| “ | Senior year is supposed to be the best year of your life. | ” |
— Spencer to Emily
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Face Time is the fourth episode of Season 4 of Pretty Little Liars. The episode aired on July 2, 2013.
Synopsis[]
Wayne returns to Rosewood from his tour due to the issues with Family Services. He greets Emily and Pam solemnly and Emily goes to school.
Outside the school, Caleb and Hanna talk. Caleb tells Hanna about the missing gun from Tom Marin's drawer, saying it was a .38. He says if the police find out that Darren Wilden was shot with a .38, it's most likely that Ashley killed Wilden. Hanna dismisses what he says, saying she just wants to forget it all.
Lt.Tanner and Gabriel Holbrook are watching the girls.
Hanna goes over to Spencer and Aria and demands that Spencer talk to Melissa about the mask. Spencer says that all the mask proves is that Melissa was at the maskmaker's studio, but Hanna wants Spencer to talk to Melissa before she leaves town. Emily joins them and tells the girls that her father is home because "A" called Family Services on her family. Aria is concerned her family is next.
Meanwhile, Gabriel Holbrook and his partner, Lt. Linda Tanner, watch the girls from their parked car. Lt. Tanner wonders aloud what it is about these 4 pretty girls that attracts so many corpses. The bell rings and the girls all go inside.
At lunch, Emily expresses her worries over her issues with Family Services. Spencer asks Aria how Jake is doing, and she says that he's fine. Hanna asks her if Ella is going to Austria with Zack. Aria says she thinks so, and hopes that "A" doesn’t have a passport.
Later that day, Spencer sits with her mom and Melissa at The Brew. Melissa and Veronica talk about Melissa going to either San Francisco or London on an internship. After some curt responses from Spencer, Veronica tells her to stop acting jealous of Melissa. Spencer tells them wasn't accepted to UPenn, which Veronica doesn't believe at first, until Melissa remarks that Spencer doesn't seem to be joking. Then, Veronica suggests that Melissa helps get her in and that Spencer graciously accept her sister's help.
Hanna visits her mom at the bank and finds Lt. Tanner and Holbrook inspecting Darren Wilden’s safety deposit box. They find thousands of dollars in cash, two passports - one American, one Canadian, as well as a gun stashed in the box. The detectives question if it was Wilden's "drop gun," but refrain from jumping to conclusions about Wilden's integrity. Lt. Tanner questions Ashley about who would have escorted Wilden to his box when he came in. Ashley said it would have been her if she were working that day. Lt. Tanner then tries to get Ashley to admit she had already seen the contents of the box, but Ashley remains silent and Lt. Tanner clarifies her meaning. The detectives take the entire box and its contents as evidence and Lt. Tanner asks if she can take a butterscotch on their way out.
That night, Spencer and Emily talk on the phone about questioning Melissa. Spencer notes that if they want Melissa to provide any answers, then they need some sort of “leverage.” Spencer is multitasking; searching for the current whereabouts of Toby's mom's doctor at Radley. Emily hears her mom and dad talking about the issues with Family Services, and say they know that Emily is lying to them.
The next day, Emily meets with Dr. Vargas and asks him if he spoke to Family Services. He said he did and so she tells him there is no problem at home and that he should take back whatever he said. Dr. Vargas doesn’t seem to believe her. As she's about to leave, he tells her the x-ray for her shoulder shows a partial tear in her rotator cuff. He says if it doesn’t heal, she might need surgery, and that the surgical outcome for athletes like her is unpredictable.
Hanna sees Lt. Tanner sitting on a park bench and so she decides to go talk to her. She tells her about Melissa meeting up with Wilden on his boat in Cape May a few times, then Lt. Tanner turns the tables and begins questioning her about how many times Hanna has spoken to Wilden over the past year or so. As she struggles to find an answer, Caleb shows up. As he and Hanna start to leave, Lt. Tanner tells Hanna not to worry; that they'll finish their “little talk” later. Caleb warns Hanna about Lt. Tanner and Holbrook, telling her they are the “real deal," unlike Rosewood PD. Hanna says she will protect her mother no matter what she did. Spencer finds out that Dr. Louis Palmer now resides at a medical clinic outside Saratoga, NY and tells Toby. Toby decides to visit him without calling first in the case that Palmer wouldn't want to talk to him. He tells Spencer to stay because she has to deal with Melissa.
Spencer, Emily and Aria meet up at the Brew and Spencer tells them that she wants to find out what Melissa does when she comes face to face with her mask. Will she go to Shana for some reason, straight to the mask-maker, or somewhere else? Emily then sees Paige and goes to talk to her. Emily tells Paige about what the doctor said about her shoulder, and that she won’t be able to swim any time soon. The girls embrace.
