After a long two-year cleanse, we can finally indulge in one of the most toxic shows on television again. (And I mean that as a compliment.) Tell Me Lies Season 2 features less studying than ever, instead choosing to major in sex with a double-minor in backstabbing and secret-keeping — and it is absolutely acing those subjects. Is it going to win any Emmys? Probably not! Is it going to ignite group chats everywhere with its infuriatingly relatable portrayals of f-boys? Absolutely! And we need that in the television landscape, too.

What Is ‘Tell Me Lies’ Season 2 About?

Tell Me Lies Season 2 keeps the structure it introduced in Season 1 with two timelines playing out simultaneously: The events leading up to Bree (Catherine Missal) and Evan’s (Branden Cook) wedding in 2015, and Lucy’s (Grace Van Patten) fall semester of sophomore year in 2008, with roughly 80% happening in the earlier days. There are pros and cons to this style, to be sure — while there are fun teases in the flashforwards, they also occasionally lower the suspense a bit, since we know where people ultimately end up around a decade later.

Season 1 had an explosive finale, with Stephen (Jackson White) getting back together with Diana (Alicia Crowder), Lucy and Evan sleeping together while he was with Bree, and Wrigley (Spencer House) breaking up with Pippa (Sonia Mena) for assuming she wrote the letter that ruined his brother Drew’s (Benjamin Wadsworth) life. Season 2 devotes the majority of its time to examining the fallout of that.

But that doesn’t mean our characters don’t continue to make new, equally terrible choices. Lucy gets involved with Leo (Thomas Doherty), who was studying abroad the previous semester; Bree cozies up to a much older man, who happens to be a professor (Tom Ellis); and Lucy’s hometown friend Lydia’s (Natalee Linez) brother Chris (Jacob Rodriguez) comes onto campus and causes some serious problems for everyone — especially Pippa. As seniors, Stephen, Diana, and Wrigley look toward their future — and not all of them are feeling particularly prepared about going into the next stage in their lives.

‘Tell Me Lies’ Season 2 Still Nails Its Setting and Time Period
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What sets Tell Me Lies apart more than anything is how grounded in reality it feels. Yes, it has a flair for the big and dramatic, but young adults in their late teens and early twenties are big and dramatic — their frontal lobes aren’t fully developed yet! Tell Me Lies knows exactly what it is, with everyone — from the writers and actors to costume and production designers — on the same page about the tone and style of the show they’re making, and it’s all the better for it. Season 2 feels like a time capsule capturing college life in 2008, from the Facebook stalking and excitement over one of the first iPhones to tube tops and low-rise jeans.

The dialogue captures how people this age really talk, from the delightful banter between crushes to the messy confessions in the midst of crises to the cold, calculated detonation of emotional bombs when trying to exact revenge. There’s an undeniable cleverness to the writing that shouldn’t be glossed over — showrunner Meaghan Oppenheimer and her writers’ room know exactly the right words to say to make even the wildest choices seem in the ballpark of logical and for the betrayals to hit as hard as they possibly can. The actors have a specific, necessary chemistry with each other as well, able to sell the romances and friendships alike. In Season 2, everyone plays even dirtier, and it’s delicious.

But there is a natural downside to accurately capturing college life: It can get repetitive fast. The endless frat party and intimacy scenes get redundant and blend together, not adding enough new information to justify their inclusion. It doesn’t help that the episodes suffer from the curse of streaming bloat, with many of them nearly an entire hour long when a few minutes could easily be shaved from each to tighten the story and speed up the pacing. Luckily, the fact that Tell Me Lies Season 2 has the time markers of the holidays helps the audience keep everything straight, both allowing the world to open up a bit and forcing the characters together, leading to interesting dynamics and effective tension. The Thanksgiving episode emerges as one of the strongest and most memorable of the bunch.

‘Tell Me Lies’ Season 2 Is Soapy, But at Its Best When It Gets Serious
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Huge, shocking twists were the name of the game for Tell Me Lies Season 1, and Season 2 is no different. Some are fairly obviously, coming from a mile away. (The moment Tom Ellis shows up on screen, you have a pretty indication of how that whole thing is going to unfold.) Others, however, are much more surprising despite being intricately foreshadowed. The show is a lot smarter than many will surely give it credit for due to the fact it’s wrapped up in a soapy package.

Stephen and Lucy’s relationship is still a key part of Season 2, which makes sense considering it was the cornerstone of Season 1 and acts as the storyline around everything else orbits in some way. But this outing refreshingly puts them on the back burner a good portion of the time, allowing other relationships to crop up and develop. Lucy’s relationship with Leo is a nice juxtaposition and has its moments, and the core trio between Lucy, Bree, and Pippa continues to be enjoyable, but Diana and Pippa easily emerge as the most compelling characters.

Diana’s character is inherently interesting. The show could easily write her off as a one-dimensional antagonist, but it never does, instead fleshing her out and making us constantly see her in a new light. Her perspective is intriguing and understandable even when it’s at odds with our protagonist. Pippa’s arc is the most serious and rewarding, tackling a subject that’s unfortunately all too relevant on college campuses. The show handles it imperfectly, but it ultimately feels realistic and is an admirable topic to try to take on, and the way the traumatic event surprisingly intertwines her character with others is a highlight. Her ex-boyfriend Wrigley also gets some unexpected moments of vulnerability, which hit home, and Professor Marianne (Gabriella Pession) reveals enticing layers that start off incredibly promising, even if the show doesn’t stick the landing with what they’re trying to do with her.

Tell Me Lies Season 2 certainly won’t be to everyone’s taste, but those who enjoyed Season 1 are sure to find the second installment equally juicy. And while it may be tempting to write it off as a somewhat trashy guilty pleasure, I stand by the fact that reducing it to such isn’t entirely fair. Tell Me Lies knows exactly what it’s doing and is an exceptional entry in its genre, capturing complex but familiar dynamics in a pitch-perfect, nuanced way and making it all look deceptively simple. The characters and their issues may seem shallow at first glance, but there’s real depth under the surface, especially when it comes to topics like gaslighting and manipulation. The exploration of ugly, shameful desires and instincts is presented with steamy smoke and mirror and artificial gloss, making for an irresistible viewing experience that’s more sophisticatedly crafted than initially meets the eyes.

Tell Me Lies Season 2 premieres September 4 on Hulu.

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