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Pretty Little Liars Season 7, Episode 17 Recap: "Driving Miss Crazy"

Photo: Freeform/Eric McCandless
This week's episode of Pretty Little Liars was all about trust: who we should give it to, and who we definitely shouldn't. "Driving Miss Crazy" proved everyone is making bad decisions in that department — heck, even the Liars can't trust one of their own right now. Of course, it's a lot easier for Aria (Lucy Hale) to avoid suspicion when the rest of her squad is off on their own side missions — including one that teams Emily (Shay Mitchell) with Mona (Janel Parrish), who may or may not actually want what's best for her longtime frenemies. If Mona is an actual baddie this season (please no!), then at least we got to hear her sing a Chicago-esque cover of "Jailhouse Rock" before she's officially unmasked.
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Here's what everyone was up to in Rosewood on this week's episode:
Emily & Mona See A Baby Doc
With Alison (Sasha Pieterse) out of town — apparently she just had to go visit New York, despite the evil board game controlling everyone else's moves — Emily decides it's time to figure out who's the father of the baby that Ali is carrying. Now that the Liars know that Mona is aware of A.D.'s shenanigans, Mona can actually start helping them — which, in this case, meant pretending to be Emily's wife and grilling the fertility doc about his relationship with the late, evil Dr. Rollins (Huw Collins). Unfortunately, the doctor — who looked about 18 himself — only communicated with whoever wanted Ali pregnant via email, making him borderline useless. Except maybe not! He gets Emily the sperm donation number, which means they might be able to track down the daddy after all...eventually. (Keep your fingers tightly crossed that it's not Lucas...or Peter Hastings.)
Just when I was starting to think that Mona and Emily would make an excellent sleuthing team, it seems that Mona is keeping secrets of her own. When Emily goes to Mona's apartment to ask her to look into a phone, Mona shuts her out. The reason is soon obvious: The Original A has a lair complete with a crime board that rivals the one she kept in the Lost Woods Resort back in season 2. The real question, of course, is what she's doing with those shovels that the Liars used to bury Dr. Rollins...but more on that, later.
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Spencer's Family Falls Apart, Thanks To A.D. & Aria
A.D. is still sending Aria video messages — this time, to place a speaker with a pre-made audio recording in Spencer's (Troian Bellisario) house. The recording ends up being a secret conversation between Mary Drake (Andrea Parker) and Peter (Nolan North), which ultimately reveals that Peter tried to have Mary killed. Mary thwarted the plan, and Jessica, her identical twin, ended up murdered by Mary instead — which makes Mary look a lot more defensible to Spencer and Veronica (Lesley Fera).
Of course, because Mary has zero chill, she ends up temporarily hijacking Spencer's car in order to explain her story. The mother and daughter come to a sweet reconciliation, and Mary even asks Spencer to come live under the radar with her. Spencer refuses, because she can't leave her family — especially Veronica, who is dropping out of the Senate because her husband basically killed a person. Mary tells Spencer she understands, and Spencer implores her biological mom to finally forgive herself for her less-than-stellar behavior. Maybe she will — after all, Spencer is the best thing Mary had ever done, and she turned out pretty great if you don't count the pending murder investigation.
Aria Earns That Puzzle Piece
As for Aria, her relationship with Ezra (Ian Harding) is strained as of late, mostly because she can't exactly tell him about A.D. or what he or she has on her. What is it that Aria is so terrified Ezra would find? Well, it turns out that after Aria learned that Ezra wrote that book about Alison (which was beyond gross and violating, in case we forgot), Aria wanted revenge. She penned a police report calling him a "predator" (your words, girl, not mine) but never filed it. Alas, "Jessica DiLaurentis kept excellent records," and now A.D. has Aria's best kept secret. Aria is so stressed about the prospect of Ezra going to prison for being a statutory rapist that she has a dream that involves Mona, a cellblock of aggressive jailbirds, and a very snarky Veronica Hastings, all set to the tune of "Jailhouse Rock." My stress dreams have never been so theatrical.
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Fortunately, throwing a bomb on Spencer's life earned A.D.'s favor, a puzzle piece, and that file back — but can it fix what's broken between her and Ezra? Aria's former teacher definitely knows something's up, though he thinks it's residual anger from six years ago which...makes no sense. If I were Ezra and had to venture a guess as to why Aria is so grumpy as of late, it would be the fact that my ex-girlfriend, whom Aria thought was dead, is now alive and well and using me as a support system. Yet, sure — this works, too.
Hanna & Caleb Make A Promise
Hanna and Caleb (Tyler Blackburn) dodge questions from Marco (Nicholas Gonzalez) who is pretty convinced that Caleb had something to do with that flood that ruined the receipts at The Radley...because, well, he did. In response, Hanna details Lucas' (Brendan Robinson) car so that not a trace of evidence is left from her hit-and-run with Rollins, and seeks out the shovels the Liars' used to bury the fake doctor's body. Alas, when she goes to find the shovels in the woods, the groundskeeper says that they've already been plucked from the scene. Well, crap. If only Hanna knew that her sometimes-pal Mona was the one holding those shovels hostage.
Ashley Marin (Laura Leighton), who is back in town just in time for Hanna to be in the middle of yet another murder investigation, is pretty convinced Hanna and her boyfriend are up to know good, as she's clearly watched PLL before. However, when she arrives for an Italian dinner at the loft — to drink wine and question Haleb about recent events — Caleb drops a truth bomb no one (except those who watched the preview) were expecting. Caleb tells Ashley he wants to marry Hanna — without any bells or whistles — and Hanna is definitely is into the idea. The two make their engagement official in the most Haleb way ever: by recreating their season 1 tent date, complete with suggestive shadows.
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Some Remaining Questions:
Why the hell does Veronica stay with Peter? How many terrible things can one man do before this badass lawyer decides to say "Nah, I'm good" on being his wife?
Is Alison really in New York visiting Jason (Drew Van Acker), or could she be somewhere else? I think we wrote off the "Ali is A.D." theory a long time ago, but still...
So Mona definitely has those shovels because she wants to protect the Liars, right? It's the only possible explanation, unless Mona really knows how to hold a grudge. Considering the Liars have treated her like a second-class citizen after the time jump, it's understandable, but fingers crossed the explanation for this reveal is that Mona's motives are pure. Or at least pure-ish.
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