Pretty Little Liars: Summer School, Eps 204 [RECAP/REVIEW]

At the end of last week’s episode of Pretty Little Liars: Summer School Mouse narrowly escaped Bloody Rose Waters’s trap inside Rose Ricotta’s. Now everything has changed!

However, before diving into the aftermath, this week’s episode begins with another episode of what I’m calling, “The Waters Family” reenactments. Then we cut to the girls sitting at a table right after the events of last week’s episode. Mouse is recounting everything that led up to her harrowing escape. It’s at this moment they realize none of them are safe. Bloody Rose Waters is coming for all of them because they are all…wait for it…Final Girls! For those that may not know, in the horror genre, a “final girl” refers to the last surviving female character in a horror film who confronts and ultimately defeats the “monster”.

Imogen calls Dr. Sullivan (Annabeth Gish) to schedule an emergency session, ASAP. However, it turns out that Dr. Sullivan had an accident and is recovering. What happened to her? Is she burned from the fire Mouse escaped from? Is she a victim of Bloody Rose Waters herself? So many unanswered questions.

Mouse and Ash talk with Lola about the phone call she got to take her to the party location. She replies that the person’s name was Rose and that she was calling “from the other side.” First of all, Lola what are you even thinking? You’re going to follow directions from someone you think is a spirit?! Make it make sense! Moving on, Mouse now thinks it’s possible that their summoning worked. Faran is not about this. She’s ready to fight and refuses to believe it’s a spirit coming after them. Noa suggests they keep their heads down and mouths shut. Then, Mouse has another confession to make. During the trial, she went online to Spooky Spaghetti and posted information about Archie’s mask. Things that only they could know. This information about Archie’s mask being made of stitched-together skin built the legend of Bloody Rose Waters.

Now, the girls are way nicer to Mouse at this moment than I probably would have been. That kind of information being out there could have led to a mistrial. But the girls assure her she didn’t cause or create this craziness. None of them believe it’s the real Rose Waters under the bandage mask. So now, they task themselves with finding the real Rose Waters to prove the theory and maybe get some answers. This is the one time Mouse can use Spooky Spaghetti for good. To ask people for their help finding the location of the real Rose Waters.

PRETTY LITTLE LIARS: IMOGEN

Imogen (Bailee Madison) takes it upon herself to check in on Dr. Sullivan at the Hospital. She lies to the nurses saying she’s her daughter and they let her right in. I’ll allow it for the sake of television and moving the plot along. Imogen asks what happened. Dr. Sullivan says she was leaving the office, taking the stairs, and someone pushed her. We then see that she’s wearing a boot. So, it seems to be a broken ankle. Who pushed her? Was it a lie? Did Bloody Rose Waters do it? Did Bloody Rose Waters get Lola to do it with another “I’m calling from the other side” phone call? So. Many. Questions!

When Dr. Sullivan asks Imogen about her urgent call Imogen brushes it off saying it was a false alarm. Lying to your therapist. Nice. Imogen keeps going back to the hospital hanging out with Dr. Sullivan. She even asks if there’s someone she can call or reach out to. Dr. Sullivan is quick with the no. However, we as viewers of the original Pretty Little Liars series know that’s a lie. Dr. Sullivan has a son. So, why is she hiding him?

Later, Imogen gets a call from one of Estelle’s dads. They have to go out of town last minute and need a babysitter. He says that she’s the only one they trust to. Of course, she jumps at the chance to spend some time with her daughter. Later that night, Imogen gets a call from the day saying they got an alert. One of their windows in the house is open. Of course, this sends Imogen on a freak-out spiral. She doesn’t immediately check the windows. Instead, she grabs a butcher knife from the kitchen and calls Johnny to come be with her so she’s not alone.

When she finally checks the windows, the one in the baby’s room is open. So, now she’s carrying the baby and the giant knife down the stairs in full panic mode. Johnny shows up in the creepiest way but is so good to her. He sees that she’s spiraling and is incredibly gentle. He gets the knife away from her, takes the baby, and gives her a moment alone to take a breath. After putting Estelle back down, Imogen shares with Johnny about Mouse’s bday and the therapist being pushed down the stairs.

