Listen for the Lie

On the podcast, Ben talks to Beverly, who describes how she was always suspicious of Matt and his too-charming persona. She even told Lucy not to marry him, but Lucy was too in love to listen. Not long after, however, Matt’s true self started shining through. Beverly recalls a time when Matt name-called Savvy to Don, claiming that she hates him.

Beverly visits the Chases, and Kathleen insists she should have talked to her before going on the podcast. She is worried Matt will sue them, but Beverly insists that she only told the truth about Matt’s horrible behavior. Beverly encourages Lucy to tell the truth, too, but Kathleen asks Lucy to be selective in what she says. Lucy reflects on how Kathleen has always protected the men in her life.

Ben invites Lucy out for a drink. At the bar, Lucy spots Nina who, to her surprise, is drinking numerous margaritas despite her earlier assertion that she doesn’t drink much. Nina catches her eye and initially turns away before eventually coming over. She is surprised and irritated to see Ben there with Lucy and quickly returns to her own table. Lucy and Ben wonder what he did to offend her.

After a couple of hours, Ben and Lucy decide to head home, but a livid Matt appears out of nowhere in the parking lot. Ben manages to switch on his recorder and capture Matt punching and threatening him. After Matt leaves, Ben invites Lucy to his hotel for another drink.

Lucy goes to Ben’s hotel room, and they discuss the possibility of Matt having killed Savvy. However, Lucy remembers the fear in Matt’s eyes as he asked her to leave the house after Savvy’s death, and she tells Ben she doesn’t think Matt did it. Ben kisses Lucy, and they proceed to have sex.

Lucy wakes up next to Ben the next morning and heads home without waking him. Ben calls later to check in on her and to talk to her about something: He has a bonus episode planned but wants Lucy to listen to it and veto it if she wants to.

Interlude 20 is Ben’s proposed bonus episode: An audio recording of the scuffle with Matt is followed by an interview with Maya. She firmly refutes that Savvy could have ever slept with Matt, as she would have never done that to a friend. Savvy also always hated Matt, as she suspected he was abusive to Lucy.

Lucy asks Ben to leave out the section where Maya insinuates Matt was abusive. She drives to Austin where Maya lives, because Maya is the only other person who knows Savvy’s secret. As Lucy is driving, Savvy appears next to her in the car and mentions how she once killed a man because he deserved it.

Flashing back to the night five years prior, Lucy laughs off Savvy’s suggestion that they kill Matt, claiming neither of them has any experience with murder. Savvy reveals that she once killed a man named Troy, who attempted to assault her in a bar. She stabbed him to death before dumping his body in a swamp. Lucy realizes this is why Savvy left college and expresses that she is sorry this happened to Savvy. Savvy states that Troy deserved it, and so does Matt.

Maya stops short when she sees Lucy waiting for her outside work and angrily declares she doesn’t want to talk. She changes her mind when Lucy reveals she knows about Troy. Maya begins to believe that Lucy didn’t kill Savvy, as Lucy knew about Troy but never told the police about it. Maya wishes she had known that Lucy knew, as that would have proved she knew and cared about Savvy. She makes Lucy promise to do whatever she can to catch Savvy’s killer.

Lucy goes to Matt’s house and runs into his second wife, Julia, leaving with suitcases. Julia recognizes Lucy and states that she wants to talk to Ben. Lucy takes Julia to Ben’s hotel suite where Julia claims she wants to do an interview about her marriage and the things Matt has said about Lucy.

On the second bonus episode of the podcast, Julia described how Matt was charming and put her at ease at the beginning of their relationship. After they got married, however, things began to change. Matt was always drinking, and he was nasty when he was inebriated. He would throw things around the house, which eventually escalated to him hurting Julia and gaslighting her into thinking she hurt him, too.

Julia reveals that Matt always spoke kindly of Lucy. She mentions one specific thing Matt once said when he was drunk: He should have protected Lucy better that night, insinuating he was with Lucy the night Savvy died.

