Heyyy, here's the recap! Everything pertaining to my reaction that has gotten to do with the identity of A, will be put in spoiler tags. 

The four girls watched uncomfortably as the news reported about Garrett's arrest after page 5 of the autopsy report turned up. Hanna knew that even though Melissa and Jenna didn't kill Ali, they were definitely guilty of something. A shuffle caused the girls to turn their heads, and realise that Melissa had come into the kitchen. She said (a tad gleefully), "Love gone wrong," and that Ian didn't have the constitution for murder. She calmly took Aria's ice cream and shocked the girls, "I know how Jenna Marshall went blind, and so do Garrett. If he killed Alison, that because he thought she deserved it."

Wow, Melissa.

She left the room, and a message from A came, telling the girls that they still had something that belonged to him/her. They knew that A was referring to the phone. Invitation cards to the masquerade ball came and Emily commented, "A wants to play hide and seek." Spencer got up and said that hide and seek was her favourite game with Melissa, "You want to know why?"

"I always won."

—

Hanna, Aria and Emily discussed about the matter, and Hanna was sure that it was Melissa, since A's all-known, "And the only person I know that is smarter than Spencer, is Melissa." Spencer heard that and took offence.

Hahaha.

She brought Ali's bag with her because she couldn't look at the contents back at her house. Aria suggested somewhere to look at the bag, but changed it to "Look at costumes," when Mona walked over. Thinking that they were going shopping for costumes, Mona said they should all go together, but the four pulled out, leaving Mona murmuring that it's just her…again.

Tell me. How is this not obvious?? 

The place that Aria suggested turned out to be Ezra's place, since he had gone over to his parents. Hanna received a text from Mona, who was with Caleb (Hanna's excuse was that she's going out with Caleb), and Caleb called next. Hanna's frustrated that she's lying to everyone she cared about, and Spencer reminded her that they were lying because they didn't want what happened to Dr Sullivan to happen to their loved ones as well. 

Hanna flopped back onto the bed and Aria commented, "Hanna, do you mind. It's kind of a sacred ground," earning surprised reactions from everyone, "It is??"

Hahahah. 

Come to think of it, I think everyone has done it with the person that they are paired with. I'm just not so sure about the Toby — Spencer pair though.

Spencer found a pencil that had Dorothy's Landing printed on it, and after searching it up, the four girls got linked to the Lost Woods Resort. They decided to check that place out that night, getting a shock when something blurred past the path. With Emily's insistence that they didn't come this far to give up, the four girls pushed on until they reached the resorts. A guy scared them but turned out to be the creepy owner. Spencer checked in with the name Mary Smith, and inquired about Room 1 which was found written on the postcard that was in Ali's bag. Getting utterly creep-ed out by the owner, the four girls took over the key and quickly ran to the room. Hanna was in such a hurry that she fell into mud. 

They got to Room 1, and Spencer commented that she's dying to get a look at the register. Emily defended her lack of action with, "What? I'm cold!"

And Hanna was like what? "Look I'm colder than she is." Haha!

I'm going to have random thoughts inserted here and then, so bear with me. I think that it's such a shame that Emily isn't really a…prominent character. I'm not saying that she's not important, but she has less smart lines than the other three characters. She has a less dimensional love conflict than Hanna's and Spencer's (oh but you can't beat the Ezria couple) and now that she has 'more' lines to say, it seems like those lines were always marked halfway between funny and surly, making her even more grumpy than before. It's a pity, because I like Emily too.

Spencer and Aria went ahead with crawling into the window to get to the register and they found out that Vivian Darkbloom had checked into the place the morning before Ali went missing. Emily got a call from Maya but couldn't call back and she went of the room to get a signal. Hanna went to bathe, not knowing that Emily had left the room, and guess what! A sneaked into the room.

YEAH. It's exactly scenes like this that scare me into never, ever pulling shower curtains closed. Who cares that your house is locked or that there's people in your hotel room?

Before anything could happen though, the phone rang and Hanna got out of the shower, only to realise in panic that the door was opened. The scene jumped to the next day (so we know that A didn't do anything to Hanna that night), and Spencer took notes of the register, before going back with Aria to place the register back, "Come on! We are Team Sparia!"

Hahaha, I find that really cute! It's like…as if the scriptwriters are acknowledging what goes on OUTSIDE of the story, what with Ezria, Spoby, Emaya and Haleb. Hanna complained to Emily that Caleb couldn't make it to the masquerade that night anymore, and all this while, someone was listening through a hole in the wall. Emily asked who she would dress up as, and Hanna said that she wanted to be Juliet. Emily commented that she would be Hanna's date, "But I'm not dressing up as a dude." Hahaha, okay that is funny.

