Spoilers ahead but you should know that already as the series’ house of lies build on each other.

The Liars are brought together once more to protect one of their own as A threatens the most vulnerable of them all. Yes, you may think it’s Emily but it’s close. It’s her daughter.

I was a bit confused Emily told Chloe that she had only told her sister about her pregnancy but apparently the other Liars found out about it by the summer so they could help sneak her out of the hospital out of her C-section. Continuity error? Who knows? I don’t really care because it created such a tense high-stakes secret, almost as big as the Jenna thing.

As for why she had to get out of the hospital. No, her parents hadn’t found out yet but she had to give her baby to good adoptive parents, not the psycho lady that she originally promised her daughter too. And they believed they succeeded until the woman, Gayle pops up and is not so discreetly threatening that she will get what she paid for.

First she strikes Hanna’s father’s campaign, helping with big donations. So the Liars hope Hanna can get closer to finding out if she’s sending out the texts. But Hanna has her own distractions by becoming Colleen’s A. Colleen being Mike’s new GF whom Hanna is extremely jealous of. This was such an intriguing switch as we all know how cutthroat Spencer can be, Hanna engaged in the more mundane alpha bitch antics of rumor-spreading and insults. Here she accesses her inner A with her stalking in search for blackmail. Plus it is implied that Hanna’s car crash during the summer may have resulted in another dead body to the Liars’ ledger.

As for the most cut-throat Liar, Spencer is making all the wrong steps as she tries to get into a Princeton Eating Club and experiments with even more drugs. While I’m usually interested in Spencer’s storylines, this was more of the same. Trying to be the best, A making her mess up, thinking maybe she should let go and relax her perfectionism a little, rinse and repeat. You get the idea.

Aria’s storyline is also a bit trite as she struggles with whether or not to tell Noel a secret she found out about his father. But at least it had some thoughtful reflection about the nature of secrets and protecting yourself/your family with two heartfelt talks with Ella and Meredith in regards to the fateful affair that blew up all their lives. And we still only have hints of what happened to Aria in Iceland. What happened in Iceland!?

Now Emily is the true star of the story from trying to figure out where the adoptive parents moved to reconnecting with Isaac (and her returning feelings for him prevent her from blurting out the very important truth) and then comes the big climax when A threatens her baby girl. You got to love how the quiet ones get the most protective. And when A threatens her daughter, her idolation of Ali finally crumbles and she sees the psycho for who she really is. Yes!!! Victory for Emily, I’m so glad she finally sees.

But this is only the calm before the storm, if you call finding another dead body calm. But the next book is sure to bring a few more corpses as the girls return to the scene of their crime for the big Senior eco-cruise getaway. All aboard, or overboard as A would say.