‘The Affair’ On Showtime: Sex, Adultery, Murder And Good Storytelling

As of this writing, Showtime has the first full episode of their exquisite ‘The Affair’ online to watch for viewers who need to catch up to the perfection of the Showtime vehicle. I’ve got a feeling that’ll be a lot of viewers who aren’t as obsessed as some of us already are with ‘The Affair,’ having our DVRs set to catch the Showtime offering every Sunday night at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

When I first saw ads online or snippets on TV of Showtime’s ‘The Affair,’ I thought it was a one-time feature-length movie deal. But once I caught the first episode on Showtime, I was as hooked on ‘The Affair’ as people like Wall Street Journal writer Scott Neumyer, whose ‘The Affair’ Recap: 4 is as detailed as all get out, clearing up the confusion over the fact that I erroneously – like plenty others – thought central characters and affair partners Noah and Alison first had sex on the beach.

Alas, the affair partners in crime only sexually consummated their adultery during a daytrip to Block Island. But let me back up and start with the reasons why folks are falling in love with ‘The Affair’ and hoping Showtime has an Emmy-winner on their hands.

‘The Affair’ shows the varying viewpoints of different participants, especially when a murder is involved

You know what I like best about ‘The Affair’ and its brilliant treatment by the Showtime storytellers? The fact that we get to see how different Noah’s version of events stands next to Alison’s paradigm. Whenever I’d wonder why Alison was acting so flirty and tempting poor Noah to join her in the shower the first night he accompanied her home, I remembered that I was watching Noah’s version of events.

Isn’t that just like us humans to paint ourselves in the best light of day, especially after some tragedy occurs and people’s livelihoods are on the line? That writing rings so true, as true as the Synoptic Gospels – wherein the viewpoints of Matthew, Mark and Luke are viewed from the lens of people experiencing the same events all from their own points of view. If they were to line up exactly, historians would be more apt to call foul, but since they vary as much as direct eye witness reports in modern day, that’s a sign that they are true.

Such is the case with Noah and Alison, a couple that indulges in an adulterous affair even though Alison already has plenty of sex with her own husband, Cole, and Noah gets his fair share of sex with his wife Helen, played by Maura Tierney. Cracks appear as Alison bears her soul to Noah, telling him about the drowning death of her son Gabriel – and Noah has his own concerns dealing with Helen’s wealthy family and his writing career, which is only coming to life now that he borrows heavily from his real life affair to come up with a rough draft of chapter one for a novel wherein a married man kills the woman with whom he’s having an affair.

Turns out Noah shouldn’t have introduced death into this novel’s theme, because that’s exactly the murder that’s at the center of the questioning by Detective Jeffries, played by Victor Williams – a guy who’s been a man crush of mine since his The King of Queens days.

Either way, ‘The Affair’ is brilliant, and Showtime surely has a winner with this offering that has hit a homerun and blessedly filled the space left by comparable shows like Mad Men.

[Image credit: The Affair on Showtime]