A Person of Interest

A Person of Interest is the 19th episode in Season 1. This episode aired on February 28th, 2011.

Synopsis
The girls realize they've been duped when the bloody trophy lands them in hotter water than expected, with an angry police team more hell-bent than ever to find Alison‘s killer, despite these setbacks. Further complicating matters is Garrett Reynolds, a boy the girls all knew growing up in their neighborhood, who‘s a police officer now and has just been assigned to the case. The beginning of the episode picks up where the previous episode left off: the girls are being questioned by the police as to why they think Ian is the killer. Each of the girls lets Detective Breyer know about the video footage of Ian with Alison. Spencer suggests that Ian may have been into younger girls, but when asked to back that claim, she pointedly does not mention that she dated him, as she is being interrogated while sitting next to her mother. The girls' parents convene in the hall after the interrogation, believing they are the victims of a "cruel prank." The girls compare notes; none of them mentioned Spencer's fling with Ian.

Back at the Hastings residence, Peter and Veronica comfort Spencer, who is clearly shaken up. They suggest a therapist for her, letting her know that they have serious reservations about her version of things. Ian deftly turns the tables on Spencer, taking the spotlight off himself and placing it on her recent, erratic behavior – which has become a growing concern for her family. Melissa and Ian portray Spencer's accusation as another way for Spencer to have everything her sister has or take it away driven by jealousy.

At school on Friday, Paige avoids Emily, not knowing quite how to deal with the fact that she's kissed her. She goes so far as to swim later at night, knowing Emily is only there in the mornings. Paige makes up a story about her grandmother, but Emily calls her out on her behavior. Emily tries to push the issue, but Paige would just have Emily forget it.

And Spencer and Toby form an unlikely alliance, as the two grow increasingly suspicious of Jenna and her ties to a mysterious room at a local motel. Toby is staying at the motel to escape Jenna's wrath, who knows he stole her cell phone and touched her snow globe (actually Spencer's fault). While dropping him off, Spencer hears flute music coming from room 214 - the braille numbers! When she peeks through the window into the room, she sees a bag from "Neufelds," the same exact bag Ian mysteriously gave Jenna.

At home, Hanna is having more trouble hiding Caleb. The latest evidence involves Caleb leaving the toilet seat up, alerting her mother to the fact that a boy has been in the upstairs portion of their house, which is against the rules. She also catches Hanna making breakfast for Caleb and grows suspicious when Hanna tries to pass off the cereal as her own.



Jenna has gotten surprisingly close to Mr. Fitz during their collaboration on the school play, for which she composed flute music. Jenna now wants to enter some of her writing into a competition. Aria walks in on them talking, getting an "A" message a moment later. Mr. Fitz becomes obsessed with Jenna's story about a blind person who understands more than seeing people do. The essay alludes to an accident blinding the main character, and in the story, it is portrayed as intentional. As a result, Ezra becomes very curious about what happened the night of Jenna's accident. Aria is vague in answering his questions.

In the hallway, Emily opens her locker to find a surprise note from Paige asking her to meet her that night after school; there is an address on it. Surprised, Emily pockets the note. Elsewhere in the school hallways, Spencer notices Garrett walking about and approaches him to talk about the investigation. She lets him know that she thinks Ian is guilty and begs him to follow up on the Hilton Head lead. Garrett is doubtful, but Spencer confides in him her suspicion that Ian wanted Alison dead because she was about to inform Melissa about their affair.

Later, when Jenna and Aria encounter each other in the bathroom, Jenna uses the opportunity to mock Aria's connection to Mr. Fitz. It is unclear how she knows that it is Aria in the bathroom, but Jenna strikes up a conversation all the same, mentioning how she would like Mr. Fitz to assign 1984 as class reading because "big brother is always watching." When Aria counters that controlling is not Ezra's type, Jenna retorts that she must know him better...

