“ Almost got him! Toby won't be so lucky next time! ” — A





The Blond Leading the Blind is the seventeenth episode in the Season 2 of Pretty Little Liars. It aired on January 23rd, 2012.

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Synopsis

The episode begins with the girls checking out what Caleb got from " A 's" cell phone. They see the video of Alison and Ian at the Kissing Rock and wonder if this is all there is. Hanna hopes it is so Caleb doesn't have to be involved anymore, while Emily hopes they find the information they are looking for. Then a new video starts. Ian hides a video camera on a shelf in Ali's bedroom then Garrett and Jenna enter the room. Ian called them to help search for the N.A.T. Club videos that Ali won't hand over. Garrett accuses Ian of going too far, which is why he bailed on the club in the first place. They start searching Ali's bedroom for the videos at Ian's request. Garrett finds something "weird" in a wooden box, then the video cuts off. The girls are left wondering if those missing videos are what got Ali killed.





Toby calls Spencer while she is in her room with Emily. Emily reluctantly picks up the phone and tells Toby Spencer cannot come to the phone, not wanting to lie to him. Toby says he came by to pick up his tools since Spencer's father fired him and that Spencer has been sending him mixed signals lately. He picks up on the fact Spencer is avoiding him and leaves angry.





At school, Aria worries she will never see Ezra again. Spencer tries to reassure her. The girls speculate why Holden is willing to go on fake dates with Aria to uphold her alibi. The others agree he must be gay, but Aria doesn't buy it. She goes over to his table to try and find out the situation. He tells her he already owes her one without letting on why. On her way out of the courtyard, she notices Holden check out a pretty girl who walks by, thus doubting her friends' assessment again.





Caleb works on recovering the data from "A's" cellphone sitting outside the espresso shop in town. He sees images of Garrett in the video, then looks up and sees Garrett sitting a table away from him. Spooked, he packs up his things and begins to walk away, when Garrett calls out to him that he forgot his keys. Garrett tries to make conversation, but Caleb keeps walking.





The secret compartment inside the doll in Ali's box pops open while Hanna holds the doll. They find a series of threatening notes. The one about a pumpkin catches their attention. The girls flash back to walking home the night of Noel's Halloween party. The jack-o-lanterns on her porch are destroyed; a carving knife stabs through a note into one of the pumpkins. Alison laughs it off as the work of " Jason's beer buddies." She apologizes for the prank she pulled earlier, then asks the girls to stay over. In the present day, they realize the note that Alison got actually said "next time it'll be your face." And it was signed by "A!"





Hanna tries to console Mona over her break-up with Noel, but Mona is still upset with Hanna. Mona grabs a necklace out of her locker and tries to return it to Noel, who is standing nearby with his friends. He promptly dumps it in the trash and laughs when Mona begins to cry. Hanna follows a tearful Mona into the bathroom and tries to comfort her, though she can't seem to find the right words. They agree to use their fake IDs at Rive Gauche later that night. When they leave, we see that Jenna was in one of the stalls, listening to their conversation.





Aria leaves Ezra a voicemail from Emily's phone. She tells him she doesn't want their relationship to be over, but if it is, they should talk about it in person. If there is any chance of staying together, he will meet her under a clock in Philadelphia at 8 o'clock. Sitting at his desk , Ezra sees the voicemail and considers deleting it, but chooses to ignore it for the moment.





Toby returns to Spencer's to pick up his tools and clean up the work site. He climbs the scaffolding and begins to dismantle it, when it begins shaking uncontrollably due to the anchor we saw "A" loosen at the end of the last episode. He falls off, and we see Spencer get a call about something terrible.





At the hospital, Toby tells Spencer the anchors "gave way." Wren enters, introducing himself as Dr. Kingston. During their introductions, Wren makes it somewhat obvious there is a history between him and Spencer. When he leaves, Toby asks Spencer if there is something she'd like to tell him. Before she can answer, she gets a text from A that reads "Almost got him! Toby won't be so lucky next time."



At school, Aria, Hanna and Emily wonder if Jenna would be involved in something that hurt her own brother. They also figure that Jenna must have found a replacement for Garrett.





Jenna shows up in Toby's hospital room. She tells him he needs to be stronger and stay away from Spencer, who will never make him happy. Jenna calls Spencer "haunted" and reminds Toby they are family whether he likes it or not.





Caleb confronts Hanna in her kitchen about the cell phone having something to do with Alison's murder. Hanna doesn't want him working on the videos at all because it is too dangerous. Caleb tells her Garrett has been watching him. That is the last straw for Hanna; she thrusts the memory card from "A's" phone into the blender and holds the lid down while it spins and breaks into pieces.





Jenna runs into Emily outside Toby's hospital room. Emily tells her she has no right to be there. Jenna makes a quip about things being confusing for Maya if Emily had feelings for Toby. As she gets onto the elevator, she addresses Spencer who had been standing silently nearby during the whole conversation.





Ella asks Aria why she has to go to Philadelphia for her date with Holden. Aria says Holden picked the restaurant. Ella recognizes it as a place they stopped at on the way back from a family vacation then insists that she drive them to the date.





Outside Toby's room, Spencer tells Emily she thinks she is putting Toby in danger by stringing him along. She wants Emily to do her a favor; something that might make her hate Spencer, but is the only thing she can think of that could save Toby.





