Pretty Little Liars RECAP 1/21/14: Season 4 Episode 16 “Close Encounters”

Pretty Little Liars RECAP 1/21/14: Season 4 Episode 16 “Close Encounters”

Tonight on the ABC Family PRETTY LITTLE LIARS continues with the 16th episode called, “Close Encounters.” On tonight’s show With Emily becoming more hopeful by the minute, Spencer is determined to not let her friend get hurt.  Did you watch the last episode? We did and we recapped it here for you.

On last week’s episode now that Hanna had shared with Aria, Emily and Spencer that she had Ali’s diary, the girls hoped it could shed light on their many questions. But with the diary full of stories that had been coded to cover the truth, each girl had to take a turn to figure out which stories are about them. Hopefully when they were through they would find the story that could finally give them answers to who has been going after Ali. But with each story more personal than the last, did Aria, Emily, Hanna and Spencer really want to admit which story is about them?  Meanwhile, Spencer was suspicious of her father’s latest interaction with Mrs. DiLaurentis.

On tonight’s episode Shana returns to Ravenswood to tell Emily that she has a message from Ali, but can Emily and the girls trust Shana with all that they know about her? And when Shana ups the stakes and says that Ali wants to meet Emily – and only Emily – could it all be part of an “A” plan, or is Emily really Alison’s favorite? With Emily becoming more hopeful by the minute, Spencer is determined to not let her friend get hurt.   Meanwhile, Aria and Hanna deal with matters of the heart.

Tonight’s episode looks like it is going to be great and you won’t want to miss it, so be sure to tune in for our live coverage of ABC’s  Family’s Pretty Little Liars at 8:00 PM EST! While you wait for our recap hit the comments and let us know what you think of season 4 of Pretty Little Liars, so far?  Also, check out a sneak peek of tonight’s episode below!

Tonight’s episode begins now – Refresh Page for Updates

Pretty Little Liars Season 4 Episode 16 “Close Encounters” opens with Spencer, Hanna, Aria, and Emily en route to the Busy Bee Inn. They think Ali may have been hiding there, and they are scared “Head A” went there to get her. They arrive at the abandoned inn and find a room that someone has clearly been living in, it is ransacked though and the window has been broken. They find a note etched in the door, “You’re too late – A.”

The next day Emily heads to the church to drop off a pie for their bake-sale. While she is in the church alone someone sneaks in behind her.

Meanwhile, Spencer is still camping out at her boyfriend Toby’s. Her Dad Peter Hastings knocks on the door and she lets him in. She wants to know what happened between him and Jessica DiLaurentis. Peter confesses that he has been helping Jessica get his son Jason into rehab, he “fell of the wagon” and got arrested after a bar-fight. Toby walks in, and Peter tells him he needs to talk to him about Radley…alone.

Aria heads over to Ezra’s apartment. She wants to spend the day with him, but Ezra has plans to go to Philadelphia. Aria receives a text message from her boyfriend Jake, who is back in town. Aria confides in Ezra that she “chooses” him over Jake, and she plans to tell Jake today.

Hanna is cleaning out her closet, while Spencer keeps her company. Her Mom Ashley and Spencer try to convince her not to throw every article of clothing away that Caleb liked.

Emily is still in the church, and she just realized she isn’t the only one in there. Shanna appears behind her she says she has a message for her from Alison. According to Shanna, she has known Alison since she was three. Alison sent her to Rosewood to help her find out who tried to kill her, which is why she is pretending to be friends with Jenna. Alison wants Emily and the liars to stop looking for her, they almost got her killed at the inn last night.

Peter is discussing a settlement with Toby, Radley wants to offer him money in exchange for his Mom’s accident at the sanitarium.

Aria pays Jake a visit at the gym. He has a huge gash above his eye, but he says it “comes with the territory,” and he qualified for nationals. Aria confesses to him that while he was away she did some thinking…Jake interrupts her and asks if she is back with Ezra. She confirms she is and apologizes to him.

Spencer is reading over the agreement that her Dad left with Toby. She isn’t buying it, she thinks her Dad is acting suspicious. One minute he wanted to shut down Radley, and the next minute he is trying to get Toby to sign a statement saying he will never talk about his Mom’s accident again.

Spencer, Aria, Emily, and Hanna are trying to make sense of their recent Shanna revelation. Spencer isn’t buying it, she thinks Shanna is one of Head A’s minions, and Shanna is trying to get them to stop looking for Ali so that Head A can find her. Emily seems to be leaning towards believing Shanna though, she thinks Shanna may be in love with Ali too. She also thinks that maybe Ali suspected Paige of trying to kill her, and that is why Shanna befriended her.

Travis pays Hanna a visit at her house. Hanna invites him to play pool a few games of pool with her.

Shanna says that she has known Ali was alive since Mona went to Radley. She says that Emily was Alison’s favorite. She tells her that Ali wants to meet her tonight…alone.

Travis and Hanna are still playing pool. A very flirtatious game of pool.

