Bookwild - Tell Me Lies Season 2 Recap, Reactions and Predictions *SPOILERS*

Episode Date: October 19, 2024

Time for a bonus episode!!  I've had so much fun talking to so many of you about Tell Me Lies, and I just had to do an episode on my thoughts now that we've all seen season two.   I recap all the key moments of each episode, and share what I thought was happening in the moment I watched it verses how I view it now with the context of the whole season.  DM me with any of your thoughts and reactions! Get Bookwild MerchCheck Out My Stories Are My Religion SubstackCheck Out Author Social Media PackagesCheck out the Bookwild Community on PatreonCheck out the Imposter Hour Podcast with Liz and GregFollow @imbookwild on InstagramOther Co-hosts On Instagram:Gare Billings @gareindeedreadsSteph Lauer @books.in.badgerlandHalley Sutton @halleysutton25Brian Watson @readingwithbrian 

We finally made it to the finale episode of Tell Me Lies. We finally have watched the entire second season. And dare I say, it might have even somehow been better. I mean, I loved the first season immensely, like an amount that confused me because normally just purely toxic relationships, I don't know, they don't always do it for me, even though I read plenty of thrillers where there's a that in it. I think I typically read thrillers where in most cases you're like getting revenge against that kind of person or like basically it's not the entire cast making these poor decisions over and over and over again. So I was even surprised by how much I loved season one and going into season two, I was like, how do you top that? Like I even think I saw

a Grace Van Patten interview where she said, kind of the same thing that like before she had gotten the scripts for season two, she was like, how are they going to match everything that happened last season? So she and I were feeling the same going into it. That is for sure. And wait. I can't believe how long we waited like two years. I was talking to Gare about it actually earlier this week because we were talking about

how we just absolutely can't stand to wait another two years for it. and I think as of now a third season still hasn't been announced. I know Megan Oppenheimer, when she's done press, she has talked about some future characters, which makes it sound like there's a season three. But anyway, when I was talking with Garabound and I was like, I need this confirmation, then there's another season. And he was pointing out how he feels like way more people are talking about it this season. And I think I probably agree with that assessment because I was definitely on TikTok when I watched it last time.

Well, you know what? I did wait to binge it, though. I waited until there were seven episodes. So I guess I don't know. There could have been just as much content coming out around season one. And since I waited to watch it, I might not have gotten to experience everyone's reaction videos. but I'm going to go off of what Garrett said and feel very hopeful that there just were way more people watching this second season and that they will just naturally get picked up for a third season. That's just the world I have to live in with this. Someone showed, I don't know if it was at the bottom of like IMDB or I almost feel like it was at the bottom of like Amazon, like the page for. that season like at the bottom says like filming a schedule or the third season should be expected in twenty-six you don't want to scare anyone but i did i'm just telling you what i've seen i'm just telling

you what has been in my tic-tok feed that i am glued to the days after an episode releases because what was different for this season two for me um i was not planning to watch it weekly I don't prefer watching shows weekly. It's just not how I prefer it. I think it also has something to do with, like, reading books. Like, you can consume the whole story at your own pacing. Like, I'm not saying that I have to watch eight straight hours of a show. But I want to, like, be able to move through it over the course of a couple days.

And I think it just reminds me of reading where it's like I can get the whole story and like that's what I'm looking for. The other thing with some shows, and this show is not like this for me this time, but the other thing with some shows for me is if I'm not watching, Game of Thrones felt that way sometimes. If I'm not watching it cohesively, there are so many little things going on each week that like you might not remember it as much when you get there the next week. And so then I feel like I don't feel the full. impact of a show and I often feel like I don't feel the full flow of a show if I can't watch it after like everything has come out. So that is typically me. That's typically where I'm at. That was not how I was this season as anyone who follows me on Instagram is aware because I've been posting about it. But this season, when I started to see stuff on like Instagram and TikTok about

the new season coming out soon. I was like, man, it feels like I don't really have all of the memories from season one anymore. And at that time, I didn't even realize it had been two years since I'd watched it. Once I realized that, I was like, oh, that makes a lot more sense. If you guys listen, you could know I do not rewatch shows. In general, sometimes I will rewatch certain episodes before a new season. But like, rewatching doesn't do it for me. Within anything. And I wish it did. Like people who get immense comfort from rewatching shows, I'm just like, I know exactly what's going to happen. Um, so like, where's the fun of the plot anymore? It's how it feels for me. Like, it just feels like I know what's going to happen, which I know is why it's

comforting to some people. But I like stories for like being surprised as I consume them in whatever form. So I know, I just don't. I wish I could. I really wish I could enjoy rewatching shows. But with this one, I was like, it just feels like it was long enough that I probably should. And so I put it on while I was editing off and on for like a week. And that was a good way to be like, oh, yeah, this and this and this.

Okay, cool. So if you're someone who doesn't tend to like rewatching for the reasons of like it's, it doesn't engage me because I know what's going to happen. If you're someone who also can work with something on in the background and you want to refresh your mind for a show that's coming up, that's the way to do it because you're not so distracted by like, oh, I already know what's going to happen. You don't feel like, oh, could I just like experience a new story? Like, you're kind of doing something. You're kind of consuming the show. Whatever. I'm probably speaking to a small amount of people. so I will stop talking about rewatching versus not.

I feel like more people rewatch than don't, but that's my little tidbit of advice that you didn't ask for. So I was watching it, and my time I got to the finale, that's season one finale, like, let's have a moment for it. That season one finale was insane. It was bonkers. I remember, like, of everything I know, knew I needed a brush up on from season one. That scene of Diana and Stephen walking down the

stairs as I believe Mr. Brightside plays and Lucy just looking up at them, even like the cinematographical choice. How do I make that word into an adjective? The cinematography, cinematography, I really can speak guys, choice of also having them. walking down the stairs and Lucy's then having to look up at these people who just like jointly decided to blow up her life. Beautiful. Like she literally looks like the scared, I mean this, whatever, she looks like a scared, dumb little freshman who just got played by the big kids.

The choice of the shot. the song. I remember just being like, I am feeling so many things right now because it was like Lucy kind of feels like our main character. I would argue, especially after season two, which we're going to get into, I would argue Stephen is the main character after watching season two. I promise to come back to that. But definitely in season one, Lucy is who most of the story is, we're experiencing a lot of the story through her, even though I also think they do a fantastic job of having a large ensemble cast that all have nuanced character development. That part is off the charts. But my point being, for the most part, we experience Lucy as a main character. And if you're watching on YouTube,

you can see how much, I mean, I'm getting into this because my hands just keep on moving. So having experienced it through her, it is such a gut punch to see her getting dumped so publicly, so humiliatingly, I think I'm making up words this episode. Like, you're just, like, just imagining it happening to yourself. Like, it's the secondhand embarrassment of it all. You're thinking of how really painful that is. It's like you are convinced that you love this person and you think. think he loves you. He just disappears for like five minutes and comes down the stairs, not only not with you, but with someone else. And the decision was just made without you. Like,

there, that was a moment of cinematography history that will not be praised as much as it should because this is a girly show or because this is a college show. That's a whole other. That's a whole other. opinion I have. I hope I get back to all of these talking points. I didn't realize how many talking points I had until I started talking. But another thing about this show, I think it will not get the overwhelming amount of praise that it deserves for its character development, for its plotting, for its addictiveness, like, for its entertainment, all of that. I don't think it's ever going to get everything that it deserves because it's like i i know you know what i'm trying to say like it's because it's like oh it's a college relationship show and it's like a let's girly is what comes

to mind too um i saw it called a psychodrama and i think that's one of the best um descriptions i've seen for it and i also love that as a term it when i heard it sometimes this season. I was thinking about how, like, I will definitely rate some, or not rate, I will use that to, like, describe some books now because what I think is so good about that word, this subgenre, what was the other word, micro genre? I heard the word micro genre. I think that's more fun to say. What's so fun about psychodrama is it does point out that, like, there's a psychological element to it that is very gripping and engaging. But you couldn't really call this a psychological thriller because it's not thrilling throughout all of it. It is addictive. It's wild. But like, it's not the other

things you expect with a thriller, even though it's a thrilling watch. So I just, I love that term, because we are so involved in the deep psychological reasonings behind all of the characters. But it is a drama. I also saw someone call it, I think Megan shared it in her stories yesterday, where someone was saying it was like the best soap to hit TV recently. And I was like, it kind of is a soap opera. I do get that. Like normally that wouldn't have come to mind, but I do get it.

