Face Time

Face Time is the fourth episode of Season 4 of Pretty Little Liars. The episode aired on July 2, 2013.

Synopsis
Emily's dad returns to Rosewood from his tour due to the issues with Family Services. He greets Emily and Pam solemnly and Emily goes to school.

Before school, Caleb and Hanna talk. Caleb tells Hanna about the missing gun from Tom Marin's drawer, saying that it was a .38. He says that if the police find out that Darren Wilden  was shot with a .38, it is most likely that Ashley killed Wilden. Hanna dismisses what he says, saying that she just wants to forget it all.

Hanna goes to Spencer and Aria and demands that Spencer talks to Melissa about the mask. Spencer says that all the mask proves is that Melissa was at the studio, but Hanna wants Spencer to talk to Melissa before she leaves town. Emily joins them and tells the girls that her father is home because A called Family Services on her family.

Meanwhile, Gabriel Holbrook and his partner, Lt. Linda Tanner, watch the girls. Lt. Tanner wonders what it is about the girls that attracts so many corpses.



At lunch, Emily expresses her worries over her issues with Family Services. Spencer asks Aria how Jake is doing, and she says that he is fine. Hanna asks her about Ella  going to Austria with Zack, and Aria says that she thinks so and hopes that A doesn’t have a passport.

Later that day, Spencer sits with her mom, and Melissa. Melissa and Veronica talk about Melissa going to San Francisco and London, and after some curt responses from Spencer, Veronica tells her to stop being jealous of Melissa. Spencer tells them that she hasn’t been accepted to UPenn, and Veronica suggests that Melissa helps get her in.

Hanna visits her mom at the bank and finds Linda Tanner and Gabriel Holbrook inspecting Darren Wilden ’s deposit box. They find thousands of dollars in cash, two passports, as well as a gun stashed in the box. Lt. Tanner questions Ashley about who saw the box, but Ashley says no one besides her just then.

That night, Spencer and Emily talk on the phone about questioning Melissa, and Spencer notes that if they want Melissa to give out answers, then they need “leverage”. Emily hears her mom and dad talking about the issues with Family Services and say that they know that Emily is lying to them.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">The next day, Emily meets with Dr. Vargas  and asks him if he spoke to Family Services. He said that he did and she tells him that there is no problem whatsoever. Dr. Vargas doesn’t seem to believe her and as she is about to leave, he tells her that the x-ray for her shoulder shows a partial tear. He says that if it doesn’t heal, she will need surgery, and that the outcome for athletes like her is unpredictable.



<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">Hanna see s Lt. Tanner sitting on a park bench and decides to talk to her. She tells her about Melissa meeting up with Wilden on his boat in Cape May a few times, when Lt. Tanner begins questioning her about how many times Hanna has spoken to Wilden. As she struggles to find an answer, Caleb shows up and he and Hanna leave. Lt. Tanner tells Hanna not to worry and that they will finish their “little talk” later. Caleb warns Hanna about Lt. Tanner and Holbrook, telling her that they are the “real deal”. Hanna says that she will protect her mother no matter what she did.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">Spencer finds out that Dr. Louis Palmer now resides at a medical clinic outside Saratoga, NY and tells Toby. Toby decides to visit him without calling first in the case that Palmer doesn’t want to talk to him and tells Spencer to stay because she has to deal with Melissa.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">Spencer, Emily and Aria meet up at the Brew and Spencer tells them that she wants to find out what Melissa does when she comes face to face with her mask. Emily sees Paige and goes to talk to her. Emily tells Paige about what the doctor said about her shoulder, and that she won’t be able to swim any time soon.



<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">Aria goes out with Jake. As they are walking through Rosewood they see Malcom, Ezra’s young son. They have an uncomfortable exchange and Malcom leaves, and Jake questions Aria about who Ezra is.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">Aria tells Jake about Ezra, and how she and he were dating while Ezra was a teacher. Jake tells her that she needs to figure out whether or not she wants to be with Ezra or leave him. Aria asks him if she can call him later, and Jake says yes.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">Toby visits Louis Palmer at the medical clinic outside Saratoga to question him about his mom’s supposed suicide. He tells him that the “air was too heavy” for her and that she just couldn’t take it. He then reveals that he studies the heaviness of air and Toby realizes that Palmer has some form of dementia and is delusional. As Toby leaves, Palmer tells him to tell his mom not to see “that blonde girl” anymore, and says that the air was wrong around her, too.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">Hanna confronts Ashley about the Wilden’s vault, and tells her to ask the bank about it. Ashley is afraid that the police have restricted her against going into the vaults. Hanna tells her that she knows that her mom was in Rosewood the night Wilden was killed, and Ashley does not deny it.



