“ | Each one hated the other, because each one feared the other, because each one knew something about the other. | ” |
Through a Glass, Darkly is the fourteenth episode and the winter premiere of Season 5 of Pretty Little Liars. It aired on January 6th, 2015.
Summary[]
The episode kicks off with the liars leaving Mona’s funeral. The girls talk about how it's strange having a funeral when there's no body, no murder weapon, and no one has been arrested.
They're shocked when they see Alison arrive and talk to Mrs. Vanderwaal – she tries to tell Mrs. Vanderwaal that she's just paying her respects. But, Leona freaks out on her and slaps her and screams, “Where's her body?!” Hanna rushes to her side and comforts Leona and leads her away.
Hanna takes Leona home. After helping her clean up, Hanna gets ready to leave. Leona apologizes for freaking out at the service, but she knows it was Alison who killed Mona. She cries that it's, “like Mona is lost at sea.” She has accepted Mona's death, but she just wants her body back. She tells Hanna it was a bizarre thing to have a funeral without a body in the casket. Hanna consoles her by saying she was just trying to find a way to say goodbye, and that the funeral probably helped a lot of people move on. Leona then gives one of Mona’s stuffed toys to Hanna as a keepsake.
Spencer heads home, and her father is waiting for her in the kitchen. Peter explains that Bethany Young’s parents have petitioned the court to have her bail revoked.
At the police station – Toby finds Spencer’s arrest warrant. He learns from Tanner that what convinced the judge to revoke her bail was a signed statement from Mrs. DiLaurentis about the night Alison went missing revealing she saw Spencer in their backyard with a blonde girl dressed in Alison’s clothes. The statement had been hidden by Wilden for two years, but the Rosewood police just found it. Toby theorizes that Wilden must have told somebody about the statement, somebody who'd want it to go away, and they must have paid him to keep Mrs. DiLaurentis quiet. Tanner asks him how Wilden could have kept Jessica quiet. Toby tells her that Jessica had an affair with Bethany's father and Wilden must have used this to shut Jessica up. Since Bethany was a patient at Radley and Mrs. DiLaurentis was on the board, that's where they must have met. Tanner says how everything always seems to lead back to Radley. When she's leaving, Toby asks her where Holbrook is and she replies that he's out on temporary assignment.
Aria and Ezra are at The Brew which Ezra has bought and is remodeling. Ezra asks Aria if she has heard from Oberlin yet, to which she replies she hasn’t. Ezra then wonders how Mike is dealing with Mona’s death. Aria says Mike doesn't want to talk to her about Mona. Ezra tells her he could talk to Mike while asking him to help with the remodeling.
Emily and Paige are lying in bed discussing Paige’s move to California. Emily doesn’t want her to leave school early and miss graduation and prom, she wants to try to convince her parents to let Paige stay. Paige whines that she has tried and it's pointless, they don’t want to hear it. Finally, Emily agrees to drive her to the airport.
At Hanna’s house, she and Caleb are talking about Mona’s funeral. Caleb has Mona’s computer, but it's encrypted – he's working on getting into it. Hanna wants to find Mona’s body, she says they should go ask the psychic from Ravenswood, Mrs. Grunwald. Caleb warns Hanna that it's not a good idea, and even if they did find the body, how are they going to explain it to the police.
Aria is sitting on a park bench and opening a college letter. It’s from Oberlin - Aria has been rejected. Alison walks up to her and Aria tries to leave, but Alison won’t let her. Aria sneers that she knows she's ‘A’ and that she stole the game from Mona and killed her, and she killed Bethany Young because she was jealous of her. She says how crazy Alison must really be if she was jealous of a mental patient. Alison tries to explain to her that she isn’t a threat, but Aria starts blowing her rape whistle. People start staring at them causing Alison to run away.
