Synopsis: The disappearance of Whitney spurs Helen to scrutinize Noah and his relationship with Alison and her family. Cole searches for answers at Lockhart Ranch. Meanwhile, Detective Jeffries makes significant progress on his case.
Rating: 7/10 (B-)
So… If you’re hoping for some answers in the season finale, you’re best advised to discard those expectations to spare yourself from experiencing the same frustration I went through after watching it. It didn’t feel like a finale at all, very little was resolved and just when the story starts to pick up, the screen goes blank and the credits roll in.
Rather than building on the momentum from last week’s ending, The Affair decides to have another timejump of four months. Watching Noah’s new life after his seperation with Helen is perhaps the most bizarre aspect of the episode. I felt like I was involuntarily watching the beginning montage of a rom-com, introducing us to the womanizing lead character who sleeps with every woman he lays his eyes on. But it is the consequences of Noah’s frantic and reckless behavior that serve as an incentive for him to write his new book “Descent”.
Alison's life also looks vastly different as she spends the four months with Athena and she seems to have mended her rocky relationship with her and considering how broken it was, I quite frankly find it disappointing that we don't get to see how or why it happened; They had such an intriguing dynamic and to have it turned completely upside down without an explanation is dissatisfying.
But eventually, they are both sucked back into their old lives as Whitney (who, by the way, isn't pregnant anymore) ambushes the Lockhart's at their home to warn them her parents might sue Scott for statutory rape. Once Helen and Noah arrive, the situation escalates in two different ways in each perspective. If you wanted to see more of Joshua Jackson, you can look forward to him appearing for more than a brief scene. I really wish they would have made more of an effort to flesh out Cole more. I hope we get to see more of him in Season 2.
You can also expect to see more than short glimpses of the present timeline. Like the synopsis suggests, the detective will make progress in his investigation with the help of a person who met Noah during his first visit in Montauk and he'll even make an arrest at the end of the episode.
This season finale doesn’t bother to give us answers or a sense of resolution, instead it treads the opposite direction: It opens up even more cans of worms and reveals more than it resolves. I really, really need the question of why there are still two perspectives answered, because at this point we are not seeing two different versions of the same story, we are seeing two completely different events all together.