He is not bothered in the slightest. It’s like another Tuesday to him hearing all this. Johnny tells Imogen that the’s there for her and then…a phone call. It’s Estelle’s dad again saying they saw Johnny enter the house. So, being the good guy that he is, he leaves immediately offering to hang out outside in his car if it makes her feel better.

The next morning, Imogen finds Johnny in his car. He waited outside all night to make sure she felt safe. She is so touched by this that she allows her feelings for him to take over and they make out. To me, this means Johnny is no longer safe and is a pawn for Bloody Rose Waters to use against Imogen in the future. That, or he’s one of the bad guys. We’ll have to wait and see.

NOA AND TABITHA

Someone, please get Noa (Maia Reficco) some adult supervision. She is making all sorts of terrible mistakes and is on my shit list. Someone keeps calling and hanging up and Noa’s work. So, she’s super freaked out. Jen convinces her to leave work early and take a drive with her. they end up driving out to Jen’s estranged father’s giant house. Then, The Veronica’s starts playing to a montage of them drinking, playing dress up, and flirting. While in the pool, Jen shares about her father leaving her and her mother. Noa suggests she steal one of his Rolexes to use the money to help Jen’s mother. This is just a terrible idea because Rolexes are registered. They each have a special serial number so that you can’t pawn them.

So, of course, at work the next day Noa gets a call from an Unknown Caller. Is it Bloody Rose Water? No, Jen has been arrested for stealing the watch and is in jail. Her bond? $2000. So, Noa goes to her boyfriend, Shawn, and asks him for the money to bail out Jen. He, being a nice guy, says yes. Once Jen is out of jail she goes to Noa to apologize for dragging her into all this. Then, Noa and Jen make out! This is so messed up. I can’t even.

Moving on to Tabitha (Chandler Kinney). Tabby gets a call from the head of the PITH horror film festival. Someone backed out of the festival. So, they’re asking Tabitha if she has anything recent to share. Of course, Tabitha says yes! So, now she has 2 days to film and send something in. Tabitha goes back into the box of ideas that she came up with, with Chip. She lands on The Projectionist. Which she deems Jaws, but in a movie theater.

Tabitha enlists her friends and Christian to help her get this done. I loved this entire movie filming montage. It reminded me of when I would shoot silly movies with friends. You’d get incredibly creative because you didn’t have the resources, but you always made movie magic happen.

After showing her edit to Christian he tells her how much he loves it! He has a couple of shot ideas to add even more dimension to it. Tabitha then confesses that this movie is something she worked on with Chip. Christian replies with the perfect response saying that she owes Chip nothing. That she’s incredible. She kisses him and sends her movie off to PITH!

KELLY

Kelly (Mallory Bechtel) is at church rehearsing her teen pregnancy scene for Redemption House. However, she rewrote it and Pastor Malakai is upset. Kelly shares that she has doubts about the subjects Redemption House is covering because they may hurt people’s feelings. Pastor Malakai takes great offense to Kelly’s doubts. He tells her that she needs to confess and accept her penance. So, later that day, Kelly heads to the confessional as instructed. However, she sees her mother going into the confession booth with the pastor! The hypocrisy! So, in true Kelly fashion, she revenge texts Greg asking him to skinny dipping.

When Kelly gets home her mother is waiting for her in the dark. This entire scene is very Carrie. Her mother starts screaming at her about how she’s “impure” and “a sinner”! The camera goes outside and we only hear Kelly begging her mother screaming, “No!”. The next morning she wakes up on the floor next to the family shrine. When Kelly walks into the dining room she sees her mother sitting there with a ton of food like it’s normal. She tells Kelly that he must be strong for each other and the souls of this town.

Now, after this, part of me is leaning towards Kelly’s mother and Pastor Malakai having something to do with Bloody Rose Waters. They are here to cleanse the town of the biggest sinners, our Final Girls.

