It has been nearly 25 years since Felicity Porter (Keri Russell) ventured to New York City to begin college and pursue the guy of her dreams. Since J.J. Abrams and Matt Reeves’ TV debut, there have been plenty of other university set shows, yet “Felicity” is still the benchmark. Now comes Hulu’s adaptation of Carola Lovering’s best-selling book, “Tell Me Lies,” which takes a very different approach to the concept of a college romance. This is no sweet love triangle on The WB, but a pairing that puts the toxic into intoxicating. What unfolds is an intriguing, if not at times, slow exploration of the person we hope to become during college—and a past that cannot be left behind.
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Throughout the first five episodes, Lucy (Grace Van Patten) navigates a turbulent first few months of freshman year, including her burgeoning relationship with Stephen (Jackson White). It is an intriguing setup juggling this union’s hot and heavy early stages with the secrets bubbling under the surface. Coming to college offers a chance to reinvent or erase the past, which is undoubtedly what Lucy and her new BFFs are keen on doing. At times it feels like certain pertinent information is being purposefully (and inorganically) withheld, and with episodes running over 50 minutes, it comes across as spinning its wheels.
The first episode opens in 2015 with an engagement party providing a college reunion of sorts, but the clock quickly rolls back to the fall of 2007 when Lucy first heads to the fictitious Baird College. Showrunner Meaghan Oppenheimer (“Fear the Walking Dead,” “Queen America”) has switched the location of the book from California to Upstate New York, with both Lucy and Stephen coming from the region. It is quickly asserted that Lucy is from a wealthier family, and the tension between those characters from privilege is a theme that informs how Stephen interacts with even his best friends. This question of economic disparity is interesting, and Stephen is not alone in being from a background that doesn’t fit with many of the Baird students.
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It would be easy to write Stephen off as a pretentious manipulator with a chip on his shoulder, and while he does certainly lie to Lucy, he isn’t a one-dimensional monster. He says exactly the right thing to 18-year-old Lucy, who earned an “ice queen” nickname at high school and has found it hard to get excited about activities and events. Early in the first episodes, she is called “broken inside,” and it is clear her childhood has been no walk in the park. Thankfully, this isn’t a poor little rich girl narrative that asks us to feel sorry for a character with limited life experience. It helps that Van Patten is equipped to portray her character’s defenses without coming off as ultra-bitchy. As she proved in “Nine Perfect Strangers,” she is more than adept at portraying emotional complexities.
Slowly the pieces of her trauma are revealed, and while certain parts of the story aren’t entirely surprising, Van Patten delivers at every turn. She thinks she is hardened to the world, but Stephen unlocks her defenses and underscores her naivety. His methods include love-bombing, gaslighting, and great sex. Of course, Lucy can’t hear me yelling at the screen to tell her he’s being unreasonable, and at times it is the romance equivalent of watching a horror movie. He is keen and attentive in the bedroom, giving her what her high school boyfriend never did, yet this only adds to his ability to exert control—all under the guise of caring about her pleasure.
“Tell Me Lies” opens with a sex scene, and this is an extremely horny series depicting a snapshot of good and disappointing college sexual escapades. Drunk hookups, quickies (like ultra quick), and booty calls are all on the menu. Details like peeing after sex to avoid getting a UTI and actually using a condom are welcome, as shows often neglect to include these realistic elements. The latter becomes a plot point but demonstrates how to incorporate safe sex into a narrative that features a lot of hooking up.
Lucy isn’t alone in nocturnal (and daytime) intimacy, and her new best friends, Pippa (Sonia Mena) and Bree (Catherine Missal), are navigating the highs and lows of college romance. The best moments in the series so far feature the three young women, and “Tell Me Lies” also captures the excitement and insecurities of non-romantic dynamics. The trio is bonded early on by a tragedy, and it is pretty heavy going for a college welcome week. Thankfully, moments of levity are not absent, and when the Stephen developments begin to drag, Bree and Pippa pick up the slack.
It would be easy for the series to go full frenemy, but Oppenheimer hasn’t fallen down this cliche path. There is one potential avenue for an awkward or combative pairing as Stephen’s ex, Diana (Alicia Crowder), is a significant presence on campus. On the surface, Diana appears to be the perfect woman as she is intelligent, hot, wealthy, and philanthropic. So far, there are no skeletons in her closet, but as the title suggests, everyone has a secret, ranging from criminal to family scandals.
Many seeds and hints are planted early in the 2015 opening, and more about Stephen’s personal life is revealed when the action pivots away from campus. The thriller threads give off a “Big Little Lies” but make it a college vibe, and this adaptation of Lovering’s novel is executive produced by Emma Roberts under the Belletrist TV banner. Belletrist is the book club Roberts founded in 2017 with Karah Preiss (also an executive producer), and the novel-to-TV pipeline is a substantial market. “Tell Me Lies” is a buzzy coming-of-age thriller, which might make this fall release raise an eyebrow, but the college setting makes it ideal as we transition into autumn.
While it doesn’t hit the same compelling heights as Witherspoon’s HBO series, “Tell Me Lies” isn’t without its merits. The predominantly 2007 setting will no doubt tug on recent nostalgia strings. MGMT’s “Time to Pretend” is an instant mood setter, as is the focus on text messages popping up on Blackberry, Razr, and Sidekick screens. Social media is in its infancy, and no one has an iPhone yet. The low-slung jeans and strappy going-out tops are pitch-perfect for the era, and costume designer Charlotte Svenson immediately immerses us in the mid-00s period with a reminder of a time when waistbands seemingly couldn’t get any lower.
Setting it fifteen years ago means Lucy’s freshman year takes place only five years after Felicity Porter graduated. It is still hard to top that college series, and “Tell Me Lies” is not trying to replicate the cozy sweater aesthetic of “Felicity” and its New York City experience. Instead, it takes Lucy on a darker journey that threatens to collapse under its bleak weight. Thankfully, Van Patten is a charming presence throughout, and her chemistry with White is palpable. While there is no Team Stephen in this scenario, there is enough about the first ha“f of “Tell Me Lies” to ensure this tale of betrayal is one I want to graduate from. [B-]