‘The Affair’ Season 3, Episode 2: Helen, Alison and Furkat

Years ago I temped in as officer support in a prison, and became close to a number of corrections officers. Some were cool, others were real meanies. Not one of them would I guess to stalk an ex-con.

I'm intrigued about when you mention "The guard came up again in the Alison chapter, when she finally opened one of Noah’s letters, in which he described being terrified." I seriously don't remember this part. I remember Alison opening one of the many letters from Noah and a concerned look coming over her face ... did I fall asleep for a minute there? (Though I wouldn't be surprised).

The writers made a major error in timing in Helen's chapter this week. During the scenes that were a year before Noah was releases, Helen mentions not liking someone because they voted for Trump. There was no election involving Trump a year ago - not even a primary.

I read DHH's blog that you referenced. Very sad (Mr Hwang's personal story) but also quite interesting (the application to season 3 storyline). Is Noah's stabbing the who-dunnit of this season? And here I thought "Fatty" (Helen's reference) was the obvious choice. Maybe it's Juliette? Maybe someone we haven't seen?

This episode was really depressing. I would really hate to be involved with any of these people. It is all so dirty. I would rather be celibate than sleep with that creep Dr. Vic. Helen is a mess -- just looking at her face gives me anxiety. In the meantime Noah is still Noah, ugh, with the guard hovering over him and his not seeing his children, meanwhile their children are reflections of them, each carrying out their own dysfunctional heritage. Surprisingly the only person I cared about here was Alison. When she was talking about her absence from her daughter and the reasons for it, I believed her and felt sorry for her. The rest of the bunch - meh.

Even within the framework of the Affair world, the whole premise that Noah took the rap for "murdering" Scotty is absurd. Accidental manslaughter, call the police, be done with it. Alison's inert cluelessness also absurd; I blame the writing team for giving her so little to work with. The trajectory seems to be that somehow Helen's guilt in Scotty's demise will be teased out and Noah will emerge the (imperfect) hero, if there's any justice in this little world. And please: More Furkat!

It seems like this show had enough material for one or two seasons and is now doing a third just for good measure, hence why the storylines are bordering on the absurd. Alison left her kid for six months because she feared for her safety? Seriously? Vic lives in the basement? Seriously? Noah is potentially being followed by a prison guard? Seriously? These don't feel like stories that need to be (re)told.

I also like the new Furkat character and having looked at the David Henry Hwang blog post, it has occurred to me that one reason I love this show so much (and why perhaps people complain about the characters not being entirely "real") is that there is often a generous element of satire. Or is that obvious? I don't know if anyone has mentioned it before -- forgive me if I have forgotten. In one of my many jobs, I met a woman who had been married to a marginal artist like Furkat -- and he was also big and glib and very mean and making a good living on nothing much and they lived in exactly the same type of building. Last season the writers took some accurate potshots at publishing where I also worked for awhile. Yes, I think we like the characters and are interested in them (as we are in most soap operas) but there is also a lot more going on -- for example, the portrait of the rich in Montauk -- and the mix is fun but also perhaps frustrating if you really want to care about Allison and Noah and Helen and make complete sense of the plot.

Why is it that a series that begins as an exploration of complex relationships must devolve into violence? The writers clearly run out of steam. There is a reason why books have a beginning, middle and end, ie a plot. When will networks simply commission 10- or even 24-episode series so that viewers are not left with increasingly convoluted, ridiculous and violent story lines?

An interesting episode to let what the writers and actors present flow without trying to remake the writing, characters and actors into something else. As to Professor French, she is played by Irene Jacob, a very accomplished actress. It would be interesting to see more of her, especially her scenes with Noah from her recollection as opposed to his.

Alison's reason for abandoning her daughter is trotted out in the best film noirish way. It happened, live with it. A writers weak excuse to move the story along. It leaves us with several choices to make about Alison. 1. She is seriously more mentally ill than we have seen so far, and masked it beautifully. 2. She is showing us a moral vacuum that didn't exist before either. Only in fiction can they remake a character and explain it away so lamely. Poor Noah gets to be the "agreed to" patsy for his two women, and neither one of them seem to honor him for that. Now he's stuck as an angry English Lit teacher projecting his rage onto a shallow pretentious student and being pursued by a French woman who insists on starting her sentences with a french expression, and he doesn't call her on it. And Brendan Fraser as the ghoulish stereotype of a sociopathic guard? Do I hear a shark jumping?

Am I the only Cole diehard? I absolutely love him. Definitely the most soulful character of the bunch, which i guess is maybe not saying much but I love his acting.

I like Furkat. He was in on the joke. He knows he is no good for Whitney. Maybe we can hope for a Furkat/Helen hookup. Maybe then Helen will smile.

Well, as I've stated in previous posts; Ruth Wilson is a tremendous actress... But she's got her work cut out with Alison, clearly. The impeding sense of doom and gloom that seems to cloak her is making the character almost unwatchable. Her opening appearance in season three has to be the most gloomy and dispiriting version of her yet, and that's saying something! Not to mention her decision making and continuing lack of common sense makes it pretty hard to empathize with her, on anything. I think the writers are close to jumping the shark with Alison... Helen - as others have pointed out - continues to hold things together, and is as watchable as ever. What made up the rest of this episode (Vic, Whitney and Furkat) floated past me like a piece of cardboard if I'm honest. But hey we're only two episodes in, and the only way is up!! *crosses fingers*

No wonder Trump says things like '...grab her by the wherever...' It was indeed a funny scene in the cab with Helen, Vic and the large photograph they took home from their visit with Whitney and Furkat. But that was a photo of a vulva, not a vagina. Get it right, please.

