SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers from “As I Climb Onto Your Back, I Will Promise Not to Sting,” Episode 7 of Season 3 of “Tell Me Lies,” now streaming on Hulu.
If there’s one character on “Tell Me Lies” who could give Grace Van Patten’s Lucy a run for her money when it comes to finding themselves in anxiety-inducing, nail-biting situations, it’s Cat Missal’s Bree.
In the first six episodes of Season 3 of “Tell Me Lies” — the Hulu drama created by Meaghan Oppenheimer — the Baird College sophomore has already gotten herself involved in an array of less than ideal situations. We’ve watched as she befriended — then promptly blew up at — 17-year-old freshman Amanda (Iris Apatow) whom Bree suspected was sleeping with Baird professor (and Bree’s Season 2 love interest) Oliver (Tom Ellis), whose house she later showed up to after a few hours of Valentine’s Day frat party drinking. But instead of finding Oliver there, Bree broke down into sobs on the shoulder of Oliver’s wife and fellow Baird professor, Marianne (Gabriella Pession) — all while still donning her Goth attire. (For the record, Missal is definitely aware of how unprofessional all these student-teacher relationships are: “Marianne should be embarrassed about the way that she acts and interacts with the students,” they tell Variety. “It’s just all so convoluted.”)
In a rare yet welcome reprieve from Bree’s more distressing plot points this season, we’ve gotten to watch a romance blossom between her and Wrigley (Spencer House) — though that too becomes all the less sweet when you’re forced to remember that Bree is dating Evan (Branden Cook), while Wrigley is still with her best friend and roommate, Pippa (Sonia Mena).
Now, in Season 3’s seventh episode, Bree finds herself at the center of the drama once again; Evan, desperate to hold on to her, sabotages the evening by getting her mom (whom she’s never really known) drunk ahead of Bree’s photography exhibit, turning what should’ve been a celebratory night into a chaotic one. And as if things couldn’t get worse, the long-kept secret that it was Lucy who Evan cheated with freshman year is finally revealed when Bree happens upon a few incriminating Facebook posts.
Below, Missal spoke to Variety about Bree and Evan’s relationship, that nerve-racking photo exhibit and why their character is “kind of a villain” in their eyes.
How did you and Spencer House feel when you learned your characters would be getting together after two seasons of barely being friends?
That was definitely on our radar. We were like, “Have we ever even spoken in the show?” Spencer is such a great actor, so I was really excited to get to play off of him and to create this love story between them. We had this knowing and this understanding, which I was really grateful for, that it had to be good. Because if it wasn’t good and it didn’t feel true, it just wouldn’t make sense. And people would be like, “This is weird.”
People love Bree and Wrigley. Are you surprised by that?
I’m surprised. I haven’t seen too much because I’m not really online. I hear things through my partner and my sisters tell me things. I’m really glad people are enjoying it as much as they are.
The biggest part of this episode, for Bree, is the doomed night at the photo exhibit with her mom. It’s a tense night, all thanks to Evan, who got her mom drunk in a strange power play. Bree doesn’t know that, though. So how do you think she reads her mom’s behavior?
I think that she knows she’s drunk. The thing I love about Bree is that she’s so observant and she’s so empathetic. And so even though her mom is there and shows up drunk, she’s still trying to take care of her. She’s not just like, “All right, you need to leave.” She’s grateful that she even showed up at all, and she really wants the relationship to work, which makes it so sad.
Do you feel like Bree was embarrassed?
I think she’s more hurt. She doesn’t really get too embarrassed, which is a really cool trait of hers. I wish I was that way. But she often just lets it roll off her back. I think it’s a testament to what she’s been through in her life.
Evan’s actions are all the more sinister considering his earlier exchange with Oliver, who tells him Bree needs to feel like she needs him. In the end, though, it works. Do you think there’s truth to what Oliver says?
