6.9 Last Dance We open on a sequence revealing that all four mothers are actually in town and on screen at the same time. The girls have been disinvited from prom and graduation on safety grounds – Charles robbing them of the little high school school experience they still have – but Veronica has arranged for them to have a private party in the haunted barn. It’s where the nightmare started, points out Aria, so why not end it there? Meanwhile, Charles doesn’t even seem to care about the four Liars this week, focusing his attention on Alison instead. It makes sense, she’s the first to learn his/her identity at the end of the episode, but it’s been endlessly frustrating this season to watch Alison still keeping secrets from her friends. We knew this show would never allow a prom episode to happen without all the main significant others in attendance – well, all except for Paige – but the ABC Family marketing team did a good job of making it look like Caleb’s trip to New York was a bigger deal that it turned out to be. He showed up in time for a dance, and is now officially an Information Risk Analyst in the city. If it’s still her dream, Hanna can come too. Ya done good Caleb. While one couple make plans for after graduation, another is realising the complete lack of a future they have. Ezra is moving to Thailand and Aria to LA, thankfully, so it looks like they’ll be the couple who have to find their way to back to each other after the time jump. Never mind that he’s the cop assigned to protect her, or that he’s another adult male in Rosewood interested in a teenage girl. Or that Alison has been acting alarmingly out of character all season. We’re told he sees the vulnerable, damaged girl behind the fierce veneer of calculating sociopath, and that’s supposed to be enough. The most fun to be had from this episode is with the mothers, who get drunk on red wine, spill their own twisted family secrets and set about solving the murder of Jessica DiLaurentis all by themselves. Yes, it’s likely that Kenneth did kill his wife after discovering that Jason wasn’t his biological son, and it says a lot that Ella, Ashley, Veronica and Pam can work that out in one evening, faster than the police and their daughters. The back-up prom doesn’t last long, as the Liars soon follow Alison to the real Rosewood High prom in search of Charles. It feels wrong that Alison’s dress isn’t red or black, though I suppose it would clash with the bad guys’ attire, but it’s all gloriously over the top anyway. Aria looks as crazy as ever with a Mini Mouse bow in her hair, Emily’s wearing earrings bigger than the gothic crown on her head, Hanna is curiously in the same colour scheme as Alison but with more boots and boobs, and Spencer is in green velvet and gold like the goddess she is. There are Red Coats in cloaks and black hoodies with red cloaks worn over them, as you’d expect. The episode runs with the Red Riding Hood theme, which is perfect. Because we’re seeing all four mothers and budgets are probably being saved for next week’s finale, we hear about but don’t see the colourful student body of Rosewood High. We’re told that Noel Khan took Bridget Wood, who is 85 per cent tequila and has her dress on backwards, Lucas is there but almost definitely didn’t take Jenna, and it turns out that Ezra really doesn’t have a problem dancing with Aria in the school gym. The biggest head-scratcher is the absence of Mona, but then she’s probably under one of the hoods. We’ll finally know who it is next week, guys, and much more besides. Buckle up, the end of the game is approaching. Read Caroline’s review of the previous episode, FrAmed, here.
