*Disclaimer: Spoilers throughout, including the finale of season 3*
When Tell Me Lies first landed on Hulu, and soon after on Disney+ for UK viewers, it quickly became the series everyone seemed to be talking about on social media. Based on the novel by Carola Lovering, the show strips away the usual rose-tinted portrayal of young love and replaces it with something far more unsettling. Instead of celebrating budding romance, it explores manipulation, obsession and the long shadow toxic relationships can cast over our lives.
At the centre of the story is Lucy Albright (Grace Van Patten) who is a fresher arriving at college. She is hopeful and ready for a new chapter, even though she is still dealing with unresolved grief and insecurity. She meets Stephen DeMarco (Jackson White) who appears charming, intelligent and confident, even if slightly emotionally guarded. Their attraction is instant and intense. What follows across their college years, shown through timelines that move between 2009 and 2018, is not a typical college love story but a slow and damaging emotional connection.
While there are dramatic outbursts and arguments, the real toxicity in Lucy and Stephen’s relationship lies in the quieter patterns of manipulation and control. Stephen withholds affection, twists the truth and reveals secrets only when it suits him. He keeps Lucy uncertain about where she stands, creating a clear imbalance of power. Lucy, in turn, becomes dependent on the brief moments of validation he offers. The relationship feels intense and consuming. This makes it harder for her to walk away. As viewers, we see her drift from friends, compromise her core values and ignore warning signs. All because the connection feels so powerful and overwhelming. The show captures a reality many students recognise, where intensity can look like intimacy, but the two are not the same.
The ending portrays the idea that cycles only stop when someone steps outside them. When Stephen abandons Lucy at the gas station, it marks a turning point for the pair where they have been freed of each other. Rather than offering a romantic reconciliation, the series focuses on accountability. Secrets that have been buried for over six years resurface. Choices made in the first year continue to shape lives long after graduation. The message is clear that actions have consequences even when we convince ourselves they do not.
Part of the show’s popularity comes from how relevant it feels to students today. In the 2020s, terms like gaslighting, love bombing and narcissistic behaviour are widely discussed online. Social media has given people the language to identify toxic dynamics and Tell Me Lies brings those conversations to life on screen. It has sparked debates across platforms, with viewers analysing Stephen’s behaviour, questioning Lucy’s decisions and asking whether either of them can truly change. In a media landscape filled with light-hearted romantic comedies and meet-cutes, this series feels raw and unsettling. This may be exactly why it resonates with so many.
The show also reflects the pressures of modern dating culture. University relationships often move as quickly as Lucy and Stephen’s does. In a setting where everything feels heightened and new, emotions can escalate fast. Dating culture today tends to value immediacy and choice, sometimes at the expense of stability. It becomes easy to mistake constant drama for passion. The series shows us warning signs that students should not ignore. Warnings such as feeling anxious more often than feeling secure, doubting your memory during arguments, excusing repeated hurtful behaviour, changing to hold someone’s attention. Healthy relationships are not free from conflict, but they are grounded in respect and emotional safety.
For a university audience, the series feels particularly close to home. It reminds us that the relationships formed during these years can shape our sense of self, long after we leave university. The people we choose, the boundaries we succeed or fail to set and the behaviour we accept all contribute to who we become. By exposing the damage beneath an intense college romance, Tell Me Lies becomes less about love and more about growth. It serves as a cautionary tale for anyone who has ever confused chaos with connection. It calls on us to reflect on what we truly want from the relationships we build at university.
Words by Millie Davies
Featured image courtesy of Kaden Taylor on Unsplash. No changes have been made to this image. Image licence found here.
