Jackson White and Grace Van Patten in 'Tell Me Lies' season three. Disney/Ian Watson Share on Facebook Share on X Google Preferred Share to Flipboard Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Send an Email Print the Article Post a Comment Logo text [This story contains spoilers from the third episode of Tell Me Lies season three, "Repent."] There was a Tell Me Lies season two storyline that creator Meaghan Oppenheimer thought might get her canceled. In the show's college-set timeline, Lucy (Grace Van Patten) lied about being sexually assaulted to protect her friend Pippa (Sonia Mena) from having to reveal her own assault. "Anything that makes our writers in the room argue with each other, I always lean in," said Oppenheimer at the time. That divisive storyline continues in season three, which is now streaming its first three episodes. In the third episode, "Repent," Lucy's psychological puppet master boyfriend Stephen (Jackson White) weaponizes the fact that Lucy lied about being raped. After finding out that Lucy slept with his friend Evan (Brendan Cook) when they were broken up, he threatens to tell Lucy's best friend Bree (Cat Missal), who was dating Evan at the time. The only way he won't spill her secret is if she gives him an even bigger one to hold over her. Related Stories Next Big Thing 'Tell Me Lies' Star Jackson White Has Conquered the "Psychological Puppet Master" TV Inside the 'Tell Me Lies' Premiere Party With Grace Van Patten, Jackson White -- and Tattoos So Stephen records Lucy, over and over, confessing about her lie and manipulating her into believing she has no choice but to apologize on camera, and Stephen holds onto the tape. Lucy and Stephen have broken up, and the video plays for viewers when Lucy then begins sleeping with someone else, a drug dealer from Bree's past named Alex (Costa D'Angelo), who she asks to call her "fucking pathetic" while they have sex. "She's in such a shame spiral that she believes this is what she deserves," Oppenheimer explained to The Hollywood Reporter after the three-episode premiere about the episode, which she called "fucking brilliant." The creator continued, "There's a part of her that has learned with her relationship with Stephen to conflate chemistry with toxicity. ... Intercutting [the video] with the sex scene made that clearer." Below, Van Patten and White spoke together to THR about how they filmed the difficult video scene, as White reveals he has walked off set over some of Stephen's scenes and the pair, who have been dating since meeting on the show, talk about how they decompress after filming those toxic moments. *** I have a toxic relationship with this show and your characters and this friend group because I want to see you together. How do you each approach passing judgment on Lucy and Stephen? And are you able to put aside worrying how viewers will judge them this season? JACKSON WHITE I think it's not up to us how people perceive it. I think it's really exciting to just go in there and try and be honest and have fun doing it. And people have very visceral reactions to the show, which is really cool. It means I'm doing a good job. GRACE VAN PATTEN I also think it's past the point of no return in terms of judging them. We can't change them, and we have to play them. So I try not to judge. I try to just find Lucy's reasoning for everything so I can make it as honest as possible. It's really fun to hear the reactions and opinions of all these characters, because they're all pretty polarizing and controversial. Right off the bat this season in the 2015 wedding timeline, Pippa (Sonia Mena) reminds Lucy that Stephen almost ruined her life sophomore year of college. Then these first three episodes are whiplash with them back in college, leading up to this videotape recording in episode three. How many times did you film Lucy and Stephen's argument, and Stephen forcing Lucy to confess that she lied about sexual assault on tape? WHITE Grace, how many times did you do that? VAN PATTEN The actual recording of the tape wasn't a lot, but that scene was a whole day. It was a 10-page scene. So it was rehearsing it and talking through it and running it, and we definitely did it a good amount of times. It was really important for all of us to get it right. And it was a lot of movement within a small space. There were a lot of factors. It was a really intense scene, and we all knew it. WHITE You did such a great job in that scene with that confession, Grace. So amazing. VAN PATTEN You were fucking awful. WHITE Yeah, thank you. I know. I hate him. VAN PATTEN I hate that guy. (Laughs.) WHITE It's so icky. I want to take him off like a skin suit. Get the hell off me, dude. Stephen (Jackson White) records Lucy (Grace Van Patten) confessing that she lied about being sexually assaulted. "It's so icky," says White of playing Stephen. Disney/Ian Watson Jackson, are you able to shake him o