The Affair -- new show on Showtime

I see the fifth and final season starts on the 25th of this month. I was really into this show in season 1, it's unique concept for tv, the writing, the acting.. Who's still watching ? The show became more soapy in season 2, think universally 3 was a bust and 4 was overall a return to form . It was extremely sad to see Alison's end , do you think there will be a resolution to that ? Her acting was so on point for those scenes. This show probably could of wrapped up in season 3, if they had focused on their main characters then .
Either way it's been an interesting show with strong performances.

 

I really thought last season was it. I was surprised to see the promo for this upcoming season. It just seems unnecessary.
I doubt if I’ll be watching.

 

That's true last season ended in such a way that could of been it. Same was true of season 3, although that would of been more unsatisfactory in a sense given all that went on that season , principal characters largely ignored.
For this one I'd like to see how they tie it up with Ben and his culpability in Alison's death, if they do. Otherwise I don't think much else was left unresolved ? Noah and Helen probably should move on from one another , Cole and Luisa , who cares, or was that finished , don't recall..
Looks like 11 episodes but probably could be half that . I see Whitney in the trailer, oh boy, way too much.. The kids were always a weak point in this show .

 

Didn't see anyone mentioning the scene where Cole ran with the urn, some said on line it was unintentionally funny.I didn't think it fit, but I liked his scenes by the grave, good work by Jackson.

 

show's totally out of gas, but the strong acting (young next door neighbor not included) made it somewhat compelling. i'll ride it out.

 

anna paquin joins the show in august for its final season.

 

How does this show go on without Alison? I may peek in but honestly not expecting much. They should have ended it last season IMO.

 

Saw a promo and it looks like Paquin's playing Allison's grown up daughter(?). Odd choice if I'm right. And there were so many cuts to Alison during the promo it left me wondering whether they brought Wilson back! I left the show awhile ago but I'll admit to being curious so I'll be checking out the 1st episode.

 

It does seem odd when a main character on a show isn't in it anymore & the show continues.
The seasons' that Ruth Wilson's character, Alice, in Luther was absent, weren't as good, either.

Just watched the trailer & it actually looks like Season 5 may be a very good conclusion, even w/central characters missing.
Including it in spoiler/below. Viewing it didn't ruin it for me, but just in case anyone else wants to see & others' don't.

Spoiler

 

Is Joshua Jackson going to be in this season ? If not that wouldn't be right they just dropped his character.
Some thoughts on tonight's first episode :
I'm not sure if it's just been on too long, the wait for this last season or me but this was not good IMO. I'm not crazy about the time jump and Paquin as Joanie. I couldn't care less about Sierra having the baby, way too contrived to begin with . I'm also tired of the kids giving Noah the cold shoulder and Helen still blaming him.
If it continues like this I don't see how they are going to fill a full season in an interesting way but came this far I'll tune in ..
How about you ??

 

Sseason 5, Episode 1. No Spoils, nor story description. Opinion on, I guess it might be called the "storyboard" w/Season 5, & the show, in general.
Remember, the central part of how each episode played out was in parts, from each character's point of view. It was Helen, Noah, Allison, Cole. Those 4 mainstays aren't a part of the show, now, so probably why the time-jump...for that feel. Time jumps are used in shows, but, in this case, I think if I hadn't read about this before viewing Season 5, Episode 1, I would've been baffled what was going on. I'm in it, though...feel compelled to see it through + I thought the sneak peaks/upcoming season look VG++. (Season 3 was the stinker, IMO & that's even being a Brendan Fraser fan, but that was "out there" as far as story-line/linking to pre-existing series.)

 

yeah, what a weak & tired show. i'm trying to follow it through until the end but after that premier i really don't know if i'll be able to.

 

One of my sister- in-laws just started watching and she's really in to it, just finished season 2.
I remember those days,(particularly in season 1) curious to see what she says about 3

 

episode one was not very good at all. the whole funeral thing could have been done in about 5 minutes.\

i think the writers are spent.

i am not expecting very much at all.

 

Ironic how you said funeral could of been handled in few minutes and it has yet more time in episode 2!
Besides that half of it dedicated to not even a secondary character in Janelle !!
If they somehow wrap it up in a satisfying way in final episode that will be quite the surprise.

