Vik is not a "new partner." At this point in the story Helen has been with Vik for 4 or 5 years (since before Noah went to prison).
7
Just wanted to weigh in very late here. I was turned off by the
beginning of this first episode, but was intrigued by the end and came back for Week 2. I guess my main question is what on earth Vik sees in this trainwreck of a family he is living with. But then I am not fond of him to begin with. Too snide by half.
1
I love this show & I don't feel guilty about it. It's a well acted, beautifully shot, deeply psychological show that uses soap operatic clichés to reveal how the characters see themselves in the world.
2
Martin flunked out of two high schools. Now he is happy at William and Mary. W and M has an acceptance rate of 34%. Does anyone do background research on this show? It has became laughable.
1
I enjoyed the therapy scene and Helen's sharp put-down of her body-scanning shrink.
I'm confused, though, about the opening scene -- Allison's disappearance -- and the subsequent timeline "six weeks earlier." Dreading the prospect of the whole season slowly unfolding in that previous six weeks, only to end in a cliff-hanger about Allison's whereabouts.
2
I watched for the pretty scenery and the stunning house. Found I didn't care at all what happened to any of the characters anymore. But as visual "L.A. porn" it hit the spot.
3
I have come to the inescapable conclusion that Maura Tierney is the only reason that I, or anyone, should continue to watch this show.
3
Of course! She's from Boston! When I was in grad school there in the '80s, I thought Bostonian women were the most interesting women in the world!
1
After The Americans, this feels like a visit to the dentist
I’m never sure exactly why I watch this show...but I do
6
Noah's reactions to LA traffic are laughable.
"Having moved to Los Angeles, [Helen} has a new partner, Vik Ullah, who is chief of surgery at a prestigious hospital there,"
Vik is "new" only if you believe that the surgeon/lover who moved to LA is no longer the same man who plied his skills in Brooklyn. Maybe so, but Vik was actually in and out of Helen's life all last season.
26
I don't think the author of this review has seen the entire series.
2
Actually, Vik entered the story the season before last - before Noah even went to prison. So at this point in the story Vik and Helen have been together for 4 or 5 years. I also don't get Vik's mother's dig about Vik's recent weight loss being from Helen's cooking given the amount of time they've been together.
4
I expected a review that made me feel bad for watching The Affair, but I can now feel better about looking forward to the remainder of Season 4. I've always enjoyed the half time switch from one character's perspective to another; it's unique and reminds us that most of us really do see and hear what they want to.
13
This show has always been an exploration of “unreliable narration”. The heightened emotion from the various crises, conflicts and character’s neuroses make for heightened unreliability. Notice that we never see calm, reasonable Vik’s POV - it would just show us what actually happened and where’s the fun in that? The recap made that click back into place for me, so thanks Sean.
1
It seems pretty clear - at least to me - that Noah will get involved romantically with Sanaa Lathan’s character. Should make for an interesting new plot hook.
This show is my guilty pleasure. Oddly, I find it realistic in that I know people who have done these things. I tell my daughter all the time: Humans, wildly unreliable and generally disappointing. But fun to watch when they are doing boneheaded things.
3
i enjoyed the scenes where Helen and Noah r attempting to adjust to all that is LA, the traffic, Helen's shrink who's into body scanning, the confusion whether the Mexican resturant is in LA or Santa Monica, Helen's earthquake fears, the neighbor into goat yoga, the private school that wont let Noah in to see his son's exhibit and houses on stilts....it is the essence of upper middle class LA
a
11
I thought the show jumped the shark last season with Noah's delusions and imaginary stalker, so I was skeptical about watching Season 4. Yet watch it I did, since The Affair is akin to a train wreck - as awful as it gets, I could not turn away. I was pleasantly surprised by the season premiere. It was less dark than last season and, although the characters' behavior was basically as selfish and childish as before, I am hooked. And I love Vik's mother. And the new neighbor. Looking forward to more...
12
Agree that The Affair isn't afraid of "ugly" and presents that as an unvarnished truth. The problem is the likability of these characters and how the lack of that prevents empathy for them. Helen, despite her good fortune with a great house and a hot guy who truly cares about her, goes through life with an unrelenting scowl. Her incessant anger, always close to the surface, makes you wonder what Vik sees in her. Then there is the hot mess of Noah with his narcissistic grievance and self-pity. This episode makes me long for Cole, the most decent character on the show, and Alice whose instability is somehow touching.
8
Cole raped his wife in season 1. Remember? Outside. Noah saw it. Cole was furious and there was no love for his wife there. Also, he was engaged with his brother in drug dealing. To say he's the most decent character is really stretching things.
9
Mike: any thoughts on why Helen is so angry at Noah? He took the rap for her crime. Is she still in love with him? The writers don't really provide a satisfying motivation for her extreme hostility toward him.
2
I think she is still deeply hurt and humiliated by his betrayal in Season 1. He left her and their four children for Alison; I don't think that's a wound that heals easily or quickly, if ever. She is probably also still in love with him at some level since she is not the one who initially chose to end the marriage.
12
Even though she protested that she was too drunk, Noah stopped the car and insisted that Helen drive. She would not have been behind the wheel if he had not insisted. This, plus everything else he did, would be enough for me to be extremely angry at him too if I were in her shoes.
