The Affair: The Final Season
September 1, 2019 1:40 PM - Season 5 (Full Season) - Subscribe
It's a great time to come back to The Affair!
Season four found Noah (Dominic West), Helen (Maura Tierney), Alison and Cole in their own orbits, alienated from each other, spinning further and further away from where they all began.
Per the official description, the fifth and final season will chronicle the aftermath of the Season 4 finale’s horrific events and find the characters coming to terms with the consequences of their choices, as they make the realization that if they really want to change their futures, they must first face the past. This final chapter is about how everything falls apart in the end, but somewhere in that wreckage, the seeds of change finally sprout.
As previously announced, Anna Paquin has joined the final season as Alison (Ruth Wilson) and Cole’s (Joshua Jackson) now adult daughter Joanie Lockhart, for a flash-forward storyline that sees her return some years in the future to piece together the truth about what happened to her mother, bringing the whole story full circle.
Season four found Noah (Dominic West), Helen (Maura Tierney), Alison and Cole in their own orbits, alienated from each other, spinning further and further away from where they all began.
Per the official description, the fifth and final season will chronicle the aftermath of the Season 4 finale’s horrific events and find the characters coming to terms with the consequences of their choices, as they make the realization that if they really want to change their futures, they must first face the past. This final chapter is about how everything falls apart in the end, but somewhere in that wreckage, the seeds of change finally sprout.
As previously announced, Anna Paquin has joined the final season as Alison (Ruth Wilson) and Cole’s (Joshua Jackson) now adult daughter Joanie Lockhart, for a flash-forward storyline that sees her return some years in the future to piece together the truth about what happened to her mother, bringing the whole story full circle.
Quality writing and performances... buh, may be, but I don’t want to let any of these people into my house at all, let alone for a single hour once a week.
posted by infinitewindow at 5:15 PM on September 2, 2019
posted by infinitewindow at 5:15 PM on September 2, 2019
I don't see them as bad people, I like the gimmick of the different perspectives of the same scene because to me they come off as very realistic people trying to do their best in the midst of all these wild and crazy situations the writers throw at them, kind of like the Odyssey.
posted by bleep at 6:40 PM on September 2, 2019
posted by bleep at 6:40 PM on September 2, 2019
Every time each episode of this show finished - once the novelty of season 1 passed - I swore I'd never watch these tedious characters again, yet here I am, stuck with it to the bitter end. Noah is the most self-absorbed asshole ever to grace a TV screen. I am very glad Alison is no longer in it as I couldn't stand her. Why do I keep watching this show? I have no idea. There's something wrong with me...
Creepiest fucking theme song ever too.
posted by essexjan at 12:44 PM on September 4, 2019 [2 favorites]
Creepiest fucking theme song ever too.
posted by essexjan at 12:44 PM on September 4, 2019 [2 favorites]
I think Joanie is biologically Cole and Alison's daughter, from when Alison slept with Cole while she was with Noah.
I really wanted to not watch this season because Ruth Wilson's comments on her departure and they way they dealt with her character leaving both made it seem like something not worth supporting (I hated how they killed her off). I liked her character and would have very much preferred to see the end of awful Noah. But I'm in a TV rut and I like Maura Tierney and Anna Paquin, so here I am.
Some random thoughts having watched the 4 episodes that are out now:
- I would much rather see Cole's perspective in our present than see another scene of Noah doing the same terrible stuff again and again, but I guess Joshua Jackson is out.
- I'm annoyed that they've dropped Luisa's plotline entirely. Remember how she took care of Joanie and Cole promised her she'd be Joanie's adoptive mother after Alison's death in order to secure her green card? Well, apparently the writers don't?
- Is it just me or is Joanie's 'dystopian' future fairly optimistic? It's 2054 ish and the major climate change impact is that it floods more often (but the inside of Cole's house is protected from water damage)?
- I am over them trying to make a mystery of Joanie's personality and story line. It would be nice to see this show do better by Joanie than Alison but it's not looking very likely.
posted by milkweed at 11:23 AM on September 15, 2019 [2 favorites]
I really wanted to not watch this season because Ruth Wilson's comments on her departure and they way they dealt with her character leaving both made it seem like something not worth supporting (I hated how they killed her off). I liked her character and would have very much preferred to see the end of awful Noah. But I'm in a TV rut and I like Maura Tierney and Anna Paquin, so here I am.
Some random thoughts having watched the 4 episodes that are out now:
- I would much rather see Cole's perspective in our present than see another scene of Noah doing the same terrible stuff again and again, but I guess Joshua Jackson is out.
- I'm annoyed that they've dropped Luisa's plotline entirely. Remember how she took care of Joanie and Cole promised her she'd be Joanie's adoptive mother after Alison's death in order to secure her green card? Well, apparently the writers don't?
- Is it just me or is Joanie's 'dystopian' future fairly optimistic? It's 2054 ish and the major climate change impact is that it floods more often (but the inside of Cole's house is protected from water damage)?
- I am over them trying to make a mystery of Joanie's personality and story line. It would be nice to see this show do better by Joanie than Alison but it's not looking very likely.
posted by milkweed at 11:23 AM on September 15, 2019 [2 favorites]
I wish it hadn't ended like that. It made me think of the end of a book Noah Solloway would write and even he apparently had enough sense that he transitioned to selling lobster. And fond as I was of Helen, Alison was the heart of the show for me. And now Noah's the wise man and even Bruce does a turn as the fairy godfather.
(Noah's defense of Alison to Joanie was maybe the best they could do with Wilson gone? For me I seemed too little, too late and emphasized how unsatisfactory her departure was.)
posted by BibiRose at 1:10 PM on November 5, 2019
(Noah's defense of Alison to Joanie was maybe the best they could do with Wilson gone? For me I seemed too little, too late and emphasized how unsatisfactory her departure was.)
posted by BibiRose at 1:10 PM on November 5, 2019
I dunno maybe the show was made just for me personally to enjoy but I loved the hell out of the ending even though that last part was pretty cheesy I enjoyed it like a delicious cheese danish.
posted by bleep at 2:13 PM on November 16, 2019
posted by bleep at 2:13 PM on November 16, 2019
Some things just have that ring of truth when it hits your ears, you know? Like yes, leaving all this California bullshit behind and going back to Long Island where real people are and real life takes place would solve all my problems. That *does* feel authentic and believable to me (could it be because I'm in California and I miss my family on Long Island? I guess, maybe it's a requirement to liking the show.) The thing I love about this show is that it all feels real.
posted by bleep at 2:37 PM on November 16, 2019
posted by bleep at 2:37 PM on November 16, 2019
My own Metafilter comment made me cry.
posted by bleep at 2:39 PM on November 16, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by bleep at 2:39 PM on November 16, 2019 [1 favorite]
You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments
But to recap:
Noah & Alison had an affair
Helen & Noah broke up
Alison & Cole broke up
Noah and Alison tried to make a go of it but they couldn't
Alison, Noah & Helen were involved in the killing of Alison's creepy brother in law, for which Noah took the blame and went to jail, because of that Alison & Noah felt like they were stuck together
They had a baby named Joanie
Alison & her ex Cole raised the baby as their own with split custody
Helen married a rich, successful pediatric surgeon who dies of panceatic cancer in the first episode of this season
Noah is now dating the principal of the high school he got a job at after getting released from prison
Alison was killed by her abusive new boyfriend
Noah's successful novel about these events is being made into a movie
I think that's it??
posted by bleep at 1:45 PM on September 1, 2019