Here we go agAin! After Pretty Little Liars season 6 ended with Hanna (Ashley Benson) getting kidnapped, the crew returned ready to do just about anything to save her life — with just 24 hours on the clock. As expected, the Tuesday, June 21, season 7 premiere was filled with new technology and new suspects — but, of course, the same old lies.
The episode opened with Aria (Lucy Hale), Emily (Shay Mitchell) and Spencer (Troian Bellasario) digging a grave in hysterics. In true PLL fashion, no answers were provided about whose body would eventually lie in the ground, but if these girls should know anything by now, it’s that covering up their crimes really never ends in their favor.
Welcome Back to the Dollhouse
Terrifying dolls are no longer a thing of seasons past. Aria, Emily, Spencer, Caleb (Tyler Blackburn), Toby (Keegan Allen), Ezra (Ian Harding) and Mona (Janel Parrish) were looking at Mary Drake (Andrea Parker), the late Mrs. DiLaurentis’ twin, and suspected that she has a role in Hanna’s disappearance. While they figured out how to approach her, the crew got a text from new villain A.D. hinting that Hanna was in the church where Charlotte died. As a reminder that the show has flashed forward five years, the crew now gets their death threats delivered directly to their Apple watches. Isn’t technology great?
Inside the church, Hanna’s dead body was hanging — or so they thought. It turns out, A.D. put a mask (like the ones Mary Drake and Ali’s scheming husband Elliott Rollins have been wearing) on a doll. When they pulled the string in its back, the doll told them that they have 24 hours to give up Charlotte’s real killer in order to save Hanna’s life.
Prime Suspect
All but two people in the group said they suspected Ali as Charlotte’s killer. Ezra and Aria recalled seeing Ali wearing a red coat at the church the night of Charlotte’s murder, although at the time they thought that she was Charlotte herself.
She’s Alive
In what may be the most shocking of PLL twists, viewers got some sort of answer to Hanna’s fate early into the episode! While there was no certainty as to who kidnapped her or why, we saw a quick glimpse of Hanna in a wooden shed, sporting a bloody lip while wearing a shirt and underwear. #SaveHanna and #SaveHannasPants.
Tea Time
Mary Drake knocked on Spencer’s door looking for her parents, who weren’t home. Spencer invited Mary Drake in for tea, as one does for someone they suspect kidnapped their best friend. The two briefly discussed their families, and Mary Drake revealed to Spencer that she had a volatile relationship with Mrs. DiLaurentis. After approximately three sips of tea, she leaves, warning Spencer to lock her door.
Ships Haven’t Sailed
If you were worried that the clock ticking to save Hanna was going to slow down the sexual tension between our favorite on-and-off couples, have no fear.
Spencer and Toby worked together throughout the episode to find out more about Mary Drake. Naturally, they managed to throw flirty banter into the mix as they flipped through their suspect’s passport to realize that she “had plenty of time to become A.D.” While Spencer and Caleb seemed solid in season 6, with Hannah’s disappearance, it seems that Caleb had no interest in anything other than saving his first love. When Spencer called him to offer lunch, he hung up on her and went back to work. So long, Spaleb.
Emily spent the majority of the episode reminiscing about her relationship with Ali, who is currently being poisoned with something in a mental hospital by her lying doctor husband, Elliott. As Emily had a sweet flashback to an early memory kissing Ali, she found the red coat that Ezra and Aria mentioned earlier and concluded that Ali must have killed Charlotte.
After Ezra and Aria had sex in the season 6 finale, the two were back together to snoop through Ali’s house. Of course, Elliot came home, forcing them to hide in a closet together and watch him pack a saw into his bag. They held hands with their fingers laced, not cupped, which, if you ask Us, is basically definitive proof that they will get back together. #TeamEzria.
Later in the episode, Aria confronted Ezra about their night together, asking him, “Are we even a ‘we’ again?” She seemingly found her answer later, when she went to a bar (the same bar she hooked up with Ezra in the pilot!) to find Elliott and hears their song (“B26”!). She immediately runs to him and declares, “I don’t need to know what we are tonight. I just need to be with you.” It was an incredibly satisfying moment for Ezria fans, until the camera panned to the church in the background to remind us there is still a kidnapped Liar to be saved.
She’s Free
Spencer came to Hanna in a dream, telling her, “If there’s a way in, there’s a way out.” When Hanna’s kidnapper returned to the shed, where Caleb dropped off the red coat in exchange for Hanna’s safety, she was long gone. Hanna ran through the woods and stopped a car to help her. The car was being driven by, of course, Mary Drake.
Tell Us: What did you think of the season 7 premiere — and the twist involving Hanna’s fate?
Pretty Little Liars airs on Freeform Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET.
