It Happened 'That Night'

It Happened 'That Night' is the first episode of Season 3 of Pretty Little Liars. It aired on June 5, 2012.

Synopsis
Five months have passed since Aria, Emily, Hanna and Spencer found out about Mona being A|"A" and Maya's death. The girls are having a sleepover and discussing their summer plans: Aria has been taking photography classes; Spencer has been taking a full course load at Hollis; Hanna has been expanding her vocabulary and taking cooking classes with Caleb; and Emily has been constructing houses in Haiti. Emily has clearly not been taking Maya's death well, excessively drinking, and snapping at her friends when they try to take away the bottle from her.

Later, Aria and Hanna wake up to find Spencer and Emily missing and the door left wide open. Then, Spencer returns, saying she's looked everywhere for Emily. Hanna tries to call Emily.

Emily is then seen standing over Alison's grave, holding a shovel. The grave has been dug up, and Alison's body is missing from the casket. The other girls join Emily at the graveyard. A dazed Emily doesn’t remember a thing after getting so wasted at the sleepover. Spencer goes through Emily's phone and finds out that Emily had received a blocked call from somebody at 11pm, and from Spencer's phone at midnight, meaning someone was in Spencer's house, while they were all sleeping. That means it’s a setup for Emily to take the fall.

The girls decide to cover for Emily, so Hanna and Aria wipe any fingerprints off the shovel and bury it in the middle of the woods. On the way back to Spencer's house, they see Lucas drive off in the middle of the night. At Spencer's house, Spencer burns the clothes Emily was wearing so that there is no evidence against her. She then leaves a note to her mom saying they were at the lakehouse since that afternoon, providing them a solid alibi.

The next day, at the lakehouse, Spencer receives a call from her mother, stating that there were no witnesses, and relief spreads across the girls. Emily feels guilty, but the others comfort her saying that it was not her fault. They get their stories straight, and make a decision to pretend like last night never happened.

The scene cuts to Aria waking up from a nightmare in Ezra's apartment. Apparently she's been having them since they discovered who "A" is. Ezra tells her this Labor Day weekend, not only is it the anniversary of Ali’s death, it is also their anniversary. Ezra wants to recreate their first date, so Ezra asks her to meet him the next day at the Grille. Aria reminds him that they ended the night in the bathroom, to which Ezra hoists her onto the kitchen counter and kisses her, the same way he did that night.

Meanwhile, Hanna and her mother are shopping. They also meet Spencer and her mother. When Hanna pulls Spencer away, Ashley expresses to Veronica how relieved she is that the girls were out of town last night, away from this mess. Spencer gets a call from a blocked number, which she ignores. Hanna and Spencer notice some people gossiping about them. Hanna cannot take it anymore and immediately disses them for it. Spencer asks Hanna to go to a movie with her but Hanna says she has to see Dr. Sullivan. Spencer is surprised to hear this and immediately worries that Hanna would tell her about last night. Hanna assures her that she wouldn't do that to Emily. At the same time, Hanna's mom comes by and they leave. Hanna almost leaves with a necklace from the store, but puts it back. Clearly she has gone a long way from her shoplifting days.

We then see Hanna going to visit Mona under the name "Rivers". So, she lied about seeing Dr. Sullivan. Apparently, Hanna has been doing this for weeks now. She tries to talk to Mona, but she doesn't seem to acknowledge her presence. Hanna gets fed up and tells her that it's not easy for her to visit her. She is doing this because she wants to know why Mona is so mad at her.

Just as she leaves the room, she runs into Wren, who is surprised to see her. She immediately asks him not to tell anyone about seeing her. She tells him that she has been visiting because she really needs some answers from Mona, but its starting to prove futile. Wren and Hanna walk away and then the camera pans to Mona's room. She has been listening to the whole conversation through the door which means that she is not ill after all.

Meanwhile, Emily is in her room going through her things, when she sees the scarf Maya gave her. She wraps it around a picture of the two of them. Her mom enters the room, who had just told off a reporter at the door. She tells Emily that she's been dealing with Maya's death well, and that the hurt will eventually stop. Emily flatly assures her that she's fine.

Toby comes to Spencer's room in a towel after taking a shower. They talk about having sex eventually. Spencer wants to wait, but seeing him like that makes it hard for her remember why she wanted to in the first place. Toby tells her she'll remember when he puts some clothes back on. She gets another call from an unknown number and ignores it.

During senior registration, Aria, Spencer and Hanna notice Lucas talking to a skinny brunette who resembles the Black Swan. It seems like he has suddenly shut out everybody after the masquerade ball. Then, Emily is watching them from the courtyard, feeling guilty about making her friends lie for her.

While Aria’s in the restroom, she sees a hooded figure outside her stall. Spencer and Hanna hear Aria’s screams and try to reassure their friend that it was all in her head, but who’s to say that Aria wasn’t imagining it? Aside from nightmares since the incident, Aria has also been having panic attacks.

