TV Recap/Review: "Tell Me Lies" - Season 3, Episode 6 "I Don’t Cry When I’m Sad Anymore"
Recap:
Wrigley (Spencer House) and Pippa (Sonia Mena) wake up to Valentines Day and wish each other merriment for the day. Pippa is going to get ready with the girls and they will rendezvous later. (Of course there is an event, this is Baird College where the co-eds spend all their time at events and parties and not in class. Plus, we all know Pippa is going to get ready with Diana.) Alone, Wrigley is only thinking about Bree (Cat Missal).
Arriving at Diana’s (Alicia Crowder), Pippa is met with a kiss, and a refusal by Diana to be wished with happy valentine’s day sentiment. Asking if Diana is coming to the party, Diana says no because of the whole complication with Wrigley. When Diana’s mother calls, she wants to know (picture a Seinfeld voice) what’s the deal with the naked photos of her being sent to her father. (Oh, Stephen DeMarco strikes again.) Diana is appalled by this information and soon sees the pictures after her mother forwards them. Diana knows that Stephen sent them and Pippa wants to know what she is going to do. Diana insists that there is no justice with a guy like Stephen. As Pippa presses the issue, Diana asks to be left alone, and Pippa leaves.
Lucy (Grace Van Patten) is getting ready for the party, with Bree in the background admiring her makeup work. Pippa arrives, and Bree wants to know where she has been, and this makes Pippa a little uneasy. Bree leaves to answer the phone from her mom Mary (Emily Meade). She has made it work, and plans to attend Bree’s exhibition tomorrow. Overjoyed, she reenters the dorm room and tells her friends that her mom is coming to the exhibit. Bree tells them that she is excited because she thought her mom would flake out but it looks like she is coming. (Bree, I think we can all predict that your mom is going to flake out.)
The anti-Valentines Day party begins, and Bree lets Evan (Branden Cook) know that she has something to tell him later. They make out, and Wrigley is left uncomfortable watching it across the room. Pippa takes the moment to remind everyone that this party is not about love. Wrigley mentions that Stephen (Jackson White) is coming, and he is probably bringing a freshmen date. This is when Bree tells Lucy that she texted Alex (Costa D’Angelo) to come, and this makes Lucy uncomfortable.
Lucy and Bree leave just as Stephen and Tegan (Bianca Nugara) arrive. They meet up with Alex and Lucy is not sure if she wants her ‘boyfriend’ there. (Out of all the other men
Lucy has dated, I think I like Alex the most. He seems to be comfortable with himself and isn’t a deranged monster.)
Bree is thankful to see him, and when Alex asks where her ex is, Lucy begs him not to say anything to Stephen. When Bree leaves, Lucy tells him that he didn’t need to come, and he is quite happy to be there. Alex reminds her that just because they have sex, doesn’t mean that they can’t be friends. (Not only is this hilarious, it also puts into perspective how much of a better person Alex is than any other character.)
Chris (Jacob Rodriguez) finds Pippa and wonders if she has changed her number because he has been trying to call her. Wasting no time, Chris tells her that Lucy told him that he assaulted her. This throws Pippa for a loop, and she is desperately looking for a way to escape this conversation. Chris asks Pippa if she thinks he did anything to her, and then Pippa admits to him that they are cool. When Lucy finds Pippa, Pippa is angry and wants to know why she talked about her to Chris. Betrayed, Pippa finds Wrigley and stays near him for protection.
Stephen sees Lucy and Alex and beckons her to join him and Tegan. Alex joins as well, and it takes only a moment for Stephen to be mean to Lucy by trying to insult her and humiliate her in front of everyone. Fortunately, Stephen ends the conversation, and Alex notices how tense Lucy is.
When Amanda (Iris Apatow) walks into the party, Bree tells her how sorry she was for the last time they talked, and for how they ended their last conversation. Amanda tells her it’s fine and when Bree learns that she is only seventeen, this makes her dive deep into the sliminess of Oliver (Tom Ellis) for dating a minor.
