The Lying Game - Season 2 Episode 9 - Recap and Review - The Grave Truth

Man, I like my identical twin sleuths working as a yin and yang as opposed to butting-heads over stupid boys. The Lying Game proved tonight that nothing is impossible with the help of an evil twin. “The Grave Truth” saw one more character learning the infamous “twin secret” that landed Derek Rogers six feet under. What had come of Theresa, though? Maybe she just went for a late-night swim at the club, only to lose track of time and mistakenly miss her own wedding?..

The episode opened with Emma (Alexandra Chando) and Ted’s (Andy Buckley) continued confrontation at Derek’s gravesite. Things weren’t looking good for Emma’s biological father, who decided then was as good a time as there ever would be to spill the beans. Emma, Rebecca (Charisma Carpenter) is your birth mother. Yeah, skip that part. You’re so behind, pal. Ted… you are the father! She wasn’t Sutton, as he’d presumed, but Emma got her desired answer. Was her dad a killer, though? Ted decided to come clean entirely, and his explanation made perfect sense, for what it was worth. Ted had been visiting Derek’s gravesite out of sheer guilt, knowing very well that Derek was tied, somehow, into his twisted backwards adoption. Even though he was blackmailing Ted for loads of cash, he was still just a kid. Ted also admitted to running into Theresa that night and answering a plethora of questions. Realizing it would look absolutely terrible to admit to seeing Theresa just before her disappearance, he decided to keep his mouth shut until then. Emma, under the guise of “Sutton,” managed to convince him to come clean to Dan (Tyler Christopher).

Emma returned home beaming from her new discovery. She and Laurel (Allie Gonino) bonded over teen squeals and sisterly hugs while Mads (Alice Greczyn) slept like a log. Mads woke up just in time to groggily point out Thayer (Christian Alexander) in the window. Thayer had been worried about Emma’s late-night escapades.

The next day, Mads returned home from her bogus sleepless slumber party to start confronting her father. Why have they been living in Rebecca’s house if she’s considered dangerous? Mads also admitted to knowing that Jordan (Ryan Rottman) was working for Alec in order to help expose Rebecca as a murderess. While Mads confronted her father, Emma and Ethan discussed what had gone down. Ethan, being Dan’s brother, was sort of in a rush to clue the man in. Emma insisted he let Ted do his own confessing.

ABC Family "The Lying Game"

Things didn’t really go so well for Ted the next morning. Dan Whitehorse was relentless in his interrogation, even getting a bit physical. Luckily for Ted, Alec (Adrian Pasdar) stepped in to intervene. By now, we’d begun to realize that Team Alec and Team Ted would have to merge forces in order to target Team Succubus a.k.a. Rebecca. Rebecca is in love with Ted, so it was only fitting that she’d be the one to murder someone threatening him. Dan posed a great question, though. In my opinion, it’s the biggest question there is: Who gives a crap about who Sutton’s father is? He doesn’t know about Emma, per say, but it’s the same sort of question: Who cares about a random pair of twins?

Meanwhile, Emma and Laurel decided to pay a visit to The Lying Game equivalent of a purgatory penalty box, Sutton’s cabin! Sutton was a tad disappointed that Emma had experienced the act validation she’d been craving for years, the witnessing of Ted’s admittance of paternity. Well, an answer is an answer, dark twin. Laurel attempted to pressure the two to hug it out, forcing a blink-and-you-missed-it locking that Sutton was strangely more in favor of than Emma. Wonder twin powers activate! Now they could really get some sh*t done!

Ethan met Dan at the station to discuss what had gone down with Ted. Dan, incredibly disappointed that Ethan had kept a massive secret from him, considered this slight unforgivable. How could Ethan have neglected to inform him that Ted never returned home the night of Theresa’s disappearance? How could Ethan choose Sutton Mercer over his own brother? Little Whitehorse ended up kicked out of his trailer. With nowhere else to turn to… Nah, that’s not true, he had plenty of places to turn to, but Ethan chose to show up at the Mercer’s. Do the Mercer's have a bench press? Thayer and Emma had been catching up when Whitehorse arrived, and Kristin (Helen Slater) jumped the gun and invited him to stay on the couch before first consulting “Sutton." Thayer seemed rightfully pissed, but Ethan accepted. I just realized, I kind of tune out the Thayer/ Emma chats! I just remember each one as, "Thayer concerned/ Emma does not like Thayer."

ABC Family "The Lying Game"

Get this cheap fool's gold off of Sutton's skin!

Sutton had been wasting her day attempting to crack Rebecca by playing nice. Sutton is, of course, incapable of cloaking her true feelings of absolute disgust, and it wasn’t long before she simply snapped. After admitting that Rebecca had some great motives for killing Derek, Sutton was ticked off to find Rebecca disappointed with her. Normally, disappointment from a parent is the worst experience, but coming from Rebecca and going towards Sutton, it was most likely just flat-out annoying.

ABC Family "The Lying Game"

Bigfoot sighting!

