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Pretty Little Liars Recap: S7 E12 “These Boots Were Made For Stalking”

The Liars debate their next move after the game shows them video footage of the girls disposing of Archer’s body, and Emily storms out, refusing to participate. The anger bubbling inside Emily, between her struggle to break through to Alison and the tension between her and Paige, is so wound tight it shouldn’t be difficult for A.D. to finally snap it.

A reporter is hanging around Ezra’s place looking for an interview for a human interest piece on his reunion with Nicole, and Aria becomes frustrated when the reporter assumes Ezra is betrothed to Nicole and not her. Aria brings her anger with her back to the restaurant, where she offers to help Holden prep for a rehearsal dinner. The Liars are heating up in this round and seem just as likely to sabotage themselves with A.D.’s help.

Back at the school, a snotty, trouble making student named Addison overhears Emily and Paige discussing details of their history, and then she snoops again outside of Alison’s classroom. Addison, who is practically an Ali mini-me, makes a threat to Emily when she tells her she’s off the lineup of that week’s swim meet for missing practice. Afterward, Addison approaches Paige with accusations of inappropriate sexual harassment behavior, showing her a photo of Emily touching Ali innocently just previously in her classroom.

Paige takes the photo straight to Emily, who is understandably seeing red in response, but Paige convinces Emily to let her diffuse the situation and take the night off. I’m shocked and impressed at the complication and tenacity Pretty Little Liars has shown in tackling this conflict. It’s easy to forget that the Liars are adults now, and that actions exist outside of the ‘A’ universe, every day ugliness from average because that has the capacity to destroy lives. The confrontation of the potential consequences of false sexual harassment claims are not limited just to pairings of the opposite sex.

Mona shows up with a stack of dresses she had stolen from Hanna’s own closet, and Hanna refuses to agree to hand over the design that’s chosen by the Senator’s daughter. Later, Hanna reveals that the design doesn’t entirely belong to her, since she used most of the suggestions Claudia made back when Hanna brought the design forward in her previous job.

Caleb encourages her to use the dress anyway, because it’s the least Claudia owes her for making her life hell for three years. Oh Haleb, I’m so glad you’re back together and to encouraging one another to live in the immoral grey area.

Spencer calls her steamy cop friend over and hands him the letter from Mary Drake she received from A.D. after an argument with her mother over the secret her parents had kept from her all these years. At the precinct, Spencer is in Detective Fury’s office when Jenna walks in with a confession to make. Jenna claims Noel was after Jenna as well as the Liars and had manipulated Jenna into helping him with a promise to give her money that belonged to Charlotte to pay for another eye surgery. I call bullshit on this one.

Emily is at the coffee shop on the phone with Hanna when Jenna shows up with two friends tagging along. After trying to scope out what she’s up to, Emily also spots Addison scheming on her phone. Upon seeing Jenna, Emily races to Alison to ask for the key to the board game, admitting that A.D. took a final exam on her behalf in order to earn her college degree. Emily has decided to take a turn at the game, because she thinks Addison is part of it.

We never really find out if Addison is, in fact, part of this all, but A.D. helps Emily regardless, in turn encouraging her to lean in to her darker, manipulative side. The game shows Emily a security video of Addison in her boyfriend’s care during the same time she’s supposed to be at swim practice but went home with a headache.

Emily takes the evidence to confront Addison in person, but Paige interrupts them and has in fact handled the situation herself. Paige had the principal perform an inquiry, and discovered an email of Addison bragging to her peers about disposing of Emily, so her father was waiting for her in the office. See Emily, you don’t have to play the bag girl game to sort out your problems, sometimes you can trust that people really will pull through for you.

Once Spencer gets back home, her mother reveals that they have decided to sell their house, leading to an emotional discussion largely spent talking at Spencer’s back. I completely understand Spencer’s shock and frustration at this recent revelation regarding her biological parentage, but, as a coparent of an adoptive child, I do wish she’d begin to choose her words carefully about who is and isn’t her actual mother. Mrs. Hastings is her parent in all the ways that matter.

Mona and Hanna also see Jenna, who is wearing a white version of the same dress Catherine has chosen to wear. Caleb confronts Jenna while Hanna sneaks in to the shoe cobbler’s shop where Jenna had sent her minions to likely copy yet another one of her designs.

Hanna gets trapped inside the shop, which has been booby trapped, but she gets a text from A.D. telling her to wait her turn. Caleb shows up and pries open the door that had locked Hanna inside, and she appears to be in shock. Doesn’t it seem like Hanna’s always getting the most brutal end of A.D.’s wrath?

Aria shows up at the place where Nicole is staying, and Holden tries to keep her from going all single white female over an article that’s been written about Ezra’s reunion with Nicole. He encourages her to give Ezra some time to come back around, but I’d rather just see a Holden and Aria coupling. Team Ezria has never really been my cup of tea.

Emily inserts her piece next to Spencer’s and it looks like the beginning of a map to part of Rosewood. Where’s our usual cryptic ending with some A.D. antics? Oh well, until next time, bitches.

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