Episode 'Pretty Little Liars' Season 2, Episode 4 - 'Blind Dates' Recap

In the latest episode of "Pretty Little Liars," we get some satisfying forward movement plot-wise, and Aria spends part of the episode looking like Rosie the Riveter crossed with Rizzo from Grease. So overall things are back on track!

Apparently there’s a wrong side of the tracks in Rosewood and the girls are in it. Spencer shows up at the pawnshop bright and early to claim Melissa’s wedding ring. She plops down the cash and receipt but instead of the ring she gets a rusty old horseshoe and a snarky text from A.

Despite the fact that Aria’s dad is making the double berry pancakes of marital accord and her mom has moved back in full time, things are not perfect at home. Her brother Mike is acting like a shady little brat. Aria catches him lying about where he’s been going after school for the past two months and not only will he not tell her what he’s been up to, he blackmails her into complicity. Very interesting.

Lucas is all flipped out about the date Hannah got him with the hot yearbook girl which leads to him roping Hannah and Caleb into a double date. It’s a cheap pretense to get these two back together and I love it! The date goes well for Lucas and the next day he thanks Hannah, noting how much she’s changed since the bad old days of her friendship with Allison.

This kicks her ass right into a therapy breakthrough with Anne where she dumps her toxic dead best friend forever and it’s kind of awesome. So awesome that someone breaks in and trashes the hell out of Anne’s tasteful office right afterward, and paints “nosey bitches die” on the wall.  There’s no sign of forced entry and so we’re left to think this is also the work of A.

Emily’s mom is so damn happy with her fake scholarship offer that she’s ready to make a scrapbook about it. With the help of eminent girlfriend Samarra, Emily gets her mom to take it down a few notches and prevents her from calling the Danby scout. There is yet another great scene where Emily’s mom meets Samarra and acknowledges her as her daughter’s date in a very obvious and also totally normal way. I know she’s fictional but parents of queer kids everywhere should take lessons from this lady.

There’s a short scene where Aria goes to the basketball courts looking for her bratty brother. He’s not there but Jason Di Laurentis is and they have a weird and ultimately flirty exchange that hints at some kind of shared past (and/or future?) crush. Intriguing.

Spencer is in cahoots with Wren, who’s in cahoots with Melissa, who’s hustling medical supplies and painkillers for her demon spawn babydaddy.  Wren won’t give Melissa the rest of the drugs unless he can see Ian and so once she finally gets word on where he is she agrees take Wren with her. Wren clues in Spencer and so all the little liars follow them into a barn in the woods where they find . . . Ian’s totally dead body!!

It looks like a suicide complete with note but a quick camera pan over to a spot on the wall where a rusty horseshoe used to be lets us know it’s never that simple.