When Evan offhand mentions that Bree would stay with him for the summer, Evan is shocked to learn that she plans to stay with her mom this summer. He’s confused and wonders why she didn’t say anything until now. Alex wants to know what it was like seeing her mom, and Bree says it was good. As Alex leaves to deliver drugs to another party, Evan and Bree are arguing about her not saying anything about her mom, and that is when Tegan joins them with Stephen telling everyone that they need to play a drinking game. (Tegan this is not the time.) Pippa lets her know that this group of people does not do well with drinking games. (Preach sister.)
Undeterred, she gets them all to sit down and play a game called paranoia. (Why on earth is Lucy still associating with Stephen? Better yet, why is Pippa, after she knows what he did to Diana? Also, how long until Wrigley punches Stephen in the face? I bet it’s coming soon, and I am all here for it.)
After listening to the instructions, Wrigley accurately says that this sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. The game begins and Tegan is unhappy with the nice questions being asked. When she finds one that Stephen wrote, it creates some tension and the nastiness picks up. (Why is Lucy exposing herself to this predatory behavior? I mean nothing good can come from this.)
When a question about who is most likely to kill themselves is asked, and Bree says Wrigley referencing a joke he made in photography class, the mood sours, and no one is happy. Bree stops Wrigley as he leaves, and she is so sorry for her lame joke, and he tells her it is ok. (Spencer House is a rock in this show. His work as Wrigley is simply on another level compared to the narrative for every other character.)
As Bree unloads about what is happening in her life and how she feels, Wrigley tells her that he is not the one she should be confiding in. That would be a job for her boyfriend Evan. (Wrigley, she is telling you this because she felt a connection during the swimming lesson last week, and she knows that you two ultimately belong together. However, I support Wrigley as he tries to make sense of this messed up world that is Baird College.)
Lucy tries to talk to Pippa, and Pippa tells her that that is the problem. To Pippa, she doesn’t understand why Lucy can’t keep her name out of her mouth. (Lucy, Pippa is correct, and you need to learn from your failures. My god, how often are you going to torch all your bridges with your friends.) Pippa doesn’t care if she is sorry. To Pippa, every time Lucy tries to make something better, she makes it worse. Pippa calls Diana hoping to find a safe harbor from the mess of the night and only gets a voicemail.
Bree finds Lucy at the bar and wants to know where Alex went. When Lucy tells her that he went to sell drugs, Bree overacts to him leaving. Amidst the drinks Lucy learns that Bree told Alex about the Chris situation. Lucy leaves hoping to get some air and finds Alex at the door. She wants to leave and go back to his place. He offers to take her somewhere in town to get a real drink. She agrees and they leave. On their walk, Lucy tells Alex to stop being nice, and that is mean to her. She doesn’t want him to be kind and sweet. Lucy doesn’t deserve to be treated nice and they find Max (Edmund Donovan) at the bar.
Walking home, Evan is wondering when Bree saw her mom, and she lies about the day, and he just wants to know when she saw her mom. Wrigley is stumbling slowly behind overhearing their discussion. Evan is worried and continues to question her about the events surrounding her mother.
At the bar, Lucy is flirting with Max, as Alex watches from the other end of the bar. He wants to know what is with her black makeup. Lucy explains that she was at a theme party.
Evan can’t help himself and argues with Bree, and wonders if Bree doesn’t want his opinion, then why are they even together as a couple. When Evan is upset by Bree’s lack of answer on that question, he tells Wrigley that he needs him to take Bree home.
Back at the drinking hole, Lucy tries to get Max to take a shot with her, and he responds that she needs to switch to water. When she spills the glass of water, Alex steps in, pays for the drink and tells her it is time to go home. At his apartment, Alex tells Lucy to sit down and he will get her some water. Wondering why everyone is the water police tonight, Lucy does find a seat. Alex wants to know why she is so scared of Stephen, and when she tries to deflect, Alex tells her that he knows what it looks like to be that afraid.
Lucy starts to cry and admits that she is not okay. She wants him to be honest and admit that he likes the fact that she is not okay, and that he doesn’t want to be nice to her. When this leads to the two kissing, Alex states that he is not a bad person, and Lucy agrees. She begs him to have sex and gets her wish.
