When other shows do a Halloween episode, it’s usually just a standalone episode designed to be festive and fun. But when Pretty Little Liars does a Halloween episode, it not only manages to do both those things but also be an exciting mystery-driven prequel.

“The First Secret” takes us way back to before Alison died, before anyone started receiving those creepy text messages from A, and before there was even a mystery for any of them to solve. Or does it? Happy Halloween, Liars!

Noel: Careful, Alison. I get your jokes, but someday you might meet a guy who doesn’t.

With a friend like Alison, who needs enemies? In the little time we’ve gotten to know Alison through flashbacks and what the girls have said about her post-death, one thing’s abundantly clear, Alison was the worst kind of frenemy to all the girls. Sure, she gave them all a place to belong but at what cost? She constantly degraded them, threatened them, and held countless secrets over each of them. It’s no wonder someone finally decided Alison was better off dead.

But who? If you thought this prequel would give us hints as to A’s identity, well, you’re going to have to suss through all the red herrings first. And while all the gossip we learn this episode about the girls is downright delicious (Emily had a crush on Jenna?), if there’s one thing I’m thankful for this Halloween, it’s that we get to see Alison in all her glory for an entire hour. She was one disturbed teenage girl.

Alison: If i really need you, you’ll be there for me.

The date is October 28, 2008. And the time is right before Alison receives her first text from A and Aria discovers her father is having an affair with his student. The first is quite a surprise to all the viewers who thought A only existed after Alison was murdered. The second is a great callback to an event we’ve already seen happen through flashback in the series “Pilot”. There’s a lot of these little nods to the fans sprinkled throughout the episode, which makes it even more fun to watch.

Two years before Aria returned to Rosewood and the Pretty Little Liars series began, everyone is a little different than how we remember them. Hannah is still fat, Spencer is still obsessed with school (Alison helps her cheat and become class president), Aria is still a bit emo-goth (but she bumps into Ezra while visiting her father at Hollis and totally checks him out), and Emily is still dating Ben (and letting a rumor that the two slept together spread throughout the school to cover up her lesbian crush on Jenna).

Meanwhile, Jenna is the new girl in town and Alison immediately tries to bring her into the clique, only Jenna’s not content to be under anyone’s rule, let alone Alison. The two later battle it out by wearing Lady Gaga costumes, but we just know that this is where their rivalry began.

Alison: What kind of movie?
Jason: If I told you that, I’d have to kill you.

There’s also a new friendship in the works between two of Alison’s enemies, Jenna and Mona. Lucas makes an appearance, and Alison starts a mean rumor about his birth. Noel helps Alison play a prank on the Liars inside the haunted house, except Noel claims he didn’t take part because he wasn’t able to make it in time. And her brother Jason suspiciously mentions he’s filming a movie he can’t tell her about or he’d have to kill her. Really, any one of them could be A.

But what really gets me creeped out, and enthused at the same, is the story Alison tells a little boy in the opening about a blond girl who stabs her twin sister in the chest and is then sent to an asylum. Later in the episode, we see a car marked “Radley Sanitarium” outside the local haunted house, and there’s a photo at Alison’s house of her brother Jason standing between two identical blond girls.

Could Alison be a twin like in the books or is this just a fun red herring by the writers? And what does this have to do with Alison or A? Curiouser and curiouser.

In January:

The Liars don orange jump suits and plan to get payback. Someone will go missing. Someone will die. And someone will be exposed. The wait has been way too long.