Monsters in the End

Monsters in the End is the 21st episode in the series. This episode aired on March 14th, 2011.

Synopsis
The girls sit together in Apple Rose Grille, discussing what Caleb has on them. Spencer worries that they are being watched from outside the window of the cafe, but the girls assure her that she is just looking at clown mannequins for the upcoming Rosewood Founder's Day Festival. But later, someone really does move around the mannequins, and it is shown to be Officer Garrett Reynolds.

As the town prepares for the annual Founder’s Day festival, Spencer’s family urges her to make a public appearance and help out at the church booth at the festival to improve her reputation. Melissa reveals that the nurse at the doctor's office had been particularly nosy about Spencer's status as a person of interest and assumes she's guilty. Her family also doesn't want Spencer to see Toby anymore.

At the Marins', Ashley tries to engage Hanna, but she is still bummed out about Caleb. Ashley wants to know why he moved out, but Hanna doesn't reveal anything. Seeing her daughter distraught, Ashley offers to let Hanna stay home from school, but just then Mona shows up. Mona asks if Caleb is permanently gone, and Hanna responds in the affirmative. Mona then takes the blame for Hanna's getting hurt and wishes she had prevented him from getting so close to her friend. Their conversation clues Ashley into some of the details of what ensued.

At school, Caleb approaches Aria to request that she speak to Hanna on his behalf, but she doesn't want to get involved. The plus side of their conversation, though, is that Ella walks by as Caleb is talking to her at her locker and assumes that he is Aria's mystery boyfriend. Aria rolls her eyes while Ella mouths to her that he is cute.

Meanwhile, Emily and Paige’s budding relationship hits a bit of a snag when Paige can’t quite come out of the closet like Emily has and plans to bring a "buffer" guy to their date at a local concert. Emily is disappointed that Paige still doesn't want to be seen alone in public with her. Paige promises she's trying by telling Emily she has looked up ways to come out to her family and local support groups. Emily is very supportive and offers to go along with Paige to meet with a local Pride group member.

Aria catches up with Ezra at school to ask him about their plans for the upcoming Founder's Day Festival. Just then, Aria spots Ella, so she purposefully knocks the coffee out of his hand. Bending down to clean up the mess, she is able to (somewhat) discreetly whisper an invitation to Ezra to a quiet weekend together instead of going to the festival, but he does not answer definitively.

Then, Hanna approaches Caleb, where he is sitting reading at an outdoor bench. Caleb is hopeful that this means that they are on speaking terms again when Hanna asks to sit next to him, but she just confronts Caleb for playing her and demands to at least know what he was supposed to be looking for. Caleb reveals that Jenna was looking for a key, though Hanna has no clue why or to what. Caleb explains that it was related to Alison. Caleb then asks Hanna why Jenna is so interested, but Hanna cuts him off, not allowing him to be the one asking questions. After she exhausts everything that Caleb knows, he brings up their relationship. Hanna nods for a moment, before shrugging and strutting away.

Then, Aria lets herself into Ezra's apartment with the key under the doormat. Ezra is not there, but has told her to go ahead and order takeout. In the meantime, Aria sits herself down at his desk, and taps his computer. The screen turns on, displaying Ezra's online social network page. On it, she sees a tagged picture of Ezra embracing a woman sporting a diamond ring on Ezra's website profile. Aria clicks on the picture to enlarge it and learns that this woman's name is Jackie Molina. Ezra calls her from school to see how she's doing, and Aria responds that she can't stay, without revealing what's bothering her.

In Emily's room, the girls congregate to discuss what Jenna may have been looking for. They also discuss the creep factor in Caleb rifling through Hanna's belongings, invading her privacy. But, Aria comes to Caleb's defense, knowing how tempting it is sometimes to go through somebody else's information, such as her boyfriend's web page. Emily suggests coming clean to Ezra about it, but Hanna tries to convince Aria to create a page of her own posing as one of Jackie's past classmates in order to sneakily find out more about the status of her involvement with Ezra.

