Tuesday, July 17, 2018

What I’m Watching: The Affair


The Affair: Season 4, Episode 2 (B)

Though Maura Tierney does give a compelling performance as Helen, I find that the storylines involving Alison and Cole do tend to be more interesting these days. There’s recently been a trend for these threads to be completely separate, with the former couples interacting on a regular, usually volatile basis, but the two who had the affair that provides this show’s title rarely seeing each other. Starting with Cole’s perspective after beginning the first installment of the season with Helen’s also shows this series’ investment in the characters it highlighted more later, just as crucial, if not more so, to the story as the two leads, and inarguably much more likeable. Alison and Cole continuing to work together in business doesn’t seem like a great idea, and though we got both perspectives on how her appearing at their meeting very late happened, they’re clearly not close to over each other. Luisa, who I’m hoping will soon get her own opportunities, maybe along with Vic if he’s still alive, to have her perspective shown, got particularly angry at Cole for the way that he behaved and obsessed over the woman who’s no longer supposed to be the most important person in his life. She had the two best lines of the hour: “You’re clearly not leaving me today, Alison is busy” and “You can’t shoot someone just because they drew on your face.” His casual response to her getting pulled over by a cop demonstrated how different a world he lives in. Showing up to help fix her car was reminiscent of Noah’s act of heroism in the pilot, and as she starts fueling her attraction to a new person, it’s interesting to see that things haven’t changed all that much, there are just new people filling the same old roles.

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