The Affair

[Willie Oleson]

Many surprises in the first three episodes of season 5.
The once so picturesque Montauk has become a swampy ghost town, narcissistic Noah Solloway hates the actor who plays his movie alter ego (didn't they say on Knots Landing "I wonder who's going to play us" ?) and it also shows the first ever discussion with a hyper-intelligent toilet (move over Black Mirror).
Helen has started an affair with the actor who plays her ex-husband's movie alter ego and future Joanie is a compulsive liar and adulteress.

 

[James from London]

Season 5 arrived on my doorstep on Friday, along with a couple of '60s Doctor Whos and some ear wax remover.

 

[Willie Oleson]

Season 5 arrived on my doorstep on Friday

On my doorstep too! Along with the final season of The Americans - an obscure and pricey Australian import, but I just had to take these final seasons off of my to-watch list - and the third and final season of Twin Peaks. All in all, there's a strong sense of finalization in Casa Olesone.

 

[Michael Torrance]

I found that the show, as in previous seasons, did some innovative storytelling in its last season
http://www.soapchat.net/threads/the...-plot-cohesion-no-spoilers-for-season-5.7753/

 

[Willie Oleson]

Eventhough the link says "no spoilers" I'm afraid to click on it.
Just finished another episode, there was a bedroom scene that reminded me of Doctor Foster. I'd like to binge watch everything but it's all so intense (oh no, not Gabriel's box!) that I need a few moments to breathe between episodes.

Joanie's Six Feet Under-esque storyline is part of every episode rather than saving it all for the big finale, but somehow I think that finale is going to break me anyway.

 

[Michael Torrance]

Eventhough the link says "no spoilers" I'm afraid to click on it.

O ye of little faith...
Here is what I wrote:
"There is a traditional way for plot cohesion: plan it ahead and then have it play out. These are actually my favourite kind of shows. The arch-example of such meticulous planning is BABYLON 5 (or anyway its first four seasons, since the fifth one had to be resurrected after almost buried). Of course DALLAS started this formula in the late 1970s, with PEYTON PLACE even earlier.
But season 5 of THE AFFAIR shows there is another way: on your last season, take a look at all the forgotten/unresolved/unexplored pieces of the previous seasons, and mop them up, creating a polished final serving where before you had left some messes. THE AFFAIR has been a bold, innovative show in multiple ways (not without its flaws), but its last season shows that there ways to bring the whole together even when the threads seemed to be have been pulling apart, or even abandoned."

 

[Willie Oleson]

take a look at all the forgotten/unresolved/unexplored pieces of the previous seasons

I can't say it felt as if there were forgotton or unresolved parts, not from the position of the viewer anyway, but there's still room to explore more of the goings-on.
The revelation of what really happened to Scotty Lockhart felt like the end of a chapter - or the "book" version - and after that it continued as highbrow soap opera with various new partners and affairs.
And that's why I don't feel it had to end in season 5 or that things had to be explained in a satisfactory way. I thought that the murder of Alison was somewhat similar to the death of SFU's Lisa Kimmel Fisher because the dramatic narrative didn't create an urge to solve it. If anything, the conclusion of the SFU version came as a total surprise.
We already know that Alison was in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong guy, and unless Ben Cruz becomes part of the story again (haven't seen him yet) I don't see how it's going to change things, except for Joanie herself because it's nice to know that her mother didn't kill herself - something that may have damaged her personality.
But again, I don't think it was necessary to do her story in season 5.
I'm not complaining or disagreeing, and from a more aesthetic point of view - to maintain as much of that "reading a novel" feel as possible - I guess it was the right decision to not continue the series, thus avoiding the risk of having things peter out.

Incidentally, Noah Solloway's novel has been published for real:

 

[Michael Torrance]

I can't say it felt as if there were forgotton or unresolved parts, not from the position of the viewer anyway, but there's still room to explore more of the goings-on.

Wait for it then. You will be amazed that you had forgotten about it. But the show hadn't.

