To Kill A Mocking Girl

Background
To Kill A Mocking Girl is the 3rd episode of season 1 of Pretty Little Liars. Its name refers to the novel To Kill A Mockingbird, which is the book that Mr Fitz's English class are reading in the series.

The episode was written by I. Marlene King and was directed by Elodie Keene. It originally aired on ABC Family on 22nd June 2010.

Plot
The episode begins at the edge of a wood, where the girls are planning to create a memorial for Alison. Spencer comments that creating the memorial in the woods makes it look like the girls have something to hide. At the mention of the police investigation and Detective Wilden, Hanna goes silent and so the other girls question her. Hanna snaps and reveals that she thinks Ali is still alive and that she is "A". The girls say that this idea is ridiculous as they all went to her funeral. As they are about to leave, they hear a sound in the bushes. Spencer says it's just a rabbit, but we are led to believe otherwise when all the girl's phones ring and they each have a message from "A", reading: Heads up, BFFs. It's open season on liars and I'm hunting -A.

The scene cuts to the following day at Hanna's house, when she comes downstairs to find a shirtless Detective Wilden in her kitchen. Her mother soon arrives and starts to make breakfast while Darren gets dressed. Hanna confronts her mother once he's out of the room, saying that their fake relationship has gone on long enough, commenting that she only stole a pair of sunglasses. Ashley tells her that they don't need an enemy on the police force and so she is dealing with a delicate situation. We learn that Darren overhears this conversation in the hallway.

Meanwhile at a Rosewood café, Ella, Byron and Aria are having breakfast. Aria seems to be reading To Kill A Mockingbird and her father is pleased to see her interested in English, even recommending another book she should read. He also enquires about her English teacher, but Aria tries to direct the conversation elsewhere. The two seem to be getting along well until, when Ella goes to order more food, Meredith shows up. She is introduced to Aria and acts nicely around her. Aria is furious that her father still has contact with the woman he had an affair with, but Byron points out that as she now works at Hollis too, there's no avoiding it.

At Spencer's house, Veronica is trying to console Melissa about her break up with Wren. There is obvious tension when Spencer enters the room and the two girls get into an argument, despite Spencer trying to apologise. Melissa is worried about having to cancel all the plans, but her mother promises to take care of it. Veronica is frustrated and tells Spencer to eat her breakfast on her way to school.

Outside school, Hanna and Mona are discussing the fact that Hanna's mum is still watching over her because of her sholifting. Then, Sean and Noel talk to the girl's about the big party that Noel is going to be holding at his house over the weekend while his parents are away. The scene soon cuts to Maya approaching Emily, who is parking her bike. They are interupted by Ben, who comes to tell Emily about Noel's party. Emily feels awkward when Ben starts kissing her, and so she invites Maya to come to the party with them.

In the hallways, Ezra greets Aria as he makes his way to his classroom, causing her to smile. She then goes over to Spencer's, who is struggling with her overflowing locker of textbooks. She explains to Aria how she's not coping with so many AP classes, especially in Russian history. Aria tells her not to worry about her family and about the incident in the woods and she will be fine.

As the girls finish their conversation, they are silenced by the arrival of Jenna and her brother Toby. The two walk right passed the four girls, causing Emily to have a flashback to the night that Jenna was blinded. She sees Jenna being carried away and her and her friends running. Maya enquires about Toby, but Emily just explains what everyone thinks happened with Jenna's accident. When Maya leaves, the four girls get together, worried at the fact that Toby is also returning to school. They speculate with the idea that either Jenna or Toby could be A. They are interrupted by Detective Wilden, who takes Hanna off to have a chat as Jenna walks by, commenting that them all whispering reminds her of what it was like when Ali was alive.

In a school office, Wilden questions Hanna about a picture he found of her and Ali. He comments about the fact that she lost a lot of weight and started to style her hair like Alison's. Wilden wonders whether Ali saw Hanna as competition and considers that as a motive for Hanna to have been involved in her murder. Hanna puts him straight by stating that nobody ever competed with Alison because everyone knew that she was the most popular girl.

