As the third episode of Deceit begins, Sadie (Niamh Algar) practices in front of Professor Britton (Eddie Marsan) who is impressed. Then, we join the first meeting with Sadie and Colin Stagg (Sion Daniel Young). Baz (Nathaniel Martello-White) serves as their waiter while Sadie talks about being married once before and how it didn’t last long. Colin tells her it is okay, and she can tell him about her secret. Detective Inspector Keith Pedder (Harry Treadaway) listens to the conversation from the police van. Lizzie notices a knife in Colin’s pocket before telling him about the older man who was kind to her. The man was into the occult and often performed rituals. She continues and begins talking about cutting the woman’s throat. She admits she did what the man asked and filled the cup with the woman’s blood. After they drank the blood, she was with the man, and it was the most amazing thing.

She explains the sex was mind-blowing with both knowing what had happened. Lizzie grabs his hands and says she isn’t asking to know all his secrets. She is only placing all her trust in him. She says they can be just friends, or he can tell her something. She leaves with another letter about using a knife on a woman. She reads the letter to Britton, Pedder, and the others. Sadie admits it was odd to tell Colin that she slit someone’s throat and he didn’t even flinch. Then, Sadie reads that Colin wrote the fantasy to match what Lizzie is into. She wonders if they’ve led him to believe Lizzie is into this sort of thing, but Paul Britton doesn’t think so. Sadie begins questioning whether they’re on the right side of the line here. She believes they might’ve brought the knife into it the equation, but Britton does not.

Britton admits this is what he would expect to find into the masturbatory repertoire of the killer. He says this sexual deviance is only present in a small number of men. The chance of there being two such men in the common when Rachel was killed is vanishingly small. Baz meets her later that night and thinks they should talk about her lunch with the killer. He warns her that she has never done anything like this before, she says no one has ever done anything like this before. He wonders if they picked her because she was the best person for the job or because she looked like Rachel Nickell. She curses him so he quickly grabs her by the throat to show her how fast it can happen. She curses him again, but Baz insists he is only trying to keep her safe. Sadie leaves and returns home. Later that night, she gets a call from Colin Stagg.

She records the conversation while asking if he was stunned by what she said yesterday. He says what has passed has passed. He knows she wants to be fulfilled in that special way and he wants a relationship with Lizzie. She says he can’t give her what she wants and what she thought was in his letters. He offers to do something to her when they’re together to make her happy, but she wants to be with someone who has had a similar experience as her. She keeps pushing for a confession until she ends the conversation and hangs up. Later, Sadie hears something while taking a shower before imaging Colin is standing in her bathroom. When she gets out, she gets another call from Colin who has a confession to make. He admits he has done something, but he couldn’t tell anyone because the police would arrest him again. When Lizzie pushes him for more details, he says it was something he did with his cousin when he was 12.

It involved a little girl and wasn’t as messy as what Sadie had done. He says it happened when they were on a caravan holiday in the New Forest. They were messing around when they noticed a little boy and girl out in the woods. He says they took the little girl into the forest and ended up killing her. Colin reveals they felt the same feelings she described when they were strangling the young girl. When the call ends, Sadie rewinds the tape and listens to it. When she lets Pedder and Britton listen to the tape, she admits she believes Colin is making it up. Pedder confirms there is no match to the murder he described in their records. Britton suggests he has woven details of Rachel’s murder into his false confession. Since Rachel’s family deserves answers, Pedder thinks Sadie should meet Colin once again.

Paul wants her to ask Colin how he felt when he killed the little girl. He encourages her to use this to get Colin used to give her the details. Then, he won’t be surprised by the level of detail she requires. Later that night, Sadie meets a man named Jim (Chris Kyriacou) in a restaurant. He tells her there is a mattress in the back of the lorry where he sleeps sometimes. She follows him outside but gets in her vehicle and leaves. In the morning, Baz finds her sleeping in her car and wakes her up. She eats while encouraging him to stop babying her. She insists she needs to back him into a corner, but he argues she needs to stay on the right side of the line. Next, the police watch while Sadie meets with Colin once again. She suggests there must be more to the story, but Colin says it was a long time ago.

