By: Atiya Irvin-Mitchell
We start with a flashback of the little liars asking Tipper (Wendy Crewson) to tell them a story. Present-day Cadence (Emily Alyn Lind) says via voiceover that she got her love of storytelling from her Gran, who’d always tell her, her cousins, and Gat (Shubham Maheshwari) about a mythical land where it’s always summer. But she has had to do her own storytelling these days. She says in the mythical land where it’s always summer was ruled over by a king and his faerie queen. The royal subjects loved their faerie queen because her magic kept the mythical land intact. According to the legends, Cadence says, her heart was made of pure gold. Unfortunately, one day the queen’s golden heart stopped.
Cadence goes into Harris’s (David Morse) office, and at first, not realizing it was her, Harris tries to shoo her away. Upon realizing it’s Cadence, he welcomes her inside and explains that Bess has moved herself and the girls into New Clairmont to take care of him. It’s driving him crazy because he’s not an old person and shifts the conversation to asking her how she’s feeling. Cadence points out how different New Clairmont is from the Clairmont she grew up with, and Harris just says it’ll be spectacular when the work is finished. However, Cadence remembers that her Gran loved the classic architecture. When Harris doesn’t respond, Cadence assumes that her mother’s gag order about her accident extended to him. Harris says that Penny (Caitlin FitzGerald) doesn’t order him to do anything; he just doesn’t see the point of dwelling on the past. Cadence asks for a program from her grandmother’s funeral, and Harris doesn’t respond. In the absence of words, Cadence explains that she remembers the night Tipper died, but not the funeral. This makes Harris angry and reiterates that he said no, and he doesn’t want to discuss that day. He surprises her by calling her Mirren (Esther McGregor) and reminds him that she’s Cadence. He wonders aloud what happened to the little blonde girls running around Clairmont. Bess (Candice King) interrupts and says they grew up, and asks Cadence if she’s okay.
Cadence says she just doesn’t understand and that Clairmont doesn’t feel anything like Gran, and she hates it. Then she accuses Cadence of not letting them say goodbye to Old Clairmont and of erasing her Gran. This upsets Harris, and Bess intervenes by saying that Cadence didn’t mean it and reminds him that her niece isn’t well.
Outside of the office, Bess finds Cadence upset and tells her she likes to go to Tipper’s rose garden when she misses her mother. Cadence heads down to the rose garden and takes more pills. While she’s walking, she reflects that when the queen died, it was revealed that she’d lied to the king, her daughters, and their tiny heirs: she wasn’t a faerie at all, just a mortal. For a moment, Cadence thinks she sees her grandmother, but falls over when she reaches for her. While she’s on the ground, she gets a few flashes of her grandmother’s funeral.
We flash back to Summer 16, in the days leading up to her funeral. Penny seems to be taking the reins on the planning as we see her with Cadence and Tipper’s body reprimanding the funeral home director for painting her mother’s nails the wrong color. She gets Tipper’s effects, and this includes her coveted black pearls. Cadence wonders if Penny and her sisters will share them, and Penny says that Harris wants Tipper to be buried in them. Penny keeps asking for Cadence’s advice on how to dress Tipper, but Cadence is uncomfortable looking at the body.
Cadence goes to the car first, and when Penny joins her, she acknowledges that this is the first time Cadence has seen a dead body. Cadence hopes it’ll be the last time, but Penny promises it won’t be. But she’ll be better prepared for the next funeral she attends, which is why she brought her along. She also informs Cadence that her father will be at the funeral, which is a surprise. Cadence thinks her father’s showing up is inconsiderate, but Penny says it’d be weirder if he didn’t come. It’s confusing for Cadence how nonchalant Penny is about everything and doesn’t understand how her mother never falls apart. Cadence wishes she could be more like her mother, and Penny just says that falling apart is for other people, and they are Sinclairs. Penny recalls that she was younger than Cadence is now when Rosemary died.
Back then, Penny says that Tipper told her to go back to her routine and look to the future. Furthermore, according to the wisdom of Tipper Sinclair, you erase the person you lose from conversation, and if you must speak about them, don’t show that you feel the loss. Penny adds, if you follow the rules, nothing hurts you because you just make your heart a small target.
During Summer 17, Cadence goes to Cuddledown – the smaller house away from the main house and finds the liars partying. The house is a mess, and Cadence says that Bess would kill them if she saw the state of things. Mirren reminds her that Bess hates Cuddledown, so she won’t be visiting. The liars have been crashing there and Mirren offers Cadence the twins’ rooms since they and Bess have been staying at New Clairmont. Cadence is tempted, but can’t because her mother is constantly checking on her, so she would never allow it. Johnny (Joseph Zada) points out that she passed out in the roses on a painkiller bender and adds that the gardener had to put her in a golf cart to get her back to Windermere. Cadence seems not to remember any of what Johnny is describing. But, Gat asks what happened to trigger her to have a migraine so bad it made her sick (besides the painkillers). Johnny says maybe they shouldn’t talk about whatever made Cadence spiral and Mirren pipes in that she overheard her mom and Penny talk about Harris yelling at her. They’re blaming him for Cadence passing out, and Cadence says maybe it’s true.
