Bros Watch Pll Too - A Pretty Little Liars Podcast

It might be hiatus time on the show, but we have PLL writer and producer Bryan M. Holdman on the podcast for a chat about the writing process, the Hardy Bros, chickpeas, and Act Normal, Bitch! Thanks so much to Bryan for giving us such great insights into how the show gets created. Don’t worry, no spoilers here — unless your whole A theory hinges on Jesse the guidance counselor. In that case… shut the door and have a seat.

Recapping Season 5, Episode 25 of Pretty Little Liars. Aria, Hanna, Emily and Spencer are kidnapped and trapped in creepy bonkers hatch from LOST in this insane an amazing season finale. The Hardy Bros team up with Hastings and Hastings to work the cops, and an old fan favorite returns to help the liars. Also, Charles is A, whoever Charles is.

Recapping Season 5, Episode 24 of Pretty Little Liars. Aria recruits her ex-boyfriend to take her brother into hiding, Hanna tries to get Caleb to calm down about questing after new evidence, Emily investigates Ali’s story about Thanksgiving in hopes of finding a witness for Ali’s alibi, and Spencer finally has The Talk with Toby that has long been festering. Per Tanner, it’s Spencer or the job. Choose wisely, Toblerone.

Recapping Season 5, Episode 23 of Pretty Little Liars. Aria discovers another side of Andrew when the topic of Mona comes up, Hanna is sanguine in jail, ready for whatever fate awaits her, Emily fields an unexpected call from Ali that might rekindle and old flame, and Spencer tries to bury the hatchet with Jason about her constant controlling nature.

Recapping Season 5, Episode 22 of Pretty Little Liars. Aria does her best to avoid the inevitable awkward talk with Fitz, Hanna panics when she learns Tanner is trying to get Ali to name her as an accomplice, Emily enlists Ezra to help track down new clues about this Varjak fellow, and Spencer goes on a theatre date with Colin in jolly old England, which might just be a planned distraction engineered by Melissa.

Recapping Season 5, Episode 21 of Pretty Little Liars. Aria tracks down Cyrus to a burn unit before falling victim to A’s trap for her brother, Hanna’s mom settles for awful Pastor Ted, and Hanna has to bury the hatchet with Ali, Emily gets ‘encouraged’ to drop out of the pageant due to her sketchy reputation, and Spencer gets shipped off to London by her mom, but A still manages to mess with her there too.

Recapping Season 5, Episode 20 of Pretty Little Liars. Aria recruits Andrew to spy on her brother, Hanna enlists help to prepare for the talent portion of the beauty pageant, Emily meets Talia’s husband and pulls the ripcord on that disaster, and Spencer is saddled with an awful Egg pollen about stealing back his “stolen” artwork from The Man, which further drives a wedge between her and Toby. Also, a huge reveal about a major plot thread.

Recapping Season 5, Episode 19 of Pretty Little Liars. Aria tries to keep an eye on her suddenly suspicious and suddenly swole little brother, Hanna tries to hit up her dad for some help with college tuition, Emily learns a disturbing fact about her new girlfriend, and Spencer gets tricked by egg into committing some petty vandalism. Also, Cyrus Petrillo returns and is suddenly awesome.

Recapping Season 5, Episode 18 of Pretty Little Liars. The Liars make Aria investigate her suddenly shady brother, Magic Mike Montgomery, Hanna unlocks all of her powers and becomes the mythical Black Swan, Emily tries to figure out whether or not Talia is flirting with her (uh, she is, Em), and Spencer is fascinated by the local blue collar boy and the amazing things he can do with junk and electronics.

Recapping Season 5, Episode 17 of Pretty Little Liars. Aria comes clean with Ezra about the letter to Jackie, Hanna orders Caleb to help her clean out the storage bin A rented in her name, Emily rescues Team Sparia from a chilling death trap, and Spencer’s relationship with Toby is being stressed to the breaking point over his split allegiances to her and The Law.

