'Pretty Little Liars' Recap: 'Don't Look Now'

On this week’s episode of Pretty Little Liars, Charles’ identity as a member of the DiLaurentis family is finally revealed, Spencer uses drastic measures to combat her sleeplessness, and Emily arranges some bonding time for her and Sara.

The episode opens with Ali updating the PLLs about Charles. Flashbacks of the conversation between Ali, Jason, and their dad, Ken reveal that Charles is Ali’s other brother. Charles was always very troubled from an early age, so Ken and Jessica had him admitted to Radley Sanitarium. When Ali hears this, she figures that Charles is responsible for framing her for Mona’s murder and torturing her friends, but Ken insists that Charles committed suicide at age sixteen. He claims he never told Ali or Jason about Charles to give them a normal life.

Cue opening theme.

Upon hearing Ali’s story, Hanna isn’t entirely convinced that Charles is dead. Ali said her parents had Charles cremated, but with no proof of his death, there’s a chance Charles is still alive. Hanna says the girls need to go to Radley to investigate, which is problematic, since it’s been closed.

When Hanna goes home, Caleb is there waiting for her. Ashley gave him the okay to spend the night.

At the Fields’ house, Pam tells Emily and Sara that Dr. Sullivan has made time to see both of them, but Sara doesn’t latch on to the idea. When Sara leaves the room to shower, Pam expresses her concerns about Sara to Emily.

At the Montgomery house, Aria looks for Charles’ death records online when Byron interrupts. Byron says Lieutenant Tanner wants to talk to the girls now that Andrew’s been let off the hook, but he told her they all need a bit more time. Aria is thankful for this, though it is short-lived, once her father offers to talk about what happened in the dollhouse with her. Aria brushes her father off, saying she’s going to Hollis to develop some pictures she’s taken in the darkroom. She pleads with Byron to let her go alone.

Back at the Marin house, Hanna wakes up to find Caleb at the window watching the cops switching shifts and thinks he’s worrying too much.

Meanwhile, at the Brew, Spencer searches for more information about Radley and finds that all the old files are in the process of being shredded at River Hill Data Center. A few moments later, she chats with Ezra about the police’s case and notices Sabrina, The Brew’s new baker. Ezra says Sabrina is a little clumsy and bakes medicinal treats, which include pot to relieve migraines. Spencer also has a flashback from her time inside the dollhouse and panics.

Later, the PLLs meet up at the Hastings’ house and plan to move in on obtaining Charles’ Radley files. Before they leave to investigate, Spencer digs through the Montgomery’s trash after Aria confesses she had to toss her anti-anxiety meds, because they were giving her headaches. When she comes up short, she meets the others as discussed.

Simultaneously, Ali continues asking her father questions about Charles. Ken said losing Charles was a “relief.”

Meanwhile, The PLLs’ plan hits a snag when Spencer tries to get her hands on her own Radley files as a cover. When they see remains of already-shredded files being disposed of, they decide to break in. The girls find some of Charles’ files, but there’s no paperwork past his sixteenth birthday. As footsteps approach, the girls take what they’ve got and run. When they make it outside, Caleb is waiting for them and he doesn’t seem too happy.

Later, Caleb and Hanna disagree over Caleb’s choice to place a tracker on her car as a means of protection, Pam continues to worry about Sara’s mental health after she tells Emily she found Sara on the roof, and Sara overhears, and Byron asks Aria where she was, because he knows she didn’t really go to Hollis.

Meanwhile, at The Brew, Spencer introduces herself to Sabrina and asks for some of her medicinal treats. Though initially reluctant, Sabrina eventually agrees to help her out.

Back at the Fields’ house, Sara is gone when Emily wakes up, which causes anxiety for both her and Pam.

At the DiLaurentis house, Jason and Ali are still struggling to make peace with their father’s recent revelations about Charles. When Ali says the PLLs passed along Charles’ Radley files to her and she and Jason’s aunt was listed on his visitor log, Jason suspects that Charles could still be alive and hiding out at their aunt’s house. Jason had visited there after his elevator accident, but his mother, Jessica told him he wasn’t welcome to use his aunt’s house as a hideout.

At the same time, Emily and Sara are reunited at The Brew. Sara says she went home briefly to see if her mom had better adjusted, but she hadn’t. Sara also knows she needs therapy, though she wants to keep things simple for the time being.

Meanwhile, Aria goes to Hollis to develop her photos, which prevents her from assisting Ali, Hanna, Spencer, and Jason on their search at Ali and Jason’s Aunt Carol’s house. She winds up getting locked in the dark room and finds a bottle of pink hair dye on one of the shelves with a note from –A. Flashbacks indicate that –A had wanted Aria to put pink streaks in her hair again, but when she refused –A cut her hair while she was asleep. Aria panics about being trapped, but a guy named, Clark eventually saves her and they discuss photography together.

Back at Aunt Carol’s, things aren’t looking great, so Jason suggests they search the property one last time before calling it quits and he and Ali eventually find Charles’ headstone. Hanna seems to think it’s fake and even begins digging the grave up, but Jason points out how the roots are growing around the headstone. The grave is real, meaning Charles is truly dead and –A could just be assuming his identity. At the same time, Spencer has a breakdown and tells Hanna about her recurring flashbacks of waking up inside the dollhouse covered in blood, though Hanna seems convinced –A merely tricked Spencer into thinking she’d done something horrible.

Simultaneously, Emily plans a surprise for Sara. They wind up at the pool and Sara seems to be happy for the first time in a while.

Back at the Montgomery house, Aria has just arrived home from Hollis and breaks down, telling Byron how –A kept her locked inside a room that looked exactly like her room back home.

Back at the Marin house, Hanna and Caleb get into a bit of scuffle when Caleb says Ashley is planning to let him live with them for a while. Hanna says she’d rather Caleb leave and give her some space, and he reluctantly honors her wishes.

At The Brew, Spencer picks up her medicinal treats from Sabrina and Ezra catches her, warning her about what might happen if she chooses to abuse drugs again.

At the DiLaurentis house, Ali tells her dad she visited her Aunt Carol’s house and he informs her that Charles was placed in Radley shortly after he tried to drown her when she was a baby.

The episode ends with –A watching the girls, using trackers that display the location of each of their homes.

Image Credit: Jennifer Graylock/INFphoto.com.

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