In Tell Me Lies season 3, episode 7, Stephen gives Lucy the tape not out of love or empathy, but because her complete emotional collapse takes all the “fun” and power out of tormenting her. The show’s creator Meaghan Oppenheimer has described his motive as fundamentally cynical : once Lucy is sobbing, begging, and fully broken down, her vulnerability disgusts him, and the dynamic of control he enjoyed stops being satisfying, so he finally hands the tape back.

Quick Scoop: What’s Really Going On

  • Stephen has been using the tape as blackmail leverage over Lucy for a long time.
  • Lucy is terrified of what’s on it and when he might use it, which pushes her to a near “psychotic break” level of stress in the show’s own framing.
  • When she finally breaks down at his door, saying she “gives up” and just needs it to be over, he returns the tape and claims he didn’t make a copy.
  • According to Oppenheimer, this isn’t a redemptive moment: he’s essentially bored and repulsed by her begging, so he no longer gets anything emotionally out of holding it over her.

In other words, he gives Lucy the tape because the power game stops being entertaining for him once she reaches total desperation, not because he’s trying to do the right thing or protect her.

How the Episode Frames It

Lucy: emotionally shattered, pleading for the nightmare to end.
Stephen: watching her hit bottom, then abruptly handing over the tape.

  • The scene is staged so that, on first watch, some viewers might think “maybe he does care.”
  • Interviews with the creator and Jackson White (Stephen) shut that down: the intention is that he’s turned off by her vulnerability, not moved by compassion.
  • The tape still hangs over the story, because Lucy’s memory lapses and stress raise the possibility that she may not be as safe as she thinks (he might have lied about copies, or the show may be blurring what actually happened).

Forum Discussion & Theories

Online discussions and think-pieces spin a few angles around “why did Stephen give Lucy the tape” and what it really means.

Common viewpoints

  1. The cynical canon view (creator-confirmed)
    • Stephen is a narcissist who enjoys control until Lucy’s desperation makes it ugly and no longer gratifying.
 * Giving the tape back is just him changing tactics, not growing a conscience.
  1. The hopeful viewer read
    • Some fans want to see it as a tiny act of care – that a part of him doesn’t want to “ruin” her entirely.
 * This interpretation is emotionally tempting but explicitly undercut by the showrunner’s comments.
  1. The unreliable-reality theory
    • Because Lucy is so stressed that she forgets prior conversations (like warning Tegan about Stephen twice), some fans think she may have hallucinated or misremembered getting the tape, and that Stephen might still be planning to use or release it.
 * This keeps the tape as a looming threat even after that big scene.

Why This Moment Is Such a Big Deal

  • The tape is called “life-ruining” in coverage of season 3, and the whole season is framed around consequences catching up with everyone.
  • Returning it looks, on the surface, like Lucy reclaiming power, but the show immediately undercuts that feeling with her memory gaps and ongoing instability.
  • In the larger conversation about Lucy and Stephen’s relationship, critics and essayists describe this dynamic as emotionally abusive and rooted in control, not passion.

So, when people search “why did Stephen give Lucy the tape,” the clearest on- screen and creator-backed answer is: he did it because Lucy’s complete breakdown made the power trip stop being enjoyable, not because he loved her or wanted to heal her.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.