Tell Me Lies: Season 1/ Episode 3 “We Don’t Touch, We Collide” – Recap/ Review (with Spoilers)

In an episode that is largely focused on Wrigley, we learn Stephen has a secret beyond sleeping with Diana and Lucy.

Aired (Hulu)	9/7/2022
Director(s)	Erin Feeley
Writer(s)	Mona Mira
Introduced This Episode
Professor Schultz	Mark Cabus
Melissa	Jacinte Blankenship

This content contains pertinent spoilers.

Recap

The Devil On Your Shoulder – Pippa, Wrigley, Lucy, Stephen, Bree

Bree wears her heart on her sleeve, and you can easily figure her out, but Pippa? Changing schools in senior year and her belief that you shouldn’t communicate feelings with men, for you’ll lose some sort of advantage or desirability, raises red flags. The kind Lucy doesn’t need for with her unsure about Stephen, she is back and forth between admitting to him she is catching feelings and pretending she isn’t. Mainly because it isn’t clear to her if they are exclusive.

Which is also an issue Wrigley has with Pippa. Being that she wants to keep things casual, verbally, while the orgasms got her falling in love, she is torn. She wants to be there for Wrigley yet also dances up on some random dude at a party. He thinks she is his girl, but with his reputation for sleeping around, she thinks all the texting he does is to other girls, and she is just his favorite at this moment.

All The Things No One Knows – Wrigley, Pippa, Drew, Melissa, Stephen

The truth is, however, that Wrigley is really worried about Drew. He avoids Wrigley, looks horrible when Wrigley catches him, and Drew’s room is a mess. Add in him talking about ending his life, and this is a major stressor for Wrigley.

But, adding to that is Wrigley talking to his counselor Melissa about his grades and him finally putting in to get extra help since he has a learning disability. However, with seeing someone he knows and being embarrassed about it, he doesn’t submit the paperwork or test required to get extra time on tests. Add in not studying, partly due to Pippa, and he does terribly on his midterm.

Luckily, he is a star athlete, so the alumni push for him to get a second chance, but that doesn’t fix Pippa getting upset with Wrigley about their relationship status. So, as he sees he is losing her, he reveals all that is going on with Drew in hopes that revealing that could save whatever they are. However, all it does is put Pippa in this weird situation since she is expected to not tell anyone what happened, and while Lucy and Bree may think she is insensitive, among other things, she doesn’t want to have this secret that can blow up their friendship.

So while she and Wrigley remain cool, she really hates that she told him about Drew’s involvement with Macy’s death.

An Endless Cycle That No One Wants To End – Diana, Professor Schultz, Stephen, Lucy, Macy

Stephen is just toxic. He knows his influence on Diana and Lucy but has no intentions of committing to either. Like Diana calls out, he doesn’t know how to be alone. I’d even add that he may like upsetting Diana and playing with Lucy’s emotions because that is all he knows when it comes to love?

Now, this isn’t to give Stephen grace at all, for he is still a douche. For example, in the class he shares with Diana, Professor Schultz has a researcher position, and both Diana and Stephen go for it. Stephen says Diana only got it because the professor wants to have sex with her. This is a follow-up to Stephen calling out the professor for calling on Diana first when he asked a question in the last episode.

But, while it is clear that Diana and Stephen are just in a terrible place since she can’t move past the cheating and he doesn’t want to be transparent, it is different for Lucy. She doesn’t have the same history of baggage, so when it seems like Stephen may not be serious about her, she hooks up with someone else. She doesn’t seem willing to commit to it, but she seems capable of that option.

Yet, with laying down some ground rules, it seems she is going to commit to Stephen, as Diana wants to, and he’ll get his cake and eat it too. All while hiding he was probably eating out Macy not too long ago.

Things To Note

Episode Content

• Dialog: Dirty talk, the usual amount of cursing, and Drew talking about ending his life
• Violence: N/A
• Sexual Content: Wrigley’s backside shown, Wrigley and Pippa having sex, with the usual breasts shown for her and a bit of the backside for him, Stephen and Lucy having sex – which has some nudity, and then a Stephen and Diana sex scene – with no notable nudity.
• Miscellaneous: Drinking

Question(s) Left Unanswered

1. So, who is on a scholarship, loans, or has their parents paying out of pocket?
2. Are we going to return to Bree and Evan’s wedding eventually, or is that not a priority?
3. Is Pippa faking it or really enjoying the sex with Wrigley? Could it be that Stephen has just set the bar higher?

What Could Happen Next

1. We’re likely to dig deeper into the past and probably learn Diana is the new Macy, and Lucy is the new Diana, in terms of Stephen trying to have two girls at once
2. Learning there is far more to Pippa than sarcasm and fun times

Review

Highlights

The Dirty Talk

There is nothing really that hot about watching a sex scene after watching the work of Gaspar Noe, especially with “Love.” Everything else just comes off tame and so manicured that it seems like it is made for teenagers who don’t have the gall to go to a porn site yet. However, I will give “Tell Me Lies” that the dirty talk is good between Stephen and now Lucy.

Between Stephen fingering people and asking for consent to go further, to Lucy talking about wanting to feel Stephen inside her without a condom? I was caught off guard and pleasantly surprised. Who knew this young adult drama would have more than your usual toxic bad boy, relationship breakdowns due to lack of communication, and mysteries?

There Being More To Pippa and Wrigley Than Meets the Eye

Pippa allowed us to peek behind the curtain and see there is more to her than the eccentric best friend to Lucy and Bree. Something happened senior year in high school, and it couldn’t have just been her changing schools for AP classes. That seems extreme, considering we don’t hear or see Pippa as someone who is highly invested in her classes, and we aren’t even told what her major is yet.

Then with Wrigley, I must admit, the way he cares for Drew makes me wonder what their home life is like. Also, his shame about his learning disability pushes me to wonder if he was bullied beyond school. Like with Stephen, you can tell that life before Baird wasn’t sunshine and daisies, and I would even add Pippa’s comment about him sleeping through half of the school before she came around could be a sign of something.

Though I could be overthinking it, and acting like one psych class in college makes me an expert.

The Macy Reveal

Is Stephen having a sexual relationship with Macy earth-shattering? Not at all. However, it does push the need to question whether he was involved with her death. When she was driving, was it to him or away from him? Could Stephen be a far darker figure than thus far given credit?

On The Fence

Wanting To Know Diana Outside Of Stephen’s Orbit

While it is established Diana is into philanthropy, is in a sorority, and cares about people whose parents went into prison, the same issue we had noted for Evan in the last episode we have for her. The “Why” that comes with her actions is not there. Almost everything about her revolves around how she can inform you about Stephen and the type of guy he is rather than her standing on her own.

This leaves me to hope that, like Wrigley got an episode that allowed him to be fairly front and center, Diana could get the same.

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