Pretty Little Liars: Summer School pays homage to Five Nights at Freddy's

Would you rather spend five nights at Freddy's or Millwood's own Rose E. Ricotta's? Poor Mouse (Malia Pyles) barely survives one night at Rose E.'s in the latest episode of Pretty Little Liars: Summer School. Spoilers ahead for episode 3.

An anonymous caller tricks Mouse's grandmother into bringing her granddaughter to the abandoned pizza parlor/arcade Rose E. Ricotta's, a play on Chuck E. Cheese, which also inspired the creation of Five Nights at Freddy's central location, Freddy Fazbear's Pizza.

Having already heard from Ash that her friends are planning a surprise Sweet Sixteen party, Mouse is happy to go along with her grandmother when she offers to drop her off at the mysterious destination, unaware of what's in store for her there. In reality, her friends planned a Xanadu-inspired shindig at the local roller rink, but that's not where Mouse ends up.

Instead, she is forced to run for her life as Bloody Rose Waters menaces her inside the Rose E. Ricotta's. And like in Five Nights at Freddy's, the location includes creepy animatronics singing an eerie rendition of the "Three Blind Mice" nursery rhyme.

Before the episode premiere, showrunner Robert Aguirre-Sacasa teased what to expect from the third episode of the season, posting a photo of the creepy animatronics in question.

In the caption, Aguirre-Sacasa posited a multiple choice question suggesting that the animatronics pictured might come to life and try to kill one of the main girls, but that doesn't actually happen. Mouse gets terrorized by Bloody Rose, but none of the animatronics spring to life.

I admit I was a little disappointed as I had wanted a more in-your-face Five Nights at Freddy's reference, but it was still a fun episode with a climactic ending as Mouse found herself alone and facing off against the terrifying female slasher.

As if it wasn't enough to be forced into a game of hide-and-seek with Bloody Rose, the killer then set the building on fire. Mouse barely makes it out alive.

New episodes of Pretty Little Liars: Summer School stream Thursdays on Max.

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