The Affair – Episode 7. Let’s Discuss!

*SPOILER ALERT – DO NOT READ  THIS IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED EPISODE 7!

A note on Homeland…I was on the edge of my seat the entire show until the last 3 minutes when we see the Taliban’s plan to take the embassy. It seems a little far-fetched  that you can use bull cutters to break into the U.S. Embassy and just walk in the back door. Absurd and a story line that went balls to the wall but that is for another recap.

So let’s discuss The Affair.  I can’t believe how much unraveled in this episode and the way in which it did will make this article worth reading.  Let’s get down to it.

WHITNEY

1. The show opens up with Whitney meeting with her therapist and her parents. Whitney believes that Helen is having an affair with Max. HA! Wouldn’t that be so perfect? So close, Whitney!  Both Helen and Noah laugh it off as obviously Whitney is trying to avoid her own shit by making up stories about her parents.  Ironically this seems to lay the foundation for Noah to tell Helen about Alison.

THE DETECTIVE

2. Next we see the Detective reading Noah’s new book “Descent” in present day. The one thing that caught my eye was that he was wearing a wedding ring. In a previous episode we hear the detective tell Noah he is divorced. Hmm. Is this his second marriage? or does this case seem to go on for years?  Also the Title of the book “Descent”. Very interesting choice. The definition of descent =  the act, process, or fact of moving from a higher to a lower position. Seems as though this book is the “bible” of his affair. Or maybe that is me just reading into it. What do you think?

THE DEPARTURE

3. Noah is in a marathon sprint to get out of Montauk. Whitney’s throws a shit fit demanding to stay until Saturday but neither Helen or Noah will have it. Go Helen for once. Martin declares he wants to go to the Lockhart Ranch to apologize for the mare incident last week and we see here how Noah will do anything to get out of it. He will pack the kids! LOL. Maybe it was me who found that funny but I could just see Greg saying he will pack the kids. NEVER. I would know in an instant something was up. Anyway Helen pushes Noah to take Martin. I was excited we would be seeing Joshua Jackson in the next scene. AND WE DO!  Here we see a special relationship forming between Cole and Martin. However, when Cole tells Noah that Martin may be looking for attention, I laughed and was waiting for Noah to say “yeah, well, it just so happens I have been fucking your wife all summer”. Obviously that didn’t happen. Alison appears, Noah bugs out and gets the hell out of there only to come to the Butler’s having a war over a Vanity Fair article. This is the happiest we see Noah all summer. Oh does he hate his father-in-law, Bruce and so does his mother-in-law who seems to be the ghost writer behind all of Bruce’s novels. Now Bruce can’t say a thing to Noah until Bruce actually writes a novel of his own!

THE NOTE

4. Noah tells Helen he has to run out and fill the tank before they leave so he can really leave a note in Alison’s bike basket. IF I am Helen I am definitely wondering why we can’t just get gas on the way. Seems crazy to go out, get gas, come back and then leave but I guess this is the only way Noah could sneak away to the Lobster Roll. Oscar pulls up as Noah is walking away from Alison’s bike and fully blackmail Noah. Noah tries to deny it at first but he knows that Oscar knows from his cell phone trick last week and there is nothing he can do about it but find a way to come up with the hefty $10K. I really wish it was Oscar that got killed and not Scottie. HATE HIM.

HOME TO BROOKLYN

5. Alison say’s goodbye to her mom, Margaret, and offers to take her home with them. Margaret’s response is no “as it would just give Bruce Butler an excuse to hole up with his mistress.” Did you notice the look on Noah’s face? He seems to be mortified he is on the same “level” as his horrible father-in-law. I am surprised he didn’t get a speeding ticket on the way home.  

We find out that Noah & Helen rented their brownstone out for the summer. Good idea since somehow Noah needs to come up with $10K. I have to tell you I was shocked that he asked Max but we will get to that in a second. So home at last,  Noah and Helen can finally have sex in their own bed.  But can they? Noah can’t seem to get it up. Shocker. Eight weeks screwing around and he thinks that magically running home to his own digs he is going to be able to turn off the entire scandalous summer. Um, no.

MAX

6. So where is Noah going to find 10k? Good Ole’ Wall Street BFF Max. Noah shows up at Max’s office and Max is quite the happy guy, fucking the 23 year-old chick. He has no problems handing over a nice fat check to Noah although he won’t do it until Noah explains what he needs the money for. Noah admits he had an affair and is being blackmailed. I, for one, wasn’t sure if Noah was going to be honest with him. If my best friend told me she was having an affair you better bet I would never tell a soul, I just hope Max is as trustworthy as me. (lol). Max’s advice is “Whatever you do, don’t get all sensitive and tell Helen to make yourself feel better. That will help no one.”

