Pretty Little Liars Review: "Reality Bites Me"

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A's stalking took a backseat this week on Pretty Little Liars, as the "Reality Bites Me" made it clear she was still a presence in the girls' lives - but it also took time to focus on various relationships involving the core four.

The most believable of them all centered around Aria. I actually felt terrible for her and her brother as their parents fought. There are few more awkward, confusing developments in a teenager's life than when you're parents don't get along. It can feel like your entire world doesn't make sense.

Making matters worse for Aria, of course, was the fact that she couldn't go to Ezra about her problems. Let's hope these two are over for good now because the dramatic possibilities are a lot stronger when they're apart. There are only so many times they can clash over their age difference and our glimpse at Ezra's angry, unstable side last week was intriguing.

Watching Ezra

Other developments on the episode weren't as promising.

The show often suffers from an abundance of one-dimensional characters, as Toby seems like a perfectly nice, sensitive guy when he's around Emily. But we just see him skulking quietly any time another girl looks in his direction. That's a laazy way for the writers to make Toby mysterious.

Instead of showing us two extremes and failing to even try and renconcile them, it would be nice to simply get to know Jenna's brother a bit more. That said, thank goodness Maya is out of the picture, right?

On the Jenna front: the series wants us to believe she's A, especially following this week's lipstick discovery. Are you buying it?

Then, there's Spencer and her parents. Again, Pretty Little Liars doesn't exactly specialize in subtlety here. Spencer's mom absolutely sucks, taking her sister's side at all times - while her dad is over-the-top in his praise and then in his business-based plan for having her throw the tennis match.

The game was witnessed by Alex, of course, played by Diego Boneta. What do you think of his introduction and inclusion on the show? See a future between him and Spencer?

As for Hanna, that therapist revelation was just confusing. Are we meant to believe he's Jenna's shrink? I'm also not sure I buy her desire to attend a meeting for a club of virgins. Wasn't she recently concerned over her image, feelings pressured by Mona to go all the way? Now, she's unafraid to publicize to the school that she's a virgin? There's a lack of consistency here.

Overall, not my favorite episode of the season. What did you think of it?

Reality Bites Me Review

Editor Rating: 3.4 / 5.0
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User Rating:

Rating: 4.1 / 5.0 (43 Votes)

Matt Richenthal is the Editor in Chief of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter and on Google+.

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