‘Tell Me Lies’ Season 3 Ending Explained – Wrigley Is A Hero Surrounded By Villains

There aren’t many shows that can do a season finale like Tell Me Lies. They’re bangers every time. The ending of Season 3 is, unsurprisingly, another five-star outing, an hour-long parade of debauchery and dysfunction that reaches the show’s most ludicrous and oddly slapstick heights yet. But “Are You Happy Now, That I’m On My Knees?” is possibly the bleakest episode ever, in that it’s incontrovertible proof that none of these people are ever going to learn, be happy, or meaningfully evolve. Whether in 2009 or 2015, it makes no difference.

There are some exceptions. Diana and Pippa get away basically scot-free, and Wrigley emerges as a bit of an unlikely hero, albeit one not without flaws. But he has been my favourite since basically the beginning, and this finale proves why, giving him one of the most significant behind-the-scenes moments yet, if not necessarily the love of his life. But maybe. You can never quite tell.

Back to the Future

Oh, hey, the 2015 timeline is finally back! And right on time, too, since we needed a bit more clarity on what has been going on between present-day Bree and Wrigley. Though, as it turns out, at least until the former’s engagement party, it was very little. Back in the halcyon days of 2009, the two of them kind of stopped things where they started, with Wrigley sleeping with Pippa after confessing his feelings to Bree being the death knell of whatever was growing between them. Until the engagement party, anyway.

Wrigley took his final opportunity to ask Bree why she never gave him another chance, and to explain that he only slept with Pippa because “she was sad”, which Bree rightly points out isn’t a very good reason to sleep with someone. Spencer House is great here, at least in part because he’s right. Sure, he drinks too much, but he’s not as messy and dysfunctional and arguably evil as everyone else in the group, which Bree seems to appreciate, because they kiss and sleep together until they’re interrupted by nearby noise, and what they’re doing dawns on them.

This must have been what Bree meant when she said she was a “terrible person” at the wedding.

Oliver Gets Away With It

One of the recurring themes in this episode is villains never being held to account for the things they’ve done, and it’s a trend that starts with Oliver. When we pick up where we left off in 2009, Bree is still reeling from the discovery that it was Lucy with whom Evan cheated on her, and to make matters worse, she gets a call from her mother, who is apparently on campus. It turns out that during Marianne’s little chat with her, she explained that Bree was obsessed with Oliver and had been stalking them both. Yikes.

In a cringingly awful intervention, Oliver and Marianne feign concern about Bree’s behaviour, talking about how scared they’ve been and how off the rails she is. They have even roped Amanda into the ruse. And Bree’s mother — I think fairly understandably — believes it. Bree has been thoroughly outdone. Marianne’s quasi-sympathetic act was just a ploy. She sensed Bree getting too close to blowing the whistle, so she intervened and made sure she couldn’t.

Bree can’t tell the truth. Nobody would believe her if she did, and now she knows that. The situation will be kept quiet, but there won’t be any comeback for Oliver. He’ll keep doing what he has always done, and Marianne will keep helping him. At least Bree knows she doesn’t need her mother in her life after all.

Information Exchange

There’s lots of information swapping in Tell Me Lies Season 3, Episode 8. For instance:

• Pippa tells Lucy about cheating on Wrigley.
• In exchange, Lucy tells Pippa that it was she whom Evan slept with, but she doesn’t take this revelation well at all and wants nothing to do with Lucy ever again. Her deception was, apparently, significantly worse, for reasons she can’t even really articulate.
• Pippa confesses to Wrigley that she’s gay and has been cheating on him. Naturally, he takes it extremely well and is nothing but supportive. He doesn’t tell her that he kissed Bree, so he doesn’t get full marks, but whatever.
• Pippa also tells Wrigley about Stephen sending Diana’s nudes to her dad. This will become important later.

See what I mean? It’s all very confessional. Most of this helps to shape what will ultimately become the big picture, so just try to keep it in mind.

