Kingdom of the Blind

"Wow Jenna. What a sight for sore eyes."

- Hanna Marin to Jenna Marshall

Kingdom of the Blind is the third episode of Season 3 of Pretty Little Liars. It aired on June 19, 2012 - and the 50th episode overall.

Synopsis
The girls are at school, watching Jenna in the courtyard. Emily cannot believe that she has been faking it for so long. They ask Aria to find out what she is up to by becoming Jenna's accompanist because it seems like Jenna trusts her.

As they come inside, they hear the vice principal screaming at Lucas. Lucas flips him off, but stops and walks away when he notices Hanna. Hanna follows him into an empty classroom and asks Lucas the reason. Lucas shows her a note about him negative behavior affecting his performance in school. He has to get signed from his parents. Instead, he sets the letter on fire, much to Hanna’s surprise, and goes away. Hanna tries dousing the fire, but Caleb intervenes just in time and pours water on it.

Later, Hanna and Caleb sit at the Apple Rose Grille, talking about how oddly Lucas is behaving nowadays. We learn that Caleb has now moved out of Lucas's house and they are not talking much these days, but Hanna asks Caleb to talk to Lucas for her sake. Caleb agrees to do it, provided Hanna doesn't go to see Mona anymore. She smiles and calls him sweet.

The next day, at school, Aria tells Jenna she's ready to play with her in the assembly. Jenna is pleased, and as they walk along the corridor, she links her arm with Aria, clearly making her uncomfortable. Jenna also makes a comment about "looking it in the eye" when Aria explains that it was just stage fright holding her back. The plan is for Aria to come over after school to practice.

During lunch, the girls discuss about Aria going to Jenna's house. Aria assures them that she can snoop around while she is there to search for clues linking her to "A." Just then, Ella texts Emily the results of her makeup test. Emily is shocked to find out that she has scored a 94 on her test. The other girls are happy for her, but Emily doesn't understand how that's possible because she didn't even finish it. She feels someone boosted her scores deliberately, to make it look as if she cheated.

Lucas is in the chemistry lab. Caleb walks up to him and asks if he wants to talk. Lucas snaps back at him, asking him to mind his own business. Caleb refuses, saying Hanna is involved. Lucas retorts that Hanna has got bigger problems. They talk about Mona and "A," and Lucas mysteriously says that is just the tip of the iceberg, with more under the surface.

Emily goes to meet Mrs. Montgomery. She tells her that there must have been a mistake because she didn't even complete the test. She thinks that somebody tampered with her test paper before it was graded. Emily wants Ella to know that it wasn't her. Ella understands, and assures Emily her test was completed, her grade is "accurate" and that everything is okay.

Melissa is back in town. She is not pregnant anymore. She is cleaning the fireplace as Spencer comes home. Spencer tries to make small talk with Melissa, but she is not up to it. Just then, Veronica enters and tells them that she has something to tell them. She then spills the beans about her defending Garrett. Spencer doesn't understand why she is doing it, but Veronica tells her that everybody need a strong legal defense. Moreover, she spoke to Garrett's mom and she knows what it's like to have a kid accused of something that they didn't do. She also adds that she's taking the case pro bono. Spencer is furious, but Melissa doesn't care.

At Emily's house, Emily tells Aria her theory about Ella completing the test for her. Aria thinks it's just her mother's protective instincts that acted up, but Emily is frustrated about everybody feeling sorry for her. Aria tries to assure Emily that at least it wasn't "A" messing with them. Emily isn't so sure because now she has a secret -- exactly what "A" is always hunting for. Emily is way more angry than scared about the new "A" and the grave-digging.

Back in the Hastings' kitchen, Spencer asks Melissa how she really feels about her mom defending Garrett. Melissa feels indifferent, but Spencer does not believe her. She thinks that Melissa somehow convinced their mom to take the case because she and Garrett got very close just before he was arrested. Also, she was in Ali's bedroom the night she was killed. Frustrated, Melissa asks her to stop, and snaps at her to just look at what's been happening around her. Melissa has lost everything. Spencer softens, and tells her she's sorry she lost her baby. Melissa simply shrugs, and before leaving the room, she says that she hopes that their mom gets Garrett get off, because he's the only man in her life, who always told her the truth.

Aria is practicing with Jenna. While playing, Aria notices a piece of paper lying on the bed. She tries to get a closer look at it, but can't with Jenna in the room. At that point, Jenna decides to take a break and they have a little chat. Jenna asks Aria about Emily. They also talk about Mona and Alison's grave. At this point, Jenna pointedly asks if anyone thinks the girls had something to do with the grave-digging. Then, Jenna leaves the room and Aria gets a better look at the note. The note just says,"H. COBB, 4:15, WED, EARPLUGS."

