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Help me find "A" so I can come home.
Alison to Emily

Close Encounters is the sixteenth episode of Season 4 of Pretty Little Liars. It aired on January 21, 2014.

Synopsis[]

The Liars immediately follow up on their lead by taking a trip to the Busy Bee Inn, the place where Aria's family visited frequently in the past. Upon their arrival, they are met with a mess. Alison's clothes are laying all over the place, and a window has been smashed. The Liars begin to theorize what may have made Alison leave the Busy Bee Inn. Did A finally get to Alison? Before they come up with more theories, the door slowly closes, revealing a message from A: "YOU'RE TOO LATE! -A"

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Emily enters the church with a pie in one hand, and her phone in the other. She and Hanna discuss the events of the night before, while Hanna seems to be tossing her clothes in a pile on her bed. Hanna informs Emily her theory: Could the struggle at the Busy Bee Inn be a complete set up? After Emily sets down her pie for the Church bake sale, someone slowly enters the church and creeps out of Emily's view. 

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Spencer is sitting on a chair in Toby's loft looking down at her cell phone when someone knocks on the door. After opening the door, Spencer finds her father, Peter Hastings, standing at the other side. She immediately assumes Peter had been tracking her down. Peter orders Spencer to pack her bags and come back home immediately, but Spencer strikes back saying she'll only come back home if Peter comes clean about him and Jessica DiLaurentis. Peter enters Toby's loft and informs Spencer that "Jason has fallen off the wagon." He goes on to tell Spencer that Jason got into a bar fight and had been arrested. Toby comes downstairs with only a towel wrapped around his waist, and Peter tells him to get dressed because they needed to talk about Radley. Turning to Spencer, he added that they were going to talk alone. 

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At Ezra's apartment, Aria looks like she's lost in space, and Ezra noticed this. They start discussing Hanna and her break up, then topic changes to Ezra going to Philly to hang out with "an old college buddy". Ezra suggests he and Aria can have a dinner date reschedule at his cabin when Aria receives a text message from Jake. She informs Ezra she's going to cut all ties from Jake because Ezra was and will always be "The One" for her.

  

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At the Marin Household, Spencer is sitting on Hanna's bed watching Hanna throw away all clothes that reminds her of Caleb. Spencer tells Hanna that if she needs more time to process her break up, she can have all the time she wants, but Hanna just wants to move on. Ashley comes up to Hanna's bedroom, shocked to see Hanna cleaning out her closet. She tells Hanna to help bring stuff up from the basement because a pipe burst down there and it needs to be fixed up. Hanna, being fed up from talking about Caleb, exits the room to look for more bags. 

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Back at the Church, Emily is finishing up lighting candles when she hears someone moving behind her. She rushes over to a door finding it locked, turns around and sees Shana standing behind her. Shana tells Emily she has a message for her from Alison, but Emily assumes it's just a way for Shana is throw it in her face that Alison is dead. Shana tells Emily they both know Alison was never truly dead and Alison wants the Liars to stop looking for her since she got attacked at the Busy Bee Inn. Shana reveals that she's known Alison her entire life having been living next to Alison's grandparents house in Georgia. After Emily questioned Shana's friendship with Jenna, Shana tells Emily that Jenna was on Alison's suspect list to who might have been trying to kill her. Looking at Shana, Emily challenges her to prove she really knows Alison. 

Peter tells Toby there's not enough evidence to shut down Radley forever, so Radley wants him to sign papers for a settlement. Radley figured since an accident had occured on their property, they weren't going to go for negligence and Toby and his family needed some type of consolation. Peter hands Toby the papers for the settlement telling him he needs both Toby and his father's signatures for the settlement to got through. 