Emily heads to Spencer’s and confides in her that Ali wants to meet her tonight. Emily believes Shanna is helping Ali, her stories are checking out. She really did live next door to Shanna, and she knew exactly what Ali said to Emily when she pulled her out of the fire. Spencer is convinced it is a trap, and she doesn’t want Emily to go alone.

Spencer’s Mom is on her way home, so Peter has hired a chef to prepare dinner for her. Spencer wants to know why her Dad is helping Radley settle instead of “shutting them down” like he originally wanted to do. Peter says he is just looking out for Toby.

Jake is walking down the street when he sees Ezra yelling at a woman in a car (it looks like Cece Drake). He wants to know why she made such a “colossal mistake,” and he tells her to “look at him while he is speaking to her.” Ezra punches and kicks her car, and she drives off.

Hanna and Travis are still playing pool. Travis says “it is getting late” and he has to go. Hanna kisses him. And, he gives her a funny look. He explains that “she is just getting out of a relationship and they should give it more time.” Hanna kisses him again.

Emily is getting ready for her secret meeting with Alison.

Ashley Marin, Hanna’s Mom, walks in on Travis and Hanna making out. She takes Hanna aside, and wants to know why she is kissing Travis. Travis leaves. Ashley continues lecturing Hanna about how she should deal with her and Caleb’s break-up.

Spencer’s Dad is in the shower so she decides to snoop through his briefcase and see what she can find out about Toby’s Mom. She finds a paper from Radley and learns that Jessica DiLaurentis is on the board of trustees at Radley. Her Dad catches her and freaks out on him for going through his briefcase. Spencer calls Toby and tells him not to sign the settlement her Dad gave him.

Hanna is laying in her bed listening to sad music. Her Mom tells her to put her coat on, because “they are going out.”

Aria received a necklace in the mail that Jake sent her before she dumped him. She visits him at the gym to return it, but he tells her to “keep it.” Jake asks her “why she would want to be with a guy like Ezra.” Jake tells her that he saw Ezra “completely go off on a blond woman, and was pounding on her car.” Aria says that Jake must be making a mistake because Ezra is in Philadelphia. Jake tells Aria to “do herself a favor and keep her eyes open.”

Ashley takes Hanna to a weird shop that lets you throw plates at a wall. She thinks it will help Hanna “get past the anger” of her break-up. Hanna puts on safety-glasses and begins smashing glass plates against the wall.

Aria sits in Ezra’s apartment and waits for him to come home from Philly. She asks him about his day with his friend Curtis and Aria catches Ezra in a lie. He confesses he never went to Philly, and he says the woman he was screaming at is Maggie’s lawyer. Aria is upset that he lied to her, he says he just didn’t want to “upset her.” Ezra says that Jake misinterpreted what he saw, and he is just trying to make Ezra look bad. Ezra apologizes, and says he “made a mistake.” Aria falls for it and tells him that they have to be honest with each other, and she is “happy she chose Ezra.”

Shanna drives Emily to her meeting with Ali. They arrive at a scary abandoned building, and Shanna says she isn’t coming inside. When Emily gets out of the car Shanna drives off and leaves her there. Emily walks into the dark building. And, Ali is waiting there for her. Ali says she has “missed her so much” and then she hugs Emily. Emily tells her she wants to help her. But, Ali says she doesn’t know if she can trust Spencer and Aria. Ali has no idea who she is hiding from. Ali wants her to help her “find “A” so she can come home.” They hear a noise, and Ali freaks out, she wants to know “who Emily told about their secret meeting.” Ali runs and jumps in an elevator and disappears. Then Spencer appears, she must have followed Emily and Shanna. Ali looks betrayed, Emily wasn’t supposed to tell anyone about their meeting.

Emily flips on Spencer, she scared Ali away. Spencer apologizes, and then she says “Ali is still playing games.” Spencer thinks that Alison is trying to turn the liars against each other. She told Emily that she can’t trust Spencer and Aria to turn Emily against them. Emily doesn’t buy it, she is furious at Spencer.

Hanna and Ashley are still smashing plates.

Spencer heads to Toby’s house, she tells him about Jessica DiLaurentis. Toby confesses that he signed the agreement anyways, he just wants to move on. Toby is happy just knowing that his Mom didn’t kill herself. Spencer isn’t happy though, he tells her to drop it, and says “it’s over.” Toby storms off, and Spencer sits there and cries.

Hanna is home from her plate smashing date with her Mom, sitting in her room staring at her phone. She calls Caleb and leaves him a voicemail about what she could have done differently so that he didn’t leave her. She tells him that when they were together, “it was the best year of her life.”

Aria and Ezra are eating brownies and licking whip cream off each other’s faces.

Meanwhile, Jake is working out at the gym. He drop-kicks a weight bag and his foot starts gushing blood. Someone taped knives inside of it. (Cough, Ezra)

A is at Rosewood high-school. They are going through someone’s locker, most likely Shanna’s. A pulls out a photo of what looks like Ali and Shanna when they were four or five. “Head A” rips the photo in half, and lights the picture of little Shanna on fire.