 

yep, episode 2 was definitely a lot worse than episode 1.

2 shows in and no cole, WTF?

this has become maura tierney's vehicle, like it or not.

 

Agree. Seems they forget some of Helen's history, she can be selfish and she wasn't really in love w/Vik for majority of the time . They are making too much of his death IMO.
Hope that episode closed book on him, let her get new surroundings, (new living space).
Too bad they didn't advance her storyline a bit more in to future. I also hope we've seen last of Trevor and his snotty attitude. Clear up kids' issues w/ their Dad already.
That scene with the woman playing Helen was very bad acting, miscast even in her overall look.
The worst part to me is Paquin, unappealing actress to me, and who wants to see grown up Joanie or their idea of future. It's way to write in climate change probably.
I want to have one good thing to say but not so far , want to see Cole, too.

 

Umm, you’re gonna go 11 shows in and still have no Cole. He quit after last season...

 

why is he still in the credits?

 

Maybe he’ll be in one ep or something?
The Affair Final Season Sarah Treem Interview, No Joshua Jackson – Deadline

DEADLINE: The show’s format relied on stories told from the perspectives of the four main characters. You started Season Five without two of them. What can you say about the exit of Joshua Jackson, who was last seen running away with Alison’s ashes, and then finally driving away with daughter Joanie asking questions about her dead mother that he couldn’t answer?
TREEM: We love Josh, he’s amazing. His contract was only ever for three years. That’s the time he agreed to give us, at the beginning of the process. Then I pitched him the fourth year and he liked it and signed on. But he was pretty clear that was going to be his last year. He has a lot of stuff he wants to do; he’s at the peak of his career and he’s incredibly talented. And he’s in demand. I don’t want to speak for him, but I think he felt satisfied after the fourth season. And felt he had done some great work and had gotten to play a bunch of stuff and I don’t know that he felt that he had anything else to give to the character. But you should talk to him, I don’t want to speak for him about that, but that was the sense I got. He had done what he wanted to do with the character. Obviously, I love and miss him but he’s doing other incredible things.

 

Thanks for that. Well maybe he shot some flashbacks or something but I guess his story arc was wrapped up for most part.
Too bad two of the main characters are not even part of last season.

 

Showtime seems to have a problem with shows losing steam after running awhile. So many of their shows would work so much better as a single, self contained miniseries. Masters of Sex is a great example. Fantastic 1st season, 2nd season had some fine moments but season’s 3 & 4 were atrocious (“lost the plot”) and actually took down the reputation of the first couple seasons with them.

I was honestly shocked when I heard The Affair got a second season. The premise by itself seemed perfect for a short run series to cover, but it appears they’ve decided to end it at Season 5 which seems like overkill.

 

Agreed.

I usually ride these things out to the bitter end...Weeds, Dexter, et al., but Masters really lost me halfway through season 3, and I only caught bits and pieces of 4.

I thought The Affair ended season 4 well, with Noah & Helen sort of patching things up and coming to understand each other in the wake of Alison's death and Vik's dying. But it looks like 10 minutes of every show will be devoted to "Joanie In Futuristic Climate Change Hell," which is baffling.

Meanwhile, I still miss The Knick and Banshee.

 

No kidding. That first season of Masters was superb. But when they did their "time jump" (start of S3??), it took a startling nosedive in quality.

 

The wife and I were watched this show up until the end of season 3 or so... we just fell off because it seemed to veer into those forced-drama plot lines that usually come along with soap operas... In addition, it seemed like the characters were "complete" in terms of development and just running in circles with the same behavior cast in different situations. We lost interest...

Well, we saw that ep 1 of Season 5 premiered, so we decided to check back in...

Man oh man, we couldn't handle it... A certain cheesiness has really taken over the writing... the actors seemed a bit confused and there was nothing engrossing about the story or the characters... it did comes across as that "grasping at straws" technique for plot development.

Surely, opinions may differ on this, and I'm not trying to cheaply lambaste anyone's favorite show or such -- but, man, we just thought this show took a full-on nosedive.