Pretty Little Liars: Original SinEpisode 9 is all about coming clean and dealing with the consequences. After multiple anonymous texts from “A” kept under wraps from anyone other than the core group of liars, this is the moment when mothers and daughters open up about all the deaths, secrets, and lies. Not only that, but Sheriff Beasley’s (Eric Johnson) abusive behavior is finally uncovered with a shocking revelation about his high school years. Although he’s already perceived as a powerful and distasteful authority in Millwood, it is only after Beasley’s true colors are unveiled that he is held accountable. This and other major events happen in Episode 9, so here’s a jam-packed breakdown to keep all the details fresh in your mind before the finale.
In “Dead and Buried,” Imogen (Bailee Madison), Noa (Maia Reficco), Tabby (Chandler Kinney), Mouse (Malia Pyles), and Faran (Zaria Simone) sit across from their mothers and spill all the info about A’s threats, killings thus far, and motive to punish them because of their mothers' actions towards Angela (Gabriella Pizzolo). After hearing about the awful situations that their daughters have been encountering for the past month, Elodie (Lea Salonga), Cory (Zakiya Young), Marjorie (Elena Goode), and Sydney (Sharon Leal) tell the liars about each bullying encounter that they had with Angela. Elodie says that she had a secret relationship with Angela, Cory addresses the time she told Angela to get a tattoo and left her behind, Marjorie reveals that Angela took all the blame for smoking outside when in reality it was her fault, and Sydney shares that she chose to keep quiet about Angela’s rape confession. This moment between them is necessary to approximate the mothers to the daughters, specially given that the liars are paying the price for their maternal figures' sins.
After this, Marjorie promises Noa that she will detox from her drug habits once and for all. In order to succeed in her attempt to become sober, she tells Noa to stay at Sean’s house for a few days and cover her shifts at the restaurant. The liar agrees to it and finally has an honest conversation with Sean about the pills that he was using for sports. Given all that Noa has dealt with given her mother’s addiction, he promises to also stay clean.
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Meanwhile, Imogen continues to be tormented by nightmares with “A”, particularly about the night she found her mother dead in the bathtub. Her dream leads Imogen to suspect that Crazy Joe didn’t kill himself and “A” forged the scene to look as if he had hung himself. This would validate her theory that Davie (Carly Pope) didn’t commit suicide, but was instead killed by the anonymous identity. Determined to uncover the truth, Imogen goes to the police station and requests another autopsy for her mother. Even though she is afraid that Sheriff Beasley won’t allow her to do so, the liar convinces him to hand her a form as long as she gets her father to sign it.
Despite the Sheriff demonstrating a bit of sympathy towards Imogen, he isn’t carrying any at all towards his own daughter Kelly (Mallory Bechtel). Ever since Karen’s death, Kelly has been disregarded multiple times by her father for having survived instead of her twin sibling. This makes her want to act and dress like Karen, including starting to date her sister’s former boyfriend Greg (Elias Kacavas). As she rehearses with Henry (Ben Cook) for a ballet piece choreographed by Faran, Kelly kisses her dance partner, causing Faran to be enraged. When the liar is about to confront her, Faran notices that Kelly’s leg is bleeding from self-harm. This sparks an honest conversation between the frenemies and leads Faran to visit Sheriff Beasley to threaten him to stop being verbally abusive to his daughter if he doesn’t want his secret affairs with boys from the community center reported.
Kelly isn’t the only one having issues with her parents. Mouse is suffering from her mothers’ split and wants more than anything for them to reconcile their relationship. In an attempt to use their obsession with Disney to her advantage, she Parent Traps them into having a dinner date with her and Ash. As expected, things don’t run smoothly and Mouse feels embarrassed by her mothers' behavior, so she asks Steve (Alexander Chaplin) to pretend to be her father once again and takes Ash to meet him. Although everything seems fine during their conversation, Steve receives an emergency call telling him that his biological daughter’s body has been found.
In the previous episodes, we’ve seen the liars plotting a plan to gather the DNA from boys at the school in order to find Tabby and Imogen’s sexual aggressor. Before the results get in, Sydney suspects that Wes (Derek Klena) was the attacker, given the fact that Tabby has been working non-stop until late hours at the movie theater, and he always gives her a ride home. When she storms into the theater to confront him, Tabby escorts her mom outside, and they discuss the possibility of the rapist being someone that they already know. This statement reverberates through the liar’s mind, as she begins to doubt Chip’s (Carson Rowland) innocence. After the DNA test confirms a match with a boy that donated at the blood drive, the initial thought that Chip could be guilty is further reinforced.
With all these events bringing the series to a boiling point, the final scenes are crucial to set the stage for the finale. Faran finally tells Kelly and her mother about Sheriff Beasley’s habit of getting intimate with boys at the community center, which leads Mrs. Beasley to reveal that her husband had raped Angela during their high school years. In addition, Imogen finds out that her mother’s body is no longer in its grave and discovers through a phone call with her father that Davie dated Sheriff Beasley the year of Angela’s death. These two big reveals related to Sheriff Beasley are an essential missing piece to this mysterious conquest. After all, if it weren’t for these details, we wouldn’t find out A’s true reasoning to avenge the mothers and their daughters years later. But is Sheriff Beasley “A”? Or will the real identity of the anonymous tormentor soon be uncovered?