After school, Spencer goes to keep Toby company in his hotel room, not too keen on returning home to her own accusing parents. When Spencer sees a housekeeper pass by in the hallway, she gets an idea and offers her $20 to let them into Room 214. There they find Jenna's glasses on the floor, and the shopping bag in the closet, unfortunately empty.

Hanna and Caleb come home from school and start kissing passionately. They make their way to the kitchen, where Ashley confronts them. She asks Caleb to leave, but Hanna protests that he just arrived. Ashley contradicts Hanna and shows them Caleb's backpack, which she discovered in the basement. She knows that Hanna‘s been hiding Caleb, as the grocery bill has tripled and the toilet seat has been left up multiple times. Ashley evicts Caleb from her home just as he and Hanna were starting to become romantically involved. Caleb leaves, and Hanna follows slamming the door behind them.

Emily follows her GPS to the address Paige has written in the note. It turns out to be a remote karaoke bar, called "The Hungry Owl Cafe." There, Paige can talk candidly and privately. Paige admits to Emily her true feelings.

Meanwhile, Aria plans a gourmet dinner in Ezra's apartment. She dresses up and cooks a fancy dinner. Ezra comes home, pleasantly surprised, but then he mentions Jenna's accident, Aria gets uncomfortable and tries to change the subject.

That night, Caleb and Hanna camp out in the Rosewood camping grounds. Caleb is surprised by Hanna deftness at camping, and the two confide in each other about their upbringings. Hanna mentions her past weight problem, and Caleb discusses his experience with foster parents and social workers. After sharing intimate stories, the two share some kisses.

At the karaoke bar, Paige goes up on stage to sing and enlists the audience in successfully prompting Emily to join her in a rendition of Pink's "So What."

Sure that Jenna's staying in the motel, Toby and Spencer stake the room out from the room next door. Spencer is hopped up on caffeine, and brings board games to keep them entertained, and also shows Toby an app on her phone which will enable them to listen through the walls. Toby joyfully beats Spencer at Scrabble, and since Spencer's staying overnight was not planned, Toby gives her his shirt to sleep in, keeping the trousers for himself. As he changes in the bathroom, Spencer sees him through the broken door and admires his abs. Later that night, after Toby has fallen asleep, Spencer changes, then gingerly curls up next to him.

Meanwhile, Hanna and Caleb take things to the next level before falling asleep in their tent, and Emily and Paige share a kiss in the parking lot of the karaoke bar.

The next day (Saturday), Aria joins Emily in her room, rather then spending the day with Ezra, as is her usual Saturday pasttime. Emily gets a text invite from Paige to a picnic, and Aria gets three texts from Ezra, ignoring each one. After Emily questions her, Aria confides her frustration about keeping "The Jenna Thing" a secret from Ezra. Emily encourages her to confide in him, though Aria isn't as sure, especially given the agreement the girls made to never reveal their secret to anyone.

Meanwhile, in the motel room, Spencer wakes up first, finding herself wrapped around Toby. She disengages herself and leaves the bed before Toby wakes up, leaving him thinking that they slept far apart from each other. They hear noise from the ice machine outside then flute music coming from 214, but when they open the door, they see it was only an audio recording, and they soon realize it‘s just another set-up by the nefarious "A." The notorious Neufeld's shopping bag is filled with ice, with a note from A telling them they're ice cold on the chase. It may be a set up, but it definitely brings these two closer.

Emily goes to meet Paige for a picnic, and the two girls lie on the grass together in the sunshine, but when Emily suggests attending a concert together, Paige refuses because they might be seen together. Paige says she doesn't mean to hurt Emily's feelings, but Emily walks away, not ready to go back into the closet.

Aria shows up at Ezra's apartment, ready to tell the truth despite the consequences, and tearfully reveals what happened the night Jenna was hurt. In response, Ezra is patient and understanding and lets Aria know that his opinion of her has not changed.

After Hanna comes home, Ashley lets her know that she was about to call the police, worried about Hanna. But Hanna snaps back at her mother, surprised that she doesn't sympathize with Caleb's plight. Realizing that her relationship with Hanna is very compromised, Ashley picks up the phone when Caleb calls Hanna...to invite him to dinner.