Aria tells Jake about Ezra
Aria goes out with Jake. As they're walking through town, Malcolm, Ezra's son, runs up to them. Malcom asks why Aria doesn't come over anymore. She awkwardly makes an excuse, then tells Malcolm to go back inside the bookstore before his parents start to worry. Jake asks who's Ezra, and Aria casually answers he's just one of her teachers. The look on his face clearly shows he's questioning this response.
Later, Aria tells Jake about Ezra; how they were dating while Ezra was her teacher, and about everything that that happened after. Jake tells her she needs to figure out what she really wants even though she insists she and Ezra are finished. Aria asks him if she can call him sometime; Jake says yes.
Toby visits Louis Palmer at the medical clinic outside Saratoga to question him about his mom’s supposed suicide. At first, Dr. Palmer is very compassionate and understanding towards Toby, recalling fond memories of Marion. Dr. Palmer tells Toby that the “air was too heavy” for Marion, and that she just couldn’t take it. When he repeats this sentiment a second and third time, Toby realizes that Palmer is suffering from some form of dementia and is delusional. He realizes he's not a doctor at this clinic; he's a patient. As Toby leaves, Palmer tells him to tell his mom not to see “that blonde girl” anymore, because the air was wrong around her.
Hanna confronts Ashley about Wilden’s safety deposit box. She says she has been temporarily restricted from accessing the safety deposit boxes. Hanna wants to know if the detectives who visited her earlier told the bank to restrict her access, but Ashley is afraid to ask in case the answer is yes. She doesn't want her workplace to know she may be the suspect in a murder case. Hanna tells her she knows she was in Rosewood the night Wilden was killed, and Ashley finally admits it.
Melissa finds the mask
That night, Aria and Spencer plant the mask inside of Melissa’s suitcase and spy on her. Melissa pours herself a glass of wine, then notices the luggage oddly in the living room. She finds the mask inside and looks around worried. She leaves the house quickly; Aria and Spencer follow right behind her.
Meanwhile, Emily speaks with her parents. They question her about how she got the injury on her shoulder, but she refuses to tell them how it happened. Things begin to escalate and Emily tells them that she visited Dr. Vargas. Her dad tells her not to see that man, and asks if things are happening again (meaning the messages from "A" or any sort of bullying). Emily yells that she doesn’t know and runs out of the house.
At Hanna’s house, Lt. Tanner and Holbrook visit to question Ashley. Hanna and Caleb lie saying she isn’t home and so they leave. Ashley looks down from upstairs and turns away while Caleb and Hanna hug.
Aria and Spencer follow Melissa directly to Hector's shop; they see Melissa dragging a large sack out of the shop. Spencer decides to follow Melissa while Aria goes into the shop to keep an eye on Hector. Aria walks into the shop and goes into the back room where all of the molds and masks are. She finds a whole shelf of Ali masks, and confronts Hector about them. He tries to make her leave, but finally gives up, saying he kept the castings because Ali’s face was so beautiful. Aria asks if Ali ever came to the shop with someone else, and Hector says she did once.
In Hector's flashback, we see Ali demanding Hector give her the money he owes her. He hasn't been paid yet, so he doesn't have the money for Ali, but she's desperate and tells him to give her whatever he has on him and they can call it square. He hands her some money which apparently is not even close to the amount he actually owes her, but Ali doesn't care. She just asks what the fastest way is to get to Route 30. He gives her the directions and she runs out, jumping into a mysterious black car. Hector says he couldn’t see who the driver was. This flashback takes place the summer Ali disappeared. Aria asks Hector why Melissa was here, and he says she wanted to know about the Ali masks, so he made her the same deal as he did with Emily - her face in exchange for information.
Spencer confronts Melissa
Spencer confronts Melissa, who is breaking the castings of her face and throwing them into the lake. Melissa is upset with Spencer for putting the mask in her bag, and following her, and tries to run, but Spencer blocks her way. She asks Melissa about the Halloween train, and Melissa realizes it was Mona Vanderwaal who had on the Ali mask that night. It's revealed that Melissa asked Shana where someone could get a mask like that, so she went to Hector’s. Melissa says she wanted to know when the Ali mask was made. She says she doesn’t know if Ali is alive or not and wondered if Ali had the mask made after she disappeared.
Spencer asks Melissa if she tried to kill her on the Halloween train, but Melissa says that it was Wilden who tried to kill her. It's revealed that Melissa and the others were afraid of Wilden, and Wilden was blackmailing them to do his bidding, and that someone else was telling Wilden to do these things, and that Melissa didn’t know Spencer was going to get hurt before she got on the train. Spencer says it was probably because it was more important to kill Garrett and asks Melissa why she didn’t warn her.