The next day, the liars rush over to Spencer’s house to comfort her when they learn that her bail is about to be revoked. They decide that they need to prove that Alison killed Mona, which will make the cops realize that Bethany and Mona’s murders are connected, “that one motivated the other,” and that Alison killed Bethany too. They decide that they should start by discrediting her alibi.
Meanwhile, Mike is helping Ezra remodel The Brew. Ezra tries to talk to him about Mona. Ezra asks him if he thinks Mona is really dead. Mike tells him, "No one loses that much blood and lives to tell the story.” Ezra tells Mike that he isn’t acting like a person who has lost someone. Mike snaps at him asking him how he's supposed to act. He tells him he has accepted that Mona is gone, and that people leave and people die - it's the only sure thing there is in this world.
Hanna completely ignores Caleb’s warnings and calls Mrs. Grunwald to the crypt where Mona’s empty casket was placed. She tells Mrs. Grunwald that she wants her to find Mona’s body, and tells her she thinks Alison killed Mona. She hands over Mona’s stuffed toy to her.
Spencer and Emily head to the DiLaurentis house claiming they're looking for Emily’s mom’s muffin tray. Alison isn’t home, but Jason is. Spencer notices how Alison and Jason are never at the same place at the same time nowadays. Spencer tells him that the cops found traces of Mona's DNA in Ali's trunk, but it's not enough to arrest her, especially since her father and brother are providing her an alibi. Spencer pleads Jason to tell the police the truth - that Alison wasn’t with them at the time of the murder. She tells him that Alison is setting her up, and she's his sister too.
Mrs. Grunwald tells Hanna how Mona has carried secrets into death and that it's making it hard for her to see clearly. When Hanna asks her if Alison killed Mona, she says, “Each one hated the other, because each one feared the other, because each one knew something about the other.” Mrs. Grunwald then tells Hanna that Mona is not at peace and is having a hard time passing as she has experienced betrayal and loss. She tells Hanna that Mona isn’t in Rosewood – she is “surrounded by earth, insects, and cold.”
After Spencer and Emily get home, Emily reveals that she stole Alison’s hairbrush and that she wants to plant Alison’s hair in Mona’s house. If the cops were to do another sweep of Mona's house, even though Alison has an alibi, it won’t hold when her DNA is found at the crime scene.
At the DiLaurentis house, Alison comes home and finds Jason looking at some old family photos. Looking at a particular photo, Alison tells him how she remembers it to be a good day, but Jason disproves her by telling her that it was a horrible day. Alison claims she must remember it differently, to which Jason replies she has always had a knack for that. He then tells Ali that Spencer and Emily are right – she went somewhere on Thanksgiving. He demands to know where she went, but Alison begs Jason to believe that Emily, Spencer, Hanna, and Aria are all framing her; she swears that she didn’t kill Mona.
Aria pays Caleb a visit at his apartment where he's still trying to decrypt Mona’s computer and get in to her files. Aria explains that she keeps getting rejected from all the colleges she has applied to, and that she wants Caleb to hack into the school’s website to find out if it's her fault or if 'A' is responsible. Caleb agrees to help her, but instead of hacking in himself, he decides to teach her how to do it.
Spencer and Emily head to Mona’s house to try and plant the evidence – Alison’s hair – but instead they find a camera hidden in the vent. They rush home and tell Hanna that she needs to go talk to Mona’s mom and tell her that there are cameras hidden in her house and they could have captured Mona’s killer. After initially hesitating, Hanna agrees and goes over to Mona’s house.
At Mona's, Mrs. Vanderwaal tells Hanna she's going to set up a fund to buy books for the children's library in Mona’s honor because Mona loved books. Hanna flashes back to a time they were friends. Mona tells Hanna to read the book she's holding to which Hanna replies that it’s more of a Spencer Hastings type of book. Mona tells Hanna not to undermine her own smartness as it's another way for her to hide. Mona tells her she don't have to hide from anyone anymore. Back in the present, Hanna tells Mrs.Vanderwaal that she thinks Mona may have set up cameras in her house before she died because she was scared.
