'Pretty Little Liars' Recap: An 'A' Suspect's Name Is Cleared as Romances Are Tested

This week’s episode of Pretty Little Liars went out with a bang.

No, Rosewood’s body count didn’t increase … yet. Instead, Emily (Shay Mitchell) helped Hanna (Ashley Benson) choreograph a killer routine to Jessie J, Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj‘s hit “Bang Bang” while the other girls fought new romantic feelings and started to unspool the mystery of “A.”

Here’s what you missed Tuesday:

Biggest Moments

• Hanna entered a beauty pageant, hoping the $20,000 would help close her college tuition gap. (As most millennials know, that’s sadly just a drop in the bucket.) She recruited Emily to teach her a talent – namely, dancing while somehow looking cool with a sweatshirt around her waist – but her motivation turned to rage when she learned her evil stepsister Kate had also entered … until A revealed it was just a trick to psych her out. But Emily vowed to take Hanna’s place and win the money for her. Sing it with us: "That’s what friends are for!"

• But Emily’s relationship with Talia (Miranda Rae Mayo) wasn’t such smooth sailing. Sure, Talia buttered Emily up with compliments, but she also told her husband that being with Emily was just a sexual experiment – and that behavior landed Talia a one-way ticket to the curb.

• Spencer (Troian Bellisario) volunteered as Jonny’s (Will Bradley) getaway driver to help him steal back his trashy graffiti vandalism – um, we mean art – from a gallery that somehow found a collector willing to pay for a spray-painted bunny. The officer who responded to the crime? Toby (Keegan Allen), described aptly by the ABC Family onscreen hashtag as a #GoodCopBadBF. Spencer got mad that he didn’t let Jonny off scot-free for his vigilante crime, but when he told her to leave the scene, Toby gave a glimpse into why he’s been so distant, saying Detective Tanner (Roma Maffia) has been trying to exploit him to get closer to Spencer, who’s still a suspect. So that’s how he got his own squad car and a lead role on a homicide investigation two seconds after graduating from the police academy. Mrs. Hastings (Lesley Fera) evicted Jonny from their guest house after bailing him out of jail, and he acted like the ultimate drama king (“Maybe I’ll live in my car for a while”) before kissing Spencer. Spoby shippers wept.

• Aria (Lucy Hale) used tutor Andrew’s (Brandon W. Jones) crush to get him to tail Mike (Cody Christian), who had hidden something in a tree. Aria later discovered it was a vial of blood, and after Mike found her snooping through his forest hiding spot, he came clean: Mona (Janel Parrish) had been saving her own blood samples in vials to frame Alison (Sasha Pieterse) for her death – all at A’s request. She planned to disappear for a bit and gain A’s trust in order to ultimately take him/her/them down. So, when she died, Mike thought it was part of the plan and continued leaving treats for her in their designated meeting places. But she never showed up, so he asked Ali to help. He’s convinced Ali isn’t A because, as he learned at the diner last week, Cyrus (Jake Weary) took Ali away from Rosewood the night of the murder.

• Oh, and the reason Lesli (Elizabeth McLaughlin) thought Mike killed Mona? The argument she overhead on the phone was Mike confronting Mona about working with A after he found her drawing her own blood and casually stacking the vials in her bedroom’s mini fridge. Seems like a normal reaction to us! Interestingly, Mike was wearing an all-black outfit and skull cap in the flashback: Was he returning from an A Team or Mona mission?

Best Quotes

• “There has to be a better way to bankroll college than walking around in a bikini and being judged like a heifer in a 4H fair.” –Caleb to Hanna

• “I don’t keep underwear in my desk, Aria!” –Mike

• “There are girls who have been training for this since they could flush the toilet themselves.” –Hanna’s pageant coach Nan

• “I’m not into girls because it’s trendy.” –Emily to Talia

Questions for Next Week

• Will Ali be receptive to the Liars now that they finally believe her?

• Is this the end for Spencer and Jonny, and will she tell Toby about her betrayal?

• Are the Liars going to recruit Mike to work with them fully, just like Mona did in the end?

• Are Aria and Andrew going to take it to the next level, and what does that mean for Ezra (Ian Harding)?

Most Likely to Be A

• Talia. Thursday marked the second time the two-timing chef showed up out of nowhere to casually accost Emily. She may not have been here from season 1, which we know the true A has been, but she’s at least stealthy enough to be on the A Team.

• Bethany Young. With Ali (or at least this version of her – we’re still holding on to that twin theory) off the hook, suspicion has to turn to another blonde, even if we’re supposed to think she’s dead. That’s the one storyline that has never really developed, and we’re betting it comes to a shocking and cliff-hanging conclusion four episodes from now.

• Aria. Girlfriend was pretty brave to venture into the woods alone, armed with only a flashlight. It would be super mean to manipulate her own brother, but … she did really hate Mona – and for good reason. Maybe she became Big A to get back at the original baddie?