This article contains spoilers for The Following Events Are Based On A Pack Of Lies episode 3, "Further Down the Rabbit Hole".
After the shocking moment of recognition between Alice and Rob at the end of The Following Events Are Based On A Pack Of Lies episode 2, this third episode saw our hero doubling down on getting one over on her conman ex. But as Rob has finally learned that Alice is onto him, he is forced to escalate his plans to get what he wants from Cheryl...
Here's what happened in The Following Events Are Based On A Pack Of Lies episode 3.
Reconnecting
We join Alice explaining the moment she and Rob finally stood face to face once again at Cheryl's house to her new husband, Benji. As we see, Alice offers up a skittish explanation of how she found Cheryl's dog in the water, but Rob taunts her by looking up Juno Fish website and finding the real Juno Fish on the site. Alice claims that woman is not her boss, but a model who functions as the face of the brand, and goes to leave, but Rob asks if he can trouble her for a lift to the concert he was heading to.
He gets in the car, and tells her to follow his directions. During the drive, he begins to gaslight her, explaining he just wants to "understand" why she's coming after him. Alice placates Rob by apologizing and saying how she recognizes he is the best thing that's ever happened to her.
Back in the present, Benjy tells Alice he wants her to give up on her investigation into Rob before we jump back to the car. Rob starts to tell Alice what he sees this situation as (or, rather, how he's going to spin it to Cheryl). It looks like she has been stalking him and kidnapped the dog to get close to Cheryl, so she could come back to Rob. He then says he can protect her and stop Cheryl from pressing charges if Alice promises to leave him and his life alone. When he gets out of the car, Alice starts to laugh.
Changing gears
After reassuring Benjy that she's got no real interest in wanting Rob back, she soon starts going through the Filofax with her father. She believes every single person in there is one of his victims and wants to speak to all of them to gather evidence against him
One of the names in there is Claudia Rose; Alice's father vaguely recalls the name, Alice remembers she was Rob's ex when Alice first met him. We later learn that Claudia had also tried to warn Alice about Rob's misdeeds, but she'd ignored him.
Elsewhere, Rob is running the show when it comes to the scholarship announcement dinner. With his academy onboard, he wants it to be a grand affair and orders Regina and Priana to make it glitzy, invite celebs and spend a lot of money, with the Sartutte Academy apparently paying for it all.
Alice, meanwhile, is hauled into a meeting with the real Juno Fish, who presents her with a series of bills and charges against her car. Alice, however, is not going to be pushed around anymore and uses the cocaine that she found in the car as leverage to get Juno to forget about the fines. She also tells Juno she wants a promotion, and when she doesn't get that, she threatens to quiet-quit and stick to her job description to the letter, and declares she's taking a holiday.
Rob receives a phone call from someone called "Lone Wolf", who says they've got "Thunder" for him. Rob clearly wants to go after whatever this is, but when he can't find his Filofax, he promptly puts the phone down and starts to try and find it. Later, when he meets Lone Wolf, he tells him he's going to be forced to escalate Operation Goose to Phase 6. Regina also speaks to Cheryl about her partner, telling her that Rob is making her life much less private than she normally would have it with all his posts on social media.
Phase 6
One evening, Cheryl finds Rob being attended by Sir Ralph Unwin, with his lawyer, JD, rushing into the room. Apparently, there was a break-in both at Cheryl's home and the academy. Rob says he conducts clandestine research into big pharma organizations and suspects some groups affiliated with them have gone after him. Whilst we know this to be his latest grift, he piles the pressure onto Cheryl. He tells her he's received a ransom order as they've taken 10 of his researchers hostage, and that his trust funds won't release the money he needs to pay them off.
He asks if she has access to any liquid cash, but the only thing she's got is the scholarship fund. When she's half asleep, the three of them rush to her bedside to encourage her to follow through on her brilliant plan to temporarily use the scholarship money to pay the attackers off. Confused, they eventually talk her into doing it, promising they'll replace the money soon. Cheryl later tries to reach Alice, but she ignores the call.
Alice is too busy with her and her father's quest to gather evidence. Whilst he calls people living further afield, Alice meets Kelly, a woman who used to be with Rob. They discuss how their lives were impacted by being with Rob, and Alice tells her that the behaviors Rob used to blame them both for were at the very least partially manufactured by him to manipulate them.
When she returns home, her father reveals he learned Rob was once Robert Gray, a man who attended Dulwich College, and Benjy heads off to a magic convention, leaving the two of them to plan their next move.
Cheryl then phones Alice again, but when she answers, it becomes clear Rob still hasn't told his partner about Alice, as she addresses her as Juno. She just wanted to check whether Alice was still coming to the scholarship party because she wanted to discuss "something strange" with her. It's at this point that Alice realizes they have to reveal everything to Cheryl because Rob's not after investment in his false climate academy... he's just after the scholarship funds.
Party time
Cheryl is fretting about using the money from the fund without discussing it with anyone, but Rob reassures her that it'll be returned before anyone even realizes, and tells her to enjoy the party.
Kelly has agreed, reluctantly, to come along and speak to Cheryl with Alice. But when they try to corner the author, Regina intercepts Alice and skeptically asks her about Rob and his academy. Rob had already noticed Alice's attendance, so he tried to leave
Kelly follows him, asking if all the things Alice has told her about him are true, but he manipulates her all over again and comforts her, telling her she's not okay and ushering her out of the building.
Alice finds Cheryl crying at a corner in the party after Regina had just once again asked if she'd warned Rob off. Cheryl starts to open up to Alice about feeling lonely and not having many friends, Rob turns up again and takes Cheryl away. He then shows her that the money has been returned to the scholarship fund after all.
Alice is searching for where Kelly went, but Rob turns up and pulls her into a side room. He threatens her all over again, but when Alice stands up to him and refuses to hand over the Filofax, he pins her up against the wall by the throat and warns her to do what he says, or he'll hurt her.
Outside, the real Juno Fish rushes up to Cheryl and thanks her for the invite, confusing Cheryl. Rob then takes to the stage, is formally announced as a co-sponsor for the scholarship, and then surprises everyone by proposing to her onstage. The episode ends with Alice, alone in the side room, noticing there was a camera recording the room where Rob assaulted her.
The Following Events Are Based On A Pack Of Lies continues on Tuesday at 9 pm on BBC One. All five episodes are now streaming on BBC iPlayer. For more streaming recommendations, check out our picks for the best BBC dramas you should be watching right now.