Like, it's all about their, their relationships with each other. So, yeah, I just really like it. I feel like it's not going to, I'm trying to walk myself back to where I was. It won't get all of the accolades that it deserves for its writing. But I loved it. And so that, the way season one ended, that's where I was coming from, was just wild, absolutely wild. And, like, you know that. Lucy shouldn't want to be with him. Like, you know the overall this is better for her?

But, man, do you feel so bad for her too? So all of that being said, that scene absolutely bonkers. And even in the rewatch, I was just like jaw dropped. Like, you're just watching it and you're just like, oh. Oh, my gosh. God. And then obviously right after that, it's so crazy thinking of how like these, this double, double punch, whatever at the end of season one was like so shocking because now it's common knowledge in season two. But then right after we see Diana swipe him from her, um, we go to the future timeline and we find out he's with Lydia, her, what we think is, like best friend from high school now that we're in season two we know a lot more things um

but ending season one like that just absolutely wild so okay so i had to take a break my voice is not wanting to cooperate with me and i keep coughing um so if i sound really different right now it's because i had to take a break and do a lozenge get my throat to chill out hopefully we just get through the rest of it because clearly I was having a lot of fun talking about it and clearly I have a lot to say about it. Of course I do. Every time I go to do a solo episode, I'm always like, okay, but could I pull anyone in last minute? Because like it seems like it would be easier to do in conversation and it's great in conversation too. But I think I just get nervous that like, oh, how long will it be? like how much can I talk about without a reaction, like reaction and conversation from other people.

And then I start talking and I'm like, oh, I could do this every day. So I was rewatching as I worked, planning on watching season two after it at all aired. But the day that I got to the finale episode of season one, the two episodes from season two had aired already. And it was like, well, I've already watched this many of them. I'll just let myself watch the next two because they're there. And then I'll just watch the rest of the season after it airs. And I was hooked. I was like, wow, they managed to actually keep raising the stakes.

I think that's what I was the most impressed with from the get-go of season two is season one had so many high stakes and then sometimes it's hard to keep writing a show um like that and raise them any further without it getting into a weird scale basically um and i was hooked and i was like well i guess i'm going to be watching this every week because especially i mean there's a spoiler alert to this whole episode so no one should be listening at this point if they don't know but especially when we get at the end the second episode when we find out that Diana and Pippa are together in the future. And you're just like, what all has happened in this like between 2008 and 2015? And yeah, I love season two.

It was, when I was telling my husband about this, I was like, okay, so for real, though, I don't want to say this out loud. I normally hate that Hulu is a weekly release platform. I'm like, I just feel like Netflix has it right. But with this one, I see how strategically it worked for them. They have had people talking about this show for eight weeks, like theorizing. We did an episode of book recommendations for it.

Like, people have been talking about this show for two months. And so I had to admit that in this case especially, I at least understand why Hulu sticks with that sometimes. Because, boy, were we all yapping about it. So I was going to yapp some more about it this second season. I think I'm going to go through the episodes and just kind of talk about the stuff that was happening. And then as I was looking through my...

my notes for the episodes, I was realizing how much there's also a difference between like what I was interpreting when it aired and which direction it went. So I was going to talk about some of those things that changed as I first watched the episode versus now looking back on it as a whole season. The first episode of season two, we're basically getting a feel for what everyone went through over the summer, their separate experiences. So Lucy comes back ready to, like, not care about Stephen at all. She basically spent the summer with Lydia, is the gist we get about her. Stephen did go and work for Diana's dad's firm, and we see them, like, having breakfast or lunch or something. All together. And Diana goes,

to the bathroom and Stephen's dad pretty much reads him, not Stephen's dad, Diana's dad pretty much reads Stephen and pretty much calls him on how he knows that he's manipulative and says something about like you should learn how to align your actions with your intentions, something along those lines. He's basically telling him like, I am on to you. I know you are shady. and just know that I know. And I remember watching that episode and being like, it took a character that is not a main cast member to deliver this first truth straight to Stephen. So I loved her dad.

Loved her dad in that episode. What else do we have going on then? Oh, so Bree and Evan are back together, not back together. They're together and they're both back on campus. And she's kind of saying that, like, something was kind of weird over the summer. And, like, everything seems really good with Evan. But, like, she's also like, I don't know, something seems wrong. So there's this mysterious tension that we're not sure of there with Bree and Evan as well.

And then we also go to a party at some point where Stephen does try to provoke Lucy just to provoke her and act like, you know, know, oh, you must be so hurt without me. And she just doesn't care. And just brushes it off and walks away. And I was like, at this point, I was like, oh, cool. They're going to go the growth direction for Lucy this season. Now, yeah, not quite the route they had planned for her. character development in a negative direction.

I am not saying that they didn't grow her character. Her character definitely has more complexities in depth to her now that we know all of season two. But at the time, I thought we really might be going in the direction of like how Lucy actually. like comes into her own and realizes that this is not a good relationship. I thought that was the direction we were headed and now we all know differently. But I loved it when it was happening.

So that kind of sets the stage. That was kind of weird. We get all the information about who did what over the summer. And then we spent some time on campus. People's stuff, trauma, toxic lies are bumping up against each other again. and then in episode two um Evan decides because Evan just does not know who to trust he does not know how to pick the right people to trust Evan decides to tell Stephen that he cheated on Bree and Stephen because for no reason at all

he just has to stir up trouble with anyone and everyone that he possibly can um tells him that he absolutely should tell her and come clean and does his little it's a very covert narcissist here just really does this great performance of like yeah man and I'm really helping make you feel better if you like confess the truth

like I just don't want you to be cared in this around like I am ad living that is that is not a direct quote but he does this shady shit where he even convinces Evan like, I'm just looking out for you, man, here's an idea. And at this one I'm just like, one of the things that stood out to me, like, watching that, you're like, why does he even want to, like, cause problems for Evan?

Like, truly what power happens there, like, at all. And I think that now having seen that whole second season, you can't try to make sense of people who just enjoy power that much in a narcissistic way. You actually can't make sense of it. So it's like, of course he's even starting something here. I don't, I think there are some theories that he knew it was Lucy back then, and I just didn't think he did. And then just given everything that happens in this season, I'm like, it is a good

it's a good example of like you can't try to figure out someone who's that anti-social narcissistic or I think sociopathic is what people think for him is also a little bit in there you just can't make sense of it

and this season was like to me an even greater example I just can't make sense of He's just, he's got some power. He's just going to play with it if he can. So, yeah, he convinces Evan that Evan should come clean. So Evan tells Bree, he says it's some random girl. He doesn't say it's Lucy.

