1. Tick Tock, Bitches

In media res: Aria, Spencer, and Emily are hastily digging a hole to bury someone they killed. Four days prior, A.D. locks Hanna in a shed with no doors or windows. They periodically torture her with a water hose and a cattle prod. A.D. leverages their control over Hanna’s fate to demand the identity of Charlotte’s real killer. The girls and their allies largely agree that Alison is guilty. The group splits up to make sure no lead goes unexplored in their pursuit of evidence. Aria and Ezra look around Alison’s house for a red jacket that Charlotte’s killer may have worn.

The pair is forced to abandon the search when Elliott shows up unexpectedly. They leave undetected, but empty-handed. Aria sets aside her romantic confusion and spends the night at Ezra’s loft. Mary Drake formally introduces herself as the new owner of The Lost Woods. As Charlotte’s birth mother, she has the most compelling motive to be A.D. Spencer and Toby break into Mary’s motel room to learn what they can about her. Mary is apparently well-traveled and well-read. Her Radley file says she was a frequent patient at the sanitarium into her early adulthood.

Caleb and Mona begrudgingly work together to track Mary’s every move. They eavesdrop on her phone calls and hear her talking to an unknown British man. Mary knocks on Spencer’s door looking for Peter and Veronica. She seems familiar with the Hastings family, but doesn’t go into detail about their history. Mary only came back to Rosewood because she found out Jessica was dead. Spencer visits Hanna in a dream and encourages her to look for a way out. Hanna escapes through a wall vent and flags down a car driven by Mary Drake.

In her hospital bed at Welby, Alison has violent episodes that Elliott manages by restraining and sedating her. When Emily gets the opportunity to ask about Charlotte, Alison cries out for forgiveness. Emily is finally convinced of Alison’s guilt when she finds a red jacket in her bedroom. Caleb wastes no time before handing the jacket over to A.D. His tunnel vision throughout the ordeal makes Spencer feel invisible. Confident that Alison is Charlotte’s killer, Elliott reveals his duplicity to her. In a British accent, he promises to keep Alison at Welby for as long as she lives.