Episode Report Card Jacob Clifton: A+ | 55 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT Day For Night
By Jacob Clifton | Season 4 | Episode 21 | Aired on 02.25.2014
Hanna: "Also you are going to be the... Remember when the laxbros thought you boned Mikey's friend that time, and then they started talking about Fitz, and you felt shame about your body and your sexuality, like it didn't belong to you?"Aria: "Really not disproving my basic point here."
Hanna: "Now instead of the locker room, imagine watching it on the literal news. I love you and I support you in whatever you do, but I want you to be clear about what you're doing. Crystalline."
Then a commercial break so you can think about how great Hanna is, how besides the Caleb thing she's been a total rock for... What, since Anne Sullivan, I always talk about that being the breaking point for her crazy. Caleb sent her wobbly, for sure, but this is exactly what I'm talking about: She gets the boundaries, she didn't thug out and take away Aria's choices, she just established the ground rules for how we're going to think about this and talk about it and asked her to breathe. The differences between these two approaches could not be more important, to me: Aria gets to remain a person, Emily becomes a doll. But what happened? Ah. Ding-dong ditch.
Hanna: "You did the right thing."
Aria: "I don't feel better, though. I feel even angrier. Thank you for being a good friend and that was rockstar what you did, but I kind of don't want to look at your face right now."
Hanna: "I am trying to love you and you desperately need it. I've been through this..."
Aria: "Listen to my words. I do not want to talk to you. I do not want to talk to anyone. I want to be left alone."
Hanna: "Okay, I respect you as a person and a woman so I'll take you at your word."
Aria: "You'd make a really good girlfriend. Thanks for understanding."
FIELDS
Paige: "What are we going to eat, now that we're back from Wallingford? You know what, don't worry about it. I'll just pick something for you to eat."
Emily: "It's actually getting kind of late and Aria is spinning out, so..."
Paige: "Why are you challenging me?"
Emily: "It is one thing to learn that the people who love you can hurt you, and that it doesn't mean they don't love you. It is powerful to learn this because it helps you understand what taking care of yourself actually entails, which is not letting people hurt you but also not forming your identity around the concept of being hurt. Either of which generally leads to a lot more getting hurt, until it's how you thrive..."