Spencer goes to Toby, who is fixing his motorcycle. Toby knows that Spencer is innocent, but when he sees a cop car pull up closely, he suggests that she leave and offers to visit her in her home later. He picks up on the fact that her parents would rather he not come around, though. So, they agree to meet up at the festival at 7 PM instead. Jenna comes out of the house, then, and calls Toby to drive her to school. It is unclear whether she overheard their date plans. Meanwhile, the officer in the car is shown to be Officer Garrett Reynolds. He opens the car door and calls out to Spencer, but she is snarly towards him and accuses him of being a traitor and something of a stalker. In defense, Garrett says that being trailed will clear Spencer's name and better him than someone else...

Later, Emily goes to the Grille for Paige's meeting with a Sheridan Prep Pride Group representative, but Paige has stood them up, so Emily meets Samara, the girl from the support group, alone. Samara and Emily make a connection, discussing what it was like for both of them to come out at first. Samara is not sorry that Paige has stood her up, as she is in the neighborhood anyway for the Rosewood Founder's Festival, there to set up a jewelry booth.

Meanwhile, Hanna coaches Aria how to set up a fake profile and get Jackie to accept her friend request.

At the festival, Spencer and Ian continue to play a mental chess game with each other. They set up cupcakes for the booth, while chatty Mrs. Ackard brings up Hilton Resorts in South Carolina, and Spencer uses the opportunity to catch Ian in a lie. Melissa mistakenly mentions that the room she stayed in overlooked the ocean, while Mrs. Ackard knows that that particular room overlooks the golf course. Melissa gets flustered, trying to cover up her mistake. It becomes apparent that Melissa and Ian stayed in separate rooms during their fateful stay there. When Mrs. Ackard is out of earshot, Spencer asks Melissa whether she informed the police that they had stayed at different sides of the hotel. Melissa stalks away, annoyed with Spencer.

At Samara's jewelry booth, Paige gets jealous when she observes Emily with Samara, trying on earrings. Samara gives Emily the earrings for free. When Paige arrives, Samara lets her know that she can always reschedule to talk about her father. Paige doesn't apologize for standing Samara up and isn't interested in telling Emily how hot she looks in the earrings, at Samara's suggestion, feeling suddenly exposed.

Meanwhile, Caleb tries to give Hanna a special goodbye letter before he leaves town, explaining his feelings for her and of course, apologizing. He goes to the Marins' residence to drop off the note for Hanna, but Hanna has gone to work a booth at the Founder's Day Festival with Mona. Ashley suggests that Caleb deliver the note personally and say goodbye properly, as she is all too familiar with men who leave Hanna's life without saying goodbye. The encounter with Mrs. Marin gives Caleb the opportunity to explain himself and winds up softening her opinion of him.

Back at the festival, Paige scolds Emily for having wrongfully exposed her secret. Paige is even rude to Samara, telling her that she doesn't want to join a club, never thanking her for coming. But, Samara is patient with her. Emily, on the other hand, gets completely fed up with Paige's fickle attitude and tells her that it's over between them, as she can't deal with her twists and turns and being Paige's secret. She thanks Samara and tells her it was nice meeting her friends before leaving them booth.

In her room, Aria checks her computer to see that Jackie Molina has accepted her friend request. But, thinking better of it, she defriends her and closes the computer.

Following Ashley's advice, Caleb seeks Hanna out at the festival. When Hanna sees him, though, she ducks into another tent, wishing to avoid her heart breaker. Caleb commissions Mona, who treats him unpleasantly, to deliver the letter to Hanna. Unfortunately, Mona intervenes by promising to deliver it, but instead tears it up, drops it in the trash can, and dumps a drink on it. (The last line on the letter reads, "I love you Hanna."

Later at the festival, Ian corners Spencer and lets her know that she better be careful, because she is sinking fast. Spencer just purses her lips at him.

Going with Emily's advice instead, Aria rents a number of wedding themed DVDs to watch with Ezra. Ezra picks up on the hint, and Aria uses it as a conversation starter to confront Ezra about his past mysterious fiancée. Ezra comes clean to her, confessing to have almost married this woman until she broke it off. However, he assures Aria that he has no second thoughts about her and does not think about Jackie while he is with her.

At the Founder's Day Festival, Ashley approaches Hanna to ask whether she's seen Caleb, but Hanna hasn't seen him. Ashley lets her know that Caleb came over to say goodbye because he is leaving Rosewood.