Oh, gosh, there is truth in that. But that’s a manipulative tactic. That is textbook manipulation. [Evan] is entrapping her. He’s just convincing her that he is the only safe space in her life and so that’s why she chooses him again. Who knows if her mom had shown up and wasn’t wasted and [been] able to support her. Say that night went great and then the Wrigley situation happened. Maybe she would have gone to her mom. Who knows! He is making it so that she is isolated, and he is the only person that she can turn to.
If she knew Evan had taken her mom to drinks, would she have ended it?
I really would hope so — I don’t know. It’s hard to say, because all of these people just make so many bad mistakes, and seem to just go back to each other. I think Bree has somewhat of a moral compass, but, like, she just doesn’t know. She just doesn’t know what’s up. She just doesn’t have people. She would obviously feel incredibly betrayed and mad at him and heartbroken. But I don’t know if it would change her mind about her mom. She might still feel the same way — like, “You were just so easily convinced by my boyfriend.”
What can you tease about the future of her relationship with her mom after the exhibit? She’s clearly not at the wedding…
That’s the beginning of the end — or the beginning of the beginning of the end. The relationship can only go downhill from there, which is so sad. I start to say something, and then I’m like, “God, this is so depressing.”
We also get another conversation between Marianne and Bree, where she says Oliver needs to be stopped. Do you think Bree genuinely feels that way?
I think it’s actually kind of selfish of her. She’s doing it, seemingly, for Amanda and so that he doesn’t ever do this to other girls. But I think it’s coming from a selfish place because of how she never dealt with any of [her emotions around that]. It’s still just all right underneath the surface for her, and from my perspective, has a lot of her own emotions tied into it.
At the end of the episode, Bree learns that Lucy was the girl Evan slept with freshman year, right after she learns that Wrigley slept with Pippa. Do you think she would’ve cared so much about Lucy and Evan had that second betrayal not happened?
I don’t think she would have been in as big of a spiral as she was in. When we were doing the costume fitting, Charlotte [Svenson] was like, “You’re in this for 18 scenes.” And I was like, “What?” Bree just keeps going. She doesn’t slow down. She’s just in a really bad state of mind. So I think she would have been able to process it differently.
Some may feel that what Bree is doing — cheating on Evan, and lying to Pippa — is worse than the one-time drunken hookup between Lucy and Evan.
I agree. I think that what Lucy did was for attention, and what Bree is doing is incredibly secretive and way deeper. It just feels worse. I think she just doesn’t know how to operate in what she’s doing. She’s kind of a villain in my eyes. If you wanted to be with Wrigley, just leave Evan! The second you’re like, “Oh, I have feelings for Wrigley,” you definitely shouldn’t be with Evan. She’s just a lost little puppy.
Do you think Evan has any idea about Bree and Wrigley?
I think Bree is convinced that he has absolutely no clue. Even if he did think, “Oh, that’s a little weird,” she could fully convince him that they’re just friends and she’s got the situation completely under control.
Back to the wedding timeline. We know that Lucy is a bridesmaid, so how did they mend their friendship?
That’s a great question. The only thought that I had given it was that they haven’t talked about it. That it’s something that Bree does — just buries. I think that’s the truth. I mean, I don’t know for sure. I didn’t talk to Meaghan about it. But, seemingly, the way that Bree operates is compartmentalize, compartmentalize, compartmentalize. If they were to have had a conversation, it would have just been Lucy groveling and [Bree] being like, “OK, I’ll forgive you.”
Bree’s friendships are also limited, which might play a role?
Completely. That is actually such a joke from Season 1, where I just was like, “Does she just not have any other friends?” We’re at her wedding and she just has Pippa and Lucy here, who are shit friends. It’s kind of a big joke. But I do think that for the sake of the show, it does really drive them back to each other because they are seemingly the only people in each other’s lives.
What was your reaction to the finale script?
My jaw was just on the floor. I was gagged. I was like, “Oh my God, this is going to be crazy!” People are going to lose their minds.
This interview has been edited and condensed.