‘Pretty Little Liars’ Episode 8 Recap: “Bad Blood”

By horror movie logic, the simplest explanation isn’t usually the correct one. (Ironic, especially when you consider that “Occam’s razor” would make for an awesome slasher movie title.) Tabby says as much in Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin Episode 8 (titled “Bad Blood”), in which the girls resort to an unexpectedly bloody method of problem solving and officially gain a new ally against A (who is definitely still out there, because come on! There are two episodes left.)

Now that the Liars know what really happened to Tyler on Halloween night, they’re forced to contend with the reality that A’s cat and mouse game has killed not one, but two of their high school nemeses. As Tabby muses in one of her less forced movie references: “Our teen angst now has a body count.” (That’s from Heathers.)

If only A could help them figure out who attacked Imogen and Tabby, and whether their experiences tie into the tragedy of Angela’s own assault all those years ago. For now, the girls are betting on their next best option: The school blood drive. With nurse’s assistant Kelly and ex-nurse Marjorie’s help, they can test blood samples from the student body against DNA from Imogen’s baby and maybe — just maybe — figure out who they’re dealing with. 

Shawn admits to Noa that most of the jocks are too afraid of being caught doping to participate, we’re also treated to a sufficiently disgusting montage of the girls collecting locker room DNA samples, from, well… anything they can get their hands on. For the love of God, guys, try to not be so gross! 

With the samples safely dropped off to Marjorie for testing, the girls celebrate with an impromptu night out before Thanksgiving break commences. Even Kelly tags along, having finally won the girls’ trust after Imogen confided in her about what really went down the night of Karen’s party. She asks Greg to call her Karen later, but given how unhinged Sheriff Beasley can get at times, she’s hardly the worst of the Liars’ concerns. “Bad Blood” flashes to one of his illicit gay hookups that Noa alluded to last week, and I’m honestly struggling to see how imbuing an already abusive character with predatory queerness adds much to the show at all. I don’t buy that Joe is A, but would Sheriff Beasley really be that satisfying of a reveal?

More pressingly, what are the Y2K moms not telling us? Wary of their daughters’ rapidly growing Angela knowledge, Corey, Elodie, and Marjorie beg Sidney to find out just how much they know — after all, Imogen and Tabby have been the ringleaders throughout this whole ordeal. Sidney’s suspicions are raised further when Tabby is forced to ask for her permission to film her rape revenge short at school, insisting she was inspired by learning about Angela’s rape.

Things boil over when Corey takes the girls’ night out as an excuse to go through her daughter’s things. Soon enough, she stumbles across secret footage Tabby shot of the boys’ locker room while prepping for her Psycho short. It’s a gross invasion of privacy no matter what her intentions were, and I sided with Sidney when she forced Tabby to delete all of the footage permanently. The next morning, she finally comes clean about the trauma that’s been fueling her snuff film adjacent tendencies, breaking down in her mother’s arms. This week featured a quick 1999 flashback to a teenage Sidney finding Angela in the school bathroom following her own assault, which has clearly been fueling adult Sidney’s high school guilt. Now that she knows similar violence has been wrought on her own daughter, shit is bound to hit the fan.

Thanksgiving rolls around, and it’s not exactly a holiday I’m sure any of the Liars will be keen to remember. After learning her biological father’s name, Mouse arrives at his doorstep unannounced, posing as a Girl Scout. He rejects her coolly as soon as the word “Dad” escapes her lips, driving Mouse to reconnect with Steve once again… this will go well! Meanwhile, Noa’s tentative reconciliation with Marjorie is tainted when she discovers that another loved one is in the throes of substance abuse — Shawn, who’s been doping under her nose with the rest of his jock friends.

But when it comes to worst Thanksgivings, Imogen takes the cake. After secretly digging up Angela’s old address on Nurse Simmons’ computer during the blood drive, she heads there first thing Thanksgiving morning to resume her teen sleuthing. It’s got all the trappings you would expect from an abandoned horror house, from rope restraints to a suspiciously human-sized cage to A’s freaking mask…

Then who should she find there but Crazy Joe from the train tracks, who warned them about getting too close to the truth. Panicked, he chases her through the house with a knife, driving her straight towards what’s definitely the corpse of Rose Waters.

Imogen brings her friends for backup once darkness falls (why!), but Joe is nowhere to be found. Next stop is his train car home, where they’re shocked by the sight of him hanging from a noose, seemingly dead by suicide. He even left a note: “Angela Waters did not die in vain.” Add in the fact that Joe is a match for the sixth signature in Rose’s visitors log and his hatred of their mothers, and the case of A could very well be closed. But this is a slasher show, and nothing is ever that simple.

Abby Monteil is a New York-based writer. Her work has also appeared in The Daily Beast, Insider, Them, Thrillist, Elite Daily, and others.