Who is Melissa Hastings?

It may be a simple question to ask, but after nearly three seasons of Pretty Little Liars, the answer isn’t as easy to give — even for actress Torrey DeVitto. As Spencer (Troian Bellisario) continued to go down the rabbit hole in Tuesday’s episode, it brought Melissa back into the fray, this time playing the role of worried sister.

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“At some points, you think she isn’t coming from a loving, sisterly place. From what you saw last night, she is coming from that place, which shocks you because you see a softer side,” DeVitto tells The Hollywood Reporter. “But is she looking after Spencer or is she covering up her own ass?”

Last night won’t be the last you’ll see of the elder Hastings: As the season winds down, expect DeVitto to return before it officially wraps up March 19. In the ninth installment of THR‘s weekly postmortem with Pretty Little Liars‘ cast and producers, DeVitto weighs in on Melissa’s true motives.

The Hollywood Reporter: Spencer has been going down this rabbit hole for quite a while now. What’s Melissa’s perspective on how she’s handling her situation?

Torrey DeVitto: It’s interesting. Melissa’s perspective, from what the audience can see, changes so much that it leaves everybody kind of confused. At some points, you think she isn’t coming from a loving, sisterly place. From what you saw last night, she is coming from that place, which shocks you because you see a softer side. But is she looking after Spencer or is she covering up her own ass? Melissa’s perspective is a little bit of a mystery. You don’t know exactly, and I’m hoping you find out soon, but she has a lot of secrets. She’s definitely a mystery.

THR: What can we expect for Melissa? She certainly pops back into the story when the timing is appropriate for her.

DeVitto: There is a lot to uncover about Melissa. How much she has a hand in things is left open to audience interpretation at this point. I’m hoping that as the episodes go on and as the seasons go on, you have more of a resolve of what exactly she’s been up to and what exactly she’s been doing and where is she coming from. Is she part of something bad? Is she part of something good? It is funny, she does pop up at the most convenient times, which makes you wonder: Is it contrived or is it just a coincidence?

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THR: It would be entertaining if at the end of the day, Melissa was the mastermind behind everything.

DeVitto: I know, can you imagine? [Laughs] It would be pretty cool. She’s been keeping secrets and she’s got one of those faces. She’s totally unreadable most of the time. You don’t know if she’s telling the truth, so you never know.

THR: What is it like having to play that poker face all the time?

DeVitto: It’s been very interesting. Every time I go back on-set I feel like, oh yeah, I finally have a grasp on Melissa and I get it, and then they throw something at me and I’m like, oh my god! This character I’ve been playing for three years, I still have no idea who she is some of the time. I’ve obviously made choices as an actor, and then I’ll read scripts, and realize that what I had decided totally needs to change now. I get to play different versions of Melissa every time.

THR: What has surprised you the most about her?

DeVitto: The whole Melissa pregnancy surprised me a lot. Her quick marriage to Ian surprised me a lot. What surprises me the most is when the writing gives me true moments of emotion with Melissa. She comes off like stone and is so cold, she has these moments where she breaks down and cries. She’s either the best actress in the world or she really does feel something. The scene where Spencer confronts Melissa about finding the feathers from the costume, and Melissa breaks down and cries, I was pleasantly surprised by that.

THR: Is there anything you want to explore further in season four?

DeVitto: I want to get a better grasp on Melissa. I want to know how much of a hand she has in things and how good she really is. There are so many avenues to take her and I love having moments with Troian; I want to explore that sisterly relationship further.

THR: Is Melissa a bad omen? If you know or hang around her, you may be in danger?

DeVitto: She’s a bad omen, isn’t she? [Laughs] That’s the thing to explore. Does she have the worst luck ever or does she have such a hand in things that things keep just falling apart, and she’s got the upper hand in playing ringmaster. I have no idea. It could go either way.

Pretty Little Liars airs at 8 p.m. Tuesdays on ABC Family

JUSTIN BIEBER had a bust-up with actress ASHLEY BENSON after she mocked the teenage pop star in a spoof video.