Emily goes into Toby's room and begins to explain what has been going on with Spencer. She tells him that the guy Spencer was seeing before him is back and "it's not right again." Toby doesn't understand why Spencer isn't telling him herself. Emily says she's telling him because Spencer couldn't. He wants to know who Spencer is seeing, but Emily doesn't respond.





Ella drops off Aria and Holden outside Machelli's. He asks if she feels bad about lying to her parents. She asks him why he is willing to help her out the way he is. Holden picks up on the subtext and says he's not gay. He leaves her without telling her where is spending the evening. Aria goes to wait for Ezra on a nearby bench.



Ezra meets with a student about a work of fiction written for class. Ezra has a hard time believing the protagonist would leave his wife at the altar to follow a woman he doesn't even know. The student defends his story, explaining that is what true love is all about. Ezra agrees to take a second look. On his way out, he tells Ezra this quote: "Be bold and mighty forces will come to your aid."





Aria is seen waiting patiently for Ezra. While Spencer stares out the window crying because of Toby. Emily comes in and shakes her head meaning that she told Toby. Spencer begins to cry more. Ezra finally listens to the voicemail from Aria. He deletes it.





Ashley spots the blender in the trash and questions Hanna about it. Hanna asks her if she ever kept a secret from her father while they were together. Ashley recounts a few stories from the past then asks what Hanna is keeping from Caleb, but Hanna isn't talking.





Wren enters Toby's room to see if he needs anything. Toby wants "answers." Wren admits he kissed Spencer and that she told him at the time she was no longer with Toby. Toby is clearly angry and tells Wren to leave.



Hanna and Mona spot Jenna and Noel sitting together in Rive Gauche. Toby packs up his things and leaves the hospital.





Aria waits patiently on a bench in the rain, watching every car that passes until Ezra finally arrives. He calls her name and they kiss in the middle of the street, stopping traffic. Inside his car, they both agree what they are doing is dangerous. He wants her to be safe and happy and make sure that being together is what she wants. She answers him with a kiss. They realize what they are doing is crazy try to figure out how they can make it work without meeting on sidewalks in the rain for the rest of their lives. Aria tells him she has a plan.





Caleb tells Spencer and Emily that Hanna destroyed the files from the phone, but he kept backups on his computer. The only way he's going to continue working is if they let him know what Hanna is so afraid of and if they keep it a secret from Hanna.





Ella pulls up outside the restaurant, but Holden isn't back yet. Ella questions Aria, who is momentarily speechless, until Holden shows up with ice cream, explaining his absence. He offers some to Ella then exchanges a relieved look with Aria.





The next morning, Spencer, Emily and Aria watch the rest of the video. Garrett opens the wooden box to find something "weird." Then they hear someone coming up the stairs, presumably Alison. Ian tells Garrett they are all going down and pulls out the camera. Garrett and Ian struggle and the camera falls. The tape stops there, and Emily says she's not sure she want Caleb to recover the rest. The girls hear a car pull up outside and look out the window to see Toby's truck parked in the front yard. They open the door to find the keys in the ignition and a note for Spencer on the dash. She reads the note and tells the other girls "he's gone."





The camera pans across a bulletin board with photos of girls and their respective significant others. A gloved-figure pulls down the photo of Aria and Ezra, cuts it in down the middle and burns the Ezra half in a metal trash can. Then "A" does the same with the photo of Toby and Spencer, the implication being two down, two to go.





Notes

Keegan Allen has a stunt double for Toby in this episode.

Toby is in the hospital in this episode.

There is some guaranteed Ezria action in this episode that I. Marlene King considers way better than sex.

Ezra and Aria kiss in the rain.

There is a flashback in this episode.

Title

The episode's title, "The Blond Leading the Blind" is an obvious twist on "The Blind Leading the Blind," a metaphor popular since antiquity. Two references to a blind man leading a blind man appear in The New Testament.

In the dictionary: Blonde is for a girl while Blond is for a boy. (ex. Ali was Golden Blonde while Jason is Dark Blond; notice no e)

Due to tweets by the producers that did not materialize in this episode, it is possible that Alison was supposed to appear in a flashback, in which she tells Aria "I'm the blond leading the blind." However, the full projected storyline is unclear.

storyline is unclear. In Season 3 namely "Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Inferno", Ali (in a flashback) visited Toby because she thought that he was "A," Ali also showed Toby some notes sent by "A." One message read: THE BLONDE LEADING THE BLIND! -A

Main Cast

Supporting Cast

Co-Starring

Kunal Sharma as Raj Singh, Ezra's student

Featured Music

"I Will Let You Go" by Daniel Ahearn (Spencer looks out the window crying and Aria waits for Ezra)

(Spencer looks out the window crying and Aria waits for Ezra) "For You" by Peter Bradley Adams (Hanna talks to her mom about secrets)

(Hanna talks to her mom about secrets) "My Heart With You" by The Rescues (Ezra and Aria kiss in the rain)

Gallery

Promotional & BTS

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Memorable Quotes

Ashley [to Hanna]: Did you and the blender have a fight?

Hanna: No, me and Caleb.

Hanna [to Mona, about Noel]: It’s not like anyone with half a brain ever trusted him anyway.

Aria [to Ella]: Holden’s been, like, in the wilds of Portugal — I just figured his social skills could use a little shock treatment.

Emily [to Jenna]: You’re lucky I don’t take that stick...

Toby [to Wren]: I may have broken my left arm, but my right arm's fine.