Spencer and Toby part in the parking lot of the motel. Toby is planning to stay another night, and invites Spencer to come back. The two share an unexpected first kiss.

Caleb comes over for dinner. Afterwards, he goes to thank Ashley, who lets Caleb know that he is allowed to stay, but warns him not to hurt her daughter. She is a bit rough with him when he thanks her, pointing out that she did it for her daughter, not him, but on a softer note she tells him to call her "Ashley," not "Mrs. Marin." Caleb then steps outside to make a mysterious phonecall; whoever he is speaking to, he lets him/her know that he is no longer willing to assist.

Spencer returns home to see a police car in her driveway and to find a distraught Melissa in the kitchen. Spencer initially believes the police car to be there due to having found out that Ian was with Alison just before she disappeared, but Melissa corrects Spencer and informs her that Ian had been at Hilton Head with her that summer. Melissa confesses that she been pregnant, and the two had gone to North Carolina to get an abortion. But, Melissa lost the baby before going to the doctor. Spencer is completely taken aback. Suddenly, her parents enter the room and let Spencer know that the police are in her home to interrogate her. They know that she lied to the police and that she was seeing Ian that same summer. Garrett emerges from an another room.

The other Liars then receive S.O.S. texts from Spencer, and the three congregate on her front lawn to find out that the Rosewood police have made Spencer a "person of interest" in the murder of Alison DiLaurentis and have begun to stake out her house. The girls are texted this information by "A."

Then, the black-gloved figure is sitting comfortably in a room somewhere, beside a bowl of popcorn, watching the footage of the girls' reactions to "A's" texts on Spencer's front lawn. "A" replays the footage of their surprise over and over again.

Trivia

 * In the Scrabble scene in the motel room, the scoring and game-play are inaccurate. Toby: "GLYCERALDEHYDE"? Spencer: "...with the C on the double letter, it is... 32 points. Plus the triple word score gets me 96 points". Corrections: - You do not get 13 Scrabble tiles to play with - each player starts has 7 tiles. - The Y is also on a double letter square. - If the Y was not on a double letter square, the score would actually be 34, before the triple word score. - Spencer's correct base score is 42. With triple word score, it's 126. - There is a 50 point bonus for using all 7 tiles in one go, so this would make her score a minimum of 176. What makes these inaccuracies noteworthy is the fact that Spencer's character is supposed to be studious and high-achieving. For her not to play the game correctly is incongruous with her story-lines.

Title

 * "Person of interest" is a phrase used by law enforcement when announcing the name of someone involved in a criminal investigation who has not been arrested or formally accused of a crime. In this episode, Spencer becomes a person of interest in the murder investigation of Alison DiLaurentis.
 * It also refers to a 2008 novel written by the American writer Susan Choi.
 * There is a current television series that goes by the same name.

Main Cast
Lucy Hale as Aria Montgomery

Ashley Benson as Hanna Marin

Shay Mitchell as Emily Fields

Troian Bellisario as Spencer Hastings

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

Nolan North as Peter Hastings

Lesley Fera as Veronica Hastings

Yani Gellman as Officer Garrett Reynolds

Josh Clark as Detective Breyer

Lynn Ann Leveridge as Maid

Nikki Mata as Student

Featured Music

 * "Two At A Time"﻿ by Shelly Fraley (Spencer & Toby, and Caleb & Hanna get closer)
 * "Woman" by Band Of Thieves (Emily and Paige meet at a bar)
 * "Hey Hey" by Band Of Thieves (Emily and Paige talk)
 * "Breathe" by Rowan (Ezra and Aria talk about Jenna)
 * "Glitter In The Air" by Pink
 * "You Are" by The Daylights (Aria and Emily piece together evidence)
 * "Moth's Wings" by Passion Pit (Emily and Paige have a picnic)
 * "So What" by Pink (Paige and Emily sing Karaoke)

Memorable Quotes
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