Recap:
Episode 1 “You Got a Reaction, Didn’t You”
It’s 2015, and Lucy (Grace Van Patten) watches as Bree (Catherine Missal) cheers Evan’s (Branden Cook) parents for their wonderful wedding. Bree celebrates her friends Lucy and Pippa (Sonia Mena) for their encouragement to pursue Evan in college. Lucy can only focus on the happy Stephen (Jackson White) as he spends his time with fiancé Lydia (Natalie Linez), Lucy’s former best friend.
The night progresses, Lucy continues to drink her misery away, and Pippa watches her friend stew over seeing Stephen. Bree wishes the two could have spent the night rather than drive back to the city, but Lucy insists, and while Bree questions if Pippa is dating someone, she isn’t confirming anything but her singlehood.
Wrigley (Spencer House) and Evan are falling back into their friendship with Stephen, as the three friends plan Stephen’s impromptu haircut. Lydia encounters Lucy and the friends make small talk, until Lydia admits to Lucy that she is unable to ever forgive her for what happened. (Oh, this is going to be a juicy secret from the past.)
Back in September 2008, Lucy sits down with her best friend Lydia, complaining about Stephen. (I like this development especially after our flashforward of Lydia’s hatred of Lucy.) Her brother Chris (Jacob Rodriguez) is going to be joining Lucy at school this year, and while Lucy is excited to get back to school, she can’t forget how she slept with Bree’s boyfriend Evan.
Stephen is listening to Diana’s (Alicia Crowder) father as he explains how great his summer at the firm was, but that no matter how many letters of recommendation he comes up with, nothing matters if Stephen doesn’t do well on the LSAT’s.
It’s move in day at Baird College, and Lucy slowly makes her way to her dorm room. Unpacking she meets up with Bree, and the two friends are happy to see each other. (The guilt Lucy must have for sleeping with Evan is obvious in the scene.) Lucy has a single room across the hall from Bree, and the very blond Pippa who has also just arrived. (Blond is not a good color for Pippa.)
Stephen shows off to Wrigley his new phone, something called an iPhone. (The novelty of the phone is amazing to see on the screen.) Evan shows up and the three friends are feeling nostalgic. Wrigley is unable to play football because of his knee injury and is forced to move from player to assistant coach. When Evan asks about Drew (Benjamin Wadsworth), Wrigley admits that his little brother isn’t speaking to him, and he has no idea how the troubled young man is doing.
Alone with Stephen, Evan is advised to forget everything from last year, as it would be best for everyone.
The girls are back in their room, drinking, and Lucy is wondering if it was a smart thing to sign up for another year with her professor from last year Marianne. (Gabriella Pession) Bree offers to sign up so that Lucy doesn’t have to go alone. (I love how Lucy makes the comment of how Bree is such a great friend for doing that, because Lucy is not a good friend.)
Bree comments about how the summer has been weird, and she wonders if she did something to throw off the vibe with Evan. Both Lucy and Pippa are uneasy about meeting up with Wrigley and Stephen. Lucy is trying to laugh off how lucky she is about Stephen breaking up with her for Diana, and her friends notice that Lucy is not okay.
At the party, the college students from Freshmen to Seniors are drinking and mingling, and Lucy meets up with Chris, introducing Lydia’s brother to her friends. Evan meets up with Bree and Lucy tries to stay quiet. The interaction between Lucy and Evan is awkward.
Evan drags Bree away and Pippa and Lucy stay in their line for drinks, when a teammate of Wrigley kicks Pippa out of the line denying her any drinks. Pippa and Lucy find Chris, and the young freshmen is left alone with Pippa. Stephen and Diana make their entrance to the party, and while Lucy tries to avoid them, she bumps into Leo (Thomas Doherty), Evan’s friend, and the two strike up a conversation, with a lot of flirting.
Chris wonders why the whole football team hates Pippa, and she talks about how she broke Wrigley’s heart. As Wrigley makes out with another partygoer, Chris states he finds it hard to believe anyone would hate Pippa.
Lucy talks with Evan, and while he wants to avoid his mistake, (and that’s what it was Lucy), Lucy is checking to make sure that Evan isn’t going to say anything to Bree. Neither wants to hurt the nicest person in the world. (Catherine Missal is awesome in the role of the greatest friend ever.)
Walking away from her mistake, Lucy runs into another one in the form of Stephen. The wannabe barrister opens with a ‘Hi’, and the hurt ex-girlfriend continues the conversation. (These two are both awful people, and how they proceed to try and insult each other is hilarious.)
Lucy brags about being at the Hamptons all summer, while Stephen tells her he spent the summer working at the law firm and was with Diana for much of his time. Stephen says Lucy is doing a great job pretending not to hate him, but Lucy assures him that she’s not pretending, that everyone makes mistakes freshman year. (That was a beautiful burn on the creepiest man on television.)
