Warning: Major spoilers ahead for the Tell Me Lies finale.
Tell Me Lies season 3 star Grace Van Patten is ready for Lucy Albright to finally see the light.
After three seasons of playing out arguably television’s most toxic romantic relationship with her real-life boyfriend Jackson White, Van Patten is bidding a bittersweet farewell to her polarizing protagonist. In the series finale of the buzzy Hulu drama series, Lucy not only gets what she deserves but also seemingly breaks off her years-long entanglement with her toxic ex.
“I just think it’s hopeful,” Van Patten tells Teen Vogue of Lucy’s ending, which has already sharply divided fans online. “I think she might be free. She might have learned her lesson. I think it’s a cool thing, too, for the audience to just think about whether [Stephen] planned this or he did it on a whim. I think it’s fun that it’s all up to interpretation: Is Lucy ruined, or is she free?”
Below, Van Patten—who was Teen Vogue’s most recent cover star along with White—reflects on how she really feels about the ending of Tell Me Lies, why she is not surprised by the audience uproar around Lucy’s series of bad decisions, and where she thinks her character will go from here.
Grace Van Patten: I get it in real life with fans, which is so amazing. I feel like the people who are watching the show are really vocal to us about it, which is so much fun. We actually get to have conversations with fans, and it’s just so enjoyable to be able to talk to people about what they’re watching. We love being stopped in the street and just talking about the show. I’ve definitely felt a lot more than any other season just in terms of engagement and fans coming up to us, really.
They want to know about [what happened to] the tape [of Lucy admitting to lying about being sexually assaulted], and I feel like some of them have guessed correctly, but I’ve been really working on my poker face to not give anything up. I feel like I’ve heard a lot of people just say that Lucy should just kill Stephen, but also [that might] be the only way to stop that [behavior], who knows? But I just love hearing the crazy ideas, and I’m really excited for people to watch. I hope they’re satisfied. I definitely am and was when I read it.
GVP: I understand it. I think it means the show is sparking conversation. The truth is, at least when I look at it from an outside perspective, it totally is a two-way street. No one is innocent in this situation, and no one’s a victim—or they’re all victims of awful behavior towards each other. Lucy is absolutely no angel, and there are parts of her that I absolutely see why people get very angry. She makes awful decisions, and she’s finally facing consequences. It’s interesting because her intention is so different [from] the action she takes. I think that’s the most frustrating part. She’s so impulsive, and she so desperately wants to redeem herself, and it ends up not going well for her because she acts too quickly.
GVP: That it’s a lot deeper than two people just being mean to each other. There are deep-rooted lies involving many people beyond just Lucy and Stephen. It’s just so loaded by now, and they have so much blackmail on each other. And it’s almost like, are these two people trying to make it work so the other one doesn’t ruin their lives? At least for Lucy, I think there’s so much fear involved, even if she’s telling herself she wants to be with him and that they’re going to make it work, and it’s going to be different this time. I think she believes that it will be different, but subconsciously, there’s a lot of fear that’s driving that.
GVP: I think there is some real love in there, and they have no idea what to do with it and how to express that or how to handle it.
GVP: I thought it was really tragic, but I thought it was a really smart arc for her, just to show that there are very damaging effects to this type of relationship, and it really makes you lose yourself. I think the show shows that really well—the effects of a relationship like that, and how you then project that relationship and the way it makes you feel onto other people. We see that a lot with the relationship with Alex [played by Costa D’Angelo] this season, and how he’s really reflecting all of her shame back onto her.
That was a big conversation with Meaghan, because it was really important to me to not have those scenes feel sexy at all. Because they’re daunting, reading them on the page, and I was totally afraid of that. I thought the only way for those scenes to work is if they’re really sad and tragic and internal. We were in complete agreement with that. And as we started having those conversations, I really understood it and understood why that relationship needed to be shown to really enhance Lucy’s downfall and her spiraling out.
GVP: I think it’s shame. It’s the beginning of her really not liking herself in this moment, and a subconscious way of not admitting it to herself, but still feeling the punishment for it. I think it’s a lot of self-punishment with Alex, but it’s disguised as sexual, so it’s easier to digest for her. I think she’s not ready to go to therapy or she may not have the words for how she’s feeling, but this is the closest thing to feeling the punishment that she thinks she deserves.
