Diksha Sundriyal
Hulu’s ‘Tell Me Lies’ follows the story of Lucy Albright, whose life takes a sharp turn after she goes to college and meets Stephen DeMarco. The attraction between them is mutual and things progress between them exponentially with every step they take in each other’s direction. However, the closer Lucy gets to him, the more complicated Stephen turns out to be. She finds it difficult to read his feelings, especially considering his relationship with his ex, Diana. The fact that Lucy’s friends don’t like him adds to the strain. For the audience as well, it becomes difficult to pinpoint Stephen’s intentions and motivations, establishing him as a complicated character. SPOILERS AHEAD
Stephen DeMarco Displays Sociopathic Tendencies
‘Tell Me Lies’ is an adaptation of Carola Lovering’s novel of the same name. It sticks pretty close to the author’s portrayal of the character, and this is where we find an answer to our question about Stephen’s character traits. At one point in the story, Lucy is so messed up following one of her breakups with Stephen, along with other things she had already been dealing with, that she decides to see a psychiatrist.
It is during one of their sessions, having heard a lot about Stephen and how he has acted so far, the doctor concludes that Stephen might have “narcissistic and sociopathic tendencies.” It is not a proper diagnosis because it has been made based on hearsay and not on an actual examination of Stephen’s personality. Even then, the doctor seems to have hit the mark, or comes pretty close to it, about him.
Lovering herself described Stephen as “the sociopathic womanizer,” which proves that while writing about him, she was extremely conscious of how he was presented to the reader. Moreover, the author loosely based the character on a Stephen-like man in her life, with whom she shared a complicated relationship for many years before it came to an end. She drew from his words and actions to mold Stephen’s character. Clearly, she must have given a lot of thought to the man and might even have discussed him with her own therapist to conclude that his lack of empathy and his constant manipulation suggest that he has some deep issues of his own.
Stephen DeMarco is More Complex Than He Appears
While watching ‘Tell Me Lies,’ it is pretty easy to hate Stephen. It makes no sense to see him destroy a perfectly good relationship with Diana and then manipulate every girl he sleeps around with, including Lucy. If it was just for his womanizing ways, one could write it off as his disinterest in monogamy and his acute lack of communication. What makes it worse is that he seems to enjoy the manipulations and it isn’t just with the girls he pulls into his snare, but also his so-called best friends, especially Wrigley, who reveres him. There is no word other than sociopath for him. However, actor Jackson White, who plays Stephen, tends to disagree. He sees Stephen as a complicated person, just like everyone else, molded by his childhood traumas and his family situation.
One of the things that the show does differently from the book is to actively humanize Stephen. While we see his bad side, we also see the times when he is good, which explains why someone would be attracted to him. Above all, we get a glimpse into his family life, especially the relationship her has with his mother, and that explains a lot of stuff. White sees this as the trauma that has been sustained through Stephen and is now manifesting in his relationship with his friends and girlfriends.
The book has a different version of it, but in the show, we see that Stephen’s mother is just as, if not more, manipulative than him. Clearly, she has her own issues to figure out, but instead of getting help, she projects all of that toxicity on her children, which makes them want to escape her vicinity, which makes her hold on to them even tighter, creating a vicious cycle that impacts their psyche. Stephen, particularly, is affected by it, and because he has been manipulated his entire life, this behavior has been normalized for him so much that he doesn’t hesitate to do the same thing to the people around him, even though he knows how hurtful it can all be.
While the situation at his home explains his behavior, it is in no way an excuse for what he does. His suffering could have made him more empathetic to people. Instead, his trauma is so internalized that he becomes the very thing he hates (his mother). He creates another cycle of lies and manipulations and carries the trauma forward while making other people suffer for it, even if it is the ones who actually do love him and care about him.
