‘The Affair’ Season 4, Episode 5: Next Steps

This is the episode that almost made me give up on the series, mainly due to not one but TWO beautiful, seductive and completely vacuous young women. Ugh. That combined with the creepy new age California walkabout. Ugh.

After a visit to the Porsche dealers, finally a person on an hbo or showtime show in LA who doesn’t drive a Prius!

Relentlessly depressing! Morose characters interacting in the gloomiest way. Even the sex is joyless—-quite a feat! Anyone in their right mind would run as fast away from Vik, Helen, Cole, Louisa, and Alison as their legs could take them! I thought television is supposed to be entertaining. If nothing else, lose the dreary introductory theme song.

Please let this be the last season! Vik's scene was the best of all seasons and anything I've seen on television in years.

There hasn't been an actor on TV as handsome as Vik since Jon Hamm's Don Draper. OK, maybe Josh Holloway and Lev Gorn.

I thought Priya was one of the creepiest characters seen in a long time until Nan came along. Priya’s distain for Helen Is so intense – I feel the same way about Helen who gets more sulky and manipulative with each episode. Nan was just creepy and her weird sexual overtures to Cole were so strange. From the way Cole’s father has been described, it seems it would take more than a walkabout to turn a Long Island fisherman into the soulmate of a California salon owner and artist. At least the plot is moving along a little but please turn down the creep factor.

Guess my finding Vick’s breakdown here not at all believable is not what anyone else here thinks. Amy Irving and Sierra seemed more real to me than anyone else here.

Big ugh on the oh-so-predictable Vik-Sierra hookup. This is the first time I've seen Emily Browning's acting, but I find her character to be pretty annoying, especially since she's now slept with the partner of the woman she's tried to hard to "befriend" (makes me wonder if her motive was always Vik -- but then I may be giving this airhead character too much credit. I don't think she's that smart). The empty-headed stupidity on the trash cans -- and the totally predictable distracting Vik when he starts to complain about it by saying "Oooh is that YOUR car?!" (And, um, who is in their driveway naked, wrapped only in a towel?) Sierra's too-obvious seduction was predictable, as were the tacky tattoo and hairy armpits. Sigh. Sorry honey, you're no Sophia Loren. Sierra is SUCH a caricature of a rich, aimless, rudderless millennial. Yep I bet she gets pregnant. Priya would probably love her, and she'd feed that girl, which she desperately needs. Love Amy Irving, but the combination of mothering and (seemingly) seducing Cole creeped me out. And I guess I, too, just don't get millennials' sexual attitudes -- "I come with the room" was distasteful. As Cole said to Nan, "I don't know what kind of place you're running here..." I also don't think the Delphine character is deep. She seems like a naive girl from Idaho who found someone to latch onto and has adopted Nan's lifestyle -- it's a bit cultish IMHO. Now, I just can't wait to see if Alison takes Cole back!!

the best episode of this boring season.2 men dying each in his own way.cole has already put a gun to his head.but he has carried around the sadness and confusion of his fathers suicide for years.finally realizing that his father killed himself rather than leaving his family for another woman, his true love.in that discovery cole is set free from his current wife to reseek his ex.the overwhelmingness of vics diagnosis sends him off on a fling, with a car and a woman.hey, who would not do that with a limited time to live.they should end the season right here.

Why on earth did Cole name his son for his alcoholic, withdrawn, abusive father?

Vik’s parents are the beneficiaries of his million dollar life insurance policy and he is leaving all his savings to them. He prefers to continue to take care of his parents, not Helen and her kids. What does that say about how he really feels about Helen? What about that new baby (which I doubt will ever be a reality)? Is he leaving nothing for that child?

I love the show. But women in their 50s don't have kids, injections or not. A little plausibility is always nice.

A great episode! Sean Collins - the superb actor playing Vik is more "unbearably handsome" than the actor playing Cole. But that's just me.......

This is off topic, but I'd like to add that Joyce Maynard's memoir, 'The Best Of Us,' is about the loss of her husband to pancreatic cancer. (Of course, it's more than that, but am stating its relevance here.) Because I read that beautiful and heartbreaking book, I feel like I have some insight as to why Vik is making the choice not to seek treatment. Maybe viewers already know about this illness; I did not.

