‘Tell Me Lies’ Season 1 Episode 1 Recap: ‘Lightning Strikes’
Hulu’s slate of originals dropping in September 2022 continues with Tell Me Lies. In the premiere episode of the book-to-TV adaptation, the tumultuous romance between Grace Van Patten’s Lucy Albright and Jackson White’s Stephen DeMarco begins. Ahead, get a recap of Tell Me Lies Season 1 Episode 1: “Lightning Strikes.”
[Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers from Tell Me Lies Season 1 Episode 1: “Lightning Strikes”]
‘Tell Me Lies’ Season 1 Episode 1: Lucy meets Stephen during her first week of college in 2007
The Tell Me Lies premiere, which began streaming on Sept. 7, 2022, according to Hulu, gives viewers the origin story of Lucy and Stephen’s romance. While Lucy anxiously awaits her former flame’s arrival at a mutual friend’s engagement party, flashbacks reveal their first meeting.
It’s September 2007 and Lucy arrives at Baird College during Welcome Week. In between meeting her roommate, Macy (Lily McInerny), and their neighbors, Pippa (Sonia Mena) and
Bree (Catherine Missal), Lucy locks eyes with Stephen. He’s friends with Wrigley (Spencer House), the student Pippa’s casually dating, and a few years Lucy’s senior.
Later, Lucy and Stephen meet at a frat party. They have a short conversation on a staircase, but that’s all it takes. Lucy is drawn to Stephen’s willingness to speak his mind as well as his charisma.
The next day, Lucy gets a phone call from none other than Stephen. He wants to go on an “actual date.”
Macy dies in a car accident, Lucy turns to Stephen
Tell Me Lies, which is based on Carola Lovering’s eponymous novel, continues with a tragedy. It starts innocently enough. Macy asks Lucy to go with her to an off-campus house party. Lucy refuses, opting to stay in following an upsetting call from her mother, played by Grey’s Anatomy alum Jessica Capshaw.
The next morning Lucy wakes up to see Macy’s bed hasn’t been slept in. She goes about her day before learning Macy died in a car accident after the party.
Later, Lucy goes to the college’s bonfire which has become a vigil for Macy. From there she goes to a party that ends with Stephen taking her back to her dorm after a puking incident on the lawn.
Lucy briefly breaks down in tears before asking Stephen to stay because she doesn’t want to be alone. The pair open up in the morning about their fractured relationships with their parents. They kiss and Stephen leaves.
Lucy agrees to go on a date while Stephen learns more about Macy’s death
Stephen’s day is only just beginning when he and Lucy kiss. His ex-girlfriend, Diana (Alicia Crowder), whom he says he loves, is waiting for him when he gets home. “Have you hooked up with anyone else since we broke up?” Diana asks. “I haven’t wanted to, no. I wish I wanted to,” Stephen replies.
Diana and Stephen seem to be getting back together (or maybe not?) when a call from Wrigley comes in. He wants Stephen to come over because his younger brother, Drew (Benjamin Wadsworth), is upset about Macy.
“I think I really f***ed up,” a tearful Drew tells Stephen. Cut to Stephen leaving the room, and he gets a text from Lucy. She agrees to go on a date.
In the final moments of Tell Me Lies Season 1 Episode 1, scenes of Lucy and Stephen getting ready for their first date flash as their paths cross at the engagement party.
Tell Me Lies episodes 1-3 dropped Sept. 7 with new installments streaming weekly.
