The end of Tell Me Lies

** Warning – this article may contain spoilers. DO NOT read if you have not finished the final episode of Tell Me Lies.

If there’s one thing the finale of “Tell Me Lies” proved, it’s that toxic love stories don’t end, they linger and look for you in a crowded room.

From the very first episode, “Tell Me Lies” has thrived on chaos and utter disrespect that individuals could bear to each other, featuring messy hookups, a lack of loyalty to your friends and the kind of emotional manipulation that feels almost too real. But the finale didn’t rely on explosive twists or dramatic monologues to land its punch. Instead, it did something worse: it showed us how easily people slip back into patterns they swore they’d outgrown, and how easy it can be to uncover the truth about people you swore you knew.

The relationship between main characters Lucy Albright and Stephen DeMarco has always felt less like a romance and more like a power struggle disguised as passion. In the finale, that tension simmers under every glance and half-finished sentence, to the point where Lucy can quite literally feel Stephen’s presence from a mile away. Stephen, as always, remains calculated, emotionally evasive and two steps ahead. Lucy, despite her “growth” she swore she made, still finds herself orbiting the very person who dismantled her self-worth. It’s frustrating and a difficult watch, but that’s exactly the point.

The Drama

The finale ends with the ultimate chaos of everyone’s secrets over the past three seasons being exposed, but what was not surprising was the fact that Stephen was the one to exploit it all.

Bree and Wrigley’s secret love affair coming to shore was not surprising at all from the minute we saw Stephen pick up Wrigley’s phone at the wedding, which was most likely left unlocked on purpose. It was about time for someone to call off that wedding because the true love story was between Wrigley and Bree all along.

Lucy, being wrapped around Stephen’s finger per usual, leaves the crashing wedding with him, abandoning the friendships she had made, but what nobody seems to understand is that Lucy leaving with him is Lucy coming out on top. Lucy knew that without “letting Stephen win,” she would never get away from the toxic relationship that had been going on for too many years to count. She made Stephen think he had her, and that he had the ability to leave her (which he did, he left her at the gas station) — when in reality, Lucy knew all along what Stephen would do, and leaving with him would be her only chance to get away.

What makes the episode hit especially hard is its brutal honesty about emerging adulthood. It unveils the false reality of what college is supposed to be like. College is supposed to be the era of self-discovery and finding true friendships, but “Tell Me Lies” suggests it’s just as much about self-destruction and destroying those around you.

The Chaos

For a show built on secrets and lies, the finale feels painfully honest. Why wouldn’t a show that was 99% chaos the entire time end on a chaotic event that was almost comical?

While we will never know the true ending of where Lucy ends up, if she rekindles her friendships with Pippa and Bree, or if Bree and Wrigley get their happy ending, we know one thing that “Tell Me Lies” has taught us: love in your early 20s can feel cinematic and catastrophic all at once. The hardest lesson to learn isn’t how to let someone go, but how to stop letting them come back.

How do you feel about the ending of “Tell Me Lies?” Let us know on  @VALLEYmag  on Instagram!

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