In Spencer's room, Aria tells the others about the note. The girls decide to follow Jenna at 4:15 the next day to see where she is going. Aria then mentions that Jenna also asked about Emily. Spencer thinks Jenna is pressing Aria to find out how much Emily remembers. They now know that somewhere between leaving Spencer's house that night and going to Alison's grave, Emily was with Jenna. They just have to know when and why. Just then, Aria gets a call from her mom and so leaves the room to talk to her. Emily asks Spencer about Veronica. They still do not understand why she is taking Garrett's case. Spencer is convinced Melissa is the reason her mother is defending Garrett. Hanna then confesses her thoughts about Melissa and Garrett: perhaps Ian isn't the father of Melissa's baby. Maybe that was the medical record Garrett told Spencer about. Aria enters the room and says that the vice principal wants to speak with Ella about something.

Hanna visits Mona and finds her reading books to other patients. Clearly, she has been recovering. She also smiles when she notices Hanna.

Meanwhile, Ezra is still trying to find a job. He has recently been rejected in an interview. Aria tries to comfort him by kissing him, but she gets distracted. She confesses to Ezra that Ella altered Emily's grade, and the vice-principal now wants to talk about her grading practices. She's worried her mother is going to get fired.

At Radley, Hanna and Mona talk. She points out that Mona is very different from how she's been. Mona says her doctors changed her medication. Hanna then cuts to the chase -- how did Mona know about those texts? But Mona doesn't seem to understand, and simply says that you can't trust anybody these days ("not even family"), then asks with a strange smile: "Did they ever find what's left of Alison?"

When Hanna leaves the room, she spots Lucas. She immediately hides so that he cannot see her. She watches Lucas go straight into Mona's room.

Ezra sees Ella in the Brew and goes to talk to her. He asks her about Emily and the meeting. Ella tells him that the vice principal wants to speak to her about her grading practice. Apparently, the office received a note from an anonymous student who thinks she is showing favoritism, altering test scores ("A"?). Ella is now regretting what she did. Ezra then asks how she's gonna handle this. Ella wants to tell the truth, or she could blame it on Ezra, who had visited her previously in her classroom, saying that he was the one who changed the score. Ezra laughs, and tells her to go for it if it works for her.

As Hanna gets out of Radley, she sees Caleb near the gate. Angry, she accuses him of stalking her. Caleb gets equally angry, and points out that she came to Radley despite their agreement. He doesn't want her anywhere near Mona. Hanna explains to him that Mona has changed, but Caleb does not believe it. As they argue more, Hanna accidentally blurts out that Mona was the one who hit her with a car. Baffled, Caleb asks her why she didn't tell him before. Hanna fumbles for an answer, then she sees Lucas come out. She confronts him, and asks for a reason. Lucas tells Hanna he was visiting Mona to see if she is really "mental" or not. He suggests to Hanna that Mona might be faking being mental, because being in a mental hospital is better than being in jail and safer for some people. Before Hanna can ask any more questions, Lucas leaves.

The next day, at 4:00 PM, Aria and Hanna wait near Jenna's place. They wonder why she needs earplugs for. Hanna tells Aria about her encounter with Lucas the previous night. She says she could have asked Lucas directly about the Masquerade ball and the Black Swan, but was afraid to do it in front of Caleb. Moreover, Caleb was rather quiet after the incident. Hanna thinks Caleb is scared to ask her anything about this point.

Meanwhile, Spencer calls the hospital at Hanover (where Melissa had the miscarriage) for a copy of her ER records, pretending to be Melissa. She is told there is no record of her being at the facility. Spencer thinks Melissa must have gone to another hospital, but the next closest hospital is three towns away. Next, Spencer calls the resort, to find out if Melissa had left the resort on the date of her miscarriage. But the records show that she was there for three additional days and renting an additional room for her mother. They both checked out on the same day.

Hanna and Aria see a cab pull over in front on Jenna's house. After sometime, Jenna gets into the cab and they drive away. Hanna and Aria follow the cab.

Ella is leaving the classroom to talk to the vice principal. Emily arrives and says she is coming along too. Ella refuses, but Emily insists. In the hallway, they run into Ezra, who is speaking to the vice principal. Ezra has told him that the accusation is his fault because he asked Ella to grade Emily's paper in front of him which may of seemed like preferential treatment. He also confessed that he was "over-invested" in being her tutor. Hackett only sees it as professional courtesy to help the system work better. He tells Ella that the matter has been resolved, and Ella gets off the hook.

Aria and Hanna follow Jenna to a medical building. Hanna is annoyed for following Jenna all the way for just a doctor's appointment, but Aria decides to go inside and see who H. Cobb is. Just then, they see her driving a car -- the same one she was riding that night. Aria calls Spencer and Emily, and they follow her again.

