Pretty Little Liars: "Moments Later" Episode Review

[rogueslayer452]

Pretty Little Liars 1.11 "Moments Later"

This was an excellent pick-up from where the show left off before the hiatus. The tension is still high, the questions still keep piling up, and the drama. Oh Lord, the drama. Gotta love it.

Seeing Hanna in the hospital was kind of heartbreaking, especially with the cast and knowing that she had broken bones and that she had surgery done because of the internal damage from the hit-and-run. D: My poor Hanna! But she'll be okay, making a full recovery. I kinda knew that she wouldn't know for sure who A was supposed to have been, just what she witnessed that night, though it does raise some interesting questions about why A ran her over in the first place if she "knew too much"; how much were they supposed to know? It's this whirlwind of questions regarding motivation. But, I loved the dream sequence she had with Allison.

Though the incident with Lucas was pretty sad. Some people think he overreacted to her being honest about just staying friends, but I think we've all been in the position of having our hearts crushed by someone who didn't reciprocate the same feelings back. So, yeah. :/

I might be the only one here, but I've never been into the entire Aria/Ezra relationship. The whole student-teacher secret romance thing could have been done right, and believe me it's one of my kinks, but for some reason this particular one doesn't do it for me. I don't know. Perhaps it's in the way it presented itself that didn't grip me like it did with others. I just keep wishing that they would finally be done with whatever and just move on from that, you know?

However, I think the most emotional high point of this episode was definitely what happened with Emily and her parents.

She finally came out to them, well to her father specifically, and things just exploded. I knew she said her parents were old-fashioned military types but I didn't expect the mother to be such a judgmental bitch about it. The father is the most rational of the two though, because he seems to be more understanding and trying to figure things out about his daughter whereas with his wife who is all "we can fix her!" I like the father because he loves his little girl and wants what's best for her, and this is definitely a huge thing to be revealed at him, but I loved what he said regarding what he's seen when he's been out there on the battlefield. The fact that Emily is alive and safe is all that should matter, and I just hope that sensibility goes to the mother at some point. This really sets a realistic example at how some parents might take their kids coming out of the closet, questioning and trying to make sense of it, not wanting it to be true, etc. It's painful to watch at how it was handled by the parents, but I'm happy that Emily told them. That's the biggest step.

I just want Emily to really defend herself here, too. Just hearing her admit that she was frightened of her parents made me incredibly sad inside. :( But I know many people who cannot tell their parents something as important as this because of the blowup that'll happen, just like Emily's parents did. I want her to go to them and be all "you want me to be happy, right? I'm happy being with Maya, just accept that."

The ending was totally freaky. Anything involving A's messages are creepifying to the max, and knowing whoever is sending them was in your room while you were sleeping? *shudders*

Jenna is one creepy bitch. I'm glad Emily had the balls to say what she did to her.

I'm glad that Mona apologized to Hanna and felt guilty. She might not be the nicest or the saintliest person ever, but she did feel bad about what happened to Hanna and now things are cool between them. That's a step up, at least.

Was I the only one envious of Aria's hair throughout the entire episode? Hell, everyone's hair is so fucking gorgeous.

I couldn't believe that A (or whoever is working with A) actually cut down an entire tree just to hide the evidence of the names carved into it. Like, holy shit.

I'm suspicious of Noel and Ian, and somewhat of Lucas too because of what happened earlier in the season with his muddy shoes and all. I don't know. This show has it's dramatic moments and friendship moments, though the mysteries really give you a mind-whirl sometimes.


This show, you guys. This show I swear. ♥

Comments

[velvet-midnight.livejournal.com]

Hanna! Lucas! D:

Oh god, the Emily situation broke my heart.

The hair! The clothes! The shoes! Ah, I want it allll.

This show...has gotten to me. :P

[squaringkarma.livejournal.com]

This show, oh it is SO good.

The scene with Lucas was so sad.

Was totally surprised Aria told the girls about her and Ezra after keeping it a secret during the first half of the season.

Proud of Em, but it really hurts, her parents' reaction. Glad her dad is at least trying to understand. Annoyed with the mom though :(

Everyone is so pretty, sigh.