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Aria goes to see Jake, and immediately notices a huge gash above Jakes eye. He laughs it off and kisses Aria. Seeing Jake's punching bag, Aria suggests that maybe it was time for him to get a new one. Jake tells her he keeps it because it gives him good luck, as he has qualified for the National Championship. Jake asks Aria if she wants to go out to eat. She agrees, but then quickly changes her mind telling Jake she needed to talk to him about something. When Aria breaks up with Jake, he realizes that she had gotten back with Ezra. Aria tells Jake that she and Ezra have so much history together and Ezra was the one for her, but she offered to be friends with Jake. Jake tells her he's going to need a lot more time to think about their friendship. 

Spencer looks over the Agreement between the Cavanaughs and Radley Sanitarium. If Toby does sign the papers, he can never talk about what happened to his mother at Radley ever again or Toby will have to give all the money back they gave to him. Spencer doesn't like it, and tells Toby he needs to be absolutely sure of everything before signing the papers.

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The girls are at Aria's house talking about what Emily and Shana had been talking about earlier that day. Emily tells her friends that Shana confirmed Alison really did save Emily from the locked up barn in Over My Dead Body. Spencer asks Emily what she and Alison talked about outside the barn, but Emily refuses to tell them saying "I want to keep that between us." They begin to theorize about Shana and Alison's relationship, still believing that Shana could be one of A's minions. 

At the Marin household, Hanna opens the door to see Travis. He comes in and comments on Hanna's pool table, which was left there by her father after he moved out. Travis wanted to know if Hanna was doing any better, and after telling him she was completely fine, she challenges him to a game of pool. 

In the park, Shana tells Emily that Alison missed her the most because Emily was Alison's favorite. Emily, believing in Shana's words, demands to know where Alison is right now. Shana tells her she never knows where Alison is, because Alison is the one who comes to Shana, not the other way around. Shana also informs Emily she's known Alison was always alive since the events of UnmAsked. Emily asks why Shana never told anyone that Alison was alive, but Shana ignores her telling her that in order for her to see Alison, she needed to go alone.

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Hanna and Travis are still playing pool, and Travis comments on how much of a good mood Hanna is in. As Hanna goes to take her shot, she misses which makes her mad. Travis goes over to give Hanna advice, telling her her pool stick was way too low. She gives him a look, since he was making physical contact with her, and he backed off. After his words of advice, Hanna took the shot and got the ball into the hole. Hanna smirks and tells Travis that she is coming for him.

Emily tells Spencer that Shana completely checks out. She knew word for word what Alison told Emily at the barn, and she really did grow up next to Ali's grandparents. Spencer is still suspicious of Shana, though. She tells Emily that maybe Alison wanting to meet her was all just a ruse cooked up by A. Emily doesn't think so, believing it is Alison trying to reach out to her. Spencer tells Emily she does not want Emily going there alone, but Emily gives Spencer a frustrated look, telling her it's the only way Alison will meet with her.

Aria enters her house to find a box waiting for her on the table. Opening it, she finds a card and another box with a bow on it from Jake. Inside the box was piece of jewelry with a red stone and her named etched into the silver piece. 

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At the Hastings, Peter is getting dinner ready for Veronica's return. Spencer shares her thoughts on the dinner stating that "I would have just gone with a piece of jewelry, but that's just me." Peter tells Spencer that he was hoping that she would join them for dinner. Spencer confronts her father about Toby and the settlement. She tells him she's never seen him to back down from a case like this, and he said he was just trying to do what was best for Toby and his family. Spencer gives her father a distrusting look. Getting fed up with her, Peter tells her to back off and choose some music for dinner. 

As Jake is walking out of The Brew, he witnesses Ezra losing his temper with a blonde unknown woman in his car. Ezra tells the woman that she has screwed everything up and tells her the situation is not over. He gets even more pissed off and as the woman drives away, he makes sure he slams down on the back of the car. 

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Hanna successfully hits the 8 Ball into the hole, and Travis comments how she has now beaten him five times in a row. Hanna gives Travis a smirk stating how it's so easy to win if someone lets them win. Travis tells her since it's getting late it was time for him to go. Hanna gives him a hug, and then Hanna went in for the kiss. She immediately apologizes, and Travis tells Hanna he wanted to wait for her to get over Caleb completely. Hanna assures him she is totally done with that relationship, but Travis tells her he still wants to give it some time. After staring at each other for a second, the two begins to make out.