Shay Mitchell‘s first suggestion, when asked to think of something “fun” to do during herTeen Vogue interview, is a trapeze class. “I just love a thrill,” the 25-year-old Pretty Little Liars star explains, shortly after sitting down to her notably less death-defying second-choice activity: making candles. We meet at Make Meaning, a craft lover’s dream on Manhattan’s Upper West Side (Katie Holmes and Suri Cruise are regulars!), and despite the decidedly low-key environment, the Canadian-born actress is serving up some serious Hollywood-style glamour in black leather leggings, a low-cut T-shirt, and a short-sleeved neon pink jacket. “People are always shocked that I don’t dress like Emily,” she says, referring to her far sportier on-screen alter ego. “But I’m not her. I’m more comfortable in heels than I am in sneakers.”

Clearly, Shay isn’t afraid to stand out. But as she talks about her breakthrough role as one of the few lesbian teens on television (“It means so much to me when someone says, ‘Thank you for playing this role’ “) and the charity that’s closest to her heart (the Somaly Mam Foundation, whose mission is to protect women and children from sexual slavery and trafficking), it’s evident that her boldness is more than just skin-deep. Read on to learn all about the outspoken, surprisingly badass chick behind one of our favorite shows

Including tonight’s new installment of Pretty Little Liars, just three episodes of ABC Family’s mystery series remain before it signs off with March 19′s season finale, “A dAngerous gAme.” With our recent EW cover story “The Surprising Power of Pretty Little Liars,” the show’s stars and producers offered up some hints about the five most important revelations happening in Rosewood over the next three weeks.
1. Emily (Shay Mitchell) becomes more and more like a detective. She sets out to discover the truth about Toby (Keegan Allen) and his involvement with the “A” team. “Emily wants to give him the benefit of the doubt and say, ‘Then he must be doing it for a good reason because I don’t believe it,’” explains Mitchell. “Emily is like, ‘There has to be something bigger.’” And yes, Emily will find out something. “Is Toby good or bad?” asks exec producer I. Marlene King. “By the end of the season, viewers will know the answer to that question.”
2. Spencer (Troian Bellisario) goes crazier. As we saw last week, she’s been institutionalized at Radley. Says Bellisario, “I’ve been waiting for Spencer to react this way since ‘A’ started.” Teases King: “As tortured as she’s been in the first half of this cycle, she’s even more tortured in the last half.” All that torture leads to some epic moments on Bellisario’s part, says exec producer Oliver Goldstick: “Give Troian her Emmy is all I’m saying.”
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3. “Red Coat” will be revealed. The elusive blonde in the crimson coat has been skulking around this season, and it’s time to learn her identity. (In fact, Spencer meets her face-to-face.) Is she the “A” team captain? Is she CeCe (Vanessa Ray)? She’s “who you think it might be, yes,” Goldstick says, but “it’s not definitive. The finale is a shocker.” Bellisario hints that “Red Coat” is familiar: “There’s something about ‘Red Coat’ that they all recognize as part of their past.” And Lucy Hale (Aria) says the hooded villain “could be the keeper of a lot of answers and a lot of things that they’ve been searching for.”
4. Hanna (Ashley Benson) and her mom, Ashley (Laura Leighton), get intofurther trouble. That’d be because Ashley hit the ever-creepy Detective Wilden (Bryce Johnson) with her car and ran off in the Feb. 12 episode—and now he’s missing. “Is Wilden dead? Is he alive?” asks Goldstick. “The accident has huge ramifications. The ripple effect is huge.” As in, “Hanna’s mom could go to jail forever,” says Benson.
5. The March 19 season finale is explosive…and possibly deadly. A fire? Yes. A dead body? Maybe. “That’s going to be a question we leave the fans with,” King says. “There’s a moment where people will believe there’s a dead body, and there may be one.” Bellisario explains that the hour “lays in this piece of the puzzle that is going to make the rest of the ride totally unexpected.” Adds King: “This cliff-hanger changes the landscape of the ‘A’ game. They didn’t know as much as they thought they knew—or that there’s a lot more to the story.”

