Showtime > HBO…Showtime > HBO. I won’t say it again but really Showtime over HBO!! Last night was the season finale of The Affair it was a brilliant ending to a complicated and hectic two seasons. (Haven’t watched the Homeland finale yet but I’m sure it’s just as amazing) I don’t want to recap the entire episode, I want to go through all the WTF – moments the finale had to offer so let’s get into it.
The episode started off with Noah’s point of view and he’s back in Montauk for Cole’s wedding. Which let me just say here, the fact that Noah/Helen/Margaret even showed up to Cole’s wedding seems very unbelievable. Okay so Alison owns the Lobster Roll but still she didn’t really need to be there. And okay Margaret did pay for the wedding, but did Helen really need to drive out from the city, leave her children to attend this random guy’s wedding? No. But I love you The Affair and you make me want to ignore all logical reasoning.
WTF-moment #1
(theses are in sequence of the episode)
In Noah’s point of view Alison tells Noah (during Cole’s wedding but away from everyone) that he’s not Joanie’s father, well he might be, but it also might be Cole’s kid. Noah doesn’t take this lightly, and tells Alison he ‘never wants to see her again’.
WTF-moment #2
Now we’re at the halfway point of the wedding and things are getting a little f***** up. Noah and Helen ditch the party and head to the beach to drink more. Helen is turnt up and decides to take off her clothes and run into the water (yay wild hippie Helen), Noah follows her out into the water (also this show loves water and anytime we see water something drastic happens). Noah and Helen return to the party but neither one wants to go back inside. They are obviously way too drunk to drive but that’s what they decide. Noah insists Helen drive but she can’t, and reminds him she already has a DUI. Noah drives, and they’re on the windy road that keeps appearing in Noah’s visions. It’s a foggy night and he starts to trip out, seeing Alison on the side of the road in the fog. He pulls over and tells Helen he’s too messed up to drive.
I have to say I love this scene, or this shot in particular of the front of the car, fog all around, and all you see are their two bodies switching positions. This is the shift point in what really goes down that night, it was so spooky. Helen starts to drive the car, and Noah holds her hand and she looks at him for way too long as they have a moment. Their moment is cut off when Helen hits something, like really hits something. She keeps driving but Noah insists she pull over because it definitely wasn’t a deer. Helen’s all like spaced out and insisting it was just a deer. Noah gets out of the car and runs back to find Scott dead and bloody on the road. You can hear screaming from Helen from inside the car, Noah is freaking out, and then he awkwardly looks into the bushes on the side of the road, as if he sees something. Runs back to the car, obviously they switch seats again. Noah drops Helen off at her moms and then goes to wash the blood off the car. So that’s it right? This entire time we were blaming Noah, Whitney, but Helen? No wonder she insisted on paying his legal fees.
WTF– moment #3
Now we’re in Alison’s perspective. There is a whole lot that is different in her perspective, starting off with what she’s wearing, what her apartment looks like. But the biggest difference is how she tells Noah that Joanie isn’t his daughter. In the middle of the wedding, Scott shows up, sober. Everyone is praising him for going to rehab. He approaches Alison and tells her he’s ready to help out with the Lobster Roll and it’s been his only source of hope while he’s been away. She’s all like what are you talking about you’re not working here. And then Cole comes along and tells Scott he’s definitely not going to be involved until he really kicks his drinking habit, not just a 3 month thing. A few minutes later Scott corners Alison and reminds her that he knows the baby is Cole’s but he won’t tell anyone if she helps him. Blackmail at its finest. It’s here where we see Oscar overhearing their conversation. Also who invited him!? This guest list seems way too open. So Scott freaks out and decides to get up on stage and sing ‘House of the Rising Sun’ and Alison is super worried at this point. So it’s here where she almost whispers to Noah that Joanie isn’t his daughter, and all we see is an extreme close up of Alison’s face. You don’t really know if Noah hears her, but you do see his hand drop from her shoulder once she says it. Ugh it was such a beautiful scene. But WTF? Did he hear her? I’m assuming he did, because he knew in the end.
WTF-moment #4
What really happened. Alison decides to leave the party for a little while, where was she even going? Also is there only one damn road in this town? She starts walking on that same foggy windy road, (so obviously Noah wasn’t dreaming, he really did see Alison walking) Alison gets to the little row boat that’s the sign for The End hotel. She sees Scotty lying in it, drinking more. But, how did he get there so fast? Wasn’t he singing a few minutes ago? I guess timelines don’t really matter at this point, it is the end after all. So Scott pretty much attacks Alison, he’s basically about to rape her when she pushes him into the road and that’s when Helen hits him, dead on. Alison runs into the bushes while she watches Noah run out of the car to see Scott’s body. But then something really weird happens. Noah sees Alison hiding in the bushes. They fully see each other and stare for quite a few seconds, until Alison starts whispering ‘I pushed him, I pushed him’ What’s with her this episode? She keeps whispering everything!! Noah runs back to the car and drives off.
WTF-moment #5
After all is said and done, I don’t think it woud’ve made sense if Noah was the killer. It was just too obvious and the fact that he was already on trial didn’t seem like the greatest bombshell plot twist. But the writers did give us an ending that we can believe, and that is truly a plot twist. What is there wasn’t just one killer? Noah is in love with two women, both of whom essentially killed Scott Lockhart. Did Helen hit him with her car? Or did Alison push Scott into the road leaving Helen no chance to stop in time? It’s an ending to this two season story that is so two sided you really don’t know how to feel. You really don’t want Helen to pay for it, and you don’t want Alison to go down for it, because really whose fault is it anyways? Is it Noah’s for even merging all these people together, maybe if it wasn’t for him there would’ve been no wedding for Alison to walk away from, there would be Noah back in Montauk, etc etc. But here we are, at the end, and Noah needs to make a decision in his trial, whether or not to put Alison in a pickle. His lawyer is advising him to throw some heat at Alison (that annoying detective found the rock with her name and table number on it). Alison begs Noah not to say anything, she thinks the jury will ruin her, and he tells her he needs to protect Helen because she is the mother of his children. Inside the courtroom, Noah’s lawyer presents the court with a new witness. But right at that moment Noah gets up and tells the court he’s guilty, and that he did it. And then he awkwardly looks back at Alison like I’m saving you, did nobody else in the courtroom see that?? Also where was Helen! She wasn’t even there, maybe she ends up on the west coast after all. But wow what an ending. Personally, I think he did the right thing, if there is a ‘right’ choice in this story. But I don’t think I would’ve wanted to see anyone else go down for it.
What did you guys think of the finale? How will this shape season three? Can we move on from this murder mystery to bigger plot lines?
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