Ezra is having problems with the vending machine in the cafeteria. Ella marches in, and slams the machine hard, and gets him the cold drink. Then, she asks him about what happened with the vice principal. Ezra explains that he knows Arthur Hackett hates conflict and making decisions. So, if he offered a way out of the situation, he would take it. When asked for a reason, Ezra tells her that he knows why she did what she did for Emily. After all, he's a teacher too. Moreover, Ella was once his friend.

Spencer and Emily have now joined Aria and Hanna. Jenna goes into H.COBB GUNS-N-AMMO. While wondering what she's doing in a gun store, Spencer tells the girls about Melissa not really losing her baby in June. When Jenna comes out, Hanna can't take it anymore. Just as she gets into her car, Hanna walks in front of the car and confronts her.

Meanwhile, Mona is payed a visit by Caleb. She has a deck of cards in hand and is arranging them to play Klondike, but Caleb is not here for games. He simply tells her not to mess with Hanna. Mona is silent. He goes on to tell her that though she is laughing at him in her head, the real joke is that while Caleb can get out of Radley, Mona cannot go anywhere. Mona leans forward and comments that Caleb is a lousy kisser. Suddenly, Mona throws a hysterical screaming fit and flips over the table. Panicked, Caleb goes away.

Jenna tells the girls she's been able to see from the first operation, but didn't tell anyone. It was the "only protection she had." Then the girls ask her about 'that night.' Jenna says she saw Emily at the dead of the night in the edge of the town, drunk, crying and talking about Maya. Not wanting to leave her there, she put Emily in her car and decided to take her home -- at least to the end of her street, but Emily freaked out and jumped out of the car around 12:00 or 12:30. She thought Emily was so messed up that night that she wouldn't remember seeing her. Jenna wants them to keep the fact that she can see to themselves because "she's still a target" for somebody. She thinks they all owe her.

When Spencer comes home, Veronica is sitting on the kitchen counter, working on Garrett's case. Spencer makes a nasty comment to her mother about defending Garrett, then tells her about what she found with Melissa's records. Veronica admits she didn't know Melissa was faking until she got up there. She just had some suspicions. Spencer then asks her when Melissa lost her baby. Veronica says she needs to ask her sister.

Emily goes to the Brew and confronts Ezra about taking the blame for what Ella did. She thinks he did it because he felt sorry for her, and is sick of Ezra and everybody else treating her like "she was made of glass." He apologizes if he made things worse. Then, he gives her a new version of the test, and asks her to solve it.

Mona sings "In the Eye Abides the Heart" while lying in her hospital bed. There is a queen of hearts in her right hand.

A gloved hand is seen pouring themselves a drink while making another necklace with Alison's teeth. "A" puts the vodka bottle into a freezer full of ice. A body bag is chilling in the ice. "A" is seen unzipping the bag before the screen cuts to black.

Continuity

 * When Caleb visits Mona at Radley, she says that Caleb is a lousy kisser. This is from the time they kissed in "If These Dolls Could Talk."
 * When the Liars confront Jenna about her sight, she tells them about somebody burning down the house with her inside, which happened in "Eye of the Beholder."

Trivia

 * This is the first season 3 episode of Toby not being in despite being mentioned. It is also the first episode of the season to not feature Wren or Garrett.
 * When the episode aired on television, the theme song played without any singing.

Title

 * Kingdom of the Blind contains an obvious reference to Jenna.
 * "Kingdom of the Blind" refers to the Latin proverb quoted by Erasumus: "In the kingdom of the blind the one-eyed man is king."

Main Cast

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

Guest Stars

 * Janel Parrish as Mona Vanderwaal
 * Brendan Robinson as Lucas Gottesman
 * Tammin Sursok as Jenna Marshall
 * Torrey DeVitto as Melissa Hastings
 * Lesley Fera as Veronica Hastings
 * Tyler Blackburn as Caleb Rivers
 * Holly Marie Combs as Ella Montgomery
 * Ian Harding as Ezra Fitz
 * John O'Brien as Arthur Hackett
 * Michael Karman as Kevin

Featured Music

 * "Favourite Thing" by Yuna (Hanna and Caleb are hanging out at the coffee shop talking about Lucas)
 * "Better Off Now" by Trent Dabbs (Ezra & Ella are in the coffee shop talking about Emily)
 * "Keep You Right" by Blind Pilot (Ezra and Aria are at his apartment)
 * "In the Eye Abides the Heart" by Janel Parrish (Mona sings to herself as she lays on her bed in the dark — all while clinging to a queen of hearts card. It also plays while Aria and Jenna are practicing, and while “A” drinks vodka over an open freezer containing a body bag.)
 * "Sabotage" by Amy Stroup (when Emily approaches Ezra to ask him why he took the fall for Ella)