Still, she’s more concerned with remembering Tipper’s funeral. She can remember the night Tipper died, but the actual funeral and the days that followed are hazy. Now, she’s wary of asking Harris again because bringing up the funeral upset him. Johnny reminds her that they’re not allowed to tell her and Gat adds that it’s because they want her to get better. Yet Cadence says that funerals are for closure, and she can’t have that if she doesn’t know what happened. Cadence wonders if something bad happened or if she did something wrong. Then she starts to get a migraine, and the liars debate whether or not the conversation should continue. Johnny’s worried, but Mirren points out that maybe it’s okay to talk about the funeral since it was before the night she got hurt. Reluctantly, Johnny and Gat agree to tell Cadence about the funeral and only the funeral. Johnny wants that to be the end of discussing summer 16, because he just wants to have a normal, fun summer.
The liars head down to the beach and Gat and Cadence talk about the fight they had last summer. Gat starts to apologize for not telling her about Raquel, but Cadence says it’s fine. She explains that for a long time, she didn’t remember what happened after their kiss or why Gat was so hot and cold with her, and now she has her answer. The liars hang out in the water and Cadence asks Gat if they were on speaking terms when Tipper died. The answer is no and Mirren doesn’t really want to rehash everything. Gat says he wanted to talk to her, but he didn’t know how after their fight.
We flash back to Summer 16, and Gat is trying to write Cadence a letter, but he’s at a loss for words. Then, he’s interrupted by Ed (Rahul Kohli) showing him the suit he got him tailored for the funeral. But, Gat tells him he’s not sure he wants to go because he had a fight with Cadence and Johnny. Not he and the other liars, save Mirren, aren’t talking. Ed asks him what he remembers about his own father’s funeral, and Gat says he remembers Ed giving him his jacket after he lost his. Ed admits that he was angry at Gat’s father when he died. They had a huge fight and the next day Gat’s father died. Ed (somewhat jokingly) wondered if his brother died just to refuse to let him get the last word. However, at the last minute, he decided to go in case Gat or his mother needed something. As it turned out, Gat lost his jacket during the funeral, and Ed gave him his. Ed states that sometimes when you push through and go to these sorts of things, you can be there for people in unexpected ways.
Then they talk a little about what led to the fight with Johnny and Cadence. Gat says he used to feel like he belonged here. But this summer things have changed. Ed chalks it up to growing pains when two families merge and points out that not every member of their family is a fan of Carrie (Mamie Gummer). But it’s deeper than that for Gat. Since his trip to India, it’s hard not to notice how privileged the Sinclairs are. Ed simply says that the Sinclair family isn’t as lucky as he and Gat are because no one hugged them enough.
As the family is getting ready to leave for the funeral Johnny asks Cadence and Miren if he should apologize to Gat because he was a dick to him. Mirren agrees that Johnny was a dick to Gat and Gat was a dick to Cadence. Looking back, Mirren says, it was a whole circle of dickish behavior, but Cadence says it’s fine and she’s fine. Johnny notes that Cadence is doing a great impression of her mother. Cadence just says her mother is good in a crisis. Johnny says Carrie has been crying in the shower and Mirren says that Bess hasn’t left Brody’s (Dylan Bruce) side. This in addition to Tipper dying, is why she hasn’t been able to talk to him about Bess cheating. Just before the shuttle leaves for the funeral, Gat decides to go to the service.
At said service there are a lot of people and a lot of press in attendance. Also, Cadence’s father Sam (Charlie Carrick) is in attendance. Gat’s happy to see him, and he seems to share some of Gat’s feelings about the Sinclairs’ world. He asks how Cadence is doing, and Gat admits he doesn’t really know at the moment. Penny shakes Sam’s hand and Cadence, who is still channeling Penny, shakes her father’s hand.
The ceremony is pretty uncomfortable for everyone. Will (Brady Droulis) asks Johnny questions about the afterlife. Bess needles Mirren about not looking presentable enough. Gat sits with Sam away from the rest of the family. And as Johnny is struggling to answer Will’s question about hell, Johnny is approached by a boy named Blake (Cale Ambrozic). It’s time for Harris to give the eulogy, and in Summer 17, this is the part where Cadence must admit her mind goes blank when it comes to this part of the ceremony. Johnny, Gat and Mirren admit they were all a bit too distracted to remember what exactly Harris said. But Johnny recalls Harris went off-script and spoke from the heart about their grandmother. Gat says he was focused on Cadence, Cadence says she wants someone to say something memorable at her funeral, and Johnny says he just doesn’t want a bunch of snobs at his funeral. Mirren adds that she doesn’t want a bunch of fake girls being sad, populating her funeral. Gat just doesn’t want a religious ceremony where everyone says prayers he no longer believes in, but in his experience, all funerals are awful.
