By: Atiya Irvin-Mitchell
We open with Cadence (Emily Alyn Lind) in the hospital and unconscious. Her mother Penny (Caitlin FitzGerald) is trying to brush her hair and gets frustrated and throws the brush into the mirror. Cadence wakes up and asks what happened. In the voiceover, Cadence explains that she remembers she shared a perfect kiss with Gat in June and woke up in August. Everything in between, she says, is blank. We also see that she gets pretty intense migraines, and she takes painkillers for them. Cadence explains that her doctors have said that amnesia after a traumatic event is normal. And Cadence assumes that needing to dye your hair black and your closest friends not speaking to you must be normal, too. Yet, she sees to cure her heartache, she needs to return to Beechwood.
We cut away, and it’s still summer 17, and Cadence and Penny are greeted at the docks by Carrie (Mamie Gummer). Penny tells Carrie that she didn’t have to wait up, but Carrie says she doesn’t sleep anymore. When Carrie asks Cadence how she’s been doing, Cadence responds that it’s nothing that painkillers and vodka can’t fix. Penny insists that Cadence is kidding and that this is just her sense of humor now. Taking in the house, referred to as Clairemont Cadence, notes that it looks entirely different. Carrie calls it a three-quarters life crisis, and Cadence prefers the old Clairemont. Then, Penny explains that Cadence hoped that returning to Clairemont would jog her memory. Cadence explains that her doctors said that being in a familiar setting could help, but to her, Clairemont is unrecognizable. Carrie tells her that New Clairemont is jarring, but they’re still in Beechwood. Plus, everyone is excited to see her, but Cadence isn’t convinced.
Later, Cadence walks on the beach and resolves to find out how she ended up on the beach, barely breathing. She has a few flashes and thinks of kissing Gat (Shubham Maheshwari). Then we flash back to summer 16, the morning after her first kiss with Gat. She’s looking at a letter Gat sent her with candy inside, wondering why he didn’t give her the dried beach flower she saw him holding. She’s interrupted by Mirren (Esther McGregor), who comes in and says she needs to talk to her. But Cadence asks Mirren about the flower, and Mirren doesn’t immediately get why it matters because Gat sends her letters all the time. Cadence says that Gat might not just be a regular guy after all, and tells Mirren that they had a moment. Mirren tells her she’s happy for her, but worried about how this will impact the liars’ dynamic. Then she goes without telling Cadence what she needed to tell her and says to focus on Gat.
When it’s time for breakfast, things are awkward between Gat and Cadence. Mirren has no appetite and Johnny (Joseph Zada) teases her about sexting herself into eternal virginity. Enter Brody Sheffield (Dylan Bruce), Mirren’s father and Bess’s (Candice King) husband. He missed his flight, but decided to wake up at the crack of dawn to surprise them. It’s almost Father’s Day, and Harris is headed to the club to give Tipper some time to prepare.
While the liars and littles are getting ice cream, Mirren tells Gat, Johnny, and Cadence that she saw her mother having sex with Salty Dan. Mirren says she hasn’t been able to eat or sleep, and she’s dreading telling her father. Gat advises her to talk to her mother before telling her father, because there could be an explanation. But Mirren highly doubts that Salty Dan is on their free pass list. Cadence insists that there’s no excuse for cheating, and the liars deduce that the divorce is happening because Cadence’s father cheated on her mother. Also, it seems that Gat is avoiding being alone with Cadence post-kiss, much to her confusion.
Bess sees Carrie and Penny talking in the living room and encourages them to come to the beach. Then the sisters start comparing notes on their respective Father’s Day gifts. Among the Sinclair sisters, it seems that Father’s Day is a very King Lear affair, meaning affection is granted based on the best gift. Penny’s gift is expensive, Bess’s is sentimental and Carrie is just trying to show Harris that she and Ed (Rahul Kohli) are stable. Bess and Penny think it’s a few years too late to seek boyfriend approval, but then they realize they might be planning to ask Harris to pay for a big Indian wedding. Also, Father’s Day comes with prizes, in addition to Harris’s affection. Tipper (Wendy Crewson) comes in and says the winner can wear her black pearls to the end of the summer gala. Carrie points out that encouraging kids to compete for their parents’ love is damaging, but Tipper says that when Harris is happy, everyone is happy.
