Entertainment

It's A Very Grunwaldy Halloween 'PLL' Special

by Kristie Rohwedder

The Pretty Little Liars Halloween special is my favorite holiday tradition. Tuesday night's episode started up where the summer finale left us hanging: smack-dab in the middle of the bizarre town that is Ravenswood. Rather than answer all of our lingering questions in a nice and tidy manner, the Halloween ep gave us even more information to process and mull over. PLL isn't for the impatient viewer. It is for the truly disciplined. We'll get our answers one day. In the meantime, we have a graveyard party to crash.

We know Caleb leaves Rosewood for Ravenswood, and we learn why… sort of. On Caleb's bus ride to Ravenswood, he meets Miranda. Miranda is a fellow foster kid who, as my roommate pointed out, shares Caleb's haircut. She is in snack attack mode and attempts to steal a bag of chips from the only other person on the bus. When she grabs at the chips, the sleeping weirdo wakes up with a jolt. He then stares at Miranda WITH HIS GRUNWALD EYES. AHHHHHH! NOT ANOTHER ONE!

Anyway, Miranda wants to stay at her uncle's house in Ravenswood, Caleb is like, "blah, blah, blah don't get your hopes up. Everyone is the worst." Caleb is such a world-weary teen.

Hoping to find Alison, the Liars run through the Ravenswood mausoleum, then some tunnels, and then into a house. Hanna is separated from the group (oh, Hanna), finds the words "HELP ME" written in blood on a wall, and then gets locked in an old-timey phone booth. While she panics in the phone booth, orbs of light surround her from the outside. The orbs suddenly disappear. She sees Alison's face. Then she sees Gas Mask. The door opens and it's… Miranda?

Long story short: Miranda's uncle's house is connected to the mausoleum. Hanna, Miranda, and Caleb reunite. Hanna is like, "hey Caleb. I love you. Kiss kiss kiss. Stay with our new BFF Miranda until she finds her family. No one thinks this is a clunky transition into a spinoff." Later, Miranda and Caleb lurk around some headstones and find Caleb Rivers's grave. Has Hanna been dating a ghost this whole time? I knew he was too model-face'd to be true.

Spencer ends up alone in a strange greenhouse place. Who creeps up on her? Gas Mask. There's a tussle, Spencer knocks Gas Mask to the ground, and she tries to remove the mask. We find out who Gas Mask really is! Just kidding. This isn't that kind of show. Gas Mask knocks Spencer unconscious before any reveal can happen. Dammit, Hastings! Get it together.

The Liars hear Alison's voice throughout the house and they end up hanging out with The Grunwald. She tells them, "One of you has been touched by the one Alison fears the most." Seriously, The Grunwald? How'd you know about Spencer's kerfuffle with Gas Mask? Is The Grunwald Gas Mask? Oh right. She's a medium or something.

Fortunately, there's another suspect. We see Ezra lurking around in a GAS MASK COSTUME. It could be a coincidence (the Ravenswood costume shop might be slim pickings), but I'm warming up to the idea of Ezra as being the psycho behind "A." Actually, I hope he is "A" so that Aria finally moves on from that lame mess. When Ezra popped up in Ravenswood to drive the Liars home, I yelled, "WHERE'S KARATE JAKE?!" And why didn't anyone show more concern for Spencer's car? Spencer has to leave her car in Ravenswood overnight. Don't the Liars get it?! The car will be haunted by sunrise!

When the Liars return to Rosewood, they see Red Coat! Red Coat lets them catch her. Red Coat is Alison! Ta-da! Ali rambles about being scared, hears someone approaching, and disappears before Ezra can see her. Very suspicious. Ezra caught up with the Liars to return Aria's cell phone. WHAT A CREEP. Eh, wait. Returning her cell phone is a nice thing to do. But he looks sketchy as hell when he hands it over. I'm watching you, Mr. Fitz.

I don't know how I'm going to wait until January for another episode. The Halloween special is always such a tease.

Image: ABC Family