Sean's recap was perfect. I have been watching this series, always with interest and some exasperation, since its debut. This episode was the most emotionally compelling. Vik just ripped my heart out as the dutiful son facing death with powerful regrets. His hookup with Sienna transcended its sleazy potential to something truly moving. After Vik's searing story, Cole's offered an uplift. The link to his father's struggle added some poetry to the narrative. His conclusion in leaving Luisa is probably right, and the decision to go back to Alison probably wrong.

Nan and Gabriel had a relationship for 4 months and then we're in love long distance by letter for 10 years? The irony is that had they been together for a decent period of time, they may have broken up. Instead they had this unrequited love that was literally the death of Cole's father. Cole's mother must have been mortified to learn that all that time she was with Gabriel he was maddly in love with another woman.

I could never understand the attraction Vik had to Helen. She is much too neurotic and controlling. When he says he thinks he got involved with her to irritate his parents, it all made sense. I don't think Helen is wrong though for not going through with the fertility treatments. She KNOWS just how hard it would be to raise a child on her own. PLUS she would be forever tied to Vik's mother who she really can't stand. I think Vik's request was very selfish. That said, I think he should break up with Helen and live his last days doing what he wants. I do worry about him operating on people though when at any moment he could pass out or have a painful attack that makes him double over. Not good.

He didn't try to initiate sex with Helen. He was going to help her with her injection needed for her fertility treatment. She shooed him off, telling him she would do it herself (because she really wasn't going to at all).

It's no secret that Cole could never stay away from Alison-Luisa was right. BUT- we know from the first episode that Alison is missing and Cole is in California, so who is caring for Joanie? Luisa? So perhaps Luisa is not auxiliary to the family functioning and perhaps she IS critical to Joanie's care and stability, thus proving her deserving of a residency. Between the four of them, it seems Luisa is the most responsible yet has the most to lose.

About the scene with Vik and Helen in the bathroom -- I don't think that was sexual. I think he wanted to give her her morning fertility injection and she was being evasive. But I do think the ambiguity, especially initially, was intentional.

I have watched The Affair on and off since its inception. I realize with clarity now, that the reason is because I find Helen, Allison and Noah insufferable. As well, the conceit of seeing the same episode, basically twice, through their eyes, with tangible things playing out differently, was often maddening. Tonight, felt completely different. Vik and Cole both had breakthrough's and infidelities, but it was fresh and riveting to watch. More like this please. Oh. And the baby was for his parents??? Ew.

Get back to Noah and Alison! The moment you move away from their energetic twists and turns the series loses its energy! NEW AGE is a crutch these days ( it worked in MADMAN for the last time closing an era!) As for Amy Irving-she played her REALlife role, more or less ha! Using tooo many writers, sorry

The ONLY thing I liked about this episode is that Cole finally admits he loves Alison and wants to end his marriage to Luisa. Cole found Nan in 5 seconds...huh?? His car engine had to still be hot. Why wasn't Noah at the art gallery 'cause that would make sense too!! As far as Vik....I just don't think he is going to die, so I was not connected....I feel like the writers plan on 'shocking' us...but they already shocked me with the whole surf board experts. The only thing missing with the CA characters was LSD & they should have been playing 'In A Gadda Da Vida" the whole time.

Where do I begin? The predictability of extra marital sex on this show is becoming old. Does anyone ever remain faithful to the one with whom they are married? Are young millennial women that free and unfettered? The purchase of the Porsche, the speeding on the coast road and the bedding of his neighbor was all so formulaic for the dying doc. In the other segment the stereotypical artist salon and the one young woman who bedded the soul-searching husband were also entirely foreseeable I find the characters on this show some of the most unlikable people in any drama on TV. Maybe that's the writer's goal. Tough to watch.

The actor who plays Cole has no depth, he seems to just be walking through his scenes, reciting his lines with no thought or emotion. On the other hand, Vik is terrific, the actor who portrays him is very deep. Perhaps a better ending to this week's episode would have been for Cole to have fallen into a shark's open mouth as he attempted a water skiing jump. Better yet, just replace him with someone who can act!

Just a few points where I don't agree with the reviewer. Sierra doesn't feel like a deep presence; she comes off as a cliche young woman who wants to seduce Vik, no matter what. I personally don't find Cole attractive, maybe because I think he's a cauldron of self pity and morose attitudes. I liked this episode for Vik's portion; the part with Cole was like every hippy dippy California woo-woo trope. Amy Irving was wonderful though, and I didn't recognize her. But, her character was annoying; she'd get along great with Helen's shrink; they could both feel things in their bodies.