Emily is standing in front of her mirror, getting ready for her meeting with Alison. 

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Hanna and Travis are still making out when Ashley Marin walks in through the front door. She asks to see Hanna in the kitchen, and tells Hanna she thought she and Travis were just friends. Hanna tells her they are, and then Ashley asks if she always kisses her friends like that. Travis comes into the kitchen telling the ladies he should get going. Ashley tells him he has a lipstick stain on his neck. Hanna gets upset since Ashley kicked him out, and Ashley gives Hanna some advice telling her it wasn't wise to throw herself at a guy when she just broke up with Caleb.

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Spencer sees that Peter left his brief case on the coffee table. She looks around to see if anyone is near, and sneaks over to the case. She opens it to find documents from Radley Sanitarium. Then she sees a file on Marion Cavanaugh. Back on the Radley files, she notices that Jessica DiLaurentis is on the Radley Board. Peter catches Spencer snooping in his briefcase and she confronts him about Jessica. She demands to know if Jessica being on the board was the reason why Peter was blowing off Toby. Peter tells her that he was now going to the airport to pick up Veronica, and tells Spencer that if she continues to act the way she is, she needs to find somewhere else to eat dinner. Spencer looks over in Peter's direction and demands to know if Jason really was in rehab, or if it was just another one of Peter's lies. She immediately dials Toby and tells him to not sign the agreement.

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Hanna's back in her room listening to music when Ashley walks in. She takes out an earbud and tells Hanna to put her coat on because they are going out. 

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Aria stops by at Jake's work to give back to jewelry he bought for her. After some awkward one sided conversation, Aria turns to leave, but Jake stops her saying, "You know I still care for you, right?". Jake reveals to Aria that he witnessed Ezra going off on the unknown blonde woman in her car outside The Grille. Aria refuses to believe it because Ezra told her he'd be in Philly all day. Jake shocks Aria by telling her he always thought Ezra was the one Aria was so afraid of. Before leaving, Jake warns Aria to just keep her eyes open. 

Ashley takes Hanna out to a place called "Cracked Up". She tells Hanna that after Tom left her for Isabelle, she was so mad and angry and liked lashing out at people so a friend suggested Ashley go here. Hanna isn't impressed, but Ashley assures her it would make her feel really good. She picks up a plate and hands it to Hanna, who tells her she doesn't know how smashing plates will make her feel better about her break up with Caleb. Hanna takes her safety glasses, puts them on, grabs up a plate and throws it at the wall.

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At Ezra's, Aria is reading a magazine when Ezra walks in. She asks if he had fun with Curtis and Ezra lies telling her he had a great time with his friend. Aria finally confronts Ezra by telling him Jake saw him outside the Grille yelling at a woman. Ezra breaks down and tells her he went to see Maggie and his lawyer so he could get custody rights for Malcom. Aria is confused on why Ezra would keep that from her and he states it's because Maggie almost ruined their relationship once and he didn't want Aria to get upset. Aria tells Ezra that she wishes he'd be more honest with him because she chose him.

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Shana and Emily drive up to a warehouse. Emily asks Shana if she's going to come in to see Alison with her, but Shana shakes her head. Emily gets out of the car and heads up the steps and Shana drives away. Once she enters, Emily takes a look around the place. She hears something behind her and goes to look just as Alison creeps out of her hiding place. Emily turns around and gasps when she sees Alison.

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The two hug and Emily says she wants to help Alison. She assures her that she can trust her and the other Liars. Alison tells Emily that she realizes that she never stopped carring for her, and she is sorry for everything she put her through. She wants Emily to help her find A so she can go home. Another noise is heard behind them and Alison gets scared, asking if Emily told anyone else about their meeting. She runs away as Emily tries to find out who followed her. Spencer appears from behind a shelf just as Alison enters an elevator. Emily tries to stop her, but she's too late.

