<em>Tell Me Lies</em> Season 3 Premiere Recap: Lucy and Stephen Are at It Again

Spoilers below. Buckle up, TV’s most toxic romance (if you can even call it that) Tell Me Lies is back for a third season with a surprise three-episode premiere. The Hulu series wastes no time in jumping back into the mess that the season 2 finale left in its wake. Season 3 of Tell Me Lies picks up almost immediately after the deranged events of 2024’s season 2 as the gang returns to Baird College from their Christmas break, meaning there isn’t much distance from Wrigley’s (Spencer House) brother Drew’s (Benjamin Wadsworth) death, Lucy’s (Grace Van Patten) misguided rape accusation against Lydia’s (Natalee Linez) brother Chris (Jacob Rodriguez), her reunion with Stephen (Jackson White), Bree’s (Cat Missal) torrid affair with her married professor, and Stephen unearthing Evan (Branden Cook) and Lucy’s one-time hook up. How these college kids deal with the trauma and fallout from their decisions remains to be seen. Episode 1, “You Fucked It, Friend” Bree and Evan’s 2015 Wedding The first hour of the third season premiere opens at Bree and Evan’s wedding, moments after the bride-to-be receives an audio file from Stephen in which her future husband admits to cheating on her in college with her best friend, Lucy. Lucy watches Bree from afar, unaware of what’s on this recording, and she’s more concerned about Stephen’s whereabouts, still somehow enticed by him. Pippa (Sonia Mena), who seems to have distanced herself from much of the toxicity of this college friend group, reminds Lucy that he ruined her sophomore year, which she barely came back from, setting up the thesis of the third season. Bree doesn’t immediately retaliate or confront Lucy about what she just heard, but rather walks away wordlessly. When Lucy catches up to her, Bree has a surprising reaction to the recording: “I’m a terrible person,” she says without elaborating. “I’m probably the worst person you know.” We return to Bree’s wedding at the end of the episode, just as guests are getting seated before Bree walks down the aisle. Stephen arrives at the wedding with Lydia, making eye contact with Lucy during her bridesmaid entrance. Bree shakes off whatever memories that the recording unearthed and walks down the aisle, though her eyes also meet Stephen’s with a smug half-smile, almost like they have a secret beyond the recorded confession. The premiere ends with Bree and Evan saying “I do” before the camera lands on Lucy, who looks like she’s on the verge of tears, still trapped in this sick game with Stephen. Lucy and Stephen in 2009 Bree’s wedding is an ominous preamble to the bulk of the episode, which mostly occurs in January 2009, beginning to dig into exactly how Stephen ruined Lucy’s sophomore year. Lucy is doing a bad job of hiding the fact that she and Stephen are back together, knowing that her friends think it’s a very bad decision. “Stephen and I know each other so well,” Lucy reasons naively. “I don’t think he can surprise me at this...

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