The Devil You Know

The Devil You Know is the 5th episode in the Season 2. It aired on July 12, 2011.

Synopsis
At the beginning of the episode, the girls discuss Ian's death and the plausibility of him wanting to kill himself. The Liars are ready to move on with their lives, but Emily is stuck on the details not adding up to logical sense. She decides to investigate independently. Just as the girls are talking, Garrett Reynolds appears, and based on the police report, he lets the girls know that Ian was dead for about a week. That means that the texts sent Melissa were not from Ian.

At the Hastings' home, Melissa is completely silent and traumatized. Reporters are calling the house nonstop, and frustrated, Spencer tells one caller off only to discover it is her grandmother. Also, since Ian left behind only his aunt, the Hastings are left with the burial duties. Spencer's mother does not want to get involved at all, but out of sympathy for Melissa, Spencer suggests a funeral to give her closure from her loss.

Caleb visits Hanna's home to see how she is after the traumatic incident. Hanna is still snappy towards Caleb, but she softens seeing that Caleb is sincere. Ashley returns home frazzled that Hanna hasn't answered her phone, revealing how much stress Alison's death has placed on her, leading her to worry for her daughter's safety every time she leaves the house.

At Hollis, Aria is perched on Ezra's desk, cluing him in on the details of discovering Ian's body. They are sharing an intimate moment, which issilently overheard by Jackie, who purposely barges into the office to break up their tête-à-tête. Ezra awkwardly introduces Aria as a former student, rather than a friend, like Aria would prefer. The introduction forces her to call him Mr. Fitz. Jackie patronizingly calls Ezra by a nickname, probably to make Aria jealous and later remarks that "Mr. Fitz" should start letting "the girl" call him by his first name.

At Speed Demon Express, Emily goes to pick up a package.The worker there looks familiar, and from a wall picture, she identifies him as Logan Reed, the same guy who dropped off Ian's bribe in his stead.

Back at Spencer's home, Veronica apologizes to her daughter for not trusting her. She also acknowledges Spencer's hard work and sympathizes with her. She promises to never distrust her again, which she may or may not keep good on... She also lets her daughter know that she is proud of her integrity in wanting to bury Ian for Melissa's sake. She informs her Wren called to see how they are doing and that he's lucky it wasn't Peter who picked up the phone.

At Emily's place, Emily is reading, but distracted. She looks at Ian's suicide letter again and notices a pattern - many of the phrases he uses sound just like messages they have received from "A."

While Emily starts conducting her research, Spencer conducts research of her own, trying to find an affordable wedding ring for Melissa to replace the one she lost. Frustrated, she realizes she will have to spend much more than she anticipated to replace it. Just then, "A" sends a text, threatening Spencer to reveal her role in Melissa's ring's disappearance - or face it resurfacing at the wrong time.

Then, a black-hooded figure tries to break into Jason's home. But, Jason opens the door and exposes Mike in the act of attempted burglary. Jason informs Aria, who is grateful to Jason for not calling the cops. Jason says he is fed up with cops and is also satisfied that Mike has learned his lesson now that he has been caught. Perhaps another motive for not involving cops is his budding attraction for Aria. Aria tries to question her brother about the incident at school, and it is revealed that Mike was the one who broke into Emily's garage and stole her camping equipment. He was also the one who broke into Spencer's kitchen and pushed her onto the floor. He reveals that he has broken into other homes as well. Aria agrees to keep it quiet, so as not to foil her family's tense relationship further, making Mike promise never to do it again.

At school, Hanna thanks Caleb for coming over. She is also concerned about his foster mother's treatment of him, getting money while treating Caleb like garbage when she does see him and ignoring him the rest of the time. Caleb is touched, but not interested in trying to change anything, believing it hopeless. But, Hanna is outraged, especially when she later sees his mother at school blaming Caleb for making her look bad, when she is the one who doesn't know anything about her foster son's well being. Caleb retorts back, but does nothing else. So, later, Hanna takes matters into her own hands and threatens Janet, Caleb's foster mom, to pay up or face a lawsuit filed by her (pretend lawyer) mom. Caleb later visits Hanna to thank her, revealing that Janet took the threats seriously and indeed, paid up. Hanna's heart is officially melted and she kisses Caleb before he leaves to hang out with Lucas.

Just before English class, Emily shares the news with her friends that "A" probably doctored the suicide letter. They are brought back to the scary reality of "A," having taken a respite when they thought Alison's killer was finally being put to rest.

So, Emily goes back to "Speed Demon Express" to question Logan. Logan is forthcoming, revealing that he was hired online for a delivery position. He never interacted with his employer, except on the phone, and the voice of the employer was that of a woman, not a man.

At the Hastings' mansion, Spencer tries to smooth things out with Melissa, but her attempt at a private conversation is interrupted by their mother's request for help with a chore. Melissa, meanwhile, is silent and unresponsive.

