being the first one to receive text messages from ‘A’ — hence the episode’s title, “The First Secret.”
And, OK, I’ll throw in a bonus #11: The Just Dance 3 commercials at every break with that fake horror story thrown in. So awful, but so great!
Other pretty little notes & quotes:
- It really amuses me how “Hefty Hanna” is supposed to be fat. I wish I could look like that in my frumpy PJs!
- Ali looked more like Stevie Nicks or a blonde Elvira than Lady Gaga. Jenna, however, rocked it.
- I’m not sure whether we’re supposed to sympathize with Jenna in this episode or not. It seems as though the writers wanted us to think that she was “asking for it” by “stealing” Ali’s Lady Gaga costume idea, and for pretty much disregarding anything that Alison said. But what’s wrong with having your own opinions and wanting to make your own friends? Jenna was shown as an independent person here, and I’m not sure why that’s looked down upon. Additionally, she was supported by Mona and Lucas in this episode, who were playing the underdogs. The many facets of Jenna’s character contribute to the reason why I just can’t figure her out. It would be easy to hate her if only she were all evil. Likewise, it would be easy to love her if only she were all good.
- Even though Ali is a conniving bully, what she said to Spencer about Melissa is really true. She was able to sense, before anyone else did, that Melissa may not have Spencer’s best interests at heart. I think that Ali was a lot more perceptive, intelligent, and cunning than many people gave her credit for. (Probably because her nasty and fake attitude masked any positive qualities she might have had.) Regardless, she is still a master manipulator, and through this episode we were able to witness more of the subtle ways in which she controls the other girls.
- “What’s she like?” — Emily, asking Toby about his stepsister Jenna
“She gets what she wants.” — Toby
- “Hi you guys!” — a nerdy Mona to the girls
“If you ignore it … it will go away.” — Ali
- “We’re a tight group. But I think there’s room for one more.” — Ali, to Jenna
“I really appreciate the offer. But I like to pick my own friends.” — Jenna
Photo Credit: ABC Family
Some posts that may be related to this:
I always have a hard time with Halloween episodes; I generally dislike them. Maybe it’s because I generally dislike Halloween. I always hated dressing up in costume and going trick-or-treating. I still snicker in disgust when I pass houses “decorated” for Halloween (which pretty much amounts to making them look decrepit and cheesy). I know, I sound un-American.
It suddenly seems too obvious that Lucas alone would be A, given that he unmasked himself at the end of the episode. I started to wonder halfway through the episode if all those creepy shots through the eye slits of a mask could be through Mona’s mask? It does seem like Mona and Lucas had some mutual Alison-hating going on. And it would certainly be the perfect cover later on in the series if Mona mercilessly made fun of Lucas but they were secretly working together as A. I just don’t want to believe Lucas is A, because he was so likeable at the beginning, even with all his flaws. I’ve long suspected that A is multiple people, perhaps the triumvirate of Jenna, Mona, and Lucas with extra people (Garrett, Ian, Wilden?) added along the way. People have been saying that Melissa has motive to hate Ali too, but considering everything that happened to Melissa last season, I have a really hard time believing she’d send texts to herself, kill her own husband etc. Sorry, these are all my rambling thoughts and I wanted to write them down somewhere :)
*POST AUTHOR*
No problem! Thank you for rambling. I agree with you that maybe Mona could be pretending to hate Lucas to cover up the fact that they are working together.
Why do you say that Emily’s costume was offensive?
*POST AUTHOR*
It was mostly how she said “I’m thinking Indian Girl,” instead of using the more generally accepted “Native American.” Noel Kahn also called her “Hot Indian Chick.”
If she had said “I’m going as Pocahontas,” I wouldn’t have been so turned off, since that’s an actual person in history.