The Affair (Season 1)

[Mara]

I'm not sure how I feel about this show as a whole.

But Maura Tierney is killing it. Cuttie nom from me for sure.

[EyesWideOpen]

Even though they continue to be some of the worst people at having an affair and keeping it a secret (I'm not a woman but how do you leave your bra and not notice?) I'm still loving this show.

[Melville]

I'm a fan. The believable emotions at its core help anchor it when it feels like it might go adrift in ostentatiously literary writing. The Leftovers had a few great episodes, but the depiction of grief in this is so much better, and it's one of my favorite aspects of the series. It feels raw and palpable. I also much prefer this series' nuanced treatment of man's-reaction-to-feeling-emasculated to Breaking Bad's.

[Mara]

Side note: I have always found secondary drowning terrifying, and this show hasn't helped.

[Benny Profane]

This last episode gets an A+. Some seriously great writing and acting and direction.

[number8]

I don't think the series has successfully justified being 10 episodes. It probably would be even stronger pared down to 6. Still, the craft of it is just terrific. Incredibly believable decisions, the mystery is genuinely intriguing. It may end up being really obvious, but that just adds to the believability of the whole thing. I've stopped caring about Wilson's spotty accent, because she's just too good at everything else. I'm pretty damn anxious to see the finale.

[number8]

Just watched the finale.

The following doesn't actually spoil anything that happens in the episode but just in case you don't want to know anything about the it: [

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I knew the show got a second season, but I didn't know they're going to continue with the same mystery. It's disappointing to see them choose not to wrap up the story and end it like that. This really isn't the type of story you prolong.

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The two timelines continue to be an intriguing device, though. You can really see the root of the differences by positioning them with each character's defensiveness.

[Melville]

Disappointing ending. There's no reason this story should have continued into a second season. It would have been much better if they'd ditched the murder-mystery aspect and tightened the plotting (by eliminating the drug subplot and reducing the number of "they're together, now they're not together" cycles, for example). The mystery always felt like a digression from the interesting character work. Even when it was more a "who has ended up with whom/who's the father of Alison's second kid?" guessing game rather than a "what's this murder all about?" one, it felt gimmicky and contrived, and it distracted from the real drama. [

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Most of the storyline in this episode felt like a very melodramatic way of prolonging the mystery. Since Alison and Noah end up together anyway, the dramatic moment at the train station, the montage of his bachelor lifestyle, and her yoga retreat feel unnecessary. Why not just have them get together in the previous episode in a less histrionic way?

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[Mara]

I personally don't think the show lived up to its promise. It started as a thoughtful character study and ended up gimmicky, sudsy, and repetitious. I will probably not be checking in with the second season. It's not horrible, but I'm not sure it's worth my time.