Warning: Spoilers ahead.
This is more than a recap of the second season of “Tell Me Lies.” This is a dive into the emotional wreckage and layers that the show leaves behind every single week. This is an analysis of the most recent season, the twists and turns after every episode and the unfaithful “friendships” in this show.
Let’s start off with the obvious. The college students in this drama series toe the line of morals, incessantly.
First, let’s dissect the friendships. Lucy, Bree and Pippa, despite being friends, toe the lines of friendship consistently. I would argue that friendship means one has to actually communicate with their friends, but a large part of the show consists of them lying to each other (hence, the title). They keep secrets, lie and manipulate each other — in ways which are almost despicable. You could argue that they are attempting to protect each other, but every “attempt” at protection is misguided. Lucy lies about sleeping with Evan, Bree lies about sleeping with the professor… It’s a constant cycle.
The boys are no better — Stephen, Wrigley and Evan are not friends. Stephen is a psychopath who manipulates everyone around him. Wrigley is sweet, but misguided and naive. He cares about his friends, he just doesn’t show it in the right way. Evan is the best friend out of all of them, but he isn’t a ride or die friend, and neither of the other two respect him.
The friendships being misguided is the beginning of the end. The relationships are even more twisted.
Lucy and Stephan began dating freshman year, but Stephen went back to his ex, Diana, in the finale of the first season. Despite that, Lucy and Stephen come back to each other like clockwork. It’s almost hard to watch Lucy fall into the trap time and time again. No matter what, she falls back in; at some point, you stop feeling bad for her. She acknowledges how messed up Stephen is, yet she hurts the people closest to her without second thought because she’s stuck in this toxic cycle with him. While she might not have manipulative intentions like Stephen, I’d argue that at the end of it all, they deserve each other. Toxicity is a cycle, and neither of them have any intention to escape.
Bree and Evan are another story. They are the kindest couple by far. I feel for Bree, because she’s doing her best, but she’s being manipulated by the people around her. And while Evan is a good person, he’s a liar. He owes it to everyone to be honest, speak his truth and make his relationship with Bree better. As we all know — Evan cheated on Bree, and it was a complicated, messed up situation. He doesn’t deserve her, especially when she stayed devoted and loyal to him. Then there’s the other matter of who he cheated with, which is one of the longest held secrets of the show.
Pippa and Diana are honestly my favorite thing to come out of this season. I actually liked Wrigely and Pippa together, but I’m glad Pippa has someone who cares about her in the right ways, respects and supports her. Diana clearly does.
Wrigley’s story is tragic, because you know for a fact that he was trying his hardest with his brother. Throughout the season, he tried again and again to reach out over the phone. His brother, Drew, who was still struggling from the tragic death that he might have caused in season one, was in the throes of deep depression. Wrigley loved his brother more than anything, but didn’t know how to help him. What started as a fun night of reconciliation between the two, ended in Dean overdosing and dying from taking Wrigley’s time-release pain medication.
However, I’d argue that none of this matters in the end. With the finale, we watch everything go to shit because of something, once again, that Stephen DeMarco initiated. I think we can all agree on this — he is the worst character in the show.
The name of the series is fitting. They all consistently lie to each other to the point that they can’t see the line between right and wrong, and it’s almost hard to watch. It’s also devastating, because in some scenes, you can sense the good intentions, but it doesn’t necessarily end the way you wish it did.
They are misguided college students, and I guess that is the entire point of the show, but the way that every single possible traumatic event is shoved into one storyline makes it a little hard to watch. I empathize with them, but I wish the plot wasn’t so convoluted so we could understand the story better.
Regardless of this criticism, I will be watching the next season, and I know everyone who has watched it so far will too. I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t see past this cliffhanger.