During summer 17, Cadence shares an awkward reunion with the liars. They’re happy to see her and hug her, but Cadence is a little hurt. She doesn’t understand why the liars didn’t call her or visit her all year long when she was in the hospital. Mirren said the moms said that Cadence needed space. Also, Cadence explains that her parents took her phone because screens make her migraines worse. Johnny reminds her she’ll be safe on the island because Beechwood is a no-WiFi zone. Gat asks how bad the amnesia is, and Cadence says some of her memories are coming back, but a lot is blank.
Johnny tells her that her brain might’ve done her a favor by deleting the night of her accident. Still, Cadence begs the liars to tell her what happened, but none of them were there. The conversation is interrupted by Penny telling Cadence that her cousins have visited with Harris, and now it’s her turn. Before Cadence heads up to the house, Mirren tells her that they are all really sorry.
Heading back to summer 16, Cadence is telling Mirren about Gat avoiding her. She’s saying that she wishes she knew what he was thinking, and then the boys join them. Johnny and Gat explain that Gat can outswim Johnny, but Johnny can still win at tennis. Cadence checks out Gat’s hand and sees the title Being and Nothingness written on his hand. She asks them if that’s the next book he plans to read, and Gat says yes and explains that he also finished the Andrew Jackson biography. Johnny gets annoyed and offers to pay Gat if he skips the Trail of Tears lecture. Gat says there should be limits to how much one person can own, and they should think about who owned the island before Harris. Mirren, Cadence, and Johnny tell him to shut up and play Scrabble, and Gat opts to leave instead. Johnny says to let him go because ever since his trip to India, Gat talks nonstop about the evils of colonization, and he’s sick of hearing about it.
Penny interrupts Tipper and Thatcher as he’s helping her line up a buyer for a painting that is a family heirloom. Harris hates the painting because Tipper’s father loved it, but Tipper is selling it and buying a different painting for Harris. Penny says she should’ve asked Ed to sell the painting for her since he’s in high demand these days, but Tipper says Thatcher will be discreet. Tipper doesn’t plan to discuss the sale with Harris because the painting is a Taft heirloom and not a Sinclair asset. Penny finds it strange that Tipper plans to put the money from the sale into a separate account and buy the new painting with Harris’s money. This angers Tipper, who says she’s not a bored 1950s housewife with an allowance; she’s selling her favorite painting to give Penny money to pay for her divorce. Using family money, she says, would raise questions about why her divorce is so complicated. Tipper believes a woman has a right to a few secrets, but she tells Penny her father wouldn’t necessarily agree.
Ed goes to Harris and tells him the party boat situation has been handled. He doesn’t get a thank you from Harris, though. So, he shifts gears to asking for Harris’s blessing for him and Carrie to get married. They’ve been together for a decade, after all. Harris points out that Carrie thinks it’s antiquated to ask for a father’s permission to get married. Ed is aware of this, but he’s also aware that Harris values traditions. Harris doesn’t seem enthusiastic, but says that Ed is an improvement over her ex who was a “junkie” who abandoned her to raise two children on her own. But Harris wonders why now they’ve been content without making it office for years. Ed says his parents are traditional too, and they have strong feelings about babies out of wedlock, and he and Carrie plan to add to their family. Harris turns away to play with one of his dogs, Franklin, and says some people slack off with their training and let their dogs forget their place, but not him. Tipper overhears this and says positive reinforcement works too, but wonders what else Ed and Harris were talking about. Harris says he was just welcoming Ed to their family. Tipper is ecstatic and congratulates Ed with a hug. As Harris leaves, Tipper tells Ed there’s something she wants him to have.
