The Crucible (1996) Review

I know I haven't posted in a while, but here's a review I did for English. For now, I do not plan on updating this blog anymore so enjoy!

The Crucible Movie Review

Based on the 1952 play by Arthur Miller, The Crucible is centered around the Salem witch trials of 1692. After Abigail Williams, a wily and vengeful girl accuses the townspeople of being witches to cover up her own indiscretions, mass hysteria breaks out in Salem in the form of a witch hunt. Many are no longer safe as the accusers begin to target their rivals. When Abigail Williams’ (Winona Ryder) plan to get her lover, John Proctor (Daniel Day-Lewis), back by accusing his wife fails, she disappears only to leave them to their fate. Although The Crucible may drag on sometimes, fantastic actors and the integration of new scenes make the film worthwhile.

First of all, the leading aspect of the movie is it’s characters. The actors accurately and effectively embody their characters. Winona Ryder transforms the cruel, spiteful Abigail Williams into a three-dimensional, manipulative girl. Her portrayal of Abigail is accurate and at the same time, even more dramatic than the character in the play. Similarly, Joan Allen transforms Elizabeth Proctor from a initially helpless wife to a woman with an important and much bigger role in Proctor’s life. When she says to Reverend Hale, “He has his goodness now, and God forbid I take it from him”, it is undoubtedly the best depiction of Elizabeth’s power to save Proctor’s life and of Allen’s portrayal of her. Both Allen and Ryder drive the plot with their strong and passionate acting.

In addition to a compelling cast, the elements that make the movie excellent is the integration of the setting and scenes not included in Arthur Miller’s play. From originally only having three main settings, the director, Nicholas Hytner, expertly incorporates different location without making the plot too jumbled or confusing. Instead, it adds visual excitement to the movie as well as clarify and accentuate events that happened offscreen in the play. For example, it is much more interesting to watch the scenes where Proctor initially approaches Abigail and the scene when Proctor and Elizabeth talk on the cliff due to the different locations. Also, the opening forest scene and the scene where Abigail stabs herself with a needle is successfully able to emphasize the escalating hysteria and hypocrisy of the accusers. These elements greatly enhance the viewing pleasure of the movie and clearly give the viewer a better sense of the insanity and desperation of the young girls.

At times, the plot is heavy and slow. An example of this is in the courtroom, when Francis Nurse (Tom McDermott) and Giles Corey (Peter Vaughan) present a list of the accused to the judges. The lack of action and constant courtroom-talk drags the scene too long, leaving the viewer bored and uninterested. Furthermore, it takes too long for Proctor to make his point at the end when he decides not to betray his friends and trade his name for his life. Scenes like these bog the story down and can only be revived by the excellent acting in the following moments.

Overall, the powerful cast and innovative scene integration makes this adaption a must-see. The cast transforms Miller’s words into an amazing performance that  showcases the characters in a manner that cannot be captured by anyone else. Additionally, the new scenes and locations made the movie clear to understand and stunning to watch. Despite some sluggish and boring moments, The Crucible is a movie that is made captivating by all of these elements of this adaptation.

PLL 2.25 unmAsked (Spring/Season 2 Finale)

Pretty Little Liars-

Pretty Little Liars- Spencer, Emily, Hanna, and Aria at the Masquerade ball.

So, this is the season finale of Pretty Little Liars, which means, recaps will continue after June 5, which starts the third season. Enjoy!

PLL 2.24 If These Dolls Could Talk

Pretty Little Liars - 

Creepiest show ever.

Pretty Little Liars - Aria, Emily, Spencer, and Hanna come closer to finding out Alison's secrets.

(Not in chronological order. But it mostly is.)

Pretty Little Liars - Alison is seen by Spencer in the middle of the night.

A drugged-up Spencer wakes up in the middle of the night and sees Ali in her house, and later thinks that Ali really visited her, just like the time Emily saw Ali. And later, she shows Melissa the video of her storming into Ali's room the night of her murder, which she shrugs off because she also has video of the Liars doing something incriminating.

Pretty Little Liars - A little boy from the doll shop talks to the Liars.

Jenna takes off her bandages early to test out her new eyes, but apparently, it didn't work because she just cries and returns to school with an apology for the Liars. Meanwhile, the girls uncover more clues about Ali's connection with "A" right up until her murder. Later, while putting a note on her mother's desk, Aria discovers a note from Byron asking for her transcript so it can be sent to an all-girls boarding school. But anyway, the girls head up to the doll shop where they discover that the owner, an old lady, and a little boy knows more that they're letting on. Well, at least the old lady does. The boy just keeps blabbering on about Alison's murder and "A" like nobody's business.