She's upset, but like she also's like, maybe we can be okay. And then she's like, I don't know. I don't think we can be okay. At the same time, she meets all of us. her professor Marion's husband and they have a flirty moment one evening

after she's learned about this about Evan. So that's in the back of her mind. That's starting to become something she's thinking about. And she basically gets back with Evan for one night, I think. Yeah, I think so. And then

she confess it confesses to him that she was with someone else and she was like do you think we can get past it and he starts like freaking out not like violently he's just like oh my god like i don't know it just like messed me up like essentially he's like hurt by it making a big deal about it and he's acting like they almost can't move forward and then she's like oh just kidding that's not what happened but I'm glad to know that's how you would act if the tables were turned. And then they're done. And like first, you know, first impressions, I'm like, yeah, girl, good.

You're done. And then we know what else happened. But I thought that was an awesome moment, the way she flipped that on him because Evan can also seem overly, like an overly sympathetic character. But, like, he also is like that. way still. So I liked that flip. I liked that flip that flip that she did on him, even though the flip like proceeded to flip her into the arms of a very special marriage, a very unique marriage. Then, so Lucy, and then Lucy's dating Leo and things are kind of getting serious. And you can tell

that like, she's kind of like, maybe things can be better. And they pulled me into it. I was like maybe things will be better. I think at some point I was even wondering if it was going to go a direction of like it still could. I think Lucy was coming off so strong, so strong until like episode seven. And I think I was like hoping it was going to go in a direction where like she really was not into Stephen, I almost said Leo, not into Stephen in 2015 and maybe even vengeful or like maybe she was going to get the final last to laugh or get back at him somehow. And that was basically that's where I, that's kind of how I wondered if that was where it was going. And then especially, I mean, this happens later in episodes, but like,

in the few episodes where we're getting to know Leo, and he is violent. But then, like, also he tells her, like, I do have this problem and I do need to, I have to stay, like, vigilant about it and, like, take care of myself and his mental health, all of that. So he's not violent. I was like, this is really interesting because there's, like, a lot of tension here where at that point when I was watching it, I was like, and it's still interesting. But at that time, I was like, it's really interesting that they're approaching it like this because there's so much tension now of like, did she attract another really bad guy?

Like, you're constantly wondering is this guy as bad as Stephen? Are we about to find out in a certain episode that he's had a certain angle that he's been working on her? So like that experience was very interesting to me in like the first I think like three or four episodes where like we're still getting to know Leo in that sense since he's new. It just felt like there was so much tension already because it was like is this her pattern or is this her breaking her pattern? And so it also could be someone who really actually is working on himself a little bit or a lot and sometimes messes up. is a very different thing than the blatant continued manipulation and sadism, really, of Stephen. So I just, like, was so concerned even the whole time that, like, we were about to find out that, like, Leo was also manipulating something behind the scenes. But, like, I also felt hope that he wasn't.

I also kind of liked him enough that I was like I really hope he's not like that poor Leo oh my gosh is Leo my favorite character of the season technically if okay sorry I'm bouncing around but when I was thinking about what I would talk about in this episode I was heavily thinking about the fact that by the end there aren't many characters that I like in terms of respect or like what would enjoy being around. So I was thinking like, who would I even say, which I saw a lot of people posting stuff like this after the finale aired, who would you even say you like in this show? Not who's entertaining. This is essentially a show of villains.

So it's like the way that like in reality TV, villains are kind of necessary because it gets people talking. It's like this whole show is, villains. So I also think that's why that could be part of why it's so addictive to watch because there's there are as you can tell as I keep talking about it so many opinions you can have about it because they have so many like wild interpersonal cross games happening basically. Yeah, so it's wild. And then I was like I think he was just just dawning on me. I was like is Leo the only one that I could say, I kind of feel like is at least like trying to be better,

even though he beat the shit out of Stephen in episode eight, which we are not too, but we're going to jump around. Even when you did that, like the way that he was provoked, that was the most insane shit to say to someone. I mean, I was like texting Steph and Garrett because I happened to wake up at like 5.30 the day that, like the day it aired. And I was like, I'm not going back to sleep. I'm watching the show. So I watched the whole thing in that line when he, I don't know if I should censor this because I also use it for YouTube. When he essentially says, how did I taste? dropped. Like also, I'm okay with vulgarity, but it was still such an outlandish, just wild thing to say to another man just because you can't handle the fact that you can't have all the women. That was insane. And, I mean, yeah, I think I just realized I would have to say Leo is my favorite most likable Character of the season. Pippa's a very close. She's a close second. But I think we all felt some catharsis when Leo was beating the shit out of Stephen. I think we were, I think we were all on his side in that moment, except Lucy. Poor Lucy. I mean, she does bring a fair amount of it on herself too. Okay. That was a sidebar-ish. But the rest of of episode two so we also have pippa's being like ostracized by all of the like athletics football

all the teams um because they all feel like she's the reason rigley isn't playing this year so she's getting like way unnecessary amounts of shit so that's also happening in the present i was like that would be so ridiculous and like also knowing what we know about her and diana being together in the future and their whole like was he there and she's like they were both there knowing what we know is pippa just going to like are they plotting against lucy that's where i'm headed with it because if they ever find out that she actually wrote that letter that stephen confesses to in the eighth episode because he wanted to control the narrative guys i'm going to going to get to it. But that's why I think he did it. But if Pippa ever finds out that like Lucy did it and

never told her and that then all of that really happened because of Lucy, I think she might come for if she could. I don't know. I don't know. There are things that make it seem like Diana and Pippa are getting revenge on someone in the future. But it could be so many. variations. So, um, so yeah, Pippo's basically ostracized, essentially, yes, because Lucy wrote that letter. Um, but it's also, for people who don't know that, they just kind of think it's like Riggly's fault that people, it's related to Riggly that people aren't talking to her, essentially. I hope you're enjoying this episode of Book Wild. And if you are, could I ask you a favor? Could you go and rate and review this podcast and whatever platform,

you're listening. Ratings and reviews make the biggest difference in discoverability of the podcast, and I definitely want to find all of our fellow thriller readers out there. So if you could go rate the podcast and leave a short review, that would make a huge difference. Thank you. And let's get back to the show. And then near the end of episode two, we're at a party, and Diana notices that Pippa had been gone for a bit and goes into a bedroom and basically finds her drugged in some sense. Well, yeah, Pippa didn't end up wanting to talk about it. So we don't really know details.

So Diana sees her drugged in a bed, like basically, I think completely unconscious at that time. And she's like Pippa. And like at the same time that she says that, Lydia, Lucy's kind of best friend from high school. His brother, that's her brother, Lydia's brother, Lydia's brother, Chris. walks into the room and like locks, locks eyes with Diana and it all feels suspicious very quickly. And he's just like, oh, hey, uh, and like kind of just leaves. And she essentially kind of like carries Pippa back to her room with where Lucy is.

And Lucy's on her way there. I can't, I don't know. The point is like she comes across Lucy. And basically Lucy and Diana have this, like, awesome moment because, like, it's like, no, let's take care of her. Like, I also loved that little seed that they planted. And I remember thinking, like, maybe the girls really are going to realize, like, we should prioritize each other over these crazy men. And I don't feel that way anymore. I'm obviously, I'm really happy they saved Pippa.

I thought it was going to go in a more positive direction. And that did not end up being the case between Diane and Lucy the rest of the season. But still very nuanced having those two in this thing with Pippa. And then so also we have Brie and Oliver kissing for the first time. So that is starting to escalate. What was intriguing to me about it at the time was it kind of was showing the gray area in the sense that with the information we had at the time, it did seem like he was being clear that he would not leave his wife. Okay, I had to take another phone call. So I am hoping that I remember enough of what I was just talking about to wrap it up.

But if I miss any little details specifically that I didn't wrap up, that's why. Hopefully I'll catch it in editing if I didn't. But the gray area was so fascinating at that point in the relationship because there is this feeling that like she does. She feels empowered through the relationship. Should she? Should she not? That's a separate question. but does she kind of feel empowered by it?