Recapping Season 5, Episode 16 of Pretty Little Liars. Aria gets pressed into work delivering flowers to her tulpa, Hanna is dealing with the return of Pastor Ted after catching her mom with Jason, Emily’s entire plot-line revolves around the shirt that she’s wearing, and Spencer and Caleb sneak into a storage shed and maybe find poor Mona’s final resting place.

Recapping Season 5, Episode 15 of Pretty Little Liars. Aria tries a new strategy when she discovers that Jackie Molina is an admissions officer at the college that wait-listed her, Hanna goes searching for Holbrook and has a jail cell chat with Ali, Emily goes after a Chef’s position at Ezra’s new business to earn money to see Paige, and Spencer recruits Caleb to steal some evidence that Toby finds while on duty.

Recapping Season 5, Episode 14 of Pretty Little Liars. Aria tries to get her brother to open up about Mona, and takes up a new hobby, Hanna recruits The Grunwald to help locate a body, Emily faces her last days with Paige, doing everything to get her to stay, and Spencer tries to talk Jason into saving one sister over the other.

Recapping Season 5, Episode 13 of Pretty Little Liars. Aria fails at her one task, and discovers that Ezra was a fancy boy growing up, Hanna lays down the law with some pre-teen bullies, and gets knocked out by A, Emily encounters secret allies, and learns that Paige might be leaving for good soon, and Spencer cosplays with Toby and searches for clues to keep her out of jail. Also, Ali is visited by the Ghosts of Mona Past, Present and Future.

Recapping Season 5, Episode 12 of Pretty Little Liars. Ali takes a lie detector test to prove her innocence to Holbrook, Aria and Ezra make pie together, Hanna’s SCT scores have her looking at Ivies before suffering a great personal tragedy, Emily gets back with Paige via some no words needed smooching, and Spencer Hastings is finally arrested for murder. Fatal Finale time, get the tissues.

Recapping Season 5, Episode 11 of Pretty Little Liars. Aria’s father gets his fedora re-blocked for a cosplay viewing of Strangers on a Train, Hanna recruits Toby via Spencer to bro down with Caleb about his drinking problem and related Ravenswood BS, Emily teams up with an unlikely Ali to gather intel on Ali, and realizes she wants Paige back, and Spencer finally learns what Melissa’s dark secret is, in the form of an incriminating confession.

Recapping Season 5, Episode 10 of Pretty Little Liars. Aria tries to protect Ezra from Ali’s machinations, Hanna is cleaning up her life and trying out for a Chorus Solo, Emily struggles to maintain her loyalty to Ali in the face of mounting evidence against her, and Spencer dresses up like a sexy detective and jumps out of cars to yell at people about her latest clues.

Recapping Season 5, Episode 9 of Pretty Little Liars. Aria has to confront the truth, and then her mother, about Muffin Man Zack, Hanna tells Caleb about what’s eating her, and for once, someone believes her, Emily discovers a new friend has been lying about their connection to an enemy, and Spencer dresses down Caleb on his new shady ways before hallucinating two Jenna Things.

Recapping Season 5, Episode 8 of Pretty Little Liars. Aria is a terrible friend to someone in need, too wrapped up in her own drama, Hanna gets to experience the awfulness of secretly skeezy Rosewood men, Emily is offered an assistant coaching position by a fellow student, which is a thing that happens, and Spencer gets a black eye while escaping another of A’s little terror traps.

Behold! The top minds in PLL criticism, Heather Hogan and Jacob Clifton, have joined us for a special roundtable discussion before the Pretty Little Liars Christmas Episode. We’re answering questions from listeners and readers on twitter, such as "which character is the most underutilized,” “Is Ali actually a sociopath,” and “Noel Kahn.” Thanks so much to Heather and Jacob for joining us, this was a ton of fun and we hope you all enjoy it too. You can find more from Heather on autostraddle.com, and check out Jacob’s TV writing on morningafter.gawker.com.