Spencer Hastings

Spencer Hastings is a fictional character and one of main characters of the Pretty Little Liars series by Sara Shepard. She is portrayed by Troian Bellisario in the ABC Family television adaption.

Characterization

Spencer Hastings is an extremely wealthy, smart, and competitive girl. She is running for valedictorian, is on the field hockey team, and plays tennis at a country club. She lives with her father, mother, and "perfect" older sister, Melissa. Spencer is jealous of Melissa for having everything she wanted, and they have a huge rivalry. Spencer had been best friends with Alison DiLaurentis, although they sometimes had conflicts. She had been the only one who could ever stand up to Alison (which has shown her spunky attitude), and they had gotten into huge fights though always made up, except for the last time they've spoken. During the summer that she disappeared, Alison had told Spencer she had a secret boyfriend, but wouldn't tell her who it was. Spencer has always been known for her logical thinking during this extremely enduring mystery.

Season 1

Spencer Hastings is the "preppy girl" of the group who strives to be perfect all round because she lives with her family's expectations looming over her head. Spencer's newly-engaged and condescending sister, Melissa, moves into the barn which Spencer had been turning into a loft for herself. Spencer finds herself attracted to her sister's fiancé, Wren, whom "A" warns Spencer not to kiss or "A" will tell. Wren does kiss Spencer and they are caught by Melissa, who insists that Wren move out. Spencer later starts dating a worker at the country club to which her family belongs. And later finds out her mother had been hiding news that she had breast cancer from the rest of the family. Spencer's field hockey coach is her sister's ex-boyfriend, Ian, whom both Ali and Spencer had a crush on. Spencer and Ali were always competing and she was the only one of Alison's friends who would oppose Alison from time to time. For example, Ali was on the Varsity team in 7th grade and Spencer wasn't. In the beginning of the series, Spencer was against Emily hanging out with Toby but eventually grew to like him and has been spending more and more time with him. In the nineteenth episode "Person of Interest", they spend time together in a motel room, as seen as Spencer's parents have a hard time understanding her connection with Ali's murder. Spencer and Toby play scrabble, sleep in the same bed and eventually kiss near the end of the episode. In the following episodes, Spencer, after suspicion continues to take a toll on her, is told to stay away from Toby for her own good. She then makes an arrangement to see him in private at the town's festival, only to be sent a fake text (presumably from "A") telling her to meet Toby in the clown house. When she enters, she is locked into a small space. She is found by Ian, her mother, and her sister and when leaving she sees Toby and almost leaves without speaking to him, but she then rushes to him, hugs him and kisses him in front of her shocked family. Later on, she anonymously tells Ian to meet them in the woods with money as they say that they know his secret. However, Spencer and Melissa get into a car accident and Melissa is stuck in the hospital. Spencer goes to the church to get Melissa's phone as she left it there and Ian is in the church waiting. She starts running upstairs and Ian tries to attack her but a mysterious figure appears and pushes Ian off the side and he falls and dies. The rest of the girls arrive having been to the forest, and see the dead body and they call the police. Later on when the police arrive they go in and the body is not there, leaving the rest of the town to think that the girls are liars. Spencer had a huge fight with Alison ending their friendship by telling Alison "You are dead to me" the night she went missing. Melissa now thinks that Spencer has been texting her as Ian after finding his cellphone in her purse which was planted there by "A.".

Season 2

In season 2, Spencer and Toby are dating. Toby does some yard work for the Hastings and digs up Spencer's old field hockey stick which she gave to Ali before she died. Spencer's father sees this and suspiciously takes the stick, and later burns it. After doing some further investigating, she reads Alison's autposy results and finds that she was struck in the head with an object similar to a field hockey stick. While Spencer and Toby are making out in Toby's truck Toby believes he spots something in Jason DiLaurentis's upstairs window but tells Spencer to ignore it. Spencer weary, looks for herself and spots two figures in the window presumably spying on Toby and her, Spencer wants to "show these bitches she isn't scared of them" Toby protests thinking that it won't end up going over well when Spencer's father comes out of the house. When Spencer asks questions her father refuses to answer. After fighting with both Spencer and Toby, Spencer's father tells her to go home, Spencer ignores his wishes abd gets into Toby truck and they drive away, while Spencer's father yelling at her to get out of the car. When Spencer's father did something illegal for the cer later arrives home she wants answers, and gets some, finding out that her father did something illegal for the DiLaurentis's implying that that they had something on Spencer's family but not giving away that information. Spencer later discovers that Wren came back to Rosewood for her. In order to keep Aria away from Jason, Spencer informed Ezra that they found pictures of his girlfriend Aria in Jason's shed. When Spencer's chuckie doll orders her to "keep Toby safe", Spencer resolves that the only way to keep Toby safe is to break up with him. Later, Toby is seen in the police station, professing his love to Spencer, but she unwillingly ignores him.