<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">That night, Aria and Spencer plant the mask inside of Melissa’s suitcase and spy on her. Melissa finds her mask and looks worried. She leaves the house quickly and Aria and Spencer quickly follow her.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">Meanwhile, Emily speaks with her parents. They question her about how she got the injury on her shoulder, and she refuses to tell them how it happened. Things begin to escalate and Emily tells them that she visited Dr. Vargas. Her dad tells her not to see that man and asks if things are happening again (meaning the messages from A). Emily yells that she doesn’t know and runs out of the house.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">At Hanna’s house, Lt. Tanner and Holbrook visit to question Ashley. Hanna and Caleb lie that she isn’t home and two cops leave. Ashley looks down from upstairs and turns away while Caleb and Hanna hug.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">Aria and Spencer follow Melissa to Hector's shop, and they see Melissa dragging a large sack out of the shop. Spencer decides to follow Melissa while Aria goes into the shop. Aria walks into the shop and goes into the back room where all of the molds and masks are. She finds a whole shelf of Ali  masks and molds, and finds Hector. He tries to make her leave but finally gives up, saying that he kept the castings because Ali’s face was so beautiful. Aria asks if Ali ever came to shop with someone else, and Hector says that she did once.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">In the flashback, we see Ali demanding Hector for money that he owed her. He gives her some money but says that he doesn’t have all of it, but she just asks what the fastest way is to get to Route 30. He gives her the directions and she runs out, jumping into a mysterious black car. Hector says that he couldn’t see the driver. Aria asks Hector why Melissa was here, and he says that she wanted to know about the Ali masks so he made her the same deal as he did with Emily. <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">Spencer confronts Melissa, who is breaking Ali molds and throwing them into the lake. Melissa is upset with Spencer for putting the mask in her bag and following her and tries to run, but Spencer blocks the way. She asks Melissa about the Halloween train, and Melissa realizes that it was Mona who had on the Ali mask that night. It is revealed that Melissa asked Shana where someone could get a mask like that, so she went to Hector’s. Melissa says she wanted to know when the Ali mask was made. She says that she doesn’t know if Ali is alive or not and wondered if Ali had the mask made after she disappeared.

<p class="MsoNormal"> Spencer asks Melissa if she tried to kill her on the Halloween train, but Melissa says that it was Wilden who tried to kill her. It is revealed that Melissa and the others were afraid of Wilden, and Wilden was blackmailing them to do his bidding, and that someone else was telling Wilden to do these things, and that Melissa didn’t know Spencer was going to get hurt before she got on the train. Spencer says that it was probably because it was more important to kill Garret and asks Melissa why she didn’t warn her.

<p class="MsoNormal"> Melissa yells at Spencer, saying that she has been protecting Spencer ever since before it started, not clarifying what the “it” was. Melissa says that she sent Jenna and Shana over to the lodge in order to find out who the girls were going to meet because they were suspicious that it was Ali, and that Wilden showed up and started the fire. Spencer asks Melissa if she killed Detective Wilden, but Melissa doesn’t answer and runs away.

<p class="MsoNormal"> Emily visits Paige at the pool and tells her about what is going on with her family and how she is worried that she will never be able to swim again. Paige tells her that everything would be okay and walks her home, where it is discovered that someone called the police on her family about a domestic disturbance. Emily tells the police that there was a misunderstanding. <p class="MsoNormal"> Spencer and Aria go back to the Hastings house to look for Melissa but she is gone. They get a text from A saying that Melissa is not part of the A Team. Hanna shows up and tells them she thinks that her mom killed Detective Wilden and that A knows it.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal"> In the final shot, we see that A has fished the broken masks out of the lake and is now gluing them back together.

Main Cast

 * Troian Bellisario as Spencer Hastings
 * Ashley Benson as Hanna Marin
 * Shay Mitchell as Emily Fields
 * Lucy Hale as Aria Montgomery
 * Sasha Pieterse as Alison DiLaurentis

Guest Cast

 * Torrey DeVitto as Melissa Hastings
 * Lesley Fera as Veronica Hastings
 * Laura Leighton as Ashley Marin
 * Keegan Allen as Toby Cavanaugh
 * Sean Faris as Gabriel Holbrook
 * Nia Peeples as Pam Fields
 * Eric Steinberg as Wayne Fields
 * Roma Maffia as Linda Tanner
 * Lindsey Shaw as Paige McCullers
 * Tyler Blackburn as Caleb Rivers
 * Ryan Guzman as Jake
 * Teo Briones as Malcolm Cutler
 * Jed Rees as Hector Lime
 * Joseph Zinsman as Robert Vargas
 * Nick Tate as Louis Palmer

Title and Background

 * The phrase "face time" has multiple meanings that could be referenced in the episode:
 * The amount of time one spends appearing on television.
 * Time spent in a face-to-face meeting with someone.
 * To 'face time' could also be used as an expression to say 'One faces time in jail'.
 * The history of the Alison mask that Mona used in This Is A Dark Ride might be told.
 * Face Time is also known as the video chatting app for Apple.

Featured Music
These Days by Casey Hurt (Spencer kisses Toby goodbye).

Trivia

 * Prep for this episode and 4x03 began on March 22, 2013.
 * The read-through was on April 2, 2013.
 * Filming for this episode and 4x03 began on April 4, 2013 and ended on April 22, 2013.