Misery Loves Company

Misery Loves Company is the sixteenth episode of Season 3 of Pretty Little Liars. It aired on January 22, 2013.

Synopsis
Aria is down for the count when sidelined by the flu, so Hanna and Emily are on their own to follow up on a new clue. We find Mona and Toby planning their next assault on the girls in the new A-Lair, Mona busy disactivating a security system on her computer, while Toby mentions he feels like they're going forward with this plan too fast. Mona retorts that it's not her decision, and that the girls need to realize that A is still calling the shots. Meredith steps up to help take care of Aria while her father is away, but when it starts to look like Meredith may have ulterior motives to her nursing Aria back to health, Hanna and Emily turn their attention towards saving their friend. Their attentions are sidetracked, however, when Hanna overhears Caleb talking to someone on the phone about her and Mona, saying he will meet up with them later.

Hanna asks Emily to spy on Caleb to see who he is going to meet, so Hannah can go to her interview for a fashion designer. Meanwhile, Spencer takes a break from all the sleuthing to surprise Toby for their first anniversary, convincing him that she would be at a dinner with the family all night, instead of her surprise dinner-date with him. It is revealed Meredith had been drugging Aria with some type of medication, causing her to sleep for days. While fading in and out of consciousness, Aria is visited by Ali. Ali quickly finds Aria's hiding place for the pages from her diary and is about to leave before Aria stirs, and speaks with Ali, convinced she is a ghost. Hanna arrives at her interview only to find it is a set up by A. The encounter is quick and brief, and Hanna is merely knocked when A pushes her down with a line of mannequins. While making his/her escape, A drops, (rather haphazardly) a key, only feet in front of Hanna, which Hanna soon gives to Spencer, to act as an interim counselor for her as she deals with her new found fear.

Emily, realizing that neither she nor Hanna has heard from Aria in a while decide to go check up on her at her house. They find the door unlocked, and are met in Aria's room by Meredith. Meredith tricks them into going into the basement where she locks them in with an unconscious Aria. Byron comes home in the nick of time, alarmed to find out from Meredith that Aria knows everything about their affair and how he talked with Alison the night she died, but proving himself trustworthy - for now - by revealing to the three girls what really happened that night (i.e. how he didn't kill Ali) and deciding to do the right thing by going to the police. Aria stops him from turning himself in by revealing that she still has pages from the diary, which she burns, showing her trust in her father.

Toby sneaks into the Hastings house to retrieve the key from the drawer and is quickly discovered by Spencer. They briefly confront one another, Spencer smacking him, He asking how long she knew, before Spencer is distracted by her mother's call and Toby smoothly escapes. Later Spencer is see at the doorstep of his apartment, begging to talk, wanting to believe that it isn't true, but instead of Toby being inside, we see Mona, sipping on wine meant for Spencer, at the table Spencer set as a surprise for Toby...smiling.

Title

 * The title is a popular idiom, that means 'Unhappy people like other people to be unhappy too,' which may mean that since one of the Liars' may be miserable, someone else will be miserable with them too.
 * The title may also refer to what Toby said in the Season 1 episode Keep Your Friends Close. "I've got friends in all the wrong places, and misery loves company."
 * The episode is based upon Stephen King's book "Misery". In fact, the episode has a lot of similarities to the book.
 * Misery Loves Company is also the name of the 10th Episode of Season 5 of The CW series 90210, which is also the winter premiere.

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/Vivian Darkbloom

Supporting Cast

 * Chad Lowe as Byron Montgomery
 * Holly Marie Combs as Ella Montgomery
 * Lesley Fera as Veronica Hastings
 * Janel Parrish as Mona Vanderwaal
 * Tyler Blackburn as Caleb Rivers
 * Keegan Allen as Toby Cavanaugh
 * Amanda Schull as Meredith Sorenson
 * Torrey DeVitto as Melissa Hastings
 * Craig Tsuyumine as Pharmacist
 * Lindsey Shaw as Paige McCullers

Promo + Sneak Peek
Pretty Little Liars 3x16 Promo "Misery Loves Company" (HD)|Promo Pretty Little Liars 3x16 Sneak Peek 3 "Misery Loves Company" (HD)|Webclip #1 Pretty Little Liars 3x16 Sneak Peek "Misery Loves Company" (HD)|Webclip #2 Pretty Little Liars 3x16 Sneak Peek 2 "Misery Loves Company" (HD)|Webclip #3 Pretty Little Liars 3x16 Sneak Peek 4 "Misery Loves Company"|Webclip #4