'Tell Me Lies' Season 2 finale: Tom Ellis, Cat Missal storyline broke showrunner's heart the most
"There's something really terrifying about being wanted by older men," series creator Meaghan Oppenheimer said
We've reached the jaw-dropping end of Tell Me Lies Season 2 (on Disney+ in Canada, Hulu in the U.S.), with Meaghan Oppenheimer's series keeping us guessing right up until the last minute. From the relationship between Lucy (Grace Van Patten) and Stephen (Jackson White), to Bree's (Catherine Missal) affair with Oliver (Oppenheimer's husband Tom Ellis), Tell Me Lies had our hearts pumping all season.
Looking back at Season 2, Oppenheimer shared to Yahoo Canada that the relationship between Bree and Oliver was particularly "personal" to her. The showrunner also spoke about her desire to constantly surprise the show's audience.
Spoilers for Tell Me Lies Season 2, including the finale, included beyond this point
'She thinks someone is risking all this stuff for her'
Aside from the continued Lucy and Stephen drama, Bree has proved to be a core character to watch this season.
In the later timeline we see the lead up to Bree's wedding to her college boyfriend Evan (Branden Cook), but going back to 2008 things were looking rocky for the couple. That's when the attractive professor Oliver comes into the picture.
Just when you expect this to be a Pretty Little Liars situation, Tell Me Lies adds a surprising twist that makes it feel different from what we've seen from similar situations on other shows. When Bree and Oliver's affair ends, we find out that his wife Marianne (Gabriella Pession) was completely aware of it. While Bree thought she was in this secret relationship, she was more like a pawn in this couple's chess game.
"Bree's storyline this season felt very personal to me and it really resonated with me on a lot of levels," Oppenheimer shared. "I think it was the one that broke my heart the most and I think a lot of the writers felt that way in the writers room. It really got at my core in a way that actually surprised me."
"I wanted to explore the sense of power you have as a young girl when you were at the beginning of your romantic life. There's something really terrifying about being wanted by older men, but also something that feels very powerful and I think there is this sense of power that Bree has. She thinks someone is risking all this stuff for her, but then I think when you look back in your 30s, you're like, 'Oh, I didn't actually have any power at all.'"
In terms of having her husband on the show as Oliver, Oppenheimer "loved" having Tom Ellis on set, but particularly in this role, to tackle a sensitive story.
"You could cast someone in that role that you never know who you're going to get and I was happy that I felt like Cat was very protected by that, because my husband is the kindest, most protective person," Oppenheimer said. "I think, just knowing that we were dealing with a good guy and someone that Cat already knew, it made everyone feel a bit safer."
Meaghan Oppenheimer's the queen of a shocking cliffhanger
In the final moments of Tell Me Lies Season 2, we see Bree (in her wedding dress, just before her wedding ceremony is set to start) listening to the audio recording Stephen sent her of Evan confessing that the summer in college when he cheated on Bree, it was with Lucy. As Lucy walks up behind Bree and says, "you ready?" The season ends.
It's an ending that has us already anxiously waiting and hopeful for a Season 3, and after two seasons of Tell Me Lies, Oppenheimer has proved to be the queen of a cliffhanger.
"I always feel like this show is at its best when it feels like there's an evil god looking down on the characters and laughing gleefully at all of their mistakes," she said. "And so I wanted the ending to be shocking, but I wanted it to be sort of almost funny in a nasty way, because I think that is the tone of the show that works the best."
"I always want to surprise people. I mean, I am just such an asshole in that way. I always am just thinking about what will no one expect, and what will really anger people the most, because it's fun. And I think people kind of watch this show, almost like they watch reality TV, where you're just screaming at the characters."