Maybe call the Rosewood Police Department? Nah.The seventh season of Pretty Little Liars premieres Tuesday evening on Freeform, and it seems highly likely — although not officially confirmed — that this season will indeed be its last hurrah. Dubbed the “season of homecomings” by showrunner I. Marlene King, the premiere will immediately pick up where we last saw our five Liars. And yet, despite the fact that the sixth-season finale aired only three months ago, the fast-paced and tumultuous exploits of the Rosewood Five can be quite easy to forget. Who’s Mary Drake again? Why was Hanna kidnapped? Is Dr. Rollins actually evil? Ha, remember when Radley was turned into a swanky hotel? So much to remember, so little time. To reacquaint ourselves with the various plot details, we’ve compiled a list of what you need to remember before PLL returns.
There is indeed an evil twin.
A twin theory has been circulating since the beginning of the show, but it was mostly believed that the secret twin would be exposed as the yin to Alison’s yang. Alas, not! Mary Drake, a previously unseen character before the season finale, was revealed as the identical twin to the now-deceased Jessica DiLaurentis (who murdered her, anyway?), and the lady is out for some sweet, sweet revenge.
A streamlined version of Mary’s story: She was a patient at Radley 25 years prior, where she gave birth to Charles Drake (who later transitioned to Charlotte, a.k.a. CeCe Drake) but was deemed unfit to be a parent. Thus Charles was adopted by Jessica and Kenneth DiLaurentis. She’s now out to avenge her daughter’s death (who murdered her, anyway?) by executing a plan to lock up her niece Alison in a psychiatric facility and obtain the majority of the shares in the Carissimi Group, for starters. As she tells Dr. Rollins in the last scene: “We’ve finally taken back what was supposed to be mine.” Toby, Spencer, and Mona get an early indication of Mary’s identity when they explore the secret corridors of Radley and stumble upon a room with her old file inside, while the gang staking out the Lost Woods Resort later on captures someone who looks suspiciously like a dark-haired Jessica on video.
… who’s in cahoots with Dr. Rollins.
Seriously, kudos to this (British?!) chap for his dedication to the long con. Not only does Elliott Rollins spend months and months romancing Alison while he’s Charlotte’s doctor, but he then marries her — although it appears he was actually in love with Charlotte — and proceeds to don surprisingly high-quality masks of the deceased Detective Wilden to slowly make her believe, in combination with her medication, that she’s experiencing a mental breakdown while he’s at a “conference” in Chicago. And, yup, it’s perfectly executed. With Alison now in Welby State Psychiatric Hospital that she voluntarily checked herself into, Rollins as her spouse obtains her shares in the Carissimi Group, thus giving him the controlling stake in the company. (A voluntary check-in is important in this context. It’s highly likely that Alison won’t be able to check herself out on her own accord, which the nurse warns her about.) A question that lingers, though: What exactly are he and Mary Drake going to do with the shares? Sell them and make a hefty profit?
O Hanna, where art thou?
Maybe confessing to a murder you didn’t actually commit wasn’t such a good idea, Han. (It definitely took major chutzpah, though.) If the #SaveHanna hashtag Freeform is actively promoting is any indication, our girl isn’t doing so well since texting A-moji that she killed Charlotte. We last see her getting abducting by an unknown person at the Lost Woods Resort — using the floorboards in the abandoned hotel room as an escape route, no less — where she’s then taken and dragged, unconscious, through Rosewood’s local church. With dried blood on her mouth and holding a bushel of lilacs to her chest, she looks nearly identical to Charlotte when she was murdered at the exact same location a few weeks prior. She and Caleb reaffirmed their love for each other, so … that’s actually really nice … but not for her fiancé, Jordan. Or Spencer.
“Ezria” is canoodling again.
Ezra and Aria complete their co-written novel in a truly astounding short amount of time, get high praise from their editor, and celebrate by sleeping with each other. Another romance update: Things aren’t looking too hot for Toby and Yvonne, either.
Veronica Hastings is now a senator.
Because, of course she is. And eight years down the road it’ll be the White House, baby.
The hunt for justice continues.
We’re still unaware of who murdered Jessica and Charlotte DiLaurentis, and whether those murders are connected or not. We’re also given no indication of the identity of “A-moji,” and, indeed, if that connects with the two murders as well. (And similarly, how Mary Drake and Elliott are involved in the murders, if at all.) The only definitive correlation we have is “A-moji” being Hanna’s kidnapper.
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