Bree and Evan Are Too Good For ‘Tell Me Lies’

Tell Me Lies, Hulu’s toxic drama based off of Carola Lovering’s 2018 best-selling novel, features some of TV’s most unlikable teens.

I can barely stomach Stephen (Jackson White), a compulsive liar, master manipulator, and cheater. I’m continuously disappointed by our selfish, at times infuriating, protagonist Lucy (Grace Van Patten). And though Wrigley (Spencer) means well and Pippa (Sonia Mena) is mostly unproblematic, they definitely have their moments. To put it simply, the majority of Tell Me Lies‘ characters suck. But Pippa’s roommate Bree (Catherine Missal) and Stephen’s roommate Evan (Branden Cook) make the series tolerable.

Tell Me Lies paints Bree and Evan as thoughtful, empathetic, respectful friends who are not only taken for granted, but are blatantly disrespected on a regular basis. They both openly disapprove of the way Stephen treats Lucy (and Diana), as they should! They care about school; they have solid communication skills; and they value honest, meaningful connections. From the first six episodes, it’s clear that Bree and Evan are, at the very least, more mature than their friends. But Episode 7, “Castle on a Cloud,” proves they deserve so much better than the chaotic, messy group.
When Evan invites everyone to his lake house for the weekend to celebrate his 21st birthday, we see the “friends” at their worst. After buying his own cake and tidying the house, Evan lays down some basic ground rules for the weekend: No shoes in the house. No glass by the pool. He gets the master bedroom. Even those simple, sensical asks were too big for his rude guests. Wrigley promptly stripped down, ran into the master, and hopped on the bed naked to claim the room. Stephen walked his dirty shoes around the house. And later in the weekend, Wrigley (while on cocaine) dropped a literal bowling ball off Evan’s balcony, fully shattering the glass table by the pool. Unbelievable!

Evan kept his cool through so many shenanigans, with help from Bree — the only one concerned that Evan bought his own birthday cake. With passing comments like “I’m glad you were born” and “You have even lower expectations of our friends than I do,” Bree helped Evan feel appreciated, and like his frustrations were valid. (THEY WERE!) In between genuine heart-to-hearts, and in spite of their thankless friends, Bree and Evan’s romantic interests in each other grew over the weekend. And how did the rest of the group support their mutual crush? By pressuring them to share a first kiss during a drinking game, then tweaking the rules so they’d have to keep kissing until they were both so uncomfortable that Evan (who as a reminder, is celebrating his birthday) screamed, “I’m sick of this shit!” and stormed out of the room.
The group pushed Evan to such a breaking point that he went outside, blew up Wrigley’s bowling ball, and released his pent-up emotions. “Fuck all of you guys! You’ve been telling me to chill all weekend. I can’t fucking chill. Look at how you act! And you do it cause you think I’ll just deal with it and act like you’re not complete fucking assholes. But guess what? You’re all fucking assholes,” he screamed. “We don’t listen to each other. We don’t care about each other. And I just have a feeling that this is how I’m gonna feel about each and every one of you, always.”

When Bree checked on Evan the next morning, he started crying and apologized for his outburst. Bree, fully aware that their friends suck, assured him, “They deserved it. You don’t have to apologize. Our friends are stressful. I love them, but I feel like we don’t understand each other sometimes.” The two shared their first real kiss alone, and when they reunited with the group everyone finally sang Evan “Happy Birthday.” Before heading back to campus, Evan and Bree hooked up in a tender, romantic scene set to Death Cab For Cutie’s “I Will Follow You Into The Dark.” (Swoon!) Did I cheer for them on my couch and nearly shed a few tears watching Bree have her first fulfilling sexual experience? Who’s to say.
As the episode is about to wrap, you think maybe, just maybe, Bree and Evan’s friends are alright. But when Stephen intentionally submerges the camera Bree checked out from school for the weekend in the pool for no reason, and Pippa sees him do it but doesn’t rat him out, we’re reminded that they’re as destructive as ever.

The first episode of Tell Me Lies opens post-graduation at Bree and Evan’s engagement luncheon. It warms my heart to know that after all the bullshit, the two found a way to stick together. But my god, I wish they got new friends.

Before joining Bree at the celebration, Pippa told Lucy, “If ever there were a time for us not to be shitty friends to her, this is the moment.” Uh, YEAH LADIES. That’s right! Unfortunately, Pippa adds, “The good news is we can’t fuck up more than we already have,” so we’re left to wonder what else they did to our precious Bree throughout the series.
Protect Bree and Evan at all costs. They’re the show’s least problematic couple and greatest friends. And quite frankly, they’re way too good for Tell Me Lies.