This causes Hanna to have a flashback. She remembers when she wanted to ask out her current boyfriend, Sean, before she lost all the weight. Sean didn't really want to come to the party in question when she asked him, but when Ali pointed out that she would be there, he seemed keen to attend. This made Hanna feel as if Ali was working against rather than with her, even though it was Ali's idea for Hanna to ask out Sean in the first place.

Wilden carries on questioning Hanna, but she gets fed up and tells him that she's been researching his past too. She also threatens him with the fact that he's not conducting the investigation properly as he's living at their house. She walks out, leaving him a little shocked. She rejoins the girls in the hallway, but she won't tell them what Wilden asked her about. The other girls sense that she's being weird and perhaps hiding something.

Aria sees Ezra in the hallway and follows him into his classroom to talk. She abruptly asks him if he has any plans at the weekend, subsequently inviting him to a gallery opening where her mum works. When he refuses, she suggests that they meet up afterwards, but instead he says she should go to Noel Kahn's party, so as to not make it look like she's lost interest in her peers. Aria replies by saying that it's too late for that and their hands touch. Their moment is interrupted by Mrs Welch entering the classroom and Aria quickly leaves.

Later that day, Spencer goes to visit Wren in the city. She tries to get him to tell her parents and Melissa that it was him who kissed her and not the other way around. He tells her that he's tried, but they won't listen and promises her it will get better once she does well on a test or in a match. When she is about to leave, he reveals that he thinks he fell for the wrong sister, hinting that he may want a relationship with Spencer.

After swimming practice, Emily is alone in the changing rooms when Ben sneaks up on her. He thinks they need some alone time as Emily doesn't seem interested in him anymore. He starts to kiss her and doesn't stop when she starts screaming for him to get off her. That is until Toby comes and forces Ben off Emily, punching him. Emily swiftly exits, telling Ben that they're over.

Aria goes to help her mum before the gallery opening only to find that Meredith is becoming friendly with Ella, so much so that she's invited to the opening. As Ella goes and puts away supplies Aria bought, Aria warns Meredith about coming to the opening and that she knows about her and Byron. Meredith doesn't seem to take much notice of her.

Hanna is getting ready for Noel's party at her house. Wilden offers to drive her there, but she refuses impolitely and goes off to continue to get ready. Wilden gets up and starts looking through her purse, finding the bracelet that Ali gave to her. He questions Ashley about it and reveals that he interviewed Hanna alone at school. Ashley is annoyed by this and kicks Wilden out of the house.

Everyone starts to arrive for Noel's house party. We see that Ben, Hanna and Sean have already arrived. Sean is playing table football, leaving Hanna watching and feeling bored. We also see Emily arriving at the party with Maya. She thinks that it was a bad idea to come because she broke up with Ben, but Maya tells her that she has nothing to be ashamed. As the two girls go inside, Maya sees Ben's bruises and makes a joke about their break up, which Emily doesn't appreciate. Hanna waves to the girls, probably glad of some female company.

Meanwhile at the Hasting's, Spencer is struggling with her AP Russian History essay. Melissa laptop is right next to hers and so she ends up stealing Melissa's essay. She just about has copied the file when Melissa and her mother arrive back. Spencer offers them dinner, but they refuse to eat the pasta she's made. Melissa tells Spencer that Wren called again trying to clear their names and expresses that she thinks they're both pathetic for doing so. Spencer no longer feels guilty about stealing the essay and emails it to her teacher.

Back at the party, Sean is still playing table football, ignoring a now very bored Hanna. She is jealous that everyone else is hanging out with their boyfriends and she has been left alone. She decides to go and meet up with her friends outside as Mona is also busy with another guy. She joins the other girls, who are talking about what Toby did to Ben, outside. Emily seems to be grateful to Toby and so Spencer warns her that he isn't a good person. However, Emily then questions why he took the fall for the Jenna thing and Spencer is silenced. The other girls sense there is a secret and all leave one by one.

Spencer has a flashback of the night of the Jenna thing. She remembers following Ali and seeing her threatening to expose a secret of Toby's if he didn't turn himself into the police. Ali is annoyed that Spencer follows her, but Spencer says she didn't hear anything and so they return the the anxious other three girls. Hanna tells Ali to consider just saying it was an accident, leading Ali to rant at Hanna, much to the disgust of the other girls. Ali apologises and reveals that she is really scared.