Melissa yells at Spencer, saying she's been protecting Spencer ever since before it started, not clarifying what “it” is. Melissa says she sent Jenna and Shana over to the lodge in order to find out who the girls were going to meet because she was suspicious it was Ali. She said Wilden showed up and started the fire. Spencer asks Melissa if she killed Detective Wilden, but Melissa doesn’t answer. She tells her to "let it go."
Emily visits Paige at the pool and tells her about what's going on with her family and how she's worried she'll never be able to swim again. Paige tells her that everything will be okay and walks her home.
Aria finds Spencer on the pier where she's throwing the remaining Melissa masks into the water. Spencer tells Aria Melissa is gone.
At Emily's house, it's discovered that someone called the police on her family about a domestic disturbance. Emily tells the police that there was a misunderstanding while Paige looks on concerned.
A's message about Melissa
Spencer and Aria go back to the Hastings house to look for Melissa, but she's gone. They get a text from "A" saying Melissa is not part of the "A-Team." Hanna shows up and tells them she thinks her mom killed Detective Wilden and that "A" knows it.
A glues the mask
In the final shot, we see that "A" has fished the broken masks out of the lake and is now gluing them back together. The mask resembles Melissa's face.
Trivia[]
- Prep for this episode and 4x03 began on March 22, 2013.
- The read-through was on April 2, 2013.
- Filming for this episode and 4x03 began on April 4, 2013 and ended on April 22, 2013.
- Melissa is revealed to be the queen of hearts along with Wilden; they were blackmailed to be on A's team. It's also revealed that she sent Jenna and Shana to the lodge to watch the Liars because she thought they were going there to meet up with Alison. Melissa says Wilden started the fire, and doesn't know who pulled the girls out and doesn't know who Red Coat is.
- This is the first appearance of Linda Tanner.
- A Dunkin’ Donuts cup was seen on Hector’s desk.
- The shirt Hanna wears at the beginning of the episode says, “Happy Ashley” which is the name of the actress who plays Hanna.
Title and Background[]
- The phrase "face time" has multiple meanings that could be referenced in the episode:
- The amount of time one spends appearing on television.
- Time spent in a face-to-face meeting with someone.
- To 'face time' could also be used as an expression to say 'One faces time in jail'.
- It likely refers to Alison face mask that Mona used in "This Is A Dark Ride."
- FaceTime is also a video chatting app for Apple computers.
Main Cast[]
- Troian Bellisario as Spencer Hastings
- Ashley Benson as Hanna Marin
- Shay Mitchell as Emily Fields
- Lucy Hale as Aria Montgomery
- Sasha Pieterse asAlison DiLaurentis
Guest Cast[]
- Torrey DeVitto as Melissa Hastings
- Lesley Fera as Veronica Hastings
- Laura Leighton as Ashley Marin
- Keegan Allen as Toby Cavanaugh
- Sean Faris as Gabriel Holbrook
- Nia Peeples as Pam Fields
- Eric Steinberg as Wayne Fields
- Roma Maffia as Linda Tanner
- Lindsey Shaw as Paige McCullers
- Tyler Blackburn as Caleb Rivers
- Ryan Guzman as Jake
- Teo Briones as Malcolm Cutler
- Jed Rees as Hector Lime
- Joseph Zinsman as Robert Vargas
- Nick Tate as Louis Palmer
Quotes[]
Extended Quote between Spencer and Melissa in Face Time |
Hanna [to Ashley]: Mom, I know you were here in Rosewood the night Wilden was killed. |
Melissa [to Spencer]: You don't understand! You never understood. I've been protecting you since it started. Since before it started. |
Melissa [to Spencer]: Let it go, Spencer. You have to let it go or it will come apart in ways you cannot even imagine. |
Hanna [to Spencer and Aria]: I think my mom killed Wilden and "A" knows it. |
Caleb [to Hanna]: You're used to Rosewood's finest. They couldn't find their nightsticks with both hands. |
Hanna [to Aria]: Is your mom really going to go off to Austria with that Muffin Man? |
Paige [to Emily]: Unpredictable can be good. Look at us. |
Melissa: Don't tell me you haven't thought about it yourself. Spencer: That Ali's still alive, I-I-I have, but it's crazy. Melissa: Crazier than anything else that's happened? |
Dr. Palmer [about Toby's mom]: Will you tell her to stay away from that girl? That blonde girl. |
Featured Music[]
- "So Here We Are" by Bloc Party (Toby and Spencer, and Paige and Emily, talk)
- "Weird Dreams" by Carina Round (Alison demands money from Hector)
- "These Days" by Casey Hurt (the girls talk at the Brew)
- "Explaining To Do" by Trent Dabbs (Spencer talks to Melissa and her mom about college)
Gallery[]
 Face Time has a photo gallery. |
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