The Affair Season 2 Episode 3….Let’s Discuss!!!

I think the title of this episode should have been “Whitney The Holy Terror.” Boy do I love her but boy do we need to discuss….

PART ONE: NOAH

Cold Spring, NY:

The show opens up with Noah and Alison having sex. Noah is worried something is wrong but Alison is like let’s just get the show on the road. Noah invites Alison for a swim after their morning fun but as we all know Alison won’t go near the water. She can’t seem to explain this to Noah but I think he can take the hint.

Noah goes for a swim and has almost that same flashback from episode 1. Remember the one with the car swerving, driving recklessly down a dark road and almost hitting someone, looks like a girl? Yeah well, the issue with this is that THIS IS BEFORE SCOTTY ACTUALLY DIED! Alison & Noah are not even married or have a child yet. Therefore, this flashback is no way linked to Scotty’s death. Just thought I would put that out there unless this is an odd premonition.

ENGAGEMENT

 

After Noah’s swim, he tells Alison he wishes they could stay there forever, he could write book after book, he would get rich and they could buy Yvonne & Robert’s house right out from under them. Sure, Noah keep dreaming. Noah then looks Alison in the face and says “Tell me a secret nobody knows.” Her answer that she hates beets is not exactly what Noah was looking for. He doesn’t have the chance to get off his chest whatever is bothering him (the ominous flashbacks??)

Noah drops a bomb in this scene when he asks Alison to marry him. I did love her answer “It would depend on the ring.” But seriously??????? I have a hundred questions here…When did he buy this ring and with what money? They have been living together for 6 weeks? Want to try to get divorced first? Well after getting over this surprise, she says yes and they are off to Yvonne & Robert’s to share their happy news.

MAZEL TOV

Mazel to both of them on this simcha. Yvonne wants to know all about how they met. Alison breaks into this romantic story how they met at the Lighthouse in Montauk in the rain. Apparently she had never met a real writer before. The last time she probably read a book was Catcher in the Rye. This statement throws Yvonne for a loop as she asks Alison “so you are not a reader?” Noah is quick to jump in and say she reads plenty. Robert comes to Alison’s defense by saying “there are plenty of other things to do besides hiding behind a book.” True, Robert ,True. Alison proceeds with this fairytale to Noah’s shock and bewilderment.  Who knew Alison could lie so easily? Seems Noah didn’t know she had it in her either! Alison agrees to another glass of wine and you can feel the look of REALLY? that Noah gives Alison. Alison not up to your standards, Noah?

Yvonne inquires about Noah’s book but Alison explains that Noah doesn’t share his work until its finished. Well when your landlord is the head honcho at Radford Publishing, you better believe he will make an exception!

STUDY

Yvonne & Noah spend a little time together in her study catching up on the progress of Noah’s book. Yvonne points out to Noah that all the books lined up on the shelf were written in the cabin where Noah & Alison are staying. Most of the books have done very, very well. A little pressure, Noah? Noah explains to Yvonne that he and Harry can’t agree on an ending. Yvonne states that a very wise professor once told her “If you are having difficulty with the end, you fucked up the beginning.” She also says she is happy to look at the manuscript and offer her opinion. Because ,you know, fate takes over a story ultimately and the author loses control. Hmmmm. Everyone seems to be telling a story.

WHITNEY (my favorite scene in the entire show)

 

Alas, Whitney shows up like a bat out of hell. She is surprised to see her father is living in a mansion until she finds out it’s actually Yvonne’s home. He tries to get her to leave to which she exclaims “Ew, a cabin? Can we just stay in your house?” (LOVE HER) . Noah drags her to the cabin and asks Whitney how she even got there. Um “Metro-North and then a cab”. She has street skills, ya know. She likes their love nest especially the dead fox. It’s “extra erotic.” I literally laughed out loud as she pet it.

Alison tries to give Whitney a glass of water and she notices the ring on Alison’s finger. Seriously Alison, you couldn’t have taken that off?? Noah gets everything he deserves in this scene from Whitney. She should be super pissed there is a diamond ring on Alison’s finger when Helen is still Noah’s wife. He is lame (by the way) and stupid. He does have 4 kids and its been zero time. WTF, NOAH?! Go get ’em Whitney.

