The Jenna Thing



The Jenna Thing is the second episode in Season 1 of Pretty Little Liars, airing June 15, 2010.

Synopsis
The Pretty Little Liars sit in a restaurant, the Apple Rose Grille, discussing the new messages from "A" that they are receiving as well as Alison's disappearance. They also discuss their fears that "The Jenna Thing" will be revealed, but Spencer believes that no one knows the truth about their carefully guarded secret. Hanna pours some liquid from her hip flash into her beverage to her friends' disapproval. Spencer reveals that Alison had confided in her that she had been dating someone that summer, an older boy who had a girlfriend, but Alison never told her who. Just then, the girls cringe as they hear a tapping sound, instinctively knowing that blind Jenna Marshall has entered with her walking stick. They silently get up and leave.

The next morning, Ashley and Hanna get ready for their day in the kitchen. Suddenly, Detective Darren Wilden's face appears on the news cast discussing the finding of Alison DiLaurentis' body. Ashley promptly shuts it off and asks Hanna if she's up to attending school that day. Hanna nods, and Ashley tells her not to let the news report get into her head. Hanna apologises for the cop, but Ashley reassures her daughter that she won't see him again.

At breakfast at the Montgomery's, Ella expresses to Aria her shock at seeing Hanna at the funeral so transformed since the previous year. Just then, Byron hurries into the kitchen, letting Ella know that he has to work late already. Aria echoes her mother's surprise, but her father maintains that he has a lot of catching up to do now that he is back from sabbatical. Aria not to innocently suggests that he focuses more on their family, and Byron gives her a discreet look. Ella picks up on the weirdness and asks Byron about it when Aria leaves. He says it's a teenage girl thing, but Ella doesn't seem to buy it.

Emily's feelings for her new neighbour Maya grow deeper as the two start hanging out more. Maya flirts obviously with Emily, telling her she wants to drink from Emily's cup when Emily offers her a drink. Maya comes over to Emily's house to visit Emily on her porch. She apologises for not showing up to the funeral to support her, but Emily is completely understanding. Maya is finding it hard to adjust to living in Alison's house, with more of her stuff constantly reappearing. They are giving each other a hug when Pam walks over and cheerfully meets Maya, though she's a little taken aback when Maya hugs her. She invites Maya to sleep in Emily's room, sympathising with Maya about living in the former DiLaurentis house right after a body was found in the backyard. Maya accepts.

Maya and Emily walk over to Spencer, who is outside practicing her field hockey shots, as she is vying for varsity captain. She meets Maya, who awkwardly refers to Alison as "dead girl," but apologises and moves on. They invite Spencer to join them for coffee, but she is too focused on her practice.

At school, Aria contends with her mutual attraction to her English teacher. She approaches Ezra in the hallway, asking him to approve a transfer out of his class. He asks to speak with her privately in his classroom and tries to talk her out of it. But her mind is set; she doesn't feel like calling him Mr. Fitz when she already knows him as Ezra, and he doesn't have much choice but to sign the form.

Meanwhile, Hanna and Mona hang out and chat near their lockers, until Mona catches sight of Sean, and Hanna tells her friend that she will see her later. At Emily's locker, Ben tries to force kisses out of Emily, perhaps as proof of her interest, and Emily tries to back away, staring longingly at Maya across the hall. Emily lets Ben know that Maya is staying at her place, and Ben seems okay about it.

Just then, an announcement is made over the loudspeaker, calling Emily, Aria, Spencer and Hanna to the principal's office. The girls are slightly panicked, and a mocking text from "A" doesn't help their nerves any. At the office, Darren Wilden interrogates the girls about Alison DiLaurentis' disappearance, reviewing their stories with great scepticism that he makes sure to show. The girls answer unanimously, but he is sure that they are lying all the same, claiming that they're story sounds rehearsed.

