TV Recap/Review: "Tell Me Lies" - Season 3, Episode 8 - Series Finale - "Are You Happy Now, That I’m on My Knees?"

Recap:

It’s 2015 and Bree (Cat Missal) is smoking a cigarette and reflecting on what life choices she has made which has her engaged to Evan (Branden Cook). Wrigley (Spencer House) walks into the room, and the reunion between the two is awkward. Wrigley feels strange being in the room, and before he can leave, Bree tells him to stay. (Of course he is going to stay the guy loves you Bree.) 

They make small talk, and while they each wonder if the other had a good time, Bree is honest. She didn’t know anyone at the engagement party because Evan’s mom did all the work. Wrigley lightheartedly tells her she could call off the wedding, and date him instead. Bree wants to know why he would say that, and Wrigley apologizes and tries to leave. Before he goes, he tells Bree that they have never talked about what happened between them. Bree tries to blow him off, and this results in an argument between the two. Wrigley tells Bree that he deserved a second chance, that he doesn’t hurt others like everyone else in the group. (Preach Wrigley!)

Bree admits that she never stopped thinking about him. They embrace and then they kiss, and it leads to them having sex. (I wonder if Bree is pregnant at the wedding.)

Back in 2009, Lucy (Grace Van Patten) meets with Diana (Alicia Crowder) and they have coffee. Lucy tells her that Stephen (Jackson White) gave her the confession tape back. Diana tells Lucy that she is going to Stanford instead of Yale for law school just to avoid Stephen. Diana confesses to Lucy that she knows she was telling the truth about what happened to Macy. This admission means a lot to Lucy, and she wants consequences for Stephen.

Evan finally gets out of the shower and realizes that Bree is nowhere to be found. He calls her only to get her answering machine. Bree is not happy and is on the warpath. 

Lucy is scheming to get revenge on Stephen and decides to get dressed up and attend his Yale luncheon. She leaves just in time to avoid Bree, who knows she slept with Evan. (Bree looks angry. I would avoid her at all costs Lucy.) Furious at not finding her, Bree gets a call from her mom Mary (Emily Meade) who is on campus and wants to talk. Bree is not happy at being interrupted during her crusade for justice but agrees to meet up with her.

At the Yale event, Stephen is sitting in the corner of the room despairing about his current life situation, and Lucy spots him alone and isolated from the rest of the successful admittance. 

Mary insists that Bree follow her, and she gets brought into a room where Oliver, Marianne, and Amanda (Tom Ellis, Gabriella Pession, and Iris Apatow) are waiting for her. It seems that Marianne talked to her mom last night and told her all about what has happened at school. (Marianne comes out being a more hardcore villain than Oliver. That makes me reflect on who is worse. The person who abuses, or the one who covers up for them. Timely don’t you think!)

Marianne takes a hard-line approach and blames Bree and states that the relationship between Oliver and Bree never existed that it was all in Bree’s head. Marianne threatens to go to the administration if Bree doesn’t stop threatening Oliver. (Marianne is the number one villain in this show.)

Leaving in tears, Mary tries to connect with her daughter, but Bree is angry that her mother never defended her. Mary is confused and just wants her daughter to be better than she was. Bree storms off and leaves.

Lucy tries to convince the Yale rep how terrible Stephen is, and when he sees her talking, Stephen interrupts the conversation. Alone, he tells Lucy that that might have been the stupidest thing she ever did. (Yeah Lucy, you should have left him alone. It appears you learn nothing.) 

Evan is frantically calling Bree and leaves another message on her phone. Pippa (Sonia Mena) is crying in the sink, and Lucy enters worried about why she is crying. The two friend’s kind of make up from their past grievances. Pippa confesses to Lucy that she has been cheating on Wrigley, and that she feels like she is as bad as all the guys that they hate. Lucy confesses to Pippa that she slept with Evan. Pippa is not supportive. She tells Lucy that she is pathetic and weak. (Lucy needs some serious therapy and should seek it out. This self-destructive behavior is bad, and she needs to stop it.) Pippa agrees not to tell Bree because it would devastate her. Pippa also ends her friendship with Lucy and tells her she wants nothing to do with her anymore.