Cadence finds Gat, and Gat tells her he never tells her to shut up. She acknowledges that he doesn’t and says she doesn’t know how to be them since the kiss. Cadence adds that she was trying to act normal, but she doesn’t really want him to shut up. Gat says he knows he’s been acting different, but Cadence says she likes that he cares so much about things they don’t understand. Cadence also promises that they don’t really want Gat to shut up. When they say that, Cadence says, what they really mean is they love her. Cadence starts heading downstairs, and Gat stops her and they kiss again. They start making out in the chair when they hear someone coming up the stairs. Lucky for them, they are separated by the time Harris arrives. Still, he senses that he interrupted something. Harris doesn’t call them on it, but he gives Gat a copy of Wuthering Heights to read.
In summer 17, Gat is outside and he and Cadence go for a walk. They talk and Cadence asks if he remembers summer 11 when they played a record so much the sound was warped? She’s worried that memories could be like that too. Gat asks what her favorite memory and she explains that all year everytime she got scared or sick she thought of her kiss on the beach with him. She wonders if she remembers if wrong, but Gat promises her that it was perfect. Then, Cadence wonders why didn’t he call or visit. She wondered sometimes if he hated her, but Gat says he was terrified of doing something that would make her worse. He adds that Penny called a big meeting telling everyone not to tell Cadence anything triggering. Cadence says the liars never used to follow the moms’ rules, but Gat says that Penny says telling Cadence too much could trigger migraines so bad that she spends days in bed. This upsets Cadence, but Gat asks her to please just let it go. Cadence wonders if maybe he’s the unforgivable since he ignored her all year, but Gat says that night hurt him too and it’s too hard to talk about. Gat asks if she trusts him, but Cadence says she doesn’t remember.
Back in summer 16, Gat and Cadence are talking about their run-in with Harris. Cadence thinks it was fine, but Gat thinks it was bad. Cadence thinks Harris likes Gat because he gave him a book. Gat points out the book in question was Wuthering Heights. Then Johnny comes down and offers them smores and asks if everything is okay. Cadence says she’s just dreading Father’s Day because her father won’t be there. Johnny suggests lightening things up by pulling a few pranks, but Gat objects because it could get the staff in trouble. Johnny accuses Gat of being a killjoy and asks what he wants Johnny to do about colonization. Then he says he could get rid of his credit car and tell Harris to return the island to Native Americans but then he wouldn’t be able to take him to anymore Knicks games. Johnny says Gat loves the games but he never asks how much the tickets cost. This makes Gat angry and he says Johnny is being an asshole. Johnny says he was born an asshole, it’s genetic, and he’s embraced it. But Gat’s problem, according to Johnny, is that he has a holier than thou attitude. Johnny adds that Gat has caused distruction this summer and he’s wrecking a perfectly good ecosystem as well. The boys get into a fight and Brody breaks it up.
The next morning, Cadence asks Gat what happened last night. She doesn’t understand why Johnny and Gat aren’t getting along or why Johnny said Gat was a hypocrite. Gat says Johnny feels Gat’s making some bad choices. Cadence thinks by bad choices he means her, in response, she says Johnny should mind his own business. She thinks the last person she needs protection from is Gat. Then she asks why he didn’t give her the beach flower she saw him putting into an envelope. Cadence wonders if he thought the flower would be too much and Gat agrees.
Elsewhere, Harris is happy with the new painting and Tipper tells him the heirloom painting is headed to storage. It’s time to gift-give and Harris is greeted by chants of, “all hail the king!” and cheers. Penny says it’s a tradition, as is Harris wearing a cape and giving a speech. He refers to his family as his loyal subjects and he explains that he’s looking forward to an amazing summer. As he looks at his family he says he’s reminded that a father’s most noble duty is producing a son. But, the girls outnumber the boys in the Sinclair family. The sisters laugh it off, but Harris says in the absence of sons a father must agree to his daughters outlandish whims. He adds that without his queen, Tipper, he’d be lost.
There’s a dinner, that only the moms and grandparents seem happy during. Later, Cadence goes into Gat’s room and goes through his desk. She finds a letter addressed to a girl named Raquel when Johnny’s walking by. He sees the envelope and says he wanted to tell her, actually he wanted Gat to tell her himself. Cadence asks who Raquel is and Johnny says she sucks, but Cadence wants the truth. The truth is that she accompanied them to a Knicks game and she’s Gat’s girlfriend. Johnny tells Cadence that he’s really sorry and Cadence says it’s no big deal, but it does explain things.
