‘Tell Me Lies’ Star Grace Van Patten Breaks Down Show’s ‘Hopeful Ending,’ Confirms Finale Was ‘Final Straw’ With Stephen

Note: This story contains spoilers from “Tell Me Lies” Season 3, Episode 8.

Even before the official announcement that “Tell Me Lies” would be ending with its third season, series star Grace Van Patten knew Lucy had reached her “final straw” with Jackson White’s Stephen DeMarco after that jaw-dropping finale.

After chaos erupted at Bree and Evan’s wedding and truths were unveiled that permanently altered the friend group forever — including the discovery that Bree released the tape that got Lucy expelled — the finale saw Lucy trust Stephen again as she left the wedding with him against the stern advice of Bree.

Even though Lucy knew there was a rather large chance Stephen would screw her over again, she rode off into the sunset with him, a fantasy he entertained until he ditched her at a gas station, leaving her in the dust.

“People get caught in these vicious cycles and unless you completely are done and cut it off and tell yourself that it’s done, you’re going to continue to go back … she has still not broken that cycle,” Van Patten said. “What I love is that this time, there’s a sense of relief in that for Lucy [with] him proving to her that he is so predictable. I think [it] finally gives her the relief and the freedom … almost like ‘Thank you for showing me this one last time.'”

While Lucy was initially shocked to not see Stephen there, her stunned reaction eventually turned into a laugh, which Van Patten said was the “only thing that felt right.”

“It’s immediate shock, and like ‘holy s–t,’ you think she might cry, and then she starts cracking up because it’s ridiculous,” Van Patten said. “You see how crazy that relationship has been and how stupid she’s been to go back multiple times. I think she finally has an awareness of it, and I think the awareness gives her a lot of freedom and relief.”

Van Patten described the betrayal as “the final straw,” saying “that is what she needed at that point in her life.”

“I do imagine that she mends things with Bree — I hope that the instance of Stephen leaving her again encourages her to really solidify the relationships that matter in her life,” Van Patten added. “I’d like to think it’s a hopeful ending, even though it’s so messed up that he did that … there’s hope in there.”

Though this interview was conducted prior to cast and crew finding out that the third season would, in fact, be the last, Van Patten noted the Season 3 finale could work as both a series finale as well as the lead-in for a new season. “No matter which way it goes, it would work, but it does feel final in a lot of ways,” Van Patten shared at the time. “But also, there are amazing writers that are part of this show, and I’m sure they figure out a way they continue to tell the story as well.”

Below, Van Patten breaks down all of the finale’s tumultuous turns, and outlines the future she hopes for Lucy.

TheWrap: The first of Lucy’s downfalls happens when she tells Pippa she slept with Evan and Pippa immediately turns on her. Did Lucy anticipate that strong of a reaction and what does this mean for their friendship?

Van Patten: Lucy is all over the place mentally the whole season, but [in] Episode 8, she really starts to spiral in a dark kind of dissociative way, and her impulses are very incorrect. I think she’s desperately searching for relief of all of these mistakes she’s made, and I think desperate to get a lot of things off of her chest, and she saw an opening with Pippa, and maybe had thought that Pippa would understand, and it completely had the opposite reaction. Sonia [Mena] and I just did a reaction to that scene, and we watched it together and it’s not funny, but to think that Lucy thinks that’s the same thing, is really sad and just shows her judgment. It’s just like a very good depiction of Lucy’s moral judgment, but I also understand that she was really wanting to be free from one of her many secrets. It just wasn’t the reaction she was thinking.

Things really start getting bad for Lucy when the tape is released. What does she assume happened, especially after Stephen gaslights her that she released it?

I think gaslighting completely worked. She has been totally in the clouds and very foggy — she’s been forgetting things, and she’s been showing up at Stephen’s dorm room — so [she’s] very mentally unwell at this point. I think there’s totally a part of her that may be considered that she was the one who released it, but I think also deep, deep in her heart, she expects that it was Stephen, because who else would? That was such a scary film scene when she’s running across to Stephen in the courtyard, and he’s like, “You did this,” and you see Lucy actually consider that she did. It’s just so sad.

Lucy seems just like a shell of a human going to Alex and then later receiving her expulsion and packing up her dorm. How did you want to play those moments, given the psychological warfare she’s been dealing with?

It’s just a complete numbness. She has no outlet. She’s not talking to anyone about her feelings. She’s just trying to push through, and I think all of that weight is finally, completely bringing her down and she’s lost a sense of reality, almost. For the first time, she’s seeing no way out. In past seasons, you’ve seen her find a way or plan a way out, or lie again to cover the last one up and and for the first time you see there’s no Plan B with this one.

That wedding scene was just crazy. Stephen reveals that Bree knew about her and Evan and in the same breath says Bree released the tape. What’s going through her head now?

That was such a fun scene, with Jackson’s speech, cake throwing and the complete chaos. It was so much fun to watch. I felt like I was watching a play. Stephen just smoked everything in that speech and completely rattles everyone’s life. I think Lucy is in complete shock that it was Bree, [she] cannot even begin to understand how that could be possible. And once again, that just creates another opening to go back to Stephen, unfortunately.

Lucy’s still clearly playing mind games with Stephen, but how do you imagine knowing Bree sent the tape impacts her mental state? What does that mean for her relationship with Bree?

I think Lucy is so confused in that moment, and I do think that there has been some healing since college. But … that makes it even more so when Stephen says, “come with me” — Lucy’s like, “maybe I can handle it this time, because I’m more healed,” and she was just wrong again. But I don’t think she’s even thinking about anyone else in that moment. That’s the power of a relationship with Stephen. The blinders go on and there’s no one else in the room, and no other relationship matters.

What are your hopes for Lucy?

Mending her relationship with Bree and Pippa and maybe Max, because he’s a good guy, but there’s no way Max is going back to Lucy. Maybe Lucy finds a healthy, communicative, stable man, and she learns from that and can be her best self — find somebody that like allows her to be her best self and and maybe hopefully goes to therapy as well.

Do you think Lucy is in a place to accept Bree’s apology?

Maybe not right away. But I think once Lucy goes back home to her life, she doesn’t have Max, it doesn’t have Stephen, she doesn’t have Bree, so hopefully that’ll push her to reevaluate things and make her priorities straight.

You just have taken Lucy to such a fragile state this season. What’s it been like crafting that arc?

It feels weird to say [but] I love where Lucy went, because it’s so dark, it’s so tragic, but I think it was really important to show the consequences of all of her actions, and that she is facing them — she did mess up a lot, and she’s really feeling it now. I think she would cover up her mistakes with more mistakes in past seasons, and you really see her try this season, and just is incapable of it. And I think it just shows the weight of what a relationship like that can be, and the toll it can take on a person if you don’t take care of yourself.

“Tell Me Lies” Seasons 1-3 are now streaming on Hulu.

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