At lunch, the girls fret that their lies will get them in trouble. They try to rationalise that the secret they are hiding is unconnected to Ali's murder, but at the same time, their secret reveals that Ali had enemies, people who could have potentially wanted to hurt her. Almost on cue, Jenna walks into the lunch room, the tapping sound of her walking cane unmistakable. Aria invites Jenna to sit with the girls in the cafeteria, and so, the five of them share the most awkward lunch ever, as Jenna notes the dead silence on the part of the girls and the fact that Alison is no longer with them. They all flashback to the accident that blinded Jenna.

In the flashbacks it is revealed that one night when the girls were trying on clothes, Alison spotted someone spying on them, who she claimed was Toby Cavanaugh. Immediately after this, Alison hatched a plan to drop a stink bomb in his garage. Emily and Aria tried to back out, while Hanna and Spencer also shared their reservations, but Ali was adamant that someone spying on them must be taught a lesson. Alison then ordered Spencer to pass the lighter and ignited the stink bomb, opening the door of the garage, and tossing it inside. But the prank went terribly wrong as the garage caught on fire, and Alison saw too late that someone, Jenna, was inside. As a result, Jenna was permanently blinded from the accident, and Alison made sure that Toby falsely took the blame for it. Alison had blackmailed him with something that she knew, but what exactly had not been clear to Spencer.

When at lunch, the girls' phones go off, and Jenna picks Spencer's up, asking her if she is going to answer it. Of course it is from "A" letting them know she/he is privy to their guilt.

A few moments after the bell rings for English class, Mona saunters in, asking whether she's late, cluelessly calling Mr. Fitz, "Mr. Fritz" to everybody's amusement. Mr. Fitz then gives the class an in-class writing assignment to complete. Next, Aria hurries in, dropping the "transfer declined" form on his desk while avoiding eye contact with him for as long as she can, then finally looking up and meeting his gaze, offering him a half smile.

While Sean is over at Hanna's, the two sit down to study, but Hanna has other things on her mind. She refills Sean's drink and starts kissing him, but he resists her moves as much as possible. Frustrated, she sits down and asks him if he likes her as more than a friend. He replies in the affirmative and kisses her on the lips. Basically, Hanna has come to an impasse with Sean Ackard on when to lose their virginity, because of his religious beliefs. Just then, Ashley walks through the door, chatting with Sean, who she clearly approves of. Then, Darren enters with takeout for dinner; Hanna is totally annoyed, and Sean is asked to leave.

At a restaurant for dinner, Spencer discusses the class she wants to take with her father, who is not very impressed by Spencer's desire to take a class for fun. Aria is at the restaurant too, and Spencer says hello to her. Then, Wren ad Melissa show up, signalling Spencer to return to her annoying family. She orders a vodka soda, but Melissa tells the waiter Spencer is joking. Peter and Melissa order the same drink, but instead of going along with them, Wren orders a vodka soda and discreetly offers Spencer a sip when the other two are not paying attention.

Later at night, Maya and Emily share Emily's bed. They sleep snugly together until "A" sends Emily a text startling her by letting her know that she's aware of the budding romantic relationship.

The next day, Ben drives Emily and Maya to school. He teases the girls about their lesbian pyjama party, clearly insecure about his own relationship with Emily and threatened by Emily's relationship with Maya. Maya brushes it off, but Emily is embarrassed and upset. When Maya leaves the car, Emily forcefully kisses Ben so as to prove herself. But when Ben's jock friends start pounding on the car and talking up Ben for his manhood, Emily groans and leaves. Hanna is there just in time to support her friend and make snide remarks to the jocks to make them go away. She escorts her friend into school.

Later, at the Rosewood Movie Theater, Aria stands around before a showing of "It Happened One Night." Just then, a casually dressed Ezra walks up to Aria and calls her name in a friendly way. She smiles at him before Ella walks up in time to meet "Mr. Fitz," Aria's new English teacher. It turns out that Ezra is here for the same reason they are, to see the same movie. Ezra calls it one of his favourites, and Ella points out that it is Aria's too. Unwittingly, she tells Ezra that Aria has told her a lot about him, just not the very young and cute part. Inside the nearly empty theater, Ella invites Ezra to sit with them. He looks taken aback, but then accepts and takes a seat near Aria.

