Tell Me Lies Series-Finale Recap: Road to Nowhere

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I can’t tell if I want another season or if I just want my money back.

Despite some frustrating plot choices, overly dramatic moments, and historical inaccuracies, I was actually liking Tell Me Lies. I just hoped Lucy would grow and find some direction in her life after everything she’d been through. I pictured her starting over – maybe moving to Berlin and having a glamorous life, or going to college in California after writing about her experiences. She could even have become one of the many young writers in New York at the time who were gaining attention by sharing personal stories online. Honestly, even just going to therapy would have felt like a natural next step.

The show Tell Me Lies didn’t bother exploring Lucy’s perspective or what she was going through. We’re simply left with her stranded at a gas station after Stephen leaves her. This creates the feeling that her friends were justified in giving up on her, as she seems unable to escape the damaging relationship with Stephen, which ultimately feels unhelpful and unproductive.

If the show’s creators truly envisioned this finale, as Meaghan Oppenheimer suggests, the ending feels surprisingly unresolved. Major plot points, like Lucy’s memory loss, are simply dropped, and it’s unclear how these characters managed to stay friends for six years. It seems like everyone drifted apart after Lucy’s expulsion in college, with no one knowing about key relationships like Pippa and Diana’s. Even seemingly solid friendships, like Evan and Wrigley’s, don’t explain the complete estrangement between Wrigley and Bree, who haven’t been seen together since a single kiss.

Let’s just agree to not mention Wrigley’s wig from 2015. It’s noticeable, and we don’t need to comment on it. Alright? Now, back to what I was saying…

Wrigley and Bree don’t reconnect until Bree’s engagement party with Evan in 2015. Wrigley unexpectedly finds Bree having a private breakdown, and she asks him to stay with her. What happens next mirrors the events that led to their initial kiss. Bree confesses she’s unhappy with Evan, and Wrigley passionately argues that she should have chosen him instead. He points out he’s the most stable person in their friend group and that shutting him out was a mistake, bluntly stating, “I keep my life together, and you made a dumb decision.” After that, a romantic connection quickly reignites – it’s hard to disagree with such straightforward logic. This scene reveals how long Bree and Wrigley were having an affair before the wedding, but it remains unclear why Bree didn’t call off the wedding altogether.

Beyond the present, the most rewarding part of “Are You Happy Now, That I’m on My Knees?” is seeing Wrigley get Stephen expelled from Yale. While Pippa shouldn’t have told Wrigley about Stephen sharing Diana’s father’s nude photos of her, I’m glad Wrigley used that information to his advantage. Yale Law rescinded Stephen’s acceptance when they discovered he’d been distributing classmates’ explicit photos, which was a satisfying moment of payback for the awful Stephen. I also enjoyed Wrigley rubbing it in Stephen’s face at the wedding.

The wedding effectively ends the drama surrounding the tape. By the night’s end, everyone has tuned out Stephen, so he seizes the microphone and spills all the secrets: his hidden dislike for Evan, his morning encounter with Lucy, the affair between Bree and Wrigley, and the bombshell that Bree was responsible for releasing Lucy’s tape years ago. The chaos peaks in a bizarre, comical scene where Evan crashes into his wedding cake as Britney Spears’ “Toxic” plays loudly. Quite a finale.

But before all of that, let’s go back to 2009.

Lucy was feeling overly confident, which usually meant trouble. Little did she know, her friends were about to start mimicking someone named Stephen and take advantage of her. As the saying goes, even well-meaning actions can lead to being left in a difficult situation.

Lucy’s first idea of the day – a hastily formed plan to get Stephen expelled from Yale for Diana – isn’t going to work. While her intentions are good, confronting a Yale representative at a welcome brunch was a mistake. This woman doesn’t know Lucy or the situation, and even if she did, she couldn’t do anything about it. Now, Lucy has just managed to upset Stephen again.

Lucy’s next challenge is fixing things with Pippa, but it quickly goes terribly wrong, even worse than the disastrous brunch. It starts well enough – Pippa admits to cheating on Wrigley, and Lucy tries to be understanding, reasoning that at least Pippa feels remorse. However, Lucy is very mistaken; Pippa is remarkably skilled at justifying her own bad actions. Predictably, Pippa thinks her own infidelity is far less serious than Lucy’s, because she believes men’s feelings aren’t important. (Normally, the narrator would agree, but Wrigley does matter.) When Lucy admits to sleeping with Evan, Pippa unleashes a barrage of insults, surpassing even Stephen’s most cutting remarks. She accuses Lucy of being not just awful, but pathetic and weak, and questions how Lucy can face herself in the mirror. The narrator is extremely frustrated with Pippa’s behavior.

Bree has just discovered Evan’s affair with Lucy and is furious, but her confrontation is interrupted by Oliver and Marianne. They’ve manipulated Mary into setting up a private conversation with Bree, claiming she’s dangerously fixated on Oliver, and brought along 17-year-old Amanda to support their claims. Bree insists she and Oliver were genuinely involved and that Marianne was aware, but Mary sides with Oliver and Marianne, believing Bree fabricated the entire story. They threaten to report her to school officials if she doesn’t stop talking about it. The show consistently avoids acknowledging the concept of manipulation, despite numerous instances of it.

Bree chooses this moment to release the video of Lucy, believing Lucy deserves to face consequences for sleeping with her best friend’s boyfriend and falsely accusing someone of sexual assault. Wrigley, however, doesn’t agree with this harsh stance. Just then, Pippa reveals a crucial detail: Lucy lied about the assault to protect Pippa, who wasn’t ready to report it herself. From that point on, things quickly worsen for Lucy. The video spreads across campus, and she faces immediate condemnation from Stephen and Alex. Trying to hide in her dorm, she’s confronted by her RA and taken to a meeting about her expulsion. Although Pippa and Bree don’t share the full story with the school, Bree feels remorseful enough to decide to marry Evan instead of pursuing further action. Only Diana shows Lucy genuine compassion, checking on her, helping her pack, and offering words of encouragement.

The scene shifts back to the 2015 wedding, where Stephen has just told Lucy that Bree, not him, was responsible for the events that upset her in sophomore year, and Lucy is trying to decide what to do. I think Stephen actually did far more to hurt Lucy, especially by pressuring her into making the tape, and Bree is trying to point that out. Stephen asks Lucy to leave with him, while Bree pleads with her not to make a mistake.

Despite everything, Lucy willingly gets in the car with Stephen, only to be abandoned at a gas station. It seems the idea of strong female friendships isn’t always true, and the villain, Prince Humperdinck, ultimately succeeds. I’m done – this is the end.

For the Group Chat

• Why isn’t Alex at this wedding?

• What did Lucy do after getting expelled?

• Why does Diana even like Pippa again?

• What happened to Max?

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2026-02-17 19:55