At home, Aria confronts her mother about Byron's note and threatens to reveal his secret to get him off her back. And Ella's like, "I'm not disappointed in you, I'm ASHAMED of you." That's cruel, Ella Montgomery. Just cruel. And so Aria goes to Ezra's and they begin kissing, leading to ... well, you get the picture. I guess they're now officially illegal. Also, Jenna gives Toby page 5 of the autopsy report and they go off to the police station to hand it over.

Pretty Little Liars - A scene of Alison's death depicted with a doll buried in dirt.

So now Hanna is convinced that Melissa is "A", and to prove it, she carries out a "foolproof" plan in which she plans for Melissa to see Caleb and Mona to kiss, which will trigger another "A" text, somehow proving her guiltiness. They then decide to go to the creepy doll house where they hear a scary mechanical doll voice going, "Follow me, end up like me. Follow me, end up like me. Follow me, end up like me." And I don't understand how they could not expect a severed head or something buried in the dirt, but they don't. Instead, they still jump and scream like wild hyenas when opening the cabinet and seeing an Ali doll in a mountain of sand. And, in "A's" true fashion, multiple shelves are knocked over and doll parts fall all over them.

Pretty Little Liars - Jenna looking in to her mirror, able to see.

They go back to Spencer's house where Garret and Melissa are constructing their evil plans when suddenly, he gets arrested! Finally right? But while all the drama's at Spencer's house, Jenna is secretly plotting her revenge as she expertly squashes a fly against the mirror, revealing her non-blindness. In the end, "A" hands over a wad of cash to the old lady of the doll shop as compensation for destroying her precious dolls and a lollipop to the possessed little boy.

Can't wait for "A" to be revealed! Well, actually, I can. Nonetheless, I'm excited!

It's bedtime, watch, don't wait.

PLL 2.23 Eye of the Beholder

Pretty Little Liars -
That title = The Twilight Zone
Yea, I suck at posting. How about some updates?

Pretty Little Liars - Duncan talks with Aria.

That guy that recognized Aria is named Duncan, and apparently met Ali a while ago and for some reason connected to Alison's murder because he saw her the day of her disappearance. She meets him later and tells her that he used to fly Ali around sometimes, yes, fly. He hands Aria the wheel and gives her a panic attack while extracting info about Ali in the process. And at the end of her near-death experience, Duncan reveals that he flew Ali back to Rosewood about 7 hours before she supposedly arrived. Also, Ezra gets confronted by Byron but stands his ground about not taking the job. 


Emily gets a text and email from Maya saying she's fine, and telling her not to tell her parents, but she does anyway.

Pretty Little Liars - Toby escorts Jenna while Spencer watches.

Toby's back helping Jenna with her stuff since she got eye surgery, but he still isn't talking to Spencer because of the whole "Wren" thing, and partly because he supposedly knows what the girls did to Jenna.

Pretty Little Liars - Jason talks to Spencer.

Jason has found a duffel full of Ali's stuff, and the girls go through it, not knowing what they might find, which was actually nothing. But, when they take a step back and look at the newspapers the stuff was wrapped in instead of the stuff itself, they see a pattern. So, Spencer sends Hanna to Jason's back porch to retrieve the bag they returned to search for more clues, when suddenly, the house emits smoke and Jenna face-plants against the window right in front of Hanna. While Hanna rescues Jenna, Spencer runs to help and they stagger away just as the house explodes. In the end, "A" randomly plants a police badge on dirt, which doesn't seem to relate to anything- for now. 


It's 6 hours 'till bedtime; I say watch, don't wait.

Hunger Games mall tour LA

So, I went to the Hunger Games mall tour in LA, its first location. So I get to Westfield Century City mall at around 6am, thinking that I would have a chance to be the first one hundred, which means you get to be part of the meet and greet. What I saw however, was at the same time beyond and below my expectations. Thanks a lot Westfield Century City. =[ What I mean is this:
[actually, I couldn't find a picture but there are links below that might have some]
This is what the line looked like. So, I couldn't be the first hundred. What's even more ridiculous is the fact that I was sitting in the waiting area for HOURS thinking that if I left, I couldn't get back in, when in reality, the venue was so under booked that it only reached the thousand person capacity after (I'd say) 1pm. So, bored as hell, I sat on the ground, sleeping. At least they passed out posters and H2O water.

