Pretty Little Liars - Choose or Lose - Review: "Three Sex Scenes and a Wedding"

7.18 - "CHOOSE OR LOSE"

Directed by Norman Buckley
Written by Charlie Craig
Reviewed by Gavin Hetherington

SEASON GUIDE

• 
  
  Season 5 Episode Guide
  Click on an episode title to be taken to the review of the episode. Episodes 1-13 were reviewed by Jasmine Alyce.
  
  5.01 - "EscApe From New York" (June 10, 2014)
  5.02 - "Whirly Girlie" (June 17, 2014)
  5.03 - "Surfing the Aftershocks" (June 24, 2014)
  5.04 - "Thrown From the Ride" (July 1, 2014)
  5.05 - "Miss Me x 100" (July 8, 2014)
  5.06 - "Run, Ali, Run" (July 15, 2014)
  5.07 - "The Silence of E. Lamb" (July 22, 2014)
  5.08 - "Scream For Me" (July 29, 2014)
  5.09 - "March of Crimes" (August 5, 2014)
  5.10 - "A Dark Ali" (August 12, 2014)
  5.11 - "No One Here Can Love or Understand Me" (August 19, 2014)
  5.12 - "Taking This One to the Grave" (August 26, 2014)
  5.13 - "How the 'A' Stole Christmas" (December 9, 2014)
  5.14 - "Through a Glass, Darkly" (January 6, 2015)
  5.15 - "Fresh Meat" (January 13, 2015)
  5.16 - "Over a Barrel" (January 20, 2015)
  5.17 - "The Bin of Sin" (January 27, 2015)
  5.18 - "Oh, What Hard Luck Stories They All Hand Me" (February 3, 2015)
  5.19 - "Out, Damned Spot" (February 10, 2015)
  5.20 - "Pretty Isn't the Point" (February 17, 2015)
  5.21 - "Bloody Hell" (February 24, 2015)
  5.22 - "To Plea or Not to Plea" (March 3, 2015)
  5.23 - "The Melody Lingers On" (March 10, 2015)
  5.24 - "I'm a Good Girl, I Am" (March 17, 2015)
  5.25 - "Welcome to the Dollhouse" (March 24, 2015)

• 
  
  Season 6 Episode Guide
  Click on a title to be taken to the review for that episode. Episodes 6-8 were reviewed by Kate Sidwell.
  
  6.01 - "Game On, Charles" (June 2, 2015)
  6.02 - "Songs of Innocence" (June 9, 2015)
  6.03 - "Songs of Experience" (June 16, 2015)
  6.04 - "Don't Look Now" (June 23, 2015)
  6.05 - "She's No Angel" (June 30, 2015)
  6.06 - "No Stone Unturned" (July 14, 2015)
  6.07 - "O Brother, Where Art Thou" (July 21, 2015)
  6.08 - "FrAmed" (July 28, 2015)
  6.09 - "Last Dance" (August 4, 2015)
  6.10 - "Game Over, Charles" (August 11, 2015)
  6.11 - "Of Late I Think of Rosewood" (January 12, 2016)
  6.12 - "Charlotte's Web" (January 19, 2016)
  6.13 - "The Gloves Are On" (January 26, 2016)
  6.14 - "New Guys, New Lies" (February 2, 2016)
  6.15 - "Do Not Disturb" (February 9, 2016)
  6.16 - "Where Somebody Waits For Me" (February 16, 2016)
  6.17 - "We've All Got Baggage" (February 23, 2016)
  6.18 - "Burn This" (March 1, 2016)
  6.19 - "Did You Miss Me?" (March 8, 2016)
  6.20 - "Hush... Hush, Sweet Liars" (March 15, 2016)

• 
  
  Season 7 Episode Guide
  Click on an episode title to be taken to that review. Episodes 2-3 were reviewed by Kate Sidwell.
  