Lucy’s Downfall

Now, Lucy. Early in “Are You Happy Now, That I’m On My Knees?”, she finally tries to take her fate into her own hands by turning up at Stephen’s fancy Yale acceptance party and telling the rep that he’s a dangerous monster. Stephen eventually drags her away, but it’s clear she has annoyed him, so when Lucy’s confession tape begins rapidly spreading around Baird, everyone, including Lucy, assumes Stephen leaked it. She even attacks him over it, but he claims not to have released the footage. Instead, he gaslights her into believing she released it herself during one of her increasingly frequent mental health episodes.

Lucy is ruined. Even Alex doesn’t want anything to do with her. And to add insult to injury, she’s summoned to the dean’s office and summarily expelled. Grace Van Patten is tremendous here, just grinning her way through the news in a combination of disbelief, relief, and light mania. Her future is ruined, granted. But at least she’s getting away from Stephen.

Bree, despite knowing about Lucy and Evan, is devastated about Lucy. When she eventually confronts Evan, and he admits what happened, she swears him to secrecy since Lucy has been punished enough. It seems like a fairly mature viewpoint, but we later see Bree destroying the SD card containing Lucy’s confession, so it was she who released it. Stephen was, for once, telling the truth.

Stephen’s Future Is Derailed

One of the only satisfying notes in the ending of Tell Me Lies Season 3 is Stephen’s academic future being derailed. He doesn’t get into Yale after all. His acceptance is rescinded, since someone provided evidence that Stephen had behaved in a way not exactly becoming of such a prestigious institution, including harassing fellow students and disseminating lewd material far and wide.

Given what Lucy did earlier, Stephen probably believes she’s responsible. But we know better. Earlier, when Pippa told Wrigley about Stephen sending Diana’s dad her nudes, she lamented the fact that nobody ever does anything that prevents his scummy behaviour. The editing makes it very clear that it was Wrigley who reported Stephen. That’s my guy.

Wrigley doesn’t get his happy ending in 2009, though. When he turns up at Bree’s dorm, Evan is there. She’s still smarting about him having slept with Pippa after confessing his feelings to her, which she’s quick to remind him of. He sees what’s happening. Thanks to the opening, we know that this wasn’t resolved until six years later, at the engagement party.

A Fitting Conclusion

And, finally, we return to the wedding. All Stephen’s efforts to derail the event have failed, so he’s in such a bad mood that he breaks up with Lydia on the spot, telling her that he slept with Lucy that morning just to rub salt in the wound. He sits down next to Bree to ask her how long she has known about Lucy and Evan, having realised that her reaction to his bombshell meant she was already well aware. He even mentions Wrigley seeming unhappy with the nuptials. It’s anything to get a rise out of her.

And it works. Bree tries to gloat that Lucy got away from him after he tried to ruin her life with the tape, but that tips her hand. Stephen didn’t release the tape, and he knows he didn’t, so Bree’s accusation tips him off that it was her.  This gives Stephen all the ammunition he needs. He takes the mic and tells everyone everything — Lucy slept with Evan, he slept with Lucy that morning, and Bree and Wrigley have been sleeping together for months. I hate Stephen, obviously, but Jackson White is wonderfully charismatic here. Now that Stephen doesn’t need to wear a mask for anyone, his excitement at being destructive is almost palpable. His entire demeanour changes.

What follows is chaos. The shocked expressions are a sight to behold. Evan tackles the wedding cake. Pippa and Diana leave hand in hand. Every secret that any of them ever held feels loose in the room. While Evan berates Wrigley, he and Bree just smile at each other across the dancefloor. Maybe they’ll end up together after all.

Lucy Never Learns

I’ll tell you who won’t, though — Stephen and Lucy. And it’s not through lack of trying, at least on Lucy’s part. As things are kicking off, Stephen tells her to meet him out front and leave with him. He has detonated both of their lives, and now the only people they have left are each other. Bree cautions Lucy that this is her one chance to make a decision that isn’t ridiculous and self-defeating, so what does she do? Naturally, she leaves with Stephen.

Lucy hates Stephen. She knows she does. He knows she does. But she leaves with him anyway, falling for his manipulations once again. They drive through the night together. When Stephen stops in the middle of nowhere to get gas, she happily heads inside to get coffee. When she comes out, Stephen is gone, having abandoned her just for kicks.

There’s nothing else Lucy can really do other than laugh.