OK, I am going to get Aria/Ezra out of the way first, because while I like them, they are my least obsessed-over part of these eps. These eps prove one thing - Ezra and Aria are incredibly functional together. Even when they disagree, they make up quickly because they talk it out and then kiss it out :)
Why are they so adorable and make me so happy, why?
HOLY FUCK!!!!! I was totally not expecting this and now I am tapdancing around the room. Or I would, if I knew how to tap dance.
Spencer's parents not believing her and thinking she is mentally ill in the beginning of the ep and then the cops thinking she is a person of interest in Alison's death at the end of the ep - she is pretty much being turned into the new Toby. Yikes. I mean, it's good for an OTP to be in each other's mindset but that's a bit of a horrid way to get there.
And speaking of Toby...
I have a new OTP! I liked Emily/Maya, but Maya’s been gone for a while and I am fickle. Emily/Paige all the way!
It’s official. This show is trying to kill me. And Hanna/Caleb are the sweetest thing ever.
“Why are you still here?”
“Forgot something.”
DEAD. I AM DEAD.
Spencer and Toby playing Nancy Drew is pretty much the most awesome thing that ever awesomed. It also occurred to me that Spencer is what Hermione Granger would have been if she was brought up as a pureblood and her best friend was Draco Malfoy. Tell me you don’t see it :)
Yet more Hanna and Caleb kissing. Ep 19 is really spoiling me. I love how giddy they are with each other.
At some point between Hanna’s Mom discovering and kicking Caleb out of the house (and I loved that he took responsibility and told her it wasn’t Hanna’s fault) and Hanna leaving to follow him, I realized that I am unhealthily invested in this OTP and the show and it went from ‘this is entertaining and enjoyable’ to ‘I am genuinely terrified of anything hurting these people and I can’t take it.’ Not smart, self, not smart.
Oh my God. Oh my God this scene! Where Hanna goes to stay with him (and sets up camp, you go girl!) and actually tells him about fat camp and ‘hefty Hanna’ and when he tells her she didn’t have to tell him, she responds she wanted him to know her. And he tells about his mother, and how he hadn’t seen her since he was five and she dumped him, and the only time he’s heard from her since was one birthday card when he was ten. And it’s clear he wants to go Arizona to find her. And you know, that is the best payment for her revealing her past and vulnerability - he reveals his. It makes me think of Alison’s mantra ‘sharing secrets kept us close,’ but in this case it’s not Alison knowing everything about everyone and using it like a cudgel, it’s both parties revealing emotional secrets to each other, like equals and like people who get under each other’s skin.
Ummmm…ummm, I am sort of having problems breathing. But! They are both super-good at scrabble! And he teases her! And she totally keeps staring at him when he is changing (and all of a sudden I start thinking she’d be nowhere near as interested in clearing his name if he was an obese dwarf :P) and then OMFG they have platonic sleepover on the same bed omfgomfg my kryptonite!
“Are you sure?”
“I am sure.”
This was the most romantic, amazing thing I’ve seen all month. And possibly all year. They are so tender and nervous and consumed by each other. And I have officially gone irrationally insane for Hanna/Caleb the way I haven’t shipped since…oh, hell, not since Logan/Veronica, perhaps. If the show ever permanently breaks them up, I might end up in counseling. Oh, and only semi-related: you know, the more this show goes on, the longer it takes me to watch an ep - between capping, culling the caps, posting, rewatching certain scenes five times, it is taking me two+ hours per ep!
After this episode, I have decided to become a Girl Detective. Also, this was ridiculously sexy. I almost had to go and locate a paper bag to breathe into.
I wish I could say I had deep and profound thoughts about this, but seeing that I was too busy stuffing my blanket into my mouth so as not to wake the household with my high-pitched screaming, alas...I do love the way it pretty much was a total surprise to me and yet not at all. I love the way they sort of drift into their own bubble and everything temporarily stops utterly. I love seeing both of them happy because God knows they need it. And I can never get used to Toby teasing or Spencer's little pleased smiles but it's so good.
Hanna has pretty much the best mom ever, since she lets Caleb stay because he has nowhere to go. It's also adorable that he is nervous around her.
Oh, God, I knew I knew things were going too well! Was Caleb hired by A to keep track of Hanna or somehow otherwise involved at some point? And he is quitting, telling him/her/it he can't do it any more which is one of my favorite shippy tropes but makes me terrified because you just know A is going to pay him back (and wreck Hanna's happiness, which she delights in) by revealing to Hanna that he used to work for A. And Hanna, who opened up the way she did, is going to feel completely betrayed. Fuuuuuck, don't break them up, show!
