This is the end my friends. Tell Me Lies wraps up its inaugural season, and the one question viewers should have, will anyone make it out of this year unscathed?
Back on the first day of school, Macy (Lily McInerny) is settling in at her dorm room. Admiring her poster on the wall, Stephen (Jackson White) comes knocking on the door. They have a relationship, and sooner than later they end up in bed together. Before Stephen leaves, he reminds Macy to keep their relationship quiet and he gives her a drawing of a flower. (Yeah, the one he told Lucy that he gave Macy during the summer, and not on the first day of school.)
Only moments after Stephen leaves, Lucy (Grace Van Patten) comes walking into the room. At the party later that night Macy and Bree (Catherine Missal) are talking about where they are from, and Macy asks about Bree’s constant moving. Bree informs her about being in foster care because Macy seems interested in Bree. (Macy seems like the best character. Why did she have to die? Lily McInerny is great in this role.)
Macy spies Stephen talking to Lucy. When Macy, Lucy, and Pippa (Sonia Mena) have lunch the next day, Macy listens as Pippa talks about how interested Stephen is in Lucy. Good to her word, Macy doesn’t mention how well she knows Stephen.
Texting Stephen, Macy asks why he had to hit on her roommate. Stephen reassures her, and Macy gets a party invitation for the evening. She asks Lucy to come out to the party, but is blown off by her roommate. At the party, Macy is looking for some friends, when she starts drinking and calls Stephen. Together they get stoned and hide away in her car to get intimate. Macy apologizes for ‘acting crazy’ and Stephen assures her he would never have talked to Lucy if he knew they were roommates.
Stephen agrees to drive them home, even though he has been drinking all night. Macy is concerned but goes along with the decision. Unable to latch her seatbelt, Macy talks to Stephen about the possibility of a relationship. Stephen is caught up in his lies, and Macy pushes him about his horrible treatment to her and others. (Macy even says that he’s a bad person. Oh my god, I love this. Stephen is a bad person.)
Distracted, Stephen crashes the car when another vehicle approaches. Awakening to Macy’s dead body, he panics. (Of course, Stephen caused the accident.) Moving Macy to the driver’s seat, he deletes all their conversations from Macy’s phone, and then runs away. (Claiming you are sorry while doing a horrible thing doesn’t make you a good person Stephen.)
Back in May 2008, school is finishing up and Lucy meets up with Stephen after an exam. They are planning to go to a party that night. Lucy thinks she has a lead on a job for Stephen this summer working at a country club. Stephen is insulted and misses the whole point of how Lucy is trying to help him. Stephen is surprised Lucy is not going to get a job for the summer, especially since she canceled her India trip.
Wrigley (Spencer House) is hating physical because he was told that he probably won’t be able to play football next year. Talking with Stephen, Wrigley tells him about seeing another more friendly therapist that will hopefully help. Stephen tells him how sorry he is about everything that has happened. (Yeah right.)
Bree is packing up to leave early, (Good for you Bree, leave as fast as you can) and she is shocked to learn from Pippa that Wrigley thinks Pippa wrote the letter to the dean about Drew (Benjamin Wadsworth). Evan (Branden Cook) comes into the room to take Bree’s bags for the drive to the train station, and Bree says goodbye to Pippa and Lucy.
After a run in with Diana (Alicia Crowder) Stephen is surprised to see that he got a lower mark than Diana in their shared class. She more than rightfully rubs her success in his face. Diana says she’s sorry about him losing out on the internships, and then tells him that she was told by one of her sorority pledges that Lucy is telling everyone they were together the night Macy died.
Confronting Lucy, Stephen is angry because her lie could be discredited. This leads to a giant fight between the two which leads to Stephen thinking Lucy is threatening him. While Lucy calms the situation down, it’s clear these two have some issues to resolve.
Stephen and Evan are getting ready for the party, and though Stephen is joking about only having one more year together, Evan drops a bomb on their friendship. Evan plans to get his own place off campus next year. Stephen can’t understand why Evan would do this. (That would require Stephen thinking about others.)
At the party, Lucy is confused why they can’t all hang out together. Ignoring Stephen, Lucy joins Pippa, and they agree to put everything aside for the evening and have fun. In another room, Evan, Stephen, and some friends are smoking weed, when Diana joins. It only takes a few moments, before Stephen and Diana are alone. Diana encourages him to not settle for something beneath him. Either jobs or girlfriend wise. Playing on Stephen’s desire to get an internship at a law firm, Diana is offering Stephen the chance to work at her dad’s law firm because she still loves him. Lucy has been looking for Stephen only to see him walk down the stairs at the party hand in hand with Diana. (What a way to break up.) Upset, Evan finds Lucy and comforts her. (Don’t do anything stupid Evan.)
The next morning Lucy wakes up in her dorm room with Evan in her bed. (Evan, I am so DISAPPOINTED in you). Fast forward to the future, Evan and Bree are married, Lucy is alone at the reception when Stephen emerges. The two have the world’s worst small talk only to be interrupted by Stephen’s fiancé, Lucy’s former high school friend Lydia (Natalee Linez).
Bill’s Perspective:
The season is over and there is a lot to unpack with this finale. What happened to Diana? Have Lucy and Stephen kept the secret about Macy? Why is everyone so forgiving to Stephen?
I liked this show because I was compelled each week. How can these people keep all the lies going without crashing and burning? While I hoped to have some answers from this finale, there’s just more questions to ask.
Does Tell Me Lies deserve another season? Sure! I must see justice for Macy, Wrigley, Pippa, and Drew. I want to see Stephen have karma bite him, and I hope Lucy can straighten herself out. Thankfully, Bree and Evan have what looks like a happily ever after, but how on earth did Stephen and Lydia get together?
Answers can only be found in a second season. The only question is, will Hulu give the audience another round of Tell Me Lies? I just hope Evan and Bree stay happy.