Picture This

Picture This is the 9th episode in the Season 2. It aired on August 9, 2011.

Synopsis
The episode begins with Aria and Ezra making out in bed under the covers. Suddenly, an alarm goes off, and shirtless Ezra leans over to stop the beeping. Then, the guy who rolls back to face Aria is Jason. Just before they kiss, Aria shoots up out of bed, no longer dreaming, while her alarm rings incessantly.

At the morgue, Emily and Hanna don the familiar candy-striper outfits, while keeping watch for Spencer, who is inside hoping to find the missing page of Alison’s coroner’s report. Spencer returns empty-handed. The page is still gone, and she even tried the computer system, but it is password protected. Her suspicions of Jason are worsened. Just then, the elevator door opens to reveal Jenna, being led by a nurse. She comments about how she can’t wait to remove some bandages, and go to Cape May, where she hopes to see the ocean again. The girls stare after smiling Jenna, who hasn’t made note of the silent by standing girls.

Back at Hanna’s home, Emily opens up to Hanna about how threatened she feels by "A" having another secret to hold over her head. She is afraid that her swim career is about to come crashing down when “A” exposes her medical records. Right on cue, "A" sends Emily a text with a copy of her medical records enclosed in the text.

At school, Aria echoes Hanna’s sentiment not to be intimidated by "A", but Emily is hardly comforted. Just then, Jason walks by in the hallway and shares a smile with Aria. Emily is weirded out by their cordiality, but Aria brushes it off before revealing her previous night’s dream and her insecurities about her relationship with Ezra.

Hanna then plops her tray down next to the other Pretty Little Liars - not far from where Jenna is sitting. Spencer fills the girls in on what Toby has let her in on since their discovery at the hospital - that Jenna is a candidate for prosthetic cornea transplant, which means there is a hope that she will see again.

At home, Spencer walks on front lawn before getting the urge to spy on Jason and his latest construction endeavor. While crouching behind some bushes, she sees a gardener about to open a door, when Jason barks at him not to enter that door. He closes the door and, after doing a poor job of looking to see if someone is watching, places the key atop the shed door. The wheels in Spencer’s head start turning.

Samara and Emily are at Hanna’s house. Samara is dropping off some chocolate chip cupcakes before stealing a kiss from Emily. Ashley walks in at just that moment. Samara is about to leave, but she quickly lets Emily know that plans for that night fell through, as the space they were planning to occupy is off the table. Overhearing their conversation, Ashley suggests that they relocate to their house that night, as she and Hanna plan to be out. Emily accepts Ashley’s gesture to make her feel at home, as well as accepted for having a girlfriend, which is more than her own mother can say.

Aria saunters into Ezra’s office and removes her some layers until her bra and black lace top is revealed. She props a chair in front of the door, then starts to kiss Ezra passionately. He mumbles something about class in fifteen minutes, so Aria decides to make the best of the time they have to wrap her legs around him, and Ezra surrenders.

That night, Spencer calls Hanna to fill her in on her latest Jason suspicions. But then, Hanna catches sight of the guy staking out Caleb talking to him. It turns out that the man is a private investigator hired by Caleb’s biological mother to track him down.

At Hanna’s, Samara and her friends, Quinn, Bianca, and Zoey, play poker while getting to know Emily. Emily helps Zoey win a round, then gets up to get more cupcakes. Just then, "A" texts Emily threatening her to give Zoey her phone number or risk having her secret blabbed.

In the Hastings’ kitchen, Spencer confides in her mother about the hockey stick. To Spencer’s dismay, her mother defends her father’s decision. Spencer puts out there that maybe Ian wasn’t the one trying to frame her, but her mother writes off the idea. Spencer gets no more answers from her mother than from her father; she has the same thing to say about the DiLaurentis family: just don’t trust them.

Emily calls Aria to ask her advice about "A’s" blackmails, but to little avail. In Ezra’s office, Aria presents her beau with takeout and a smile as he returns to his office, but he questions the motives behind her actions. Aria reveals nothing.

After the card game, Samara heads back home in time for her curfew. Just before Zoey leaves, Emily slips her a note with her number, as per "A’s" instructions. Zoey turns, and Emily catches sight of Quinn giving her a suspicious look.

The next morning, Aria is making out with Ezra in bed again. When she gets up to fix her hair in the mirror, a shirtless Jason is standing beside her, whispering over her shoulder. Aria wakes up to the sound of the doorbell.

Meanwhile, Hanna and Caleb check out Caleb’s mother’s, Claudia Dawson, online profile. They learn that she has two children, James and Clay, and lives in a very upscale neighborhood in California called Montecito. Caleb is vague about whether he plans to call her and leaves to pick up pizza instead of stay and chat.

At Aria’s, Emily returns to Aria for advice about her newest "A" fiasco. She is currently avoiding Samara’s calls, not knowing how to explain her behavior.

is on the phone with Mike’s guidance counselor to let her know that Mike will be staying home the next few days. But Byron is upset with this decision; he believes Mike should be forced to return to school, but Ella thinks that solution is useless, as his school teachers say that he is completely out of focus there. She wants to avoid alienating him in order to encourage him to share more information. Byron marches upstairs and bangs on Mike’s door, until he gets out of bed where he is resting during the middle of the day, and listlessly unlocks the door. Byron barks at Mike to get up, but he barely responds, returning to his bed to lay there.

At Hanna’s house, Emily tries to change the subject from her giving Zoey her phone number, but Samara demands an explanation. She is totally livid and thinks that Emily is hitting on her friends; she wants to know if it is because she mentioned seeing other people at the fashion show or if she just wants to spite her. Emily responds that she did in order to hang out with her as friends and that she didn’t mean anything by it, but Samara doesn’t buy it and leaves.

