Pretty Little Liars - Cat's Cradle

The relationships between mothers and their children play a big part in "Cat's Cradle" as Hanna (Ashley Benson) and Caleb (Tyler Blackburn) look for a way to prove her mother (Laura Leighton) wasn't involved in Wilden's murder when the lies she's been telling about her trip to New York begin to fall apart, Zack (Steve Talley) tries to tempt Ella (Holly Marie Combs) to come to Austria with him, Emily (Shay Mitchell) learns A has targeted her mother (Nia Peeples) by using a public altercation between the pair and the swimmer's recent injury to cause concern at Family Services as to whether Mrs. Fields is an abusive parent, and Spencer (Troian Bellisario) and Toby (Keegan Allen) head back to Radley to find some solid answers about what really happened the night his mother died.

Aria (Lucy Hale), Emily, and Hanna begin investigating a mask in Alison‘s (Sasha Pieterse) old things which leads the to a creepy mask maker (Jed Rees) who agrees to answer questions about the masks he made of Allison's face for her in exchange for Emily posing for a mold of her own. While snooping around his workshop Hanna discovers the Allison and Emily are only ones they know who had a plaster mold of their faces made.


Caleb reaches out to Hanna's father (Roark Critchlow) who informs Caleb he met with his ex-wife in Rosewood the night she was supposedly in New York which is coincidentally both the same night his gun went missing and Detective Wilden turned up dead. Melissa (Torrey DeVitto) comes back from Washington D.C. and stirs up Spencer's curiosity by talking with the police and then giving her a vague hypothetical question in the middle of the night.

"Cat's Cradle" certainly paints a bleak picture for Hanna's mother as every piece of evidence Hanna and Caleb uncover only makes her look more guilty. The discovery that Melissa had a mold down by the same mask maker certainly leads credence to Mona's (Janel Parrish) assertions that Spencer's older sister is involved in A's games. As to the question the episode ends with, and possible foreshadows trouble for the house of Hastings in the weeks to come, it's hard to see Spencer finding a truthful answer which would please Melissa.