The Ending Of Tell Me Lies Is Perfect — And The Only Way To Close Out This Story

Don't attending the wedding if you haven't watched "Are You Happy Now, That I'm on My Knees?", the series finale of "Tell Me Lies." Massive spoilers ahead!

When I got the opportunity to speak to Meaghan Oppenheimer, the creator and showrunner behind the Hulu original series "Tell Me Lies," I had no idea that the show would definitively end after the season 3 finale. Now that I know this concludes the story of Lucy Albright (Grace van Patten), Stephen DeMarco (Jackson White), and their toxic, deranged friend group from the fictional Baird College, I have an announcement as well: This finale is perfect, Oppenheimer crushed it, and I wouldn't change a single thing.

At first glance, the conclusion of this episode feels like it could set up another season, and it also feels almost inconclusive. After Bree (Cat Missal) and Evan's (Branden Cook) wedding is utterly derailed by a series of shocking revelations — specifically, that Bree has been having an affair with Evan's best friend Wrigley (Spencer House) and is the one responsible for releasing a damaging video that got Lucy expelled from Baird years prior — Stephen, Lucy's toxic on-again, off-again boyfriend, convinces her to flee with him. Despite me screaming at my television for her to get away from this cretin, Lucy gets in the car. The two stop for gas, and Lucy goes inside to get coffees ... only to find Stephen gone, her purse resting on the ground. Lucy laughs, and the show ends.

People will probably complain about this, and it's a fair critique to say the show did leave a bunch of loose plot threads behind. This was Oppenheimer's call, though, and it was the right one. This story had to end with one final betrayal from Stephen ... and acceptance from Lucy.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Meaghan Oppenheimer made herself quite clear: As horrible as Stephen is (and he really is), he was never going to be held accountable. As Oppenheimer put it, she decided early in the show's process that Stephen would not "get justice," but that he would end up destroying his own life and pursuit of happiness. "I wanted Stephen to be so committed to winning and to beating Lucy and to inflicting pain on her and having the last word, that it undermined his own happiness," she shared. "So he does destroy all of his relationships."

So why does Stephen need to leave Lucy at the gas station, so to speak? It actually comes back to a conversation Lucy has in season 3 with Stephen's other ex-girlfriend, Diana (Alicia Crowder), who reminds Lucy that Stephen is an unrepentant sociopath and that he'll never, ever, ever leave well enough alone. That's how Oppenheimer decided to end the show, in a way that she says actually frees Lucy from Stephen's clutches. As she put it:

"I realized that as satisfying as it would be for Lucy to have the last word and reject him, that would not have actually freed her because Stephen will always come back unless he gets to be the one to reject someone. He will always come back if he's rejected because he has to have the final word. He did with Diana, he's done it with Lucy. So this actually is the one thing to free her."

This is completely true. Oppenheimer revealed to me that she hesitated with this ending, but ultimately, she made the right call.

I've used the word "toxic" to describe the overall vibe of the relationships on "Tell Me Lies," but the truth is that Lucy and Stephen's story isn't merely toxic, it's downright abusive. Stephen absolutely torments Lucy, often leaving her clinging to a shred of her tattered mental health as he abandons her, uses her, humiliates her publicly, and shows zero regard for her well-being. Then, when Lucy is fully broken, Stephen swoops in to "save" her, just like he does when he asks her to leave the wedding with him. This cycle, left alone, would never end; Stephen needs someone to victimize, and Lucy is readily available for this treatment during "Tell Me Lies." It's hard to watch, and it also feels bitterly real to anybody who has experienced emotional abuse in a relationship.

In order to finally break free from Stephen's years-long control (as a reminder, "Tell Me Lies" takes place in both 2009 and 2015, with Lucy in Stephen's clutches to some extent across both timelines), Lucy has to give in one last time and, in a way, "let him win." Her laugh at the gas station, which serves as the final coda on the entire series, is cathartic, earned, and beautifully performed by Grace van Patten (who, alongside Jackson White, should get Emmy consideration for this turn). Really, how else could the story of the world's most toxic college relationship end besides bitter disappointment and with one final, gutting betrayal? That laugh from Lucy which concludes "Tell Me Lies" is beautiful, fitting, and heartbreaking — Lucy is finally free, and nothing has ever been quite as exquisitely painful. 

All of "Tell Me Lies" is currently streaming on Hulu.