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‘Pretty Little Liars’ Recap: One Main Character Dies — and a Couple Get Engaged!

What a sAve. As Hanna (Ashley Benson) began to adapt to normal life after her agony-filled kidnapping, the Liars decided to put all of their energy into rescuing Ali (Sasha Pieterse), who they (correctly!) assumed was being tortured by her husband, Elliott (Huw Collins). The road to freeing their friend in Pretty Little Liars‘ Tuesday, July 5, episode was filled with untangling relationships, betrayals of friendships and testing new boundaries — all leading to one insane death.

Shay Mitchell Pretty Little Liars
Shay Mitchell in ‘Pretty Little Liars.’

Related: PHOTOS: TV's 10 Most Shocking Deaths of the 2015-2016 Season

Into the Ring

Spencer (Troian Bellisario) decided to go to Toby (Keegan Allen) for help with rescuing Ali — which seems oddly coincidental, since he was absent from last week’s episode while she and Caleb (Tyler Blackburn) grew distant. When she arrived at Toby’s house, she was greeted by his girlfriend, Yvonne. Spencer told Yvonne that she isn’t looking to cause any problems between her and Toby. Without missing a beat, Yvonne responded, “You already have.” Just when it couldn’t possibly get more awkward, Yvonne revealed to Spencer that she and Toby are now engaged. Yep, Toby put a ring on it, and our #Spoby dreams have vanished — for now.

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Fresh off of hearing that the former love of her life was set to marry her former political rival, Spencer went to see Caleb for yet another round of their new favorite game: Are You Sure You’re Not in Love With Your Ex?

Within seconds of telling Caleb about Toby and Yvonne, Spencer asks Caleb what happened with Hanna. He tells her that he and Hanna did kiss, and blames the incident on the fact that “it was like we were in a time warp.” Note: If you are trying to justify to your current girlfriend why you kissed your ex-girlfriend, use any excuse but “it was like we were in a time warp.” Really, any excuse but that.

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Spencer asked Caleb if he still has feelings for Hanna (because, yes), but before he could answer, Spencer’s phone rang with a call from Jason DiLaurentis. This show is full of many things wonderful things, but constant cliffhangers caused by calls from obscure characters is not one of them.

Making a PlAn

The Liars sprang into action and decided to take Ali’s rescue into their own hands. While Emily (Shay Mitchell) started her first day bartending at a new job (shockingly, a lifetime of avoiding kidnappers, murderers and people wearing masks of other people’s faces doesn’t pay the bills), Aria (Lucy Hale), Spencer and Hanna decided to snoop through Ali’s house for clues.

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Aria goes into the house alone (the buddy system would probably do wonders for these women, but more on that later) and takes a key from Elliott’s light fixture. For a criminal mastermind capable of masking someone’s face onto his own, we would think he’d have a better hiding spot than under a lampshade. Aria took photos of the weapons, chemicals and drugs in his trunk, and escaped as Elliott watched the girls drive off.

A Sinking Ship

Spencer, who seemed as equally dedicated to rescuing Ali as she was determined to prove her boyfriend and best friend are still in love, confronted Hanna about her kiss with Caleb. Hanna also insisted the kiss meant nothing and told Spencer, “Caleb is my past, and Jordan is my future.” We’re not sure what Jordan is, but considering she ended her engagement to him in episode 2, it’s safe to assume that he is not in fact her future.

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Later, Spencer once again asked Caleb about his relationship with Hanna, and he insisted that he only wanted to be with Spencer and proceeded to list all of the reasons that he likes her. Spencer paused and said, “That’s the problem. You like me, but I love you.” Caleb began to tear up and said he wanted the chance to make things right (there’s pretty much one acceptable response to “I love you,” and this was definitely not it). Spencer looked down and told him that she wasn’t sure if she could give him that chance.

All Dolled Up

Aria and Hanna drove an hour away from Rosewood in search of Elliott’s family in order to piece together who exactly their friend married. As they arrived, Aria groaned in frustration at the fact that they have lost cell service. We’re not sure what cell phone provider these girls use, but we think it may be time to switch, since it seems the only time they do have a signal is when someone is sending them life-ruining texts.

When they got out of the car, they met a young girl named Eliza, who showed them dolls given to her by Charlotte. The dolls were, of course, named Aria, Emily, Hanna, Spencer and Ali. As they played with the dolls, Eliza told Aria and Hanna that she saw Elliott and Charlotte kissing once. At the property owner’s sudden request, Aria and Hanna began to leave when Hanna noticed a cattle prod and realized it was the same weapon her kidnapper used on her. Aria stared at the prod with a horrified look on her face and promised, “Elliott will pay for what he did to you.”

Troian Bellisario Pretty Little Liars
Troian Bellisario in ‘Pretty Little Liars.’

She’s Crushed

As Emily trained at her new bartending job, Sabrina walked in and sat down. Emily approached her and confessed her feelings for her, when a woman walked in and kissed Sabrina on the lips. Sabrina later told Emily that the woman was her ex, but that seemed like an extremely friendly greeting between exes — even by Rosewood standards.

Later, Emily gave Toby a file on Elliott that she stole from Spencer, and he immediately got to work. As he began to unravel Elliott’s past, he lied to Yvonne and told her that he wasn’t doing exactly what he was in fact doing — helping the Liars. Spoby shippers, stay tuned.

Out of the Woods

As Elliott realized that the Liars knew what he was doing to Ali, he put her in his car and began to drive. Ali pretended to be passed out and dropped Emily a pin from Elliott’s phone with their car’s location. How these girls use Apple watches to receive death threats but have yet to discover the Find My Friends app is beyond us, but this seems like a good place to start.

Ali attacked Elliott in the car and jumped out running — where else? — into the woods. Elliott chased her and was hit by the Liars, and they concluded he was dead. Anything is possible, but it seems like a safe bet that the grave that Spencer, Aria and Emily were digging in season 7’s premiere may just be the right size for one psychotic doctor.

Tell Us: Is this the last we’ve seen of Elliott?

Pretty Little Liars airs on Freeform Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET.

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