Once everyone has gathered themselves, checked the locks on the door, and taken a cold shower, perhaps we should talk about the Tell Me Lies season 3 ending. Because yeah, a lot happened.
We were all so innocent when we first met this crew of miscreants back in season one. Wrigley and Pippa were in love. Bree was shooting her shot with Evan. And Lucy and Stephen’s nightmarish situationship had only just begun. To say that everything has changed by the season three finale episode would be a major understatement.
As series creator Meaghan Oppenheimer wrote in a letter to fans confirming that season 3 would be the final installment of the show, it was always going to end this way. So let’s dive in. This is the Tell Me Lies ending, explained.
What happened with the tape?
First things first, we have to talk about that incriminating tape Stephen coerced Lucy into making. In the video, Lucy admits to lying about being sexually assaulted, and says she did it for attention. In the penultimate episode, Stephen returns the tape to Lucy, and she thinks she’s free. But, in the end, it gets released anyway.
Lucy initially thought that Stephen had made a copy of the tape and released it himself, but it turns out, it was actually Bree.
Having just discovered that Evan cheated on her with Lucy in freshman year, Bree is out for blood. She found the tape in Lucy’s things, we assume, and released it as revenge—not knowing that Lucy had been covering for Pippa the whole time.
Did Stephen ever get punished?
Everyone agrees that Stephen should have to pay for his crimes, but no one knows how to go about it. Lucy tries, and fails, to warn a Yale Law representative at a welcome brunch. Yet, in the middle of the episode, Stephen gets a call from the university, informing him that his acceptance has been rescinded after they discovered his unbecoming behavior.
Pippa had just told Wrigley about Stephen sending nude photos of Diana to her father. And, apparently, Wrigley passed this information on to Yale. The university representative tells Stephen his acceptance was revoked because they discovered he had been disseminating pornographic material of his classmates.
What happened with Bree, Wrigley, and Evan?
The show tells us that Bree and Evan go through with their wedding ceremony before her affair with Wrigley had been resolved. Now we know that Wrigley and Bree never picked up where they left off after their first kiss. Not until Bree and Evan’s rehearsal dinner, which is when they have sex for the first time.
After the ceremony, a few months later, Stephen grabs a microphone and reveals the truth to everyone—including about Wrigley and Bree’s affair. In response, all hell breaks loose, of course, including Evan getting in Wrigley’s face. However, throughout, Bree and Wrigley are seen gazing at each other across the dance floor, leading the audience to assume that they’re going to make their relationship official pretty soon.
What happened with Pippa and Diana?
At some point, they must have gotten back together after their breakup in 2009. After the wedding ends in Stephen’s drama, the two of them leave together. So, one can only assume they are happy.
Did anything happen to Oliver?
He and Marianne, with Amanda’s help, convince Bree’s mom that Bree has made their affair all up in her head. They basically threaten to destroy Bree’s academic career if she tries to report Oliver. This was especially brutal coming from Marianne, who seemed for a moment that she took pity on Bree.
Did we ever find out why Stephen was sabotaging the wedding, by the way?
He’s Stephen. Does he need a reason?
Are Lucy and Stephen back together?
After Stephen reveals that Bree is the one who released the tape at Bree and Evan’s wedding, Lucy is feeling betrayed. So, he asks her to leave with him rather than stay with her friends. And she does.