Who knew Margate was so full of cheats?

Another episode and another cheating husband. So far True Love seems to portray all men will be unfaithful who make their wives cry while they have affairs and make stupid mistakes. Not to mention the portrayal of single females who are not married as homewreckers. Cynical maybe, but so far I’ve not seen to the contrary.

Ashley Walters and Lacey Turner star as Paul and Michelle; a young couple with a baby, who have hit a difficult patch in their relationship. The days have become monotonous and their relationship strained. However a glimmer of excitement passes before Paul’s eyes (at the bus stop no less) on his way to work in the form of Stella (Jaime Winstone) before you know it he’s madly in love and she’s fleecing him out of five thousand pounds of his life savings before doing a runner. When he returns home to his wife who is heartbreakingly portrayed by Turner, he decides he can no longer cope with family life but then “makes do” when she begs him to stay (presumably because the girlfriend has done a bunk and he no longer has any savings.)

Ashley Walters in general is such a likeable guy, but Paul was just naively stupid – and in some ways cruel to his wife. I do have a problem,with this culture of the man saying; “I can’t cope,” and yet expects the female in the relationship to soldier on as if it doesn’t affect them the same. Obviously this doesn’t apply to all men as there are some wonderful fathers, but Paul, gave little thought to his child and wife when he gave away his life savings to Stella.

A marked improvement on yesterday’s episode, with both Walters and Turner reacting to the improvisation aspect better. Lacey’s performance especially is realistic, moving and profound and really cements what a wonderful actress she is. I do feel sorry for her in all these crying parts though; Someone needs to give that girl a hug.

The cinematography is wonderfully shot, but the pace is still too slow, especially for such a short drama. There was still elements where a script would have helped immensely but it was less noticeable compared to David Tennant’s episode.

I think in essence what Dominic Savage’s drama is really telling us, is that True Love is blind.