Yes. Has he been up front about the fact that he won't leave his wife? Yes. And she did come to him and was like, I think she says, I'm ready for you to kiss me, something like that. So it's like also she did initiate it that way too. And he's not actually her professor. So there's also.

the fact that there's not that power structure at play. However, she's 19 and he is 40 something, I believe. So it was nuanced. Of course, they managed to make it a little bit nuanced. I did see a take that if we saw a 19-year-old actress in that role, it would have felt even more uncomfy, because obviously Cat is not the actress is not 19 and I was like okay I understand that perspective but yeah I mean there clearly I just talked about multiple different facets and angles of their relationship there there were there were just nuances to all of it and I thought that was fascinating how they pulled that off like you generally didn't think it was going to go well for Brie but at one point, I was hopeful that maybe she would just like get over him and she would be done.

And I was like, maybe she's going to grow through this. I apparently came into season two hopeful. I don't know why. Why did I have all this hope for character crime? This is a tragedy. This is a tragedy. Truly, though, that's kind of how I'm starting to feel about it. It is a wonderful tragedy to watch, like can't look away from an accident type stuff. But the show really is a tragedy, especially Wrigley. Oh, my God. So then we get into episode three. And in 2015, we have a dual bachelor, bachelorette party going on. And Stephen talks to, at the time, Lucy's boyfriend Max and Lucy gets uncomfortable with that they're even talking and she kind of says like don't even talk to him and Max is like why does he still have this hold on you and she basically just like

excuses herself outside because she's just like annoyed by him then he comes out and tries to talk to her and be all like oh we're adults and cool um and then Pippa basically comes over and tells them to fuck off and it's amazing and that's why pippa is my second favorite character this season like pippa had some great moments even though she didn't want to look at the trauma of that night with chris um she has some amazing moments with other people like when she basically said she says something along lines of like, hey, Lucy, I'm going to pretend that I have something really important I need to talk to you about right now so that Stephen will leave. But instead of just doing all of that, how about I say, fuck off, Stephen, Stephen, something like that. And so he just leaves. And I was

like, Pippa gets it. Also, she slapped the shit out of him in slap shots. And it was amazing. Okay. I mean, she's a contender. What we've loved, learned is my favorite tell me lies characters are the ones who physically strike stephen this is what we're learning um so she tells stephen and a fuck off and she has some conversation kind of about like like you know you don't have to go back to that and lucy's like i'm not and i'm like cool 2015 Lucy has been apart from him for so long that's what I thought at the time they did a great job with this was something else I noticed they did a really great job with the scenes that they chose from 2015 and the scenes that were happening in 2008 in the first act of the season so like

episodes one through three a little bit into four they did a really good job picking scenes that could seem like some characters were going to have character growth. Like we kind of think that Lucy is done with Stephen because in 2008, she's over him. She's not like she's struggling to have a healthy relationship with Leo because she's never been in one. But she's not struggling to like stay away from Stephen. Like that's not the problem at that point. And then in the 2015 season or scenes that they're choosing at that point, it also seems like they haven't seen each other in forever and she hates him. And that's also not the case that we learn later. So it's, it's kind of cool how they were even deceptive

that way with timeline. I think it's a clever use of that because sometimes we think, we think, seeing the future, like 2015, we think that can inform what's happening in the past, but it's not, we're not getting the full truth of the future. So I thought it was cool how they played with that. But he becomes her TA, of course, because he just can't leave her alone and she gets pissed and she um like goes to his door and basically confronts him about it and is mad and standing in her power to use like therapy terms um and then throws his phone and breaks his phone and that was pretty amazing too but like she is done with him and i'm like this is so cool what a cool route to take what i didn't know um which is what makes the show so great uh but she is like

she doesn't care she doesn't care about him she's trying to figure out her relationship with leo um and then basically i'm trying to remember the order of it's not totally important important we've seen the whole season at this point. But she, he, he then later comes to her dorm and, like, says a bunch of like confrontational shit. And then it has like this seductive moment where it looks like he's about to take her pants off. That's the best way to describe it. and she is like she was really angry one second and now she's like staring at him

and we know that she can't decide what to do and we're like no you have to know what to do in this moment and she just can't help herself and we're like no and then he like stops and tells her she should be embarrassed of herself and then he leaves and she's just standing there and I'm like Lucy girl the amount of

second-hand embarrassment is just so heavy like oh my God I feel like and it could just also be let's be very clear that they're also like very talented actors Grace and Jackson it feels like the fact that they're in a relationship is at least partially why though when we're watching the scene even though i'm like lucy no we're also like oh chemistry like you're aware that that's there and they just do they have chemistry on camera i guess they're really not on camera they're characters but it's it's so conflicting and i think that's what the show does really well too because everything in me is like lucy just put a stop to it like i know this is tempting but like lucy don't do it and she just lets him do it and then he humiliates her even more oh my god he just loves to humiliate

people it is his favorite hobby i don't know he loves it he just loves it so they have that moment which now she's even angrier and she goes to diana's apartment i don't know and basically tells her what happened the night that macy died and diana's like pretty much acting like she just doesn't believe anything and then like lucy like relaxes after she says it all and is very calm and she's like this isn't my problem anymore that's the gist of what she says walks out and diana there's some great facial acting in these moments i remember the first time i heard people talking about that i'm like isn't like that a big part of acting anyway but grace is like transformation as she plays Lucy is so great, so great in that scene.

You see her go from feeling so stressed out and angry and a little bit scared to like calm and done. And then that is what makes Diana go from looking like incredulous to like, oh, she actually feels like she just got something off her chest. What does that mean? So both of them were studying in that scene. I also, I remember, I think I had that conversation with someone after that scene. I think what makes the show so fantastic too is there's some wild stuff happening on some really highly toxic levels on the show.

I feel like the actors, the whole cast's performance. performances ground it so much that they can also then pull off all this high drama and just wildness. Like it is wild. Not tons, not many people get stuck in a friend group this toxic. But the performances are fantastic. And then also the backstory we get that also then kind of informs. the performances, it helped you understand each character, even though they're all acting just so poorly. So that scene was so impressive, both from the actors and, or actresses, I guess, in that scene, and the plot, the sense that, like, Lucy's like, oh, this doesn't belong to me anymore. I had so much hope for her. I had so much hope for her. I had so much hope for her at this

point. They were they were throwing me in directions that that made me think she just might grow up this season. I was like, good for her. This is the well-adjusted thing way to handle this. and then poor lucy just isn't great at making decisions often and then sometimes she tries to make the right decision and does it the wrong way and it's really bad the way that she chooses like sometimes she's motivated to try to make a good difference like episode seven because I'm here, so we're going to talk about it. Her basically co-opting Pippa's story about the experience with Chris, but it's because she was tired of knowing being held accountable.

And it is a worthy feeling in that situation. And like I understood that, like, for me, there is still a huge amount of empathy for her character who, felt like other women would be in danger if his story could if the story couldn't be corroborated. So you understand that, but was it the right way to do it? It just wasn't. It just wasn't. Oh, it just wasn't.

So that's my thing about Lucy. At the beginning of the season, I was like, she really seems to be standing strong in her power. and then things just got so bumpy throughout the rest of the season. Bree and Oliver hookup for the first time in this house that he's house sitting. And Pippa basically snaps and tells Riggily, like, tell your team to be nice to me, or, yeah, your teammates to be nice to me, or like, at least not mean is like the gist of it. like you could get them to stop if you said something and she walks away and diana is sitting with regly and diana basically says you know she's right that's the gist of what she says um and he's like oh so that finally gets him to start thinking and so we finally get that lifted from pippa she's

not being ostracized anymore but diana came to her defense here And so we're like, oh, is Diana a girl's girl? Can she? Does she have it in her? Because let's still not forget. This is something I think is important to think about in season one and season two. I think it is amazing the way Diana plotted her way out of his life when she was finally ready to leave. Yes.

