It’s the age-old story of boy meets girl, till someone dies.
The Affair, running on FX TV, is an account of the raw dark reality of an extra-marital affair, away from the theatrics and drama of a love that triumphs it all.
While their families are ripped apart, Alison and Noah narrate the story of the summer they met and fell in love in gorgeous Montauk, New York. Alison, damaged from a personal tragedy, is looking for escape, and Noah, a failed writer, teacher and father of four who is reluctantly spending the summer with his rich parents-in-law needs a distraction.
The highlight of the show though is its format. A Rashomon-like recounting of a tale in which nothing is true, yet everything is equally believable.
The Affair alternates between the points of view of its unreliable characters, giving the audience an uncomfortable glimpse into the inner workings of a person’s mind. As the story is told and retold, the narratives differing sometimes in slight detail, and on other occasions in major plot twists, we get to see how the way a person looks back at incidents, situations and even memories is clouded by their opinion of the self, the world and the need to absolve oneself of any guilt or regret.
The actors are impeccable in their multiple portrayals of same character. Noah can be an understanding husband or an aggressive selfish cheat, and Alison can go from being a nervous depressed woman to a sensual seductress, all within a single episode.
The Affair is the story of an affair in its most intense, psychologically-taxing, emotionally draining, inglorious reality.
And did we mention there’s a murder in here?