Pretty Little Liars Recap Roundup: Episode 1.3, "To Kill a Mocking Girl"

Wrencer Rendezvous in the City

Photo:If they were as cute as Emily and Maya, they’d be sharing one cup of coffee.

Pretty Little Liars has the bloggers talking and, just like on the show, both adults and teens are falling for these scandalous high school kids. Here’s what the powers-that-recap had to say about the show’s premiere:

Emily Donahue from MTV:

Everyone’s favorite creep show, “Pretty Little Liars,” was on last night and while there weren’t as many mysterious text messages, there was no lack of suspense, scary moments in the woods or inappropriate relations between high school girls and the men that love them.

Toby Cavanaugh — hero or monster? Played by three different actors, (just to keep it interesting) he returns from reform school to be his sister’s escort. Who needs specialty schools for disturbed youth or the blind when you can just stick the two together and keep everyone out of trouble? He took the blame for burning the shed his sis was blinded in because Alison had some kind of dirt on him (obvs). So he’s bad. But he helped Emily … so he’s good? The mystery continues.

And the girls return to the woods with bags of stuffed animals and other hiking necessities to reconnect with Alison (and find another shed? The amount of sheds, both burned and standing, in this show has me needing Google Maps). And, again, they hear scary noises and try to chase after whatever it is, only to come across Alison’s bracelet. Now that is some detective work … Oh yeah, and in case you didn’t get the memo: everyone should get a KIN. It’s really the only way to be harassed by the dead.

Melanie Rob from TV.com:

The mysteries in Pretty Little Liars are coming in thick and fast, folks! This week’s episode, the cleverly titled ‘To Kill a Mocking Girl’, saw the first appearance of creepy Toby Cavanaugh (Keegan Allen) as well as an ‘OMG’ moment at the end of the episode regarding one of our four leading ladies, Emily (Shay Mitchell).

 

This week’s episode the girls going out into the woods to a shed where they could remember Alison, but it looks as though they’re being watched. At the end of the episode, the girls make the discovery of Alison’s friendship bracelet which each of the girls has. Again, all signs point to Alison being ‘A’. But there was plenty going on in each of the girl’s lives with Aria’s dad’s ex-mistress befriending her mom. By the way, this is the same actress who plays home-wrecking, kinda crazy, Clay-obsessed Katie on One Tree Hill. Clearly, she isn’t afraid of being typecast. Meanwhile, Spencer is dealing with the fallout of her kiss with Wren last week, we see more of Hanna’s character development plus Emily breaks up with boyfriend Ben and kisses Maya!

 

Perhaps the most important part though, is the introduction of Toby Cavanaugh — blind Jenna’s step brother. It’s revealed that he took the wrap for Jenna’s blinding and Alison had some secret that she used against him. Toby’s back and he’s pissed off — and gives off a total creeper vibe!


Mark O. Estes from TV Over Mind:

  • When Aria stops by Ella’s gallery, Meredith is there conversing with about the art as if she is interested. After Ella leaves, Aria calls Meredith out by revealing that she knows about the affair and tells her not to return, but Meredith plays dumb on the subject better than Jessica Simpson does in real life. Later that night at the opening, Meredith makes yet ANOTHER impromptu appearance which quickly confirms that this bitch cannot take a hint and will be a problem later on down the line. Again, Aria serves the tramp her walking papers, but Meredith tells her to let grown folks do their business and for Aria to stay in her place. Yep, this bitch will be trouble.
  • Spencer tries to do the right thing and takes a train to see Wren in the city to get him to come clean on his actions. Wren apologizes for all the hell Spencer is going through and says that the only mistake he made was falling for the wrong sister. This sends Spencer running back to work on that paper, but in reality Wren tapped something that Spencer doesn’t want to own up to yet. When Spencer does get home, she gets writers block on her paper, but instead of taking a shot of something (like tequila, adderall, etc) to get the creative juices flowing, she steals one of Melissa’s papers and makes it her own. Stupidity leak! When Melissa gets home a few moments later, she tells Spencer that Wren called and told her that it was he who made the first move and not the other way around. But she doesn’t believe it and spews to Spencer that they deserve each other. With folks like The Hastings, Spencer could have her own spinoff called “Everybody Hates Spencer” it seems. Or “The Hastings Are A Bunch Of Ignorant Assholes”, rather.

Did you miss the PrettyLittleLiarsShow.com recap this week? We forgive you — check it out here.