‘A’ made an unwelcome appearance at Aria’s photography show while Hanna and Spencer continued to look for Charles in Pretty Little Liars’ “FrAmed.”

Pretty Little Liars 6×08 Recap:

In the wake of last week’s failed attempt to trap Charles, Ali’s dad has been MIA, avoiding Hanna (Ashley Benson) and Ashley’s (Laura Leighton) calls about her scholarship and avoiding answering any questions Ali (Sasha Pieterse) has about Charles. Mr. DiLaurentis is busy being questioned by the Rosewood Police, a fact Ali is not pleased about. If there’s anything Ali hates more than being disliked, it’s being out of control and out of the loop, so she’s going a bit crazy not knowing the latest on her long lost brother Charles.

In a meeting with Hanna, Spencer (Troian Bellisario), Aria (Lucy Hale) and Emily (Shay Mitchell), Ali tells them she’s worried about her brother and wants to know what the Police have planned for him when and if they find him. She turned over the home movie Charles left for Jason, and the girls are optimistic that the police can use the footage to try to come up with an aged artist rendering of what Charles looks like now. Hanna is more enthusiastic than Ali at the prospect of finding Charles. She wants him captured and out of her life for good, and she doesn’t care that he’s Ali’s brother. “I’m sorry, Alison, this must really suck for you, but I’m not going to sit here and help you give ‘A’ the benefit of the doubt,” Hanna tells her. (YES HANNA. YES. It’s all easy breezy for Ali to forgive her crazy brother when she wasn’t kidnapped and tortured for a month.)

Hanna is dead set on putting Charles/A to bed, and that includes getting rid of the scholarship money she received from The Carissimi Group. She is sure that Charles is behind the scholarship, but Ashley isn’t willing to give up the money based on Hanna’s hunch. Still not convinced, Hanna decides to track down The Carissimi Group with Spencer, and they come up with a plan to try to return the scholarship directly to the offices of a Rhys Matthews, the only employee they could find. He’s a blond, blue eyed man, who happens to look a lot like Jason DiLaurentis. He tells Hanna that he can’t just take the money back, but he’ll mention her during his weekly conference call with his boss, Mr. Carissimi. Hanna grabs a photo of this ‘Rhys’ on her cell phone and she and Spencer leave convinced Rhys Matthews is really Charles DiLaurentis.

A Crashes Aria’s Photo Exhibit

Meanwhile, Aria convinces her mother to let her attend the photo exhibit she and her new friend Clark (Titus Makin Jr.) got into. The winner of the photo competition gets an internship at a travel magazine in Los Angeles, and the finalists are being featured in an exhibit before the final winner is chosen. While picking out a dress with Emily, Aria asks Emily to be her single prom buddy, but Emily wants to take Sara. Besides, there’s a chance none of them will get to go: the Vice Principal e-mailed their parents and said it might be best if the girls didn’t attend prom for “safety” concerns. Putting prom aside for now, Aria, Emily, Hanna and Spencer all head over to the photo exhibit.

At the gallery, Aria awkwardly asks Ezra (Ian Harding) if he’ll be her date to prom, as a friend, before realizing that (obviously) it’s a horrible idea. He used to teach at Rosewood High, and it would be creepy, not to mention all kinds of weird, for him to take one of his former students to prom. Before they can talk about their weird friend status, Emily’s friend from Habitat of Humanity shows up and Aria escapes to talk to Clark.

All is going well when the gallery finally opens up the exhibits, but, of course, A is there to ruin the fun. A sits watching the gallery from security cameras with Red Coat (who I totally assumed was Ali from a few seasons ago, but, I guess not) as Aria’s work is revealed. Only, Aria’s creepy doll photos aren’t hanging on the wall. Instead, photos of the girls lying unconscious on medical tables, appearing as corpses, in the Dollhouse are on display.

The police are called, and Hanna, Spencer and Emily leave together while Aria stays behind with her mother and Ezra. Detective Tanner (Roma Maffia) arrives on the scene to investigate, and is immediately confronted by Ella (Holly Marie Combs), who is furious. Tanner promised her that Aria would be safe at the gallery, and Tanner maintains that she was. Together, they find the title card left by ‘A’ under the photos” “Stolen Dolls (No Son Lindas).” The message could mean one of two things, Tanner tells her: ‘No Son Lindas’ could mean ‘They aren’t pretty’ in Spanish, or it could be a direct message to Detective LINDA Tanner, meaning ‘They aren’t Linda’s.’” One thing is clear: Charles wants them back.

Is ClArk On The A Team?

Leaving the gallery, Hanna spots Rhys Matthews in a car across the street, and she, Spencer and Emily follow him to an abandoned doll factory. For once, the girls agree to stay in the car outside and just wait to see if anybody joins Rhys inside. A few minutes later, who should arrive but Clark! Yes, photography Clark, who was asking a suspicious amount of questions about Aria’s run in with Charles and the police earlier in the episode, was meeting the creepy Carissimi group guy who could be Charles DiLaurentis! Oh boy.

Meanwhile, Ali is taking care of an injured Lorenzo (Travis Winfrey), who helps her talk through her anxiety about Charles and her dad. He pulls some strings and finds out that her father is cooperating with the police, working with them and a profile to learn more about Charles. Ali immediately wants to know what the profile says, and, as soon as Lorenzo is knocked out on pain meds, she steals his access card and breaks into the Rosewood PD! She makes it to the main Charles evidence room before being caught by Tanner. It looks like Lorenzo might be fired for Ali’s dumb mistake, and what’s worse is that Ali doesn’t really seem to care. (Sorry, Ali, but you can only be forgiven for so much.)

The episode ended with A putting a tux, rope, and six syringes (I assume filled with some sort of sedative) into the trunk of a limo. He gets in and knocks on the partition, which is lowered to reveal Red Coat! Red Coat hands him an envelope containing a few prom tickets and they’re off.

The only thing this episode was missing was the boys – and, no, Lorenzo doesn’t count. We did get a really nice Ezria scene, and for that I am grateful, but I miss Caleb and Toby, especially given the fact that last week left Toby’s relationship with Spencer in danger. Regardless, this was a perfect episode to head into the last two of the summer season.

#SummerOfAnswers: PLL Summer Finale Synopsis

Pretty Little Liars has one new episode before the season finale, which will air on Tuesday, Aug. 11, at 8 p.m. on ABC. And, with only two episodes left in the #SummerofAnswers, it’s nice to see that the show is actually trying to tie up some lose ends (such as Red Coat and the DiLaurentis family’s connection to Radley). Bringing back Red Coat and revealing Clark as a member of the A Team points towards a resolution that could actually make sense (or as much sense as possible in PLL world.)

The newly released synopsis for the finale promises plenty of answers, and I really hope it delivers:

“Who killed Toby’s mother? Who hit Alison in the head with the rock the night she went missing? Who is Red Coat? Who killed Bethany? Who is the Black Widow? Why has ‘A’ been targeting the PLLs all this time? After years of torture, Alison, Aria, Emily Hanna and Spencer finally come face-to-face with their tormentor and learn the story of how and why Charles became ‘A.’”

Pretty Little Liars airs Tuesday at 8 p.m. on ABC Family.