When the event inched closer, a dance contest commenced for people to win wristbands for the meet and greet. Fun right? Not really. Later, KIIS FM showed up with additional wristbands to hand out, and everybody went crazy. They encouraged people to scream at the top of their lungs and "dance" for the prizes. What they see as "fun" I felt as harrassment. My eardrums nearly shattered and I did not enjoy the girl jumping up and down rubbing her sweaty body against my back. And ladies, keep you hair to yourselves! I don't want your dirty rags swinging and whipping my face every fives seconds.

Hunger Games mall tour poster

And what was really stupid was that they kept saying "We got the last two wristbands here for you!" and everybody would scramble to get them, then after they'd whip out 50 more. And let's not forget the segment when they asked fans why they love the Hunger Games. "Yes, I just heard about this event and got here 5 minutes ago, but I LOOOOOVE the Hunger Games!" Bullshit. At least the singing was decent. Almost everyone the mic was handed to had pretty good vocals.

                            Hunger Games movie poster.                Hunger Games holographic bookmark.

Then things started getting intense as it neared 6:00. I was literally packed against people with no room to move. I couldn't see my feet, that's how close we were. And seriously, it was disgusting. I mean, where should I start? There were a couple of open packets of mayonnaise on the ground and it just made the bottom of your shoes slippery if you stepped in that spot. And who the heck wears high heels to this type of event? When she finally realized that high heels weren't going to work, she took them off and stepped into another disaster: chili cheese fries. Thank goodness that was all to my right, but it was gross to see her bare feet squishing the fries into the ground. Have you no shame?

Speaking of, keep you bags and belongings at your side people! There was a girl in front of me with her phone sticking out of her back pocket, and I (meaning anybody) could have stolen it during the frenzy. Another example of this type of unawareness was this girl with a should bag, who had her bag unzipped by a stranger and could have easily have her things stolen from the bag on her body. I even saw a full backpack on the ground, which seemed to belong to nobody, so, being short and unable to see, I stepped on it. I instantly grew 4 inches taller but later stepped down because I was moving past the backpack and closer to the barricade.

All hell broke loose when the actors came out. Screechy noises pieced by ears and everything just stank of B.O,. I couldn't get a breath of fresh air. Multiple arms reached up against my face and I struggled to hold my place as hundreds of sweaty bodies pushed the people in the from up against the barricade. Aside from the physical uncomfort, I was really annoyed by the "team" aspects of the movie. There are no teams, okay? It's not centered around the "love triangle" of the characters. It's about a girl just trying to survive for her sister. It's about survival, not whether Peeta or Gale is hotter. Ridiculous people. No, I do not want any "Peeta bread". 

One last thing, I saw a photo of Gary Ross signing a fan's copy of the book. Seriously?? Gary Ross had nothing to do with the writing of the book, so why would you even ask his to sign it. He is the director of the movie, something unrelated to the book (just roll with me). Likewise, Jennifer, Josh, and Liam shouldn't be signing the books either; they only portray the characters in the movie. I just don't understand how they can be so obsessive over these celebrities. Anyway, the Q&A was short and I couldn't really hear or see them over the irritating screams and goddamn posters blocking the view.


Right now there are various official articles out there about the event, which is pretty amazing since I initially didn't know it was such a big deal. I mean, I drove 30 minutes to get there while some drove 6 hours or even flew across oceans. Here's a link to this blog that I stumbled across which also gives an insider's experience to the event, as well as explain the "100 or 1000" people thing (among others) that I didn't bother to explain. And here's another perspective. This is a great explanation on the conflicts of rules setup. Oh, and I do have more pictures, but I don't think you'd be interested in the blurry ones. Everything you see was actually crazier than it looks. 


Thanks for reading!
It's 6 hours 'till bedtime; I say watch, don't wait.

PLL 2.22 Father Knows Best

Pretty Little Liars -

Pretty Little Liars - Spencer poses for a photo with her father at the Father Daughter Dance.

My apologies for not making a recap this week. Busy, busy, busy. I f you would still like to read a recap, here's a link to site that writes detailed and hilarious Pretty Little Liars recaps among other things. But for now, here's some things about the episode. SPOILERS BELOW.

