The third and final season of “Tell Me Lies” ended the series exactly how its viewers might have expected: with its characters making horrendously bad decisions, a stacked soundtrack and a quick-moving plot that strayed far from the first season’s premise.
The show follows the ever-tumultuous college relationship between Lucy Albright (Grace Van Patten) and Stephen DeMarco (Jackson White) and the impact their questionable actions have on their incestuous friend group. The show jumps between two timelines: one beginning in 2007, when Lucy begins her first year at the fictional Baird University, and one in 2015, when their friends Bree (Catherine Missal) and Evan (Branden Cook) get married. Over the course of the series, the characters repeatedly betray and exploit one another to protect themselves, ultimately destroying their relationships.
The third season’s plot revolves around Stephen blackmailing Lucy by forcing her to record a tape in which she confesses to a damning lie she told in the previous season. Simultaneously, Evan tries to win Bree back after cheating on her, while Wrigley (Spencer House) begins to harbor feelings for Bree despite being in a relationship with Bree’s best friend and roommate, Pippa (Sonia Mena), who is secretly cheating on him with Stephen’s ex-girlfriend Diana (Alicia Crowder). If it sounds messy, that’s because it is. Bree is also coming off of an affair with a married professor and Wrigley’s brother has just died by accidental overdose. The friend group is not doing well, to say the very least.
Missal and House’s performances are particularly strong this season as Bree and Wrigley slowly develop feelings for each other while already in other relationships. Missal expertly portrays Bree’s unraveling as the one character who’s retained a moral high ground throughout the series loses her integrity. House, meanwhile, beautifully plays Wrigley’s gentleness, kindness and forgiving nature, solidifying that Wrigley is ultimately the show’s only redeemable character. In the finale’s closing minutes, as the friend group’s secrets are finally made public, Bree and Wrigley softly smile at one another while their friends scream and argue. House and Missal’s quiet chemistry is at the heart of this season, and it adds emotional depth to a show whose intrigue is largely rooted in toxic relationships and betrayal.
Van Patten also excels this season, convincingly portraying Lucy’s complete breakdown. From Lucy’s repeated confusion to fights with Stephen that bring her to hysterics, Van Patten artfully captures a young woman falling into delusion. When Lucy is informed of her expulsion from Baird, for example, Van Patten’s performance soars as Lucy doesn’t seem to understand that she will no longer be an enrolled student. The show has long hinged on Lucy’s terrible decision-making, but making her so traumatized by Stephen that she becomes genuinely disoriented works well because of Van Patten’s strong performance.
“Tell Me Lies” has also consistently succeeded in its soundtrack. Notables from this season include “Love Lost” by Temper Trap and “Fade Into You” by Mazzy Star, along with 2000s classics “Paper Planes” by M.I.A., “Rehab” by Amy Winehouse and “Bulletproof” by La Roux that work well to anchor the show and characters in the early 2000s. The choice to play Britney Spears’ “Toxic” as Stephen grabs the microphone at the wedding and reveals each character’s secrets is a masterful one, effectively bringing together each lie’s intertwining storyline. Furthermore, “Such Great Heights” by The Postal Service makes the final scene — where Lucy, stranded, realizes Stephen has left her once again — even more powerful.
Despite these strengths, the finale of “Tell Me Lies” left me unsatisfied on several fronts. Lucy’s memory loss during the third season was never resolved or explained, which made the plotline fall flat. Showrunner Maggie Oppenheimer slowly built tension surrounding whatever was causing Lucy’s disorientation this season, and while I don’t think every plotline in the show needed to be fully resolved, it didn’t feel like there was any purpose for the memory loss at all. The finale also strayed far from the first season’s premise, giving little closure to Macy’s death other than Diana’s admission to Lucy that she knows Stephen was responsible. I actually liked the believability of Stephen getting away with his involvement in Macy’s death, but I wish there were a bit more reference to the first and second season’s plotlines.
“Tell Me Lies” is not a life-altering watch. I’ve long been an easy crier, and not once has the show brought me to tears, which is a pretty low bar (I once cried during the final performance in “Pitch Perfect”). But even at its most chaotic, “Tell Me Lies” is a poignant reminder that our actions have consequences and yet sometimes the worst people we know are never punished. We don’t all know a Stephen DeMarco, but I’m willing to bet a lot of us know someone pretty close. I know I do.
And maybe even worse, I think we all have a bit of Lucy in us. Lucy’s ending is one of the harshest to watch; after years of desperately willing Stephen to love her, she never learns her lesson. She once again gives up everything for a boy who has only ever treated her atrociously, and he abandons her yet again, quite literally leaving her on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. The finale ends with her laughing at the situation as she realizes what the audience has always known to be true: that she is completely pathetic. But also, her ordeal with Stephen is finally over, and there’s freedom for her in that, even if she looks as weak as ever.
As much as we may try to convince ourselves that we aren’t Lucy, I think her willingness to forgive the unforgivable if it means feeling loved is all too relatable. There’s something about her ending that reminds us of our worst instincts and insecurities, that makes us want to forget the people we forgave, even when we knew they didn’t deserve it. “Tell Me Lies” succeeds in its predictable unpredictability — the worst thing that can happen always does. Lucy always goes back to Stephen. Stephen always disappoints her. And above all, the show succeeds in reminding us that we are lying to ourselves if we think we’re good people.
