Some thoughts on 'Shadow Play'

Pretty Little Liars: 4x19 Shadow Play. 

• It's all about secrets again - Spencer keeping it a secret that she has developed a mind-altering dependency on drugs, Aria keeping it a secret that she is dating Ezra Fitz, again, all of the other Liars keeping it a secret from Aria that Ezra is probably A (probably not really A, but I thoroughly dread the moment when the shows inevitably starts backtracking on this). 
• PLL is the sort of show that constantly writes its own rule-book, which is of course the reason why an episode like Shadow Play completely works - and why nobody bats an eyelash at essential information coming from a literal bird - but it is a show that has rules. With the secrets, it's that the Liars, when they are keeping them from each other, never do it with bad intentions, because the friendship at the centre of the show is the beating heart of it (which is important considering how dark it sometimes gets, if you really think about it, in terms of parental abuse, abandonment, creepy stalking guys, adults behaving completely inappropriately constantly and that's not even mentioning the murder and the necklace made from human teeth). Spencer keeps her addiction a secret because it's all tied up in her fear of losing her own mind, all those residual feelings about having been to Radley (I think her father dangling the possibility in front of her nose that Radley could get shut down equally opened old wounds and gave her hope that was ultimately disappointed). The Liars keep their knowledge about Ezra a secret because they've already been through suspecting each other's love interest so many times (remember Caleb? Toby? Paige?) that they know they'll need solid proof to be taken seriously, especially because this is Aria and Fitz. Aria's secret has an edge to it, because the biggest threat that the show can possibly come up with is to endanger the central friendship, and Ezra asking her to keep a secret from her friends, and saying things like "maybe this is a sign that you are growing up" clearly falls into that category. 
• The 1940s noir backdrop works - aesthetically, it's beautiful - but it made me wonder if this is the lens through which Spencer usually views their struggle against A. In many ways, it would more naturally seem to be Aria's, considering that she is the one who is so interested in the genre (and I'm not sure how it would be for the other Liars - I think for Emily, it's a horror film - that fits best into getting attacked by a school - and for Hanna, it's ever changing, but currently probably like the books that she's been reading and that are shaping her understanding of things, the questions she asks, the brilliant plans she comes up with). It's kind of interesting to consider that Spencer has fallen into Aria's inner world (the conversation she has with Ezra in the car, about how she isn't sure about villains and heroes anymore, fits as well), since the entire episode is about Spencer trying to figure out Ezra, trying to figure out what happened to the diary was lost in Ezra's cabin and found again in Ezra's desk, and struggling with the question of whether they should tell Aria or not. I kind of like the idea that she'd be navigating all these question in a terrain that seems more appropriate for Aria. 
• As far as being Spencer's dream, it works perfectly - it's Spencer's version of her friends, Spencer's version of Toby (or Toby as a guide, reflecting her own high expectations of herself, calling her out more than anyone else does), Spencer's version of Ali (more of a rival than for anyone else, someone who threatens her friendship with the others by bringing up the idea that Spencer is replacing her - just imagine what Hanna's, or Emily's version of Ali would have been), and definitely Spencer's version of Mona (again, Hanna's would likely have been very different). 
• To be more specific: Spencer's Hanna is the Hanna of late, who is brilliant, resourceful, and because Spencer loves her, sort of owning her recent romantic abandonment in the greatest way (because Ashley Benson is the greatest in the episode). Spencer's Aria is... hard to grasp, I suppose, but in danger, and explaining herself to Paige of all people in a very coded conversation that seems to be about secrets and identity and what happens when you grow up (do you make yourself, or live up to other people's expectations, there are many ways to interpret that scene). 
• Spencer's Emily is... so Spencer would be very aware of the specific conditions of the 1940s, the limitations of it, so in the world that she has created in her head, the most tragic thing is that the scene between Hanna and Emily, back in the day, has not taken place. Hanna has not realized that Emily is gay, and proven to be the most supportive friend, because in that world, that conversation wasn't allowed to happen (it's acknowledged in a side-comment that this conversation didn't and couldn't happen). So Emily and Paige are trapped in a world in which every stranger's glare is potentially hostile and dangerous, where they can't share their secrets, except in coded conversations, and still - amongst all the characters that inhabit Spencer's inner world, they are the ones with the outstandingly romantic scenes, if anything, they represent the very idea of romantic love in the episode, between Aria in constant danger from Ezra's intentions, Hanna being bitter (MEN!), and Toby not acting in the function of Spencer's romantic love interest. It's almost like this is something that Spencer yearns for, or maybe it's just a sign of how much she cares about Emily's happiness, that even in a world in which she knows that relationship is next to impossible, she so fiercely insists that they can be happy. 
• It fits right into that moment straight after Emily and Paige escaped from Nathan, Paige stepping back because she understood that Emily needed to comfort Hanna, and Spencer finally getting it. Now she's involved enough that she imagines what that world would have done to someone like Paige McCullers. 
• (also just on a meta level, it's interesting considering that there are likely a hundred rules about how a sex scene on ABC Family can look like, and depressingly but likely a couple of extra rules about how a sex scene between two girls can look like, so having it take place in an era that is so restrictive and requires so much coding is a commentary in itself, although maybe not necessarily an intentional one). 
• Perhaps also not necessarily intentional, but interesting that Mona isn't really an actual threat to Hanna, in Spencer's head. She is of course, multi-faceted (what a perfect 1940s translation of "hyper-adrenalized reality", the many mirrors), but she hasn't hurt a hair on Hanna's head. 
• You don't pay attention for a tiny moment and there's a massive portrait of your dead or not dead former best friend on the wall, seeing everything that is going on - it's a perfect symbol for what Ali is in all their lives. I bet if she'd tried to take it down it would have just reappeared a moment later (and that is immortality, indeed). 
• And again, with secrets: are they essential and important? Do they give others power over you? Do they hurt, or save? Does Spencer's Ali threaten or protect when she almost forces them to tell Aria? 
• (and also, what a beautiful idea for a show like this, to make everyone an aspect of Spencer, as in, mirrors reflecting things back).