This Article Originally Ran On Blumhouse.com
Welcome to A Very Spooky… where we take a look at and review a classic TV series that is not known for horror but would, on occasion, dip its toes into the waters of terror…
I had never seen an episode of Pretty Little Liars before I watched this one. I didn’t have a clue what it was about - if you had asked me, I would have guessed that it was about a group of high school girls who are mean and maybe one of them doesn’t want to be mean. Seems I was very wrong.
Pretty Little Liars, as I’ve learned, is about four relatively normal girls who had their lives thrown into disarray by another girl who would give Heather Chandler a run for her money in being a real meanie. The mean girl of Pretty Little Liars is Alison, and as it happens, she’s missing. She disappeared a year before the series began, and with her disappearance, the group split up until they each got a message that they believed came from Alison. From what I can figure on Wikipedia, the show is about finding out who sent the message, since Alison’s body is found. Oh she dead.
Again, I knew none of this when I jumped into the show with season 2, episode 13, “The First Secret”. I swear to you all, I watched the episode thinking that each one is just as insane. And man, it is seriously insane.
The episode plays out like the first act of a slasher. It opens with a story of murder - twin girls fighting over a doll leads to one twin killing the other. We see that the story is being told by Alison to a young boy as they carve a pumpkin. Hanna, one of the not mean girls, is there too. Halloween is coming! Halloween 2008 to be exact! I guess if you watch the show, it is clear that this means the episode takes place in the past. I had no idea. All I knew was that the pre-credits sequence was awesome.
The girls, who are Alison, Hanna, Spencer, Aria, and Emily, are walking to school discussing their Halloween costumes. Alison wants Hanna to dress as Britney Spears, and slips in a fat joke at Hanna’s expense (to be clear, Hanna is not fat, but Alison is a bitch). The scene makes it clear that the other girls all fear Alison - she is the alpha of the group, and she holds that position with sly put-downs and false niceties. Emily explains that her boyfriend wants her to go as “Sexy Cop” but she wants to go as the more insensitive “Sexy Native American”. Aria is doing her best to not get caught in the gaze of Alison, and Spencer is checking her phone for updates on the class president elections, a position she is running for. She excitedly announces that she has the debate club vote.
The girls get invited to a party by a car full of jock type dudes, who are lead by Noel. Noel takes a liking to Aria and the boys drive off just in time for the girls to realize that they are in front of an old abandoned house. Emily notices that someone is inside the house and the girls all get real uneasy, moving past it quickly. Then there’s a scene with Emily and some other dude and a snow globe that I imagine would mean something to me if I watched the show. It certainly doesn’t pay off in this episode.
We catch up with the gals at a costume shop where we get a quick jump scare as Noel, with one of those super creepy clear plastic masks, grabs Alison from behind, covering her mouth. All in good fun! Alison then spots a girl she doesn’t know and takes an instant dislike of her. The girl, who we learn is Jenna, is checking out a Lady Gaga costume. Alison introduces herself, and Jenna claims to already know who she is. Alison then explains that she is dressing as Lady Gaga this year, so that costume is off limits. Like I said, Alison is kind of a jerk. The two ladies make some nice talk that sounds nice if you don’t pay attention to the tones of their voices. These two straight up hate each other within seconds of meeting.
As Alison walks away from her “nice” talk with Jenna, she gets a text that reads “I’m watching you” from a blocked number. Alison looks around nervously, but doesn’t see anyone suspicious. As she turns around, she comes face to face with a character I'll call “The Creep”. The costume "The Creep" wears is seriously great looking. The mask is real freaky (though it did remind me of the mask from 2001’s Valentine) and the outfit is a suit made of burlap with straps all over it. Very freaky looking. Alison, shocked, calls "The Creep" “freak” and storms out of the store.
Then there is some stuff that I’m sure fits into the overall story of the show - we see Spencer at home with her sister, Melissa, and her sister’s boyfriend, Ian, who is all about a video camera he has. Alison shows up and full on hits on Ian. Ian is kinda feeling it, but not enough to flirt back. Then Alison is mean to Melissa. Did I mention that Alison is a full on jerk?
There’s a bit with Aria going to see her dad at his job, and some girl being in his office, laying on the couch. Hanna deals with her drunk mom being driven home by a weird cop. It seems that Hanna’s dad has recently left her mom for another woman. Spencer is trying to get more people to vote for her come election day.
At home, Alison gets a package that includes a doll made of burlap. Pinned to the doll is a note that reads “My turn to torture you”. Alison hides the note in the head of another doll that she keeps in a box behind an air vent in her room.