[thefreshchuff.livejournal.com]

I was sitting there in SHOCK at Emily's parents' reaction. Her mother -- I knew she was strict, but WOW, what a complete ass. It's not the end of the known world. The dad was attempting to bring it into perspective (though I didn't like how he kept saying he knew it was "wrong") by pointing out she could be doing drugs or in some serious trouble, not completely happy, only with a girl instead of a boy. These people need to back up.

EVERYONE'S HAIR (AND CLOTHES) IN THIS SHOW IS SO GORGEOUS I CANNOT EVEN DEAL.

I was so creeped out by A's note on Hanna's leg. *shivers* DNW ever.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

THEIR FRIENDSHIP WAS GOING SO GOOD TOO, AND TOO CUTE, AND THEN I'M LIKE. D: Awwwww, don't stay like that Lucas.

I'm just happy that Emily has her friends supporting. In fact, her friends seem to be handling it better than her parents. Hence why I loved Hanna's reaction after seeing the picture with Emily and Maya, she wasn't judgmental and her words to Emily after homecoming were perfect. ♥ I hope her parents come around, if not. Angryface, I will have it.

I WANT THEIR STYLISTS TO BE MINE, JSYK. GAAAAAHHH. *___*

WELCOME TO THE CLUB, BB. ;D

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

I KNOW RIGHT?

Hanna and Lucas had a nice friendship going on, I think Lucas is good for Hanna on many levels. I just hope this doesn't start some kind of rift between them, even though I have a feeling it will. :( They were so adorable together.

I figured that after Hanna saw them together it wouldn't stay a secret for very long (I was worried that after she'd gotten hit Hanna would have had a concussion or something, but thankfully that wasn't the case, would have been a complete cop-out had they allowed that to happen) but I loved their reactions. I knew Spencer would be the most shocked, though I liked that she's torn between saying it's destructive thing to do while finding it to be totally hot. XD But after all the sneaking around, afraid of getting caught, it's really astounding that Aria and Ezra kept it up for this long without anyone really noticing. Aside from Noel, of course.

I have a feeling that Emily's father is going to be the first to find acceptance with Emily's coming out. Her mother, not so much. I didn't know she was that traditional. Of course it makes sense considering her words before about worrying of what the community would think of their family if Emily had been seen going out with Toby, etc. :/

Someone just punch some sense into the mother, please? Grrrr.

I want their hair, wardrobe, makeup, everything. kthx. *__*

[squaringkarma.livejournal.com]

The books are super good! (And Sara Shepard's coming out with four more starting in July!) After the mid-season finale, I thought they were going back to them for a bit 'cause a lot of what happened in the mid-season finale was books, but now I really see how different they are. Once again. Haha.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

Seriously! I was to totally gobsmacked at their reactions. I knew that they would be surprised, perhaps in denial, but not something like that in the way they were just expressing how wrong it was. I think the father is more lenient in accepting Emily for who she is, and will warm up to this news. The mother....will take LOTS of work to finally come around, I think. She has a more traditional way of looking at things, and it pissed me off. She's more worried about their vision of their daughter's future instead of being more concerned about her happiness. I hope they get a reality check.

Either way, Emily has her friends for support. And I think that's an amazing thing to have when those related to you don't understand you.

THIS SHOW IS LIKE A WALKING RUNWAY OF GORGEOUS HAIR AND CLOTHES. I NEED THEIR STYLISTS RIGHT NOW, KTHX.

I would freak the fuck out the same way Hanna did if that ever happened to me. Just, omgdnw. D: D: D:

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

I'm just surprised that Aria and Ezra haven't been found out way earlier, there have been so many opportunities where they could have gotten caught in plain sight. How can nobody notice how much alone time they've had in that classroom between classes? It's astounding to me, actually.

Yeah, I know. Emily is discovering and understanding and finally accepting herself for who she is, it'd be nice if there was some understanding and support from her parents. Or at least without there being any kind of yelling or shouting about why she's doing this, etc. :(

But I'm just glad that Emily has her friends for the support she needs. *hugs Emily forever*

Since they mentioned there could be a possible two-person team running this show, I suspect it could be a guy and a girl since the dark-clad figure we seen is more lean than physically build, unless that's the show fucking with us with more guessing games. IT IS A MYSTERY OMG. :O

I wanna check out the books myself, too. Though I'm kind of waiting to see where the show takes us first. ;)

[odysseedesreves.livejournal.com]

With the Ezra/Aria relationship I wish that it would have been done a little differently. Like, I wish there had been more between them than just a make-out in a bar before they discovered the situation. She's a gorgeous girl, he's a hot guy, if it was just a one-time make-out and a little talking they can't move on? Really? Also, I wish they had been separated more. I wish they had actually worked at staying apart because that tension would have been great!