THE HOSPITAL 

7.  Next scene we witness is Noah running, having an attack in the park and then he is in a hospital bed with Helen sitting by his side. I  knew the second he fell he was having a panic attack. Think he has enough stress in his life? The ER doctor explains Noah had a panic attack and in fact  the doctor’s statistics about panic attacks are absolutely true. This is a VERY common occurrence (huge believer in therapy btw, just saying). When Noah digests what has happened to him he decides to come clean to Helen. As soon as he started to tell her, All I kept thinking was NOAH, YOU ARE TELLING HER IN A HOSPITAL BED. YOU ARE PATHETIC!!!!!!!! He couldn’t wait until he got home? Really? and then Helen. Poor Helen. Love that she knew right away it was with Alison. When she asked was this one night? and he tells her eight weeks, I wanted to cry for her. One night is a fling. Eight weeks = a full-blown relationship. Shit, Helen, Shit. 

SOLLOWAY’S HOME

8. So they return home from the hospital together. I am surprised she didn’t kill him in the car but they walked in and Noah mysteriously closes the curtains (as we see in Alison’s flashback she is standing on the street…yikes). Noah goes in for a family group hug but you can feel how much Helen is dreading throwing her arms around him but she does the stand up thing and hugs it out.

And now the uncomfortable, foreboding conversation between Helen and Noah occurs. She screams and yells and tells Noah their marriage is a lie. He argues back that he was feeling weak after his first book came out, that Alison went after Noah, that there was pressure of writing a new book, and on and on and on. PUHLEASE! Two things here – they have 4 kids, how did not ONE of them walk into their room as they were fighting very loud and I need to know how she slept in the same bed with him. I’m sorry but if Greg broke it to me that he was having an affair, there is not a shot in hell I would be sharing a bed with him that evening. No fucking way. Furthermore, she FALLS asleep! He is the one who is up. How in the world did she sleep?

Noah can’t sleep and decides to tell Oscar he told Helen and tear up the check. Kudos. lol.

ALISON

9. My favorite side of the story. Maybe because it is more believable, maybe it’s because I am chick. Not sure but her story is always better.

THE FENCE

10. Alison’s POV starts with her repairing a fence. The conversation between Cole and Alison is so symbolic here. I am not sure if you caught it but it went something like this:

The whole thing’s rotten,” Cole tells her. “We gotta replace it.”

“Maybe we should just paint it,” replies Alison.

“Why?” asks Cole.

“Because it would look better,” she says.

“No,” he says. “it would just look painted.”

Seems as though this is more about their broken relationship than a broken fence, right? We can see by the end of the show Cole wants to start over with a brand new fence instead of repainting it (their relationship).  Get the metaphor?

THE RANCH

11. When we see the ranch scene from Alison’s point of view I have one call out. Did you notice how much of a dick Noah is when Cole mentions Martin may need some attention and Noah’s response was “Get back to me when you have a teenage son.” LOW BLOW! Noah KNOWS his son is dead. I thought Alison was going to pass out as she overhears this. Afterward, Cole introduces Alison to Noah, which is beyond uncomfortable.  Noah plays the card “I think I’ve seen you at the Lobster Roll”. Really? 

CHERRY

12. Next scene Alison is at The Lobster Roll asking Oscar for her check that she is never getting. Instead she steals the pies and throws them in her basket where Noah left his note. Jane tells Alison she should come visit her in Brooklyn now that the summer is over. HA! How convenient that Jane lives in Brooklyn!

Alison arrives at Cherry’s, Cole’s mother, house with pies in hand. She offers to help with dinner and overhears the Lockhart boys discussing what to do about Oscar. Cole seems to be the only level-headed of the bunch. When Alison walks back into the kitchen, the shit hits the fan. Cherry starts telling this long-winded story about Cole’s stroller rolling into traffic at a grocery store. I had no clue where this was going.  Cherry made a point that she always knows when one of her boys are in danger. Always. Even now. and then she dropped the gauntlet. WHO IS NOAH?

I threw the covers over my head and screamed NO SHE DIDN’T. She found the note. UGH. UGH . UGH. The craziest part of this whole scene was at first Alison tried to deny it but then asks for the note. Cherry (Do you remember her from St. Elmos Fire?..looks exactly the same. frump city) gets all psycho and burns it.

Now my mouth was on the floor. Okay Momma Bear, chill out!  When she tells Alison that she can NEVER tell Cole because that is selfish and she has been selfish enough already I wanted to jump through the screen and strangle her. Of course Alison wants to get the hell out of there but Cherry is not having it. Alison is going to have to sit through that dinner!