Hanna takes Sean to an empty room and starts kissing him, obviously hoping to take their relationship further. Meanwhile, Emily and Maya go to the photo booth to take some pictures. Maya reveals that she thinks Emily is really beautfiul before they begin taking the pictures. They take some fun pictures, but things get serious in the last picture as they kiss. A figure walks passed the booth and takes the photos before the girls get out of the booth. When they do and find there's no pictures, Emily is freaked out, thinking that it's A, but Maya clams her down.

Hanna and Sean are getting serious, but before it can go too far, Sean stops Hanna. Hanna is upset and asks him why he keeps rejecting her. He assures her that it's to do with him, but Hanna isn't convinced. She asks him if he still thinks of her as the girl she was when she was bigger, leading to Sean revealing that he liked that girl better because the new Hanna seems desperate. Sean leaves and Hanna starts to cry against the wall.

At the gallery opening, Aria is astonished to find that Meredith actually decided to turn up, even though she warned her not to earlier. Aria confronts her again and tells her to leave immediately, but Meredith doesn't listen again. She also tells Aria that she doesn't have a say in what any of the adults do because she is still in high school, which hurts Aria's feelings deeply.

At the party, Hanna receives a text from A, mocking the fact that she didn't get Sean, and referencing back to when she was bigger. Hanna is clearly upset by the message and storms out after grabbing Sean's car keys. Mona tries to run after her, asking what happened, but Hanna ignores her and gets into Sean's car. She drives away from the party at a high speed.

Aria goes over to Ezra's apartment as she is upset by what happened at the gallery. However, when she arrives Ezra won't let her into the apartment and so she starts to leave, apologising and saying that she shouldn't have come to his place. Ezra stops her before she can leave and asks if she's okay. He tries to get her to tell him what happened, but all she really wants is to forget about it. Ezra hugs her and kisses her head and Aria holds onto him, feeling better at being comforted. The scene cuts to Hanna, who has crashed Sean's car in the woods. She gets out and walks off crying, leaving the engine steaming behind her.

Emily is dropped off at home after the party, but she decides to go and see Toby as she notices he is on his porch. She goes and thanks him for saving her from Ben earlier, a gesture to which he does not respond and so Emily just leaves. We see that Jenna is also sat on the porch and interrogates Toby as to why Emily is thanking him. He doesn't tell her.

The next day, the girl's all meet in the woods again to plan Ali's memorial. They also talk about how they think A could be Toby and Spencer finally reveals that Ali had something on him that would make him hate her. Aria speculates as to whether they should put the memorial somewhere in town so that whoever murdered Ali will be forced to remember what she did. Hanna doesn't seem on bored, but this is because the events of the previous night are playing on her mind. The girls hear a noise in the bushes and go to investigate, only to find Ali's bracelet, like the one she gave them all after the Jenna thing, planted on the floor.

The final seen shows a mysterious figure, presumably A, printing out lots of copies of the picture of Emily and Maya kissing. He/She puts them up on a wall and the camera pulls back to reveal all the copies that A has printed and formed a mosaic with on the wall.

Cast
Troian Bellisario as Spencer Hastings

Ashley Benson as Hanna Marin

Holly Marie Combs as Ella Montgomery

Lucy Hale as Aria Montgomery

Ian Harding as Ezra Fitz

Bianca Lawson as Maya St. Germain

Laura Leighton as Ashley Marin

Chad Lowe as Byron Montgomery

Shay Mitchell as Emily Fields

Sasha Pieterse as Alison DiLaurentis

Julian Morris as Wren Kim

Torrey DeVitto as Melissa Hastings

Tammin Sursok as Jenna Marshall

Janel Parrish as Mona Vanderwaal

Amanda Schull as Meredith Sorenson

Lesley Fera as Veronica Hastings

Keegan Allen as Toby Cavanaugh

Brant Daugherty as Noel Kahn

Chuck Hittinger as Sean Ackard

Steven Krueger as Ben Coogan

Bryce Johnson as Darren Wilden

Jill Holden as Mrs Welch