Hanna talks with her mother about the upcoming funeral, experimenting with what to wear in preparation. She has a conversation with her mother about Ashley's father's funeral, and it revealed that although Ashley paid for it, she never attended and does not regret that decision.

At the church for the funeral ceremony, Emily tries to tell Spencer what she learned from Logan. Spencer is not interested, her mind too focused on her sister's well-being and family healing after this craziness. Emily then informs Garrett Reynolds of what she has found out from Logan. He thanks Emily for confiding in him. Later, we see, Officer Garrett's paying Logan off to keep quiet about the bribe, and leave town, stopping Emily's investigation in its tracks. Garrett then calls Jenna to let her know it has been taken care of. We are to believe Jenna is the one who hired him over the phone.

Spencer's mom has invited the other Liars to the funeral, suddenly regretting separating Spencer from her friends, in light of recent events. There, Mr. Fitz shows up. When questioned about his attendance by Ella and Byron Montgomery, Ezra is at first forthcoming, admitting Aria invited him. However, he explains that it was to support all of his former students. Aria is rebuffed, especially when her father acknowledges the gesture towards the "kids."

Ian is then buried, and the girls dust their hands of Ian and the earth that buries him. Aria and Emily spot Jason in the cemetery. Emily forms a negative opinion about him, but Aria doesn't seem to feel the same way.Ezra walks over to Aria, who was disappointed in the way he handled her parents earlier. She tells him she could really use a hug, right now, but all he can offer is to call her later.

Aria then goes over to Jason. He confides in her thatup until now, he believed it was possible he killed Alison, as he has no recollection of what happened that night, but knows that he could be violent when jealous, and he had been very jealous of fearless Alison. He says that he thinks he should have died instead of Alison, but Aria says he shouldn't think that.



Then, Jason shows Aria a piece of paper he found the next day, warning him that someone knew what he did, though the reference is vague. That slip always made him worry that he might have been the one to harm Alison.



After the funeral, Melissa is finally ready torepair things with her sister. She apologizes for choosing Ian over her and for lying to her family. She is about to confide in her a secret when, suddenly, a cell phone in Spencer's bag starts ringing. It belonged to Ian and had been planted in Spencer's bag by A. Melissa goes ballistic, thinking that Spencer was the one posing as Ian in text messages. Spencer is dumbfounded, and hurt, when Melissa say she will never forgive Spencer.

That night at the Montgomery's, Ella and Byron react to Ian's guilt in Alison's murder. Ella cannot believe she used to have such a cordial, unsuspecting relationship with Ian. Then, Mike informs his parents he is heading ostensibly out to hang out with friends; his parents are unsuspecting of him as well. The couple jokingly opts for a strong drink of absinthe.

Then, the girls are summoned to another creepy midnight outing when Emily gets a message instructing her to go the cemetery to visit a plot. The Liars join Emily, despite her being vague about why they are there, and they end up at Alison's grave. Then, the wall across from the lights up. A projector is showing the footage of Alison with Ian the night she died, the footage they thought was lost. This time, after falling to the floor, Alison gets up, giggling. Ian puts on his jacket, gives her a kiss, then turns to walk away. The girls are now led to believe that Ian did not kill Alison, and, just as Emily suspected, Ian's suicide was faked. They go in search of the projector, but a black-hooded figure unseen by the girls walks away, projector in hand.

Title

 * Listed on ABC Family's website is an alternate name for Season 2, Episode 5: "Don't Kill the Messenger" (rather than "The Devil You Know").
 * The episode's title, "The Devil You Know" is a shortened idiom for 'better the devil you know than the devil you don't,' and means that it is often better to deal with someone you are familiar with and know, even if he/she is not ideal, than take a risk with an unknown person. In this episode, it seems that Spencer would rather believe that Ian killed Alison than have to cope with not knowing Alison's true murderer.

Main Cast
Lucy Hale as Aria Montgomery

Ashley Benson as Hanna Marin

Shay Mitchell as Emily Fields

Troian Bellisario as Spencer Hastings

Sasha Pieterse as Alison DiLaurentis

Guest Stars
Drew Van Acker as Jason DiLaurentis Paloma Guzmán (II) as Jackie Molina Laura Leighton as Ashley Marin Nolan North as Peter Hastings Lesley Fera as Veronica Hastings Torrey DeVitto as Melissa Hastings Yani Gellman as Garrett Reynolds Tyler Blackburn as Caleb Rivers Janet Borrus as Janet Tilky Montgomery Jones as Logan Reed Holly Marie Combs as Ella Montgomery Chad Lowe as Byron Montgomery Bill Blair as Minister

Featured Music

 * "Follow Suit" by Trent Dabbs (while Spencer is on her computer trying to find a ring replacement)
 * "Turn Our Eyes Away" by Trent Dabbs and Ruby Amanfu (Aria and Ezra talk at the funeral)
 * "Running Wild” by Jules Larson (when Caleb checks up on Hanna after the funeral)

Memorable Quotes
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