 

[Willie Oleson]

Watched episode 6 after I had taken an extended late afternoon/early evening beauty nap.
Is Sasha Mann really a better man than Noah? And of course they had to name the non-American "Sasha" after I had suggested that German actor Sasha Hehn could play the role of NuPeter De Vilbis in NuDynasty.

It's all great and fantastic and they make every character look interesting. I enjoyed Sierra's part and now I also know what's bugging Sookie Joanie (the end of life on earth just being one of those things - talk about an affair with consquences!)
The history of Montauk becomes bigger and bigger and now it almost feels surreal that I've watched those Montauk episodes.
Funny anecdote about the Halloween party with the two kids dressed up like the mummy, and one of the mummies pretending to be the other mummy because he didn't want to go home. Trevor even refers to him as an impostor. A mini-mummy-impostor.

Since Joanie has already described what happened to her father (post-Alison) I assume there won't be much of Cole in this season, except for the flashbacks?
I wonder what's going to happen in episode 7.

 

[Michael Torrance]

Since Joanie has already described what happened to her father (post-Alison) I assume there won't be much of Cole in this season, except for the flashbacks?

Well, that has been one of my criticisms of the season: there was always a balance between the self-indulgent, addictive, and exploitative Solloways and the self-destructive, addicted, and exploited Lockharts. With the Lockharts gone (except for Joanie, but she is far in the future and not interacting with either family), the show often feels lopsided.

 

[Willie Oleson]

and unless Ben Cruz becomes part of the story again (haven't seen him yet)

Ah, that was great, and it also gave some food for thought regarding self-forgiveness, eventhough the words came from a psychopath who probably doesn't feel anything at all.

Not too thrilled at the prospect of a me-too storyline for Noah. There's been so much of it in the media I don't want to see it in my fiction entertainment.

 

[Michael Torrance]

Not too thrilled at the prospect of a me-too storyline for Noah. There's been so much of it in the media I don't want to see it in my fiction entertainment.

True, but who the accuser is, and the circumstances around it "happening" are I think what makes it great entertainment.

 

[Willie Oleson]

True, but who the accuser is, and the circumstances around it "happening" are I think what makes it great entertainment.

Just started with episode 9, and I *think* I know what you mean.

 

[Michael Torrance]

Just started with episode 9, and I *think* I know what you mean.

How the show brings up loose threads from the past, threads who had not been explored, is also clear in this episode.

 

[Toni]

I´m still recovering from the Season 4 "big shock"...but I´d say that my final feelings about the show´s end were...of emotional relief. The bookend is truly memorable, at last to me.

 

[Willie Oleson]

How the show brings up loose threads from the past, threads who had not been explored, is also clear in this episode.

I'm feeling tickled!

 

[Toni]

Many surprises in the first three episodes of season 5.
The once so picturesque Montauk has become a swampy ghost town, narcissistic Noah Solloway hates the actor who plays his movie alter ego (didn't they say on Knots Landing "I wonder who's going to play us" ?) and it also shows the first ever discussion with a hyper-intelligent toilet (move over Black Mirror).
Helen has started an affair with the actor who plays her ex-husband's movie alter ego and future Joanie is a compulsive liar and adulteress.

When I found out about the movie, I cried and begged: "Oh please Soap Gods don´t let them go the movie route too!!" (Echoes of the JR movie still haunt me at night...)

 

[Willie Oleson]

don´t let them go the movie route too

I agree, it kinda drifts away from the literary aspect and maybe that's why it looks a bit cheesy.
But then again, Helen thinks the novel is vastly overrated anyway

 

[Michael Torrance]

I really liked how Helen told Sasha that her on-screen character had to be bitchier. There were so many right notes hit on that one: Noah could not have written her that way out of his guilt toward his actions, and Sasha was afraid in the "me too" era of catching the misogynist label. So while Helen was not necessarily more perceptive than the others, she was gutsier than them and not restricted by too-late-and-crippling regrets of Noah or the current feminism-bubble of Sasha and L.A. land. Ironically, she had the balls they didn't.

 

[Willie Oleson]

I just did episode 10 and I want to cheer and cry and vomit. Am I going to survive the last one? Is this going to be my Thorn Bird song?