As The Deceived gets started, we see are spooky house and hear a woman say she was always frightened of the house from the first moment she saw it. She says that it seems to take all of the fear in the darkest corner of the mind and feed off of it. Then, we’re introduced to Ophelia (Emily Reid) who tells someone about the death of her mother and that she needed a distraction which ended up being Michael Callaghan (Emmett J Scanlan). Michael teaches a call at the university and Ophelia is one of his students. Lucy tells Ophelia that their professor is married to Roisin Mulvery (Catherine Walker) who happens to be a famous writer. Before too long, Ophelia has a run in with Michael when he returns one of her papers and makes fun of himself.

Ophelia calls it a chance encounter and chance would throw them together once again. She visits Dr. Callaghan at his office and tells him that she had a supervision with Professor Thomas. Michael struggles to find what they’re working on while getting to know more about Ophelia. He shows her his debut novel which is called The House at Knockdara. He says he would love to know what she thinks about it so he gives her the copy before telling her it is about to be published. When Michael gets permission to smoke, Ophelia asks if his wife lets him smoke and he says yes. She learns about Roisin being a more successful writer than Michael. Ophelia gives herself to Michael and losses control. However, Michael pretends Ophelia is nobody when his wife is around.

One day, Roisin catches Ophelia in the bathroom and introduces herself before Ophelia does the same. They chat about Michael and his book which has received pretty good reviews. Eventually, Roisin warns Ophelia that not all women are allies and some are enemies. Then, Roisin tells Ophelia that she shouldn’t start the deceit until you’re chasing your face to the grave. Then, we see the spooky house on fire and Ophelia explains she couldn’t have known where her relationship was going to lead. Later, Ophelia watches through the window as Michael argues with another girl and Ruth (Shelley-Conn) suggests it is another lover. She warns Ophelia that it would be a good idea to stay away from Michael but Ophelia isn’t going to listen to that. She approaches Michael and asks about the argument.

Michael explains that the girl was a student who left last year but still hangs around. She failed one of her final papers and continues blaming Michael for her problems. Then, he reminds her that they need to be careful so people do not find out about their relationship. Michael says he cannot walk away from their relationship before he tells Ophelia that he loves her. One day, Michael disappears and all of his events and classes are canceled so Ophelia begins hunting for him. In the present, she admits she should’ve never gone after him. She goes looking for him and runs into Hugh (Ian McElhinney) who invites her in and asks for her assistance. Ophelia learns that Michael has gone to Donegal, Ireland. He confuses her for Roisin before she corrects him and leaves in a hurry.

On the way out, she finds an address for Michael. She travels to where he is supposed to be and visits Sheila’s bar. She looks around and notices a picture of the spooky house on the wall. Moments later, Sheila (Cathy-Brennan Bradley) enters and tells Ophelia about the funeral so Ophelia travels there for herself. She finds out that Michael’s wife died in a house fire. Michael speaks with her in private and learns that Ophelia is pregnant. Michael tells Mary Mulvery (Eleanor Methven) that he needs to leave and take care of something before joining Ophelia. They travel along and Ophelia tells Michael how she found him before asking about the fire. Michael says it was started by a cigarette and Roisin was found on the sofa. She wouldn’t have known anything.

Michael claims Ophelia is the first person he wanted to tell but guilt stopped him from doing that. He tells her he is glad she is there before they kiss and travel to Michael’s spooky home. Once they arrive, Sean McKeogh (Paul Mescal) comes out. Michael and Ophelia lie to Sean by telling him that Ophelia is a member of Roisin’s literary agents in London. They enter the house so Michael can find out what needs to be done to repair it. They tour the burnt house before Michael gets a call from Mary. Ophelia picks up Roisin’s mirror and remembers their conversation.

Sean asks Ophelia about her responsibilities and working with Roisin while suggesting the place is a death trap because it is full of polyurethane foam. Then, they chat about Roisin being a celebrity in town. Sean wonders if he’ll see Ophelia at the big event tonight before Michael returns. While Michael is away with Sean, Ophelia hears something knocking on the door nearby. She tries to open it but the door is locked. That night, she shares dinner with Michael who claims he brought Roisin to the house on the night she died to tell her it was over. Michael offered to give her the house, leave, and never come back but Roisin was angry. Michael refers to himself as a coward and claims he has been that way his entire life.

