20. Pretty Isn't the Point

Complete story — includes the ending

The girls find a necklace in Mike's bedroom whose beads spell out "I'm with you" in morse code. They wonder if the necklace is for Alison. Later, Mike interrupts Aria's tutoring session with Andrew. He shouts at her, warning her not to go in his room again. Talia's husband stops by The Brew. He realizes who Emily is, and his understanding seems to be that Emily is an experiment for Talia. Emily is hurt that Talia would think of her this way. She decides to end the relationship. Spencer and Jonny see their graffiti hanging in an art gallery, and the two of them decide to break in and reclaim the paintings. The heist goes well until Jonny trips an alarm. Toby tracks down their getaway van and arrests Jonny, but tells Spencer to leave the scene. Veronica pays Jonny's bail before evicting him. Spencer is apologetic, but Jonny assures her that he will be fine. He steals a kiss from Spencer before leaving. Hanna signs up for a beauty pageant whose prize money would help pay for college. She recruits Emily to help prepare a dance number. 'A' fools Hanna into thinking that Kate is competing in the same pageant, causing her to botch the choreography in front of her coach. Emily decides to compete in the pageant herself, promising Hanna the prize money if she wins. Andrew tells Aria that Mike left something in a tree behind Mona's house. Aria finds the tree and recovers a vial of blood from it. Mike appears suddenly, causing Aria to drop the vial before running away. Mike chases after Aria and begs her to let him explain. Before Thanksgiving, Mona had been siphoning and storing her own blood as part of a scheme to fake her own death. Landing Alison in jail for murder would earn Mona the privilege of knowing 'A's identity. She could then come "back from the dead," exonerate Alison, and expose 'A'. The vial of her blood was a parting gift to Mike; a promise that she would return. With no sign of Mona in months, Mike is afraid that 'A' double-crossed her. One revelation sticks out above the rest: Alison is in jail for something she didn't do, and the girls helped put her there. ' A' ending: 'A' uses Mike's weight set before taking out a wrench, their intentions not entirely clear.