Wrigley is trying to contact Bree, when Pippa bursts into his room and states she needs to talk to him. Pippa confirms that everything he has felt has been right. Pippa wants to tell him the truth that she thinks she is gay and that she has been cheating on him for the last couple of weeks. Wrigley tells her that he isn’t mad, and they embrace. Pippa is relieved that she doesn’t have to lie anymore and then the conversation devolves to Stephen. Pippa tells Wrigley that Stephen sent nude pictures to Diana’s dad and that she’s not going to Yale because of him. Pippa tells Wrigley that no one does anything to stop Stephen. 

Lucy enters class (This is a milestone moment in the show, Lucy is in class.) She notices on her classmates’ screens, the confession video she made. Stephen has released it to the school, and Lucy knows that her life is about to unravel in an unbelievable way. (One should never trust Stephen DeMarco. Lucy, you should know better.) Making her way outside, Lucy sees Stephen and attacks him. 

Stephen defends himself and then tells her that he didn’t release the tape but she did. (Oh, I see what you did there Stephen. Tegan probably told you about Lucy telling her to stay away from him twice, and now you are messing up her mind. You are a monster DeMarco, but a clever one.) Lucy decides to leave. 

Stopping at Alex’s (Costa D’Angelo) apartment hoping to find safety, he is not supporting her. Alex saw the tape, and he felt used. The fact that she lied to him is something that Alex can’t forgive. He tells her that sexual assault is the one thing you do not lie about. (One can now imagine what happened to Alex in the foster homes when they were kids. Lucy should have been smarter and she would have seen the real pain this poor guy was carrying with him.) Lucy apologizes and promises to leave him alone and then leaves. 

Inside the apartment, Bree is visiting, and happy that Alex didn’t tell her that she was there. Bree feels like she doesn’t even know who her friend is. Alex agrees with Bree that you can’t trust anyone, she just has to figure out who she distrusts the least and then give them 70-80% of herself to them. (I like this brother/sister bonding between the two. It’s nice to see Bree has someone who supports her and wants nothing in return from her.) 

Wrigley is sitting alone in the dining hall trying to think of  a text to Bree, but sees Lucy’s video playing on a neighboring screen. When Stephen comes to sit with him, Wrigley tells him he was just about to leave. Overcome with guilt for letting Stephen get a free pass for all his awful behavior, Wrigley asks Stephen if he saw the tape of Lucy. Stephen tells Wrigley about Lucy’s antics at the Yale meeting, and that he thinks she deserves to have her life ruined. Wrigley says goodbye, but he has a plan. 

Alone in her room, Lucy’s phone is ringing, and she can’t bear to answer it. Pippa is checking all the Facebook comments on Lucy and they are less than kind. When Bree returns Pippa tries to talk to her about what is happening, and Bree has no sympathy for Lucy. Pippa comes clean and says that Lucy was lying about Chris, because it was Pippa who Chris raped and Lucy was covering for her. Bree feels bad for Lucy and takes action she gets the Resident Advisor to open the door to check on her. 

Taken to the dean’s office, Lucy is informed that her lies and behavior is unacceptable. Lucy is asked to leave the college because she is expelled. Her mom is on her way to get her but Lucy doesn’t understand until they tell her that she will not be going abroad next semester, her life at this college is over. 

Back at her room, Lucy tells Pippa and Bree that she has been expelled from school. She has only a few moments to clean her room and then she will be escorted from campus. Evan joins them, and Bree tells her boyfriend that they need to talk. She asks him a question, and if he lies Bree will never speak to him again. She asks Evan if he slept with Lucy last year, and he comes clean. Bree tells Evan that Lucy was just expelled because of the tape. Bree doesn’t want Lucy to know that she knows, so she makes Evan agree that they won’t tell anyone but that she still wants to be with him. 

Stephen is packing up his room when his phone rings. Yale admissions calls him and informs him that his acceptance to Yale Law was rescinded. They received information about his code of conduct, and they don’t like what he has done. Stephen is angry and wants to know who reported him. He screams at the woman, but she won’t tell him. (I love you Wrigley. You truly are the finest human being at Baird College.)

Wrigley is walking through campus with a sense of purpose and joy. (Yeah he is.) He arrives at Bree’s room, hoping to speak with her, but Evan is there and Wrigley needs to change his plan. (Poor Wrigley.) Bree says she will let Pippa know that Wrigley had stopped by. Evan asks if he wants to go for a drink, and he agrees. (I mean, why not at this point?) Bree destroys the SD card, which had Lucy’s confession on it. (HOLY CRAP, Bree released the video. WOW that is a woman scorned. Also, Lucy had it coming, she should have destroyed it right away.)