Aria heads to The Brew to pick up Mike; she has Mona’s laptop with her. Mike isn’t there, but she turns around and comes face to face with someone in a mask and a hoodie. They drape a plastic sheet over Aria and staple her to the wall and steal the laptop and run out.
Meanwhile, in the streets, Mrs.Grunwald runs into Alison – Mrs. Grunwald tells Alison that she's sorry for her loss. As Alison walks away, Mrs. Grunwald grabs her hand, she tells her that she's in her thoughts and prayers.
At the police station, Tanner, Jason and Toby are watching the footage obtained from the hidden cameras from when Mona was murdered. Tanner tells Jason that there were three cameras hidden in the house, but only this one had relevant footage. She also informs him that the batteries in the cameras ran out months ago, but that they were working on Thanksgiving. Mona’s attacker's face isn't seen, but the attacker’s blonde hair is visible. Tanner questions Jason whether he can identify the attacker. He admits that the blonde girl in the footage could be Alison, and then confesses that he lied earlier and that Alison wasn’t at home at the time that Mona was killed.
At Emily’s, Aria tells Emily what happened to her at The Brew. Aria tells her that she hasn’t told Ezra about the attack, and she's not going to. Emily enquires Aria if she's sure that whoever took the laptop was Alison. Aria says she's sure her attacker was Alison.
At Alison’s house, police sirens go off - the cops have come to arrest Alison. Alison asks Jason to stall them and runs out the back door. But Spencer, Aria, Hanna, and Emily are waiting for her. They block her way and won’t let her get past them. Alison tells them that ‘A’ set her up, and warns them that once she's in jail ‘A’ is going to come after them next. Tanner arrives and handcuffs Alison and informs her she's under arrest for Mona’s murder as the police take her away.
Mike arrives home - Aria tells him that Alison has been arrested for Mona’s murder – he doesn’t appear to care. Aria tells Mike that all this time she thought that it was Mike who was afraid to talk to her, but the truth is that she’s afraid to find out what Mike might know because Mona knew a lot of things about her and her friends. She explains that if Ali is behind bars, then they don’t have to be afraid anymore. Mike tells her he knew she hated Mona, but now, like everyone else, she's pretending Mona was a saint because now she's dead. He tells her he's sick of being told how sweet, nice, and smart Mona was, and that there will never be anyone else like her.
Emily rushes to the airport to say goodbye to Paige – she begs Paige to talk to her parents and tell them that she's safe now since Alison is in jail. Paige says she doesn’t want to fight anymore, and she's tired of being afraid – she wants to save her energy to just live. Paige reveals to her that maybe going to California isn’t that bad of an idea.
Spencer heads home, and the Rosewood police are waiting for her in the living room. They reveal that they think Alison set her up and killed Bethany Young as well, so they're officially dropping the murder charges against her. Spencer cries tears of joy and rushes into Toby’s arms.
Emily, Spencer, Hanna, and Aria all sit in Spencer’s backyard and Emily reveals that Paige is gone, and getting out of Rosewood was probably a good idea. Spencer says they should all get out of Rosewood and have their own lives now that they can put ‘A’ and Alison behind them. Fireworks begin going off in the sky. They see a set of fireworks spell out the letter ‘A.' The girls, refusing to believe that A is still out there, think that Alison must have set it up before she was arrested. As firework sparks start falling on them, they rush inside.
The episode ends with Alison lying in her bed in prison, tossing and turning.
Notes[]
- The episode opens with Mona's funeral, but there's no body. Instead, the coffin is filled with keepsakes.
- Darren Wilden buried a statement that Jessica DiLaurentis made in regards to seeing Spencer in the DiLaurentis backyard the night Bethany Young was buried.
- Hanna calls Carla Grunwald to see if she can find Mona's body.
- Spencer reveals to Jason that the cops found Mona's DNA in the trunk of Alison's car.