  7.01 - "Tick-Tock, Bitches" (June 21, 2016)
  7.02 - "Bedlam" (June 28, 2016)
  7.03 - "The Talented Mr. Rollins" (July 5, 2016)
  7.04 - "Hit and Run, Run, Run" (July 12, 2016)
  7.05 - "Along Comes Mary" (July 19, 2016)
  7.06 - "Wanted: Dead or Alive" (August 2, 2016)
  7.07 - "Original G'A'ngsters" (August 9, 2016)
  7.08 - "Exes and OMGs" (August 16, 2016)
  7.09 - "The Wrath of Kahn" (August 23, 2016)
  7.10 - "The DArkest Knight" (August 30, 2016)
  7.11 - "Playtime" (April 18, 2017)
  7.12 - "These Boots Were Made For Stalking" (April 25, 2017)
  7.13 - "Hold Your Piece" (May 2, 2017)
  7.14 - "Power Play" (May 9, 2017)
  7.15 - "In the Eye Abides the Heart" (May 23, 2017)
  7.16 - "The Glove That Rocks the Cradle" (May 30, 2017)
  7.17 - "Driving Miss Crazy" (June 6, 2017)
  7.18 - "Choose or Lose" (June 13, 2017)
  7.19 - "Farewell, My Lovely" (June 20, 2017)
  7.20 - "Till DeAth Do Us PArt" (June 27, 2017)

'CHOOSE OR LOSE' REVIEW

Love or hate the last season of Pretty Little Liars, you can't deny that the writers like to write as many curveballs as possible while the show is on its last legs. Sure I got whiplash watching the latest episode, but as always, I'm an upbeat viewer of the show, and again I very much enjoyed this instalment - not to say it's perfect, because it's not, but I'll get onto those gripes I have. What I did love is that this episode just went straight for the jugular with the return of Tanner - I've missed her, as much of a pain in the ass as she is, she gets stuff done. She literally accomplished in one episode what Furey couldn't accomplish in half a season. I also love how cynical she is of the girls, like she just knows they're up to no good and she has no filter when it comes to sharing her feelings. Yes, she did save them in 6.01, and I thought maybe that was the start of a new friendship, but no, as Tanner says, 'fairness is overrated, truth is what counts'. You have to love her consistency.

Spencer got the brunt of Tanner's judgment since she apparently knows all when it comes to Furey's relationship with Spencer. Woman has no sympathy, does she? Spencer's nursing a broken heart and she's just like 'you're a lying little bitch and I'm gonna see you behind bars, just you wait.' Another return that kept things interesting was Toby's, who hasn't been in the show since Yvonne sadly passed. Poor Yvonne is all I can say. It's great to have Toby back and I love his rugged look, and I see potential endgame - but this episode was a weird one for Toby and Spencer. For one, I am convinced that the person Toby has sex with in this episode is not Spencer. In Spencer's scene before, when she is at Aria's, she's wearing the outfit seen in the image above. In the scene with Toby, she's wearing a dress. In the scene after, she's wearing the outfit seen above. So she changed to go to Toby's then changed back into the clothes she was wearing before? Nuh-uh. Not buying it. Guys, I'm totally aboard the Spencer twin theory. At first I thought it was Spencer and in my mind I kept thinking 'poor Yvonne, poor Yvonne', she's probably still warm in her coffin. The show needs that 1 year time jump for a Spoby reunion to feel right. They've already made the Haleb one come about so fast, I want them to take their time with Spoby so it feels right and natural. But, if that was Spencer's twin, then things just got a whole lot weirder.

'Aria, we literally caught you black hoodie!'

But wow Aria. I don't agree with her decisions and I think she created a whole lot of unnecessary drama for no reason - but damn I love it so much. As a lot of people who have commented on my reviews have said, if Aria just told Ezra about the police report, he would understand. Guess what? HE UNDERSTOOD! Aria joining Team A.D. to keep Ezra out of jail could have been totally avoided. Though, to be fair, A.D. still had that report, so Aria had to do something - but this girl should have been honest from the beginning, especially with the girls. I did love the confrontation in the woods, but Aria could have played that better too - she could have said she was only doing it to get A.D.'s identity, and that she could only do that if the girls were in the dark - she had to get A.D.'s trust. That's pretty fair. But things boiled over and we got some blows in from the girls - Alison: 'it was just a no-brainer to pick Ezra over us?' Spencer: 'Because of you my parents are getting a divorce, you've ruined everything that I've ever had.' It was brutal, almost like the stepsisters ripping off Cinderella's dress - but it could have been so much worse, and I kinda wish it had of been. Aria did do the ultimate betrayal - the girls have suffered by A's and A.D.'s and Charles's and B, C and D's hands, they were all in this together, and Aria joined the dark side to protect someone other than them. She tried to make things right in the end, but it was too late. She won the game, so fair play to her.

