Episode Report Card Jacob Clifton: A+ | 43 USERS: A YOU GRADE IT Won't Stop, Can't Stop
By Jacob Clifton | Season 4 | Episode 16 | Aired on 01.21.2014
Emily has just fucking had it. I mean, there's no way around it: If Spencer is right, Emily is the chump of the century. So even just having this thought -- to Emily's fevered perception -- is basically calling her the chump of the century. Like, retroactively. And that is a lot to bear, when you consider the alternative: That Emily has earned the right to be Alison's Champion. Not because she held on the longest, or loved her the deepest, but because Emily is the best person. Loyal, kind, compassionate, incredibly strong, open-hearted, and good. Of course she can save the dead girl, of course she can be trusted above the others: She's kept herself clean.
You will never ever talk a person out of that one. Don't even try. It's the same nonsense that creates American exceptionalism -- "It's okay when we do it because we're the good guys" -- and it's what creates prosperity gospel bullshit -- "I'm rich because I'm Jesus's favorite, not because we bought a Congressman" -- and it's what keeps privilege going: "I'm not an out-and-out racist, wife-beater or fag-basher, so therefore institutional inequalities no longer exist." "I'm an ally, so I can speak for you and use off-limits words and objectify you however I see fit, and you still have to be grateful."
Alison came at Emily not through the gay door -- which is, I think (and thank God), shut to her now -- but through an even worse one. The worst imaginable, in fact, because it happens to be true.
MARINS
After some very sweet plate-smashing and some good old-fashioned mother/daughter reconnection and acknowledgement, Hanna makes a call: "I keep replaying the past few weeks over and over again in my head. Trying to pinpoint the exact moment I lost you. Wondering if I could've done something differently. But I just wanted to let you know that it was the best year of my life." You can't really ask for more than that, can you?
TOBY
Spencer: "Hey, buddy. Why so sad? Or is that just your face."
Toby: "No, this time it's real. I got your message after I signed the thing."
Spencer: "But I mean, you were manipulated into..."
Toby: "Nah, it's fine. I had a long talk with my dad about it, and we are just kind of over the whole thing. She keeps dying everytime this comes up, and it's just awful."
Spencer: "But there's so much more to this cover-up..."