At home, Emily tries to tell her mother about her feelings about questioning her sexuality, but her mother totally misreads her daughter's intent. She takes Emily's insecurity as not being okay with the aftermath of Ali's murder. She recommends that Emily and her friends do something to properly commemorate Alison's death in order to find closure.

That night, Spencer is sprawled out on her bed, studying for her Latin test when Wren enters and flirtatiously offers to give Spencer another message. She declines, and the two get to talking about personal stuff, and then, they get to kissing. At that moment, Melissa walks past in the hallway, catching sight of them through Spencer's oval mirror. The next day, Spencer wakes up and, through her bedroom window, sees Wren moving his things out of the barn. Clearly, the engagement is off.

Later, Mona and Hanna are walking out of the mall, flanked with plenty of shopping bags. The two girls are happily chatting about the day's finds when suddenly they catch sight of Darren, standing in the parking lot. Mona reassures her friend that he has nothing on her, as she purchased everything legally. Hanna agrees and walks over to Darren to tell him to back off; she will pay off her debt for the sunglasses if he will leave her mother alone. But Darren is following Hanna for reasons other than her shoplifting; he admits that he is stalking her because he believes that she is hiding who killed Alison DiLaurentis. Hanna is speechless and resentful.

Later, it starts raining in Rosewood, and a soaked Aria is walking home, coffee in hand. She is passed by Ezra, driving his car. They make eye contact, and at first, he passes her, but then he slows down and opens the door, wordlessly offering her a ride. A few tense moments later, they start making out passionately in the car.

Later, Emily is sitting by herself in a restaurant. She looks down at her bracelet and flashes back to the aftermath of The Jenna Thing, when Alison had bought all of the girls friendship bracelets with their names on them. Alison had given the girls the bracelets in the same restaurant in which Emily is now sitting. At the time, she had even suggestively asked Emily to tie hers for her.

Then, Aria returns home smiling. She passes her father sitting alone in the living room and he starts to seriously talk to her about Ella knowing something is up. He basically asks her to continue keeping his affair a secret, opening up to Aria about his affair with that woman, who he still has interactions with because she also teaches at Hollis College. He makes excuses about his affair, and right on cue, Ella walks in with Mike, bringing Chinese takeout. Aria goes upstairs to change, but takes a look at her picture-perfect family sitting together happily before ascending. But then she gets a text from "A" warning her that her secret relationship with Ezra may not be a secret much longer.

After the rain, Spencer goes for a run, presumably to forget her family problems. She spots Jenna Marshall, sitting on a park bench, sending a text message with a phone for the blind and stops dead in her tracks. Jenna then turns her head in Spencer's direction, as if she is looking at her.

Main Cast

 * Lucy Hale as Aria Montgomery
 * Ashley Benson as Hanna Marin
 * Shay Mitchell as Emily Fields
 * Troian Bellisario as Spencer Hastings
 * Sasha Pieterse as Alison DiLaurentis

Guest Stars

 * Bryce Johnson as Darren Wilden
 * Laura Leighton as Ashley Marin
 * Janel Parrish as Mona Vanderwaal
 * Tammin Sursok as Jenna Marshall
 * Julian Morris as Wren Kingston
 * Ian Harding as Ezra Fitz
 * Nolan North as Peter Hastings
 * Chuck Hittinger as Sean Ackard
 * Steven Krueger as Ben Coogan
 * Nia Peeples as Pam Fields
 * Chad Lowe as Byron Montgomery
 * Holly Marie Combs as Ella Montgomery
 * Torrey DeVitto as Melissa Hastings
 * Cody Allen Christian as Mike Montgomery
 * Bianca Lawson as Maya St. Germain
 * Ruben Dario as Waiter
 * J.D. Phillips as Jock #1
 * Carey James (II) as Jock #2
 * Kimee Balmilero as Beth