The Ending Of ‘Tell Me Lies’ Season 2 Is Masterfully, Sickeningly Brilliant

The ending of Tell Me Lies Season 2 finds the show operating at the absolute peak of its powers. Episode 8, “Don’t Struggle Like That, I Will Only Love You More” — how’s that for a bleak title — masterfully weaves together multiple subplots, some stretching across both seasons, delivers several unexpected twists, and will, as ever, make most of us watching feel physically sick.

What else would you want from a finale to this brutally stressful show? Let’s get on with it, anyway, since there’s a great deal to unpack.

2015

“I bet you still think you’re the victim, don’t you?”

This is what Max says to Lucy in 2015 after discovering from her phone that, as seen in Episode 6, she lured Stephen to the pool so he could creepily watch them have sex. And… he has a point, right? Stephen is awful, as we all know — nobody has complained about him more than me — but at this point, Lucy’s complicity in his toxic little games can’t go unmentioned. And, crucially, it isn’t going unnoticed, either.

Regardless, the next day Stephen messages Lucy saying he needs to see her — he’s saved in her phone as “Stephen DO NOT ANSWER” and she still answers every time — and they have sex. “You haven’t changed at all,” she tells him, smugly. “Neither have you,” he replies, aggressively. And if that little exchange doesn’t sum up this show entirely, readers, I really don’t know what does.

Lucy Gets Back With Leo; Stephen Breaks Up With Diana

(Disney/Josh Stringer)
ALICIA CROWDER

Back in 2008, Lucy wakes up with Stephen creepily staring at the back of her head after foolishly granting him access — like a vampire! — at the end of Episode 7. She’s visibly mortified at her decision-making and Stephen’s promise to call her later like they’re in some totally normal relationship, so Lucy does the sensible thing and flees to Leo’s dorm to tell him she loves him and wants to get back together. When he asks if she’s over Stephen she says absolutely, yes sir, no worries there, and then reluctantly has sex with Leo, whose really intense approach to it made me feel so bad for him that I had to look away.

It can’t be just me who noticed she didn’t change her underwear, either.

Stephen responds differently. He goes back to his dorm and packs his things, and when Diana arrives he breaks up with her. There’s a brilliant moment when he’s in the midst of a well-oiled routine about how much he loved her and how much he hates having to hurt her when Diana tells him to stop pretending and boy, he does. It’s like a scene in a horror movie; the body language, the expression, the tone of voice, everything changes. He feels nothing for Diana; he never did. She was a toy, and now she’s no longer impressive, he doesn’t want to play with her.

He really is nuts. And this will be proved more and more as we go.

Leo Finally Snaps

Lucy and Leo attend a Christmas party — oh, yeah, Tell Me Lies Season 2, Episode 8 is a Christmas episode — where, predictably, they run into Stephen and Evan. Stephen is furious to see Lucy with Leo, especially after she spent all day screening his calls, so naturally, he makes his presence felt by telling Leo what happened between him and Lucy just that morning. He even describes her underwear (this plot point hinges on Lucy being consistently unhygienic enough that Stephen would be confident she didn’t change, which is hilarious.) Leo, having had just about enough of this constant, psychotic game-playing, beats Stephen half to death.

This should be an incredibly satisfying scene, and it is, in its way, but it’s undermined by the fact it’s clearly what Stephen wants. Lucy rushes to his aid, crying and fussing over his ruined face, and even behind the mask of blood you can see Stephen smile.

Bree Finds Herself In The Middle of Oliver and Marianne’s Open Marriage

(Disney/Josh Stringer)
CATHERINE MISSAL

Some truly hilarious developments abound in the Bree/Oliver subplot, so let’s get into that for a bit of levity.

I should note that none of this is actually funny — it’s rather horrifying, but nobody can say the writing wasn’t on the wall. You remember the reference to Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? don’t you? That was a pretty substantial clue about what was really going on here.

After spotting Marianne wearing her earrings in class, Bree goes to Oliver in a panic, who claims to have pretended they were a gift when Marianne discovered them in his pocket. But when Bree starts suggesting that he leave Marianne so they can be together, Oliver breaks things off. Bree, devastated, takes a while to think about things, and then asks to meet Oliver at home. She reassures him that she doesn’t want any of that long-term stuff after all and that an illicit affair is more than enough, and they sleep together. Then Marianne walks in.

The “twist” here, so to speak, is that Marianne has known about the affair since the beginning. She and Oliver have an open marriage. And Bree is absolutely devastated by this revelation since Oliver perpetuated the fantasy of them sneaking around behind his wife’s back. Everything he told Bree was utterly inauthentic. She has been royally played.

To add insult to injury, on her way out of the door, Marianne gives her the earrings back. She was only wearing them to torment her after all. Blimey, that must sting.

Drew’s Death and The Letter 

(Disney/Josh Stringer)
SONIA MENA

It’s good we’ve got that out of the way since what happens after is not funny at all. After Diana exercised emergency measures to get Wrigley out of his funk, Drew returned to campus. While Leo is beating Stephen’s face in, we’re treated to smash cuts of the newly reconciled brothers having the best night of their lives, partying and drinking and popping painkillers. As it turns out, this is the last night of their lives — the last of Drew’s, anyway.

Wrigley’s painkillers were time-release pills. Drew taking them half at a time for safety’s sake meant they all hit him at once. When Wrigley wakes up, Drew has messily died of an overdose. He’s immediately wracked with guilt, and everyone gets together to support him while they wait for his parents to arrive.

In the midst of this, Lucy rightly resolves to tell Wrigley the truth about the letter. That was, after all, the catalyst for everything that followed, and she can’t allow Wrigley to blame himself for it all. Stephen, with a swollen eye but no other injuries — this guy heals like Wolverine — tries to talk her out of it, but she’s determined. So, Stephen heroically — excuse me while I vomit — confesses that he wrote the letter, and Wrigley, annoyingly, forgives him.

Diana’s Con and Stephen’s Revenge

(Disney/Josh Stringer)
JACKSON WHITE

While we’re on the subject of unexpected developments, we have really been underestimating Diana. Following her terribly painful breakup with Stephen, she doesn’t have much to do aside from a couple of awkward encounters with Pippa. But then the ending of Tell Me Lies Season 2 delivers another twist. She passed her LSAT after all. Her father didn’t cut her off financially, and their relationship is perfectly fine. When he picks her up for the holidays, he asks how Stephen took the break-up, and Diana says he’ll get over it. She had to make him think it was his decision.

Exceedingly well-played. And deserved, for Stephen.

Stephen catches another lick, too. Evan decides to confess that when he cheated on Bree it was with Lucy. I took a small amount of satisfaction from this but, again, Stephen’s cunning. After taking some air, he clearly re-enters the dorm and records Evan’s confession when he asks for a bit more clarity. When we immediately cut back to the 2015 timeline after this, let me tell you, I said “Oh no” aloud, because it was immediately clear when and how Stephen was going to deploy that recording.

And, frustratingly, that’s where Tell Me Lies Season 2 ends. Bree is in her wedding dress, ready to make the walk, and she receives an audio file from Stephen. The secret’s out. But can we all handle another season of all this to work through its ramifications? I’m honestly not sure I can.