Pretty Little Liars 3.04 Birds of a Feather

This week emotional baggage and personal catastrophe took center stage, as the new A started to turn up the heat on their own form of justice. Spencer had to face her sister’s misdeeds; Hanna’s secrets took their toll on her relationship with Caleb; Emily continued to struggle with Maya’s death; and Aria, well Aria didn’t do much of anything this week, but more Holly Marie Combs isn’t a bad thing, right?

As it trundles through these new episodes, Pretty Little Liars has been paying close mind to ensuring that this time around, A means business. We’ve faced the same kind of enemy before, so a little embellishment is necessary to give it more power this time around. Mona was batshit, but she would never go so far as to run some poor innocent woman off the road just to prove a point. It’s these raised stakes that make all of the fallout a little harder to take. Hanna took the brunt of A’s temper this week, forcing Caleb to call it quits; poor Han.

Spence had just as many personal fiascos to melt through as Hanna. The trip to Philadelphia, which boasted some of the sloppiest sleuthing ever, finally brought Melissa’s role as the Black Swan to light. It’s not that surprising to figure this out, the pool of suspects is rather tiny, but it’s refreshing to see the show burn through so much mystery in such a short space of time. Maybe Melissa is telling the truth, but I still think she has a greater role to play in Alison’s death and ‘A’ than she’s letting on.

Maya’s death has really changed Emily, and her coming to terms with it has been a lonely journey for her, so much so that it feels fitting that a stranger, who has a similarly strong connection with her, would be the one to help her start the road to recovery, not the other titular liars. Like everyone else, Nate is probably hiding some secrets, so his presence over the coming weeks is a given, and it’s nice to see Emily make a connection with someone who needs nothing more than a friend.

Aria’s home troubles don’t boast the same firework’s as Spencer’s (that family is crazy), so a diversion to Ella’s love life, or lack thereof, feels a little redundant in the context of everything else going on this week. I like seeing Holly getting an increased role this season, but maybe something more interesting than a single Mom finding some booty wouldn’t go amiss? I did like her reasoning with Aria though, that after so many years of being a mother, and a wife, she just wants time for herself.

Despite a few flaws, Birds of a Feather maintained this new season’s forward momentum by carrying forward all of the fun and mystery of the past few weeks; a solid effort.

7/10