TV Review: Pretty Little Liars 5×10 “A Dark Ali”

Cyrus Petrillo is his name, and there’s much more to him than we thought.

Alison has 48 hours to identify Cyrus as her kidnapper, and if she fails to do so he is free to go. Everyone assumes this is obviously a trap set up by “A.” But we possibly overestimated “A” and definitely underestimated Ali.

All of the girls are insisting that Ali doesn’t ID Cyrus. Ali told the liars (and had us all believing this was her real plan) that ID’ing Cyrus would lead them all to “A.”

Might I say that Ali’s dad really annoys me? I can’t really put my finger on why, but every time he comes on my TV screen I have an automatic impulse to just roll my eyes. Maybe it’s because he is so clueless, even more so than the other Rosewood parents.

 

I am happy to say that Caleb and Hannah are getting their lives back together. We haven’t seen drunken Hannah come out to play for the past two episodes. This week, she’s cleaning out Caleb’s cabin and trying to take up normal hobbies and extracurricular activities. She and Caleb are even going on runs and eating kale. She even auditions for her school’s choir. Who even knew that Hannah could sing? It’s good that Caleb took Spencer’s advice and is helping Hannah channel her energy the right way.

Advertisement

No place is safe in Rosewood. “A” has insight on everything. They were even able to get into Spencer’s secret hiding place and stole Ali’s medical exam and police testimony recording.

 

Spencer is freaked out because this poor girl hasn’t known what privacy is for the last two years of her life. Thankfully her nifty cameras caught Melissa handing over something to a man outside of the Hastings barn. We can’t say if it’s Cyrus (though I don’t think so), but she tells the man to trust her and just “do it.”

Advertisement

Spencer doesn’t doubt that Ali is capable of bringing all of the PLLs down as she tries to cover up all her lies. She comes up with a plan to go to Tanner and confess that they only found out Ali was alive in Ravenswood and that they know she was never kidnapped. Obviously Hannah is all on board for this plan but Aria and Emily are the hardest to convince. Emily will fight against anyone for Ali.

It turns out that Ali really does know Cyrus. I knew that wasn’t the first time they had met. Cyrus is the one who gave Ali the scar on her thigh that the medical examiner questioned her about.

Advertisement

 

Ali met Cyrus when they were both on the run. Something romantic apparently happened between them and Cyrus betrayed Alison, leaving her for someone else. As he left her, he took all her belongings and money after she slammed her against a wall and cut her thigh with a sharp blade when Ali tried to fight back.

At the choir audition Mona passes out from a panic attack. It turns out she’s been getting them ever since Ali came back. Mona is terrified of Ali; that’s why she put the whole Mona army together. Yet, Hannah found a picture of Cyrus Petrillo in Mona’s bag when she helped Mona after she fainted.

So she ends up following Mona to the police station. Mona is able to hack into Tanner’s phone and they overhear that Alison and her father are going with Tanner to identify the place where Cyrus said he held Ali captive. I’m super torn about Mona. I’m also torn about her and Hannah’s friendship. No matter what happens between them there’s this affection that remains for one another. They lived through a lot together and were real friends despite it all. It was nice seeing them team up together even for a little while. At least we found out that Mona isn’t behind the set up with Cyrus.

Meanwhile, Spencer has a run-in with Melissa and things get as honest as they can between two Hastings. Melissa claims she joined Mona’s army to prove to Spencer that Ali has remained as toxic as always. She doesn’t want Spencer close to Ali when “she gets what she deserves.”

 

But the most important thing is that Melissa warns Spencer about how dangerous it’s getting for them. Melissa is planning on escaping before things get worse and even tells Spencer she should consider going with her. Towards the end of the episode we see that Melissa seems to be recording her big secret to show to Spencer, probably before she leaves town.

I just hope that Spencer is able to see that video without any interruptions from “A.” I also can’t help but think that maybe “A” may get to Melissa before she leaves town and harm her… if not kill her. I hope not!

Back at the basement, Alison identifies the place for Tanner. Hence, this means that Cyrus will be taken into custody since Ali has ID’ed him. Hannah overhears Tanner speaking with the police department about holding Cyrus and informs the rest of the PLLs. To say that Emily is furious with Ali is an understatement. The scenes where Emily gets angry and really speaks up her mind are my favorite for her character. Emily tends to be a pushover and easily manipulated so I love seeing when she actually shows she has a backbone, especially when it comes to Ali. I also think it allows Shay Mitchell to show off a little bit more of her acting chops.

She is so done with Ali and all of her games. Emily is so serious about how disappointed she is with Ali that she agrees to go along with Spencer’s plan to come clean. The only one left to come on board is Aria. Let’s see if she changes her mind by the next episode.

There’s been a twist of events with Cyrus. He was released minutes before Tanner made in the call after Ali identified him and there’s a warrant out for his arrest. He’ll be okay, though, because he had a deal with Ali all along. They meet in the woods, Ali wearing a dark wig as a disguise channeling her Vivian Bloomwood alter ego.

Ali hands Cyrus a passport and plane ticket out of town. She called him in to pretend to be her kidnapper and get everyone off her back. Alison had the greatest plan of all up her sleeve the whole time. Of course, she never thought to inform any of her friends about what she was going to do. Spencer is right when she says that Ali has gone rogue. Cyrus mentions he should have told the cops how they really met and all the fun they had—there’s got to be more to this whole story. I’m hoping we get to see some more Ali flashbacks next week. As Cyrus leaves, there’s a decal sticker that says “bata bata” with a figure playing a drum. Nothing is a coincidence on this show, so I’m wondering how that’s going to pop up in the following episodes.

The episode closes out to “A” folding their stack of hoodies and gloves, but we also see the hospital candy striper uniform back out. This means we’re going to have another trip back to the hospital and I’m hoping it’s not because Melissa is there.

 

There is one episode left before the summer finale event. I feel like that’s not nearly enough time to answer a third of the questions I have. We want answers over here, not a series of more questions!

Comment below on what you think is going to happen in the following two episodes left of the summer season!

Gif/ Photo Credits:

dilaurentisliar Tumblr

pretty-little-liars-1 Tumblr

 

Advertisement

Exit mobile version