Cole's chapter a complete snooze. Amy Irving's character very creepy, and Delphine a sex toy cliche- haven't we moved past this?? If Vic's neighbor ends up pregnant it's the end of THE AFFAIR for me!

Good recap and episode. I think I liked it, in part, because of the parallels between Cole's and Vic's self-realizations. Also, because they were actually doing something, taking action, to figure things out. Even if Vic was acting partly crazy (for him), both men seemed to be acting more like men, not children. I saw the scene with the emotional mother as a parallel with Vic's mom: the mother was expressing what Vic's mother is -- only in an explicit way. Perhaps Vic figured out that his own mother's anguish is just like the girl's mother's? Obviously Noel has always been the love of Helen's life; and Allison is Cole's. But I'm not sure that one can ever go back and repair what they have been through. It does seem a little too on the nose that Cole's father would kill himself after he realizes his own affair is over. And what adult does it on his son's birthday.

Sean--great recap. Would be good for Vic, Helen and all if they end their romance immediately, with suitable time for her to find a place for the kids. Of course, that's unlikely. Cole and Alison shouldn't end up together; she's not into him as he's into her. Noah and Helen won't end up back together either. "There's nothing cold as ashes / after the fire's gone," Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn once sang. Cole leaving Louisa is a positive, but chasing after Alison is not. Could Alison's later disappearance have something to do with the husband who attacked her in her office? Why was Alison drinking wine on the boat -- and letting troubled alcoholic Ben pour it for her -- in the previous episode? The show is really dense this season; fun to watch.

I don't think it's rocket science to predict where Vik's life is going. Since Helen is not cooperating in the baby-making effort, one can certainly predict that his interlude with Sierra might result in her (Sierra's) pregnancy. Or perhaps a more sustained affair with Sierra that produces a pregnancy. That would precipitate a break with Helen as well as other major complications and implications for the various story lines. great episode. Also, Vik is not as rich as I thought.

Great recap! Wonderful wonderful episode! Your description of Cole as the ‘almost unbearably handsome ...’ was beautiful and so true. His face was impossible to look away from. And Amy Irving! Wow. I was amazed when I saw her name in the credits. She was excellent. Enjoyed the whole episode (sad though) Ps I’m glad Louisa will be gone (hopefully). I found her so whiny and annoying, easily the weakest character. We aren’t supposed to like her probably.

I have dutifully have been watching this series from its beginning. Now and then comes an episode that speaks profoundly and eloquently to the complexities and nuances of human relationships. It was refreshing to finally hear the struggle of a first generation character speak his truth to the hardship of being a dutiful son while painfully aware of his pending death. The chapter with Cole in his search for himself while learning about his father "walkabout" tightly, but well told in half the episode. Cole gains a better understanding of his father, and his father's sacrifice, realizing that he does not want to make that same mistake. I also found this episode in a time where the depth of male psychology is often lacking, very appreciated.

Vik's POV -- finally -- was a welcome surprise. So he chose Helen -- a woman with kids -- partly to jab at his parents. And she appears to have chosen him to move on with her life, after Noah, although Noah may be the only person she can't live without. But Vik's nascent attempts to make choices for himself -- the trophy car and nubile neighbor -- aren't working out terribly well so far. (Sierra's response to his anguish? She tells him that her mother likes her skin. Please.) The Morro Bay segment was a nice change of pace, too, although Nan bordered on New Age Cali cliche. Still, it was moving to learn about the life that Gabriel forfeited to go back home, and how dearly it cost him. Wouldn't it be weird and somehow fitting if after all these machinations, at the very end of the series, Cole and Alison were reunited and Noah and Helen ended up back together?

This was the best episode of this series, especially Vik’s segment. In the end, this series is about how trauma shapes our future life decisions and our continued inability to transcend past sufferings. Curious to see how this will translate to the other characters and Allison ‘s developing relationship .

beautifully written review

Prediction, Vic will not die, he will find a treatment or find out it was misdiagnosed. Nobody on this show gets a free pass for their sins, he won't even be allowed to die.

But Allison has another love interest, and its an intriguing one that she will not be able to let go of, at least not before a whole lot of grief.

This week’s show reveals the one essential, unshakeable truth of this series, namely, that Allison is Cole’s one true love, his grand passion. He has paid a huge price to denying it, but at the end of the episode you see real freedom in him for the first time as he shows his true self. In a similar vein, Vik acknowledges that he has spent his life doing everything to please his parents — his mother is played as having no affect — and denying whatever his deepest, truest self needs. A strong episode.