Cheat – ITV Mini-Series – Episode 3 Recap & Review

The Penultimate Power Play

Still reeling over the events in yesterday’s episode, Cheat returns tonight, picking up right where we left off as Rose continues to spin her web of deceit as further revelations are unveiled.

The episode begins with Leah walking out of Rose’s review, clearly flustered from the provocative text forwarded on from Adam. Unable to get through to his wife, he instead runs into Rose who tells him about Leah’s behaviour earlier on in the day. Rushing to her house, Adam confronts Leah but it turns out she has news of her own – she’s pregnant.

As the plot thickens, Rose’s father pleads with his daughter to stop taunting Leah, telling her this woman has been through enough. Instead, they go to see her Aunt who’s terminally ill but Rose walks out midway through, much to the disdain of her father.

Leah decides she’s had enough and, despite cheating on Adam herself, feels his moment of weakness is a step too far for her. As Adam deliberates over what text to send Leah, she goes to see Stephan and speaks to him about marriage. After brushing aside Adam’s gift for the baby, she goes to her friend to ask for her advice over Adam’s text message incident.

Meanwhile, Adam meets Rose on a rooftop and after a few shocking moments, they wind up getting together and having sex. Realizing what he’s done after a moment’s clarity infront of a mirror, he gathers his things and heads home. Unbeknownst to him, Rose has his phone and slips a picture in his jeans pocket before heading over to Leah’s house to really cook up a storm.

After Adam lies to Leah about his encounter with Rose, he makes one final plea with her for them to give their relationship another go. Leah, taking the moral high ground, decides to leave instead. Inside the house, Rose waits for Adam and reveals everything about what’s been going on. As Leah heads back to the party, she finds out some home truths of her own and it’s finally revealed just why Rose has a vendetta against Leah. After a feisty exchange of words, Adam sees a moment of rage where he grabs Rose by the throat and the screen fades to black. It’s here where we flash forward to Leah being interviewed by the police and her pleading with them to find the real killer – who she proclaims is Rose.

The problem with Cheat is that neither of its main characters are particularly likable. If anything, Leah’s friend is about the only empathetic character out of the entire cast which is really quite troubling when you need to be rallying around your protagonist. Leah is hypocritical and irrational while Rose is mentally unstable and in need of professional help. It makes it difficult at times to know which one is worse but the result makes for a series that’s okay plot-wise but a failure with its character writing.

Perhaps tomorrow’s finale will really knock it out the park but based on what we’ve seen across 3 episodes, I wouldn’t put much faith into it. A shame for sure as Cheat has some real promise but its strange narrative perspective and unlikable characters make this much more mundane and mediocre than it has any right of being.