Pretty Little Liars – Season 3 Episode 5 – Recap and Review – That Girl is Poison

Happy Birthday, Jenna Marshall! Pretty Little Liars spent it’s fifth episode this season, “That Girl is Poison,” planning and celebrating the birth of Jenna (Tammin Sursock). She can see! Well, she’s been able to see the whole season, but she decided to make her public debut just in time for her party. Spencer (Troian Bellisario), Emily (Shay Mitchell), Aria (Lucy Hale), and Hanna (Ashley Benson) were all invited to the celebration, but because it’s season three, none of them bothered to hide their contempt for the girl.

ABC Family “Pretty Little Liars”

Spencer: “What is this? What is this, Jenna?!”

Declared Spencer after receiving her bogus invite. I wish I’d had PLL to show me the light back when I was getting invited to sweet sixteens in high school. They had a deal. They would keep Jenna’s sight a secret to help protect her. Jenna decided that she feels safer not pretending to be blind after all. She would rather be in complete control, so she threw a party for herself. Will A #2 reek havoc?

The liars are warn out. This new A isn’t the kind of creepy fun the old A was. This one is actually scary. Considering the fact that under the silly A from the first two seasons, two people died, I’d say they should be on their toes at all times.

Hey, there’s A #2 in the bushes now! Aria swears she spotted A outside of Garrett’s (Yani Gellman) house the night his mother fell into a coma. This A seems clumsier than the last but it sends fewer texts. Spencer and Emily watch on, as well. Hanna was home wallowing over her breakup with Caleb. Were they being watched, or was A looking to empty out Garrett’s house? The girls are still figuring out the new rules of the game. They don’t know whether or not the police have evidence linking them to Ali’s grave robbery. As it turns out, Garrett was granted some sort of very lenient “get out of jail free” card to visit his ailing mother, and just in time for Jenna’s birthday bash! All of the best shenanigans always go down at big parties.

The next day, Aria and Ezra (Ian Harding) stop for coffee before a big job interview. Aria ended up running in and cleaning out the snack stand for Fitz. He’s unemployed, and she feels for him. He doesn’t want any handouts from his girlfriend, though. Later, Spencer’s words of wisdom to Aria said it all.

Spencer: “Every time you ‘baby squirrel’ Ezra, you take away hit nuts.”

Before Aria gets in Ezra’s car to leave, she spies Lucas (Brendan Robinson) banging on the door to the town photography studio. He wants his stuff back! To what stuff is he referring?

ABC Family “Pretty Little Liars”

At the high school, Emily bumped into Paige (Lindsey Shaw) for the first time this season. Paige suspected that Emily had been avoiding her, but Emily insisted that it’s been her own issues keeping her from her social life. She invites Paige to go see Katy Perry’s Part of Me movie to see what makes Ms. Firework “sizzle.” I did not make that up. Emily said that. Paige agrees to go, but more importantly, Emily spots Jenna sauntering down the hallway in a shower of congratulations from her peers. She can see!.. again. This is the point at which Jenna hands out her invites, “gliding around school all day like a Thanksgiving float.” Spencer suspects anthrax.

Hanna mopes to her mother, Ashley (Laura Leighton), about her failed relationship. She’s even wearing sweats. Ashley doesn’t want her cutting school anymore (spoiler: she does anyway.), so she signs her up to volunteer sorting donated clothes at the church. Hanna begrudgingly agrees.

Hanna: “Fine, send me to church.”

At work, Emily is forced into attending Jenna’s birthday party as staff. Jenna was in the background conversing with the party photographer, Laurel. Nate (Sterling Sulieman), Maya’s cousin, showed up again to vent about Garrett being released for a night. He’s furious, and he gets frustrated when Emily doesn’t flip out as well. She probably didn’t because Jenna was right there glaring at them. Emily managed to overhear Laurel complaining that her former assistant was stealing supplies. It was Lucas! Once Emily left, though, Jenna got her flirt on with Nate. After complimenting his artwork, she invited him to her party.

Spencer decides to skip the party in favor of camping out at the hospital. She wants the opportunity to watch Garrett in action. Hanna is stuck volunteering. Lucky, Hanna. Aria, on the other hand, is ready to roll. She’s going to the party to rub elbows with Laurel, with whom she took a photography class the summer prior. She wants to get to the bottom of the Lucas situation, and as it turns out, Ezra is invited, too.

Emily has to cancel on Katy Perry, but she decides to still hang out with Paige, who (surprise) was also invited! In Emily’s room, Paige finds the flask from the night Emily blacked out. Emily wants it gone, so she offers it to Paige. Paige says there’s still a little something left in there. Bonus, Paige!

