The last we saw our little liars, they were reunited with their former leader, Alison, and “A” was hot on their trail. Ezra was too, and he risked his life to save them, especially Aria.

The season 5 premiere takes off exactly where the season 4 finale ended. The girls manage to evade the police as Noel lies to them giving the girls a signal that they should go about their adventures. Ezra is rushed to the ER and “A” is already one step ahead, waiting for him at the hospital. Hopefully the girls get there before “A” finishes the job.

Back at the Hastings household, the family is worried about Spencer and her whereabouts. Mr. Hastings is clearly still upset over what Melissa had whispered to him at the police station and Melissa is getting antsy with that secret. She wants to tell her mother about it, but Detective Hollbrook manages to interrupt the moment to tell them that Cece Drake escaped custody. Melissa finds the need to confess something to Hollbrook in that moment, but Mr. Hastings stops it from happening. Later on, a broken down Melissa wants to tell her secret, but Mr. Hastings is drunk and not having any of it. What is Mr. Hastings trying to hide?

Ezra is in surgery and “A” tries to sneak into the room disguised as a doctor in a black hood. I mean, putting on a doctor’s coat over a black hoodie and gloves is totally normal isn’t it? Anyways, before “A” can get to the door, the police show up to guard the door after a tip was sent to them about who was shot.

The girls come up with a plan to lure “A” away from Ezra and out of the hospital. Alison walks out of the hospital with “A” following close behind after sending out a text: “It’s happening. Follow the leader.” Hanna, Spencer and Emily follow “A” while Aria stays behind to make sure Ezra is safe and sound. Outside of the hospital, Alison ends up in a playground face to face with “A”. “Wanna play?,” “A” creepily asks. I sure don’t. The other 3 girls show up to back up their old friend, but a group of hooded beings show up to play games.

Mona and Lucas are back in Rosewood with a plan because having Alison back “changes everything.” Sounds like they are incahoots with the “A” team that started it all on the playground, but then again there seems to be many teams working against Alison.

Aria stays at hospital, while Ali takes the girls to a place they can stay. Turns out it’s Ezra’s favorite place – the Fitzgerald Theater. The girls try to be normal and take a breather from all the running. While Spencer, Hanna and Emily talk about their favorite reality shows, Alison seems to find it hard to be part of their conversation and clearly she feels like an outsider. On the other side, the girls feel like she’s shutting them out again.

Just when I thought “A” found Ali’s secret hiding place, it’s just Cece. Alison leaves the girls asleep in the theater to meet with the older blonde and Noel. Cece is on the run again and she asks Ali for help. Ali is sad to see her old friend go, but Cece assures her, “We always find our way back to each other.” At this point, I still don’t know if Cece is one to trust. If there’s anything I’ve learned from Pretty Little Liars, it’s to TRUST NO ONE.

According to Shana, she was sent by Ali to keep Aria company. Aria is not trusting her one bit, with good reason. Ezra ends up waking up while Aria watches over him and his heart rate is off the charts with code blue. From the look on Shana’s face and her running off, I’m thinking she’s the reason why Ezra is stressing out.

Back at Mona HQ, she has an army of Alison victims meeting. Paige doesn’t want to be part of it no matter what Alison had done to her in the past, but Mona brings up the present and how Alison was the reason her and Paige broke up. “I can’t protect you if you’re not with us,” Mona declares as Paige gets up to leave. With perfect timing, Melissa comes in a haste: “We don’t have much time.” It seems like it’s Melissa’s army as opposed to Mona’s.

Following the call from the NYPD regarding the shooting of Ezra, Hollbrook did more research on the Fitzgerald member. He ends up finding the Fitzgerald Theater and calls the number in hopes he’ll get a hold of someone. Ali, thinking it’s Aria, picks up and Hollbrook knows it’s Alison. Now that they know someone knows their whereabouts, they try to run, but someone beats them to the punch. The spotlight shines on Alison and her friends and it’s going to be quite the show.

But back at the hospital, Ezra wakes up and whispers something about Shana to Aria. In that moment, she was 100 percent sure to not trust that girl.

Turns out Shana is fed up with Alison and she’s the latest person to rock the black hoodie. She pulls a gun on Alison and the girls to get justice for Jenna. Aria makes it just in time to knock Shana out before one of her friends get hurt. However, Aria does a little bit more than knocking her out; Shana falls off the stage to her death.

One “A” is down, but there’s still a ton more who’s got some issues with the return of Alison DiLaurentis.

XOXO,

A