Love ShAck, Baby

"I bet you're wondering which one's real: the girl in front of you or the one who wrote that. So am I."

- Alison to Emily

Love ShAck, Baby is the fifteenth episode of Season 4 of Pretty Little Liars. It aired on January 14, 2014.

Summery
The girls look through Ali’s diary, and quickly realize that the stories she wrote are shrouded in pseudonyms and half-truths. Hanna is still hesitant about showing the girls the journal; because of this, Spencer and Emily lash out at her, but Aria interrupts, saying that the important thing is that they have the diary now. They decide to read the stories and weed out the ones about them, and whatever is left over they’ll investigate. Emily decides to take the journal first.

That night, Emily is awoken by Ali, who seemingly climbed through her bedroom window to see Emily. Ali is apologetic towards her, saying how much she missed her. Emily, however, is not enthusiastic about seeing Ali again. Ali acknowledges that she hurt Emily the most, but says that she is a different person now. She also says that she doesn’t know who is after her, but she needs Emily because Emily always saw the best in her, the person that she wants to be. Emily says that she doesn’t see Ali that way anymore. Ali notices Emily’s bracelet that she gave to her—and Emily wakes up in the morning. The window is wide open and she isn’t wearing the bracelet.

While Hanna gets ready in her room, Ashley walks in to check on her after what happened with Caleb. She tries to support Hanna, but Hanna shoos her away.

Spencer visits Toby at his loft and finds out that her dad canceled his meeting with him. Spencer says that she glad because she thinks that her dad has a hidden agenda for closing down Radley, but Toby says that he wants to continue working with her father.

At school, Ezra spies on Emily looking through Ali’s journal. Meanwhile, Aria leaves a pen on Ezra’s desk, and Spencer openly asks her is she is still in love with him. They join Emily, who has come up with a color coding system to label the stories in Ali’s journal. Hanna arrives and asks how far they have gotten with the journal, clearly nervous. She also makes sure that Spencer takes the journal next, instead of Aria. She tells the girls about Caleb and her breaking up, but glosses over the details and distracts them with a poem Ali wrote, called “The Busy Bee”.

Aria recognizes what Ali is writing about—the Busy Bee Inn in Killingworth, and they wonder if that is where Ali is hiding. They all agree to take a ride out there. Meanwhile, Ezra watches them from a distance.

At the Brew, Emily finds a note in her bag that says: “I want to come home. Meet me at our spot.” She quickly leaves. Aria visits Ezra, who is listing to something. He stops when she comes in, and Aria tells him that they can’t meet up tonight because she has to help Hanna with her break up. Ezra questions where they’ll be going, but Aria makes something up. After she leaves, Ezra continues to listen to a recording of Ali, who says she needs a place to hide and be someone else.

Emily visits the Kissing Rock to wait for Ali to show up. At Spencer’s house, Spencer walks in on her dad talking with Jessica DiLaurentis about something Jason doesn’t know. Spencer openly questions what the two were talking about, but Jessica says that it is about her divorce and Mr. Hastings was giving her advice.

Hanna sees Travis at the Brew, who tells her that CeCe was spotted at a train station in Maryland, but she was gone by the time the cops showed up. The cops think that somebody may have paid her to kill Wilden, because she made some big deposits before his death.

Spencer angrily confronts her father about Jessica, but he insists that she was there for legal advice only. He also tells her that he canceled with Toby because Radley informed him that Marion’s death wasn’t a murder, but an accident. Apparently, she was on the roof when she fell, but there was another patient there and Radley covered it up to protect the fragile patient’s identity.

At the Kissing Rock, Emily waits long enough before finally taking off her bracelet and leaving. Spencer confronts Jessica at the Brew, and tells her stay away from her dad and the rest of her family.

That night, the four girls leave Rosewood for Killingworth. In the car, Spencer takes a picture of a story called “Hot for Teacher” in the book, and Hanna rebuffs Emily’s support.

At Hanna’s house, Ezra tells Ashley that Hanna might fail the class for skipping, but when Ashley needs to take a phone call, Ezra walks upstairs when she isn’t looking.

In the car, Aria looks through the book as Emily follows her car’s GPS navigation to the Inn. Aria finds a story called “The Cradle Robber”. When Aria mentions this, Hanna quickly turns up the radio, but the rest stop her. “The Cradle Robber” is about someone who had an affair with a younger person, and the girls wonder if it is about Ali. Meanwhile, the GPS continues to guide them.

