Welcome to a super special haunted Halloween version of the Pretty Little Liars Round Table!

There were costumes, there was murder, there were ghosts and there was Adam Lambert (what?!) on last night's "This is a Dark Ride," as staff writers Leigh Raines, Nick McHatton, Teresa Lopez and Carissa Pavlica gather around below to discuss the latest PLL-based thrills and chills...

-------------------------------------------

Who would have won the best costume contest?
Leigh: Spencer and Toby for Bonnie and Clyde, purely for the irony that Spencer is actually dating the bad guy.

Nick: Well, I was wishing Noel had decided it was a Toga party, but since that didn't happen I really dug what Spencer and Toby had going on.

Teresa: Definitely Emily. I'm kind of a sci-fi geek, so I enjoyed the authenticity of her Barbarella getup.

Carissa: I liked Caleb's choice because his was the one that could have been anyone. Definitely the scariest considering the crowd on that train!

Who was the little girl who visited Marin, and was she a live girl or a ghost?
Leigh: That was the ghost of Ali's twin, playing off the Halloween episode from last year. Might I add, if that kid showed up in my kitchen I'd scream.

Nick: Spoiler alert! In the books, Alison has a twin sister named Courtney, I won't go into anymore detail I believe it was a ghost of one of them.

Teresa: I think she was the ghost of Ali's twin sister. But a ghost from the past, since clearly Ali's twin sister must have grown up... maybe not in Rosewood since no one knew her. Or I noticed a fan posted that the whole thing could have been Ashley struggling with a repressed memory of Ali's twin. That's an interesting theory. 

Carissa: We're all in on Courtney. But I'm not sure why she would show up as a little girl. She was a teenager when she died, wasn't she? I don't know the canon of the story, so I have to assume the girls didn't grow up together or Marin would have recognized the little girl as Ali.

Do you believe Garrett's story about Byron? What did he have to gain by making it up?
Leigh: Garrett had nothing to gain, but I don't think Byron killed anyone. I think Ali was just confronting him and being a brat.

Nick: I believe about half of it, as we're usually only given half-true stories. He had nothing to gain by lying to Spencer, as his name was cleared, but we also didn't get the end of the story so we have no idea what else Garrett knew.

Teresa: I don't think he had much to gain by making it up, especially since he's already been freed. It's not like he said Byron killed Ali, just that they were speaking the night she died. Ali pissed off a lot of people, and she had a penchant for older men (like most of the girls on the show). It wouldn't be surprising if she was either blackmailing him or having an affair with Aria's dad. 

Carissa: It would be just one more knock against Aria's family life if it turned out Byron was knocking knees with Ali, and given his past I wouldn't be surprised if he went there. I don't think he did, but I think Ali wanted to. She was such a great friend.

Was Mona the jeweled lady in the mask under the costume, and did she kill Garrett, bury the body alive or both?
Leigh: Honestly, I don't even know what Mona is capable of anymore. How did she know about Caleb's costume?

Nick: Hard to say, but I believe she was. She probably had help from Toby or another A with the body and the killing. During the disposal with Aria and Garrett she stabbed what sounded like a guy that didn't sound like Toby.

Teresa: I thought Mona was dressed up like Caleb. That same creepy Ali-mask was under her bed when she returned to the asylum that night. And, there's no way she would let anyone else mess with Hanna because Hanna's the only liar she actually cares about. As for who killed Garrett, I know Mona is crazy, but she's hasn't really seemed as violent as this new A.

Carissa: Only Teresa caught onto this trick question. Nope, Mona wasn't under the jeweled costume, but was mirroring Caleb. Her height should have been a dead giveaway to Hanna, but I still have no idea what male might have been wearing the other costume. Maybe Wilden in some strange desire to see be there without being seen? He was at the party last year, after all. Whoever killed Garrett and had Aria in the box consisted of a male and female couple. It could have been Mona and Toby. Mona was in on it somehow, that's for sure!

Who was clawing their way out of the ground?
Leigh: I thought that was a flashback of Ali. Didn't reports say she was buried alive?

Nick: Alison or Courtney.

Teresa:  I definitely thought this was flashback to the night Ali was killed. She was buried alive and suffocated on the dirt, and the image of the freshly dug up ground was used earlier when Garrett told Spencer about his run-in with Ali.

Carissa: If it was a flashback, then I want to know why she didn't make it out. That dirt was awfully soft. And, if she did make it out, who pounded her on the head with a shovel or in some other way finished the job? Every reveal leads to more questions!

What development shocked you the most?
Leigh: Ali's body being underneath the ice. Seriously how did it get there and where has it been?

Nick: Noel's near death. I was not prepared for that.

Teresa: Adam Lambert's weird flirting with Aria. His presence on the Halloween train was the only bad part of this episode.

Carissa: That so many of the man friends decided to skip the train ride in the first place. What kind of boyfriends are they, anyway? Choosing to leave their extremely vulnerable gal pals to their own devices on a costumed train? That's called bait, people! I'm glad they all ended up where they needed to be in the end, but sheesh. 

Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She's a member of the Critic's Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on X and email her here at TV Fanatic.