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Episode 2 begins with Noah back in the same room and, ah, this time I spotted the “Part 1: Noah” thing. Maybe it was there first time round and I didn’t notice?
Anyhoo, he still can’t get Alison out of his mind, despite trying to get out of her way… so it doesn’t help when his daily run takes him past her house. What a dumbo! But at least it gave us another chance to see Ruth Wilson in the altogether. Domesticity kicks back in again soon after as Noah is jacking off in the shower while Helen interrupts him.
Of course, it’s not long before he and Alison bump into one another again, inconveniently down at the market. Oh, and then, like a bad soap opera, he bumps into Cole when they stop off at the horsie ranch on the way back to grandpa’s house, so youngest daughter Stacey can pet them.
He berates his jailbait daughter, Whitney (Julia Goldani Telles – she’s aged 20, viewers), for wearing a dress that has too little material at his father’s garden party… and, surprise surprise, Alison is there too. Unsurprisingly, the pair find some alone time, and then head down to the beach together, with him imagining that she’s parading her wares for him. Whilst moaning to her that he’s married, she tells him that she is also married, to Cole.
He talks to the man again in the interview, about how he only married Helen because both his parents were either dead or dying, his sister was off round the world and so he was left on his own. Towards the end of his part, it becomes clear that this man is a cop, and that a man is dead, and that he’s trying to establish how each of them knew the victim and what their connection is.
And, even more unsurprisingly, Noah bumps into Alison YET AGAIN! and they snog.
Once again, Part 2 begins, looking at Alison’s day, starting off with buying some fish from a man who says his mother has been praying for her and Cole.
Alison talks in the interview about how she was sure she’d never see Noah again, like with all summer holidaymakers who were just passing by. Then, while picking up her wages at work, she gets the offer for a catering job at the house of Bruce Butler – Noah’s father-in-law, but she turns it down. Of course, we know she ends up working there, and she did so because it was either that or having to spend the evening with her husband.
While the two viewpoints had discrepancies between them in the first episode, bizarrely there’s one in the second ep involving the cost of the jam that Noah buys. He had the price down as $12, yet Alison has the price at $40. And when they chat again later on the beach, Noah talks of life splitting off at a tangent into an alternate timeline, and how it’s possible to live both lives (which it isn’t).
They end up having a snog and a hug, which is a long way from her chat with her friend earlier – prior to them selling jam at the market – which took up the conversations of threesomes and anal sex.
As the episode ends and Alison is talking to the cop, there’s again chat about the dead man, but who exactly? We’re not getting any answers this time round, and the crappy cop is still grinning like a loon.
So, that’s two episodes done. I’d give the first one 6/10, but the second one is even more dull by comparison, so I’ll give that a 5. Oh dear, this is going the way of Fortitude, except that while I could at least laugh at the crappy acting on display, with The Affair, there’s just endless so-so-ness. Like I said, I’ll keep pace with the UK broadcasts, but that’s for as long as I don’t fall into a coma…
The Affair continues next Wednesday on Sky Atlantic at 9pm, and click on the top image for the full-size version.
Episode 1 Score: 6/10
Episode 2 Score: 5/10
Directors: Mark Mylod (Episode 1), Jeffrey Reiner (Episode 2)
Producer: Andrea P Stilgenbauer
Writer: Sarah Treem and Hagai Levi
Creators: Sarah Treem and Hagai Levi
Sound: Marcelo Zarvos
Cast:
Noah Solloway: Dominic West
Alison Bailey: Ruth Wilson
Helen Solloway: Maura Tierney
Cole Lockhart: Joshua Jackson
Whitney Solloway: Julia Goldani Telles
Bruce Butler: John Doman
Stacey Solloway: Leya Catlett
Trevor Solloway: Jadon Sand
Martin Solloway: Jake Richard Siciliano
Cherry Lockhart: Mare Winningham
Margaret Butler: Kathleen Chalfant
Detective Jeffries: Victor Williams
Oscar Hodges: Darren Goldstein
Mary-Kate Lockhart: Kaija Matiss
Jane: Nicolette Robinson
Jocelyn: Rebecca Rittenhouse
Caleb Lockhart: Michael Godere
Scotty Lockhart: Colin Donnell
Hal Lockhart: Danny Fischer
Ruby: Paulina Singer
Will: Sean Kleier
Harry: Stephen Kunken
Cook: Alfredo Diaz
Jules: Carolina Ravassa
Miranda: Teresa Yenque
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.