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She looks back at Spencer with a glare on her face. Emily and Spencer get into an argument, and Spencer tries to apologize to Emily for scaring Alison away. Emily tells Spencer it's going to take more than an "I'm sorry" for Emily to forgive her. Emily realizes that she betrayed Ali, and is afraid that she will no longer trust her. Spencer immediately theorizes that Alison is still up to her old tricks and games, but Emily refuses to believe it, saying Alison was actually sincere tonight. She leaves the warehouse, leaving Spencer infuriated.

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Hanna and Ashley finish their stack of smashing plates and Hanna tells Ashley she'd like to smash more.

Spencer goes back to Toby's and tells him she learned Jessica DiLaurentis was on the Board at Radley. Toby tells her it was too late and he already signed the agreement. Toby now believes Marion died by accident, and Spencer tries to push him to continue the investigation. He tells her to stop and declares the investigation is over.

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Hanna is sitting in her room staring at her phone. She calls Caleb to tell him that she's played the past weeks in her head over and over. She tells him that the years he was with her were the best of her life. 

Ezra comes back to the apartment and Aria starts cutting up brownies and gives one to him. 

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Jake is throwing some punches at a dummy, and then he walks over to his punching bag and kicks it. Pain comes over him, as he's been stabbed in the foot. He opens his bag to see a bunch of sharp knives placed in the bag. 

Aria and Ezra continue their date and eventually kiss.

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At the end of the episode, A breaks into Shana's locker and takes a picture out showing Shana and Alison as little kids. A rips the photo in half and burns Shana's half of the photo, leaving only Alison.

Notes[]

  • Shana's true intentions are revealed: She's known Alison since she was three years old and grew up next to Alison's grandparents.
  • Shana is only pretending to be friends with Jenna, attempting to help Ali, because Alison suspects that Jenna was the one who tried to kill her.
  • Shana also told Emily that Alison wants to meet with Emily.
  • Aria breaks up with Jake because she still loves Ezra.
  • Jake witnesses Ezra losing his temper with an unknown Blonde Woman in a car.
  • Hanna kisses Travis after she beats him at pool.
  • Spencer goes through Peter's briefcase and found out Jessica DiLaurentis is on the Board at Radley.
  • Jake always thought Ezra was the person Aria was afraid of.
  • Ashley takes Hanna somewhere to smash plates against a wall.
  • Aria informs Ezra that Jake saw him screaming at a woman outside of The Grill.
  • Ezra reveals that the woman he was screaming at was Maggie's lawyer.
  • Shana drives Emily to the place Alison wants to meet her. 
  • Alison isn't sure she can completely trust Spencer, Aria, and Hanna.
  • Alison thought she knew who her A was, but she was completely wrong.
  • Spencer followed Emily and Shana to the meeting place, and Alison ran off.
  • After apologizing to Emily, Spencer accuses Alison of splitting Emily apart from Spencer, Hanna, and Aria.
  • Toby signed the Radley agreement after talking to his father and deciding to move on from his mother's death.
  • Hanna decides to call Caleb. 
  • Someone stuffs knives in Jake's old punching bag, and Jake's front foot is hurt.
  • At the end of the episode, A breaks into Shana's locker, finds a picture of Shana and Ali as little girls, cuts the picture in half and burns Shana's half.

Title and Background[]

  • Emily has a "close encounter" with Alison.

Main Cast[]

Guest Cast[]

Trivia[]

  • The table read was on August 2, 2013.
  • Jonell tweeted that Ezra is in the episode, but Ian Harding could not attend the table read.
  • Marlene King attended the table read through Skype since she was in New Orleans at the time.
  • Filming began on August 5, 2013 and ended on August 13, 2013.
  • We learn that Shana and Ali may have been close friends as 'A' is seen at the end of the episode burning a picture of a young girl that looks like Shana.
  • This is Jake’s last appearance of the show.

Gallery[]

Camera Icon-Gallery

Close Encounters has a photo gallery.


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