AFFAIR, THE: SEASON 2, EPISODE 3 (TV)
Summary
One in this dramatic series about the consequences of an extramarital romance between a frustrated writer and a grieving waitress in New York. The story is told through multiple characters' subjective points of view. In this episode, in Noah's perspective, he and Alison spend a passionate morning together, though she sharply refuses his offer of a swim. In the pool, he experiences strange visions of a car crash, and he later shocks Alison with a proposal of marriage, which she accepts. Robert and Yvonne are thrilled by the news, and Alison relates a somewhat edited version of her first meeting with Noah, not mentioning that they were both married to other people at the time. Yvonne tells Noah that all of the other authors she has hosted at the cabin have done well with their books, though Noah admits that he is struggling with the ending of his current work, and she offers to look it over. Whitney suddenly arrives in their midst and reacts with outrage to the engagement, and Alison begins to fret that they have made a serious mistake, as they are not even divorced from Cole and Helen yet. At Noah's urging, Alison confesses several secrets, namely her brief liaison with Oscar, her near-suicide attempt in the ocean and her brief encounter with Cole at the cabin. Though shocked, Noah assures her that he will not "give up on her" and does not want to rescind the proposal, stating that he wants to "start over" with his life.
In the morning, Whitney requests to live with her father full-time, and he tells her that Helen cannot know about the engagement or their living together if shared custody is to be arranged. Noah later meets up with a newly-wealthy Max, who mentions that he is seeing "someone," and when Noah comments that he needs to secure an apartment in order to complete divorce proceedings and regain his children, Max abruptly gives him an enormous monetary gift. Noah is then surprised to be served with official divorce papers from Helen, who has apparently decided against their "humane" separation. In Alison's perspective, Robert and Yvonne are surprised to learn at dinner that Noah already has four children and is not interested in a fifth, which seems to upset Alison. As Yvonne and Noah discuss his book, Robert confides to Alison that he still leaves out scraps for their part-wolf dog Pete, who recently ran away and whom Yvonne dislikes for his seemingly dangerous nature. Whitney then arrives and furiously confronts Noah over the engagement, and Alison looks through the trunk of Gabriel's things. She then talks to Noah, who refuses to take the ring back, and asks him about "the worst thing he's ever done."
In the morning, Alison attempts to assure Whitney that she wants only to be "friends," though she refuses to divulge Scott's contact information when Whitney asks, citing Margaret's restraining order against him. Yvonne then learns that Pete has killed the neighbor's chickens, and Robert resentfully agrees to go "kill his best friend." Alison accompanies him, and she tells him of her previous marriage and of Gabriel's death as they wander through the woods. He suggests that she should not expect Noah to ever fully understand her grief despite their love for one another, noting that marriage is an imperfect respite from the loneliness of life. When Pete arrives, Robert cannot bring himself to shoot him, though he tells Yvonne that he did and Alison agrees that the incident was "sort of beautiful." Later, she finally enters the pool and is joined by Noah, and she spots Robert watching them in an intimate moment. In the future-present, Gottlief tells the couple that he intends to have the case tried outside of Montauk, as Noah is widely reviled there, in part because of his "exploitative" new book. Noah states that he hit a deer after a fight with Alison at Cole's wedding and then hastily bribed a mechanic to repair his car, aware that he would be considered a suspect in the hit-and-run. He admits that he threatened the "lowlife" after learning that he had impregnated Whitney, but swears that he did not kill him, and Gottlief tells them that they must find the true killer.
Details
- NETWORK: Showtime
- DATE: November 30, 1999 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:56:20
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 124287
- GENRE: Drama
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama; Infidelity; Marriage; Asian American Pacific Islanders Collection
- SERIES RUN: Showtime - TV series, 2014-2019
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Jeffrey Reiner … Executive Producer
- Anya Epstein … Executive Producer
- Hagai Levi … Executive Producer, Created by
- Sarah Treem … Executive Producer, Created by
- Abe Sylvia … Co-Executive Producer
- Michele Giordano … Producer
- Sharr White … Producer
- Andrea Stilgenbauer … Co-Producer
- Ryan Selzer … Associate Producer
- David Henry Hwang … Consulting Producer
- Bryan Goluboff … Consulting Producer
- Anna Boden … Director
- Ryan Fleck … Director
- Alena Smith … Writer
- Marcelo Zarvos … Music by
- Fiona Apple … Theme Music by
- Dominic West … Cast, Noah Solloway
- Ruth Wilson … Cast, Alison Bailey / Solloway
- Maura Tierney … Cast, Helen Solloway
- Joshua Jackson … Cast, Cole Lockhart
- Josh Stamberg … Cast, Max
- Julia Goldani Telles … Cast, Whitney Solloway
- Jake Siciliano … Cast, Martin Solloway
- Jadon Sand … Cast, Trevor Solloway
- Leya Catlett … Cast, Stacey Solloway
- Richard Schiff … Cast, Jon Gottlief
- Peter Friedman … Cast, Robert
- Joanna Gleason … Cast, Yvonne
- Quinn VanAntwerp … Cast, Luke Earl
- Aurora Leonard … Cast, Waitress
- David Lavine … Cast, Stranger