At home, Aria helps Ella pack up her stuff because she and Byron are getting divorced. When Aria asks if she is sure that she wants the divorce, Ella simply says that it has become difficult to compromise as there have been many complications. Aria thinks that the complication is her being with Ezra, but Ella assures her that it is only one of the many things they have not been able to agree on.

Emily meets Toby in a cafe. He is remodelling it, so he gets to live there until he finishes the work. Mostly, he seems happy about it. When Emily asks about Jenna, he says he hasn't talked to her since she left the town. Then, Emily tells him that she feels she has really let her friends down, getting wasted at parties. Toby comforts her saying that her friends like her just the way she is.

At the Lost Woods Resort, where Spencer had discovered "A"/Mona's lair, Spencer revisits the room and finally takes a call from the unknown caller.

That caller turns out to be Garrett who is in prison for killing Ali. Spencer agrees to see Garrett. Garrett warns Spencer that she and her friends are not safe, and tells her that he might know who killed Ali, but he wants Spencer to get her mom to be his lawyer. Spencer is about to leave, when Garrett, already being restrained by a guard, shouts that he know who took Ali's body.

Hanna is with Caleb when she receives a call from Wren, who tells her that her visits with Mona have been helping. So, she pays another visit. She talks to Mona and at one point Mona smiles at her. She thinks she's gotten through to her and Mona's finally going to talk, until she notices Mona was actually smiling at thechair behind her. Mona sees Alison in her red coat, reading a copy of Lolita



Aria is getting ready for her date with Ezra when he mother comes in and tells her that the police want to talk to her. At the station, the police interrogate Hanna, Aria and Spencer. They all tell them the same story of being in the lake house. When they come out, Aria sees Ezra and though her mother is disapproving, the three of them plan a dinner.

While jogging, Emily sees a blue car that triggers her memory of that night, but the images are vague. Emily wants to go after the car, but she receives a text stating, “I bet you remember me,” before the car drives off.

Emily decides to tell her friends, and Hanna also tells her friends about her visits with Mona. The others are shocked, but Hanna defends herself. Spencer, feeling the need to confess, takes them to the resort. There, Spencer reveals to the girls that she has been coming to the resort all summer long to try to create "A"/Mona’s lair.

Emily wants to know why, and then, the others tell her that the morning after police found Maya’s body, Aria, Hanna, and Spencer wanted to go to the Lost Woods Resort to get rid of everything in A's lair, but when they came the room was empty. That means everything, including Ali's diaries are gone. Spencer’s hypothesis is that Mona was working with more than one person because it’s unlikely for Mona to be in two places at the same time. Spencer also thinks that whoever was in the Black Swan costume was guilty of something or else she would not have run from the girls.

Just then, the Liars hear Spencer’s car alarm go off, prompting them to see what’s going on. The whole car is open, and inside are photographs of the girls at the cemetery in front of Ali’s open grave. The girls each receive the text message: “Mona played with dolls. I play with body parts. Game on, bitches. –A."

Continuity
There are many parallels in this episode to the Pilot.
 * The opening shot of Spencer's barn during a storm, and the girls having a sleepover
 * During the sleepover, Aria wakes up first to discover one of their group, Emily this time, is missing. Spencer informs them she has looked everywhere
 * Aria and Ezra make out on a counter.
 * Hanna runs into Spencer while shopping.
 * There are boxes everywhere in the Montgomery house. In the Pilot, they were moving in. This time, Ella is moving out.
 * The same song is playing while Hanna is out shopping
 * The same song is playing at the very end when the 4 girls receive a text simultaneously
 * The theme song is the same

Title

 * The title refers to the night of the sleepover where Emily blacked out and Alison's body went missing from the cemetery.
 * The title is also reminiscent of "It Happened One Night," the 1934 Clark Gable film Aria, Ella and Ezra all go to see in "The Jenna Thing."

Main Cast
Troian Bellisario as Spencer Hastings

Ashley Benson as Hanna Marin

Lucy Hale as Aria Montgomery

Shay Mitchell as Emily Fields

Sasha Pieterse as Alison DiLaurentis

Guest Stars
Tyler Blackburn as Caleb Rivers

Ian Harding as Ezra Fitz

Janel Parrish as Mona Vanderwaal

Keegan Allen as Toby Cavanaugh

Nia Peeples as Pam Fields

Brendan Robinson as Lucas Gottesman

Holly Marie Combs as Ella Montgomery

Laura Leighton as Ashley Marin

Lesley Fera as Veronica Hastings

Yani Gellman as Garrett Reynolds

Julian Morris as Wren Kingston

Featured Music

 * "S&M" by Rihanna (The girls have drinks at Spencer’s house)
 * "I Feel Alive" by Jules Larson (Aria and Ezra make out at his apartment)
 * "It Girl" by Twirl  (When Hanna tries on the necklace)
 * "Song for the Suburbs" by Ben Rector (Emily talks to Toby)
 * "Hot Button" by Anya Marina (Spencer and Toby talk & make out in her room after he takes a shower)
 * "Body Knows Best" by Anya Marina(Toby and Emily meet at the new cafe)
 * "Hands of Time" by Rachel Diggs  (The girls get a text from “A” after finding their car covered in photos)