"Paul Levinson's It's Real Life is a page-turning exploration into that multiverse known as rock and roll. But it is much more than a marvelous adventure narrated by a master storyteller...it is also an exquisite meditation on the very nature of alternate history." -- Jack Dann, The Fiction Writer's Guide to Alternate History

Sunday, December 20, 2015

The Affair Season 2 Finale: No One's Fault

A stunningly good finale to season 2 of The Affair on Showtime tonight, in which we finally find out who killed Scotty and--  [big spoilers ahead]

Like in an Agatha Christie novel - such as Murder on the Orient Express - it turns out that Scotty died from more than one hand.  But unlike in Agatha Christie, none of perpetrators intended to hurt Scotty, and his death was really none of their faults.

Alison pushes Scotty out into the road, where he's hit by the car.  But she's doing this to fight Scotty off, as he's trying have unconsensual sex with her, i.e., rape her.

Helen, drunk, is the driver.  But she didn't want to be driving in that condition - she was driving only because Noah, also drunk, gave her no choice.  And even if she had been cold sober, there was no likely way she could have swerved out of the way and not hit Scotty, given that he was pushed right in front of the car.

We finally learn the meaning of what Noah has been seeing in his dreams or visions all season: he was been seeing Alison on the road, because he in fact saw her there on that fateful evening.

Noah's character is also handled exceedingly well.  For most of the season and most of tonight, he was a selfish, not very sympathetic character.  But in the last scene, forced to choose between Helen the mother of  his children and Alison not the mother of his daughter but someone he nonetheless truly loves, he chooses to save them both, and confess to a crime he didn't commit.

Earlier, in his 30-minute story, he's furious at Alison about her sleeping with Cole, the height of hypocrisy, given that he twice was on the verge of sleeping with his pretty publicist - and didn't only because she pulled back the first time and Noah encountered his daughter the second time.

But you couldn't ask for a better redemption than we saw at the end tonight, and I'm looking forward to season 3 next year, in this drama that is unique on television.

PS - One final point: Scotty deserves a big round applause for his rendition of "House of the Rising Sun," a powerful swan song for his character.




podcast review of every 2nd season episode


podcast review of every 1st season episode



the Sierra Waters time-travel trilogy

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