An ‘Affair’ to forget

Showtime’s new dual-perspective drama is a pretentious slog

"The Affair” is like a Nicholas Sparks romance rendered by a moody art student. It betrays its Important Show aspirations early on in its pilot, when the unfolding drama is revealed to be the unreliable recollections of its two lead characters during a police interrogation. The reveal introduces a mystery: someone is dead, possibly murdered, and the key to the truth is wrapped up in the particulars of an illicit love affair between Noah (Dominic West) and Alison (Ruth Wilson). 

They first meet in a diner in Montauk. Alison, a waitress, serves Noah and his family, who are vacationing for the summer while Noah works on his novel. When Noah’s son chokes on his lunch, Alison assists. Noah notices her and becomes infatuated. The seeds of an affair are born.

Alison is in a lot of pain. She’s still grieving the accidental death of her son two years after the fact, and it’s putting a strain on her marriage. Her rancher husband, Cole (Joshua Jackson), is aloof and pre-occupied with his work. Alison, isolated and numb, occasionally cuts herself. 

Noah, a schoolteacher, lives in the shadow of his wealthy father-in-law (John Doman), a best-selling novelist who takes joy in criticizing Noah’s writing and reminding him of the financial help he lends the family.

The show splits its competing narratives cleanly down the middle—the first half of each episode is dedicated to Noah’s point of view, while the second half jumps to Alison’s version of the same events. The memories vary predictably, with each character casting him-or-herself as the morally conflicted Good Person fighting the brazen temptations of the unscrupulous other. 

In Alison’s version, Noah is self-centered, bored, and seeking out an affair to use as inspiration for his novel. In Noah’s version, Alison is a flaky free-spirit who all but seduces Noah with her eyes. 

In Alison’s story, Noah creepily watches from behind a tree as she and Cole have drunk sex in the driveway. On the other hand, Noah recalls the sex as borderline assault, which he watches for a moment out of shock and concern before Alison signals to him that she’s okay.

It’s a literal “He said, She said” conceit that’s alternately intriguing and cumbersome. The divergent memories are no doubt laying the foundation for the larger mystery, but the constant retread is often tedious. Four episodes in, the series is still coasting on the promise of some imminent revelation that will retroactively justify and elevate what so far feels like a pretentious melodrama cribbing from better material. This is the show’s biggest problem. “The Affair” models itself after recent pop culture touchstones—most obviously “True Detective” and “Gone Girl”—without bringing much new to the table. Co-creators Sarah Treem and Hagai Levi (“In Treatment”) are working from an original idea that seems born from a desire to win Emmys, but the writing is often broad and clichéd, and there’s little chemistry between West and Wilson, which is a big issue for a show billed as an erotic drama.  

It may still grow into itself as the mystery is teased out, but right now “The Affair” is crumbling under the weight of its own self-importance.