Diana comes to visit Lucy and tells her how sorry she is about what happened. She offers to help Lucy pack her things, and Lucy confesses that everyone hates her. Diana tells her that she is going to come back from this. It may seem really bad for now, but it will get better. 

Lucy packs up her mom’s car, and while Stephen leers from a distance, Bree helps her load up the vehicle. (I must say, kudos to the school for acting so fast, and forcing her off campus so quickly. However, I feel like in real life this would have had multiple appeals, and she would have had a great case for she was forced to make the video confession by an abusive monstrous boyfriend that Baird College enabled.)

Fast forward to the 2015 wedding, and Lucy is having the time of her life dancing with Bree on the dance floor. Diana is taking photos of Pippa and Wrigley, and they each comment about all the Yale paraphernalia that Diana has from Yale. (Well done Wrigley.) 

Lydia (Natalie Linez) wants to leave and when she pressures Stephen to leave, he tells her that he and Lucy had sex that morning, and she should leave. Lydia breaks up with him and dumps the engagement ring on the bar. 

Stephen sits down with Bree and tells her that she is incredible and that he underestimated her. He wants to know how long she had known that Lucy and Evan slept together. He figures she must have known since she had no reaction to the message he sent her earlier in the day. Bree asks him what he is trying to do. Bree tells him that he has failed and that Lucy will never touch him again. 

Stephen accuses Bree of releasing Lucy’s tape, and now he knows why she would do it. Stephen takes to the microphone and insults everyone and starts telling the truth about everyone, from Evan and Lucy’s one night stand to Bree releasing the confession tape and that Bree and Wrigley have been having an affair for months. Bree chases after Stephen and starts throwing cake at him telling him to leave. Stephen is laughing it up, but when Evan charges at him, he misses and destroys the cake. (For as terrible as Stephen is, Jackson White was absolutely stunning in this scene. I mean he was BRILLIANT.)

Pippa and Diana decide it is time to leave, (yeah girls get out of this dumpster fire) and Lucy confronts Bree wanting to know if she released the tape. Stephen joins them and tells Lucy that he needs to leave because he is in physical danger (I have HATED Stephen, BUT he is growing on me,) Stephen tells Lucy that no one will respect her again, and he is all that she has, so he asks her to leave with him. Bree tells her friend that if Lucy leaves with Stephen their friendship is over.

Stephen leaves and tells Lucy he hopes to see her outside. Bree confronts her friend and tells Lucy that Stephen doesn’t care about her, he just wants to win, and this is the last chance she has at making a decision that doesn’t embarrass her forever. While Evan is yelling at Wrigley he and Bree make eye contact across the room. (It looks like that relationship was meant to happen.)

Stephen waits patiently outside in the car. Lucy asks him why he wants her to come with him. He wants to know if she needs a big speech about how boring his life has been without her. The truth is it has been fine. (I love this!) He tells her that it is always more fun with her. He tells her that he destroyed his life, and if he hurt her, he has nothing so why would he do that. 

Lucy is convinced and gets in the car. (She’s stupid, but stupid people deserve to be together.) They drive off together and when Stephen pulls over to get gas, Lucy gets out to get them coffee’s, he drove off leaving her at a gas station in the middle of nowhere. Even Lucy finds this funny. (I am howling as I watch this.) She is now free of Stephen DeMarco. 

Review:

This show has been bonkers since the beginning, but wow, what an ending. I cannot say I have loved the Stephen/Lucy arc, but the ending is perfect beyond art hanging in the Louvre. I mean, take a picture of that last shot and frame it, because there was no better way to end this storyline than like that.

Spencer House has regularly owned the entire season for the arc he brought to Wrigley. He is the definition of a person who grew up at college, and continued to be a better person and not a jerk like his friends.

The Diana/Pippa arc was wrapped up neatly, and I only hope they have a long and happy life together.

Stephen DeMarco is a vile narcissist who is toxic beyond nuclear waste level. I have hated him for most of this show, but his ending is brilliant. Jackson White has the unique talent of being despicable in one scene, and then downright hilarious in the next.

Game of Thrones may have had their red wedding episode, but the dumpster fire ceremonies at Tell Me Lies is worthy of a 6 Tequila Shot Rating. Keep drinking and try to forget the night.