‘Pretty Little Liars’ Recap: ‘Songs of Experience’

On this week’s episode of Pretty Little Liars, the PLLs continue to search for answers about Charles, Hanna stages a group intervention after running into Dr. Sullivan, and Andrew is released from prison.

The episode opens with the PLLs talking to each other on the phone. Emily fills Spencer in on Sara’s doubts about Andrew being their tormentor, but Aria is still convinced he’s to blame. Hanna checks with the others to make sure they’re all going to return to school as planned, since she isn’t keen on braving it alone.

Cue opening theme.

Emily gets ready to leave for school, but has a change of heart when Sara asks if she can stay at the Fields’ house just a little longer. She knows she has to go home and start school again herself, but she’s just not ready yet. Hearing how upset Sara is Emily offers to spend the day with her and gives her an old burner phone so they can keep in contact.

Meanwhile, at The Brew, Aria runs into Ezra and shares her doubts about going back to school. Ezra understands her worries and tells her she should play hooky. He also offers to let her hang out in the back room of The Brew. She ultimately decides to follow his advice.

Simultaneously, Spencer remains adamant about uncovering Charles’ identity and pushes Ali to talk to her father again. The two half sisters start to bicker, however, when Ali claims that Andrew is the one responsible for their suffering. With little help from Ali, Spencer says she’s going to talk to Jason, but Ali doesn’t want problems to arise between her and their brother. Ali knows she always gets blamed when things don’t go as planned and thinks everyone would be fine without her. Spencer reassures her that’s not the case.

Hanna is at school alone, trying to get in touch with Spencer when she sees Dr. Sullivan. They chat for a bit and Dr. Sullivan tells Hanna that she can stop by and talk if she wants to get anything off her chest. Later, Hanna confides in Dr. Sullivan that she thinks A’s greatest joy has been trying to ruining she and the other girls’ friendship, recalling how the girls were forced to play the “switch game” inside the dollhouse. Dr. Sullivan responds by letting Hanna know they really need to schedule a longer session. Hanna says she’ll convince her friends to join her.

Back at The Brew, Aria looks at old photos she’s taken and comes across a couple shots of Andrew. Ezra catches her off guard and when she tries to hide the photos, she confesses that she wants more insight into Andrew’s identity. Ezra decides to help her. They call a doctor’s office and Ezra impersonates a detective. They can’t get access to Andrew’s medical records over the phone and records containing his date and place of birth are sealed, because Andrew is adopted.

Ali runs into Lorenzo while he’s coaching a church-related soccer program. When she asks why he only coaches the boys’ team, he tells her the girls’ team needs a new youth leader. Lorenzo thinks Ali would be perfect for the job, though Ali seems to think otherwise, given her bad reputation in Rosewood. Toby witnesses the exchange from afar and seems displeased that Ali is cozying up to his new partner.

At the Fields house, Emily cleans out her closet with her mom and Sara’s help. It’s then that Sara confesses how her mom gave all of her old stuff away while she was locked in the dollhouse. Emily tells Sara she can have some of her things and Pam figures out Sara ran away from home. Sara admits she couldn’t pretend to be happy anymore following her excruciating ordeal. Meanwhile, Emily gets a call from Hanna and apologizes for ditching her at school, citing Sara as the reason for her absence.

At the Hastings’ house, Toby asks a favor of Spencer; he wants her to keep Ali away from Lorenzo. Toby still doesn’t trust Ali fully given her history and wants to protect his new co-worker. Spencer doesn’t think it’s their place to interfere.

Later, Hanna shows up to the Fields’ house declaring intervention. She tries to tell Emily that they all need to talk to Dr. Sullivan immediately, but then Aria suddenly arrives, sharing the bombshell she uncovered with Ezra. Knowing that Andrew is adopted, it’s still possible he’s really Charles DiLaurentis.

Meanwhile, Spencer visits Jason and starts questioning him about Charles’ identity. She says the girls want to be sure they know who he is before they share any information with the police. Jason claims he doesn’t know anything about Charles, but remembers someone named “Charlie” he used to be friends with as a young child. Charlie was Jason’s “imaginary friend” that Mr. DiLaurentis sent away. A text from Hanna urging Spencer to get to Dr. Sullivan’s office prevents her from delving any deeper.

At Dr. Sullivan’s office, Aria, Hanna, and Emily are still waiting for Spencer to arrive and wonder what they should say during their group session. They aren’t able to speculate for much longer, because Spencer bursts through the door and passes along the information Jason shared with her. Just as the girls are about to go into their group session, Emily gets a video chat request from Sara on her phone. As it turns out, -A is inside Emily’s house and will kill Sara if they don’t bail on their therapy session immediately. Not wanting to risk Sara’s safety, the girls do –A’s bidding.

When the girls go to Emily’s house, they are relieved that Sara is unharmed and Emily contemplates how she should explain their panic to her. At the same time, Pam arrives home from the police station and informs the girls that Andrew is being released. He had an alibi, so he’s not being charged and there’s no longer a case against him.

Later, the PLLs meet up at Ali’s house and tell her about Charlie. Ali says Jason always claimed “something was missing from their family” and wonders if there’s any proof of Charlie in her house. While the girls search for clues, Hanna calls Dr. Sullivan and apologizes for ditching their session. She says the girls want to re-schedule.

At the same time, Spencer and Ali scour the DiLaurentis’ garden and Ali asks Spencer if Toby’s told Lorenzo all about her past. Spencer advises Ali not to worry about things, thinking the universe is giving her a second chance.

Inside the DiLaurentis house, Aria finds an old family photo of Mrs. Di Laurentis, Jason, and Charlie inside a button jar. She shows it to the other girls and they recognize it from Charles’ home movies inside the dollhouse. Ali needs to confront her dad about Charlie alone and promises her friends she’ll update them later. They don’t feel right leaving her, but abide by her wishes.

While on their way home, the PLLs see Andrew being released from the police station. Aria tries to talk to him and he freaks out on her, saying he was just trying to help rescue the girls, except things took a wrong turn and they got him in trouble, instead. Toby and Lorenzo move in and offer to drive the girls home after Andrew leaves. Spencer also introduces herself and the other girls to Lorenzo as Ali’s friends, much to Toby’s dismay.

A few moments later, Hanna asks the other PLLs if Charles made them play the “switch game” and they all figure out that they never actually shocked each other. Charles’ intent was to not only trick them, but also show them they were capable of turning against each other when pushed too far.

After their conversation, the girls each arrive home separately. Emily learns that Sara cut her hair, Hanna looks at paint swatches in her still empty room, Aria takes photos, and Spencer has a disagreement with her mother after Veronica mentions Andrew being released from prison. Following the disagreement, Spencer declares that she’s going to start sleeping by herself again and heads up to her room to take a sleeping pill, though it doesn’t seem to work.

Back at the DiLaurentis house, Ali looks at the photograph of her mother, Jason, and Charlie again, and when Jason arrives home, she passes it on to him. When their father, Ken also arrives home shortly after, Ali and her brother corner him and force him to tell them the truth about Charlie.

End of episode.

Image Credit: Jennifer Graylock/INFphoto.com.

Pretty Little Liars airs every Tuesday at 8 p.m. on ABC Family.