Pretty Little Liars - Emily talks to her father.

Emily-
Maya's still missing, but thanks to Emily's father, she now knows that she went to the bus station but instead of going to San Francisco, she got into the car of some guy.

Pretty Little Liars - Hanna confronts Ashley, her mother.

Hanna-
Hanna's upset that her father couldn't make it to the Father Daughter dance, and confronts her mother about Wilden. Ashley is obviously worried about Hanna, and asks to see her phone, but Hanna knows better and chucks it into the water filled sink.

Pretty Little Liars - Spencer snoops around her father's office.

Spencer-
Spencer discovers that Melissa has been confiding in Garrett lately, which we can all agree is creepy. Also, she distrusts her father some much that she snoops at his desk for proof of blackmailing, and later, when she comes clean about it, her father calls the cops on an account of a stolen handgun.

Pretty Little Liars - Aria talks to Byron, her father.

Aria-
Aria tells her dad that she is not his "little girl" anymore then gets picked to be the "Liar" of the evening, spinning a story to Ashley Marin that she is "A". For course, Ashley calls her bluff and discusses it with Ella the next morning.


In the end, they get another tip from that guy and head over to the creepy doll shop. And apparently Aria is cold, because she goes to the trunk and puts on the dead girl's red raincoat, instantly transforming her into Vivian Darkbloom who apparently still gets recognized postmortem. "A" is holding a newspaper that declares Maya as officially missing.


All photos courtesy of ABC Family.


It's 7 hours 'till bedtime; I say watch, don't wait.

PLL - 1.21 Breaking The Code

Pretty Little Liars - Definitely spoilers ahead.

Pretty Little Liars - Aria and Spencer pay for information.

Yay! I'm so excited that Paige is back! I can't say the same for Melissa though. Anyway, now that the girls have the $2,000 to pay that guy for info, they meet him and get an address, which they plan on investigating later.

Pretty Little Liars - "A" threatens Mona to expose Hanna's mom's secret.

Hanna-

Sheesh,  how much free time does "A" have to go after all these people? First Byron, now Mona? But luckily, Mona's Hanna's best friend and their friendship prevails over "A's" threats to either destroy Hanna's mom's reputation or to expose Mona's shoplifting. But "A's" not done yet, he/she definitely has more tricks up his/her sleeve.

Pretty Little Liars - Paige asks Emily to help ask for money from local businesses for the swim team.

Emily -
So Paige reveals that she came out to her parents all thanks to Emily's great experience. They even become closer as friends when Emily helps her sell ads for the swim team program. Sounds great, but whats with Maya? Emily's going crazy because she isn't returning any of her calls, and even thinks she sees her at a restaurant. When it turns out it isn't her, she starts getting emotional and walks out crying, bumping into Paige. 

Pretty Little Liars - Emily rejects Paige's attempt to kiss her.

After comforting Emily, she leans in for a kiss, only to get pushed away by Emily. Of course, both girls acted out of impulse, as Paige still likes Emily despite Emily's obvious feelings about Maya. At the end of the episode, a police officer shows up at her door and apparently, something happened to Maya! I'm guessing it's something drug related, either she overdosed (which would be so sad!) or she just got caught with them. Otherwise, it may be that she stuck with her plan and took off for San Francisco.

Pretty Little Liars - Aria's crying face after she and Ezra "broke up".

Aria -
Oh no, Ezria fans just about died this week because they broke up! Want proof? Look at her face! Later: Holy crap, Ella's at the door of Ezra's apartment. Apparently she's coming around, since she disagrees with Byron's approach to the situation and just wants to understand. How nice.  

Pretty Little Liars - Spencer and Melissa talk about their parents and Jason DiLaurentis.

Spencer -
Melissa takes the fact that Jason is her brother pretty well. But, there's a secret about her. Why was she at Alison's house the night of her murder, as another portion of the decrypted video revealed. At least Spencer defended her sister when Hanna so eagerly suggested to turn in the pregnant Melissa.

Pretty Little Liars - Spencer talks with Wren at a bar.

Meanwhile, Spencer's drunk! If I'm not mistaken, this is the third time we have seen a drunken character on Pretty Little Liars. Upset that Melissa ditched her to go off somewhere with the increasingly creepy Garrett, she drinks shot after shot at the bar and goes home with Wren, who just happened to show up. At his house, she hits on him, but being the nice guy, he doesn't take advantage of her and lets her sleep on his couch until the next morning, when she awakes to find out she is late for school.