- As Spencer and Emily go to place Alison's DNA in Mona's house, Spencer discovers a video camera that Mona hid.
- Aria is attacked by A at The Brew.
- Jason admits to Tanner that Alison was not with the family for all of Thanksgiving, and that Mona's attacker could be Alison.
- Alison is arrested for the murder of Mona Vanderwaal, and is the prime suspect in Bethany Young's murder as well. The charges against Spencer have therefore been dropped.
Title and Background[]
- The title is a reference to Carla Grunwald's quote, "I see, but as through a glass darkly." She says this when she's asked by Hanna to find Mona's body. As Mona carried a lot of secrets with her into death, Grunwald cannot see clearly, as to where Mona is.
- The title may be a reference to "In a Glass Darkly," a collection of five short stories by Sheridan Le Fanu. The collection's title is a deliberate misquotation of 1 Corinthians 13:12. The last of the five stories is "Carmilla," a tale about a female vampire that served as inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula.
- The title may also refer to the bible verse 1st Corinthians Chapter 13. "For now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face" as though when someone was naive or didnt know something, they were blinded to the truth.
- The title may also be reference to the Ingmar Bergman chamber film, "Through a Glass Darkly" (1961). The events of the film are set on an island and take place within a 24-hour period. There are only four characters in the film, which may be a point of similarity with the four main characters in the show.
Main Cast[]
- Troian Bellisario as Spencer Hastings
- Ashley Benson as Hanna Marin
- Lucy Hale as Aria Montgomery
- Shay Mitchell as Emily Fields
- Janel Parrish as Mona Vanderwaal
- Sasha Pieterse as Alison DiLaurentis
Supporting Cast[]
- Ian Harding as Ezra Fitz
- Keegan Allen as Toby Cavanaugh
- Tyler Blackburn as Caleb Rivers
- Lindsey Shaw as Paige McCullers
- Cody Allen Christian as Mike Montgomery
- Drew Van Acker as Jason DiLaurentis
- Sydney Penny as Leona Vanderwaal
- Roma Maffia as Linda Tanner
- Meg Foster as Carla Grunwald
- Nolan North as Peter Hastings
Trivia[]
- Filming began July 25, 2014 and wrapped August 4, 2014.
- The episode was watched live by 2.01 million viewers.
- This was the first episode that aired in 2015.
- This episode aired after a 28-day hiatus
- Leona Vanderwaal returns in this episode
- Three months have passed since Mona’s death.
- Mona’s funeral is the fifth funeral of the show. The first one being “Ali’s”, then Ian’s, the Wilden’s and then Mrs. D’s.
- Chad Lowe directed this episode, this is the third episode he directed this season, and the eleventh overall.
- The song that Paige was talking about is titled “It Tango” by Laurie Anderson
Featured Music[]
- "Share Your Air" by Kate Miller-Heidke ft. Passenger - (Emily and Paige talk about Paige moving away to California and what she'll miss while she's away).
- "S.O.S" by Uriah - (Aria stops by Caleb's new apartment).
- "This Sweet Love" by James Yuill - (Flashback: Mona tells Hanna she's smart and that she shouldn't hide it from people).
- "The Final Say" by Young Summer - (At the airport, Emily and Paige say goodbye).
- "The Best is Yet to Come" by Us and Our Daughters - (Spencer is informed that the charges against her were dropped; the girls talk about future now that Ali is jail then watch the firework display that ends with 'A' beginning written across the sky).
- "Seventeen Forever" by Metro Station - (Hanna has a flashback with Mona and they talk about a book)
Quotes[]
Paige: I heard a song the other day. Old song. The girl says, "Your eyes. It's a day's work just to look into them." |
Aria: If Mona can find proof, so can we. |
Spencer: I'm gonna go to jail because of her. |
Mrs. Grunwald: Each one hated the other because each one feared the other. |
Gallery[]
Through a Glass, Darkly has a photo gallery. |
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