Was Hanna really dreaming when Spencer appeared to motivate her in the Pretty Little Liars season 7 premiere? We’re looking into some other interesting possibilities.

Spencer appeared to Hanna at a time when she needed someone the most. Hanna had presumably been put through multiple types of torture during her hours of imprisonment, and her time was running out. Pretty Little Liars finally got its #Always moment, and the fact that it belonged to the pair of best friends, rather than one of the iconic couples, sent the fans into a frenzy of emotion.

On one hand, it doesn’t really make sense that it would be Spencer who Hanna needed to see. There isn’t necessarily one Liar who Hanna gravitates to most or least, but Spencer is the one with whom she currently has the most tension, seeing as they’re potentially in love with the same man. For that reason, Aria and Emily seem more likely choices for Hanna’s comforter and motivator. Outside of the Liars, Hanna is engaged, has lingering feelings for her ex-boyfriend, and has an amazing mother. All of these people could have helped her through this situation. Even Mona has demonstrated a lot of love and support for Hanna.

Related: Pretty Little Liars season 7 premiere review: All roads lead to the Lost Woods Resort

On the other hand, it makes perfect sense that Hanna’s motivator needed to be the youngest Hastings. Pretty Little Liars doesn’t often explore it, but these two girls could both be called the leader of the group for different reasons. While Spencer is the brains of the operation, and the one most likely to come up with a solid plan to save them, Hanna is arguably the one with the most heart and bravery. She is never afraid to take action for those she loves. Spencer and Hanna are a perfect balance, so of course, when Hanna’s boldness couldn’t help her escape, she needed Spencer’s cool head.

Although Hanna’s dream was indisputably a wonderful moment, highlighting the beautiful intricacies of Spencer and Hanna’s friendship, it was also almost definitely not a dream. There are a few reasons for this. The first, and perhaps the most important, being that things on Pretty Little Liars are rarely what they seem. I challenge you to find a dream scene from this show that actually turned out to be a dream! Okay, I’m sure there were one or two, but not many.

Another key piece of evidence lies in Spencer’s hairstyle, of all things. Her post time-jump look featured a significant change: full, straight-across bangs. As for the dream Spencer? She was decidedly bangless. Of course, it’s always possible that Hanna’s subconscious memory thought of the version of Spencer that Hanna knew the longest, but it’d be more likely for Hanna to see Spencer’s current look in her moment of need.

Luckily, we don’t have to fully rely on a wig to make our decision, because the evidence goes far beyond that. Spencer’s mannerisms in the dream sequence were also extremely strange and uncharacteristic of her. Neither her movements nor her speech patterns were quite in line with those of the Spencer Hastings that we know and love. Also, she was looking around and processing information way too much for a simple figment of Hanna’s imagination. One line highlighted this better than anything. Spencer said, “you told them the truth, right?” to Hanna, which the real Spencer (or her dreamy counterpart) would have no cause to question.

Now that we’ve determined that this moment was probably much more significant than it appeared at first glance, let’s look at some theories to determine what was actually going on!

It was actually Spencer… but it wasn’t a dream

What if Spencer is actually Charlotte’s killer? A few fans on tumblr have a theory that Spencer could be deeply involved with the wrong team.

Spencer definitely had the motive and means to kill Charlotte (don’t forget about her college paper detailing the events of the murder). It’s also true that she didn’t seem the most enthusiastic about saving Hanna’s life. Perhaps she let Hanna go through with her plan, knowing that she couldn’t stop her, and then let her suffer just a little bit because she was jealous of her history with Caleb. Spencer wouldn’t want anything serious to happen to Hanna, so she came in the night to instruct her on how to get out (and apparently wore a wig to do it).

Related: Pretty Little Liars refresher: Everything you need to know before the season 7 premiere

If this is true, it would mean that Spencer is also somehow involved with A.D. and that most of what we see from her is an act, which isn’t my favorite theory. I like to believe that the Liars are who they say they are (ironic, I know), especially since nobody else in Rosewood seems to be. However, it would be cool if one of the girls turned out to be involved, and if that’s the case, my money’s on Spencer.

It was somebody wearing a Spencer mask

After seeing what A.D. did with the Hanna mask, it’s clear that concealing themselves as Spencer would be a piece of cake. The only question would be why? If “Spencer” was the person who put Hanna in her little dollhouse, why would she suddenly decide to help her get out? If she wasn’t the one who put her in there, why not just take her out the way she came in?

A primary contender for the masked Spencer theory would be Mary Drake. Her mannerisms are similar to the dream Spencer’s, and her intentions are so unclear, I wouldn’t put anything past her at this point. Locking Hanna up achieved A.D.’s goal of getting the Liars to turn in Charlotte’s supposed real killer, so maybe she decided to let her escape herself rather than letting her out. This could fit into a larger plan of Mary Drake’s, since she’s the one who picks Hanna up eventually.

Another person who could have donned the Spencer mask is Mona. The lullaby that Spencer sang to Hanna was “Hush Little Baby,” which is the very same melody that Mona sang to herself when she was stuck in the dollhouse. Mona was also absent during the gang’s final meeting, which took place around the same time. She was allegedly keeping watch over Mary Drake at the Lost Woods Resort, but what if she wasn’t?

If she was involved with Mary Drake somehow, she could know where she was and also appear to help emancipate Hanna. Seeing Mona may have made Hanna suspicious, given their history, but Hanna wouldn’t think twice about taking advice from Spencer (hence the mask).

It was Spencer’s twin

The twin theory again? I’m afraid so. The possibility of Spencer having a twin is another theory making its way around social media.

This is one of my favorite theories, as it connects the most dots, in my opinion. One of the most popular theories is that Spencer is actually Mary Drake’s daughter, and that would fit in nicely with the Spencer-twin conspiracy.

Melissas-cart and pllfandomnation make very valid points. Spencer and Mary Drake did have similar mannerisms as they sipped their tea, and Pretty Little Liars definitely made a point of highlighting some similarities. The back half of Pretty Little Liars season 6 put an emphasis on Spencer’s caffeine addiction, and it was almost comical how much weight they gave Mary’s admission of the same.

Mary did state that she had met Spencer a long time ago. So long ago, in fact, that Spencer couldn’t possibly remember. Perhaps she meant that they met when Mary gave birth to Spencer and her twin sister! Mary also said that she had a lot in common with Spencer’s parents. What if that commonality is an identical child? If Spencer does have a twin that was raised by Mary Drake, she could easily be Mary’s helper. As for the why, we’ll have to wait until we know more about Mary Drake and A.D. to determine that.

It was Melissa

Earlier in the Pretty Little Liars season 7 premiere, Aria and Ezra had a sudden memory spasm in which they realized the person they thought had been Charlotte was probably Alison. Couldn’t this same thing have happened to Hanna in her beaten and broken state? Mary Drake mentioned that Spencer and Melissa looked like twins, so Hanna may have thought she saw Spencer when she really saw Melissa.

Wankorface on tumblr shared this theory.

Spencer’s face wasn’t shown after Hanna said her name, so we don’t have that look of surprise to go on, but the rest could add up. Mary Drake traveled from London to Philadelphia around the same time that Melissa would have, so it’s not crazy to think that they may know each other. Melissa and Wren have always been suspicious characters, so it could finally be time to see their involvement in the A game.

Who told Hanna to escape in the ‘Pretty Little Liars’ season 7 premiere? Was she dreaming, or was it real?