Pretty Little Liars - An old man screams through the window at Aria and the others.

The girls (minus Spencer) go visit that address that they got, only to discover that they may have gotten scammed. My ear drums shattered when my sister screamed as the old man came out of his house. I'll admit, it was creepy and sudden, but was it ear-piercing scream worthy? That's a little over the top don't you think? But, they find out later that the piece of mail they managed to grab did have a connection to their mystery. Apparently, Melissa worked at a specific law firm as an intern, the company that closed down years ago yet has it's mail being sent to that address. 


In the end, we see "A" shooting a target as if to practice actually killing somebody.


It's 6 hours 'till bedtime; I say watch, don't wait. 

PLL 2.20 - CTRL:A

Pretty Little Liars - 

Pretty Little Liars - Maya holding up an Emily swimming poster.

Pretty Little Liars recap below!!

Pretty Little Liars - Guy that Vivian owes money to.

Spencer -
The girls are one step closer to finding out what Alison knew about "A" when they meet with he guy who knew "Vivian". To get the information out of him however, they need to pay him back a debt that "Vivian" owed him, $2,000. Luckily for Spencer, Jason told her that Ali had tons of money stashed away from some secret blackmailing operation that they could possibly use if Jason cooperates. Meanwhile, her relationship with her father and with Jason develop when she decides to trust her father's word.

Pretty Little Liars - Security camera picture of Hanna, Spencer, and Emily dressed as nurses in front of the morgue.

Hanna -
Hanna got called into the station because of a photo taken by the security camera of the girls in the hospital dressed up as nurses. Wilden thinks they stole the missing page of the autopsy report, but you've got to admit, they are looking guiltier by the second. The last time we saw Caleb, he was sleeping and "A" stole his laptop. Now we know that "A" took it to plant incriminating files into his hard drive so that he would be arrested and gotten "rid of". In a very pivotal scene in the show, he unlocks his computer for the police, activating it so that Hanna can erase the "A" planted file before the police read it. Get it? It's just so frustrating when Hanna can't remember the last four numbers of his password, 1105, and when she waits so long to delete the files, the police have already clicked on it. Fortunately, the evidence gets erased before they have a chance to examine it, and Caleb is off the hook. BTW, the title of the episode refers to this scene, and Spencer keeps telling Hanna to delete the files quickly by pressing CTRL:A. Funny and exciting stuff.

Pretty Little Liars - Emily catches Maya lighting up a joint.

Emily-
So everything seems to be going well for Emily since she's back on the swim team, but Maya brings up that her mom found an old joint in her room and she's going to be sent back to True North. Later, at the team party at Hanna's house, we can tell that Maya is still upset even after Emily comforted her, and we see her fall off the wagon when Emily catches her in the process of  lighting up the joint. And I remember thinking, "what the hell is wrong with you Maya, Emily's so good to you!! Maya just wants to run away and doesn't want to listen to Emily's reason.

Pretty Little Liars - Holden fighting in a Martial Arts tournament.

Aria-
Aria's night goes a little crazy, since "A" tried to get Byron to catch Aria in the act of seeing Ezra, and the fact that Aria learned that Holden has a heart condition. Anyway, she ditches her date to check on Holden at his martial arts fight, which by the way, is his secret. I'm sure we were all thinking the same thing when Holden was getting punched and kicked in the fight, and it was "He's gonna die". You can even see it on Aria's face. But thanks to the writers who thought it was a good idea to have us worry about something like this when there a bigger things to worry about, like the fact that we are trying to find out who "A" is. Luckily for Aria, her concern for Holden failed "A"'s plan to get Bryon to catch Aria and Ezra together. Looks like "A" actually failed twice in this episode! Amazing right? But don't worry, "A"'s going to get his/her revenge.

At the end of the episode, Emily leaves a sympathetic message on Maya's phone just before we see "A"'s perspective looking into Emily's window like a stalker.

It's 7 hours 'till bedtime; I say watch, don't wait.

Chronicle (2012) Review

"Chronicle" movie poster

I had an itching to watch a movie ever since I got new glasses after losing my old pair, and luckily, this week, there was a movie that I had the opportunity to see. To quote Wikipedia*, "Chronicle is a 2012 science fiction film directed by Josh Trank and  written by Max Landis based  on a story by both Trank and Landis. It stars Dane DeHaan, Michael B. Jordan, and Alex Russell as a group of Seattle friends who gain powerful superhuman abilities and use them for mischief and personal gain until one of them begins to use his powers for darker purposes." SPOILERS BELOW!

