Spencer Hastings (Troian Bellisario) is living in Washington D.C. working with lobbyists and has since become close to Caleb Rivers (Tyler Blackburn) since she broke up with her high school sweetheart Toby Cavanaugh (Keegan Allen), who has since become serious with his carpentry business.

Hanna Marin (Ashley Benson) is working for a fashion line based in New York City and travels frequently, and is engaged to a man named Jordan.

Aria Montgomery (Lucy Hale) is working for a publishing house in Boston and is dating a co-worker named Liam.

The judge rules in favor of Charlotte's release and Alison prepares a welcome home dinner for her, while the girls crash in Hanna's suite at the hotel.

Soon after, police officers Toby and Lorenzo Calderon (Travis Winfrey) discover Charlotte dead outside of the church, looking like she jumped from the bell tower.

After the funeral, Lorenzo approaches the girls, telling them that Charlotte was already dead before she jumped and that the police are ruling it a homicide, warning them that they will be questioned.

[10] King expressed her excitement in an interview with Entertainment Tonight to tell more grown-up stories for the characters as she said that the actresses had "outgrown the teenager years".

She confirmed that the girls have lived a free life for the last five years, with no torture or tormenting by an anonymous cyber bully, but still experience post-traumatic stress at times.

The episode received highly positive reviews, with many critics and fans commending' the five year time-jump as well as the show's more mature and self-assured tone.

Caroline Preece from Den of Geek said the episode "delivered on every promise it made before the time-jump, cleaning the slate whilst managing not to lose a sense of the history these characters share.

Jay Ruymann from TV Fanatic also praised the episode and deemed it "...a refreshing restart to the mystery drama that has seen so many twists and turns over the years.

Writing for SpoilerTV, Gavin Hetherington also responded positively to the five year time-jump and highlighted that "this feels like the old show, but new, and it's a breath of fresh air to see these girls a little more mature.

Samantha Vincenty from Pop Crush angrily stated that "multiple seasons of mental and physical torture from Charlotte, and we’ll never see a redemptive arc that involves her at all?