(Freeform)
On Tuesday’s “Pretty Little Liars,” the Liars became suspicious of each other in the wake of Charlotte’s apparent murder. Here are the most important things to know about “Charlotte’s Web,” the 12th episode of season 6.
The show began with the Liars pressuring Aria to stay in Rosewood amid the homicide investigation into Charlotte’s death, but she insisted she had to get back to Boston for work. Hanna privately confronted Aria over leaving the hotel the night of the murder, but she refused to give up any details. The girls were also suspicious of Sara’s possible involvement, and fearful that she may spill what secretly went down between them five years ago.
Alison was enraged to find out Lorenzo was taking Sara off the suspect list, as he explained her lingering injuries would have made it impossible for her to cause Charlotte’s “violent” death, in which her neck was broken by blunt force trauma prior to the fall from the church bell tower, which was staged to look like a suicide. Meanwhile, Spencer feared that the town already pinning the murder on them would ruin her mother’s state senate campaign, Emily dodged her mom’s pressure to visit her father’s grave, and Hanna’s fiancé Jordan surprised her in Rosewood to lift her spirits.
Before going to the airport, Aria went to Ezra to “clear the air,” telling him they never saw each other the night of Charlotte’s death, he never called her, she never left the hotel, and they never spoke or walked anywhere. “Whatever you say, Aria,” he responded to the alibi request. Alison voiced her own suspicious about Aria to Spencer and Hanna, before asking them to have dinner with her that night.
A panicked Spencer revealed to Caleb that the specifics of Charlotte’s death matched a paper she wrote for criminology in college, and she worried she was being set up, but he insisted everything going on was “coincidence.” Back in Boston, Aria dodged Ali’s call and happily reunited at work with boyfriend Liam, but their boss threatened to take Aria off the Ezra book account if she couldn’t get him to deliver the goods.
Back in Rosewood, Emily had blood drawn at a medical center as part of a series of treatments, but her ailment wasn’t revealed and she seemed to have secret financial issues, too. Emily asked Sabrina, the manager of The Brew, to not let anyone know that they ran into each other outside the doctor’s office. Sabrina said she previously battled cancer, and said Emily would need support. Em rejected the advice, and at the dinner at Ali’s, seemed to lie about her studies and work, and why, despite them, she’d be staying in town for another month. She also later lied to her mom about a grad school interview at Hollis when Mrs. Fields saw she had an upcoming medical appointment there.
Caleb was clearly uncomfortable being at the dinner with Jordan, but was touched when he found out Hanna still had a table he made for her years ago. It continued to seem like Caleb and Spencer were now more than just friends, or possibly had been at some point during the last few years. Ali, meanwhile, was still fixated on her Aria suspicion. Hanna revealed to Spencer that Aria lied about being in the hotel all night, and the next day, Emily saw Aria back in town and sneaking up to Ezra’s apartment. Though she was there to get a draft of his book, she couldn’t help but ask where he went after they met up that fateful night of Charlotte’s death. Ezra said without looking at her, “I went home.”
Hanna, Spencer, and Emily looked at the security footage from the hotel, which showed Aria leaving with Ezra but coming back alone after the time of Charlotte’s murder. That prompted them to confront her about “what really happened that night.” A flashback showed Ezra comforting Aria about Charlotte’s release, before they took a walk around Rosewood. From a distance, they spied Charlotte going into the church, and Ezra was infuriated by the sighting, saying how she gets to go “free” while people like Nicole “disappear.”
The flashback ended with Aria getting in a cab and leaving Ezra behind, but now she admitted to the girls that he may have lied when he told her he went right home after. Emily thought it was a “giant leap” to conclude he had killed Charlotte, but Spencer revealed she once told Ezra all the details of her murder paper. She theorized that, fueled by anger from Nicole’s apparent death and a desire to protect Aria, Ezra may have been motivated to kill Charlotte. And, the Liars thought, Aria’s disappearance from the hotel would only make her look like an accomplice, leading her to insist the security footage be deleted.
In the final few minutes, Spencer’s mom assured her she would stand by her through any issues, and Emily went to her father’s grave, and spoke about how “nothing made sense” following his death, leading her to flunk two classes and lose her scholarship, all of which she’s kept a secret. She broke down as she vowed to “fix” things, but was startled when she saw Sara at Charlotte’s nearby grave. Aria did research on Nicole’s death, while Hanna deleted the security footage and contemplated her future with Jordan. At the very end, Ali told Lorenzo she now thought her friends had something to do with Charlotte’s murder.
The promo for next week showcased Hanna asking Spencer if she has feelings for Caleb and the Liars confronting Ezra about his possible involvement in Charlotte’s murder.
