Summary
This is a masterclass in squirm-inducing drama that is torturous to watch.
On the one hand, Tell Me Lies Season 2, Episode 6, once again appropriately titled “Do Your Dirty Words Come Out to Play?”, is a bristlingly effective episode of TV. On the other hand, watching it is like being slowly tortured. I do mean that as a compliment since it’s the entire point, but goodness me, this show is a tough sit.
Anyway, there’s a lot to get through so let’s just get on with it.
2015
I have never seen a marriage more destined for calamity than the one between Evan and Bree.
Bree fielding mysterious calls, Stephen — of all people! — giving speeches, Pippa turning up with Diana; the whole thing’s just a mess already. It’s like college on steroids. And so little seems to have changed in the intervening years that it’s simply impossible to imagine how any of this can go remotely well. Stephen even directs his speech about learning from Evan how to find “his person” directly at Lucy.
That night, Lucy sends Stephen a message to meet her at the pool, and he smugly does so assuming she’s going behind her boyfriend’s back, but she’s setting him up to see the two of them having sex in the pool. Stephen has a look of quiet admiration for the ruse on his face as he stands and watches. The toxicity is simply unparalleled.
It’s almost shocking that Diana was Pippa’s plus-one and never got a proper invite. Based on the guest list and how the guests all act, it doesn’t seem like anything has changed all that much since 2008.
Speaking of which…
2008
(Disney/Josh Stringer) SPENCER HOUSE
It’s Thanksgiving, and the holiday season coupled with some inclement weather has shuffled the cast around a bit. Oliver is mercifully out of the picture, visiting some of Marianne’s friends for the weekend, so Bree is free to lounge around with Lucy and Pippa. However, Evan briefly interacts with her and interprets her very normal politeness as her wanting an excuse to hang out with him, so he pushes Wrigley to throw a Friendsgiving celebration and invite the girls.
Evan is smart enough to leave the sales pitch to Wrigley, the only one in the group with any discernable charisma, and since Stephen apparently won’t be attending, the girls agree to go along.
Complications arise immediately. Molly turns up, still incorrectly believing that she and Evan are in a loving relationship, followed shortly by Diana and Stephen, who aren’t going to visit the former’s father because of an argument. So, we have multiple different highly toxic dynamics at play here, including Bree torturing Molly about her history with Evan, and Stephen having to share oxygen with Lucy. Poor Wrigley has to take responsibility for inviting everyone just to try and keep the peace.
A Disasterclass
It’s difficult to even keep up with everything going on here, so I’ll just provide a summary:
- Bree and Molly are constantly trying to one-up each other and then (even more dangerously) start bonding;
- Stephen constantly tries to antagonize Leo, bringing up some kind of secret about him and his ex, Becca;
- Lucy is annoyed that Pippa is being friendly with Diana;
- Bree is still living in a fantasy land where she and Oliver are in a relationship and sends him selfies that he doesn’t respond to, upsetting her;
- Bree doesn’t want Pippa to know about Oliver so throws Lucy under the bus for complaining about her and Diana, causing Pippa to be needlessly frosty with Diana;
- Wrigley, who just wants to have a good time and is getting tired of running around trying to diplomatically keep problem couples away from each other, volunteers everyone for a game of “Slap Shots”, which consists of, rather unimaginatively, slapping each other and taking shots.
Watching this unfold is honestly like being slowly tortured. It’s masterfully put together, really, since there are so many rivalries and subplots burbling up between the shots and the slaps that it sort of morphs into a violent group therapy session, with really high points of tension and release. The slaps between Pippa and Diana, for instance, are flirtatious; the one Pippa gives Stephen is packed with resentment. But the highlight is Stephen repeatedly trying (and failing) to antagonize Leo. His smug face when he thinks Leo is going to finally give him and slap, only for Leo to pinch his cheek and call him adorable, is great (though obviously deeply awful) stuff.
The Relationship Culling
(Disney/Josh Stringer) ALICIA CROWDER, JACKSON WHITE
Needless to say, this all has some repercussions.
Evan and Molly break up, for instance, because Evan gets so ludicrously drunk that instead of slapping Bree he just lovingly holds her face like he’s seeing her for the very first time, and Molly rightly slaps him for disrespecting her to such a profound extent. But Lucy and Leo suffer more.
Stephen finally gets his way when he reveals that the person Becca cheated on Leo with was him. Leo obviously kept this to himself because it doesn’t matter to him anymore — it was two years ago — and it would obviously have created the impression that he was dating Lucy just to get back at Stephen. But Lucy, predictably, falls right into the trap. Diana sticks up for Stephen, and when she does Lucy slaps her. Leo has had enough and leaves, and when Lucy falls him she has the gall to once again bring up him headbutting that random guy a few episodes ago.
This pushes Leo to admit that his anger issues stem from his father’s physical abuse, which he clearly didn’t want to talk about. He rightly points out to Lucy that she is evidently nowhere near as over Stephen as she likes to pretend, and he can’t try and build a relationship on those shaky foundations.
Frankly, I’m happy for him.
A Glimmer of Hope
Next on the chopping block is Bree. Evan takes her aside to ask her if she really is seeing someone else, and when she smugly reveals that she is, it’s serious, and her new suitor is 45, Evan quite rightly points out that she’s being manipulated. No normal 45-year-old man wants to date a 19-year-old, which is very true, but the truth hurts so Bree goes nuts and leaves.
There’s barely anyone left by the end of the night. But Tell Me Lies Season 2, Episode 6 does manage to contrive a slightly happy ending, where we really see the beginnings of the romance between Pippa and Diana that is flourishing in 2015. There’s a brief scene between Lucy and Stephen, too, in which she basically tells him that he wins, which leaves him looking all contemplative, but I’d rather focus on Pippa and Diana to be honest.
Oh, and Wrigley’s fine too, thankfully.
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