Tell Me Lies – Season 1 Episode 7 “Castle on a Cloud” Recap & Review

Castle on a Cloud

It is Evan’s birthday and the group is driving down to his lake house to celebrate it at the start of Tell Me Lies episode 7. Quite surprisingly, he is the one who has to make all the arrangements and buy his own cake. Imagine the kind of friendship his dear comrades offer him.

The beautiful isolated location will host them for the wild weekend to come. When he reaches the house, he is the target of casual racism from a “Karen” nearby. They’re new occupants but ideologically still in the 18th century when the colored couldn’t own property. He handles it with a smile, somehow, and proceeds to set up the house for his “friends”.

In another wanton act of childish brazenness, we see Wrigley “shotgun” the master bedroom by stripping down and rubbing himself over the sheets.

It is indeed a precursor to the weekend we can expect from this despicable bunch of merrymakers. The boys are obsessed with a pink bowling ball, “Cosette”, that they bought in freshman year. They plan to destroy it over time by freezing it and making it go “boom boom”. Pippa has been constantly on her phone, something that Stephan and Lucy both notice. Bree has brought her camera along and photographs each of the members, including Stephan and Lucy, who now finally feel like a real couple.

Drew has also accompanied them, probably dragged across town by Wrigley, and Lucy is unhappy. Ever since she has known about the incident, all she has wanted to do is go to the police. She once again asks Stephan to do so but the master manipulator handles it like a pro. Wrigley’s coke-filled energy bust has led to a host of disruptions around the house. He is getting on Evan’s nerves and whether he likes it or not, the silent ones are always the hardest when they come undone.

Bree is curious about the package of slimy hands Evan. She does not yet know that Evan’s dad discovered the material they use to make the slimy hands stick in their place. Evan keeps the secret, for now, only waiting until the end of the episode to tell her. Wrigley’s coke-high brings more destruction to the house. He breaks a glass table this time that Evan and Stephan clean up. Stephan is in Wrigley’s ear trying to ask him to tell Drew to back off from Bree.

Lucy tries to cheer up Evan, who is quiet and upset at how his friends have treated him on his birthday. But he just cannot have any more self-indulgent play by his friends. His pain is further augmented when he inadvertently lets out Bree’s secret that she was a foster kid. Although she doesn’t say it to Evan, she is upset over the lack of interest her friends take in her life. Wrigley mentions “Canoe Olympics” to the boys. It puzzles the girls but it is a game designed to drink beer and have competitive sports. Lucy suggests Wrigley take Drew with him, which upsets Wrigley and makes him feel Lucy has a target on Drew’s back.

Stephan and Drew pair up against the other two boys. Inadvertently, in an attempt to hide from Drew that he told Lucy, Stephan instead takes Pippa’s name. Drew is shocked when he finds out and then, Stephan tries to turn Drew against his own brother. Although it was Wrigley who told her, that is not what you expect from your best friend. They obviously lose the competition to Evan and Wrigley but things get sour between the brothers. Stephan also fills Wrigley’s ear in about Pippa texting someone else to stray away attention from Lucy and Drew.

As a final hurrah, the group has a drinking night, where they play cards but with a twist. They themselves make up the rules as they go. One of them, made by a very drunk Lucy, is that Bree has to kiss Evan every time she takes a drink. As the night goes on, it becomes embarrassing for the two and Evan walks out. Lucy and Pippa go to the bathroom together where the latter senses the former is going through something. She almost gives up but a distant explosion catches their attention. A drunk Evan has finally managed to destroy the ball but does so in sheer anger. He rants about how the group’s members are not really friends and are selfish nincompoops.

In the morning, Bree finds Evan in the woods, where he fell asleep after storming out. The two bond over their angst against their friends and Bree tells Evan how much she likes him. They have sex shortly after in the master bedroom as the group packs to leave. There is one more spiteful thing that Stephan does right in front of Pippa. He dips Bree’s camera into the pool, thereby proving that he still doesn’t want to be seen with Lucy, something which was not apparent in the last episode. It is still as confusing as ever and we’re back to square one.

The Episode Review

Tell Me Lies certainly seems more comfortable in its inherent bitchiness now. Before this, the effort felt probably a little unsure whenever a character was uncouth to another character. But since the last two episodes, this tangent has gotten more decisive. To the point that now, whenever Stephan spites Pippa or Lucy hates on Wrigley, it becomes a highlight.

This episode was more of an eye-opener, both for the viewers and the characters. For the former, it solidified the fleeting feeling we have had all along: these people, most of them, are bad apples. They do not care about anyone but themselves.

They will not hesitate a second before turning on the other person. While that does sound like Stephan mostly, they’re all capable of it. Bree and Evan, whom we have liked since the beginning, are the only relatable and root-worthy characters on the show.

As far as the latter revelation goes, the trust deficit within the supposed “group” has further diminished. Any feeling of care or comfort that hitherto existed has gone down the drain. Dirty politics and in-fighting come with the personalities the group has.

They’re extremely disjointed and self-consumed. “Castle on a Cloud” exploits the reckless drinking phenomena with college students and turns the ugly reality sitting just beneath the surface into a flying kite, rummaging across the sky out in the open.

The episode perfectly uses its potent setting by carving a special episode of booze, secrets, and yes, bitching. Still can’t understand by Jackson White has to mush his words so much. And his hush tone. Come on man, speak up!