The next day Bree signs up for the English class with Lucy but is denied a spot because the class is full. Pulling out the emotional and very fake waterworks, Bree gets admitted to the class. Stephen sees Bree and Evan talking, and Bree tells her boyfriend that she needs to go to a class with Lucy. Stephen tries to make nice, and Bree tells Stephen off.
Stephen is wondering about the friction between Bree and Evan, and sadly, Evan continues to talk about his relationship with Bree to Stephen. (Does he not understand that Stephen is a narcissist and not someone to be friends with.) Stephen guesses that Evan cheated on Bree, and stupidly, Evan admits the truth. Thankfully, he doesn’t tell him it was with Lucy.
Stephen tries to assure Evan that everything will be okay, but Evan should know to never share anything personal with Stephen DeMarco. Lucy and Bree have gone to the first English class at Marianne’s home. Bree notices that the professor who saw her put on the waterworks to get into the class is also Marianne’s husband, Oliver (Tom Ellis).
Marianne is happy to see Lucy, and Lucy takes the time to thank her teacher for letting her into the class and proclaims she is doing well and has worked through a lot of things. Marianne tells Lucy to relax and have a glass of wine.
Bree walks outside to send a text to Evan when she encounters Oliver and lies about coming out to have a smoke. Taking one of his cigarettes, Bree is treading in dangerous territory. She’s interested in this older man.
Diana and Lucy meet inside, and Diana is shocked to learn that Lucy is not even aware of the poet who is doing the reading at the class. Lucy is less than kind to Diana, and both leave on unfriendly terms.
Bree is accosted by Oliver about her performance to get into the class with the register. He calls her out for her fake tears and asks her to be honest. Bree is truthful and the man asks if her normal tactic is to act more helpless than what she is.
Diana and Stephen wake up the next morning, and she tells him about seeing Lucy the previous night. Diana lets it slip that Lucy tried to warn her about all that she knows about Stephen.
At class Marianne tells her students about the theme of loss and wants her students to share their work that they have written. Lucy cannot contain her emotions listening to a student read about their loss of a pet. Bree meets up with Lucy and lets her know that Marianne was shocked by her absence.
Promising not to have any more issues, Lucy apologizes for her behavior and Marianne embraces her. Asking her student to tell her what’s going on, Marianne appeals to Lucy to be honest about what is bothering her. Without naming Stephen, Lucy admits that she is hurt and trying to rise above the hurt she has felt. Marianne tells her that sometimes taking the high road is not always the best route.
Offering her extra credit, Marianne informs Lucy that she is writing a book. She offers Lucy extra credit for transcribing the text, and Lucy accepts.
In the cafeteria, Stephen sees Lucy, Pippa, and Bree sitting with Leo, and interrupts their lunch. (I think Stephen’s choice of clothing makes him look extra creepy.) Trying to apologize, in the most condescending way, Stephen says he’s sorry for how he treated her.
Coming from the gym, Lucy goes to Stephen’s apartment and destroys his iPhone and threatens to tell everyone all that he did last year. (This was well done, and this scene alone makes me like Lucy so much more. Bravo Grace Van Patten.)
Back in the present, Lucy comes out of the washroom, to see Stephen getting his hair cut, and looking more like the Stephen of college days.
It’s at this moment that Lucy and Pippa say goodbye to Bree and depart the reception. Pippa comes home to her partner, Diana, who asks if Stephen was there. Pippa responds with a yes, and that they were both there. (Oh, the intrigue is getting good. Alliances have shifted in the future. Plus, future Pippa with the non-blond hair is the best version of Pippa.)
Episode 2: “I Shall Now Perform a 180 Flip-Flop”
Celebrating Bree’s birthday, the girls and Evan sing her the birthday song, and she makes a wish. Opening her gifts, Bree is stunned by the earrings that Evan gave her. Pippa and Lucy meet up with Leo at the bar.
Evan and Bree argue, and he opts to leave, telling her to stay with her friends. Pippa may be openly flirting with Leo, but it's Lucy that the young man gives his phone number to. Bree walks out of the bar upset and runs into Oliver. He stops her and asks her what’s on her shirt. Bree shares the inside joke of her shirt, and the two commiserate about sneaking out of their groups.
Bree shares her argument with Evan, and Oliver astutely states that Bree didn’t like the earrings. Asking for a cigarette, Oliver provides one, and Bree asks if the earrings look dumb. He gets close to her and touches them, stating they don’t look dumb, but the sweatshirt from her friends looks more like her style.
Evan is confiding in Stephen about his fight with Bree, and Stephen wonders if Bree is really the person he wants to be with. Wondering what Stephen is up to, Evan listens as Stephen describes that Bree might already sense that Evan cheated on her.
Bree arrives at the dorm and Lucy and Pippa listen as she describes how she humiliated herself in front of Oliver. Teased by her friends, Bree is shocked that a professor was flirting with her.
Diana walks in on Wrigley with another girl. Though Stephen is out with Evan, Wrigley invites Diana to sit down and wait. Feeling uncomfortable, Diana mentions that she feels strange being alone in the room with Wrigley based on their past relationship.