At Hanna’s house, the weird cop who drove her mom home shows up and is real weird. Like, kinda stalkerish. Hanna’s mom politely tells weird cop she’s not feeling it, so he pretty much threatens her.
Alison and Aria are out to get some yogurt when they see Aria’s dad in his car with that girl from his office. Aria’s dad is cheating on her mom! No longer in the mood for yogurt, Aria runs off. Alison heads to Spencer’s house and tells her that she'll lose the election. Crying, Spencer goes into how her losing the election will disappoint her parents, who have already set up a party to celebrate. Alison says that she can rig the election so that Spencer wins. Spencer goes for it!
The next day at school, Alison makes both Aria and Spencer real uncomfortable as she toys with the idea of telling others of their secrets (the cheating dad, and the cheating class president!). A dude named Lucas, who had the lid off (and points to anyone who gets that reference) bumps into Alison, so she tears him apart, first implying, then straight up telling the others that he is a hermaphrodite when they don’t pick up on her hints. Alison is really going for evil jerk of the year, huh?
That night, the not quite Heathers gang meet up to get ready for Noel’s party. As they all get into their costumes, they see "The Creep" out the window, watching them. "The Creep" walks off and a second later the doorbell rings. Three of the girls go to answer (it may be the pizza guy), leaving Aria and Alison together. Aria decides that, what with just finding out her dad is cheating on her mom, she isn’t in the mood to party. Alison threatens to tell everyone that Aria's dad is a dick if she skips the party. Alison... boy she just isn't nice.
At the party, Jenna is also dressed as Lady Gaga so there’s some tension. Alison, looking to get her hate on, tells Emily that she knows she’s gay, which shocks Emily. Then she tells Spencer that some of her “friends” didn’t vote for her. There’s also a girl dressed as Catwoman who gives Alison a real cold “hello”. Alison, confused, asks if they know each other. Catwoman responds “not yet” and walks off. As these scenes unfold, "The Creep" can be seen a few times in the background, which adds some great tension.
Sure enough, Alison disappears and the other girls all get the same text “I’m in trouble. Come alone”. The girls rush off to help Alison, who in no way deserves help. She texts that she's at 313 Mockingbird Lane - the creepy abandoned house, and almost the address of The Munsters!
The girls enter the house, which is real creepy looking, and find Alison, who has locked herself in a room. Alison tells them that she was grabbed by "The Creep", who had knife and forced her to the house and locked her in a bathroom. She was able to break out of the bathroom, but "The Creep" was blocking the exit so she ran into the room and locked the door. Unable to get a signal in the room, Alison volunteers to go into the hall and contact the police. She leaves and the girls lock the door.
In the hall, Alison is attacked by "The Creep". The girls, and we the viewers, watch through the keyhole of the bedroom door as Alison fights "The Creep". It appears that Alison is stabbed. But she is able to get away. The girls in the room can’t get out - the door is blocked on the other side. They quickly climb out a window and head back into the house where they find Alison sitting in a rocking chair, holding the knife.
Alison explains that the whole thing was a test to see if the girls would stand with her should she ever need them. Then she makes fun of Hanna for being fat (she isn’t fat). "The Creep", according to Alison, is Noel. The other girls aren’t very happy about this, but everyone goes back to the party.
At the party, "The Creep" rushes past Alison, bumping into her as he say under his breath “bitch”. "The Creep" goes off to a corner and takes off his mask. It is Lucas, the kid Alison said is a hermaphrodite. He looks pissed. Noel, in the same costume as "The Creep", walks up to Alison and the girls and apologizes - he wasn’t able to get to the house. But if it wasn’t him… who was "The Creep"? The girls look around and sure enough, there are multiple people dressed in the same costume as "The Creep". It could be any of them!
Like I said, I’d never seen an episode of Pretty Little Liars before this, but now I fully intend to give the show a go. The episode plays out as the start of a slasher or mystery - we see why so many people would want Alison gone, we learn a dark secret about most of the main characters, and we get a great looking costume for a killer. I can’t imagine every episode of the show has this slasher feel to it, but I’m interested to see how the show feels normally.
Having not seen other episodes of the series, I can say for sure that this one pretty much makes sense as a stand alone, though the ending isn’t very fulfilling. Lucky for us, "The Creep" really is creepy looking, and the actors are all pretty solid. Still, I’d suggest just starting with the first episode of Pretty Little Liars and get here organically. I bet it plays better that way. I know I’ll be finding out.
In what I think is an A Very Spooky… first, we have something of a connection to a previous show covered here! Spencer is played by Troian Bellisario, who is the daughter of Donald P. Bellisario creator of Quantum Leap (there’s even a spooky episode of Quantum Leap named after her!). Maybe Sam will leap into one of the girls on Pretty Little Liars!