TV Recap: ‘Tell Me Lies’ Season 2, Episode 7 [+ Commentary] A Pair of Earrings Shook Stuff Up

‘Tis the season to be messy. With the one episode left, and no news of a season three, yet, I’m hoping we get much needed answers to questions that have been brewing all season of Tell Me Lies. In season 2, episode 7, called “I’m Not Drowning Fast Enough,” a bunch of nothing was happening again. Yes, there were pivotal moments that happened, but it was more chess pieces being moved. This season has been a slow build and I think the last episode, just like the finale of season 1, will blow my mind. Let’s get into the latest episode.

The episode opens back at Macy’s accident, and I already knew this was a dream. Stephen checks to see if Macy is alive and then Lucy opens the door, helps Stephen out and moves Macy into the driver’s seat. She tells him “You’re okay” while caressing his face. Then Stephen is back in bed with Diana noticeably shaken up by this dream. From their last conversation Stephen could be seeing how Lucy is the only one who is willing to love his dark side and it’s showing up in his subconscious.

Bree is looking at pictures from Thanksgiving when Lucy enters Pippa and Bree’s dorm room. Bree isn’t too happy with the way the pictures came out and blames it on her cheap camera. Lucy still hasn’t talked to Leo and tells Pippa and Bree that she shouldn’t have been in a relationship and Pippa says she hasn’t talked to Diana since the Thanksgiving slap. Lucy also talks about how her and Leo would have never worked because he only wanted to see the good stuff in her and the one good thing about Stephen is that there was nothing she could do to turn him off and that she could tell him what to do sexually and he’d oblige. Pippa looks a bit uncomfortable with the conversation because in season one she did state she fakes it for men’s approval and in this season she told Wrigley the same thing. Bree interjects that she’s not for casual hookups and wouldn’t be able to climax that way. Pippa asks the girls what they are doing that evening, and they say they are going to a party at Marianne’s. Because of Bree’s relationship with Oliver, it’s obvious why she doesn’t want to go, but it would be strange if she’s the only student invited that doesn’t show up.

Elsewhere, Wrigley is trying to get his life together by asking for a job recommendation from his former coach. The coach is basically like no, you’re not qualified and I’m not putting my reputation on the line for a slacker. The coach further presses that Wrigley has been absent-minded and we know that’s because of the stuff with Drew. He calls him and Drew is still not picking up. Bree goes to see Oliver in his office and he’s busy wrapping up things for the end of term. They have a little make out session and talk about their separate plans for the holidays, Oliver and Marianne are going to London and will be there through New Years while Bree doesn’t have concrete plans. Bree asks Oliver about going to the Christmas party even though she’ll be uncomfortable, and he said she should go if she wants to. Oliver then presents her with a Christmas present – a brand-new high-quality camera. Of course, this will be further fuel for her delusion that they are actually in a real relationship. Bree tries to tempt him to go to their love nest but he declines.

At dinner, Diana and Stephen chat about his sister. She’s still not talking to him after Lucy forwarded that vile voicemail and Diana offers to talk to her for him, but Stephen says he’d rather Diana has a talk with her dad. I’m not sure why Diana doesn’t see this, but Stephen is using her for her clout and access. His only concern is what’s going to happen to him if Diana doesn’t patch things up with her dad. He’s dependent on a recommendation letter from her dad. Diana says she’s burnt out and Stephen questions what is so stressful in her life. The waitress comes back to the table after Diana’s card has been declined. Diana’s dad cut her off and that’s just another nail in the coffin in Stephen’s head. He’s so checked out of this relationship now that it’s no longer serving him.

Bree and Lucy are dressed fancy and head into Marianne’s Christmas party. They run into Marianne as soon as they enter and help her with cases of wine into the kitchen. She offers then champagne and says this party is her favorite tradition because it reminds her of grad school or “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” Bree is making things super obvious and super awkward mentioning Marianne’s Christmas tree. Bree makes eye contact with Oliver and flashes the earrings Evan gave her for her birthday. Those becomes very important later.

Evan is online trying to decipher who the older man Bree is seeing and gets Stephen involved. WHY do people insist of telling Stephen important things or involving him on things we know will backfire. Diana calls Stephen and he ignores it. Stephen then vents about Diana not trying to pull herself out of her current funk and that if the roles were reversed he’s not sure she would stay. Pippa and Wrigley are hanging in his dorm, and he tells her about his coach denying his recommendation. Wrigley misses Drew and wishes he would talk to him. Pippa tries to comfort him by playing Halo with him and tells Wrigley Drew needs time. While looking for the other controller, Pippa finds Stephen’s resume and professional head shot. Wrigley and Pippa joke about it then Wrigley asks why Pippa hasn’t hooked up with anyone. She doesn’t want the work of meeting someone new. Pippa confides in Wrigley that she likes someone and reveals it’s a girl. We know that girl is Diana, but Pippa doesn’t say and asks Wrigley not to say anything because he’s the only one she told. They tell each other they are besties.

Back at the party, Bree is getting a bunch of attention from co-eds and Lucy takes an opportunity to chat with Caitie. They small talk about their writing assignments from the semester. Caitie seems despondent and wants the semester to be over. Things seem to have not been good for her since the assault from Chris. Caitie walks away and Marianne brings over her husband, Oliver, to introduce him to Lucy. Lucy is being condescending in her interaction with him and he peeps it and walks away. Marianne comes back and pays Lucy a compliment on how well she’s been doing this semester. The cogs are ticking, and I just know Lucy is itching to open up her mouth about Bree and Oliver to Marianne.

