Grace Van Patten and Jackson White Talks ‘Tell Me Lies’ Review: Hulu’s Bad Romance Is Very Good Based on the novel by Carola Lovering, the series traces the toxic relationship between Lucy (Grace Van Patten) and Stephen (Jackson White) over eight years, from college to young adulthood. Typically, it probably wouldn’t be a good thing that, after five hourlong episodes — halfway into the season! — I still don’t quite know what to make of Stephen (Jackson White), the male lead of Hulu’s Tell Me Lies. Here, though, it’s just proof the show is working exactly as intended. Whenever he starts to tiptoe toward full-on villainy, the series will grant him a heartbreaking reveal or a moment of genuine sweetness; whenever he threatens to seem too likable, it’ll drop in a casual reminder of how breathtakingly callous he can be. The push-pull puts us more or less in the same shoes as protagonist Lucy (Grace Van Patten), who spends years wriggling on his hook before she’s finally able to cut herself free — and it’s that keen understanding of the psychology driving its central relationship that distinguishes Tell Me Lies from any number of dramas about steamy but doomed romances.