Now maybe because I know I am writing these recaps I pay such close attention but did you hear over dinner when Mary Kate asks Scottie about his new girl, some little brunette. Um, Whitney Solloway, maybe? Mark my words!

OSCAR

13. After dinner the boys and Alison head over to Oscar’s to make peace.  It all goes well until Scottie can’t deal and punches Oscar in the gut. Cole walks back  to see if Oscar is okay but Oscar is so pissed he let’s the cat out of the bag. Shit. The boys beat Oscar up and jet. 

COLE

14. I wasn’t sure how this scene was going to go but I for sure didn’t expect Cole to be so nonchalant.  All he wants to know is if he knows the guy and if he is from there. Alison says No and his response is “good, then it’s your problem, you deal with it”. Well allrighty then. It almost made me feel like this was not the first time she cheated. Although I do love that this was the opposite of Noah and Helen’s confrontation. 

You had to know this was the time in the story when Alison would ask for some time and head to Brooklyn to visit Jane. Perfect. 

JANE

15. Alison shows up at Jane’s for some girl time. I have no clue how Jane lives in that apartment working as a waitress. I am not counting her money but just saying. Getting high and eating Oreo’s seems like an awesome girls afternoon until Jane starts looking up Noah’s brownstone address, Helen’s store address and decides they should take a walk to Helen’s store. Just why? Stalkerish much? Why in the world would Alison walk into Noah’s wife’s place of work? Of course Helen recognizes her. Helen walks directly up to her and says “Alison”.

UGH I was like get the fuck out of the store. But then I realized this was BEFORE Noah tells Helen about their affair. Because Helen receives the phone call that Noah is in the hospital when Alison and Jane are leaving the store. When Helen thanks Alison for saving her daughter’s life the look on Alison’s face is priceless. Total guilt.  Alison tells Jane she needs to be by herself…remember she is also high so she is fully freaking out.

Next we see Alison staring into Noah’s brownstone at night. How long had she been wandering the streets? and how Glenn Close of her! (remember fatal attraction?)

COLE IN BROOKLYN

16. Alison heads back to Jane’s only to walk into Cole sitting on Jane’s chair in her apartment. Seems rational that Cole wants to know who Alison is sleeping with yet the answer was still so hard to listen to. Even though we know, you can feel the shock when Cole says, “Martin’s dad?”

AHHHHHHH

After this little dialogue Alison and Cole decide to take a walk around Brooklyn.  Cole says” This place is like hell, You’d have to have a death wish to want to live here.” Right then I knew Alison is NOT living with Cole in the future.  And then Cole turns to Alison and asks if it is something he did and she replies no. He sits down on the curb and then we see Cole, the gentleman, grab a newspaper (or some sort of paper) so Alison won’t get her dress dirty (that dress was so ugly by the way. I know they are trying to make her this no frills girl from Montauk but jeans and a tank would have been so much better). Cole breaks down and tries to explain to Alison how he handled his grief when his father passed away. He would  count and breath his way through it like a wave that passes. When their son died unfortunately that method didn’t work but what got him through it was seeing Alison. At this point I am hysterical crying. If Greg thought he was getting action after this episode, no way. Cole wonders if he is the problem and Alison now realizes that she is not the only person who is suffering internally.

Of all the scenes and all the episodes with Cole, this was by far my favorite. I just want to know where ‘This Cole” was this whole time.

MONTAUK

17. The next morning they head back to Montauk when Alison gets a text message that something’s happened to Cole’s brother Hal. He’s in the hospital after getting beaten up because he tried to return the drugs back to the dealers. Yes, did you get that? he TRIED to return the drugs back to the dealers? Most ridiculous thing I ever heard. Hal most likely has to stay in the hospital a month which means one thing. They will have to sell the ranch. Cherry refuses (here we see she knows all about the side family business) but Cole isn’t having it. He returns home with Alison in hand.

THE END.

18. Detective is investigating Noah’s stay at “The End”. Apparently he never stayed there. Hmmm Did he use his real name?

BABY

19. The final scene is in Alison and Cole’s bedroom. Alison is taking her birth control pill but Noah stops her and says “I want to start this part over again,  Let’s make a baby.” Oh Cole, that seems like the perfect idea after your wife has been fucking around all summer. 

So, at the conclusion of this episode, it looks like Cole and Alison are planning to stay together, sell the ranch, and try to have another baby. But does this really happen? I doubt it as I pointed out, Cole’s remarks about living in the city. However,  it would explain the mystery child Alison mentioned to Detective Jeffries earlier this season and her fancy clothes that she wears during the interrogation.

I can’t believe we have to wait 2 WEEKS!!! AHHH

What did you think of the episode?