Note: This story contains spoilers from “Tell Me Lies” Season 2 Episode 6.
As “Tell Me Lies” hinges closer to its Season 2 finale, Episode 6 sees an explosive confrontation that star Grace Van Patten identifies as a “turning point” for Lucy — and Stephen.
With tensions already high during a snowed-in Thanksgiving, Stephen (Jackson White) tries his hardest to interrupt the carefree romance between Lucy (Van Patten) and Leo (Thomas Doherty), and eventually hits one of Lucy’s buttons when Stephen reveals Leo’s ex-girlfriend cheated on him with Stephen. Lucy lashes out at Stephen — and Diana (Alicia Crowder) via a drunken slap — which hits a switch for Leo.
Overwhelmed by the situation, Leo tells Lucy the dynamic reminds him of his strained childhood and breaks up with Lucy. Feeling ashamed of herself, Lucy doesn’t fight for their relationship, with Van Patten saying her character “knows she’s not capable of … reciprocating love.”
“She knows that she’s still so caught up with Stephen, but doesn’t want to admit it, and by staying with him, would be having to admit that she’s still caught up with him,” Van Patten told TheWrap. “She just puts on a prideful face and lets it happen, because I think deep down, she knows she really shouldn’t be with anybody right now.”
Breaking things off with Leo stands as a “turning point” for Van Patten, who teases the rest of the season follows how “Lucy and Stephen’s dynamic starts to shift and why they get drawn to each other again.”
Below, Van Patten unpacks Episode 6’s whirlwind of events, including Lucy’s shocking decision in 2015, and how that toxic behavior fills in the gaps between 2008 and 2015.
TheWrap: The episode starts out with Lucy finds out that Diana and Pippa have been dating in 2015. What is her initial reaction?
Grace Van Patten: I think it’s pretty in tune with what the audience will be [thinking], like “what, how, when, why?” [and] asking all of these questions. It’s so far in the future — it’s eight years later — so I don’t think Lucy’s going back to the Thanksgiving episode where she’s like, “They were being weird; they were being friendly. Pippa is not being loyal to me.” I think it’s more shock and in need of an explanation.
This is also when we see 2015 Lucy lure Stephen to the pool to watch her hook up with Max. What did you think of that scene?
It’s so brutal. Poor Max, poor Max. He’s such a good guy. And Lucy is just … I guess you accept the love you think you deserve, so Lucy clearly does not think she deserves a nice, nice man, and she completely sabotages anything good in her life up to this point. So it tracks, but it was pretty tragic to read, just [to] think that she’s capable of something like that eight years later.
It’s one of the first moments we see Lucy getting close Stephen levels of toxic. What does this moment tell us about what’s transpired since college and where Lucy is at by 2015?
I can only imagine that the vicious cycle continues. If it’s still happening eight years later, I can’t imagine that there’s a moment of calm between them. I assume that it’s a consistent cycle that is always toxic, and they’re always wronging each other, and that’s part of it – That’s part of their addiction to one another. So I imagine Stephen breaks her heart even more so that Lucy still feels like she needs vengeance in the future.
In the 2008 storyline, Episode 6 sees the disaster Thanksgiving episode, when Stephen reveals that Leo’s ex, Becca, cheated with Stephen. Why does this fact bother Lucy so much?
I think it’s so scary to Lucy because, for the first time, she trusted this guy, and he seemed like he was different in the way that he was vulnerable and open with his emotions and transparent. Lucy had been projecting her trauma with Stephen onto Leo, already expecting him to lie, expecting him to do the things that Stephen would do, so I think that moment was this confirmation of, “Oh my god, you’re just like him. You’re lying to me, you’re doing this.” It’s like the validation of those fears came to life, and her trust issues flared up, and the fact that it had to do with something Stephen, I think, was just extra mortifying knowing that Stephen had something on Lucy that she wasn’t in on.
Eventually Lucy cracks and tells off Stephen and slaps Diana. Why did that slap happen?
I tried to justify that [because] … like two seconds ago, we were all slapping each other, so … the instinct was in the body. I would hope that Lucy wouldn’t do that if they weren’t playing slap shots, but I think … Lucy with a little bit of alcohol is dangerous, as we know from Episode 7 of last season at the lake house, so unfortunately, it makes sense that she would do something like that. It’s shocking and I think that group of friends hasn’t seen that side of her — that physical violence was was probably super jarring, and I think Lucy has had a lot of shame about it and embarrassment, and couldn’t believe that she did that.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
New episodes of “Tell Me Lies” premiere Wednesdays on Hulu.