Bree and Oliver have a in plain sight flirt at the party when he tells her to wipe off her lipstick and meet her in a back room by the stairs. They have sex and during Bree notices all of Marianne’s underwear drying on a rack and the moving feet outside of the door. Bree asks for something to clean herself up with and Oliver hands her an article of Marianne’s clothing. Bree proceeds to freak out finally realizing how wrong this arrangement is. Oliver knows exactly how to pacify her and tells her he loves her. Bree says it back and she starts to calm down. As Bree exits the room, Lucy sees and flashes a judgmental glare. Oliver goes right up to Marianne lovingly after the laundry room hook up like he didn’t just have Bree bent over a washing machine. Bree feels some type of way, so she takes off her earrings and leaves them in the pocket of a pair of Oliver’s pants in the laundry room. AGAIN, pay attention to these earrings.

It’s the next morning and Pippa stayed the night with Wrigley. They hook up and probably for the first time in their relationship had good sex because Pippa articulated what she wanted. Diana walks in while Pippa and Wrigley are in bed looking for Stephen and Wrigley tells Diana he thought Stephen was with her. Bree brings coffee to Lucy and Lucy says that Bree doesn’t need to apologize, and Bree informs Lucy that she’s not there for that. Bree does apologize if Lucy was uncomfortable, but she’s not sorry about her relationship. Lucy tries to get Bree to see that her “relationship” with Oliver is not what she thinks it is, but Bree voices that she likes having someone there for her and basically Lucy takes the people she has in her life for granted. Judge Judy aka Lucy again tries to reason with Bree and gets her to see this doesn’t end well.

While out on a jog, Lucy runs into Stephen. He asks about Leo and says he’s an idiot for basically not forgiving Lucy. Here Stephen go planting seeds. He does this manipulation thing so easily it’s scary. After Lucy’s run she gets a call from Lydia. Caitie’s assault charges against Chris have been dismissed. He was put before a disciplinary board but there wasn’t enough evidence to move forward. Lucy tells Pippa and Pippa tells Lucy that she remembers some things from that night, but it doesn’t matter because no one believed Caitie. Sad.

Stephen goes back to his room and Wrigley comments on him being in good standing after obviously lying to Diana about where he was. Wrigley tells Stephen how Diana walked in on him and Pippa. Stephen questions if Wrigley has spoken to Drew and if it’s a good idea to hang around the person who wrote the letter that destroyed his brother’s life. Again with the manipulation because he knows Lucy wrote it. Wrigley asks Stephen if he’s mad at him for something and brings up hooking up with Diana. Stephen flips the script and somehow makes Wrigley seem like the bad guy. He’s very good at this.

At the local bar, because there must only be one, Lucy and Pippa are joined by Wrigley and his football friend when Diana and Molly walk in. Wrigley’s friend asks about the case with Chris because Molly was on the board. Molly and the friend think Caitie had a bad night drinking, regretted it and made up the story about Chris. Lucy, triggered and don’t know how to mind her own business, says that Chris did the same exact thing to her. She proceeds to tell the group Chris gave her a beer and that she was incoherent because of it. Basically, she tells Pippa’s story. Like….WTF LUCY!!!This is NOT your story to tell. I get wanting to defend your friend, especially when Pippa is having a hard time with this and hasn’t talked about what happened to her at all, but now Lucy made matters worse because she DID lie and gave Chris a get out of jail free card because of it.

In the bathroom at the bar, Lucy apologies and says someone needed to defend Caitie and Pippa and again Pippa brushes it off. At the bar, Molly is telling Diana what Lucy said and Lucy sulks and walks out looking dumb. As she should. Diana tries to pull Pippa away to talk to her and Wrigley jokingly mentions Pippa doesn’t have to worry about men being terrible because she’s only hooking up with girls. RIGHT in front of Diana, THEE girl Pippa likes. Wrigley don’t know. Diana don’t know, but it was enough for Pippa to crash out on Wrigley telling him he’s a pathetic joke before leaving the bar.

Diana goes to Lucy’s room and drags her. And SHOULD saying what she said is not only damaging to the current situation but any accusations in the future. SMH. The next day, Wrigley is a crying mess and tells Pippa he’s sorry that he’s such a “fuck up” and there’s “no point to him.” Wrigley clearly needs HELP. All these kids do. Where are the college counselors, mentors, RA’s, or PARENTS. These kids are so lost and it’s sad. They are looking for solace from their peers and they are just as misguided as them.

Lucy gets a voicemail from Lydia cursing her out because Chris heard what Lucy said about him. This is the end of their friendship, and I called this from the moment the stuff with Pippa and Chris started. HOW did Lydia and Stephen get together is the main question I need answers to. Now I’m thinking it could have been Lydia’s idea to get back at Lucy. Stephen and Diana finally have a conversation, but he’s tired of hearing about her champagne problems. Diana tries to distract Stephen with sex, but he stops it. He asks Diana if she could be with him if he’s as terrible as people say he is, and she says he’s not that. Diana gets a text from Pippa. Stephen is telling Diana exactly who he is and she’s not listening.

Stephen says he can’t do this and leaves. In class, Bree in checking her phone and has no messages from Oliver. Marianne then pushes back her hair when entering the class and Bree sees the earrings she left in Oliver’s pants. Haha dummy. Now you don’t have no expensive earrings or a man. Bree was my girl in season 1, but now she’s just being simple. You can be a hoe or stupid, but you can’t be a stupid hoe. Stephen goes to Lucy’s dorm, and they have a conservation. They agree they both are terrible people and love each other anyway. The once ajar door is shut by Lucy and the episode ends. Stephen done wormed his way back into Lucy’s life.

The season 2 finale of Tell Me Lies airs Wednesdays, October 16 on Hulu. (And I can’t WAIT)

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Photo: Hulu