Put down your virtual pitchforks and hear me out for a second.


Hulu’s Tell Me Lies almost feels like a competition for the most toxic character ever as the show jumps from one messy relationship (platonic and romantic) to another. The individual characters are pretty bad, put two of them together and you have Devil’s Incarnate. It does make sense a little bit (only a little) since the show is based on a bunch of college students figuring out what they want out of life.


Undoubtedly, Stephen (Jackson White) is a pretty awful character and if we had to name every manipulative, evil thing he did on Tell Me Lies, we’d be here a while. But there’s just something about an awful self-aware character that grounds you. Stephen knows (he knows!) that he’s scum of the earth and he never tries to be anything but himself. On the other hand, Lucy talks about how everyone says she’s not normal or she’s not nice anymore but she doesn't mean any of these comments. She sounds a little beaten up when she says these things like she’s expecting someone to say “oh you’re not an awful person, Lucy. You’re just misunderstood”. She lacks self-awareness and she’d like to remain that way for the rest of her life - look what happened when Max (Edmund Donovan) suggests that she might be depressed. She goes off on him. You mean I’m not being this way on purpose, I’m not emo?


She repeatedly does terrible things, feels a little guilty and then does it all over again. She’s like a dog that keeps going back to its vomit hoping that someone else will lovingly guide them away or at the very least, comfort her about how she’s not so awful.


Shall we unpack some of the awful things Lucy Albright does in the first season?


Macy and Lucy in Tell Me Lies


The Macy-Drew-Stephen Accident


Lucy’s roommate,  Macy (Lily McInerny) dies in the pilot episode of the show and we later find out that Wrigley’s brother, Drew (Benjamin Wadsworth) saw the accident but ran off instead of calling for help. Later, it turns out Lucy’s maybe-boo, Stephen was also present at the scene (and in the car with Macy!)  and what does Lucy do with this information? She victimizes Stephen and villainizes Drew.


Drew was clearly having a hard time after the accident but Stephen was doing great hopping from bed to bed when he should have been at least a little wrecked by guilt. The fact that Lucy victimizes Stephen in this scenario is extremely infuriating because - according to Stephen’s tale -, Drew did not know who was in that car when he drove off but Stephen was in the passenger seat and beside Macy, so he knew. He could have called for help, waited for the cops, could have at the very least comforted Macy’s parents by saying another car was involved and Macy wasn't a reckless drunk endangering people’s lives. But instead, he chuckles along with Lucy when she whines about how everyone is expecting her to be sad about a roommate she only knew for two days and how the condolence flowers are a fucking nuisance. Macy was someone Stephen knew from home, someone he was repeatedly intimate with. Lucy made light of her death and Stephen chuckled. All for some pusoir.


At the point where Lucy forgives Stephen for leaving Macy to die, you can't even blame Lucy's forced “ignorance” on youthful exuberance and a more optimistic view of life because 7 years later ( and 4 years after allegedly ending things with Stephen), she’s still infatuated with that mess. Victimizing Stephen is also a conscious effort because later, she subtly and much later outrightly threatens to oust him when right up to that moment where Stephen is seen gargling some mouthwash after making out with her, she had only ever painted the scenario like Stephen wasn't at fault and was just a poor scared little baby who had no choice but to run away.





Lucy Weaponizes  Macy’s Death.


Macy’s death was probably the second most interesting thing to happen to Lucy (the first being her mother cheating on her dying father) and she was more than willing to whip out that sympathy saber when she needed it. She does it when she’s trying to get into an advanced writing class that she’s not even qualified for and when she wants to play cooperative girlfriend with Stephen. She repeatedly hounds Stephen about how she can't believe Drew’s walking around when her friend is dead. What happened to only knowing Macy for two fucking days? What happened to not feeling sad?




Lucy doesn't care about her friends.


You could counter and say her friend group really didn't care for each other, as neither Pipa nor Lucy knew the most basic information about Bree. But, it makes sense that Pipa wouldn't dive into anyone’s past because she was hiding hers and when you ask a personal question and it's answered, your friends are hoping the courtesy will be reciprocated when they ask you. But what was Lucy’s reason for never asking or never being present enough to notice anyone's body language? She does ask Bree about sex with Tim and even though the former was tightlipped about it and straight-up lied (most likely because both her friends were claiming to have explosive sex), if Lucy was paying any attention, she would have noticed something was off. Another prime example is when she assumes Bree is mad at her for not dumping Stephen (egoistic much?) when Bree is just reading because she’s on a scholarship.


Example number 400 is that Pipa confides in Lucy that Stephen threatened/blackmailed her, Lucy just outright brushes it off and doesn't even try to inquire further.





She repeatedly slept with Bree’s boyfriend.


Now I know that Tell Me Lies only shows that one time when they hook up in the first season’s finale but certain conversations just made it feel like it was way more than that. The first is when Lucy congratulates Bree on her engagement to Evan by saying “You know I’m really really happy for you right?” That sounds far more than an “I got drunk and had sex with your boyfriend once, eight years ago”. 

The second suspicious scene is in Episode 6 - And I’m Sorry I Dissed You where Evan tells Lucy “you can do so much better than him” and Lucy tries to stop him stating that he’s drunk but Evan doubles down and says “You know I like you” to which Lucy whispers “don't do this” like there’s something more Evan could say that would ruin everything. 


Lucy is a pretty selfish person and she wouldn't have tried to stop him to preserve his relationship with Stephen. Because if Stephen finds out what Evan said to Lucy, the only person who gets in trouble is Evan. So why was Lucy trying to stop him? The theory is that after that “tell me about Stephen” bit in the cafe, Lucy and Evan hooked up - and Evan felt betrayed seeing her back with Stephen. Which is why he’s trying to talk about it and Lucy is stopping him. Evan says she deserves so much better but who is this “better” person?

It would also make sense why Evan got upset in Episode 7, Castle on a Cloud about Lucy’s dare to keep kissing Bree and why he seemed a little peeved when Lucy flirted with him.


Other reasons why Lucy is awful

  • She doesn't ever let anyone talk about their feelings. She simply hijacks the conversation and makes it all about her.

  • She wore the makeup of a dead girl

  • She claimed to feel awful about sending the letter to the Dean but she allows Pipa takes the blame for it and watches Pipa lose her relationship and the respect of the football team.

  • She allows Stephen to disrespect her mother.