Alex Russell as Matt Garretty, Michael B. Jordan as Steve Montgomery and Dane DeHaan as Andrew Detmer in ``Chronicle.''

Let me first talk about the pros of the movie. First of all, the story line is great. The increase of Andrew's (Dehaan) spiral out of control is expertly show starting with the driver hospitalization incident and then escalating to killing Steve and multiple others. It is ingenious the way the camera style lets us see into Andrew's background, as well as letting us predict his demise and have sympathy as well as pity for him at the same time. The movie is also contains smart and fresh editing. The switch between his camera and security cameras are cool if not genius, and the scene by scene cutoffs gives you what you need to know, in a concise manner. These cool effects alone make this movie a winner, as well as the mind blowing special effects of the bomb and the spear. The ending is no exception either; it's interesting, very resolving, but it also has a little of that mysterious quality that leaves us wanting more.

 Dane Dehaan as Andrew Detmer abusing his telekinetic powers in "Chronicle".

Now, for the cons. The camera movements in the beginning made me dizzy. Also, maybe it's just me, but certain explainable things are a little mind boggling. For example, sometimes there are unexplained cameras. Like, why can we as the audience see what is going on when there is no cameras around the characters. If you are going to stick with this specific camera style, the be consistent. I don't want to miss half the movie looking for a camera that isn't there.

Dane DeHaan as Andrew Detmer crushing a car with his telekinetic powers in "Chronicle".

Here's a little side note that I can't make sense of. Is it a good or bad thing, I don't know, but here it is. In the main intense scene, the camera switches from an unidentified camera to a police car camera to remind audience of the camera style.

Alex Russell as Matt Garretty stopping the police in "Chronicle''.

And, that's basically it. As you can see, there are more pros then cons and that is why I can confidently recommend that you watch this movie. That certainly explains the 85% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes and my personal rating of A-.


It's 7 hours 'till bedtime; I say watch, don't wait.


*Links to actor's Wikipedia pages redirected to IMDB.

PLL 2.19 The Naked Truth

Pretty Little Liars - (2/7/2012)

So for context purposes: to punish Hanna for sending the picture of naked Kate to the entire school, they both have to participate in "Truth Up", an overnight activity at the school. Obviously, the rest of the girls follow suit and join in too.

Pretty Little Liars - Pills from Holden's bag.

Aria-
She and Holden are stuck in their arrangement. Ever since seeing the bruise on his torso, Aria ha been worrying over excessively. To make matter worse, Aria sees a bag of pills fall out of his bag, which then leads her to assume that he is somehow involved in drugs. We actually don't know for sure though, because he never accepted nor denied her theory.

Pretty Little Liars - Jason as a "Truth Up" volunteer

Spencer-
Jason's back, and so are Spencer's  parents, who volunteer at the "Truth Up!" lock down thing. Unfortunately, Spencer's father keep avoiding Jason, which just makes Spencer even more determined to find out their secret. As it turns out, Jason is Spencer's half brother. Fans of the book series like me could already see that coming a mile away.

Pretty Little Liars - Mona threatening the principal.

Emily-
Ever since her rejection from swimming, she has been holding in feeling of anger that we haven't seen before. But during one of the activities at the lock down, she spoke out and practically blamed the principal for treating her unfairly and making her feel unsafe. In return, he practically threatened her to keep her mouth shut. With the help of Mona however, they broke into his office and searched for evidence of his crimes, favoring boys over girls athletics. Of course, I'm not trying to make it sound like Emily wanted to blackmail the principal, but peer pressure can do a lot of things.

Pretty Little Liars - Aria and Emily recording Kate's conversation.

Hanna- Her relationship with Caleb has gotten better since their lies to each other, but now "A" is trying to rip them apart (as predicted in the final "A" scene). Also, I though Hanna was going to spill about "A" to her mother when they had that emotional conversation about Hanna's stance on the picture incident, whether she actually did it, or if she was framed. But, one of my favorite scenes was when Hanna discovered that Kate was lying, that she was the one who sent her own picture, and got her to confess. Here it is. Hanna: "Y'know, maybe it's time I really take a picture of you Kate." Looks over at the bathroom stalls "Aria, can I borrow your phone?" Aria and Emily step out nonchalantly holding their phones. "Yea, in a minute, I'm using it though," Looks at Kate. "to record this conversation." (Eh, you'll just have to watch it to appreciate it's genius)

Pretty Little Liars - Noel and Jenna snuggling on a bench.