When Cadence meets up with Gat later, she’s angry, but it’s still time for the presents to be opened. Bess digitized the Sinclair home movies, Penny got Harris a state-of-the-art fishing pole, and Penny got him his own Sinclair family crest. During the festivities Cadence swiped a bottle of champagne and is off to the side. Tipper comes over and assumes Cadence is upset about Sam, her father, not being here. But, Tipper says the best way to appear fine is to be fine. She tells Cadence to go take a moment and then return with her chin up and shoulders back. She adds that Cadence needs to remember who she is.
Cadence does as she was told and when Gat tries apologizing she isn’t receptive to his apologies. Gat met Raquel in India, but she lives in New York full-time near Gat. Plus, their moms are friends. He likes Raquel and she gets him. Cadence feels like she doesn’t know him. But, Gat points out that there are huge chunks of Gat’s life away from Beechwood Cadence has never interacted with: his mother and his school friends. Plus, on Beechwood everyone is rich and white except for Ed, him and the staff. Cadence says she doesn’t care about that, but Gat says it matters to him because Cadence can’t see how big of a difference race and class amke.
Gat adds that it bothers him that the Sinclairs, her included, treat the staff like they’re invisible. He points out that Cadence never even learned the new groundskeeper’s name, but Gat does. Plus, Henry, the old groundskeeper, was fired last summer when the liars threw a party that wrecked the tennis court. Cadence didn’t notice and Gat points out that the Sinclairs don’t say thank you most of the time.
Gat says he’s been a long time for Cadence, but he’s aware that people like him only exist in the background for people like her. Cadence feels like Gat’s being unfair, she’s always considered Gat to be her best friend. But Gat says he’s loved her since he was 12, but he didn’t know if he should break up with his girlfriend for someone who is just now seeing him. However, Cadence says that Gat’s the one who kissed her twice. Gat says he hates himself for it and Cadence runs off.
During summer 17, Cadence goes to talk to her mother who wants to hold onto her medication. Since the painkillers are strong, Penny reasons, it might be best for her to monitor how much she’s taking. Cadence abruptly asks if she attempted suicide last summer and Penny insists she didn’t. Then, Cadence wonders did someone try to kill her? Again the answer is no. So, why did Penny tell everyone not to talk about last summer with her? Cadence says she can’t live by the Sinclair rules anymore, but Penny says they work if they’re followed. Penny says she’s doing her best. She explains she spent over two weeks in the hospital watching over an unconcious Cadence, she took her to every neurologist in New England, and when she couldn’t handle school she re-learned calculus so she wouldn’t fall behind. The issue, according to Penny, is that the doctors said that it’s best for Cadence to remember what happened on her own.
When it becomes clear that Penny won’t give her any answers Cadence leaves and seeks out the liars. We got back to summer 16 when Johnny and one of the dogs are comforting Cadence. Johnny advises her not to let it ruin her summer. Cadence admits she’s not sure if she’s a good person, but Johnny says he doesn’t either, they’re all just winging it. He offers to get drunk with her and trash Gat.
Outside, the moms and Tipper are enjoying wine and Bess wonders why they never do Mother’s Day on Beechwood. Tipper says because on Mother’s Day she just wants peace and quiet. But, now she’s having it with her three favorite women in the world. The sisters compliment Tipper for the day and wonder which of them won favorite daughter. Before Tipper can deliver the verdict Penny says that realistically they don’t stand a chance. Rosemary, the daughter who never grew up and became messy, will always be their father’s favorite. Harris, Penny declares, hates mess. We cut away and in the last scene and see Harris watching a video of 8-year-old named Rosemary’s birthday party.
When the wine is done, the moms decide to head inside but first they need to wake up Tipper. Unfortunately, it appears Tipper isn’t sleeping, she her daughters try to wake her up she’s unresponsive. When Harris hears the commotions and tries himself, he’s devastated. In a voiceover, Cadence says Beechwood is a fairytale where everyone pretends their pain away. And sometimes, Cadence says, there are no happy endings and no heroes.