FARAN

While at work, Henry shows up at the pool to apologize with flowers. We accept his apology. Yes, I said we. He even shares that he signed up for swim lessons down at the Y. Faran (Zaria) loves this idea and coyly offers to teach him how to swim herself. We then cut to the two of them making out at the pool after hours. However, their love fest is interrupted by Kelly and Greg who show up hoping to go skinny dipping. Faran and Greg tell them it’s no big deal and the more the merrier.

The girls split off together to have a chat. Kelly tells Faran that Henry has been talking about their relationship at their Chira sessions – the Group Share/Trauma Bonding thing they do together at the church. Henry has been struggling with Faran lying to him for so long – understandably Faran is upset. She doesn’t understand why he would be talking about their relationship with a group of strangers.

The next day at the pool, the mother of the child she saves comes to thank her. She also thanks her for being a person who doesn’t stand on the sidelines and run away from danger, instead to goes towards it. This is the moment Faran gets a call from Bloody Rose Waters — It’s time for your test. Bloody Rose Waters leaves instructions for Faran. She grabs an exacto-knife and heads out.

Faran’s text is in an industrial yard. There she sees a dummy that, to me, looks like Henry with a rose crown, wrapped in barbed wire with a note that has her name on it. “A final girl can never lose her strength. Lift the girder. If it touches the ground before the time runs out someone you love dies.”  Now, I looked this up and did some math. A construction girder is 59 lbs per linear foot. A basic girder is about 5 ft long. So, Faran has to hold up roughly 295 lbs for 2 Hours! “Mind over matter.” Let’s go!

MOUSE AND FINDING BLOODY ROSE WATERS

The last time we saw Mouse (Malia Pyles) she was posting on Spooky Spaghetti to try and get information on the REAL Rose Waters. Mouse gets a ton of responses to her posts with places they have seen Rose or where she might be living. Of course, she enlists Ash to help her check out all these places. However, Mouse and Ash do the unthinkable and SPLIT UP to look faster leaving him at the train yard.

When Mouse thinks she has found the real Rose Waters, she calls Imogen to rally the troops. Where is Ash, Mouse?! It seems that Rose Waters is living under a bridge in a tent city. As the girls wander through asking people if they know or have seen Rose, we get a split screen with Faran to not forget what she’s going through. One of the homeless people says he knows Rose and points them in the right direction. When they find her, it’s the same woman that Imogen saw last year while feeding the less fortunate. Rose is obviously unwell. When they tell her Archie came after them Rose seems surprised that he is alive. She runs off to the bridge and jumps off. I can only assume she was trying to unalive herself, but we never see a body.

The girls go back to the encampment. What was this all for if they can’t find the proof that this woman was truly the REAL Rose Waters? While rummaging through everything they find a photo of Angela, as well as Rose’s file from the Radly. Radly is the asylum from the original series. When reading her file they learn that Dr. Sullivan was her therapist!

CUT BACK TO FARAN — 

SHE DOES IT! SHE HITS THE 2 HOUR MARK! It’s over…or is it? At this point, Faran can barely walk. Her entire body is trying to give out on her, but she makes it over to her phone. That’s when Bloody Rose Waters comes walking out from behind the tarp. We know from Mouse that she’s a sore loser. So, even though Faran won fair and square Bloody Rose Waters still attacks her when she’s at her weakest. However, she didn’t account for adrenaline and fight or flight. The adrenaline kicks in and Faran grabs a rock, and hits Bloody Rose Waters in the head, but still gets sliced in the arm. Faran then runs to the locked fence with only one option – climb and don’t get caught in the barbed wire.

Faran narrowly makes it up and over the fence to the other side and the episode ends with her staring into Bloody Roses’ eye.

PHEW! The last 10 minutes of this episode were a doozy! Where do we even go from here? Are the girls going to confront Dr. Sullivan? Who’s next on Bloody Rose Waters’s list? Personally, I hope it’s Noah. That girl needs a lesson.

KEEP READING ABOUT PRETTY LITTLE LIARS: SUMMER SCHOOL

PRETTY LITTLE LIARS: SUMMER SCHOOL, EPS 203 [RECAP/REVIEW]