Back home in her room, Emily gets two texts: one from Paige, which she ignores, and one from "A," which is not as easy to ignore, teasing her about her past feelings for Alison. This prompts Emily to have a flashback to when Alison had given her a snow globe the summer before. It had been the day of her disappearance, and Alison had alluded to the fact that it was more special than one would realize at first. She also told Emily not to tell the others, as she hadn't gotten them any presents. This flashback prompts Emily to examine the object, and at the bottom, she finds a key with numbers printed on it. There is also a tag attached, with the name of a storage place.

Back at his apartment, Ezra has fallen asleep during one of the flicks. Aria wakes him up to put on a pair of brown paper bag masks that she's fashioned in order for them to take a picture together without revealing their identities. He plays along, and the two playfully don the masks. Suddenly, Aria gets a text from Emily letting her know that she's found the key, and Aria reports that she has to leave, heading for Emily right away. Garrett Reynolds then turns a corner, possibly having seen Aria exit the apartment.

Back at the festival, things turn dangerous for Spencer. A text feigning to be from Toby directs her to enter the haunted house, a move Spencer would not have made otherwise. There, Spencer finds a creepy message scrawled by A on the walls, warning her to shut up. She immediately looks for an exit and mistakingly enters a grate, where someone uses a crowbar to trap her inside. Spencer panics, banging on the walls, shouting for help, the service on her cell phone not working.

Back at Ezra's apartment, Garrett Reynolds knocks on the door, and Ezra lets him in, apologizing for the mess. Evidence that a girl has been there is obvious, as the bed is unmade, and the the brown paper bag masks are lying conspicuously on the couch. Garrett takes note and then tells Ezra that he would like to speak to him about one of his students.

Meanwhile, Hanna sees Caleb boarding the bus out of Rosewood, all the while thinking he is a complete jerk to not even bother to say goodbye to her. They make eye contact, but don't speak.

Finally, Spencer is released, and she comes face to face with Ian, holding the crowbar. She expects him to strike her, but he is with the rest of the family, who are worried about her; they criticize the negligence of the management as Spencer gets a real text from Toby asking where she is. She is shaken, but unharmed. Her family leads her home, but Spencer stops following when she catches sight of Toby. Despite her mother’s wishes to come along, she runs straight into Toby’s arms and kisses him, disturbing her family and Mrs. Ackard.

Thanks to the snowglobe clue, Emily, Aria and Hanna track down a secret storage location. There, they uncover a flashdrive contained in a lunch box, stored in a garage that Alison had planted! The flashdrive contains secret videos, mostly of the girls in intimate moments; Alison somehow knew that they were being spied on while she was alive. There is footage of July 4, moments before The Jenna Thing, when Ali had been sure someone was spying on them in Emily's room. There is even some footage of Jenna, and the girls begin to understand what Jenna was seeking in enlisting Caleb to search Hanna's hard drive -- in the footage, she is seducing and blackmailing Toby.

The episode concludes with black gloved "A" swiping the key from underneath Ezra's doormat.

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

Guest Stars

 * Lindsey Shaw as Paige McCullers
 * Keegan Allen as Toby Cavanaugh
 * Tyler Blackburn as Caleb Rivers
 * Tammin Sursok as Jenna Marshall
 * Ryan Merriman as Ian Thomas
 * Lesley Fera as Veronica Hastings
 * Claire Holt as Samara Cook
 * Yani Gellman as Officer Garrett Reynolds
 * Paula Cale as Mrs. Ackard
 * Megan Porschen as Funhouse Teen
 * Holly Marie Combs as Ella Montgomery
 * Ian Harding as Ezra Fitz
 * Laura Leighton as Ashley Marin
 * Torrey DeVitto as Melissa Hastings
 * Paloma Guzmán as Jackie Molina

Featured Music

 * "Upside Down" by Garrison Starr (Hanna and Aria surf Jackie's web page)
 * "Come And Find Me" by Josh Ritter (Emily and Samara wait for Paige)
 * "Backed Into The Corner" by Amy Stroup (Emily and Samara try on jewelry)
 * "What We Want" by Bess Rogers (Jackie accepts Aria's friend request)
 * "Something Inside" by The Longcut (Spencer gets trapped in the funhouse)
 * "I Don't Want To Leave" by Matthew Perryman Jones (Caleb boards a bus to Arizona)

Memorable Quotes
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