I was really surprised at the reaction of Emily's parents. I expected their reactions to be reversed.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think that's what bugs me about the entire setup between Aria and Ezra. There's no real setup to make it convincing that they are so into each other that they can't just let whatever happened in the past and move on, because there really had been no strings attached. It was just a make-out in a bar bathroom and that's it. Had there been more of an emotional bound between them then perhaps I could be behind the entire push/pull of their "secret love" situation. But since there's no real connection I just am detached from being convinced that this is something deeper than just a physical kind of attraction. idk. *shrugs*

I was really surprised at the reaction of Emily's parents. I expected their reactions to be reversed.

I know, right? Especially with the way the father kind of entered Emily's bedroom and how he approached her I figured he would have been more aggressive, but instead it was the mother who was more aggressively outraged at the news while the father was just trying to make sense of it. While I was legitimately shocked and scared by their reactions in general, more with the mother than the father, I liked that role reversal. Particularly after the father explaining after all he's seen during his time in Afghanistan, he would rather have her alive and well and happy than anything else.

I think he'll be the first to come to terms with Emily's coming out than the mother's based off that rationalizing alone.

[odysseedesreves.livejournal.com]

I was expecting him to be more aggressive too! I seriously thought he'd blow up about it when he came into her bedroom and she told him that she's gay. I liked that he didn't, though. I'm with you, I think he'll be the first to accept Emily's coming out. It will be interesting to see what that does to his relationship with her mother. They're the only truly happy couple of all the parents right now. I guess Spencer's parents could be considered happy because they're together but they're not really into anybody but themselves and the things they do. But Emily's parents actually show love towards each other and her dad accepting her sexuality while her mom wants to "fix" things could mess up that relationship.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

I think I'm most suspicious of Lucas right now...

Actually, after thinking about it, there's definitely some possible connections when you stop and think about it. The message that A writes on Hanna's leg read: "Sorry about losing my temper" This could be referring to the car accident or it could be in relation to how Lucas reacted to Hanna's honesty. He even commented about the cast and the signatures when he visited her in the hospital. And since there was that small evidence of his muddy shoes earlier in the season, that all could possibly lead to something.

Then of course there's also the suspicious behavior between Melissa and Ian. I'm not quite sure what it was but something seemed rather....off with how they were acting, and not just because of the news of them having eloped. I don't know. It's all very complicated when there's all these possible suspects with their unknown motives.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

You have a good point regarding the parental figures being the only happy couple. I honestly hope it doesn't cause a rift, and if it does it'll only be brief once realizing that their daughter's happiness is at stake. At least, I hope so. Emily seemed so distraught and terrified about coming out and her sitting on the stairs listening to her parents talking about her like that was just....God. Yeah. I just hope things work out in the end, for all of them. Since it does seem like they had a good relationship with each other, just this is an obstacle they all have to overcome.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

Or maybe whoever hit Hanna wasn't involved with the A stuff at all...? I don't know! It's so confusing! 'cause I'm still not completely convinced that A was the one who hit her. :\

That's an interesting question, it could be someone else entirely. But then who wrote the text saying that Hanna "knew too much" and signed it A? Also, this begs the question on what they thought Hanna knew too much of.

Personally, I find that waiting to read something is sometimes better, because those who have read the books often will nitpick and criticize the show (or film) without really fully enjoying the ride for what it is. So seeing the show all the way through and then reading the books and seeing what was done differently without being to critical, you know what I'm saying?

[odysseedesreves.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think if it does cause a rift it would only be temporary. They need at least one bright spot on the show. And they were so close, it's just something that they are going to need to learn to accept and to be okay with. Her mom needs to get over the attitude she has! Well, they both do, but her mom more so.

Seeing Emily on the steps listening in broke my heart! Poor girl!