First off, let me apologize. This recap is all over the place. I’m all over the place. Next week is #PLLGameOver and I’m not ready.

The penultimate episode starts with our favorite case closer, Detective Tanner, obtaining arrest warrants to make her move against the girls. She must have some solid evidence!

And the body in the back of Aria’s trunk will most likely add to that evidence. Aria, who is stopped by the police, makes up some story about her keys getting stuck and manages to slip away without the police finding the decomposing body.

While Aria drives away she starts having a conversation with the dead body. She manages to convince herself that it’s time to turn the body in to the police and face the consequences. If the Radley Sanitarium was still open, I’m sure Aria would be checked in.

Back at headquarters, Caleb and Ezra reveal to the others that Mona has the game. As expected, Hanna is in disbelief. Ezra, on the other hand, can’t get a hold of Aria and gets angry at the others for turning his fiance away. He has no idea what is going on and I don’t think he has any right to feel this angry towards the others.

We then see Mona return to her apartment only to find the game is gone. Nothing is left, but a note saying, “Time for pie, be there.” A.D. wants to meet at their favorite diner! Unbeknownst to Mona, Hanna and Caleb are hot on her heels.

Spencer manages to run into Mary Drake at the Lost Woods. She claims to have unfinished business and decides to leave a parting gift for Spencer and Alison: The Lost Woods deed. She knows what’s happening and wants them to get the money for lawyers to help them and their friends.

While everyone is off running around trying to tie up all the loose ends, Ali and Emily are home worrying about the outcome of it all. But A.D. has different plans for them as they infiltrate the place with sleeping gas. Later, Emily wakes up from a nightmare to find the game sitting in the living room. It oddly starts playing a recording, “we don’t have a lot of time.”

We find ourselves back with Aria as she is about to go to the police station to present her case, but Ezra finds her in the nick of time. Ezra wants to take Aria away from it all, but Aria cannot leave her friends behind to deal with it alone, not after what she’s done to betray them. While Ezria discusses the next steps, someone decides to pop open the trunk and disappears with the body. How does someone transfer a body so easily?

Mona is sitting at the diner waiting to meet someone about the game, but she didn’t think that Caleb would be the one she’d be sharing apple pie with.  Caleb wants her to confess to everything, but Mona claims she no longer has the game. “SOMEBODY IS ALWAYS STEALING THE GAME FROM ME!” This #EndGame isn’t for you, Mona.

A.D. manages to sneak a note over to Mona to get out and she runs to the ladies’ room as Hanna and Spencer show themselves. Hanna, Spencer and Caleb are too late and later find that there’s a secret doorway. Caleb and Spencer decide to take the tunnel through, advising Hanna to take her car. Although Haleb is endgame, I’ll always have love for the short lived Spaleb. I’m not sorry it happened and I will never forget it!

While waiting to hear back back from Caleb and Spencer, Hanna takes a stroll around Rosewood. She ends up outside the church, as flower petals fall down to her. Her feet bring her to the bell tower only to find Mona is the culprit of the flower petals. Mona is dressed up as her younger self and is out of her mind when she greets Hanna as Charlotte.

We are then taken to a flashback of Mona meeting Charlotte, unhappy with her release from the hospital. Charlotte was obsessed with power and Mona wanted to make sure her friends were safe from her games. Mona then threatens Charlotte with a screwdriver, giving Charlotte the chance to jump on her own rather than Mona pushing her. We are then led to think Mona pushed her as she attacks Hanna in present time. Luckily Spencer and Caleb save Hanna. They feel sorry for Mona and think it’s time to call Dr. Sullivan. As they head back to their cars, the final two puzzle pieces were left and it looks like it was Mona’s turn after all.

Since the girls have all the pieces, it’s now time to claim the Grand Prize – Archer Dunhill’s body.  A.D. leads the girls to Alison’s Aunt Carol, where Charles’ body is. The girls are left with the question, to get rid of the body or let it be? Aria speaks up and thinks it’s time to walk away. If they get rid of the body, A.D. will always something over their head. At first they’re hesitant, but the other follow suit. Their plan is quickly shattered when Detective Tanner and the police show up to dig up the body as well! You don’t want to play A.D.’s game? Well, the police do.

While the girls are taken to the police station, Tanner confirms that the body belonged to one Archer Dunhill. She tells the girls to sit tight, before walking into another room with a two sided mirror revealing Mary Drake confessing to murdering Archer Dunhill and Jessica DiLaurentis. When Mary said she knew everything, she was not lying.

The girls are in disbelief. And so am I. Of course, I don’t want to see my girls go to jail, but it seems like they’re off the hook at least with the police. Tanner obviously knows that the girls aren’t innocent, but she’d rather go with the easy confession. What she says to them is probably a few of my favorite quotes: “What I believe and what I can prove are two different things.” and “You’re not criminals, not really. Try and remember that.” Detective Tanner knows more than she’s letting on. As Mary Drake walks away in custody, she signals to Spencer to not say a word. Mothers will do anything to protect their children.

After their long night, they all return to Mona to apologize and help her. “You needed me. You don’t know how that felt like.” Sometimes a girl just wants to be loved. At this point, Mona seems to be calmer and in a better state of mind and confesses what else went wrong on the night Charlotte died. She didn’t actually push Charlotte. She planned on letting her live a life of hell. Things went south when they break into a fight and Mona slams Charlotte into the wall, where a pipe stabs her in the neck. Charlotte died by accident and Mona did a very good job and covering it up.

Morning arises and A.D. congratulates them on a job well done. The game is dead. It’s over. A.D. has nothing else to play with. A.D. can’t mess with the squad. As the girls leave the game behind, the final scene takes us to A.D. driving away in the sunset to the tune of “Without You” with the girls’ game pieces in a Ziploc bag. Whoever A.D. is, they obviously can’t live without the girls’ love.

I rambled too much about this episode. It was really hard to write this considering next week is the series finale. This episode almost left me in tears knowing that the end is near.

Also, I have no A.D. expectations. I learned not to theorize after the Gossip Girl fiasco. But I’m open to your thoughts!

xoxo,

Adele

You know the drill! Subscribe, share, like, or comment!

Twitter: @itsadeleee / @adeleLIVETWEETS
Instagram: @itsadeleee / @prettylittlegossipgleek
Tumblr: @prettylittlegossipgleek