With a mix of cheekiness and grim humor, Cheat on Me, If You Can is about a famous crime novelist and her divorce attorney husband. To the public, they make the happily married pair, but in reality, he’s a charming scoundrel who meets women in droves while she’s a blank-faced beauty with a penchant for all things murderous. Right out the gate, the show delves into their marriage and reveals that something darker lies behind their perfect masks.
EPISODE 1 RECAP
While Woo-sung enjoys his morning run, he locks eyes with a female jogger who smiles back at him, but as they get closer, Woo-sung zooms past her without so much as a glance. She huffs at his attitude, but then he stops and asks if “she” is okay. Much to her chagrin, Woo-sung was addressing the homeless person behind her.
When the homeless person faints, Woo-sung administers mouth-to-mouth and accompanies him to the hospital. His good deed, though, makes him late for his tv show appearance, and Woo-sung runs at full speed to the recording set. He makes it with a few minutes to spare, and dresses into a suit right there. Smiling, he tells PD Oh that his wife told him to keep his pants on, but she’s in no mood for his jokes.
While studying for the bar exam, Woo-sung watched over the entrance of a goshiwon (tiny, one-room housing) for his friend and read a book to pass the time. Terrified by the plot, Woo-sung called the author a psychopath, but when he saw Yeo-joo’s picture in the author bio, he was awed by her beauty.
As fate would have it, Yeo-joo entered the goshiwon right at that moment, looking for a special room: one where a person died. Though the building didn’t have what Yeo-joo was looking for, Woo-sung lied that a homicide occurred here and showed her to the least popular room.
Yeo-joo asked for more details on the case, and Woo-sung spun her a tale about an unsolved murder. Looking around, she noticed a spider in a corner—a “witness” to the dreadful incident—and imagined the gruesome scene playing out in this very room.
Yeo-joo rented the room and stayed for nights, clacking away on her keyboard. Standing outside her door, Woo-sung listened to her typing, which sounded like music to his ears.
In the mornings, Woo-sung watched her leave, smitten by her stone-faced appearance, but his older friend SOHN JIN-HO (Jung Sang-hoon) just thought she was rude. He warned his Casanova friend against any funny ideas, but Woo-sung told him that this time was different.
Five months after their first encounter, Woo-sung attended her book signing event and asked for her number. She stared at him for the audacious request, and the soft backlit light washed everything in warm glow.
Soo-jung asks if it was love at first sight, and Woo-sung comments on how he usually falls in love right away. His comment makes it seem as if he fell for multiple women, and Woo-sung quickly corrects him, telling his wife that he only loves her.
He sends two finger hearts to her, but Yeo-joo’s attention is drawn to Soo-jung rather than him. Nine years ago, Soo-jung yelled at Yeo-joo for seeing her off at the airport. She blamed her for her situation and vowed to get her revenge.
Back in the present, Ms. Yeom warns Yeo-joo to watch out for foxes like Soo-jung and advises her to always be wary of Woo-sung since you can’t trust husbands too much. Yeo-joo says that you need trust to live together, and Ms. Yeom calls her too soft-hearted. She informs Yeo-joo that her publisher is coming by today, and outside her house, the whole publishing company discusses their plan of action to capture the author.
In order to avoid Editor Yang, Yeo-joo slips out of the house in shades and a mask, and walks to the convenience store to drink canned beer. The part-timer, CHA SOO-HO (Kim Young-dae), snaps photos of her from a distance, and not long after, her editor comes to pick her up—quite literally.
Woo-sung and Jin-ho (who’s now his paralegal) lay out their client’s demand to Attorney Park Hye-kyung. She denies their allegations about her client having an affair, so they present her photos of her client with another woman. She dismisses the evidence, saying that the two are just friends, but a closer look at one of the photos reveals her client in the nude—so clearly, not just friends.
He negotiates their terms again, but their demands have gone up since time is money. Attorney Park concedes to their conditions, and Woo-sung almost feels bad about his one-sided win. She suggests he treat her to a meal, then, but Woo-sung goes grocery shopping on Thursdays.
Woo-sung comes home with his ordered groceries, but his spine tingles when he smells food. He cautiously approaches the kitchen, and Yeo-joo smiles at him—a bad sign. She speaks to him with honorifics, and Woo-sung knows that something is wrong.
She tells him about the protestors from the book talk, and as she leads him to their room, she places her hand on his back, a mere inch away from a lipstick stain. When Woo-sung undresses, he notices the mark and wonders if Yeo-joo saw it.
Yeo-joo comes by to pick up his laundry, and Woo-sung distracts her long enough to grab another shirt. She finds the overly wrinkled shirt odd, and without a word, she sniffs Woo-sung all over. Woo-sung is confident that there were no mistakes—he carries around his toiletries in a kit for this very reason—and as expected, she doesn’t seem to catch anything amiss.
Unbeknownst to Woo-sung, the couple has a guest coming over, but the real surprise is who… Soo-jung. Yeo-joo asks if she knows Woo-sung, and Soo-jung comments on how they meet every Monday and Wednesday. She hands her host a gift, and Yeo-joo thanks her for the perfume, wondering how she knew about her favorite brand. Soo-jung shoots Woo-sung a withering look since it’s the same present he gave her.
Overstaying her welcome, Soo-jung asks for more wine, and Yeo-joo sends her husband to fetch another bottle. Unwilling to leave the two women alone, Woo-sung pesters Yeo-joo with questions until she gets up to get it herself.
Once Yeo-joo is gone, Soo-jung offers to leave the house if Woo-sung promises to come to her apartment again. When he refuses, she threatens to spill their relationship to his wife, and Woo-sung agrees to visit one last time. When Yeo-joo returns with the second bottle, Soo-jung excuses herself since she’s drunk enough.
Woo-sung tells Jin-ho about his predicament, and his friend scolds him for his constant infidelity. Woo-sung defends his honor as a devoted husband, pointing out that he always slept at home, but their nonsensical conversation comes to a screeching halt as they find a strange man in the office.
Political Consultant Nam Ki-ryong sits down with Woo-sung and offers his services to him. He will take care of everything related to Woo-sung’s political campaign, and all the attorney must do is maintain his good public image. Woo-sung asks for the consultant’s number, but Consultant Nam says that he will contact the lawyer when necessary.