Speaking of that, after the funeral, everyone heads back to Clairmont and Gat’s had enough of the festivities and wants to go read. After he ducks away, an older woman gives Ed her umbrella and Ed’s annoyed when he realizes she thought he was a butler. Carrie tries to reassure him by telling him that the woman’s first husband just married her third husband; therefore, she gets a lot of things wrong.
Gat changed his mind about skipping the mingling and tries to talk to Cadence about Tipper, but Cadence is still taking Penny’s advice and just says it was good of him to come. Mirren is hiding and Johnny finds her and tries to explain the situation with the guy from a rival team he doesn’t want to see. Mirren says she’s ducking the sexter because she’s afraid he’ll want to hook up and she’s not sure she’s ready. Cadence finds them both and is mad that they left her alone with the cheaters, meaning, Gat, Bess, and her father. Then Mirren formally introduces Blake as the guy she’s been sexting, much to Johnny’s horror. Cadence takes Johnny away to give Mirren and Blake some privacy and asks her cousin why he’s suddenly so quiet. Johnny says he’s fine, but chugs a glass of wine.
Carrie sees Penny telling two people that Tipper really loved them, and when they’re gon,e she admits she had no idea who they were. Carrie praises her for handling the situation and the entire day so well and calls her “perfect Penny.” Penny brushes it off and points out she didn’t even have time to get her dress dry cleaned, and accidentally reveals she still has her mother’s pearls. This upsets Carrie because she says they agreed that their mother would be buried wearing them. Penny says they didn’t agree; they were all just too afraid to tell their father they didn’t want to feed the pearls to the worms. Carrie says okay, she’ll let it slide for the rest of the day because Penny took care of everything, but she’ll pick up the pearls tomorrow. Penny thinks she means to borrow them, but Carrie says since Harris gave Tipper the pearls when she was pregnant with Carrie, they’re rightfully hers. Plus, Carrie says, their mother promised her the pearls. Penny asks if she has that in writing, and that upsets Carrie further. Then she says that the pearls don’t go with Carrie’s faux-bohemian aesthetic.
Bess comes over as things are getting heated, and Carrie shows her that Penny has the pearls. Bess threatens to fight Penny for the pearls, and Penny rolls her eyes and walks away. Outside Harris is informed about Tipper’s plans to sell her favorite painting and bumps into Gat, who was smoking. Gat tries to duck away, but Harris stops him and asks him to take the dogs for a walk.
Mirren and Blake look at the ocean, and they talk a little about her artwork. Blake admits to looking at her artwork on Mirren’s Instagram when he got lonely. And Mirren admits that she’s more inexperienced than her text messages implied. Blake says he didn’t come to the funeral to hook up, he came because he wanted to see her. This makes Mirren happy, and she says it’s okay if he wants to do more than see her. Then the moment is interrupted by the sight of the moms’ very loud arguing.
More on said fighting, Elizabeth, Penny and Carrie are all making their cases for why they should get the pearls. Then it further devolves when Bess starts calling dibs on pieces of art she thinks should go to her. Penny shushes her because they still have guests and suggests that they talk about who inherits what tomorrow. But Bess and Carrie are still angry about the pearls. Bess storms off and says she’s going to check their mother’s jewelry box before it’s “looted” and Carrie and Penny follow her.
Mirren and Blake overheard most of the fight and Mirren apologizes for her mother and aunts. Blake says it’s okay because he knows that funerals and families are hard. Mirren tells him to stay where he is and leaves with the promise that she’ll send for him. She finds Cadence and asks her to find Blake and distract him for 20 minutes, and then send him to Cuddledown. Mirren says she needs time to prepare for their first time.
In Summer 17, Cadence is hoping that Mirren didn’t bang the sexter at their Gran’s funeral. Mirren laughs and tells her not to judge her. The truth, Mirren says, she shaved and waited in her room forever but he never showed up. Cadence is worried that she got distracted and didn’t tell him to meet Mirren, but Johnny says it wasn’t her fault. Johnny says she’s not a villain, Blake was just a jerk, and Mirren learned that the hard way. But, this leaves Cadence with more questions and Johnny reluctantly explains that he’s the reason that Blake never showed up.
During Summer 16, Johnny took Blake into a room and yells at him for using Mirren to get to him. The conversation turns hostile and then romantic because Johnny kisses Blake. The twenty minutes must be up because Cadence walks in and interrupts the make-out session. Blake leaves and Cadence points out that he’s bleeding. During summer 17, Johnny apologizes again to Mirren for what happened to Blake. Mirren says it’s not his fault Blake used him to get under Johnny’s skin.