Love that. Love that for her. however the way she got him back was by promising him that life so having the rewatch so recent it also still is in my mind though that I'm like but you wanted him so bad that you like you essentially said like I mean I know you're with her, but like, I can give you the wealth and the life that you're going to want. And that was how she got him back. So sometimes I'm also still like, you knew that would be the reason he would be with you.

So I don't know. That part's just, it's interesting to me because that was like also how she got him back and like, in a really human, humiliated another woman in the process. That part still is like, I'm glad she got away from him, but I'm also like, but look what you did to like get him. So,

but do I love Diana and Pippa in the future? Yes. And our conflicted feelings about all of these characters, like the reason it's so addictive, yes. So all my conflicting feelings there. Also, Lucy at this point

drops out of the class that Stephen was trying to TA because she's like, no, I'm actually not going to talk to this guy. So in episode four, we have the LSATs. And Stephen is freaking out about them. He's kind of cram studying, but also I think he's just freaking out.

So he's nervous about it. Diana is pretty confident about hers. like not doesn't seem bothered by it. And then after the LSATs, he basically has a panic attack and like falls on the floor. But he's like not had panic attacks before. So Diane is freaking out. And she's like, let's get him to the hospital. And so the more I think about it, why would they have x-rayed his lungs?

Wait. Whatever. It was a good way to progress this story. wait a second why would they i don't know if i wanted something there but why would they um x-ray your lungs after that who knows but they do and the doctor is basically mentioning a fracture that is in a really common place for uh car accidents and some people don't even know that they actually had a fracture and he's like were you in a car accident in the last like six months. And he's like, oh, no. And we're like zooming on Diana's face. And she's like,

oh, um, wait, maybe Lucy wasn't lying. So there we get our first seed of Diana beginning her diabolical plan that is the rest of the season. It is well played. Um, and we love her for it. then lucy and leo are having unique problems in this episode because she they're about to sleep together for the first time i believe yes yes it is this because that's the rest of the scene um for the first time but he uses a condom and she thinks she associates that with how stephen was cheating because um she was on birth control and he was still opting to do that So basically all of a sudden, she's now scared that he's doing this because he's sleeping with other girls. And they basically get in a fight and it gets angry.

And then at a point where they're like very angry at each other, she tries to, I don't know, advance something with him. And he's like, no, I don't want our first time to be like this. And she's like, what? And he's like, yeah, I just don't. And she's like, huh. So we're also getting to see her, like, wondering what a healthy relationship could be like. I think we're also seeing her wonder if she wants a healthy relationship, if that's what it looks like. That's the vibe I'm getting based on the rest of the season.

In the moment, I thought she was like, oh, a healthy relationship. Sounds nice. I think she might have been wondering if she even wanted it. I mean, I think we get that five throughout a lot of the episodes actually. But poor Leo, poor Leo getting pulled back into Stephen's orbit, which will be interesting to see if that thread comes through in the next season, anything about how Stephen, we find that out in the Thanksgiving episode, like slept with Leo's other girl friend and that was why they broke up who knows if that's going to have its threads into anything else but it's possible for the future too um and pippa and regally um are like starting to be

hammockable they're chill they're coolish they have an honest conversation i can't remember if this is episode four or five but they have an honest conversation about their past relationship and they're able to talk about it objectively because they're not in it anymore, which was really cool and a really interesting, it was just a really interesting way to continue their story together would be to help them get to an objective point with that. So that part is very cool. Pippa's like not pretending anymore. And those, those are some, some of the only happy scenes really in this entire season. There are fantastic scenes in this season.

I don't think any of us could say that there are a lot of happy ones. But for me, Pippa and Brigley are just one of the few happy spots. And then it just gets crushed again because, as I said, this show is a tragedy. It's a tragedy. that is that's the draw possibly another rough cut because sometimes your dogs just refuse to be quiet and they just must go out so also happening that episode is that Bree and Oliver spent a weekend away and we have the weird power trip bar scene where Oliver basically gets annoyed that the

bar tender is kind of like raised her eyebrows at their whole situation and so then he like really aggressively kisses brie and it's just like immediate ick immediate ick and it was like oh okay and then later when they're there for the weekend we have him putting his wedding finger on her wedding finger like what the fuck we're crossing into manipulative territory at this point it's just wild it's wild and basically it starts to just be like okay this is probably not playing out in her

favor because again I haven't fully accepted yet that this shows a tragedy so that's mainly what happens in that episode and so then we're on to episode six that opens up

with Bree answering a phone call in 2015 before her wedding like in her wedding dress I think, no. But it's like right before her wedding. And she is answering a call and says like something along the lines of like, I, this is my chance at a nice life. Like, let me have this. So we're wondering who that possibly is. I know the showrunner said it was not Oliver in the sense that she said he only wanted to do one season so he won't be coming back. And that was what she referenced when she said it's a future character or cast member that we haven't met yet,

which hopefully to me means that she pretty confidently thinks we're going to have a season three. I don't know. I'm just going to keep bringing it up. Maybe if I keep saying season three over and over again, it'll like make it happen and faster than 2026. So in that same 2015 opener in this episode, we have Lucy texting Stephen and asking him to him see her talk to her at the pool. And when he gets there, she is having sex with Max in the pool. And she makes eye contact with him and is kind of like smirking. And they just both make eye contact while it happens. And this is where I'm officially like, oh yeah. Okay, Lucy, nope, nope, the future Lucy does not have strength against Stephen. I think they did a good job

of making us think maybe she did and now it's like oh never mind we we are not staying away from stephen lucy's not staying away from stephen so yeah we are completely sure at this point that lucy is still playing games with stephen and while they're kind of sexy games are they really i mean sinister this is sad it's sad technically but yeah she's she's still playing games with him um otherwise in 2008 thanksgiving happens and this was so intense i this episode had multiple times where i was just like holding my breath like waiting to see what was happened what was going to happen this episode is so good it really starts bringing in the third act energy of the season and everything that all the groundwork that they've been laying starts to kind of come to life in this episode um

so diana and stephen planned to leave campus um for thanksgiving and finds out that brie is going to be here that she's going to stay on campus and so he convinces Wrigley to help him throw a Thanksgiving event and so Lucy and Pippa

and Bree all go to this as well because they think that Stephen won't be there and then Stephen and Diana end up being there because she says her dad's so angry at her that they can't go home but now now we know that she was just not wanting him to be around her dad because she was lying

about the whole situation so uh basically this Thanksgiving dinner gets way intense way fast when both diana and stephen show up as well as the girl Evan is kind of seeing what he says isn't his girlfriend but she clearly thinks she's kind of is so lots lots of stakes here um we get into to Stephen trying to, like, provoke Leo in the kitchen with Lucy by, like, kind of being like, did you tell her about, I can't remember her name? But essentially, Leo's girlfriend, ex-girlfriend, cheated on him with Stephen, and that's what ended their relationship. He's just trying to start shit between Lucy and Leo.

Lots of just mounting tension with that. And Bree is just, like, preoccupied with, like, where Oliver is for Thanksgiving, because he's with his wife. but then they all decide to play a game of slap shots which I have never played and is quite the game but you essentially are slapping people after they take shots or after you take shots I don't know you guys know what I'm talking about and the way that that built so much suspense because you're so nervous about who's going to be hitting who and so it's like all of the secret stuff can kind of come out because it's a game, not even secret stuff, but like the desires you have to hit someone can come out because you're playing a game.