DECK

 

Finally a heart- to-heart between Noah & Alison. Time to lay a few cards on the table. Time to be HONEST. Is this relationship a mistake? Will they survive in the real world together? How long can she live behind rose-colored glasses? I am not really sure why the first thing she told Noah was that she slept with Oscar (vile). But at least admitting that she tried to kill herself by drowning was a step in the right direction. When Alison tells Noah, Cole came to visit to drop off her stuff, Noah seems taken back that Alison lied (again).  But he wants to start his life over again, with Alison. Noah remarks that even though they are both flawed, he can stop pretending to be someone or something that he is not. He can finally be himself without worrying what other people think of him. Bye, Bye Helen.

TRAIN STATION

Whitney doesn’t want to go home; she wants to move in with Noah. She complains that she is living in a coven of depressed witches. (good line, Whitney….Margaret for sure is a witch). She tries to play the schoolwork card but Noah isn’t buying it. However, Noah does tell Whitney there is a way for her to live with him, even part of the time,  if she will agree to not tell Helen about the engagement let alone that Alison is living with him. I have no idea how he can ask his daughter to lie for him. You know this is going to come back and bite him in the ass. But she agrees…maybe.

MAX

Noah meets his long-time friend Max (aka Helen’s new boyfriend) at the diner. I got excited when I saw Max because I was dying to see how this scene was going to play out. Max referring to himself as a “gazillionaire” had me rolling my eyes but I was waiting to see how he was going to handle the Helen situation. He does tell Noah he is in a relationship that is turning serious but does not let on to who, yet. (Can’t wait for that cat to be let out of the bag!) Funny when Noah says, he is not worried about Helen, she will be “single for about 30 seconds.” Ha, try one second. Max so graciously offers to give Noah $50K on the spot. Such a nice gift to help his buddy as Max states “The sooner you and Helen get divorced, the happier everyone will be.” How convenient and self-serving, Max!

DIVORCE

Noah shows up at mediation for an appointment only to find out Helen has hired Jon Gottlieb (OHHH JON) to handle the their divorce. He is served divorce papers. I guess Helen was not so into the mediation after-all or did Whitney really tell Helen about the engagement?  And we move on to the better part of the story….

PART 2: ALISON

YVONNE & ROBERT’S HOUSE

Back to the dinner party at Yvonne & Robert’s after Noah popped the question. Call me crazy, but I could have sworn they were sitting at a square table in Noah’s POV and now the table is round?  Anyway, Yvonne wants to hear about the details of their engagement, if they set a date, will they be having kids? etc.  Noah quickly shuts down the idea of kids as he already has four from a previous marriage.  But Alison is not so happy about this remark and gives Noah the look of death. Yvonne notices and says something to Noah about maybe Alison is not certain about not having kids. Robert gets annoyed and throws out her glass of wine. The “2005” no less.  Interesting enough, Noah is the “drinker” in this scene, not Alison. This is not the fun, lying Alison we saw in Noah’s version. They wrap up dinner and Yvonne invites Noah into her study to discuss his book.

THE KITCHEN

 

 

Robert tells Alison a little secret about his dog, Pete. Apparently the dog ran away a few weeks ago but Robert leaves him scraps of food around the property. Yvonne hates the part wolf dog, Pete, because he snapped at their grandson once and he is not trained.  Robert thinks he is just misunderstood. The dog wasn’t meant to be caged or put on a leash.  Here we have the first secret between Alison & Robert.

WHITNEY

Boom! Whitney has arrived and looking like the New York City girl I know in that dress. We cut to Noah & Whitney outside on the deck at the cabin battling it out. Whitney is downright nasty calling Alison a stupid f*cking waitress, a slut, a liar, and the destroyer of their entire family! As if Noah had nothing to do with any of this. But its typical Whitney teenage drama. Alison tries to calm herself by holding Gabriel’s worry rock.

DECK

As Whitney is on the dock smoking a cigarette (how apropos), Alison & Noah are back on the dock having their heart-to-heart. Noah complains to Alison that Whitney Uber’d there from the city. Of course she did! Noah thought she took public transportation, please. The mistake question comes up again and Alison offers to give the ring back (she offered to give the ring back in Noah’s version as well so this holds true). I wanted to slap Noah when he said “Why do they ever have to grow up?” (referring to his kids) How inconsiderate and selfish. Does he now know that Alison would have done ANYTHING to watch her son grow up? Not nice, Noah. We do not get to hear Alison confess to sleeping with Oscar, when Noah asks her about the worst thing she has ever done. She only states “A lot of things” and then its morning time…

