This Show Will Make You Text Your Ex—And You Shouldn't

There are a few shows on television that you can watch and actually feel your brain regress, and Tell Me Lies is at the top of that list. It's the kind of show that makes you question why we trust people, how much we can trust people with, and why—despite everything they do—we go back to people who have continuously shown us who they are. This is the kind of show that was engineered to activate the "I miss them" delusion we've looked away in the back of our heads. At its core, Tell Me Lies is a series set over the course of eight years, following the most diabolical group of friends and their equally diabolical college and adult experiences. But, what makes this show so intoxicating isn't just the drama, it's the way the show captures how messy, impulsive, and emotional your late teens and early twenties can be.

image via Hulu; Tell Me Lies (2022-2026)

Why This Show Gets in Your Head

Every character from our male and female leads—Lucy and Stephen—to their best friends—Bree, Pippa, Diana, Wrigley, and Evan—is operating at an intersection of horrid communication and unchecked trauma. Yet, you still find yourself rooting for people who shouldn't be in the same room as each other, let alone a friend group.

At the center of this dysfunction are the king and queen of toxicity themselves, Lucy Albright and Stephen DeMarco. You may be looking at the picture above and thinking it's just a normal couple having a heart-to-heart, instead, it's Lucy excusing Stephen's man-child behavior...again. From the beginning, their relationship is magnetic in a way that feels familiar to anyone who's ever fallen for the worst person at the worst time. One minute, they're inseparable, and the next, you're watching Stephen gaslight Lucy like it's his favorite hobby. It's unhealthy and toxic, but it's also compelling.

And that's the problem. When you watch two people orbit each other like an emotional hurricane, you can start romanticizing the chaos you've once endured. We find ourselves thinking about that one ex who gave us 10% emotion and 90% confusion. We start thinking that maybe things weren't that bad. Spoiler Alert: they were.

But, that's the power of Tell Me Lies. It's crafted to make us all remember the worst relationship we've had and wonder what could have been. However, it's a stark warning to what your life can become if you waste it all on someone unworthy. The show knows exactly which emotional buttons to push.

And before we know it, we're hovering over our phones, tempted to send a "hey" we absolutely do not need to send. So, moral of the story, let's leave the toxicity for characters on television to worry about.