Showtime’s The Affair begins on a summer morning in Manhattan, as teacher and first-time novelist Noah Solloway (Dominic West), his wife, Helen (Maura Tierney), and their four children get ready to spend the summer at her parents’ Long Island mansion in Montauk. Noah and Helen seem to have a happy marriage, but as the title suggests, this is a series about an extra-marital relationship. Stopping at a local diner in Montauk, Noah meets Alison (Ruth Wilson), a waitress, who saves his daughter from chocking. Their attraction is immediately obvious, though Noah initially hides behind a need to thank Alison for saving his daughter.
Aliso is married to local boy Cole (Joshua Jackson) who dotes on her and has a beautiful home. Nonetheless, it’s not long before she and Noah are in each other’s arms. While the affair is at the center of the story, the Rashomon effect finds Noah and Alison remembering the events around it differently. Subsequently, we are left wondering who to believe. There are also several subplots: Alison struggling with the death of her son, Noah is dealing with issues regarding his own kids. It’s not surprising that things eventually begin to spin out of control.
Adding another twist to things, Noah and Alison’s perspectives are told in the past tense because present day finds them retelling their story to a Detective Jeffries (Victor Williams) after being brought in for questioning concerning a murder. That element of the show feels strangely appropriate, as none of the characters are particularly likeable. I wanted to slap each of them at one time or another, but that only added to the drama of the show.
The performances here are solid. If you still think of Dominic West as Jimmy McNulty from The Wire you’ll be surprised. He’s a lot softer and laid back here. Ruth Wilson is a wiry bundle of nerves. Maura Tierney is good in everything she’s in, and that’s the case here. Joshua Jackson does the best he can with the character of Chase, an unevenly written character.
Initially conceived as a mini-series, The Affair has been renewed for a second season where the story will be told from the perspective of Helen and Cole. With the season one DVD available now, you’ll have plenty of time to catch up on the show before the second season debuts in October.
Video quality is solid here. It’s everything you would expect from a new television series presented on standard DVD. The four-disc set has audio tracks in English, Spanish and French and closed captioning for the episodes.
As is the case with most Showtime releases there isn’t much in the way of extras. There’s several character profiles that don’t reveal much that we don’t already know. We also get one episode of Ray Donovan, two installments of the now-cancelled Happyish, and the pilot of CBS’s Madam Secretary.