We miss you already, Toby (Keegan Allen)! In this week’s tragic Pretty Little Liars episode (Season 3, Episode 21: “Out of Sight, Out of Mind,”), Aria (Lucy Hale) lends Hanna (Ashley Benson) a push in the right direction, Emily (Shay Mitchell) makes a new friend, and Malcolm has discovered a very clever way to get his parents to buy him a trampoline.

Wherein Aria Realizes That Ezra’s Bed Is For a Lot of Things (Wink Wink) But Not For Jumping

Is Aria ready to cut the Ezria cord? And, uh… do we still care at this point? Granted, we love Ezria as much (probably more!) than the next person, but how many times can we see them on the brink of splitsville before we start to get over them? And given that Ezra (Ian Harding) needs this time to get to know Malcolm, maybe Aria bowing out is the right thing to do. (There, we said it. Don’t hate us!)

We also didn’t know what was going to happen when Aria helped Hanna push Wilden’s car into the lake, so we have to admit we were impressed by their strength — even if they probably should have thought things through first, since the car is about to be discovered by a fisherman. (He probably shouldn’t eat those fish.) Somehow, we can’t help but think CeCe and Wilden were setting Hanna and Aria up. Gulp.

Wherein Spencer Has a Crazy Night — and We Do Mean Crazy

Spencer (Troian Bellisario) has the saddest storyline of all the Liars this week, as she has to discover Toby’s body in the woods. We’ve been holding out hope that Spoby would finally get back together one day, but the odds of that happening seem to be slim, not that he’s dead.

But is that really Toby’s body — given that we can’t see his face? Either way, all the Liars needed a hug this week, but Spencer needs one the most. Our arms are open and waiting when you’re ready for them, Spence.

Is Spencer faking her meltdown in order to get some quality one-on-one time with Mona at Radley? And speaking of Radley, the Liars bring up all kinds of mysteries involving that place, including whether Mona was working with Dr. Sullivan to avoid jail. Given those flowers that Mona gave Dr. Sullivan as a thank you present a few weeks back, we’re definitely suspicious of the Liars’ not-so-trustworthy shrink.

Photo Credit: Eric McCandless/ ABC Family
Wherein Hanna Makes Quite a Splash

Hanna always seems to have car-related issues, doesn’t she? And while we appreciate her looking out for her mom’s best interest by making Wilden’s car and his police video disappear, we really think she’s gonna regret that decision. So where was the always-sensible Caleb to help give her advice? Clearly, Aria shouldn’t be the one giving Hanna advice anymore.

Even more interesting than anything happening to Hanna herself this week was what happened to her mom. Ashley is convinced she sees Wilden in a storefront, which suggests he’s still alive. Was CeCe packing a bag last week so that she and Wilden could hide out somewhere and make it seem like he’s dead? After all, we already know this show is big on fake deaths. In fact, maybe Wilden is hanging out with Ali where all the fake dead people on this show go.

Wherein Emily Now Has a Tiny Coffin In Case She Ever Needs to Bury a Pet Goldfish

We knew Emily was going to have a hard time accepting that Toby had turned to the Dark Side, but we didn’t know how much she would risk to clear Toby’s name. So did Emily’s investigation into Toby’s whereabouts contribute to his death? Regardless, we are freaking out about how Toby — or should we say E. Lamb — died. Rest in peace, you creepy but lovable dude.

There’s a saying that when one door opens, another one closes — and on PLL, when one creepy guy dies, another one pops up in his place. That was the case this week with the mysterious co-worker of Toby’s, whom Emily sees driving Toby’s truck at his home, and then later sees working in a factory on Olivia Drive. Did this dude kill Toby? And why is it that yet another cute guy on the show has to be evil?