Pretty Little Liars Review: Pulling the Strings

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Last week's "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?" tried to set up tonight's game-changer without giving too much away. Spencer's complete character transformation has been completed, so what does she really have to lose anymore?

Unfortunately, once she started following Mona's clues, I had a sneaking suspicion she had finally decided to take Mona up on her offer. So, I wasn't too surprised when she pulled her own black hoodie out of her pillow case.

That's not to say that "I'm Your Puppet" wasn't an entertaining episode, but lately the strings are very visible. The show is about manipulating our expectations to shock us with surprising twists and turns. However, many of us fans have gotten used to this routine and started questioning everything, as well as looking for the subtle (and not so subtle) clues.

It's beginning to feel like Pretty Little Liars will do anything to keep us on our toes...except gives us more grounded answers to our questions.

Spencer at Radley

So Spencer's joined the A-team, and this little development will definitely be a huge part of the season finale next week. Despite proclaiming that she wanted a break from everything A-related, it seems she really just wants a break from being the constant victim of A's tauntings and threats - and really who could blame her? But what does this mean for the other liars?

However, I can't get around the fact that Spencer is still being incredibly selfish, just like when she waited forever to tell her best friends about Toby. Maybe she's working another angle here, but she doesn't seem stable enough to handle much of anything. At least her quiet searching at Radley did reveal some pertinent information.

It seems like no one really trusts Wren. Things were pretty frosty between Eddie and Wren, but who's the real problem here? My money's on Wren, but Eddie is the newcomer. And just what is CeCe's role in all of this? All of the new information about CeCe indicates that she didn't have such a great friendship with Alison and may have had a lot of reasons to get rid of her.

I'm also beginning to wonder if the writers would really kill off Toby just to shock us. In the Pretty Little Liars Round Table, I said I thought it would be shame if Spencer never got to confront Toby, and that maybe Toby was just faking it. But we won't know until someone finally identifies that new body. (By the way, I thought it was a total a waste of time to have an extra "John Doe" in the morgue. Seriously, what did that accomplish?)

There was also far too much going on in this episode. Aria loses Malcolm. A sets up Jamie. Shauna keeps texting Emily. Well, maybe that last one wasn't too important. Gosh, they really are sidetracking Emily a lot, huh?

Aria finally came to a mature decision when she considered breaking up with Ezra. I'm surprised she didn't realize sooner that her presence in Malcolm's life would make him a walking target. A doesn't play fair, and I'm just glad the worst she (going by Alison apparently) did was take him to a puppet show. Ezria fans will not be happy about this one, but we should have seen it coming after Aria denied dating Ezra last week.

The whole Jamie plot may not have really helped us solve an A-mysteries, but it was sad nonetheless. The bell incident finally gave Caleb a reason to unleash years of pent up anger. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like Jamie deserved it. Hanna probably doesn't even know which problem to worry about first. And seriously all these issues are making it difficult for her to focus on anything.

I'm Your Puppet Review

Editor Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
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Rating: 4.3 / 5.0 (97 Votes)
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Pretty Little Liars Season 3 Episode 23 Quotes

Shuffling around in Mona's old slippers isn't going to get her any better.

Hanna

They don't make a loofah that scraps out the inside of your head.

Spencer