EscApe from New York

"Escape from New York" is the first episode and the premiere of the fifth season of the American mystery drama television series Pretty Little Liars and the 96th episode of the series overall. The episode was written by showrunner I. Marlene King and directed by Norman Buckley, it aired on June 10, 2014 on ABC Family and was watched by 2.72 viewers. Plot The episode opens with paramedics loading Ezra into an ambulance. Noel is being questioned by the police. Noel claims that he heard the gunshot and ran to the rooftop and found Ezra shot. Emily, Spencer and Hanna hold Aria back since they can do nothing to help Ezra and if Aria gets too close, she'll be spending the night at the police station answering questions. Afraid of being seen on the street, Alison watches from the balcony above, where she notices someone in a black hoodie lying on top of the ambulance as it drives away. At the hospital, Ezra is taken into surgery, while someone in a hooded figure watches on. Back on the streets, the girls have brought a burner phone and pepper spray. Emily is afraid that "A" will try to hurt Alison if they execute the plan they have come up with to keep 'A' away from Ezra. But Alison wants to go ahead with their plain since Ezra saved their lives and he is the only one who knows who ‘A’ is. Aria tells Emily that everything will finally over when Ezra pulls through and tells them who "A" is, but Emily is skeptical. Hanna calls the police with the burner phone, telling them that Ezra’a shooting wasn’t a random thing and he needs protection. With the first step of their plan executed, the girls split up with Aria and Alison heading one way and Spencer, Hanna and Emily heading in another. Hanna hands A's gun over to Aria as they leave. Emily is worried about Alison but Spencer and Hanna try to convince her that Alison has been hiding from ‘A’ in plain sight for the past 2 years and can take care of herself. At the Hastings house, Veronica is on the phone with Ashley. She asks Ashley to call if she hears from Hanna and assures her that they’ll do the same. Melissa is shocked that Spencer knew all this time that Alison is alive. Veronica wants to believe that Spencer only found about Alison, a month ago as claimed by the photo CeCe showed Holbrook since it was around that time that Spencer's erratic behavior started.