"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, November 3, 2019

The Affair Finale: Saving the Very Best for Last



Finales of significant and great series come in on all kinds of levels.  The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, Star Trek: The Next Generation in their own very different ways came in the very best (see my PBS interview about this a few years ago).  I'd say The Affair came in tonight in that very lofty company.

It was a heart-warming, healing, beautifully and sadly appropriate ending to a brilliant, disturbing, unique, and refreshing series.  Noah and Helen in bed together, with all four of their children sitting on a bench outside of the motel room.  Just perfect.   Joanie finally growing into herself and going home to her husband and kids.   Noah on the cliff overlooking the water and dancing at the end, both of the finale and of his own life.  A Noah wiser than he'd ever been.

Those were the big things, pure gold, and there were more of them.  But there also were little things.  Bruce coming through for Whitney, even though his brain is faltering.  The fact that Helen and her mother died the very same year (poor Helen couldn't get rid of her). The dance that the kids and Whitney's new husband and Sierra and even Helen's mother did - no, that was not a little thing.  That was a big thing, and wonderful.

But I was sad that Noah at the end has lost Helen, in a way that can't be repaired.  Sad and glad that he can at least talk to her at her grave, and read to her from their daughter Stacey's book.  Life and love and talent can endure through generations.  That's a great parting thought, and I'm glad Noah was still alive to convey it to us.

What an Emmy-worth performance by Dominic West, and by Maura Tierney as Helen, too.  They both deserves the very highest accolades for their work in this series, as do the creators Hagai Levi and Sarah Treem.   The Affair was before the finale one of my favorite series ever on television.  The finale makes it even more so.



And see also The Affair 3.1: Sneak Preview Review ... The Affair 3.2: Sneak Preview Review: Right Minds ... The Affair 3.3: Who Attached Noah? ... The Affair 3.4: The Same Endings in Montauk ... The Affair 3.5: Blocked Love ... The Affair 3.6: The Wound ... The Affair 3.7: The White Shirt ... The Affair 3.8: The "Miserable Hero" ... The Affair 3.9: A Sliver of Clarity ... The Affair 3.10: Taking Paris

And see also The Affair 2.1: Advances ... The Affair 2.2: Loving a Writer ... The Affair 2.3: The Half-Wolf ... The Affair 2.4: Helen at Distraction ... The Affair 2.5: Golden Cole ... The Affair 2.6: The End (of Noah's Novel) ... The Affair 2.7: Stunner ... The Affair 2.8: The Reading, the Review, the Prize ...The Affair 2.9: Nameless Hurricane ... The Affair 2.10: Meets In Treatment ... The Affair 2.11: Alison and Cole in Business ... The Affair Season 2 Finale: No One's Fault


 

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