GVP: Lucy’s completely numb. I think she’s totally disassociating and not present in the moment—and that’s a form of self-protection. I think if she puts herself in the moment and takes in what’s going on, she will absolutely crumble. I imagine that she does that the moment she gets home. That’s kind of how I was playing it: “Keep it in, don’t accept it, don’t accept it. Get through this, get through this. Everything’s OK. I can do this.” And then I imagine the moment she gets home, she’ll probably be in bed for a while, not being able to keep it together.
GVP: It was so much fun. Because I didn’t have much, I just got to react, so it really felt like I was in the front seat at an amazing play, just to see everybody being so chaotic and Jackson giving this amazing speech. It was also probably three in the morning when we were shooting it. Everyone’s delusional and giddy. I’ll remember that as a big takeaway from the whole past three years because it is this kind of ending climax to the whole series and everyone’s together shooting it, which is rare, and it was so much fun, and having “Toxic” play is genius to me.
GVP: I think it’s the perfect ending. It’s so predictable in the best way that I think a lot of shows don’t end like that, because they want some crazy ending or some unrealistically hopeful ending. I think this was so real and so consistent to what we’ve all been doing for three seasons. I think it just shows how we can all, as an audience and as Lucy, be shocked [by] this man doing the same exact thing over three seasons, and it’s still just as effective. But this time, at the very last moment, there’s some relief accompanied with it. And it’s hopeful without saying that at all.
What I think is so tragic but also beautiful about this season for Lucy is, you do see her go on this very shameful journey, but I do think we’re left with hope for her at the end—at least to me. I hope the audience feels that from the final episode. Yes, maybe it’s predictable and maybe Stephen treats her the same. But I do think Lucy finally accepts who he is and who she has been in the relationship, and that sometimes gives people the freedom to move on. I think [the finale] encapsulates that really well. I think Meaghan really wrote that beautifully in terms of [how] once you see something from a bird’s eye view, it’s a lot easier to leave [that relationship] than being so stuck inside it with the blinders on. And to me, in the last episode, you really feel Lucy leave her body and see it from an outsider’s perspective, and in that I think there’s freedom and relief.
GVP: I watched it recently, and I was laughing the whole last sequence because I think it weirdly is positive. I think it’s the first time she’s shocked, and then it turns into a relief of, “I think maybe that’s the last time I’m going to deal with that.” It’s like Lucy is laughing at it, so you feel like you can laugh at it. I just think it’s hopeful. I think she might be free. She might have learned her lesson. I think it’s a cool thing, too, for the audience to just think about whether he planned this or he did it on a whim. It’s fun that it’s all up to interpretation: Is Lucy ruined, or is she free?
GVP: I get excited for Lucy after the screen cuts to black. I really do. I don’t know if Meaghan agrees with this, but this is my interpretation of it: This moment forces Lucy to really reevaluate herself and how she’s been living her life. I think having ties to all these college friends where they’re so caught up in these lies and these secrets—now that her friend group is ruined, I think she’s free from that and has the ability to start fresh. Stephen gave her her last bit of confirmation that they should not be together. I see her finally going to India or making new friends, or maybe within time she tries to mend things with Bree after some time and space. I do think that friendship was meaningful, and I see them working things out after the dust settles, and I think she’ll get her priorities in check. I genuinely have hope for that.
GVP: I think Pippa and Lucy were only friendly because of Bree. I don’t think they’ve had a friendship of their own probably since college, and Bree was kind of the last friendship standing in that group for Lucy. And, of course, I think Lucy feels betrayed, but I’m sure, after thought, she also sees it as they’re even now, and maybe they can reestablish a friendship that’s honest and communicative and adult. But in terms of anyone else, I don’t know—unless Bree really ends up with Wrigley. Wrigley is the only innocent one. [Laughs.]
GVP: That’s the main thing that I’m emotional about—it’s really working with all my friends. This was such a magical experience, and I’ve made lifelong friendships from it, so it’s totally bittersweet. But I really do feel like it’s the right decision for the show creatively, and I love that we were able to have a beginning, middle, and an end. It’s so rare. I feel so thankful we got to do it for three seasons, and I’m just so excited for everyone. I think everyone involved is just so amazing—the actors, the writers, the directors. I’m really just excited to see what everyone goes on to do and what this next chapter looks like for everyone. I will be rooting everyone on.
GVP: I have no idea. I’m sure everyone will let the dust settle and appreciate what we got to do for the last three seasons, and I guess we’ll see how everyone reacts. Hopefully, everyone will be okay… [Laughs.]
GVP: Of course! A rom-com with him would be great—just the opposite of Lucy and Stephen. Being really funny and silly together, that would be a dream for us.