When did Noel get so creepy? It's just like the time they made Lucas suspicious to us, just to stir up the pot. But, it's not just him, he and Jenna and supposedly "together" in more ways than one. (And by that, I mean, they have a creepy secret.) Why do they have to make everything so overly dramatic? Sometimes, it's frustrating, but in a "I want to watch more" way.

Pretty Little Liars - The Liars staring at Alison's red raincoat.

As for the claim ticket they got in the previous episode, Spencer went and picked up a red raincoat, with a phone number in the pocket. It seemed like a dead end until the end of the episode, when a guy called repeatedly and the girls set up a meeting with him to discuss Ali's alter ego, "Vivian".

It's 7 hours 'till bedtime; I say watch, don't wait.

PLL- 2.18 A Kiss Before Lying

Pretty Little Liars - (1/30/2012)
This week, I am continuing the format of writing this episode's recap out of order, just for the sake of organization.

Pretty Little Liars - Caleb and the girls, excluding Hanna, working on a video file.

First of all, all the girls feel bad about lying to Hanna about using Caleb to help them decode "A's" cell phone. Throughout the episode, tensions rise and fall when Hanna thinks the girls are ignoring her out of anger. Later however, she learns the truth and finally confronts Caleb about it, which enables her to forgive her friends. What Caleb gets however, is still important, as it leads to them getting closer to finding out who "A" is. They manage to get a picture of an old fake ID of Ali's which they conclude through lots of epiphanies that Ali must have used as identification for her alter ego to get closer to "A".

Pretty Little Liars - Kate is at Rosewood, smiling.

Hanna-Something's up with Kate. She's finally at Rosewood but she's being a little too nice to Hanna, and it's creepy. Later in the episode however, as illustrated by Spencer's face below, we find out why she is acting so strangely. As for Hanna's relationship with Caleb, it snags a little when she finds out he lied to her about working on "A's" phone but soon, all is forgiven. At the end of the episode however, things once again turn sour for Hanna when she discovers that "A" sent a picture of naked Kate to her entire contacts list (i.e. the whole school and more)

Pretty Little Liars - Spencer's smug face when she finally recalled Kate's secret.

Spencer- It was explained a few episodes back that her family went somewhere to take care of Melissa or something, but it's still kinda weird that she's living alone in her house for weeks now. When Spencer meets Kate at lunch, something isn't right with her. We eventually learn that Spencer recognizes Kate from the past, but doesn't remember where. She's actually starting to sound crazy and obsessed with her outbursts. (DEBATE!) But finally, in the locker room, she remembers and does a pretty slick transition to get to her point. That probably explains her smug face in the picture above. She uses what she remembers as blackmail to get Kate to be nice to Hanna.

Pretty Little Liars - Aria talking to Holden on their "date".

Aria- Nothing really progresses with Aria in this episode except for the fact that she discovers some pretty nasty bruises on Holden's torso during one of their "dates". Ezaria are holding up pretty tight, except for the fact that Byron is trying to ship Ezra away to Illinois (or something).

Pretty Little Liars - Emily finds a note taped to her locker.

Emily- This is definitely Emily's episode. First of all, yay, her mom's back! Which explains the creepy look-a-like "A" note on her locker. (For those of you who don't know/forgot, her mom tapes a note and a cookie to her locker to surprise her.Yes, it's creepy.) But her mom is finally accepting of Emily and is excited to get a fresh start with Maya. At dinner with them though, Maya comes on a little too crazy making "weed jokes" and such, but we later find out that it was partly due to the fact that Maya is still a little upset about being sent away to another school, etc. But here's the good part to the Emaya relationship: as an apology to Emily, Maya decorates her room to depict being underwater, which amazes Emily and leads them to make out and eventually.... well, we don't exactly know what's going to happen but I think I can take a pretty good guess.


Did I miss anything? Well, I probably did but eh. 'Till next week! Oh yea, Garrett is really creepy in this episode. I mean what's his problem? And where the hell did he come from?!?
It's 7 hours 'till bedtime; I say watch, don't wait.