Okay it's quite cool to look back on this, and realise that Mona's the one listening in. When Caleb turned up as Romeo, I merely thought that it was because Mona understood Hanna well, but now, it's such a clear sign that it was partially/totally because Mona listened in. 

Spencer found Toby who was very cold to her, and she choked on her words, "You don't have to forgive me, but you don't have to be that guy, that guy who won't let anybody in. "

Toby had conflicted expressions as Spencer drove away, but he got a call, picked it up, "Dr Sullivan?"

Gasp. 

Jenna met up with a person/A and told her, "They are all going to be at the party. You know what you need to do." Overplay of music, as we jump to the start of the masquerade scene…which I LOVE.

The four girls walked into the room and Aria commented that it's the perfect place for A to hide. 

I LOVE that scene! Notice how the girls are dressed in bright colours as opposed to the room of dark costumes. It's such a blatant placement of leads, and in-your-face, but I love it all the same. Coupled with the music, the masks and the costumes, I think the girls look really good. It romanticizes the situation, despite the gravity of the situation, that the girls were here to put up a fight — find out who A was before 12 o'clock, which was the deadline he/she had set to for them to return the phone.

Close up?:D

They split ways to search for A, before the three hours they had were up. Someone followed Hanna and stopped her, causing her to gasp.

Caleb!:D

The person leaned onto her neck and whispered huskily, "I know who you are."

And Hanna turned around, "Caleb?" "You must have mistaken. My name's Romeo."

AHA. They look awesomeee. 

Mona turned out to be the one who had picked out the costume for Caleb so that he could surprise Hanna. Hanna was touched, "You did all this?" "Guilty," Mona smiled and the couple left after Hanna and Mona exchanged hugs. Spencer came and said that she had her fooled, since she didn't know Mona loved Hanna so much. She also apologised for not standing up for Mona when Ali had bullied her.

For a moment, I thought that Spencer had this leap of deduction which I didn't catch and she knew it was Mona. Haha.

They chatted over drinks but a sudden turn in the conversation came when Mona mentioned seeing Ali.

Spencer was stunned to hear that Ali was watching someone and had sent Mona off, "A wasn't watching her. She's watching A." 

Mona asked for an elaboration and Spencer spilled, "I think she wasn't hiding from A, she followed A there." Someone texted someone and at the same time, Aria had a message, causing her to break out in a smile as she made her way out of the hall. The person turned out to be Jenna, and Aria found Ezra waiting for her. He realised that he couldn't live without her. 

Caleb and Hanna danced too and then they kissed, whoo! Aha, I bet Tyler Blackburn and Ashley Benson have kissed each other so many times, it's easy to ease into the act of kissing now. Spencer called Em, and told her that Ali had always talked about keeping friends close, but "She was keeping her enemies even closer." She knew that Room 2 of Lost Woods Resorts wasn't lived in since before Ali's disappearance and deduced that A had rented it, and Ali had spied on her from Room 1. Em told her not to go up to the resorts alone, but Spencer smiled, "Besides I'm not alone, I'm with Mona."

This is when I'm dead sure it's Mona. I kept shouting silently that it wouldn't be her though.

Em was taken aback when she saw Jenna talking to a masked man.

Spencer distracted the owner, while Mona stole the keys to Room 2. The two of them sneaked over to the rooms, where they opened the door and…got very shocked at what they found inside. The Ezria couple finally made their relationship open, as Ezria had pointed out, "This is our first dance." He took off their masks and the two kissed.

I know I'm irritating, but I must admit, I didn't get very excited about this at all…but it's sweet(: We return to Spencer, who walked into the room, as the music built up together with Spencer's shocked expression.

That's…disgusting…….. I mean!! An entire room full of pictures of yourself and your friends?? 

Paige came, 'dressed up like a dude' as I quote from Emily, and Em told her that right now she just wanted to be friends. Paige accepted it but tearily said that she should have fought harder for her. Spencer checked out A's lair, and Mona showed her the sketches that she had found, commenting that this was what A must be wearing. She called Hanna to tell her, while Spencer looked at it and realised it was the Black Swan. Hanna saw a girl dressed up as a black swan, "Who is that?"

While waiting for Hanna's reply, Mona offered Spencer gum but she rejected it. Instead, Spencer found Ali's diary, and a piece of gum wrapper tucked in it. She recalled that Melissa was the Black Swan at a party last year, and Mona asked if she wouldn't think that her sister would hurt her. Spencer asked for the gum again, but Mona found the packet empty and went back to her car to get more. The three girls watched the Black Swan talk to Jenna, and then…Lucas. They didn't know who she was, but Hanna hated her already, "She's size two." 