That night, Sutton bore witness to Emma and Ethan sneaking around the kitchen after hours. The two looked like they were about to get pretty hot and heavy, until Ethan clunked Emma’s freshly poured tea and spilled it all over her hands. Physically hot trumps romantically hot, apparently. In her bedroom, Emma was startled to stumble upon a looming Sutton. Seriously, would you ever get used to a surprise identical twin popping up out of the shadows or in the backseat of your car? Sutton admitted to coming up short, but was most definitely up for prying into Emma’s business with Ethan. That is, until Ethan himself barged in ready to profess his love for Emma. Too bad, Whitehorse, it’ll have to wait!

The next day, Kristin took it upon herself to politely tell Thayer to back the eff off. Seriously, buddy, I hadn’t realized it until Kristin brought it up rather bluntly. Where did Thayer’s life go? Thayer, attempting to sound gallant, cited every failed relationship he’d ever witnessed, Kristin’s included, as reason to never give up on Emma. Eh, how about the fact that there’s no chemistry? Maybe he felt the need to kill some innocent folks in order to keep Emma all to himself?

#TheLyingGang was completed! Mads, without informing the group prior, decided to bring Jordan to his first meeting at the cabin. Jordan came clean about his ties to Rebecca and his knowledge of the twin secret. Still, no one knows that Jordan was the one to make the call framing Alec. Jordan had witnessed Rebecca digging in her special keepsake box that the demoness keeps locked away from all those beings with souls. Convinced she was hiding something pivotal inside, he offered to snoop while she was out that evening. Sutton was all for it, in addition to concocting her own new scheme.

That night, Sutton met Ted out in the middle of nowhere, seemingly just to ask him to repeat the statement that he is her father out loud for her own ears. Wow, Sutton’s does know how to hug people. That hug with Ted was a winner! Surprise, there’s Emma. Twin hug time! Wouldn’t it be absolutely bizarre to have to hug a double of your daughter like that? Immediately following, Ted came face to face with Alec and revealed that he’d learned the truth. Alec owned his part in the deception. Only, he added that he did it solely for Kristin, not Ted. The burden of twins, apparently, was too much for her to handle.

ABC Family "The Lying Game"

Alec had just come from speaking with Thayer in one last-ditch effort to pull his adopted son over to his dark side. All of these sides are dark! At this point, wouldn’t it be anticlimactic if any of these parents, save for Kristin, killed Derek? He wanted Thayer’s trust and help in getting Rebecca pegged.

I appreciated that Sutton came clean about all of her efforts to split up Ted and Kristin and offered a genuine apology. With her father on board, they could get the absolute truth out of Rebecca. Ted is the only one Rebecca trusts fully, at this point. He managed to coax Rebecca into coming over to his room at the club, and once again, she offered to back him no matter what. Does Rebecca think he killed Derek? I’m assuming so, considering how caught off guard she was when Ted accused her himself.

ABC Family "The Lying Game"

Jordan had attempted to find out what Rebecca was storing in her special box, but he was dumbfounded upon actually opening it. It was empty! From the corner of his eye, he discovered a figure in black dashing for the exit. On his way out, the burglar knocked Mads flat on her bum. Oh, Mads! Mads is too pretty to be caught up in The Lying Game, let alone to be knocked on her ass. If you ask me, that thief was clearly a woman. She's just jealous, Mads! Look, she has to wear a ski mask!

Earlier, Rebecca had confronted Kristin in public for having an affair with Alec, if only to twist the rusty knife she’d thrusted in Kristin’s back over and over again. Alec, in order to cover their tracks, called their little kiss nothing but a mistake. Near the end of the episode, he ventured over to the Mercer house to apologize to Kristin, promising a future together.

ABC Family "The Lying Game"

As this was going down, Laurel sat all by her lonesome working on a jigsaw at the cabin. When Sutton showed up, Laurel decided to get something off of her chest. Why did Sutton need DNA to love Laurel? Sutton gave her a genuine apology for attempting to split up their family, admitting to getting caught up in the fantasy of having a deeper connection with someone she was blood related to. Before Sutton could further explain, she got a phone call from… Theresa!

Theresa(?): *breathing *

Gross.

At the station, Sutton and Laurel awaited Dan’s team's tracking of Theresa’s phone. Not before long, sirens sounded outside of the country club, stirring Rebecca, Ted, Emma, and Thayer from their respective rooms. Theresa’s phone was somewhere at that club. The police spread out, while Emma called Sutton over to the shadows of the bushes for information. Knowing Ethan would need a shoulder to cry on in any case, Sutton offered to swap places with Emma to distract Thayer, recalling the look in Emma's eyes the night Ethan scolded her with hot tea in the Mercer kitchen. How mature of the evil twin!

Sorry big Whitehorse, Theresa’s in the pool, and she’s not swimming laps, she’s dead.

What did you all think of The Lying Game Season 2 Episode 9, “The Grave Truth”? Was Theresa’s death inevitable? Is Sutton truly maturing or is there something up her sleeve? Is Thayer capable of murder? Are you excited for the finale?

Lastly, my PSA: If you want to see The Lying Game return from its spring finale next week, make sure you hashtag #LyingGameBack10 in your tweets supporting the show! We need answers! I need more Sutton!

Thanks for reading my Recap and Review of The Lying Game Season 2 Episode 9, “The Grave Truth”!