On her date, Lucy is enjoying her time with Leo. Lucy tells Leo that she dated Stephen for a few months and that it ended badly. Leo describes how he has never liked Stephen because of how much of a jerk he has been to others. They kiss, and it looks like Lucy might be on the road to forgetting Stephen.
Evan and Bree meet up, and each try to apologize for their behavior from the previous night. Evan can’t hold it in anymore and tells Bree that he thinks he cheated on her. Thinking that he’s joking, Bree is shocked to learn the truth. Wondering what she did wrong, Bree is outraged to think that she has been feeling bad for how she treated Evan when she did nothing wrong.
Wrigley and Stephen eat lunch, and Wrigley wonders how his relationship with Diana is. Wanting to party, Stephen plans to study but Wrigley pleads with him to take the night off. They make a deal to study and meet up later that night.
Lucy walks into her room to learn that Bree knows that Evan cheated on her with a random girl last year. (Lucy is very relieved to know that Bree doesn’t know it was her.) Bree begs Lucy to take Pippa to the party and to give her time off tonight. (I went to college, and there were never this many parties during the week. Maybe I’m still waiting for the ICQ invites.)
Leo meets Lucy and Pippa at the party, and Pippa disappears for a drink, when she meets a fellow classmate named Quinn (Geanna Funes). Bree is alone back at the dorms and decides to go to the bar that Oliver usually socializes in. Seeing the professor sitting at the bar, she sits down beside him and starts to flirt with him. Oliver states the obvious that she came to the bar looking for him. He offers to buy Bree a drink.
Wrigley and Stephen are playing video games and the former jock laments about the loss of communication he has with his brother Drew. Stephen advises that Wrigley wait for Drew to approach him, and to leave him alone for now.
At the bar, Bree listens to Oliver explain how Evan’s cheating is not a result of anything that she did. The two argue about the meaning of the word terrible, and Bree describes how there is much worse that happened to her than having her heart broken by a stupid college boy. Oliver talks about his first wife and how she died young. Oliver and Bree flirt, and they both leave, but he doesn’t try to make a move on her. It’s Bree who wants more. There is a mutual attraction between the two, but Bree’s cab arrives, and she leaves and heads to Evan’s. Arriving at Evan’s apartment, the two have sex instantly.
Diana walks in on Pippa barely conscious and potentially about to be raped by Chris. Helping Pippa, Diana finds Lucy and together they get Pippa home safely. Back at the dorm, Diana tells Lucy what she saw. There is an uneasy truce between the two.
The next morning, Pippa wakes up to find Lucy still in her dorm room. Describing how she has never been that messed up in her life, Lucy learns that Pippa doesn’t remember much of anything from the night before. Lucy tells her friend the truth about what Diana saw, and Pippa describes it as embarrassing.
Upset that Lucy keeps asking her if anything happened to her. Pippa wants Lucy to keep her secret and not tell anyone about what happened the previous night. Pippa doesn’t want to make this a thing that everyone knows about.
Bree tells Evan that she can forgive him for cheating, but then she tells him that she cheated, and Evan is upset. Admitting that she was testing him, Bree tells Evan that she didn’t sleep with anyone else and breaks up with her boyfriend.
Diana wakes up to Stephen wondering why she never picked up her phone. Asking how the party was, Diana said it was boring and nothing happened. (Diana has depth, I’m starting to like this character.)
Meeting for coffee, Lucy apologizes to Leo for leaving the party early, and he tells her that after she left, he left too because the party was boring. (I like Leo a lot.)
As they are about to leave the coffee shop, Lucy bumps into another patron spilling her drink all over him. This guy is quite upset, and while she goes to get napkins, Leo gets into a fight with this angry customer. (Ah, the shine to Leo is taken off with his psychotic outburst of violence.)
Pippa and Bree meet up with each other, and while Bree walks away with a renewed sense of self, Pippa heads to the laundry to wash away the remainder of evidence from her blurry night.
Lucy is shocked to see that Stephen is her new TA in class, (Stephen stares right at her across class like a menacing serial killer.), and Bree arrives at Oliver’s office where they kiss passionately.
Review:
The characters that make up the world of Tell Me Lies are not good people. None of them will ever be Nobel Prize winners who change the world for the better. The men are either predatory, stupid, or psychotic, and the women are either scheming or conniving manipulators. In short, they all seem to come from one type of trope that attaches to college aged adults.
While Tell Me Lies is never meant to be Citizen Kane, it is a juicy delectable treat of silliness that any viewer could easily get caught up in.
The first two episodes have me hooked again, and the fact we see a relationship between Diana and Pippa in the future is a fantastic twist. I can guess by the end of episode 2 why Lydia can never forgive Lucy in the future.
This was a great start for season 2. More twists and turns than a college party at a sorority house, Tell Me Lies is bound to deliver the goods with their sophomore season.