Turn of the Shoe – High Heels Are Scarce Behind Bars (PLL Episode 4×02 Recap + Broken Laws)
While the known characters in Pretty Little Liars are unusually obedient in “Turn of the Shoe,” the police officers in Rosewood who have made it to season 4 alive still have plenty of work to do. The “A” team members who have yet to be identified keep crime on the streets of Rosewood. On this blog, we will explore those crimes when the people who committed them are revealed. So don’t get any crazy ideas that “A” strangling Mona and nearly running her over with a car is legal.
This episode began with the PLLs discussing Ashley Marin and the mysterious girl in black from Wilden’s funeral and debating whether or not Ali is still alive. Hanna is convinced that Alison is alive; it seems that the Ouija board game really had an impact on her. Mona arrives and Hanna immediately accuses her of putting Ashley Marin’s cell phone in Wilden’s casket. I bet they miss the days of fighting about lipstick and stolen necklaces.
Mona takes the girls on a field trip to the RV to gain their trust, only to learn that the RV is gone. We know from the previous episode that Toby moved it, but the girls don’t know that, so they make their usual assumptions and accuse Mona of stealing the RV. Mona freaks out that the girls don’t believe her. When she goes to leave, someone wearing a creepy mask strangles Mona in her car and then nearly runs her over. She’s two seconds from being roadkill, but the “weakest link,” Emily, saves her life.
Later, at the Marin residence, we learn that Ashley has returned from New York. Ashley claims that she spent the entire time indoors without even looking out windows. If she does wind up getting arrested one day, it sounds like this business trip has prepared her for prison. Hanna and Ashley discuss Wilden’s murder, and Ashley theorizes that Wilden had a lot of enemies and someone “decided to do [them] all a favor” by killing him. Hanna gives Ashley her cell phone, which leads to another conversation that’s riddled with lies. In Hanna’s version of events, she found Ashley’s phone in their mailbox and not Wilden’s coffin. Ashley contends that she must have left the phone in the hotel in New York, but it’s obvious that she isn’t telling the truth. Perhaps lying is genetic.
Meanwhile, Spencer receives a rejection letter from UPenn, and Hanna and Aria discuss the recent events in their lives: Emily’s shoulder, the incident with Mona, and the possibility of “A” framing Ashley for murder. When Hanna and Aria see Shana outside, Hanna badgers her with questions about Wilden and Jenna. She continues until Aria drags her away.
While Paige plans an entire future for herself and Emily in California, Emily lies to her about her shoulder injury. She leaves out the almost getting hit by a car part of the story and pretends that she “slept funny” and that’s what caused the pain. At Spencer’s house, Toby displays his inability to lie without appearing incredibly suspicious and creepy. Spencer immediately detects and calls him out on his shady behavior. When she fills Toby in on the attack on Mona, he does not seem surprised.
At school, Spencer opens up to Ezra about getting rejected from UPenn. Spencer cries, and Ezra offers to help with her essay. He advises her that “it’s really important to have a second choice even if you had your heart set on something else.” After school, Hanna and Emily are on the phone, and Hanna attempts to give Emily advise on swimming in tomorrow’s swim meet with a giant bruise on her shoulder. All she can come up with is a swimsuit with sleeves. Unfortunately, this suggestion is insufficient for Emily, so she turns to what appear to be prescription drugs.
Legal Note:
Aria stops her kicking exercise and impulsively kisses Jake. She immediately regrets this decision and bolts out of the room and into her car where she starts punching her steering wheel. Then she sees Mona talking to the police, so she starts blaring on the horn and interrupts the conversation like “chicken freakin’ little.” Mona claims that she was using the cop as a decoy to eavesdrop on the detectives that were standing behind them. She proceeds to tell Aria that the lake where Aria and Hanna ditched Wilden’s police car is now a crime scene. His footprints were found there along with footprints of a shoe with high heels, which Mona points out is the type of shoe Ali used to wear.
Spencer and Toby are at the Hastings house where Spencer is ripping her essay into pieces. Toby finally admits to stealing the RV, but he explains to Spencer that “A” asked him to do it in exchange for the Radley medical records from the night that his mother killed herself. In the school locker room, Emily and Shana have a brief discussion during which Shana asks Emily why Hanna was interrogating her, then informs Emily that she has her eye on the same spot on Stanford’s swim team that Emily wants. Emily proceeds to take 2 pain killers, something that might not be the best idea right before an important swim meet. Back at Spencer’s house, she reads the transcript to Toby, who is becoming suspicious because his mother’s statements in the transcript don’t sound like those of a suicidal woman. He thinks that there’s some sort of coverup going on at Radley, then he makes Spencer promise not to tell any of her friends about the RV or the medical records.
At Emily’s swim meet, we see her attempt to compete, but her inability to see straight is hindering her performance. She winds up smacking her head against the wall, and passing out in the pool where she’s gushing blood. When the EMTs come, Emily claims that she hurt her shoulder by falling off of her bike, then she demands permission to finish her race. For obvious reasons, she is not granted that permission.
Aria is at Spencer’s house where they are talking about their newest favorite subjects: Mona, the cops, Toby, and the awkward kiss between Aria and Jake. Hanna arrives and she brought her new friend, Ali’s talking bird who also used to be Ali’s roommate in Georgia. When Aria and Spencer continue to talk, Hanna wants them to shut up and let the bird talk, because that’s completely normal. Hanna is worried about the lake becoming a crime scene, but Spencer reassuringly reminds her that she and Aria weren’t wearing heels the night that they pushed the cop car into the lake. That’s a relief!
When Hanna gets home, she interrogates Ashley again about her New York alibi. Ashley insists that she did not kill Wilden. Spencer is blowing up Hanna’s phone because the talking bird is driving her crazy and she wants Hanna to take it back. Spencer realizes that the bird has been singing the tune of a phone number.
Jake shows up at Aria’s front door to talk about the weird kiss situation. He assumes that Aria might have a problem with a teacher-student relationship; clearly he does not know much about Aria’s past. When Spencer keeps calling Aria’s phone, Aria and Jake agree to have a coffee date, then Jake leaves so that Aria can tend to her best friend, Nancy Drew aka Spencer Hastings.
Emily finally tells Paige the truth about her shoulder injury, the new “A,” and painkiller use. Aria, Spencer and Hanna are trying to call the phone number that a little birdie told them. When they are unable to get someone to answer, Aria and Hanna decide to record the bird. When they go to do so, they discover that somebody has stolen the bird. At the end of the episode, we see Ashley Marin drinking wine and removing the suspicious pair of dirty shoes outside, wrapped in newspaper.
Things like deducing a Phone Number form a Parrot's chirping are why I consider Spencer a Sherlock Holmes or Batman level Genuis.
Lol I know… I remember thinking that it sort of sounded like a ringtone, but how she was able to figure out it was a phone number and exactly WHAT phone number it was, I may never understand lol