"Pretty Little Liars" strayed into unknown territory in Tuesday night's episode ("Songs of Innocence"), exposing the Liars' inner demons.

The episode saw Hanna, Spencer, Emily and Aria dealing with the aftermath of their kidnapping. After spending three weeks at A's mercy, each girl relied on her own visceral coping mechanism to get by -- some were more dangerous than others. As the episode went on, the full extent of A's mind games became clear.

MTV News spoke to "Songs of Innocence" director Norman Buckley over email following the episode, finding out first-hand what it was like to bring the Liars' pain to life in a responsible, yet emotionally heightened, way.

"Certainly this episode went into much more internal territory," Buckley said. "The challenge was how to portray a character's internal experience in a visual way. I deliberately framed each girl with a lot of negative space around her to reflect that discomfort."

"Pretty Little Liars" has always relied on flashbacks to aid in its complicated storytelling and most importantly, help fill in gaps for viewers. Usually, these flashbacks are tonally and visually different from the present-day story line. "Songs of Innocence" was no different in this sense -- the Liars' flashbacks to their time under A's control were important to understanding each girl's individual character development.

"My hope was that the scenes would let the viewers emotionally understand what each girl was feeling, but would be mysterious enough to make the audience want more information," he said. "The idea was to create a visceral experience of a traumatic memory."

For example, Emily's first instinct was to grab her father's gun and head to the shooting range -- a stunt Shay Mitchell did herself "with careful instruction from stunt coordinator Merritt Yohnka." She needed a vehicle for her anger, and the gun range, a place where her father took her as a kid, was it.

Emily's story line was particularly difficult to shoot for Buckley. The entire scene in the Fields' attic, where Em decides to take the guns, was one continuous shot. "We had to do it multiple times to get the timing right, and it was in a confined space," the director recalled.

The episode also featured the introduction of a new character in Rosewood, Officer Lorenzo. Given the town's track record with crooked cops (Toby not included), Buckley thinks it's wise to be wary of the new guy's intentions. "The Rosewood Police Department have proven themselves to be very ineffective," he said, "So I would probably hesitate."

Looking ahead, "PLL" is barreling towards its finish line. The end of this first half season will mark a huge change for the series, which will skip ahead five years when it returns in the winter. Buckley not only knows where the story is headed, creatively, but he's also one of the lucky few who knows Big A's identity.

"Knowing where the story is going in [season] 6A definitely creates a context for my creative decisions," he said.

That being said, we can't wait to see what creative choices Buckley makes in next week's episode, "Songs of Experience."