She says he was young at the time and always felt bad about it. She asks if there was a massive police hunt before trying to get him to open up. She whispers in his ear that she can still feel the knife going in. She gets up and says he is living in the guilt of a mistake, but she is living in the glory of it. She leaves in a hurry and curses herself. When she goes home, she finds that Colin has spoken to the press about Rachel’s murder. When she looks inside the newspaper, she sees that Colin has her picture behind him. She calls and Colin says they came knocking on her door last week, so he gave them his side of the story. She complains that people could see her picture and do her serious harm. She is worried his interview will lead to her getting in trouble, but Colin says he must get things sorted out.

He asks if he is going to lose her before she quickly hangs up the phone. We see flashbacks of Colin’s supposed murder. Then, Pedder complains to Sadie that his interview could cause more women to contact him. If that happens, Lizzie will likely be out of the picture and another woman could be killed. Sadie promises it won’t stop him from talking to Lizzie. She pleads for one more meeting and insists she can get it done this time. That night, she gets drunk and talks to the picture of Colin on her wall. She imagines Colin in front of her and continues pressuring him to confess. She goes for water, breaks her glass, and cuts her hand. Lucy (Rochenda Sandall) wakes her up in the morning after finding the key still in the door. Sadie insists she is trying to catch the country’s most dangerous killer. When Lucy asks if she is okay, Sadie breaks down and cries.

She admits she can’t crack him and can’t lead him to the place she needs him. Lucy tells her she can do it and she is already so close. She insists she’ll be a legend once she gets Colin’s confession. Lucy tells her to get dressed and bring this home for all of them. On June 29, 1993, Sadie opens a new roll of tape and prepares for her meeting with Colin. She meets with Colin later that night and drinks wine. She admits she has been thinking about Rachel walking around on Wimbledon Common. She has thought about him watching her and doing all those things to her. She insists the thought of him is so exciting. Colin says he wishes it was him who did it and that he likely just went crazy. Then, he reveals he knows she was stabbed 49 times. He goes on to tell her how Rachel’s body was laid and how her hands were positioned. Lizzie lays against Colin and admits she wants a man like Rachel’s killer.

She says she has fantasies that he was the man who did it but won’t tell her for some reason. She wants to go there and for Colin to tell her what happened. She wants Colin to treat her like the man treated Rachel. She says if Colin didn’t do this thing, he will never be able to fulfill her. He asks if she wants to call it off because he is not that man. He goes on to say that he can’t compete with that man. She says she has gotten it wrong before apologizing and getting up. She curses as she leaves. When she returns to the others, they congratulate her, and Pedder says they got him. Pedder explains Colin knew how her hands were and he wouldn’t have known that from the pictures he showed him. Only the killer would’ve known that.

Pedder shows Sadie the only picture Colin ever saw, and it didn’t show her head or hands. Sadie is happy that it is over now. When she goes home, she cuts her hair and gets rid of her research books. In the morning, Colin hears a knock at the door and starts getting dressed. Pedder is at the door and is there to arrest Colin for Rachel’s murder. Colin is worried about his dog not having someone to watch her. Next, Sadie arrives at the police station to find everyone celebrating. Pedder thanks Lizzie James for helping catch the killer. After that, we see a young man who looks like Colin stalking a woman from outside her window. He kills again while Colin is locked away in his cell. The boy talks to himself before the episode ends.

 

Deceit Review

The cat and mouse game finally concludes with the arrest of Colin Stagg, but the celebrations might be premature. Deceit has been a fascinating watch from start to finish. The fact that it was based on a true story makes it even better. The acting has been spectacular especially from Sion Daniel Young and Niamh Algar. I am also glad that the writers didn’t throw Sadie into a cliché sexual encounter with Jim at the late-night diner.

It is obvious that undercover officers work hard and put themselves into many dangerous situations, but they sometimes cross the line between good and bad. Deceit does a good job shining a line of this. The episode was better than the last and the last scene was chilling. It scores an 8 out of 10. All recaps of Deceit can be found on Reel Mockery here.