‘Pretty Little Liars’ Recap: Alison’s Dad Reveals The Truth About Charles

The secrets uncovered on the June 23 episode of ‘Pretty Little Liars’ changed everything. Plus, details about what the girls experienced in the dollhouse prove that ‘A’ is one sadistic freak.

Season six of Pretty Little Liars just keeps getting crazier. On the June 23 episode, the girls and Jason (Drew Van Acker) discovered a jaw-dropping secret about Charles, Spencer (Troian Bellisario) started to unravel, Aria (Lucy Hale) finally opened up about her dollhouse hell and Hanna (Ashley Benson) and Caleb (Tyler Blackburn) hit a serious roadblock in their relationship.

Yep, Charles was Alison’s brother. He was born 15 months before Jason and was a seriously disturbed chid. After proving he was too dangerous, Mr. and Mrs. D had him institutionalized at Radley. The family had moved to Rosewood to be closer to him. As Spencer said, all roads led back to Radley, a godforsaken place.

Mr. D had wanted to wait until Jason and Alison got older to tell them about Charles. To protect them. Jason was pissed. Alison was convinced that Charles had set her up and kidnapped her friends. NOPE. Apparently, Charles was dead.

According to Mr. D, Charles killed himself when he was 16. He never left Radley. They’d had him cremated. Hanna didn’t believe this story at all. Mr. D has been lying all this time, so what was stopping him from telling more lies? Spencer hopped on the Hanna bandwagon, too. They needed to prove Charles was really dead. Easier said than done.

Sara was still living with Emily, and Em’s mom wanted her to go to therapy. (This counselor is annoyingly persistent.) Byron tried to convince Aria to go, too. She was adamant she DIDN’T need to talk about what happened. She just wanted to move forward. Byron’s attempt to reach out to his daughter was met by a slap on the wrist. Aria was being seriously guarded.

“Morning, beautiful,” Caleb told Hanna when she woke up. Swoon. Caleb was being super overprotective boyfriend. He was constantly worried for Hannah because Charles/“A” was still out there. Bless him. While at The Brew, Spencer was introduced to the new baker, Sabrina. She smokes weed, and that’s really all you need to know. Except that when she spilled a drink all over the floor, Spencer had a horrifying flashback to the dollhouse. One day, she woke up in her “room” with her hands covered in blood.

‘Pretty Little Liars’: A Bloody Mess

The girls needed to get their hands on Charles’ medical records to finally get some answers. However, they may or may not have been shredded. Nevertheless, the girls were headed to the River Hill Data Center to find out.  Meanwhile, Spencer was stressing herself out big time. After questioning the girls about their sleeping pills, she went through Aria’s trash. Damn, girl. Show some dignity. She continued to have more flashbacks. Spence, what did you do?!

Charles’ medical records hadn’t been shredded. Praise! He’d been treated for severe depression, and his only two visitors were Mrs. D and Carol Ward, Alison’s great aunt. She was dead, and Mrs. D was dead. Back to square one. Caleb was standing right in the girls’ way as they left the Data Center. He was not a happy camper. He’d found them by putting a tracker on Hanna’s car. Hanna was furious about that. Cut him some slack, Hanna. You’ll be thanking him the next time you get kidnApped.

Jason was still reeling from the news about Charles. His whole life had basically been a lie. Alison handed over Charles’ medical file and then Jason remembered something. Last year, after he’d gotten hurt in that elevator incident, Jason went to Aunt Carol’s house. When he asked his mom if he could stay, she refused. Well, maybe that’s because Charles was probably still alive. This prompted a search mission by Jason, Spencer, Alison, Emily and Hanna to find out what Mrs. D had been hiding.

‘Pretty Little Liars’: ‘You’re My Doll, Bitch’

While at the house, Spencer had another crazy flashback. Unlike the other girls, she couldn’t remember what Charles made her do. Every single time she tried to fall asleep, a buzzer went off. She was physically and mentally exhausted in there. She woke up with blood on her hands and blood smeared all over the floor. Hanna believed that it was all just a sadistic mind game, but Spencer started to question whether she could have really hurt someone in there. Unfortunately, the gang didn’t discover crazy Charles hiding out at Aunt Carol’s. Alison and Jason found his grave. Still not taking things at face value, Hanna refused to believe Charles was really dead. She tried digging up his grave, but Jason was sure the grave was legit. Maybe Charles was really dead after all…

However, Charles still had a hand in all of this. Spencer came to the conclusion that “A” must be someone Charles knew at Radley. (Or maybe that’s just what Charles wants us to think.)

Meanwhile, Aria was spending her time hanging out in the Hollis dark room. “A” wasn’t going to let Aria enjoy this time alone one bit. Aria found a note written by “A” that said, “You’re my doll, bitch.” She remembered when she was in the dollhouse, and “A” tried to force her to cut her hair. When Aria didn’t listen, “A” cut it for her. Later, Aria finally opened up to her dad about the dollhouse. He comforted her as she cried. It was a really sweet father-daughter moment. Things didn’t go as well for Hanna and Caleb. Hanna confessed that Caleb was “suffocating” her and him keeping tabs on her all the time wasn’t helping their relationship. “I need a little space,” Hanna told Caleb, breaking Haleb ‘shippers hearts everywhere.

Elsewhere in the episode, Emily and Sara had some cute bonding time together. However, I can’t help but think Sara is working with “A.”. She’s just too nice. Spencer hit up the new baker for some pot, and Ezra confronted her about it later. She didn’t care what he thought. She just wanted to sleep.

Mr. D finally revealed the most shocking secret of all about Charles. Little C had tried to drown Alison when she was just a baby. Charles had wanted to watch her die. YIKES. Well, “A” was still watching the girls, stalking their every move. And, apparently, “A” really loves saltwater taffy. The plot thickens (or sweetens)…

HollywoodLifers, what did you think of tonight’s Pretty Little Liars? Do you think Charles is really dead? Are Caleb and Hanna headed for a big breakup? Let me know!

— Avery Thompson
Follow @avery__thompson