After the new episode is released, Lucy gets numerous calls and messages from her family and friends but ignores them all. She grapples with what to say about Matt and finally tells her family that Matt had a temper but her experience was not the same as Julia’s. Kathleen tries to assert that they would have known if Matt hit her, and Lucy retorts that no one ever knows what’s really going on in someone else’s marriage. However, she will not be talking about this on the podcast. Kathleen appears relieved at this, before Beverly claims that it is probably Matt who killed Savvy.

Matt visits Lucy in the middle of the night. He heard that she said things were different for her than for Julia, and he thanks her for it. Lucy remembers how Matt cautioned her against telling the police about the abuse after Savvy died, and she reflects on how people don’t believe women who fight back.

Matt kisses Lucy and invites her home, but she rebuffs him. She asks him if he was there with her the night Savvy died, but he denies it. He begs her to let the podcast go and return to LA, claiming that he is still trying to protect her. Panicked, Lucy asks about the identity of the woman who came to see Matt that night, and he reluctantly reveals that it was Nina.

Lucy texts Ben about Matt’s revelation, and he invites her over straightaway to tell the story for the podcast. As she does, she hears Savvy’s voice reminding her that she never liked Nina.

Lucy wakes up in Ben’s bed in the middle of the night, unable to sleep. He is awake, too, and they talk about Lucy’s marriage and Ben’s past, including the journalism awards he won in high school. They eventually head back to bed together.

Paige discovers Lucy in Ben’s bed the next morning and is exasperated and annoyed, as she thinks it could unravel the podcast. She warns Lucy that this doesn’t mean she will be getting a heads-up about what episodes are to come, and Lucy doesn’t mention Maya’s edited segment.

On the sixth episode of the podcast, Ben digs up old recordings from his first interview with Colin, who mentioned he knew Nina a little and hung out with her a couple of times. Ben also speaks to Joanna, who confirms that there were rumors about something between Colin and Nina.

Emmett asks Lucy to meet for a drink. He reveals that Nina is still sleeping with Matt and says that part of their connection is because they are both “alcoholics.” Emmett also reveals he has always hated Matt, now more so after learning everything he has done.

Lucy remembers a moment with Emmett when her marriage to Matt was breaking down. Emmett had told her she could talk to him about anything, and he kissed her. Lucy broke away and left but now confesses she wished she had gone away with him. She asks Emmett to come to LA with her now, so they can start over. Emmett’s answering smile fades as he sees Keaton Harper, Savvy’s brother, approaching them.

Keaton apologetically tells Lucy he didn’t know about Matt being violent. He now believes that Lucy didn’t lie about her amnesia. He knows Matt and Nina well, and it doesn’t sit right with him that they never mentioned to anyone they were out the night Savvy died.

Ben asks to meet Lucy at Beverly’s place for the next interview, where he wants to talk about Lucy’s relationship with Nina. Lucy remembers how Nina and Savvy never liked each other, though no one else knew the intensity of their mutual dislike. She now tells Ben she doesn’t want to talk to Nina, just as she gets a text message: The internet has discovered Eva Knightley’s true identity.

On the podcast, Ben plays more old recordings from initial interviews with Nina, revealing how nervous and hesitant she was. He also finds some inconsistencies: Nina had claimed she didn’t know Savvy at all, but someone else talks about how there was drama between Nina and Savvy back in high school about a boy. It appears that Nina has always held a grudge about this.

Within a couple of hours, all the reviews of Lucy’s books online are filled with murder accusations. She drives to Nina’s house to tell her she is about to be painted as Savvy’s murderer. Nina attempts to apologize for her affair with Matt and confirms that she also slept with Colin.

Nina explains she was at Matt’s that night to make a scene, so Matt would be forced to leave Lucy like he promised to do. However, Matt yelled at her to leave, and she did so immediately. Nina defends Matt, sure that he didn’t kill Savvy, and Lucy asks why the town is so eager to jump to Matt’s defense while they never did for her. When Nina points out she defended Lucy on the podcast, Lucy retorts it is only because Nina felt guilty about Matt. Nina slams the door in Lucy’s face.