Final Thoughts From the Pretty Little Liars Episode "The Gloves Are On"

The second Hanna decided to delete the hotel footage showing Aria (Lucy Hale) and Ezra, I knew that was going to come back to haunt the PLLs. And, just as I predicted, the police quickly noticed the gap in surveillance footage.

I'm still curious, however, if they have footage of Hanna entering the security room. I would assume the hotel would at least have a camera in that hallway.

In any case, I kind of feel bad for her mom (Laura Leighton). How many times is she going to be questioned by police/risk losing her job over something her daughter did?

First of all, am I the only one who doesn't trust Lucas (Brendan Robinson)? Let's face it. He didn't turn out to be the bad guy during their high school years. But, he wasn't always their best friend either. And, he just happened to be in Rosewood?

It's bad enough Hanna would make things worse by trying to cook up a fake alibi. She definitely made it worse by trying to drag in an outside person she hasn't seen in years and make up the alibi on the fly.

In fact, during their conversation with Lorenzo (Travis Winfrey), I couldn't help but feel Lucas was trying to screw up Hanna's alibi. He almost seemed to be purposely changing the story so it didn't match what Hanna was claiming.

Again, as I said before, I don't believe he killed Charlotte. But, all they need to do is tell the police what they know,  let Lorenzo take it from there and, if Ezra is innocent, chances are Lorenzo will be able to prove it. They've obviously lost their touch when it comes to lying for each other. Maybe they should try the truth for a change and see if that works for them.

OK, I'm glad to hear Emily (Shay Mitchell) isn't sick with some sort of nasty disease. But, selling her eggs for money? Wouldn't it be better for her to just go out and look for a job? I'm sure there's someone hiring.

Oh, on on the subject of Emily, I think her mom (Nia Peeples) seriously overreacted to the news about what really happened to her daughter over the past couple of years. Yes, her daughter lied to her. But, considering she was apparently devastated by the loss of her husband to the point she didn't make an effort to visit her daughter or even attempt to attend her (fake) graduation, she really isn't in a position to judge.

What about Toby (Keegan Allen)? Hanna is obviously over Caleb (Tyler Blackburn) because she's engaged to another man and cares enough about Spencer (Troian Bellisario) to want her to be happy. So, when she says she's OK with them being a couple, I think she's sincere.

Toby, on the other hand, I'm sure still has something for Spencer and I'm not sure he'll be as happy about his best friend, Caleb, hooking up with his ex-girlfriend. As I mentioned before, I'm not convinced he's as mentally stable as he's pretending to be (remember, he has a history of mental illness in his family) and wonder if the budding relationship will cause him to snap.

I've said this before but I'll take the time to repeat myself again. The writers of this show are seriously struggling to come up with new material. I mean, seriously, other than the more recent episodes taking place 5 years later, what has changed. They are suspects in a murder, they have a sadistic young woman stalking them and now have a new "A" sending them text messages in an attempt to blackmail them. I just feel like we've seen this before.

I'm doing my best to give the 5-year continuation the benefit of the doubt. After all, I ended up being surprised by and getting hooked on this series when it first came out. However, so far at least, the new episodes are proving to be very predictable and just aren't as interesting as I hoped they would be. And, sadly, this episode wasn't an exception.

My Grade: C