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The Affair rolled out onto Sky Atlantic with not as much fanfare as the terrible Fortitude, but in the two leading American character roles, it starred the distinctly British Dominic West and Ruth Wilson, both sporting US accents. Having first seen West in The wire – a must-see series if you haven’t watched it already, before I had ever heard of him, I assumed he was American. Hearing him now, I know he’s British and so the accent doesn’t gel as well. I know Ruth Watson is British, but out of the two, her US accent doesn’t stick out like his does.
However, we’re shown that Dominic West, as teacher and up-and-coming author Noah, is hot stuff because he’s getting the come-on from a woman who joins his lane at the swimming pool (this never happens to me). She clearly wants to hook up with him, but then spots that he’s married (oh, that ring, don’tcha know). Never mind that, though, as he’s snuggling with the missus in bed (Helen, played by E.R.‘s Maura Tierney), the moment he gets back home. And by snuggling, I mean – a bit of “how’s your father”. That’s until their younger daughter screams upstairs for mumsy.
While introducing the family, we learn that they’re going to their grandpa’s house for the summer – a whole three months away. Sounds like bliss, but while they pack up, and Noah goes looking for son Martin (Jake Richard Siciliano), the scene is interspersed with the audio of Noah seeing someone – I presumaed a shrink – about a situation… which we learn is Martin faking hanging himself in the laundry room. Noah makes out to the lad that they don’t have much money since he works as a public school teacher, yet they live in a mahoosive house while driving a people carrier! So how does that work??
Well, nothing works for Martin as he didn’t want to go to grandpa’s house, yet it’s huge, and by the sea, and that’s because he, aka Noah’s father, is also an author – and a very successful one, namely Bruce Butler (John Doman, aka Dep. Comm. for Operations Rawls in The Wire, alongside West)
Stopping off at a roadside restaurant, there’s a definite atttraction between Noah and waitress Alison (enter Ruth Wilson – as much as Noah would like to).
The episode has a fairly plodding opening 20 minutes or so, but then Noah pops down to the beach in the middle of the night as the domesticity of life is keeping him awake. He sees Alison, who asks him to walk her back to her house and then shows him her outdoor shower (and that’s not a euphemism). Like a dutiful husband, he tears himself away from her nakedness, only to return when he sees her boyfrend, Cole (Joshua Jackson), attacking her and then forcing her to take it from behind while pushing her up against the car. Noah is about to head up and knock him out when, since only she can see Noah (is he wearing an enchanted ring to make this happen??), she nods that he stays put and she’s happy for him to watch her get taken roughly from behind.
And then we’re in the psychiatrist’s room, who asks Noah what happened next… fade to black.
Part Two: Alison bears the caption, halfway through the epsiode. Umm… what was part one? We weren’t told. Presumably it was “Noah“, since the second part follows the waitress going through the same day as she wakes up, cuts her finger (hence the plaster she was wearing in the restaurant, even though – as I know from experience – you have to wear blue plasters when handling food) and has some ‘morning glory’ with Cole. They don’t appear to have a happy life, so god knows why they stay together.
She also has a mysoginist for a boss and is hiding a secret, which we later see is that today is the day which would’ve been her son’s sixth birthday, as he died aged 4.
The diner scene plays out differently, with her saving Noah’s daughter from swallowing a marble rather than him doing it. Similarly (or is that conversely), the beach scene also plays out differently.
We’re told that Cole is recovering… but from what? The flu? Or does he cover himself up with a tarpaulin at night, then he uncovered himself, and then at nightfall he’s re-covering himself? We need more information!!!
This first episode was quite ponderous, not giving much away at the start.
But episode 1 was… followed by episode 2, as Sky Atlantic showed both of them together. Unlike Fortitude, however, The Affair isn’t a Sky-exclusive series. It’s a US-made one which aired last autumn, so all ten episodes are now available online. However, I intend keep pace with the UK broadcasts.
Go to page 2 for a look at the second episode.
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.
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