Pretty Little Liars – Of Late I Think of Rosewood & Charlotte’s Web (Season 6/ Episode 131 & 132 Review)

ABC Family Thriller Pretty Little Liars is back, and what a comeback! After being absent for more than four months, the Mystery television series made its much anticipated return on January 12th for a run of ten episodes scheduled through March 15th. Emily, Spencer, Aria, and Hanna have had five great “A”-free years, but are suddenly surprised to get a letter from former “Queen Bee” and on and off best friend Alison DiLaurentis. In the letter, Alison asks the Liars to return to Rosewood to see if they can help get Charlotte free, which the Liars have mixed feelings about it. The girls return to the city that tormented them for more than five years, and reluctantly agree to say nice things about Charlotte in order for her to get free; all except Aria. Even Mona tells a sad, convincing story about life in order to free Charlotte. Many still wonder if she had ulterior motives.

PRETTY LITTLE LIARS – “Of Late I Think of Rosewood” -ABC Family/Adam Taylor

From new opening credits to new ships being destroyed, Pretty Little Liars came back with a lot of changes with the episode Of Late I Think of Rosewood. Emily is now fatherless, both Hanna and Aria have new boyfriends, and Spencer says she has no time for a relationship, which for some reason no one believes. Ezra lost his girlfriend somewhere in Colombia. He never heard from her again after she was taken from him. Emily has secrets of her own. She is taking medication for something that appears to be life-threatening. Toby has a new girlfriend too; one who he is building a house to whereas poor Spencer only got a chair.

After being freed, Charlotte returns home with her sister Alison, but her joy comes to an end when it is revealed that she has been killed by an unknown person making it this season’s newest mystery and the reason the Liars have to stay home. At the funeral—yes it would not be a premiere without a funeral—the girls are shocked to see Sara walk in, apparently unable to walk by herself. After the funeral is over, the girls are approached by Officer Lorenzo, who then tells them to not leave town. Before the episode ends, the camera pans to a black car and viewers see, or rather not see, the new big bad rolling up his or her window.

PRETTY LITTLE LIARS – “Of Late I Think of Rosewood” -ABC Family/Adam Taylor)

Throughout the episode, viewers see several similarities to the show’s pilot episode like the Liars waking up at their friend’s place finding out someone has gone missing or the actual funeral. For the past five seasons, the show has been very connected to the series of books. This season promises to have bigger and bolder scenes. The Liars will no longer receive threads to expose their secrets. Rather, the new “A” will not think twice before killing anyone who he or she feels is responsible for Charlotte’s death. Fans of the show immediately went online to the different social media channels to give their point of view of who they think the killer and new “A” is.

There were a lot of characters that were not even mentioned on the episode like Mike, Lucas, Melissa, or Paige, but fans have hope they will return in the future. Another subject that is important to point out is Spencer and Caleb’s little flirty talk. The show has had the Liars betray their friends in one way or another, but those two dating would be a low blow to Hanna. Viewers still do not know what happened in those five years that changed everyone’s relationships, but there is hope that creator Marlene King will answer most, if not all, questions, even though King has not always answered all of their questions in the past. This episode made it clear that the show is not going away anytime soon, and the many new mysteries will be answered eventually. Since ABC Family changed its name to Freeform, viewers should not be surprised if we see more adult-like stories being developed.

PRETTY LITTLE LIARS – “Charlotte’s Web” – (ABC Family/Eric McCandless)

Airing on January 19th, Charlotte’s Web gives the audience more information about what happened to the Liars in the past five years. Fans learn that Emily is in fact taking medication to treat some form of illness which viewers still do not know about. Considering what her mom has been through, Emily does not want to put her through more pain, even if she has run out of money. It all points out to her having cancer, but fingers crossed that that is not it. Aria looks suspicious when she suddenly flees the city without a good explanation. At her job, we meet Liam, Aria’s new boyfriend. Alison, feeling depressed, ask the remaining three Liars to have dinner with her to not feel lonely in wake of such tragedy. They agree, and Hanna even decides to bring her new fiancé Jordan only to make it an awkward dinner after Jordan meets Caleb.

Aria is very nervous after what had happened with her and Ezra and she demands Ezra not to say anything to anyone. The audience starts seeing again how easily Aria can manipulate people into doing what she wants, furthering suspicions that she might have been on the A Team all along. Later, Hanna sees footage of Aria and Ezra meeting up at the same place Charlotte was murdered. When Aria is asked to come back to Rosewood by her boss, she is confronted by Spencer, Hanna, and Emily. Aria explains she went out for a stroll with Ezra and then came back to Hanna’s apartment and fell asleep. She also remembers Ezra being shady and angry at the world for what happened to Nicole, his lost girlfriend. In order to save Aria from potential police investigation, Hanna deletes the footage and that makes her feel like she is back to being a pretty little liar.

After that, Aria goes to Ezra and demands an explanation. Of course it is too soon to know what really happened “that night,” so Ezra just dismisses Aria and viewers are left thinking he might be the killer. He does have reason enough but fans already had the shock factor from him before. Going back to Spencer and Caleb, King throws hints that something did in fact happened between the two of them but nothing concrete is said about it. At the end, someone visits Charlotte’s tomb and leaves peculiar roses. In those roses, there is one that stands out because it is similar to the rose Charlotte was holding when she was found dead. The driver opens the car door to the same unknown person we met, or rather did not meet, back at the funeral. Who killed Charlotte? Who is the new “A”? Are they the same person? Will the Liars get texts again? The wait is killing watching eyes!

PRETTY LITTLE LIARS – “Charlotte’s Web” – (ABC Family/Eric McCandless)

There are too many new secrets and mysteries. Unfortunately, the audience will not get to know them until King decides to tell. One thing is for sure, Pretty Little Liars keeps bringing the mystery, thriller, and suspense with every new episode, keeping dedicated fans on the edge of their seats every single Tuesday. With that said, The Gloves Are On will air January 26th, and it is going to be a wild ride! CrypticRock gives  Of Late I Think of Rosewood and Charlotte’s Web 5 out of 5 stars. 

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