I was like holding my breath multiple times. When we get to just so many things, when we get to Stephen about to slap Leo, it's like, oh, what is he going to do? and then he is like overly brutal um then we have pippa slaps just really goes for the slap even in that is a glorious moment and then later leo is in a position to hit him he just pinches his cheek and says you're cute and it's this moment that's like ooh is the fact that like leo is is able to maintain his chill, going to be something where Lucy's like, oh, nice, this kind of a relationship. No.

That is not what happens. So then more conversations start happening. Oh, and Evan doesn't hit slap Bree. He just touches her face. And so then his girl who isn't his girlfriend, but she thinks she's his girlfriend, slaps him. And that ends that. So, and I think Bree also in that episode tells Evan that she's moved on. She's seeing someone else and that he's older.

And Evan's like, oh, okay. Then we get, I can't even remember what exactly it is that leads to it. But Diana ends up saying to Lucy, like something degrading about like how he, or yeah like maybe if you didn't date girls that were man what was the exact wording i wish i remembered exactly um basically implies that like oh that lucy is a girl who makes it easy to be disrespected in a relationship and so lucy slaps her and i was here for that that was so unnecessary and took away all my feel good feelings about diana being a girl's girl and getting away from stephen i was like you didn't have to say that you didn't have to say that that was so unnecessary and the

slap was earned um but then leo is now appalled by lucy's behavior and she basically tries to get him to see her point of view and he doesn't and he's like stephen shouldn't like have this much pull over you still and like i can't be around people like this and and he leaves her as he should. But then they try to trick us again a little bit and make us think like, oh, Lucy has learned from this and is going to do something about it. Then we have this amazing scene where she basically sees him in the library, studying, sees Stephen in the library, and walks up to him and says something along the lines of like, I loved you even though I knew everything. Like, I still did. And why are you punishing me for that? And I was,

so happy for her because it felt like stepping into agency herself and calling it what it is instead of like playing these games back and forth a little bit still. And it's a really great question. Like, why are you doing this to me? Like, I didn't do anything to you. That's the other wild, wild part about it. Like, he left her for a Diana. And now he's trying to mess with her life like what is the point which i also feel like drives home the part that i was talking earlier about with this show that it does a really good job of like there isn't a point there's not a point like in some ways it's because he wants to like keep her in his life so she's keeping her engaged but at the same time there's not really a reason for him to keep messing with her this hardcore

when he left her the way that he did it's wild um So I loved that moment from her and simultaneously was like, oh, no, but she engaged with him. And so the thing with like narcissistic supply is if he's all of a sudden getting supply though now. And her behaving that way is supply. He's one. He got an emotional reaction out of her. Then it was like, oh no, his interest is now peaked. It's one of those things where like even her standing.

up for him, standing up to him in that moment. It was good because she was seeing things clearly and saying things the way they were. But what it also still was only going to do with him was like pull him even closer to her and becomes more intrigued because he is getting these emotional reactions out of her. So it was such a like, again, a really conflicting scene because you feel multiple ways about the incident and you feel like she's making progress and yet even still like trying to make progress that way she's just piquing his interest even more unfortunately which is exactly what happens because with episode seven we are opening up with Stephen having a dream that Lucy is helping him cover up the Macy incident

which in some ways she has helped him cover it up. I say that somewhat sarcastically, but you know what I mean? So he's having dreams about her now after she basically fawned in front of him, essentially, and his interests, unfortunately, is peaked again. So he wakes up from that dream next to Diana, who we now know is also plotting her way out of the relationship. And then shortly after that, he sees Lucy on campus. I think when she's running and he tries to kind of say something. And she's like, why are we even having this conversation?

It's the gist of her interaction with him. So she resists him again, doesn't engage in this situation. Then he goes to, I think, dinner with Diana at a really nice place. And it's funny knowing what we know now, because one of the things I remember about the beginning of that scene is he says something about, like, we didn't have to go out like this, like, implying, like, you didn't need to take me to this fancy place. And she's like, oh, no, I think we deserve it. It makes it even cooler to know that, like, she was picking this place to stick it to him. And so it opens with him being like,

I didn't, we don't have to do this. And she's like, no, we deserve something like this. And so then we have her credit card getting declined and she pretends that it's because her dad's mad at her and he must be closing her credit cards off and so he has to pay and he is not happy about it. So all of these things she's now taking away from him essentially because as odd as it was, it's what she promised him with a relationship. I am not feeling sympathetic for him. It's just an interesting dynamic, like, what did make her, like, need him so bad that she was going to be like, hey, come back to me and I'll take care of you. It's, it's, again, conflicting and complicated and not clear. But he's stuck with it. And so he's definitely losing more and more

interest in her. And then we have Bree going to this Christmas party at Oliver and Marianne's house. and oh boy what a Christmas party Lucy you can tell is still like oh my gosh I just wish I didn't know about this and Bree is like getting jealous seeing him with his wife and it's just like yes girl you knew you know he said he wasn't going to leave her but she's getting really insecure about it they end up in a laundry closet laundry closet a laundry closet a laundry room while his wife is just outside and all of a sudden after it she starts having like a panic attack about it like kind of feeling bad and realizing what she's doing and so he just tells her don't worry i love you and then she just she just calms down and oh it's so bad like using that

word in this context it's so terrible it's just to calm her down he doesn't mean it and i would assume at this point he knows that she thinks he means it and that it would mean that like he would want to be with her one day so it's it's nasty it's a really dirty tactic and then she goes out there after he had gone out there and lucy looks at her and it just like kind of shakes her head like really here um and then she sees him with his wife and she is so mad that she leaves the infamous earrings. And it's funny because Evan gave her those and she started to feel like he gave them to her out of guilt. And then that ended up kind of being the case that he gave like this expensive gift to her out of guilt. And then the through line of then her using it and leaving it

behind when she's guilty of something is very interesting. Even though she's definitely using it hoping that it will end their marriage. She's also doing it because of something she's guilty of. It's really interesting the guilt attached to this pair of earrings through the whole show. So she leaves that behind and we're just like, oh, pretty girl. This isn't the brilliant plan that you think it is. And then we get to the point. Where Lucy, after hearing a bunch of people at the bar while she's out with Pippa talking about how Chris is going to not get any punishment because it couldn't be proven, because it was just

one girl, and she's sitting there and she's mad. The things are unfair, and she wishes Pippa could talk about it so that they could do something about it, makes that decision to say that she experienced the same thing. This is what I was talking about earlier. This is the only thing that makes her a little more redeemable than Stephen is it is we I think we all can understand where she was coming from even though we were like maybe don't go about it that way. So it's one of those things where even when she tries to do something good by like maybe making a a vigilante type decision it just goes so poorly for her because she doesn't really think about it

she has swept up in it which is also the entire problem of her with Stephen so it is consistent but Pippa's obviously pissed and then Diana comes over and is really pissed too

and points out to her that like by being a girl who lies about it it doesn't help the overall issue of people not believing women about it. I get really conflicting. It's what this show does so well,

where we're like, somebody do something about this kid who's like drugging girls. And PIPA can't do it. And there's a nobility to being like, I'll do it. But you can't do it while you're lying. So it has just gotten so complicated.

And of course, an issue that at the beginning, almost felt like a hey we all can care about each other moment between diana lucy and pippa in some ways instead it has just spiraled off into so many bad directions because of lies it fits the show like it fits the show that the so cancelable offense um i don't think it's great that lucy did it but i don't think she'll get canceled um as a character This thing that it is, like the thing that's so, quote unquote, cancelable, as the showrunner talked about, is just another lie. So it, like, it still fits. Like, of course, Lucy's going to think that sometimes lying will even fix something, and it just doesn't, especially not in this case.

Yeah. So she does that. Lydia calls her and is so angry and says she won't be her friend anymore, basically. Pippa is angry at her for doing it because now she's kind of involved in it. And she's like, why would you do this? Diana is really angry at her for the fact that it could make people believe less women. She's completely isolated and who shows up at her door in just the worst timing, because that's what happens with these two.