With Ashley still on the phone, Ezra walks into Hanna’s room and looks through her purse and her computer. Meanwhile, on the road, Emily’s car stalls and Aria notices that her car’s GPS is different than Aria’s phone. The girls get outside and check Emily’s engine, but they are unsure what to do. Hanna texts Travis, who says that he won’t be able to meet them for another two hours. Aria realizes that Ezra’s cabin is not far from where they are stranded; she suggests she waits there, but tells the others that the cabin belongs to her uncle. Meanwhile, Ezra makes it back downstairs in time for Ashley to finish her phone call.

As they walk to the cabin, the girls lose cell service. Spencer asks Hanna about a missing page in “The Cradle Robber”, but after Hanna says she doesn’t know about it, Spencer openly questions if Hanna did it or not. Hanna says she didn’t.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:200%">Meanwhile, as it begins to rain, Ezra is seen driving, wearing all black. The girls arrive at the cabin, and while Hanna is in the bathroom, Spencer says that she thinks Hanna is keeping something from them. Outside, a hooded figure is seen stalking around the cabin.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:200%">Hanna comes out of the bathroom and tells them that “The Cradle Robber” is about her and Mike, Aria’s little brother. We see a flashback of Ali chastising Hanna after she catches her and Mike in the Montgomery house. Hanna tells Ali that she isn’t pretty or thin like Ali, and Mike was nice to her, but Ali makes fun of the situation. Hanna begs Ali not to tell anyone, and Ali says that she won’t, comforting Hanna before making a snide remark about her weight once more.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:200%">Aria tells Hanna that although she would think it’s weird, she wouldn’t have stopped being Hanna’s friend, and says that Mike used to have a huge crush on her. The girls ask what else is bothering her, and Hanna says that Caleb left her for another girl. She goes outside to get a signal to call Travis, and Emily goes with her.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:200%">Inside, while Spencer and Aria go into the laundry room to get blankets, the door shuts behind them. Aria looks through the keyhole and sees a hooded figure walking around. They open a window and scream outside for help, and Hanna and Emily both hear them. They break a window to get into the cabin since the front door was locked. They open the door and let Spencer and Aria out, but discover that Ali’s journal is gone, but the bracelet that Emily left at the Kissing Rock was left in its place. Travis then arrives to bring them all home.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:200%">At Hanna’s house, Travis questions why they were all so freaked out. Hanna makes up a lie about it and asks what she owes him for the tow for Emily’s car and for picking them up. The two share a moment, but Hanna begins to cry, still upset about Caleb.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:200%">At Spencer’s house, Mr. Hastings lies to his wife, and tells Spencer to stay away from Jessica. Spencer says she doesn’t understand what is going on between them, but Mr. Hastings just tells her to stay away from her.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:200%">At Aria’s, she talks to Ezra over the phone, and we see Ezra wearing his black outfit and black baseball hat at a gas station. Aria then lies to Emily and says that she was talking to Jake.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:200%">Spencer arrives at Toby’s loft with a suitcase, and asks to stay with him for a while. Emily shows Aria the note that Ali seemingly left for her, and tells her about the “dream” she had about Ali visiting her. A then sends the girls a text of the Busy Bee Inn, thanking them for the tip. The realize that they basically gave Ali to A due to all of the post-its and notes from the journal. In the final shot, A is seen hacking into the GPS system, hinting that it was A who messed up Emily’s GPS settings.

Title and Background

 * It is mentioned in season 2 that the Hastings have a secret "love shack" in the middle of the woods.
 * The title possibly refers to "Love Shack", a popular 1989 song by the alternative rock band The B-52's.

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

 * Keegan Allen as Toby Cavanaugh
 * Andrea Parker as Jessica DiLaurentis
 * Nolan North as Peter Hastings
 * Ian Harding as Ezra Fitz
 * Laura Leighton as Ashley Marin
 * Luke Kleintank as Travis

Trivia

 * Prepping began on July 17, 2013.
 * The table read was on July 24, 2013.
 * Filming began on July 25, 2013 and ended on August 2, 2013.
 * This episode was the last one Norman Buckley directed in Season 4.