Bree can’t take the silence with Wrigley and pleads with him to answer her question. She wants to know if she is in the wrong, and Wrigley tells her that she is right for wanting to have a relationship with her mother and that Evan is jealous that she wants to do it. Thinking she did something wrong, Wrigley tells Bree that this is Evan’s problem, and that it is wrong he would try to come between her and rebuilding a relationship with her mother. (My earlier assumptions about Wrigley being the best character is confirmed once again.)
What makes Wrigley the most upset is that he asked her two hours ago not to confide in her, and here she is again doing it. Wrigley reminds her that this isn’t his business. When Wrigley states that the we, as in he and Bree is not a thing, Bree wonders that if there is no we between them why is he so mad. Wrigley then describes how he is mad at everything, and all the terrible decisions that they are making. (It’s like the writers have visited my head and answered every hope that I want for Wrigley.)
Bree leaves and arrives at Oliver’s and Marianne’s (Gabriella Pession) house. She wants to talk to him, but Marianne insists he is not there. Bree won’t take no for an answer and proceeds upstairs, that’s when Marianne tells her that Oliver is staying somewhere else. This is when Bree tells Marianne that Oliver’s latest girlfriend is seventeen. Trying to appeal to her humanity, Bree reminds Marianne that Oliver’s behavior is not okay. Marianne sees the hurt in Bree’s eyes and comforts her as she starts to cry about all that has happened. Wondering why she hasn’t left Oliver, Bree listens as Marianne explains with some advice. (Oh, I bet this is going to play a large part in why Bree marries Evan in the future.) The advice given is to be with someone who loves you a little more than you love them, otherwise you end up going along with things you never wanted to be a part of.
Alex and Lucy talk and wonder how each of them is feeling. Lucy wants to know why Bree said the foster home that he and Bree were in was a bad one. Alex tells her that it was worse for the boys because they didn’t have good people looking after them. Lucy leaves and walks back to her dorm room but ends up at Stephen’s room.
He wants to know what she is doing, and Lucy is shocked and quickly walks away. Down the hall she runs into Diana, and they talk in her room. Lucy is starting to see things and confused about what is happening. She tells Diana that she is concerned about what is happening next, and not what is happening in front of her. They talk about Stephen, and Lucy wants to know what to do about Stephen. Diana tells her not to give Stephen a reaction because you cannot win. This is when Diana tells Lucy about the nude pictures Stephen sent to her father.
Diana advises Lucy to do nothing. She tells Lucy not to give Stephen a reaction and that she can either lay low and be okay or be the girl who has her entire life ruined by Stephen. Diana tells her that it will be over, eventually, but only if Lucy is willing to let it end. (Wisest words spoke so far. Lucy NEEDS to listen to Diana.)
Bree wakes up in Marianne’s house and leaves quietly. She exits the house and makes a call to Wrigley to meet her. She tells him that she is sorry, and Wrigley says it’s okay. Bree goes on to explain that she didn’t know who else to call because she wanted to talk to him. Bree tells him that he makes things better, and that Wrigley is making her confused with how she feels. They hug, and Wrigley tells Bree to stop apologizing. They kiss on the street. (This is the first real example of how love should be.)
Review:
Wow, this was excellent tension in the relationship with Bree and Wrigley, and stretched out well over the episode.
Everyone in this friend group is a mess in one way or another. The joy from Tell Me Lies is that we see how destructive each one is, and how they try, or not try, to fix their lives.
Episode 6 gets high marks from me, because Spencer House is a breakout star of the show. He is not only compassionate and kind, but he is the one true character who has grown and evolved over the three seasons. The way he has strengthened the bonds of Wrigley is perfection. The fact that he and Bree get together at the end of this episode is the perfect way to lead into the tension to come in the final two episodes of the season.
Lucy is a mess. Stephen is a mess. Pippa is a mess, and Diana is just trying to graduate. There is so much to wonder about as far as how these characters would function in the real world, but I am anxiously waiting to see how this story ends, and I cannot wait for next week.
On a scale of tequila shots, this week gets the 4 Tequila Shot rating. Disaster is a brewing on the level of the Titanic, you might as well drink up and look for a lifeboat.