'Pretty Little Liars' TV Review: The Girls Come Together To Find Cece Drake

“The Mirror Has Three Faces” was another solid episode from the all-around stellar season 4 of Pretty Little Liars. The episode moved the search for Red Coat and Cece Drake along without bringing in too much crazy, which is definitely a good thing heading into the summer finale.

As Pretty Little Liars transitions from a show about high school girls to a show about girls heading off to college, the storylines of each main character, Emily, Spencer, Aria and Hanna, are becoming more separated from each other. “The Mirror Has Three Faces” did a good job moving each storyline forward while still managing to present the girls as a unified group against the ever-present threat of ‘A’/Red Coat.

Exploring the girls’ identities separate from the group also raises the stakes. For example, Emily’s desperate need to get a swimming scholarship for college made ‘A’ more powerful because of her ability to end Emily’s swimming career. It also allows the characters to have lives beyond ‘A,’ making the show a little bit more relatable and grounded. That said, too little ‘A’ can translate into too little drama, and sometimes the unrelated stories get boring (Aria’s whole relationship with Jake, for example) when they span more than a few episodes.

With that in mind, Tuesday’s episode of Pretty Little Liars succeeded in having the girls all have their own storylines while still working towards a common goal: finding Cece Drake. Having Cece be the core of the episode worked because no one story line felt out of place or totally boring, everything was truly connected to the momentum of the show. Hell, even Ezra’s baby mama drama was related – kinda. (My logic: Ezra throwing his hat back in the ring for Aria’s heart can only mean more ‘A’ drama, PLUS, he, unlike Jake, actually knows about ‘A’.)

The episode also served to set up Caleb leaving Rosewood, as he’s becoming more desperate to protect Hanna from ‘A,’ Red Coat, and even her own recklessness. And both Tyler Blackburn and Ian Harding got to act the hell out of their emotional scenes this week (always a plus to see the guys on PLL do more than send longing looks to their ladies).

The next two episodes are sure to be crazy and amazing as this first half of season 4 comes to an end. Next week’s new episode is called “Bring Down the Hoe” (BRILLIANT), and, based on the promo, it looks like Toby and Spencer’s secret mission will finally be causing problems between the lovebirds. Enough of moody Toby, I want action! And action, we shall receive.

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Pretty Little Liars airs Tuesday at 8 P.M. on ABC Family.