Steven shows up at her door and says, do you think I'm a bad person? And she's like, yeah. And he's like, but you loved me. And she's like, yeah. And he does this spin of like, maybe that's why we're supposed to be together because we know the worst versions of each other

and we're okay with it. And what's so sinister about it is it's true. You will end up not. knowing the worst parts of the person you're with and you'll be okayish with them because you're with them it's kind of true that's like the safety in a relationship like that but he's not using it in the right context it's more like secrets they can hold over each other um that are these bad parts of themselves but it's also so manipulative because it's also tying into how she really um does feel unlovable.

And so it's like it has tones of you're lucky that I also love you knowing what you've done. It's just bad. It is the pop fiction women podcast talked about this. So go listen to their recaps too if this has been fun for you. They talked about how they truly, they use the trope of feeling seen, which is like, really powerful trope i feel like for a lot of us and it's like a big moment for characters romantically and in other relationships when you actually feel seen there's a powerful connection and most of the time that's in a positive way and the show effectively flipped it and made it negative they made

what if you both saw the worst in each other which fun fact on i mdb shows and movies often have taglines too tagline for this one is you always remember your worst instead of your first. And that just is the case here. It's like, oh, we've both done really bad things. And there's this messaging coming from him of like, so we're both lucky that we can still love each other and like you're pretty unlovable. It's also the undertone of it.

And it works on her because she feels that way because of the things that have been happening. And also because of all the stuff that we. sword with her mom in season one that I won't even get into because this episode will be forever and ever and ever long. But he taps right into it. She closes the door and we cut to the credits. And all of us are like, oh my God, what just happened? And then we reach one of the wildest finalies of television I've ever seen. Like, truly. It's funny because I brought it up before. Game of Thrones might have had some similar pull, definitely not the series finale. There might have been some finalies that were similar to this and how wild they were.

The other thing that it just made me think of, I remember Breaking Bad sometimes feeling like this watching a finale. So, you know, up with all the greats. This finale is crazy. It probably could have been its own episode, but I wasn't recording with it. the episodes and now I know moving forward that I probably will. The episode starts off, I think, does it start off with, it does start off at the 2015, the pool scene where Stephen is just watching as it happens. And then he kind of, he leaves his glass on the table. And I think that's what pulls the focus of Max. Max sees that and it's like, what? And her phone is going

off as he's like drying himself off and he picks it up and sees her text to seeven and then he looks at her because he knows what she did and again we have the worst second-hand embarrassment ever like can you imagine i can't imagine because i also can't imagine playing games like this with someone and sending texts like that but can you imagine if you did get swept up into all of that and then the person you are using as like a way to get back and finds out you were doing it. Oh my God. Then we have one of the most succinctly point or succinct and poignant sentences of the entire season when Max looks at her and says, I bet you think you're still the victim. Called her out. Called her out. He's right. He was so right. And it's so interesting to like have watched that scene in pieces over the whole season.

Because at first we start off thinking she's with Max and doesn't even think about Stephen. Then we transition into like, oh, they're having a good time at this. Then we transition her being like, hey, come to the pool and that happens. then we transition out and find out that Max even found out. But at some point in that flow, you might have been like, it is kind of hot, though, because the show does a good job of kind of doing that. They're also all hot people. That's partially why.

But then knowing that she gets caught in it, you're just like, will you ever learn? And it's an interesting concept because I've heard people talk about how, and I agree with this, 19-year-olds are like, you're young, you're so young when you're a freshman. And that tracks for me and makes sense for a lot of the decisions made in college. Even some of the crazier ones that are still happening in college, it helps it make more sense because it's like, oh, you haven't totally developed your brain. You don't totally know who you are. You know, you haven't been burned enough to know what to stay away from.

Like you kind of get that. You have a lot of, I do. I have a lot of more patience with. her at that age. The thing about this pool thing is this is 2015. This is seven years later. Seven years later. So this is not just the naivete of being 19, being a freshman, being a sophomore. They stuck with this. Both of them did. They stuck with it. And so now we have to experience a secondhand embarrassment when Max is like looking at like looking at her and knows what she did it's crazy so from that scene we transitioned to them

hooking up right yeah Stephen and Lucy do hook up in the 2015 timeline because then after they do um yeah so this is it's it's in the future it's not like that night but they do hook up and then that transitions us back into 2008, where after she closed the door and we're all like, oh, no, she let him in. We wake up. It just transitions that way. So it's like, yes, and they hooked up in 2008. It kind of transitions to them in bed then. And she looks shook and he is not.

And he says something. And she's like, I have an examiner now. Or like, I need to get going or whatever. and he kind of says something like, we'll talk later. And then she gets stressed. And I even remember thinking, hmm, that red is really prominent. That's interesting. It's like a very, it's a very prominent detail that we're getting to experience here.

And boy, was it an important detail, as we now know. So she's panicking because she's like, why did I do that? and it was because she was at her lowest. Everyone had left. Everyone was mad at her. But everyone kind of was mad at her because of stuff that Stephen was doing. She doesn't know that, but she's still like, why did I do that? And so, again, motivated out of guilt, which is she can't really sit with it. Motivated by guilt goes straight over to Leo. Poor sweet Leo's dorm or apartment. I don't know who's in what. And basically tearfully says, like, I do want to be with you.

Like, you make me better. I'm so sorry. Do you still care about me? Like, is falling apart. And he essentially is like, yeah, of course I miss you. And I do want to be with you. Drawn out, drawn out. But, well, I'm just saying there's more.

But that's the gist of it. And Lucy is just like, I do want to be with you. I do want to be with you. kind of tries to stop them from hooking up a couple times then she just gives in and lets it happen and we're just like lucy girl lucy girl really both of them in like an hour no shame no shame in general but a little here a little bit here a little bit in this case um just wild absolutely insane, but she just can't handle. I think her guilt for a lot of things, and then Stephen represents a lot of it, and then she caves,

and then she feels guilty, and then she's like, what am I going to do? And her solution at that time was Leo. Stephen effectively goes to break up with Diana and does this whole performance about it, and she calls him out on it and tells him stop pretending, and his whole face changes. more awesome grounded moments from these actors who are playing just really exaggerated versions of toxicity but it's so real the way that they play it and so his like face totally changes and he's like okay fine

and she says something like you don't feel anything do you and he's just like i don't know i'm just not just feeling more or whatever and leaves and then when he leaves when he leaves, we also see her sit down and kind of sigh relief. So those of us who are thinking this is what was happening at that moment were like, yep, this was how she wanted it to work. So he has effectively become interested in Lucy again. So much so that he even mentions it to his friends as he's like dodging Diana.

Well, that was before. But anyway, he's back on he's back on her trail as well. we know um so he kind of thinks that means they're back together which is strange um but she obviously is trying to do everything she can to have that not be the narrative so like christmas party she and leo go to it together and stephen sees them and is pissed and ever tries to keep him out of it doesn't keep him out of it um she's like giving him eyes stephen i's like do not say anything do not say anything, please. But she knows. She knows he's probably going to say something. They calm it down. We think we're cool. And then he walks back up to Leo. And again, I'm not even going to say it

because I'm putting it on YouTube, but describes what she was wearing. This red was very, it was important for a reason. And then asks him if he liked how he tasted. And then the other, Leo beat the shit out of him and what is that like the shot heard around the world i feel like it was the beating heard around the world i think all of us were like thank you someone finally do something i know violence isn't the answer but like stephen sucks and no one ever no one ever gets one up on him and gives him a little bit of what he deserves it was so cathartic then because it's what this show is. We get the close up of his face that is like totally messed up.

