Episode Report Card Jacob Clifton: A+ | 2 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT Lana Turner We Love You Get Up
By Jacob Clifton | Season 2 | Episode 21 | Aired on 02.20.2012
THE THREAT IS REAL
Mona: "What do you mean, it's real?"
Hanna: "Okay, well, I've been getting stalked by this same person. Run over with a car, forced to eat cupcakes, that fashion show got turned into a Satanic ritual, there were these boats in the lavatory once, crashed a wedding, Spencer got chased through a bell tower, it's been a huge mess. Just trust me, A is not fucking around."
Mona: "And so what is the solution?"
Hanna: "Not sure. Mostly we talk about lip gloss and fail to refill our ADHD prescriptions long enough to focus on this crucial shit."
A: Also, Mona has until 10 AM to turn over that evidence, or else.
I love how in the last two seasons Hanna has changed so much that now, her big problem is not getting people to do things for her. You know what I mean? When it started, she would probably have let anybody (well, maybe not Mona specifically) take the fall, just because she was terrified and A was coming at her so hard. But now, ever since Anne, she's being constantly pushed into ethical conundrums that are about protecting more and more people. She's gone from being A's prime target to being the biggest heroine. Isn't that lovely? I wonder if it scans.
...Okay, like, Spencer was always the one with the plan and she told everybody what to do, but ever since Toby fell off that thing she's been drowning, the opposite of herself. And Aria even, she's been compromising people left and right while still trying to do the right thing: Mikey, Holden, even being Anita were all about doing the kind of work that Hanna's doing now. Her natural pose is one of compassion, which has been taken up by Hanna, while Aria's moving toward the kind of Secret Agent stuff Spencer used to handle.
Meanwhile Emily went from having the most private secrets and problems to being the new Hanna, there for a while: The HGH/recruiter fraud thing was totally a Hanna secret. And now she's just in a sort of Ezria holding pattern because she doesn't have any secrets left, she's just the show's Visible Lesbian and Breakout Canadian Star, which frankly is more than enough. But she's still assumed the new role left behind by...
...Nope, lost it. I think I am not thinking about this correctly, or we don't have all the pieces, but there's definitely been a shift in roles that bears investigating. As the girls continue to shapeshift, and grow, and become more and more awesome, the way Alison (and A) secretly wants/wanted them to.