THE AFFAIR Rages On

Article originally published as THE AFFAIR Review Season 2 Episode 1 on Seat42F.

Maura Tierney as Helen, Dominic West as Noah, Ruth Wilson as Alison and Joshua Jackson as Cole in The Affair (Season 2). - Photo: Steven Lippman/SHOWTIME

Showtime’s THE AFFAIR returns tonight for a second season. The timeline of the series isn’t exactly chronological, so it’s hard to say exactly how long has passed when the new year begins, but there has been a very obvious expansion of the story. The premiere not only gets us back into the lives of these people in what feels like a new chapter, but also does a wonderful job deepening the existing structure.

The biggest change you’ll see, and this has been widely publicized so I don’t believe it counts as a spoiler, is that each episode is no longer split between the perspectives of Noah (Dominic West) and Allison (Ruth Wilson). The premiere is a Noah / Helen (Maura Tierney) division, with only a brief glimpse into Allison, and Cole (Joshua Jackson) will also be getting his own turn soon.

Allowing Helen and Cole their turn makes a lot of sense and is very welcome to THE AFFAIR. Tierney is a wonderful actress, and it’s nice to see her get such an expanded role. In the first season, Cole and Helen are in the dark about what’s going on, so don’t necessarily have as rich an experience to contribute. Now, brought into the proceedings, it’s good to see what they remember, too.

If I have one complaint at all about episode 201, it’s that we don’t get to see what Allison and Cole are up to, and I very much want to know. But I’m sure that will be taken care of in week two, and it’s a testament to how good THE AFFAIR is that I’m eager to return for that.

In the premiere, we catch up with Noah and Helen shortly after their separation. She is raising the kids with the help of her mom, Margaret (Kathleen Chalfant), while he is ensconced in a lake house, finishing his book and spending time with Allison. They both have different priorities right now, but their impending divorce brings them back together.

Like in the first season, memories don’t always line up. Most notably, a meeting with a mediator (Jeremy Shamos, Birdman: Or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) illustrates the schism. Where Noah and Helen are in their heads certainly influences the way they recall the event, and as we watch the same scene unfold two different ways, it gives a lot of insight into the mindsets of our leads.

I really like the way THE AFFAIR does this. Perhaps these characters differ a bit more than most people would in telling of their shared experiences, but it provides a way for viewers to analyze the pieces and allows greater understanding of the players. Every time the departures happen, there’s a reason for it. It’s more than just a gimmick THE AFAIR uses;, it’s an important part of the story and necessary to really get what’s going on, which likely isn’t exactly what either are remembering.

The plot arc of Noah facing jail time for Scott’s murder also continues, and provides even more cohesion between seasons one and two. This is something left very much unresolved at the close of season one, and presumably why the past is being brought back up. Detective Jeffries (Victor Williams) has the unenviable task of being the character who most holds the series together while mattering very little to the primary tale. I’m glad to see this continue, and now believe that these events will not be concluded until the series is.

THE AFFAIR’s second season premiere maintains not only the same type of installment that all of the first year does in terms of quality and originality, but finds a way to grow between the two main lines set forth in that initial year. With a locked in beginning and end, filling out the middle in an interesting way is hard to do, and the writers for this program manage to do so consistently. I applaud their skill and very much enjoy their work.

THE AFFAIR airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on Showtime.

THE AFFAIR To Remember

Article first published as THE AFFAIR Review on Seat42F.

Ruth Wilson as Alison and Dominic West as Noah | THE AFFAIR

Showtime’s THE AFFAIR is an interesting slow-burn drama. As the title implies it features an affair between a man, Noah Solloway (Dominic West, The Hour), and a woman, Alison Bailey (Ruth Wilson, Luther). But what happens is far from cut-and-dry. Somehow, these two people, who both have spouses, end up involved with one another. But how that comes about and what the aftereffects of this are is up for debate.

See, THE AFFAIR doesn’t just tell a story. Alison and Noah are talking to someone (law enforcement?) and telling the events to the best of their recollection, sort of like HBO’s True Detective, but less coherent. That is because Alison and Noah remember things quite differently. It’s not clear exactly how much time has passed between the two timeframes, their hair has not turned grey or anything, but it’s definitely been awhile. And something really traumatic must have occurred, maybe the emotional toll the affair takes, but maybe something else, that has caused them to crystalize their recollections into at-times extremes.

The reason I mention it could be something else is because of the themes of death in the pilot. There are multiple scenes in which a child dies or almost dies. I won’t spoil the details, but tragedy is constantly hanging over the program. There are some very dark themes and a creepy mood in certain scenes. This implies, to me anyway, that there could be something truly depressing just around the corner, more so than what leads the characters astray in the first place.

Half of the first episode of THE AFFAIR is told from Noah’s perspective, and then the series flips and retells the tale from Alison’s. Obviously, they being different people, a lot of what is shown doesn’t involve the other. But when their narratives do overlap, the similarities are overrun by the inconsistencies. Was Alison trying to seduce Noah? Was Noah stalking Alison? Who can tell?

Even more than that, though, are the details. In Alison’s telling, Noah’s wife, Helen (Maura Tierney, ER), casts a loving gaze at him that isn’t there when Noah relates the same thing, which says something about how Alison sees Noah. Similarly, we don’t see Noah being attentive to Helen in Alison’s version, but he’s a near-perfect husband in a good marriage when he relates things, the way he sees himself.

We meet both spouses in the first hour. Helen is a busy mom of four. She and Noah find it hard to make time for sex, their kids constantly interrupting. But they do seem to love one another, and she looks to be a good person in both sides. Alison’s union with Cole (Joshua Jackson, Fringe) is more rocky. They’ve gone through something, revealed semi-late in the hour, and they are finding different ways to cope with it, driving them apart. Neither Alison nor Noah paints Cole in the best light.

I like that this series doesn’t give us the truth. In order to understand what actually happens, viewers must watch both versions, then think for themselves. Since everyone is flawed and everyone will bend their memories to what best suits them, it’s extremely likely that neither is getting it right, so you must try to make your own conclusions about what the middle ground is, just as the people listening to our protagonists are doing.

Despite the British leads, known for their work overseas, the show is American. There’s a way the production unfolds that just seems more like the fare we’re used to over here, style and tone and pacing matching other premium network fare. The quality of the action and the production is top notch, and it would probably pair nicely with Masters of Sex, another forbidden love tale with lots of pathos, which actually just concluded their sophomore run. Maybe next year, that can happen.

THE AFFAIR is a must-see offering, with the scope of a film and the intensity to such one in almost instantly. It airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on Showtime.