I'm a fan of the acerbic, irreverent vik, mostly b/c he is played by omar metwally, whom I have loved from afar since he appeared in "rendition," but also b/c he doesn't seem to nurse a hidden agenda. hiding the "lunch" was, well, unfortunate, but otherwise, he is who he is: a little neurotic, a little alcoholic, and savagely erotic. in an episode from last season when noah learned from his erstwhile best friend that the friend was trying to move in on Helen, noah noted that helen was "crazy about" a handsome doctor she was seeing. I wonder if she was, or if she was just smoothing over her loneliness after so many years of being married, or if noah read it wrong in his misplaced jealousy. regardless, I want to see more dr ullah.

Loved the scene with Helen, Vik, Whitney and the loathsome Furkat. Furkat was over-the-top obnoxious. Loads of fun.

There's always something to like on this show, even when I'm hate-watching.

Great acting by Dominic West in the visitation scene. We've never seen him so cold and clearly he's done with Helen. I'm praying the show hasn't jumped the shark with the stabbing.

It's shocking to see how little remorse Helen shows for what she has done. I can't tell if what I'm seeing is Maura's weird acting or if Helen was actually written that way.

Allison's breakdown was a surprise, though it shouldn't have been. I was so grateful for Oscar, as disgusting as he is, and that Cole caved in the end.

I keep watching hoping for a few things. One, that it will start to make sense, and give me some chronology. Two, that I start to like it. I want to, but haven't yet, and feel compelled to watch this mess. Three, that Alison and Helen have surgery to correct their duck lips.

I'm pretty sure I'm not dumb, but the show has gotten very difficult to follow. I can always follow what's happening at the time, but its getting difficult to place everything in the context of what has already happened, particularly with all the time-jumping. Its like, the Lobster Roll, oh yeah, who owns that? Alison and Cole invested in it? When was that? Does it matter? And then Alison runs into that Oscar guy. Who was he? He was a creep, right? I like complex, I don't like loose and all over the place.

The show seems to keep changing. First season was a human drama about the affair. Then it became a murder mystery. Now its who knows what? A prison show?

At the end of last season, Allison had a shorter bobbed Mom haircut, didn't she, and looked put together and mature. Now she's back to looking younger than her age and pitiful. Even though I'm sure Joanie's birthday could be a trigger, I found it hard to imagine she'd lost so much control that she couldn't let even Cole know where she was. Absurd.
Also, why should Helen be selling real estate? Didn't she own a shop and have a rich father?
Although I enjoyed the recap, I do not believe the photo was of a "vagina." Women's parts are always being mislabeled.

Whether or not Noah was actually stabbed was revealed in last week's coming attraction/teaser. It showed Noah in ambulance, in a hospital, and being questioned by police. That's a long way to go for "dream sequence".

Hi Mike, thanks for another great recap, probably the best on the web. I think I actually enjoy your recaps more than the show itself which tells you something.

This is now the third year that I have to wonder what exactly it is I see in this show that keeps me coming back for more. I can only assume that it must be some kind of craziness on my part because really, there is not one character that i don't dislike and I find the story line to often be incomprehensible. That being said, it is probably for the same reasons that people will watch a train wreck or bad auto accident.

I still can't believe that Noah was so guilt ridden that he took the fall for Helen but what has always gotten me is why the hell he would ever give up the magnificent Helen, the woman who gave him everything including his four children, for a psycho like Allison who had nothing to offer other than some more steamy sex. It's not like Noah seems to have any trouble in that department.

I am having a hard time feeling sorry for Noah, even as I look at that awful photo of him in prison that came with your review. He really did bring all this on himself because he couldn't keep it in his pants once in awhile. And of all people to get involved with but flaky, needy Allison- this guy was just asking for it. Sorry, but I can't find even one redeeming feature in her that would justify all the trouble she causes for everyone.

I look forward to reading the next recap.

I suppose I'm in the minority. I loath Helen. Alison is the victim in this show.

Just curious about the reference to Helen as controlling? I haven't perceived her that way - she's many things but that isn't an adjective i would use for her. Could it be because I'm controlling??

You write that "she spied on Joanie, her daughter, being picked up by Cole, her ex-husband and Joanie’s presumptive father." Cole is definitely Joanie's father. Last season, Helen picked up a pacifier that had fallen from Joanie's mouth and gave it to her lawyer, who tested it for traces of DNA. Result: Joanie's a Lockhart.

Hi, Mike. Deja vu all over again with both women, though to a lesser extent with Helen, whose boldness is more overt than it was before. Now, we see our favorite heiress in a crass turn as smarmy realtor lying to a hopelessly naive millennial couple. Even though I lost patience with the scene, I rather liked the moral ambiguity and defiance in Helen. She's adept at lying to Noah and to Vik, but plays the victim at the dinner with Whitney. I liked that scene too: Whitney emerges as a chip off the old block. To Alison: sigh. How she manages to pull down Montauk village with one quiver of her upper lip, I'll never know. Best lines: tossup between Luisa's "deeply wrong with you" and Oscar's "All you need is a good lawyer." Or maybe "Orange juice for me." Little old me, shucks.