Season 2 of the Hulu’s original series Tell Me Lies is almost here! Nearly two years after the first season debut on Sept. 7, 2022, there might be some people who don’t remember everything that happened during the season’s 10-episode run — and let me tell you — there was a lot.
If you’re unfamiliar with the show’s premise, it follows a group of college students in 2007 who attend Baird College in upstate New York. It’s at this school that viewers meet the two main characters, college freshman Lucy (Grace Van Patten) and college junior Stephen (Jackson White), as they find themselves in a toxic relationship that continues to plague them over the course of eight years — from their first meeting to the present day.
Mysteries, secrets, and a bit of true crime thematics emerge not only between Lucy and Stephen, but inside their friend group, raising doubts about this friendship’s longevity. With the Season 2 premiering on Sept. 4 with it’s first two episodes, it’s uncertain where this story will go.
Season 1 was a whirlwind and following that major cliffhanger in episode 10, a recap of everything that has happened so far in the show is definitely needed before Season 2.
Lucy and Stephen’s relationship Is tested.
Lucy and Stephen’s relationship is unquestionably one of the messiest in Tell me Lies. The couple become embroiled in a complex love triangle, where Stephen continues to pine for his ex-girlfriend Diana (Alicia Crowder) while sleeping with Lucy. When Stephen doesn’t reciprocate Lucy’s feelings she turns to Max (Edmund Donovan), the neighborhood bartender. In Season 1, Stephen tells Lucy their relationship was initially open, but Lucy still wants the two to be exclusive, even if she’s never admitted it to Stephen.
Stephen continued to sleep with his ex-girlfriend Diana, deceiving her into believing that he would never cheat on her again and that he wanted to be committed solely to her. Stephen breaks up with Diana in episode 6 after learning that she hooked up with Wrigley (Spencer House) during Welcome Week, something that he never fully got over. Lucy and Stephen gradually become closer, especially after Lucy learns about Drew’s (Benjamin Wadsworth) involvement in Macy’s (Lucy’s roommate) accident, which Lucy used against Stephen as an ultimatum to get him to be more honest with her.
That all comes to a head when Diana tells Stephen that Lucy is not good for him and is tying him down. They proceed to hold hands at the Hawaiian party towards the end of episode 10, which signifies a breakup to Lucy. Both Lucy and Evan (Branden Cook) get drunk during the party and wake up in the same bed the next day. Realizing what had happened, Lucy and Evan agree to keep their night together a secret — especially since Evan is in a relationship with Bree (Catherine Missal). In the present day, Lucy and Stephen reunite at Bree and Evan’s wedding, and Stephen introduces her to his fiancée Lydia — aka Lucy’s childhood best friend. Yikes. It’s unclear how Stephen and Lydia met, but this revelation is sure to lead to even more conflict in Season 2.
The details surrounding Macy’s accident are revealed.
In the first few episodes of Season 1, what happened the night of Macy’s (Lucy’s roommate) death has remained a mystery. It was reported that Macy’s car struck a tree after she attended a campus party by herself and apparently drove home drunk.
In episode 2, it is revealed that a bit more contributed to Macy’s premature death. Viewers eventually discover through Drew, Wrigley’s younger brother, that he played a significant role in Macy’s accident. Drew confesses to Stephen that he went out for a beer run that night when Macy’s car appeared. In an attempt to narrowly avoid a bad situation, he swerved his car, causing Macy’s car to hit a tree. Because Drew was underage and intoxicated himself, he panicked and fled the scene without calling for help.
For the rest of the season, viewers are made to believe Drew’s account of Macy’s death is accurate, but it’s soon revealed that Macy was not even driving her car the night of the accident. In an unexpected turn of events, viewers learn that Stephen was actually driving.
Throughout episode 10, viewers discover that Stephen and Macy were closer than they appeared, as they had hooked up that summer and throughout Welcome Week.
In a flashback scene, Stephen and Macy agree to go to the party together. After a brief argument about Stephen’s unwillingness to be seen in public with Macy (I’m starting to see this is a constant theme with him), they decide to return to the dorms while Stephen drove Macy’s car. They were both intoxicated and started to disagree again about the status of their relationship, which resulted in the collision with Drew. Stephen chose to leave Macy behind, but not before moving her to the driver’s seat and staging the scene as if it were a solo accident.
What really happened to Drew?
After the truth about what happened to Macy that night was revealed, the main concern on my mind is what will happen to Drew. In the Season 1 finale, Lucy anonymously writes a note to the Dean’s office, aiming to look more into Drew’s actions that night. Lucy has developed a grudge toward Drew since Stephen informed her that he was the cause of Macy’s death (although leaving out the part about his involvement), and she wants Drew to face the consequences of his actions.
Drew has struggled academically and mentally since the incident, rarely interacting with anyone like he used to. Viewers then see officers knock on his door before the scene skips to present day.
Drew does not appear to attend Bree and Evan’s wedding, and it’s suggested that he may have died, as Wrigley attends the wedding high and Evan asks the friend group to give him grace because it was his brother’s birthday. This could imply that something awful happened to Drew as a result of the events in college. I’m not sure what this means for Season 2 or if Drew’s disppearance will be explored further — but my bets are that it will.