Having now remembered events leading up to the death of her beloved grandmother Tipper (Wendy Crewson), Cady (Emily Alyn Lind) turns to the rest of The Liars to fill in the blanks of Tipper’s memorial in We Were Liars episode 3. Johnny (Joseph Zada), Mirren (Esther McGregor) and Gat (Shubham Maheshwari) are reluctant to dredge up the past, as they are forbidden to tell Cady about the previous summer. Cady says she needs closure, so the trio reluctantly agrees to recount the roller coaster events of that particular day.
But Cady has an ulterior motive beyond getting a play-by-play, underscoring how shaky trust is when memories are gone — or at least slowly coming back. This insight also reveals that their three moms, Penny (Caitlin FitzGerald), Carrie (Mamie Gummer) and Bess (Candice King), are no longer holding back now that their mother is no longer available to referee their squabbles.
Meanwhile, in Summer 17, Cady uncovers a hard truth about someone close to her that could change everything.
Following the Sinclair rules
In the present, Cady sees her grandfather Harris (David Morse) for the first time since returning to Beechwood. Cady tells him she knew Tipper was dead, but there is a difference between knowing and remembering. While she recalls the night Tipper died, Cady asks Harris to tell her about the memorial. But he refuses. In response, Cady can’t help but get frustrated regarding the major renovations the main house, Clairmont, has undergone. Cady is forthcoming in voicing her opinion that Tipper would hate the style, while Cady is also angry she didn’t get a chance to say goodbye before the contractors came in.
Bess interrupts the heated argument, telling Cady to go to the rose garden if she wants to feel close to Tipper. But when Cady does this, she collapses with another painful migraine.
The previous year, Penny had told Cady that the key to getting over something is not to think or talk about something painful. She will never fall apart if she follows these rules to make her heart a small target. Of course, her mother’s advice is flawed; Cady’s lack of memories is causing her to spiral.
Asking The Liars
The Liars have moved into the vacant Cuddledown vacation home because Bess is now in Clairmont with the twins to be close to Harris. The trio says Cady passed out due to a “painkiller bender” and wonders if Harris's yelling at her was the cause. Cady is desperate to find out what happened at the memorial, and they agree to share this part of Summer 16.
On the day of the funeral, unsurprisingly Carrie is the most visibly upset, as her two sisters have perfected the steely look. Cady follows her mother’s lead and gives Gat the cold shoulder. The church is full of friends and family, but Johnny looks concerned about seeing tennis rival Blake Beaumont (Cale Ambrozic). There is much more to their shared history than he is telling.
Back at Beechwood, Mirren tells her cousins that the guy she has been sexting is there. It turns out it’s Blake, but Johnny doesn’t let on that Mirren has been talking to someone he loathes.
Meanwhile, Penny reveals to Carrie that she took the beloved black pearls their father wanted Tipper buried in. Carrie is furious about this. Not because Penny defied her father’s wishes, but because she wanted the pearls for herself. Penny makes an addiction jab at Carrie (who is now sober), and Bess quickly gets involved in this petty squabble.
Ulterior motives
On the beach, Blake tells Mirren he has no agenda, he just wanted to see her. Mirren was nervous because she thought he expected sex, but his lack of expectations leads her to want to lose her virginity to him. Mirren asks Cady to entertain Blake before sending him to the Cuddledown house, where Mirren will be ready. At this point in the story, Johnny wants to stop, and Cady quickly learns why. She overhears Johnny accusing Blake of using Mirren to get to him, then walks in on the two men kissing.
Blake never made it to Cuddledown. After their passionate argument, Blake left on the water taxi. Mirren discovers that Blake was bragging about “bagging a Sinclair” in front of the water taxi driver, Ebon (Dempsey Bryk). She is angry at Ebon for listening in on a customer conversation and telling her about it, even if he is trying to be helpful.
Meanwhile, Cady is still doing the ice queen bit. Gat explains this is why he didn’t tell her in the first place; he didn’t want to be exiled. Cady is mad because he was right about what he said about her privilege, and she felt stupid for thinking the flower letter was for her.
The sisters continue their petty squabbling about various heirlooms in front of their father. None of this is endearing, and he knows they treated their mother like a checkbook without limits. Harris is deeply ashamed of their behavior even before he realizes Penny is wearing the pearls (that he takes back). There will be no more handouts.
A blackmail plot
While the adults are more fractured than before, the four teens have come back together to drink to Tipper’s memory. Cady forgives Gat; Gat and Johnny make up. Cady says the four of them feel like heaven to her.
However, she is less sure in Summer 17 because she knows Johnny lied to her. She tells Gat that she remembered Tipper’s memorial while she was in the rose garden. Cady explains this subterfuge because she needed to find out who was lying about last summer, she now knows Johnny is because the kiss with Blake never happened. Cady actually walked in on Blake threatening Johnny about having proof of Johnny nearly killing someone.
Gat brushes it off as “prep school rivalry s***,” with nothing to do with her accident. Cady is desperate for answers and needs Gat’s help figuring out why she was alone in the water. Rather than leap at the opportunity, Gat calls her out for becoming a liar herself because this whole thing was a test of loyalty. Who can Cady turn to now?
All episodes of We Were Liars are streaming exclusively on Prime Video.
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