We flash back to Summer 16 and Mirren asks Ebon (Dempsey Bryk), who drives the boat shuttle, if he’s seen Blake. The answer is yes, and he left an hour ago, according to Ebon. This disappoints Mirren, and Ebon tells her that Blake isn’t worth the perfume she’s wearing or the nudes she’s been sending him. Mirren is shocked he knows about this, but when he’s driving people off and onto the island, they tend to talk like he’s not there. Ebon explains that he was proudly telling people that he “bagged” a Sinclair. Mirren takes offense to that, accuses Ebon of overstepping, and says his services will no longer be needed.
On the beach, Gat is playing fetch with Eleanor and Franklin, the dogs, and Cadence comes down to talk with him. Gat explains he’s trying to cheer them up because they miss Tipper, and he just wants to be able to do something helpful. If that’s the case, Cadence says, he can give her father his box of stuff and tell him to go back to his hotel because Sam hates Beechwood as much as Gat does. Gat argues that he doesn’t hate Beechwood, Cadence wonders why, since the Sinclairs are so cold, cruel, and casually racist. Gat says she does a good impression of an icy cold Sinclair, which is a part of why he never told her about his girlfriend.
Cadence says Gat might think she’s a terrible person, but she does have principles. She hates cheaters and hates that Gat made her the other woman without getting her permission. Cadence says what is worse is that he told her it was her fault because sometimes she doesn’t thank the staff. Gat starts to apologize for the way he said things, but Cadence says he was right. The worst part, according to Cadence, is that when Gat was writing the letter with a flower inside, she thought it was for him. Gat admits it was a mistake and understands if Cadence can’t forgive him. He wants to be a good person, but says it’s hard when he’s around Cadence. They’re interrupted by the dogs running up to the house.
Ed and Johnny talk a little when Ed catches Johnny smoking. Ed takes the pot away from him, but then starts smoking himself. He says everyone deserves to revert back to their 16-year-old selves on a day like today. Speaking of which, the whole party can hear the moms arguing. Bess, Carrie and Penny storm into Harris’s office and try and pull him into their argument about who inherits what, and Harris just says that they’ve come at the perfect time. Harris has been going over Tipper’s financial ledgers, if they actually remember her, and he knows how often she used to bail them out of trouble.
Additionally, Harris says that he always hoped he’d die first because he couldn’t imagine his life without Tipper. But now, Harris says, it might be for the best that her heart made other plans because, given the sisters’ behavior, he’s glad he didn’t leave Tipper alone with them. He takes the pearls and says Tipper’s checkbook is closed, but he’s still here. Furthermore, Harris says, there will be no more handouts until he sees people worth his investment. He asks if any of them feel like they’ve done anything with the Sinclair name when there’s a loud crash.
When he goes downstairs sees that the table, which contains a lot of photos of Tipper, has been overturned by the dogs. Gat and Cadence try to apologize, and Harris looks disappointed, but he just looks around and thanks everyone for coming. Later, Cadence sees Penny comforting Eleanor and Franklin and promising them that Tipper loved them. Cadence smiles, and Sam notes how sweet Penny is with them despite how cold she can be. Cadence admits that Penny told her to make her heart a small target, and Sam responds that Penny believes the Sinclair rules work. But, Sam says, Cadence should remember she’s an Eastman too, and sometimes Eastmans can get sad and pretty angry. He tells her it’s okay if she’s angry with him, and Cadence admits she’s angry, but mostly sad, and her father hugs her.
Later, the liars hang out by the water and sit in silence until Johnny asks Cadence if they forgive Gat. Cadence thinks about it for a moment and decides to forgive him, and Johnny and Gat seem to resolve things, too. Then they talk a bit about what Gat’s faith says about the afterlife. The liars wonder where their grandmother is, and Mirren hopes that Tipper gets to hang out with rockstars and be impolite and improper for once. With a stolen bottle of champagne, the liars toast Tipper.
In summer 17, Gat is shocked that Cadence can remember their afterlife talk on the beach. Cadence says she wanted to see if they were telling her the truth about last summer, and now she knows Johnny lied. When Cadence walked in on Johnny and Blake, they weren’t making out; they were fighting. Blake called Johnny a psychopath and accused him of ruining someone’s life and almost killing a boy. When Cadence broke up the fight, Johnny didn’t offer up an explanation. In the present, Cadence says that Gat is the only one who has told her the truth. She’s afraid that her cousins are keeping secrets from her, and she asks Gat to help her figure things out. Gat admits that sometimes he feels like he’d do anything for Cadence, but he points out that by pretending not to remember Cadence has been lying, too.