Diksha Sundriyal
Hulu’s ‘Tell Me Lies’ follows the saga of Lucy Albright and Stephen DeMarco, focusing on the tremendous ups and downs in their very toxic relationship, which worms its way into their lives such that they are never completely rid of each other. If the first season focuses on Stephen’s dark side, the second season reveals the side of Lucy, which clears up all doubts about why she keeps falling back in Stephen’s orbit despite knowing how bad of a person he can be. The finale of the second season opens a whole new set of Pandora’s box and puts a huge exclamation mark on their relationship, though the way it turns out isn’t exactly surprising. SPOILERS AHEAD
Stephen and Lucy Get Back Together in 2008
When Stephen rather unceremoniously broke up with Lucy in Season 1, she promised herself that she would stay away from him. The entire second season, she tries to keep that promise. When he tries to mess with her, she fights back but eventually decides she is better than that and decides to stay away from him as much as possible. She has a good thing going with Leo, but that is ruined when Stephen succeeds in getting under her skin, and she slaps Diana at the Thanksgiving party. After Leo breaks up with her, things get worse for Lucy until Stephen finds her again at a very vulnerable moment.
Against her better judgment, Lucy sleeps with Stephen, but the next morning, she realizes what a blunder she has made. She tries talking about it with Bree or Pippa, but when both of them are unavailable, there is only one person who she thinks can keep her sane. She runs back to Leo, promising him that she is over Stephen and wants to get back into a relationship that makes her a better person. Had she done this even one day earlier, perhaps her life would have taken a different turn. But she does this exactly after sleeping with Stephen, which leads to more complications. Lucy doesn’t tell Leo she slept with Stephen, and she doesn’t clear the air with Stephen either. Later that night, when Stephen sees her with Leo at a party, he tells Leo about sleeping with her before she comes to him.
Understandably, this inflames Leo, and he finally loses his cool, punching the daylights out of Stephen. This gains Stephen a lot of sympathy points, throwing Leo out of the picture, which is exactly what Stephen intended. But his games don’t just stop here. Later, when it turns out that Drew is dead, having OD’d on Wrigley’s pain meds, Lucy loses her mind with guilt and decides to come clean about the letter she left in the Dean’s office last year. Stephen thinks this is a bad idea, so before she can confess, he takes the blame. Fortunately for him, Wrigley is a forgiving person, and things work out between them. Stephen’s seemingly selfless act makes Lucy fall for him all over again, and with all her doubts cast aside, she decides to get back together with him.
Stephen and Lucy’s Reunion is Not Without Conflicts
Stephen tells himself that he is getting back together with Lucy because that’s how it is meant to be. She knows all the worst things he has done and loves her in spite of it. He knows all the bad things Lucy has done, and still, he can’t seem to stay away from her. With Diana out of the picture, he sees Lucy as the only person he wants to be with. But then, Evan comes clean to Stephen about sleeping with Lucy last summer, which kicks Stephen’s worst side into action once again, and this already brews trouble in paradise.
The repercussions of Evan’s confession are felt eight years later, in 2015, when all the friends reunite at his and Bree’s wedding. Stephen promised Evan back then that he wouldn’t tell Bree about it yet, and he didn’t for seven years. It is on the wedding day itself that he decides to do it, potentially ruining the wedding for good, but that’s not the only thing he ruins. One would think that in seven years, Lucy has learned her lesson and would stay away from Stephen. But no, she is still under the same spell that he had on her years ago and is ready to ruin her relationship with Max just to make Stephen feel jealous. Her poolside antics work but also work against her when Max reads her texts and realizes the same thing Leo did all those years ago.
To make matters worse, Lucy sleeps with Stephen the next morning despite knowing that he is engaged to Lydia, her former best friend. But then, Stephen probably got together with Lydia to spite Lucy. He probably had that idea shortly after Evan told him about sleeping with Lucy because that’s when he crossed paths with Lydia, who came to Baird to help her brother pack. By that time, things had already tanked between her and Lucy after the latter lied about Chris sexually harassing her. Lydia even apologizes to Stephen because she now believes that Lucy may have lied about everything, which gives Stephen a clean slate in her eyes and explains why she would fall for him despite knowing everything he did to Lucy. Whatever may have been going through Lydia’s mind doesn’t matter anymore because, from the looks of it, Stephen and Lucy’s games are still in 2015, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if they get back together in this timeline as well.
Read More: Tell Me Lies: What did Lucy do to Lydia? Why is Lydia Angry with Lucy?
