Are Spencer and Toby Spiraling Out of Control?

Between A's torture, accusing their parents of murder, and college applications, it's amazing that any of the Pretty Little Liars girls have time for romance. Unfortunately, when the girls do find time to date, their relationship becomes the first thing attacked by their mysterious and elusive stalker. Sure, Rosewood may be a hot bed for hot people, but given the amount of stress that being in a serious relationship on this show has caused in the past, I'd be more than happy to stick to a far more casual arrangement. The little liars don't really feel that way, which is too bad — because a new Pretty Little Liar's spoiler suggests that one of their relationships will be bad news bears. According to showrunner I. Marlene King's interview with The Hollywood Reporter, one of the liars "spirals" with her boyfriend this season — and neither of them have the ability to save one another.

Like I said, bad news bears, right? The biggest question this season is which couple will it be. King mentioned a boyfriend specifically in the spoiler, which most likely rules out Emily as the one who spirals out of control. That leaves Aria, Spencer, and Hanna as the girlfriend in the situation, and, most likely, Ezra, Toby, and Caleb as the boyfriend in question. And unlike previous seasons, each of these couples are in the running for a serious meltdown.

It's hard to tell which couple will make it through unscathed so early in the season, considering that each couple has a lot of heavy stuff to deal with. Which couple could spiral due to their heavy stuff? Let's take a look.

Spoby

Current Status: Totally together.

Why They Could Spiral: For one thing, they both did it before. Toby up and joined the A-Team (albeit to protect Spencer and find out information on his possibly-murdered mother) and broke Spencer's heart in the process, landing the poor girl in Radley Sanitarium. Last season, Spencer dealt with a pill-popping problem to cope with the stress of sleuthing for A, and even her newly-reunited boyfriend couldn't save her from herself. Both of them are seemingly okay (for now) but with new information coming out about Radley and Spencer's parents' divorce, there's a chance that these two might fall back into their own patterns. And that pattern is a big, loopy spiral.

Ezria

Current Status: Pretty much together, definitely lying about it.

Why They Could Spiral: Aria still can't get over shooting Shana (in self-defense!) and Ezra still hates himself for writing that book about his former underage girlfriend and lying to his current underage girlfriend about it. Aria's the queen of meltdowns — she can trash an office like it's her job and has the best crying face ever. Check it.

Haleb

Current Status: Broken up, but still probably soul mates.

Why They Could Spiral: I think the photo above probably says it all. These two kids have been hitting the bottle pretty hard — mostly together — in order to help them deal with their respective issues. Hanna's a mess over Ali's return and the new love triangle she's just found herself in. Caleb has returned from Ravenswood haunted (literally) and can't cope with not being able to save Miranda. (That, or he's really bummed that his show got cancelled.)

Verdict

Any of these couples could be headed for a colossal breakdown, but my money is on Hanna and Caleb — though they aren't officially together (at least, not now, or not yet) they are the only couple where both the guy and the girl are on the verge of an immediate collapse. The drinking is definitely not a good sign, and Caleb's mysterious time in Ravenswood could have ended much worse than we in the Ravenswood series finale. While the other couples have their own problems, the other two couples have a currently more stable partner (Toby and Ezra) that might keep the couple from diving off the deep end, emotionally speaking.

Whichever couple ends up in the downward spiral, let's hope that they crawl out of it by the end of the season. Watching our beloved little liars breakdown is just too sad to think about.

Images: ABC Family (4); Giphy (6)