'Ravenswood' finale react: Hanna's back, (some) mysteries solved
Patti Perret/ABC
"It's complicated" might as well be the tagline for this series. No one on the show seems to know how to explain, well, anything, and that kind of makes sense: Ravenswood is one crazy place. And since tonight was the season finale, Ravenswood is (somehow) even crazier than usual. Or as Caleb would tell us, "it's complicated."
Hanna returns to Ravenswood for a surprise visit. Why didn't she call Caleb? Because she likes surprises, duh. Caleb broke up with her, so the real reason she came was to beat up Miranda who she thinks is The Other Woman. When Caleb breaks the news to her that Miranda is dead, and better yet, that he can still see Miranda, she is bewildered. Maybe you don't like surprises as much as you thought, Hanna! What makes the scene creepy—because this is Ravenswood, after all—is that halfway through the conversation between Hanna and Caleb, Miranda appears. "She thinks you're crazy," she tells Caleb. He takes the cue: "You know, for a while, I thought that I might be crazy, but I'm not." Real convincing, Caleb.
This is hard for Hanna to hear. She was the one who told Caleb to stay in Ravenswood and take care of Miranda. Then she thought he was in love with Miranda. And now she finds out Miranda is dead. At this point, she's back to liking Miranda and the urge to beat her up has subsided. Instead, she talks to Miranda, meaning she sits in an empty room and rambles on to seemingly no one. She explains why she thought Caleb was in love with the now-ghost, and Miranda hears this and gets excited. Miranda's affection for Caleb is tough to watch because it's not like she's actively trying to take Caleb from Hanna—she likes Hanna and seems to want them to be together. I feel bad for her, but also am Team Hanna and Caleb Forever, so I don't feel too bad.
Meanwhile, the twins and Remy end up experiencing an unexpectedly gruesome scene: They witness a flashback of the twins' now-dead father on the phone in his office and all is normal for a moment. Then Dillon walks in and stabs their father, proving who the mayor's killer was and also probably eternally scarring Olivia and Luke.
Soon after, Remy goes missing so the twins and Caleb race to the chapel to find her, and that's when the complicated stuff really begins. Abaddon appears and mumbles some curse in an indiscernible language as Miranda comes back to life. It's cool for about two seconds, until Collins reveals that all five of the cursed ones need to die together in order for the curse to work, meaning bringing Miranda back from the dead isn't such a hot idea if the rest of the crew wants to live. Collins yells about this and gets angry at Abaddon, then smashes a jar defiantly– and the jar turns out to be Caleb's. Is this a good thing? Is it a bad thing? I can't tell, because this show is, you guessed it, complicated.
Hanna shares a sentimental goodbye with Caleb before she leaves for Rosewood, reminding us how sweet they are together even when they aren't "together." Once she's out, Miranda (who had been spying) goes and sits on a bench… and then Caleb appears. But not normal, free-flowing-hair Caleb. The Caleb from the early 1900s, with slicked-back locks and a suit! And Miranda can feel him! The scene cuts to a flashback of old-Miranda and old-Caleb kissing and expressing their love for one another. Then it cuts back to old-Caleb and current-Miranda clutching each other in the park. Then it's over. What?
In its 10-episode first season, Ravenswood managed to set itself apart from its parent show Pretty Little Liars by embracing the paranormal and being all-around spookier. But it does share one major similarity with PLL: It's not shy with cliffhangers. Are Caleb and Miranda destined to be together? What's going on with Dillon? Can the curse actually be broken? Or is Caleb just going to tell us "it's complicated" as the show fades to black, leaving all our questions unanswered? We can only hope (not).