Spoiler room provides thoughts on the plot points we cannot disclose in our book and a place for discussion official review. Fair warning: This article contains spoilers from Tell me lies‘Season 2 finale.

Throughout the second season of Tell me liesA huge secret lurks around newcomer Lucy (Grace Van Patten). After a public rejection from her boyfriend Stephen (Jackson White), she sleeps with his roommate Evan (Branden Cook). It’s a double whammy because Evan is dating one of Lucy’s closest friends, Bree (Catherine Missal). Yes, these complicated group dynamics are straight out of a soapy teen drama, but Hulu’s college series is far more menacing. He takes pleasure in teasing and scaring us with the toxic bond between Lucy and Stephen. This show is so chaotic that it shouldn’t work – unless “Don’t Struggle Like That, Or I Will Only Love You More,” released October 16, proves that it absolutely does.

Tell me lies comes to life as it pushes the boundaries with its toxic central duo, with Van Patten and White’s electric back-and-forth continually ratcheting up the tension. After spending most of the first season as a couple, Lucy and Stephen vacillate between loyalty and hostility in these eight new episodes. Their actions will leave you screaming in sheer frustration, whether from a failed declaration of love or a cruel, misguided act of revenge. Creator Meaghan Oppenheimer conceptualizes the series as anger bait, painting a chilling picture of Stephen’s manipulations that trap Lucy, as well as most of his friends, former lovers and family members. Reader, this man summons the fury of a thousand suns. He is a chameleon who changes personality at the drop of a hat depending on the person he needs to convince, seduce, insult, or plot against. It’s almost cathartic to shout various swear words at him across the screen.

That’s why it’s crazy, but not surprising, when Stephen finds out about the secret affair in the finale. He does not confront or fight Lucy, in whose life he has again interfered, nor does he leave her because he feels betrayed. Instead, Stephen records Evans’ confession and keeps it as leverage. Will he ever use it? Tell me lies wait until the end of the episode to drop the bombshell. In a flashback to Bree and Evans’ wedding a few years later, just moments before she is due to walk down the aisle, Stephen sends the bride-to-be the audio recording of her fiancé admitting that he slept with Lucy, who is also Bree’s bridesmaid .

Twisted, Stephen held on to the information long after everyone had graduated and moved on. As a future top lawyer, success only strengthens his vanity, so he bides his time until he screws up a happy occasion and satisfies his grudge. It makes Stephen the most diabolical character on television right now. Forget about villains from big budget or other young adult shows. This guy lets her beat her because his actions feel painfully real. And he’s fun to hate because he’s a casual charmer who uses that mask to hide his nefarious, selfish intentions. Stephen isn’t some hot, rich idiot who’s used to getting what he wants gossip Girlis Chuck Bass or euphoriais Nate Jacobs, wearing his bad boy badges with pride. Stephen is an ambitious student who gets straight A grades and is desperate to get out of poverty with a lucrative career. His persistence makes him even more volatile.

This comes across as another Machiavellian maneuver on his part unfolds over the course of the season as we oscillate between past and present. Once he finds out that Lucy slept with his best friend onceStephen meets her childhood best friend, Lydia (Natalie Linez), who is visiting her campus. As revealed during Bree and Evans’ future wedding celebrations, he is now engaged to Lydia. Of course he doesn’t love this woman or care about her. Lydia is a prop to mess with Lucy’s head. And at least in the second season, Lucy begins to reveal a darker side of her personality to get back at him.

Somehow, all this soapy material makes this a solid study of how toxic relationships operate through narcissism, obsession, and resentment. The themes of the entire group of friends (everyone here plays addictive melodramas) are used for more than just theatrical purposes, with surprisingly sharp dialogue, backstories and performances. In fact, the big final reveal is that Diana (Alicia Crowder), Stephen’s other ex, was playing clever mind games to get him out of her life. It’s both brilliant and depressing. When he drops her, she sighs with relief Is It is possible to get rid of the black hole in your orbit. But at what cost?