SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers from the first two episodes of “ Tell Me Lies ” Season 2, “You Got a Reaction, Didn’t You?” and “I Shall Now Perform a 180 Flip-Flop.” Both episodes are now streaming on Hulu.

“Tell Me Lies” is officially returning — and the drama from Season 1 doesn’t hold a flame to what’s to come. In the first two episodes, which feature both the 2008 storyline and the 2015 flash-forward, everyone returns to college. Stephen (Jackson White) and Diana (Alicia Crowder) are still together after her dad gave him a job for the summer, but he’s immediately up to his old ways and harassing Lucy (Grace Van Patten), even joining one of her classes as a T.A. While Lucy, who spent the summer with Lydia (Natalee Linez) and her brother Chris (Jacob Rodriguez), is telling everyone she’s put Stephen and his drama behind her, it’s still eating away at her.

She tries to move forward with Leo (Thomas Doherty), but he faces his own challenges. Meanwhile, at college, Pippa (Sonia Mena) feels increasingly isolated since the entire football team is ostracizing her, blaming her for Wrigley’s (Spencer House) injury. Then, during a party, she appears to be assaulted by Lydia’s brother, Chris. Fortunately, Diana enters a party room and finds Pippa half-dressed in bed and unconscious while Chris is in the bathroom; Diana and Lucy put their differences aside long enough to safely return Pippa to campus.

Bree (Catherine Missal), on the other hand, has found herself in a difficult situation. After discovering that Evan (Branden Cook) cheated on her last year — he claimed it was a random girl, not revealing it was Lucy — she starts flirting with a new man: a school professor who is 45 years old and married to Lucy’s teacher Marianne. At the end of the second episode, she breaks up with Evan and goes to see Oliver, engaging in some intense kissing in his office!

However, in the 2015 timeline, she’s set to marry Evan — so only time will tell how they will reunite.

Speaking of the timeline, the flash-forward reveals Pippa's current situation. Although she tells her friends she’s not involved with anyone significant, she’s actually lying; she’s in a relationship with Diana. Also, at the engagement party, Lydia tells Lucy she’ll never forgive her for what happened.

Variety caught up with showrunner Meaghan Oppenheimer to break down the many bombshells that dropped during the first two episodes.

Let’s start with the end of episode 1: Pippa and Diana are together at the time of Evan and Bree’s wedding! When did you decide that would be the future?

We hadn’t started writing Season 2 yet. I got the idea because I was thinking, Diana is the only character we haven’t seen in 2015. Where is she? I also knew that Pippa was being secretive about her relationship. I loved this idea, because these two are such outsiders in different ways. I think it could be beautiful to see them find each other when they’re both struggling, which they are throughout the season. I didn’t tell Hulu about it until we finished the first script. I wanted them to be surprised.

Of course, we start to see their friendship develop after the sexual assault in episode 2. How did you come up with what you would and wouldn’t show in that scene in the bedroom at the party?

I knew early on that I didn’t want to depict a lot of the assault. In my view, it’s difficult to do that without, in some way, exploiting the actress. It just feels uncomfortable to me. We also wanted to leave it slightly unclear about the extent of the assault. I decided that I wanted Sonia to kind of determine that. I said, “Definitely something happened, some kind of physical incident, and how far you think that went is what makes sense.” Only that character knows for sure. I think it was just very delicate, and because it wasn’t the main storyline, I felt like if we showed anything too explicit or said she was absolutely raped, it felt like it would be disrespectful to the subject matter to make it a minor plot point. It’s a significant storyline, but it’s just one of many stories within the show.

What kind of conversations did you guys have in the room about how Pippa would act the day after the assault?

We discussed the time period extensively. All the female writers in the room were in college back then. Unfortunately, we didn't need to consult experts because we all lived through it. Anyone who has a vagina – or even doesn't, for that matter – it's just something that happens to most women, especially back then when conversations about consent were completely different. We talked a lot about our own college experiences, things that happened to our friends and to us, and how those situations were handled. One story was about a girl who accused someone of rape, and they didn't believe her. She ended up carrying around her mattress all semester as a way of saying 'fuck you,' essentially, refusing to be silent about it. And that's just one example.

Pippa is so concerned about what people think of her. It's one of her biggest struggles. Many people are simply ashamed and embarrassed. The idea that she wouldn't want her friends to see her like that felt like the most authentic reaction, based on what we all knew from our own experiences. Also, back then, it wouldn't have been considered rape by many. If a girl got drunk and couldn't remember what happened, it was just seen as a case of 'sloppy sex.' So she's telling herself nothing happened because she's not sure if something bad did happen. She knows something feels wrong, but she doesn't know if she's allowed to feel bad about it.

Unfortunately, the conversations we have now were not being had in 2008.

It's been really interesting working with our cast, who are about a decade younger than the writers. It's become very clear, especially during the sex scenes, how the conversation around consent has evolved. I remember last year, in our first sex scene with Jackson and Alicia, she said, “Stop.” She wasn't feeling threatened, but she changed her mind. And Jackson was like, “If this happened in real life, I'd be out of there immediately.” He struggled with the fact that he didn't immediately stop and walk away. And I was like, “It's 2008, it's just different.” It's great to see how much things have improved.

Absolutely. So Season 1 overall showed a lot of sex. How does Season 2 compare in that department?

In Season 1, we were exploring Lucy's sexual awakening and her early experiences with love and intimacy. The focus was on the physical attraction and the newness of it all. We wanted to draw the audience in with those elements, so the sex scenes were definitely more explicit. This season, however, the sex scenes have a different tone. Some of them are more emotionally charged, some even depict negative experiences. The focus is not on titillation but on the emotional complexities of the characters.

Speaking of sex, there’s a big affair this season! Tom Ellis joined this season as Oliver, the teacher who has an affair with Bree. He also happens to be your husband in real life. How did this casting happen?

It’s funny, because I did not initially have him in mind. I knew it was gonna be Marianne’s (Gabriella Pession) husband, but it was someone else who suggested Tom. At first, I was like, that’s crazy. He’s not going to want to do it. And then I couldn’t get it out of my head. I talked to the writers about it, and they liked it. So after he asked what the character was, he got excited about it!

Why do you feel like he’s the right actor to portray Oliver?

Tom is quite charming, you could say. He’s so likable on screen, and I think it needed to be someone that has an element of wish fulfillment about them. I wanted the audience to get caught up in the excitement and the romance of it in the beginning of the season, like Bree does — before we start to show the little moments of ugliness. Obviously, he’s a married 45-year-old. It’s bad from the start. But we needed someone who kind of makes the audience fall in love with them. He did such a great job and I was excited to see him do something very different than what he had done before because I think normally he’s much friendlier. This is a much colder, more reserved character who withholds affection as a tool of manipulation. Also, it made me feel very safe, the idea of him being there, because in casting some older actor, you never know who you’re going to get. It’s such a delicate storyline. It’s a lot to ask of Cat, and with Tom, I just knew we’re bringing a good guy in. He’s safe, he’s friendly, he is so respectful, and he already knew the cast.

New episodes of “Tell Me Lies” drop on Wednesdays on Hulu.