He says he couldn’t risk losing Ophelia no matter how much it hurt Roisin. He wonders if this is his punishment. Michael reveals Roisin threw him out so he went down to the pub and learned about the fire down there. Ophelia says she felt the same when her mother died because she blames herself even though it was ridiculous. Then, she admits she doesn’t know where she belongs anymore but Michael claims she belongs with him and he feels like he needs her. He wants to take care of Ophelia and the baby. Ophelia tells Michael she loves him before they kiss and someone arrives outside. Ophelia goes upstairs and changes into some of Roisin’s clothes while Michael chats with Mary downstairs. Mary becomes upset when she spots Ophelia but calms down when Michael tells her the lie about Ophelia being with Roisin’s agency.

They sit by the fire before Mary sings the song that Michael and Roisin first danced to. Ophelia gets tired of that and decides to head to bed early. She wakes up in the middle of the night when she hears them fighting downstairs. She sneaks down and hears Mary accuse Michael of lying about the girl upstairs. She also blames Michael because he was supposed to be watching Roisin at the time. Ophelia hears the knocking on the door again. She gets on her knees and looks through the keyhole before knocking back. We jump forward to the morning and see that Michael has left a note for Ophelia. She wakes up, checks the note, and heads downstairs. She hears Mary saying she is going to check on the girl upstairs and find out what is going on so Ophelia escapes without being noticed.

Outside, she finds a small building with a picture of Roisin inside. It scares her at first but she enters and finds boxes full of Michael’s books inside. She also finds his drafts and a key before heading into town. She crosses Roisin’s grave before going to Sheila’s bar and looking around. There, she finds an altar of sorts for Roisin before she is interrupted by Sheila. Ophelia tells her that she left her bag so Sheila agrees to retrieve it for her. While Sheila waits, a little girl enters and we learn that her name is Roisin. Ophelia leaves and Sean picks her up halfway back to the house. Along the way, Sean tells Ophelia that Michael and Roisin were very happy together and everyone in town was jealous of them. He also says he volunteered on the night of the fire and found the body. This upsets Ophelia and causes her to cry.

When they arrive back at the house, Sean tells Ophelia that she can trust him but she doesn’t understand what he means. She thanks him, heads back inside, and hears the knocking again. She grabs the key and enters the room where she hears the knocking. She finds a lot of notes on the wall, a computer, and a limb hitting the window when the wind blows. She breaks the limb to stop that before hearing emails on the computer. She checks them and finds countless emails from Ruth Hutton who warned her about Michael earlier in the episode. She finds out that Ruth was worried Michael might do something to Roisin and she doesn’t know about the fire. Michael enters and catches Ophelia on the computer. He tells her that Ruth tried to hit on him once and he turned her down but she was always jealous of Roisin.

Ophelia says she didn’t want to wear Roisin’s clothes and Mary scared her so she left in the morning. Michael asks her to go to bed so they can talk about it later before telling her she is amazing for the way she handled this. When Ophelia leaves the room, Michael unplugs the computer. That night, Ophelia is awoken when a door slams shut and she hears knocking. She calls for Michael but he isn’t there so she goes into the locked room again and looks out of the window. She imagines seeing Roisin standing outside before looking again and seeing nothing. Them, she admits she was afraid although her mother told her there was no such thing as ghosts. She tells someone she needs to get out of there before pleading for help. She is sitting in a chair with her hands tied behind her back.

 

The Deceived Review

I really enjoyed the opening episode of The Deceived. I felt the acting was decent and the story was unique. While some of the story is cliché, it makes up for it with a creepy house and the potential for ghosts. I never knew what to expect next and I am eager to see where the series is going to go from here. I hope it can maintain its allure and intrigue throughout the entire season.

If it does that, The Deceived will be worth checking out. In its entirety. The opener was pretty good so it scores a 7.5 out of 10.