'Pretty Little Liars' Episode 3 Recap: Man Behind the Masks

Previously this season on Pretty Little Liars, the characters said goodbye to boyfriends, girlfriends and fiancés. During Tuesday night's episode, "The Talented Mr. Rollins," the Liars realize how much trouble Ali is in — and say goodbye to Elliott, as he's buried in the same grave viewers saw the Liars digging in the season premiere.

The episode centers on the girls' epic rescue mission, with a deep dive into who Dr. Elliott Rollins is — or was. Emily, finally more intuitive than the others, pushes the notion that Elliott is not what he seems, so the Liars investigate. They break into his bedroom trunk lockbox and find old, creepy medical instruments, syringes, liquid medication, blue-eyed contacts and the makings and a handwritten recipe for latex. 

The girls realize not only is Elliott drugging Ali in the hospital to make her seem as crazy as he claims, but he also put her in there. Spencer puts together that he was clearly the one making the haunting masks that have followed them around for ages — which he used to dress up as Officer Wilden in order to get Ali to commit herself. In short: There is no question that he is at least part of Uber A.

Elliott comes home while they are snooping, so Hanna and Spencer stall him while Aria hastily puts the trunk key back. Unfortunately, she places it in the wrong hiding sconce, tipping Elliott off. One would think the girls understand attention to detail by now. Skeptical and spooked, Elliott packs up the contents of his trunk and angrily storms out of the bedroom.

Aria and Hanna embark on a mission in hopes of finding and questioning Elliott's family. He had claimed his family owned a farm out in the boonies, but his credit card statement shows he and Ali stayed at a bed and breakfast instead. The girls get lost on the way, but this proves to be a blessing because, while on a farm trying to get directions and answers, they find out that no Rollins owns any farm in the county, and a little Amish girl named Eliza finally reveals Elliott and Charlotte's relationship.

"You look like my dolls," she tells the girls. "What dolls?" But they know what she must be saying: "The ones Charlotte gave me."

She says Elliott and Charlotte used to come out to the farm all the time and would bring her these dolls — the very same dolls viewers used to see sadistically foreshadow the Liars' fates at the end of each episode.

The girls are run out of the barn by an ominous old Amish man, but on their way out, Hanna sees one of the torture devices Uber A used on her: an electric cow prod. This explains the burn marks all over her back. Clearly Elliott pulls no punches out of sentimentality like Charlotte did. Aria tries to comfort Hanna, and, foreshadowing Elliott's impending demise, says, "Elliott will pay for what he did to you. I promise."

When they return, the girls realize Elliott has taken Ali from Welby, but she's managed to send them her location from her phone. Ali pushes Elliott as he drives, forcing the car into a skid and a stop. He chases her on foot down the rural dirt road — the same road the other girls are barreling down in their search for Ali. She just barely misses getting hit, while Elliott goes face first through the windshield, his bloody face hanging directly in Hanna's. Talk about poetic justice.

What else happened in the episode? Well, Hanna opens it by slipping on a $39.99 fake engagement ring so she doesn't have to talk about her breakup. Lucas is the only one who picked up on her bare ring finger last week — because he is so obviously still in love with her — so no one else knows why she's irritable whenever anyone asks her about Jordan. 

Spencer finally gets Caleb to admit he kissed Hanna the night she was abducted, and tells him she doesn't know that it can work between them anymore. Despite his telling her all of the reasons he likes her, she comes back with, "But that's the problem: you like me, but I love you."

Also, Emily puts it all out there with the cute barista girl, Sabrina, and gets her to go on a date with her. It's boring. Toby is officially engaged to Yvonne, which is also boring. But Toby still can't seem to pull himself away from the Liars. 

Emily brings him a tattered file on Elliott, hoping he can dig up some information on who he is and why he might be out to get Ali. What Toby finds out, however, is that "Elliott Rollins" got a parking ticket in 1958.

Who is Elliott, the Uber A with a desire for torture? It'll be hard for the Liars to find out now that he is six feet under.