Diksha Sundriyal
The third season of Hulu’s ‘Tell Me Lies‘ increases the level of chaos and toxicity as Lucy and her friends make yet another series of questionable decisions that lead them down a dark path. Lucy, especially, spirals in this season, with the weight of her secrets, and more with the fact that Stephen knows about them and holds them over her like a sword ready to drop. The finale is fed by this chaos to deliver a truly shocking ending to the season, which makes one wonder if this is really the end. Is there still a way to come back from the bombshells that have been dropped, thanks to Stephen?
Tell Me Lies was Supposed to End With Three Seasons
The third season of ‘Tell Me Lies’ ends on a somewhat definitive note for the characters. Lucy hits her rock bottom as her tape is released and she is expelled from Baird, which also ruins her plan to study abroad next semester. Bree, who released the tape over the anger she had for Lucy and Evan cheating on her, feels guilty about how far the consequences went for her friend. Believing that Wrigley is still with Pippa, she decides to get back together with Evan after confronting him about Lucy. Pippa comes clean to Wrigley about her sexuality, and though they don’t talk about Diana or Bree, it’s clear that they will have this conversation somewhere down the line. Stephen gets his due when someone reports him, and he is let go by Yale.
With Lucy expelled and Stephen and Diana ready to leave Baird behind, half the board is wiped clean. In that case, there seems to be no point in returning to Baird. As for the 2015 timeline, the finale leaves little room for further exploration. Diana and Pippa are happily in love, and when things get out of hand after Stephen’s revelations, they decide to leave immediately, showing that they prefer to stay away from all the drama. Then there is the issue of Wrigley and Bree’s secret romance no longer being a secret. While Evan is angry, Wrigley doesn’t seem too bothered. In fact, he seems happy and relieved, because now perhaps, he and Bree can finally be together.
According to showrunner Meaghan Oppenheimer, ‘Tell Me Lies’ was always supposed to end this way. She revealed that she knew where she wanted the story to go and how she wanted it to end, and the third season seemed like a good place to stop. She preferred the idea of giving a proper ending to the story and wrapping it up with a high note, rather than continuing to drag it on and losing quality in the process. This is why the third season’s ending was written in a way that satisfies the audience and gives the characters a fitting end to their chaotic and turbulent stories.
Tell Me Lies Season 4 Would Have Had to Take a Time Jump
Given the way the third season ends, a point of no return is reached for all the characters. However, were the show to return for another season or perhaps a TV movie, a time jump of at least two years would be necessary to give the characters enough space to figure out where to go after Baird. In that time period, Lucy would get enough time to get back on her feet, while it would be interesting to see what happened to Stephen now that he can’t go to Yale. This time period could also fill in the gaps before we catch up with Bree’s engagement party, to figure out how Lucy and Max reconnected, and how Stephen found his way to entrapping Lydia in his wild scheme to get back at Lucy. We could also get the rekindling of Pippa and Diana’s romance.
Meanwhile, in the 2015 timeline, Bree’s marriage to Evan is destroyed. Still, one cannot be completely sure until it actually happens, because Evan seemed pretty hell-bent on keeping Bree to himself in college. Perhaps, he still wants to do that, and this could lead him to do something even more unhinged, which we know he is capable of, considering how he ruined Bree’s relationship with her mother. The show could also bring back Tom Ellis’ Oliver and Gabriella Pession’s Marianne to resolve that storyline, bringing Oliver to justice. It would also be great to see Jacob Rodriguez’s Chris be brought to justice for his crimes against the girls of Baird. But most importantly, it would be great to see Stephen get his due, even if to see what became of him after Baird, without Yale.
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