TV REVIEW: Pretty Little Liars “A Dark Ali”

By Nicole Bozzani

Previously on Pretty Little Liars … a suspicious man landed in custody for the kidnapping of Alison DiLaurentis. Who was this man? Where did he come from? How could he possibly know Alison? “A Dark Ali” set out to answerthose questions and more.

While an unknown man sits in jail waiting for a positive ID from a girl who lied about a kidnapping in order to cover her tracks, the Liars know two things for sure. He is innocent, and this is quite possibly one of the grandest traps A has ever laid. There’s only one right thing for Alison to do, and that is to let him go free by refusing to identify him as her kidnapper, but, of course, she won’t. Alison DiLaurentis is out for herself, a simple fact all of the girls are slowly coming to realize.

Spencer decides the only thing they can do is tell the truth. Revealing all to the detective would put a stop to all of their nightmares (or so she believes) not to mention send Ali down the river in which she plans to drown all of them. It’s an entirely logical idea, but nothing in Rosewood is logical. Spencer manages to get Aria on board with her plan despite Aria having the most to lose of the entire bunch. Aria gower harbours doubt about anyone believing their story, given their “pathological liar” status. So even if the plan were to move forward it might just be the toughest sell of their lives.

The real surprise comes when Emily, the one who gives everyone the benefit of the doubt, decides it’s time to give up on Alison, realizing that her former friend couldn’t care less about the harm she has inflicted on the other Liars over the last two years. Emilys joins the plan to give all of Noel Kahn’s blackmail evidence to the police.

It was refreshing to see Emily not sit on the sidelines for once and actually agree to all of the crazy plans suggested. She showed, quite possibly, the truest display of friendship the series has seen so far, standing up for the others and denouncing the horrible things they have been put through because of Ali.

Meanwhile, Spencer is working hard at avoiding Melissa. The Hastings always seem to have enormous difficulties in communicating – especially when it comes to things like murder and blackmail. Eventually they confront each other about hiding secrets, but again, nothing is ever shared. Then out of nowhere, Melissa begins recording a video that will reveal everything she’s been keeping because face to face is just too hard. That or she is running far, far away. It’s probably the latter. It’s entirely blanketed by sisterly concern which is unfortunate for Spencer. If the two could simply work together rather than secretly against each other, things might be so different, not to mention solved more quickly.

Lastly there’s Hanna. It’s great to see Hanna trying to figure out who she’s meant to be. She’s no longer Ali’s little puppet and nor does she want to be. She’s suddenly decided drinking in the middle of the day is no longer a way to pass the time. She wants a normal life. Unfortunately, she just can’t seem to give up the Nancy Drew bit and ends up doing some detective work with Mona. Yes, Mona. If only Mona would use her powers for good.

Alison DiLaurentis is shady. That’s just a known fact. She’s troubled and uses people to get whatever it is she wants. Of course she knows the man who is in custody for her ‘kidnapping,’ and of course she’s the one who put him there. The more shocking question is why on earth this guy, Cyrus, would even agree to any of this. At this point, anyone in their right mind would run away when they saw Alison Dilaurentis coming their way. Everyone is done with her antics and rightfully so. Not only are they risking their lives (and sanity), but they are doing it for someone who truly only cares about herself. There’s still no evidence or breadcrumb to shine light on why Ali is running in the first place. With only a few weeks left until the ‘fatal finale’ what could possibly be revealed? Hopefully something that puts a few more things in perspective. Oh, and maybe a bit more Ezra.