BREAKFAST

My first thought when we see Alison sleeping on the couch was I can’t even pee without the entire house waking up but Whitney can make eggs and coffee without waking Alison until Whitney slams down the pan. It is extremely thoughtful of Whitney to make Alison breakfast. Alison doesn’t want to do the whole wicked stepmother thing, she just wants to be Whitney’s friend. Yeah, well Whitney is only going to take the friend thing seriously unless Alison gives Whitney Scott Lockhart’s number because she still loves him (even though she has a restraining order against him… Margaret’s doing). Whitney is a queen manipulator. I would not put anything past her. On a side note I think her eating disorder is still alive and well. Oh, please, breakfast? Gross (she says to Alison) but when Noah asks her if she had breakfast she replied “Yup, I’m all full.” The look on Alison’s face was priceless.

HOLY TERROR

Alison is off to work at Yvonne’s house organizing manuscripts. Yvonne stops her and asks Alison what the deal is with Whitney as she seems like a “holy terror.” I would say that would be fitting for her behavior the prior night. Alison is all yeah well she’s a teenager but Yvonne is not accepting of that and tells Alison point-blank she is going to have her work cut out for her. Alison definitely will but I can’t wait to see it!

ROBERT

Yvonne receives a phone call from her friend Marilyn about a massacre. Apparently “a dog” got into the chicken coop and killed all of the chickens. Oh, Pete what did you get yourself into? Yvonne wants Robert to find Pete and shoot him. However, she asks Alison to go with him so he doesn’t hurt his knee. Love &  Marriage…

THE WOODS 

I am unclear why Alison is confiding in a total stranger about marriage and the loss of Gabriel in what seems like an hour walk. Seems crazy that she can’t talk to Noah about these things with whom she has shared a relationship with for over a year.  When she mentions the secondary drowning I sort of felt sick. I never even heard of such a thing until I watched this show. Really awful. I said this before and I will say it again. She desperately needs to speak to a therapist. She is carrying a 400 pound weight with her and at some point she is going to lose it.  Can’t father-figure Robert suggest she see a therapist? Robert is extremely sympathetic towards her. Alison says “I just thought if I could go somewhere else or be with somebody else..But it doesn’t ever leave you.” No it doesn’t. Instead an affair erupts. I mean isn’t this how most affairs begin? Someone is miserable at home for one reason or another…maybe not getting enough attention, sex, whatever and then someone else walks into your life and makes you feel special again. It’s so much easier to escape then deal with the heart of the matter.

Robert gives Alison some sound advice:

Noah may fully never understand what it is like to lose a child and there may be something about Noah that baffles Alison. “Being alive is a very lonely proposition.” But in a marriage things are less lonely. Sounds about right. Pete emerges from the bushes and Robert fires a shot in the air. I was hiding under the covers because if he had shot the dog I would have been mortified. He does lie to Yvonne though when she asks if the dog is dead. I guess it’s better to lie about killing a dog than not discuss a 400 pound weight that has been sitting on your chest day after day.

POOL SEX

Seems as though this talk really helped as Alison decides to face her demons and jumps into the pool. Noah comes home surprised to see Alison swimming, quickly undresses and jumps in after her. Glad they didn’t show full frontal here. I hate pool sex. Do people really enjoy this? Seeing Robert off in the distance was totally creepy and weird. I wonder if this is how Alison gets pregnant. There was definitely no contraception, you know?

JON GOTTLIEF

Flash forward to Noah & Alison in Gottlief’s luxurious office (if I do say so myself). Gottlief begins the conversation with the statement “Tell me what happened the night of Cole Lockhart’s wedding?” WEDDING? WHAT? I am calling it out right now… I bet anything Cole fully marries the babysitter who was working at Bruce Butler’s house. I also can’t believe Alison & Noah were invited to Cole’s wedding? Seems odd. Okay, moving on…Noah’s case doesn’t look great. Turns out Alison & Noah had a fight at the wedding. He drank too much, Alison left, Noah went to find her and apparently hit a deer. Alison gives Noah an odd look. This look makes me think one thing: Maybe it was really Alison who hit Scotty and Noah is covering for her?? just maybe.  Noah doesn’t tell anyone about the accident because he thought he would have been thought of as a suspect with blood and guts on his car. Can’t they test the DNA if he really hit a deer? Hmmm. Story is sketch but Noah swears he is innocent, he did not kill Scott Lockhart. Just like Jon says, “Well, I guess we have to find out who did.”

Until next week!!!

What were your thoughts??