The Black Swan walked away and the three gave chase, but the girl disappeared into a locked room, leaving behind a feather. Mona returned, "I found the gum!" but Spencer knew, "You didn't call Hanna did you…because you are A!"

She turned around, and indeed Mona was dressed in the jumper that A always wore. Oh darn. Mona struck Spencer unconscious. The three tried to call Spencer, and Hanna realised something's strange with her phone. It's set on record every time it's turned on. OH wow, that's how Mona knew their secrets! 

Spencer woke up in the speeding car with Mona, and Mona told her that she admired her, "That's why you get to decide how this turns out." She could join the A team, or disappear forever. Spencer accepted Aria's incoming voice call, and the three girls were shocked to see Mona's face, just as Spencer asked how she could bring herself to kill Hanna and she replied, "It's easier to forgive your enemies than to forgive your friends." Spencer noticed a sign that said Look Out Point, and casually said, "You are not going to get to Look Out Point if you don't stop."

Aria knew the shortcut there, but Hanna remained immobile.

"Mona's my friend!" and Aria gave her a sympathetic look before urging her on. Spencer asked if this was pay back and Mona scoffed at that, saying that she's so over Ali since she was never her friend, but Hanna was and they stole her from her. As the three girls sped towards Look Out Point, back in Mona's car, Spencer asked what happened if she didn't join the team, and Mona commented, "Melissa doesn't have your father's gun. I do." When Ali died, the four broke apart, it would be the same if Spencer died too. Spencer got the guts to pull on the brakes and jumped out of the car, just as the girls' car closed in quickly on them. Hanna was driving and she almost knocked Mona down, but the other two screamed at her to stop.

Mona screamed and pulled Spencer to throw her off the hill but with a shove from Spencer, she fell off instead. The police came and Dr Sullivan finally appeared saying that Mona had threatened her with her son. Hanna broke down, heartbroken, "She was my friend." Mona was found alive, and a cool transition of zooming into her eyes then out again, moves us from the scene to Mona's ending.

She was locked up and Dr Sullivan told the girls that she had a personality disorder, but she could get better with medication. Mona, on the other hand, said inwardly that she knew they were watching her, but these liars were going to bed with their windows open and their doors unlocked, "Don't they know that's what we want?"

Dr Sullivan said that someone helped her overcome her fear to come back here, and it was Toby!(: Spencer walked towards Toby, who was waiting outside the station, and he said, "Pretending not to love you was the hardest thing that I've done."

AWW! Spencer raised a fist to whack him, but was restrained by Toby…and they kissed.

The girls finally could return home….only to find police cars and ambulance around. Em's mum told her that a corpse was found, "They think…they think it's Maya." Em watched as the body got carted away, and cried.

Mona had a visitor and she told the person, "I did everything you asked me to."

-the end-

I spent much more time writing this recap, because it's the finale! I mean it's something that we have looked forward to since last year. I join in the party late, what about you guys who have been on this right from the start? I've mentioned my reaction in another post and yes, I'm disappointed that it turns out to be Mona. Mona was never completely off my list just because the producers said the books weren't like the series, and the last two episodes (in fact the last few episodes) were quite telling that Mona was A, that I had started wishing fervently that I was wrong. I wanted to be shocked, but I wasn't.

On the good side, I love how this finale was shot! The masquerade ball was definitely an apt way of adding mystery and threat to the whole situation. Cliche? Yes perhaps, since we always have the association of hiding and wearing a mask. But it still works nevertheless, and I reallyyy like how they take a step back to tie up the couples in such a romantic way and yet move forward with a leap in terms of the A plot. The only sad thing is…Maya's dead. Aww, I like her too! 

I will, of course, look forward to season 3, where they explain in detail the back story. How did Toby find Dr Sullivan? What's Lucas's involvement in all of this? Is the 'Pretty Eyes' really Mona? Because I didn't think her eyes were particularly striking…and the characters themselves had never talked about Mona's eyes, unlike the quick mention of Ezra's green eyes and such. As for A, I'm hoping that Mona will turn out to be just a small fry in the mastermind's plot. Notice how when Spencer asks what her plan was, since A always has a plan, Mona answers, "Yes, she does." It could be alluding to herself, but it could also be an allusion to the true identity of A. Besides, the last sentence, "I've done what you asked me to do," hardly sounds like anyone who truly plotted against the girls. 

It's not the ending though, and I will see you guys again when it comes back a few months later!(:

Ah right, turns out that my comment a recap earlier, "What if it's just Mona orchestrating this herself so that she can get to kiss Caleb" has hit the nail right on the head.

<3thoughtsramble