4
But remember near the end of last seasons Alison confessed to seeing Helen hit Scotty after Alison pushed him out into the street. Helen then realized Noah went to jail to protect Alison, not Helen.
1
Sorry, I meant Sean, not Mike!
1
Season 4 and here we are again. I keep asking myself why I'm watching. Season 1 was the best, but I agree that everything should have been a wrap at the end of Season 3. I would like someone out there to explain why we are still watching in spite of it all....
4
Because we're happy we are not these sorry people.
14
Season 4, Episode 1 began with Noah's perspective for the first half, not Helen's as stated in the article.
Wow. The writers lifted that gifted student right out of Heshimu Cumbuka's character Jason Allen on Room 222. Surly. Threatening. Brilliant student.
7
I am happy to see someone else remembers Room 222. I'm a little disturbed with the use of the tired cliche of brilliant but angry and underprivileged black male teenager challenging and being challenged by the committed but naive white male teacher in an urban public school (updated to being a charter school). The use of cliche goes back to the 1955 movie "Blackboard Jungle" with Sidney Poitier as the teenager. It's 2018. Stop it with the demeaning stereotyping.
17
Absolutely agree. The scene was a cliche and I immediately thought of Blackboard Jungle and hundreds of subsequent identical plot lines.
1
Via the character's -- Noah's -- mind, yes. Because he views the world in literary stereotypes.
1
Usually I like Helen. But until the final scene, definitely unsympathetic here. Noah is a nudge - but how dare she keep him from parents' night. Vik's mother - a little hyperbole there on cultural differences (the entire fridge filled with her food - reallt) but otherwise on target.
1
This is a very smart review. The best dramas are made of flawed and inconsistent people. And the actors in this one do a wonderful job. I'm a theatre professor and a writer. I run into complaints from time to time from students and readers requiring all characters to be sane and healthy. I argue as this reviewer does that drama benefits from the failed struggles toward health.
20
Everybody is the star of their own lives. That doesn't mean that the star actually knows or understands what's going on with other people, or is even likeable to other people. The Affair then provides a fractal account of all sorts of people and events which is fascinating in its own way. The two characters who have emerged as the real centers of the series, Helen and Noah, are played by such good actors, who have created really interesting people -- in spite of their characters as perceived by we, the viewers. I've been hooked on this series as I've not been by another in a very long time. This, despite my intense antipathy for shows of dysfunctional, all-about-my-feelings, economic advantaged, shallow characters!
23
I enjoyed this season opener. To me it shows how perilous serial monogamy can be. I also enjoy the school narratives and Helen's therapy sessions. As long as the show stays away from Montauk it's wonderful.
8
Strange. I liked the Montauk part throughout all seasons. In particular, Allison's trajectory - despite some elements being more soapy than they need to be.
Was looking forward to season 4 and IMHO I liked it. Helen I think is headed for a nervous breakdown and I don't think she has fully come to the realization that she killed. She's taken her anger out at Noah in full force and right out of the gate in this episode. Maura Tierney was ferocious, but in a good way. Looking forward to this season.
19
Beautifully written review. The sentence about our lived lives ( I am paraphrasing - the author said it better) replacing reality was extraordinary. Thank you.
15
Season 3's last new episode was aired the week Trump was inaugurated. Of course, the writers/producers had written and filmed the show weeks before, but the "hallmark" of the stories, the shifting perspectives and frankly "alternative" facts (i.e. the choking episode referenced in the first episode referenced in the recap), still resonates. I was a trial lawyer for 25 years. Virtually every case, whether relying on eyewitness testimony, or even unassailable facts from written documents, contained varying "perspectives" (some would call them lies) from witnesses supposedly viewing the same thing or referencing a writing. You can take five people witnessing the same incident and get five different accounts. We see what we want to see based on our backgrounds, biases, etc. The same goes for these characters. Putting aside the pettiness, immaturity and narcissism, their viewpoints of seemingly irrefutable factual situations is simply human nature. It doesn't mean it's right, it just means our views and perspectives can easily be manipulated by outside forces as well as our own internal psyches.
22
No mention of the opening. I'm wondering why so many shows start with, "6 weeks earlier." I found that highly annoying (not as annoying as Helen's shrink), and then there was no reference to it later. Is this season going to take place in that time frame? Small quibble. I do enjoy the show and agree; layers of emotional complexity vs. what actually happened, intrigues me every time.
6
The show was wonderful for the first two years and then it seemed to wander away. Last year was terrible and this year sounds even worse. The show was a play and now they have turned it into a soap operate that will run for 10 years. Such a shame not knowing when to quit.
8
Like no other series on TV, The Affair’s central theme is that reality is inseparable from consciousness, that what is true is always mediated by our attempts to understand and remember it. Getting at something close to the truth only occur when we see where different apprehensions of it intersect, as in a Venn Diagram. That’s what this show is about, it seems to me, and why its story and characters are just not that interesting. Yes, the lives of the main characters are wrecks. But do we really care about or wonder what’s going to happen to them? I don’t think so. But that’s not the point of the show.
16