The Haleb wedding scene was sweet but a little underwhelming - and also really bizarre considering the other four girls were having sex at the same time Hanna was saying her vows. I mean, great song usage and the shots were great and that - but still really weird. I get that they were under pressure to get married as jail looks imminent, but I hope we get a bigger wedding that all the girls are invited to. As I mentioned before, I don't think that's actually Spencer having sex with Toby, and the Alison and Emily scene was sweet too - but in the middle of the woods, really? Are they like ten feet away from where they buried Dunhill? How many bad memories are in those woods, and in the middle of the night too! Surely there's more romantic and less dangerous places to have sex? I like that they finally did it, but can't get over their choice of location haha. But still very glad it happened. And I was so relieved also have Aria come clean to Ezra leading into their little sex scene. It kind of feels like a new beginning for them, even though Aria has some cleaning up to do. But other than Hanna's little wedding, there wasn't much going on for her in this episode.

Mona!!! What's going on?! This girl never fails to surprise me, and one gripe I had was that she was barely in this episode. It was interesting at the end of the last episode to see the beginning of an obsession with the game, but the closer of this episode is far more disturbing - is she reverting back to Old Mona? The Mona who became addicted with ruining the girls' lives? I want her to be so badly on the Liars' side but it looks like she might be that obsessed with the board game that she wants to reclaim the A game. It was so creepy having her put on her glasses again, but she probably won't be getting away with this one since Caleb and Ezra are right on her tail. I'm wondering if she is the suspect in the next episode, how the press release says the girls are convinced of who A.D. is? They're going to be wrong, of course, but I'm excited to see this play out. I like how Mona handed Aria to the girls on a silver platter (and they still weren't grateful), so she managed to drive a wedge there. Oh Mona, out of everyone I think I'm going to miss you the most.

EPISODE VERDICT

Can I also say how adorable it was when Emily basically outed her and Alison and Hanna was like 'about time'. N'awww. Anyway, there were a lot of revelations and confrontations in this episode - and I was expecting a bigger bang, especially with the Aria reveal to the girls. I would have been mad if they forgave her easily, so I was glad to see Spencer get angry when Aria was cleared from the murder of Dunhill. How is she going to make it up to them now? I really liked a lot of the scenes in this episode, and I'm pretty happy to see the game quite possibly be out of games for the girls so they can focus on unmasking A.D.. There are only two episodes left - TWO - and I'm still unsure on how to feel. Relieved? I will be. Sad? Possibly. But I need everything to be wrapped up, and now I'm worried it won't be achieved in two episodes. More revelations could have happened in this episode to help clear things up instead of wasting time doing other things, but I'm now hoping the big things will be wrapped up in a satisfactory way. Here's to hoping anyway.

EPISODE AWARDS

Prettiest Little Liar: Aria for providing the entertainment.

Boyfriend Material: Ezra, because he proved in one tiny scene why Aria should have just went to him in the first place and saved us all this unnecessary grief!

Biggest Asshole: Detective Tanner (but I'm so glad she's back, she will get stuff done).

Most Sympathetic Character: None of them, they all deserve it.

Favourite Episode Pairing: Emily and Alison.

Best Line: Spencer: 'Why should we ask Aria?' Mona: 'I think she's on the A.D. team.'

Funniest Line: Ashley: 'Never underestimate the power of a mom. Give me time and I might even get your teddy bear paroled.' (also the sweetest line)

Best Moment: The girls unmasking Aria - drama!

Saddest Moment: Seeing the girls trust fall apart after the Aria betrayal. Heart breaks for them.

Creepiest Moment: Mona reverting back to the Old Mona, glasses et al.

Shadiest Moment: Was that really Spencer sleeping with Toby so soon after he lost Yvonne (or was it her twin?)

Funniest Moment: Tanner coming back, for some reason I was laughing and crying and just being like "yes bitch bring it".

Damned Disappointment: I expected a much bigger fallout with Aria, to be fair. I mean this is the ULTIMATE betrayal for the girls considering what they've been through for 7 seasons.

Biggest Question Mark Award: Are we gonna get a repeat of the end of season 5 with everyone going to jail before BOOM they're in a dollhouse instead?

Biggest ReveAl: Mona has the game board.

What did you think of the episode? Let me know your thoughts in the comments and make sure you tune into the penultimate episode, airing June 20 on Freeform!

About the Author - Gavin Hetherington

SpoilerTV Senior Staff Writer and award-winning author of the 'Abyssal Sanctuary' series. Gavin joined SpoilerTV in August 2014 and, as of 2016-17, reviews Pretty Little Liars and Salem. Previously, he reviewed 2 Broke Girls, Devious Maids, Mistresses and Sleepy Hollow. Gavin also writes special anniversary articles, most recently for Charmed and Desperate Housewives. You can contact him at gavin@spoilertv.com.

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