Showtime’s emotionally raw series The Affair entered the TV landscape last year with an interesting premise (episodes split between a man and a woman’s vastly different perspectives on the same events), and found a lot of truth in its portrayal of the devastation of infidelity. The time spent on its murder plot, however -- which I forgot was a part of the show most weeks -- was less successful.

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Image via Showtime

For the uninitiated, Season 1 essentially dealt with two marriages that fell apart and reformed. Noah (Dominic West) and Helen (Maura Tierney) and their kids took a vacation in Montauk, where Noah happened to meet Alison (Ruth Wilson), who was struggling in her marriage to Cole (Joshua Jackson) after the loss of their son. The two formed a strong and immediate connection, and then struggled through trying to keep away from each other while also being unshakable drawn together. Oh, and someone kills Cole’s brother Scotty (Colin Donnell) at some point, but honestly nobody cares about that.


The Affair distinguished itself as a gorgeously-filmed and well-acted series that asked some tough questions about love and relationships, and what you owe to other people and to yourself. Some of the series’ most devastating moments were conversations between the couples about the way love changes, and whether these new feelings and this relationship adds up to more than just a summertime romp.

Season 1 then ended with a big time jump that showed what happens with Noah and Alison in the future, but from this new trailer it looks like things won’t be starting from there — they’ll be back to where we left them before, with the marriages breaking up and the difficult reality of that. Check out the new trailer for yourself (with the pretty perfect soundtrack of “Walls” by Stars):

As much as I enjoyed Season 1, I’m not sure I’m necessarily looking forward to delving back too deeply again into the arguments and incredible sadness among these four people (and others, like Cole’s conflicted family). And I still don’t care who killed Scotty. Although, according to a press release, the new season will expand those points-of-view stories to include 4 characters, which could be interesting. It also appears the crime will actually prove to have some relevance among the affair plot. Plus, the show looks as gorgeous and complicated as ever so for that (and for a love of Ruth Wilson) of course, I’m in.


The Affair returns this Fall on Showtime

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