The Perfectionists Set Us Up for One Hell of a Finale With a Couple of Major Cliffhangers

The season finale of Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists promises to be action-packed because the penultimate episode, "Lie Together, Die Together," left viewers with a couple of really good cliffhangers and one favorite character's future in serious flux.

The Suspects

The trio -- though really, with the additions, I should be calling them the "sextet" -- took the recording they had of Dana Booker (Klea Scott) confessing to her willingness to manufacture evidence to Mrs. Hotchkiss (Kelly Rutherford), thinking this is what would get Booker kicked to the curb. Unfortunately, Claire was merely impressed that her lapdog would stoop to such levels to find Nolan's (Chris Mason) killer. Claire found it very suspicious that they all lied about where they were when Nolan died, so she's convinced one of them did it and wants Booker to continue with her work.

Meanwhile, Jeremy (Graeme Thomas King) "confessed" to Caitlin (Sydney Park) that he killed Nolan... except that's not what he did at all, that's just what she assumed he was confessing to. Jeremy conveniently never specified what he did to protect Caitlin, so you know it can't possibly be that he killed Nolan, especially given what happened at the end of the episode.

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Before we get to that, though, first everyone attended the Beacon Heights gala. It was there that we learned what exactly went on with Taylor "the first time" -- her father was apparently shot and killed and she witnessed it. She became obsessed with keeping people safe, so she developed Beacon Guard. But Taylor got so wrapped up in it that she wasn't sleeping or eating, so her mother locked her out of it and made her stay at a "spa," which is rich-people code for a mental health facility.

Claire once again called this "spa" now that Taylor was back and running around with Alison (Sasha Pieterse) and Co., trying to solve Nolan's murder, but Taylor managed to give them the slip and escape, just in time to find Jeremy trying to get Caitlin to run away with him. She mistakenly thought he killed her brother (they all mistakenly think that) and she shot Jeremy.

The sextet staged the scene to make it look like Jeremy was threatening Taylor, so we all know it's going to come out that he didn't kill Nolan. But as it stands going into the finale, these people are still mysteries:

Who killed Nolan, who hit Caitlin with his/her car, the pig-man in the sewer, the missing Hotchkiss family member in Beacon Guard's system, who killed Mr. Hotchkiss, and who threatened to kill Taylor when she found out he or she was spying on people using Beacon Guard.

They are probably not six different people, but odds are they aren't all the same person either. One of them definitely has his or her own "A" lair, as we saw when the lone computer was shown assembling a list that contains the sextet plus one Ray Hogadorn (Duffy Epstein). We don't yet know how he fits into all this, but that is probably something the season finale will reveal. Maybe he's really Mr. Hotchkiss hiding out.

Alison & Mona

There wasn't much going on with Alison this episode, but Mona (Janel Parrish) had plenty going on. She was still getting hot 'n heavy with Mason (Noah Gray-Cabey), right up until Booker's surveillance outed her relationship to Mrs. Hotchkiss and Claire fired Mona. Where does that leave her moving forward? She absolutely must be a part of the show, so hopefully Mona finds out a reason to blackmail Claire into re-hiring her next week.

Also, Mona -- duh. You had to know that sleeping with a student was a terrible idea. Though perhaps all those years of watching Ezra (Ian Harding) hook up with Aria (Lucy Hale) have completely warped her idea of appropriate student-teacher relationships. (Yes, Mona is not technically a teacher, but you know what I mean.)

Additional thoughts on the episode:

- Wouldn't it be funny if the thing Jeremy did to protect Caitlin was run her over with a car? Mona could relate.

- Why do you think Booker didn't turn Ava's (Sofia Carson) money into the authorities? Is she keeping it simply because she's a horrible person? Or is there something else at play here?

- Love, love, love the love connections this episode. Ava kissed Zach (Garrett Wareing) and Andrew (Evan Bittencourt) possibly saved Dylan (Eli Brown) from getting kicked out of school by pulling a really ballsy move at the gala and playing Dylan's original cello composition over the P.A. system. The head of the Seattle Symphony just happened to be there and it stands to reason he'll make it impossible for Claire to kick Dylan out of school.

- Did you notice Ava casually name-drop her friend Zoe (Roxanne Stathos)? I'm still convinced she figures into all of this somehow, so I expect her to come popping up in the season finale.

- How do you pronounce the word "gala"? I pronounce it like the first syllable sounds like "gal pal," which is actually not one of the choices Alison gave when she asked if it's "gay-la or gah-la." It's very Midwestern of me. What do you prefer?

Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on Freeform.