Before leaving for the party, Ezra makes it clear that he only wants to drop by. He made a reservation for a nice dinner. Aria is hesitant to go because she’s worried about his financial situation, but she doesn’t let him know. Aria is most definitely the strongest literal liar. Ezra surprise gifts her with an ancient camera, like one the cavemen used to use, and she’s happy but uncomfortable. It looks expensive, and later, Laurel confirms that it is.

The volunteering situation is mostly bleak for Hanna. Her mom, on the other hand, strikes up a conversation with Ted, the coordinator, over sharing church cookies. I think Hanna’s mom is a catch. Hanna lost her appetite sifting through old bras, but she did manage to stumble upon something very important, a clue! She found Emily’s jacket from the night of the grave robbery. Emily was supposed to have burned it, but there it was in Hanna’s hands. More evidence has leaked out, and it’s only a matter of time before A drops another bomb.

At the hospital, Spencer looks bored to death. She’s secretly watching Garrett pick out flowers she decides are “heinous and tacky,” but she’s more concerned with the note he attaches. Why leave a note for someone in a coma to read? As she’s questioning, she bumps into none other than Wilden, the cop who’s always hounding them. He warns her to stay out of it, again, and reminds her that it’s his job to solve the murder. Spencer tries to lie.

Maybe I’m an idiot, but Jenna’s party theme appears to be “Wild ‘N Crazy Hats.” As soon as Aria and Ezra arrive, Jenna pretends it’s the first time she’s seen their faces. Also, she reveals that she hired Laurel to purposely record everything in sight. Aria spent the night dodging Ezra to question Laurel, and Emily spent the night dodging Paige to work and help Nate cool off from earlier.

Laurel: “This girl’s got some classy friends!”

After Aria figures out that Lucas’ equipment is still in the studio, she comes up with a plan to covertly corrupt Laurel’s memory cards behind the scenes, in order to gain access to her studio. Aria even offers to be her new assistant, and Laurel is on board. Ezra thinks she’s purposely trying to dodge plans, so he doesn’t have to spend money. Maybe that’s a perk of her plan, but that’s probably not her plan. Laurel hands Aria the keys to her studio, and Aria heads over. Before she leaves, Ezra lets her know that he has money because he got the job he interviewed for; however, they’re now missing their celebratory dinner.

At the party, Paige get’s miffed that Emily had time to speak with Nate but not with her. She drowns her sorrows in the little sip of alcohol left in Emily’s flask, and she ends up wasted out of her mind. She even digs into Jenna’s cupcakes, cupcakes she claims tasted like “old pennies,” before they’re served. Then she passes out and cracks her face on the floor. Emily and Nate take her to the hospital.

Toby (Keegan Allen) dropped in on Spencer for a few minutes to get some action, and he managed to fill her in on some Jenna information. Apparently, she faked seeing shadows all summer but didn’t want to tell anyone for fear of even more pity if they faded back to black. If Jenna really is on there team, they probably could use someone so conniving.

Aria was very quick about stealing Lucas’ negatives. Did he photograph them at the gravesite? However, a shadow in the background is on to her. Is it A #2? Maybe, but it’s definitely Lucas! Lucas gets aggressive with Aria, whom he pressures to help him break into the studio. Ezra shows up in time to rescue her, and to scare Lucas off.

What happened to Paige? According to the doctors, she was drugged with an intense sleeping pill! This can only mean that Emily was drugged, as well! See, she’s not a drunk after all! Hanna also showed up to deliver Emily’s jacket, which Emily confirmed as her own. Hanna leaves, and so does the cop. Now that Garrett and the cop have left the hospital, Spencer returns to read that “get well soon” card! As she arrives, so does Garrett, yet again. When Nate scrambles to punch his lights out, Spencer sneaks into the elevator and heads off to Garrett’s mother’s room. What she ends up finding is an actual “get well” card. She looks bummed, but it turns out, someone snuck a post-it under his mother’s medical bracelet. It’s a note that reads “April Rose has the proof.”

Emily does her research on the sleeping drug, and apparently it’s one offered to inmates in need of sedation. Just as she figures this out, Aria finds a few of the pills in Lucas’ bag while sifting through his negatives.

The final scene, the quintessential A scene, featured A digging through a fairly unisex purse and pulling out a picture of Emily and pills for Maya.

What did you all think of the episode? Who’s side are Lucas and Jenna really on? Is A #2 male or female? Is Wilden actually trying to help, or is he just an annoyance? Would you be pissed off if someone ate your cupcakes before you served them?

ABC Family “Pretty Little Liars”