And he smirks. The motherfucker smirks. He smirks. And like that is just a next level wanting to draw violence towards you. Because he just needs supply. But that's like the supply. The like big emotional moments fuel him. Which again, when we're trying to be empathetic about him,

we understand because we saw that episode with his mom. And of course, big, hypercharged moments emotionally are what feel familiar to him. But it's wild. Like wanting to like push someone to the point that they are beating you up. Like I just, it was so sinister. And the smirk was amazing. Even though it was nice for a moment when I was like, oh, maybe he didn't totally want this. But then he smirked. And I was like, oh, my God. And Lucy went to, like, take care of him. That one I'm torn on because it's like, yeah, in some ways, like, someone needs to take care of him when something like that happens.

Like, someone needs to be handling him. And, like, Leo is, like, getting pulled away and, like, so scared. But, like, she goes to Stephen. She goes to Stephen. We're like, okay, this is the direction that this is going. And then. And then aside from all of this, we have. and Bree freaking out about the fact that Marion's wearing earrings, calling all of her and telling her, like, I think she knows. She goes over there. Things feel really weird. He's like, I can't have you trying to end my marriage. This isn't working for me anymore. Basically, tries to end it, tells her she can stay as long as she wants for that she needs to leave. She stays. She just feels like she can't not have him in her life. She calls him and she's like, I can do it. I can. He comes over. They do.

hook up again he goes to shower and then his wife just walks in just walks in thankfully brie is like clothed like at least she had that but she is just like i am so sorry like brie is saying sorry from the get-go and marianne's like oh no i'm sorry is he in there and just like walks in the bathroom has a conversation and then comes back and it's like he's gonna talk to you she disappears and brie's with the actual fuck there were a lot of theories that marianne knew something about her husband, whether she was completely in on it, whether it was a game or anything. Those were other theories, but there were theories that she knew. And sounds like she does. So we have, he basically tells her that they're in an open relationship. And so of course she knows about it.

And he pulls this weird thing where he says, I thought the affair was the hot part about it for you. that's why I was doing it and like again second hand embarrassment like how humiliating it is what they did to her like talked about her like she's the only one in this unintentional to her like trying well that wasn't getting all the information and I oh I felt so bad for her oh it would be so terrible so bad finding out people are talking about you like that and that you just didn't know the whole time. That one's heavy. And even in the conversation she has,

Marianne about it, like, she's like, you will move on from it. She's cold, but she's like, yeah, this is what we do. And there's kind of an implication

that maybe it's still not the way she wanted the relationship to be. She seems kind of upset, but also is like, let's move this along. You need to leave. Just a really sad way for all of that to come together for Brie.

Just so bad. Yeah, not great. I felt so bad for her. I think everyone does. Like, it was seriously just so heavy. So then the way the fallout of that all plays together, obviously, is that Lucy now hears about it feels so bad about it. and now her guilt is back because she feels like all of this happened because Evan broke up with Bree

and Bree was in a vulnerable place and she feels like it is all her fault. So again, it is her inability to sit with guilt that causes her to say to Evan when she sees him and he's like, hey, I know we're seeing someone, like, what's up there? And she's like, he's not, she's not seeing him anymore. And he was like, oh, good. And got, like, excited. And she says something online. So, like, no, it's not good.

And, like, you know, it's our fault that this happened. So she has to, like, bring this guilt back up and get it out. And now Evan's like, oh, my God. And that's what triggers Evan to make just the infamously bad decision of telling Stephen that he slept with Lucy because he just thinks he should come clean because now he feels guilty. Oh, and it's just, oh, it's terrible. It's so terrible. Like, don't confess to Stephen, man. You just don't have to. And it's just making it worse. It just keeps making everything worse. What really makes everything worse is something that, of course, was supposed to be positive

and turns out negative. Again, tragedy. Rigley has been struck. struggling so much, so much. And Diana and Diana and Pippa called Drew and tell him, like, he needs to talk to you. Basically, he needs to be around you. And they, like, kind of repair their relationship with each other. Drew, like, learns, like, how upset Regley has been about everything that happened. And when they're at the bar at one point, Wrigley, it says, like, hey, I've been. killers for my need you want one and he's like i'll try half and they keep drinking they've like they're having fun they're talking again everything is good they fall asleep and then regally wakes up to find out that his brother died and it's terrible it is heart-wrenching that scene was so rough

so rough um wrigley is also one of the few mostly good characters I think Wrigley Pippa Leo Fri's not bad she's just struggling

um but Wrigley really doesn't do too much harm to things and I think he's just a sweet guy who like really wasn't taught much of emotional intelligence and is just figuring things out and it's so heartbreaking they're right when they make up that's how drew dies i just i can't even imagine it's so sad and then we have him um feeling

so upset and talking about like because of that letter like it's all my fault he's like bringing it all the way back to that. And so Lucy starts falling apart and telling Stephen, like, I have to tell him that I did it. I can't let him live with that his whole life. So again, just like big guilty feeling. She's like, I have to tell him. I have to tell him. And Steven's like, no, no, no, no, no, don't do it. She goes to do it. And then Stephen walks in and he confesses to it. And at first you're like, hmm. And then when you think about it, though, you're like, okay. The most important thing to Stephen is controlling the narrative of everything because he has so many lies that he has to maintain and manage. And so if she says that, there might be follow-up questions. Like,

well, how did she know? And it's because Stephen told her. And he definitely has seen her crumble before. So he doesn't want her crumbling if people start asking questions about it. So he goes full performance mode, tears, all of it, waterwork. like goes hardcore and confesses and Lucy is like you would do that for me is like the look in her eyes and it's like girly girl he just wants to control the story this is not selfless believe me it is selfish it is not selfless and he's also keeping you from getting your guilt out and now has another thing to hold over you another thing that's what happened he did not do something great for you. He made this worse, which is the theme of their relationship. So,

of course, that's what happened. But, oh, it was so sad. I feel so bad for Regley. Because everyone whose lives are so sad because they're treating each other this way, they're having bad stuff happen but not stuff this bad. And so it's so sad that Wrigley is like the nicer character who's not doing anything. This is the one that this happens to. Oh, it's so sad. But picking up the thread of Evan confessing to Stephen and he's like, you're not going to like try to ruin my life or anything. And he says, not today. I was like, oh boy, we are about to switch timelines, aren't we? And then we do. And he sends, he sends this voicemail to Bree telling her with the record, not a voicemail, the recording of Evan saying that it was with Lucy and him like being like,

you, you're saying this. And he's like, yeah, I am. So he sends that on her wedding day, which I believe that morning, he slept with Lucy and is still sending that. still sitting up just unnecessary needs to just like poke at people and be mean like it's wild um i love some i love a lot of the theories that maybe brie even knows already like they've all talked about it that would be cool um but this man is just still feeling the need to just be a total asshole and in that sense back to my point earlier um at the beginning of the episode um I'm sure. I'm sure.

Like it's billed as like both of them, Lucy and Stephen is the main character, main characters. But like Stephen is the main character in that he is the one affecting the most lives in the biggest ways. Like don't like him. I'm obsessed with watching the machinations play out. but like it's it is all about his his lies and his scheming is what is a lot of what the second season especially is about it's just like all of these people that come in contact with him have this kind of stuff happen or are treated a certain way or whatever it's wild it's absolutely wild um but yeah i've seen a lot of different theories about how people think that

future timeline will play out. We definitely don't know who Bree is talking to still. I think we, yeah, we just know that it's not Oliver. And yeah, I just cannot wait to see where they're headed with season three.

It is just the way that they expanded upon the already high stakes and complicated storylines from season one into season two was so impressive that I can literally only

imagine how great season three is going to be. And we're just going to say that it's going to be because it better be.