Diksha Sundriyal
Hulu’s ‘Tell Me Lies’ is characterized by flawed people who often make decisions that prove to be invariably bad, not just in hindsight but in the very moment they are making those decisions. The focus is on Lucy Albright and her fraught relationship with Stephen DeMarco, which unravels over the span of eight years as the couple is pushed toward and pulled away from each other. It is clear from the beginning that Stephen is cold and manipulative and does what is best for him, with little to no thought of the impact his actions may or may not have on others. While Lucy seems better than him, she is known to have made her fair share of mistakes, and it is one such mistake that leads to the breaking down of her lifelong friendship with Lydia. SPOILERS AHEAD
Lucy and Lydia’s Break Up Has Nothing to do With Stephen
One of the major twists in Season 1 of ‘Tell Me Lies’ is when, at the end of the season, it is revealed that Lydia is engaged to Stephen. Considering that she was Lucy’s best friend and was privy to everything that Stephen did, it didn’t make sense that Lydia would not only date him but even agree to get married to him. In the first episode of the second season, we get an interaction between Lucy and Lydia where the latter says that she has kept up the civility between them for Stephen’s sake, and her friendly demeanor in no way indicates that she will want to be friends with Lucy again. She states that she will never forgive Lucy.
Knowing Stephen and the web of lies and manipulations he usually spins, one would think that he got to Lydia and filled her up with stories against Lucy to drive a rift between the best friends. He is known to have done it before, and repeatedly, for that matter. Throughout the second season, we find him actively sabotaging everything that Lucy does, from her classes to her relationship with Leo. He even has an interaction with Lydia where he tells her how Lucy bad-mouthed her to him when they were together. At the end of the day, however, it is not Stephen’s words but Lucy’s actions that eventually work against her. It happens with Leo, and it happens with Lydia as well.
Lucy’s Bad Judgement and Shocking Lies Push Lydia Away For Good
Trouble starts to brew between Lucy and Lydia when the latter’s brother, Chris, starts his first year at Baird College. Believing him to be a good guy and considering him as her own brother, Lucy introduces him to her friends. But then, the first night they hang out at a party, Chris gets Pippa drugged up and almost rapes her. If it weren’t for Diana walking into the room when she did, Pippa would have surely been raped. Since that night, things get awkward, especially since Pippa decides not to talk about it, which means that everyone has to pretend like that night didn’t happen and endure Chris’ presence.
Things get heated up during Halloween when a girl named Katie, who Lucy knows from Marianne’s class, comes forward with an allegation against Chris. She claims that Chris drugged her and raped her at a party. When Lydia talks about how ridiculous the claim is, Lucy tells her not to dismiss her story so easily. Lydia is shocked that Lucy would even entertain the idea that her brother is a rapist. However, she doesn’t know what happened with Pippa. In the seventh episode, it is revealed that the charges against Chris were dismissed by a disciplinary committee when Katie couldn’t prove her claims. With no evidence and no witnesses to back her, Chris is let go and she is tagged a liar.
During a conversation, Katie’s story comes up, and people call her a liar. This happens in front of Lucy and Pippa, and while Pippa doesn’t say anything, Lucy is outraged that Katie is being bad-named. In a bid to support Katie’s story, Lydia claims that she was drugged and almost raped by Chris, and that’s where she makes a very, very bad mistake. While one can say that her intentions were well-placed, considering that she wanted to defend Katie, the way she went about it was absolutely wrong. If asked to come forward and testify about it, Lucy wouldn’t be able to do so because she is lying. What makes it worse is that Chris can now use her lie to discredit any other story against him. Sure enough, the story reaches Chris, and then it reaches Lydia. She’d already been out of touch with Lucy all this while, which shows that she hadn’t yet calmed down about the things that happened during Halloween.
Discovering that after her brother’s name had been cleared, Lucy was spreading lies about him, which Lydia knew were categorically false, the whole thing just snaps. Lydia decides she is done with Lucy, as lies like this against her own brother aren’t something she can forgive, especially when it comes from her best friend. It remains to be seen whether Pippa eventually does come out with the truth and whether Chris will pay for the crimes he committed, but none of that justifies what Lucy did, and it completely makes sense for Lydia to be so angry with her that she doesn’t want to talk to her anymore. It also explains why she would date Stephen, because in Lydia’s eyes, if Lucy has lied about Chris, she could have also lied about Stephen, and clearly Stephen took advantage of that.
Read More: Tell Me Lies Season 2 Episode 7 Recap
