Fans All Have The Same Question About Nolan After This Week's 'Perfectionists' Episode
This post contains spoilers for Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists. Last week's episode of The Perfectionists ended with the revelation that Nolan Hotchkiss could possibly be alive, but May 1's "Dead Week" confirmed that nothing about this murder mystery could ever be that simple. Mona was able to track down who "Nolan" really was, and the true identity proves that she, Alison, and the kids are on the right path. Who was posing as Nolan on The Perfectionists? Dana Booker used his student ID card to get Mona's attention.
ICYMI, Mona (Janel Parrish) resorted to her inner tech whiz when her search of Taylor's (Hayley Erin) trailer led to the discovery of a more advanced Beacon Guard system. Taylor's software was capable of determining the exact location of everyone on the Beacon Heights University campus and told Mona that the deceased Nolan Hotchkiss (Chris Mason) was on the move. It takes a lot to unnerve Mona, but the following notification that Nolan was supposedly in her apartment definitely sent her reeling.
May 1's "Dead Week" picked up after this realization, showing Mona returning home and finding a box of cupcakes there. Spelled out on a series of the sweets was the message, "Can we be pals?," and a pair of eyeball decorations accompanied it. Wary to believe that head of security Dana (Klea Scott) was behind it, Mona knew that someone used Nolan's ID card to access her home, but she wasn't so sure about the best way to learn who had the card.
Thanks to more investigation of Taylor's Beacon Guard, Mona realized the Hotchkiss sister could track walking patterns of people at BHU (yet Taylor was worried about her mom's security being too intrusive?). Hoping to uncover the person behind the cupcakes, she began a lengthy Beacon Guard analysis of these characteristics. Her results led her to none other than Dana, strengthening the Perfectionists' theory that the former FBI agent was behind Caitlin's (Sydney Park) hit-and-run incident. Although Dana previously told the kids that a joyriding teenager turned himself in as the accident's guilty driver, they remained suspicious of her.
The joyriding explanation is currently a little too shaky to accept as fact, but Mona now has a reason to join Nolan's posse in their suspicion of Dana. At the end of "Dead Week," she declared to Alison (Sasha Pieterse) that she would "win" the game Dana was playing, as the detective was clearly poking at Mona's history as a crafty schemer. Plus, what exactly was Dana's intention in bringing Mona cupcakes? Is she trying to convince her to take her side? We'll have to see if the two women meet each other for an explanation soon.
Mona isn't the only one suffering from Dana's scrutiny lately. After passing off an old cello recording as his own for a music class, Dylan's (Eli Brown) fear of his hand injury foiling his place at BHU suddenly became tangible. Supposedly on his tail, Dana played the same recording over the student union speakers, subtly telling Dylan that she knew of his major faux pas.
The group might not be any closer to finding Nolan's killer, but their distrust of Dana is beginning to unite them even more. Next week's episode synopsis even teases Mona, Ali, and the kids plotting to catch Dana in action, so here's to them getting one step closer to a complex truth.
Season 1 of Pretty Little Liar: The Perfectionists continues on Wednesday, May 8, at 8 p.m. ET on Freeform.