Back at Aria’s, she goes downstairs to find Jason standing in her kitchen. He slips her a card of a guy from a youth center, suggesting that he might be able to help Mike. When Aria expresses her concern for her brother, Jason puts his hand on her shoulder. Alarms ringing in her head, Aria makes up some excuses about studying for non-existent tests and practically shoves Jason out the door. But Jason sees Aria put the books she just pretended to be using back and realizes something is up.

At the playground, Hanna locates Caleb, who has failed to deliver the pizza hours ago. He finally opens up to Hanna about his feelings. Hanna wisely suggests that he at least call his mother in order to find out what happened; he can always decide never to call her again, or he can start a relationship with her. He’s wanted to find out this information for the past twelve years.

At home, Spencer tries to convince her mother to leave for Melissa in Philadelphia sooner. She practically pushes her out of the house, making up lies about construction along the way and offering to find Melissa’s jacket for her. As soon as Veronica leaves, the two make a beeline for Jason’s shed.

Byron sets the table for dinner when Ella returns home. He reveals his concern that his son Mike seems like his brother Scott did when he was younger. Apparently, things ended disastrously for Scott, but Ella denies the validity of the parallel.

In Jason’s shed, Spencer and Emily discover that it is doubling as a dark room. There are developing photographs hanging all around. The sound snapshots are heard as they move... After shining their flashlights on the photographs, the girls realize that the pictures are all of Aria and various features of her face. Before they split, they find his camera equipment, which they suspect doubles for stalking equipment. They then hear Jason return and leave in the nick of time, but not without Emily’s still lit flashlight. Jason walks in to find the evidence of the break-in.

Caleb then enters the Marin’s foyer to fill Hanna in on the conversation he just had with his mother. He shares with her how his mother said that his voice sounds like his father’s and how she invited him to California for a reunion. Hanna is taking everything in when Caleb reveals that he is planning to fly to California that night; after waiting twelve years, he doesn’t want to wait a moment longer. Hanna feels dejected that Caleb will be leaving, but is overall happy for him. They will be conducting a long distance relationship until he returns, which date is unsettled. They share kisses and "I love you's" before Caleb leaves Rosewood to head for the airport. Hanna closes the door and starts to cry over losing Caleb for the second time.

While walking outside, Aria is stopped by Jason, who lets her know that his shed has been broken into. Aria immediately mentions Mike being home all day, but accusing Mike was not Jason’s intention. Meanwhile, Jenna and Garrett survey the two from inside Garrett’s clandestinely parked car. Jenna wants to know what is going on and mumbles something about being able to see for herself soon. Jenna warns what secrets could be revealed should Jason and Aria ever hook up. Jason finally confesses to Aria that he cares about her and leans in to kiss her, but Aria admits that she’s already in a relationship and hurries away.

With Caleb’s complicated family relationship in view, Hanna has new perspective on her own family matters. She finally picks up the phone to call her father and agree to partake in his wedding plans.

Spencer and Emily panic over having left their flashlight behind and want to photograph the things they’ve seen in Jason’s dark room, in order to corroborate their story for Aria later. But when they enter, they find the dark room dismantled, with only Emily’s flashlight standing on the floor in the center of the room, shining upwards.

The last scene cuts to a black-gloved figure developing a photograph in a dark room somewhere else. The photograph becomes clearer, and is shown to be of Spencer and Emily poking around in Jason’s dark room... So that’s where those snapshot sounds were from.

Continuity

 * When Emily and Hanna are playing lookout for Spencer, who is in the morgue, Hanna suggests Emily to go inside to tell their friend to get a move on. Emily refuses, on grounds that seeing corpses is creepy. Hanna points out that Emily loves zombie movies, but Emily insists that real life is different. This harkens back to when Emily attended a screening of "I Walked with a Zombie" at Rosewood's local movie theater with Maya in "Please Do Talk About Me When I'm Gone".
 * Emily, Hanna and Spencer are wearing the same candy striper outfits Spencer and Aria wore in the previous episode and that Alison wore in "Moments Later".

Main Cast
Lucy Hale as Aria Montgomery

Ashley Benson as Hanna Marin

Shay Mitchell as Emily Fields

Troian Bellisario as Spencer Hastings

Guest Stars
Drew Van Acker as Jason DiLaurentis

Tammin Sursok as Jenna Marshall

Laura Leighton as Ashley Marin

Tyler Blackburn as Caleb Rivers

Ian Harding as Ezra Fitz

Yani Gellman as Officer Garrett Reynolds

Cody Allen Christian as Mike Montgomery

Chad Lowe as Byron Montgomery

Holly Marie Combs as Ella Montgomery

Lesley Fera as Veronica Hastings

Courtney Davies as Quinn

Vanessa Dubasso as Zoey

Claire Holt as Samara Cook

Aurora Perrineau as Bianca

Ruben Garfias as Cop

Featured Music

 * "Could've Had Me" by Lex Land (Aria has a dream about Ezra... and Jason)
 * "I Will Follow" by Katie Herzig (Hanna's mom tells Hanna to call her dad back)
 * "I Want It All" by Jules Larson (Aria and Ezra get hot and heavy in Ezra's office)
 * "Style" by Phil Ogden Band (Emily plays poker with Samara and her friends)
 * "Turn It Up" by Megan Oliver
 * "What Are You Waiting For?" by Foreign Slippers (Aria has another dream about Ezra and Jason)