LoveLeigh

OK I will delete it.

deleted

Thank-you Raja! I will rewatch and be more specific about number 5. Thnak-you again, I appreciate it very much.

I have questions, because I am admittedly not high IQ and cannot follow this show. 1. Why did Mia kill Lucy? 2. Who was that surfer guy and who did he tell Deran was dead? 3. Whose car did Pope destroy and why? 4. Who was that blond Pope went to see at the end? 5. Whose (mother) did Deran go to see? 6. What was in Adrian's trunk at the airport?

This makes sense. Why else would Ruth Wilson be mandated not to talk about the reason for her departure? If it was not pay parity this might be it and they want it swept under the rug. Ruth Wilson's exit and this

Cole.

OK I will be honest. This episode really really depressed me and today at about 4 PM I started to cry. I didn't cry because Sarah Treem wrote a script in which a fake character named Alison died on a TV show. I cried because of a sort of bigger picture and how this episode impacted me. For 4 seasons, we saw a character named Alison. Love her or hate her, it really did not matter. She had a "backstory" and a life that was performed by Ruth Wilson. And a big part of her life was her great grief for her son Gabriel who died. And then Alison died. And there was her funeral on the beach and she was cremated and reduced to a pile of ashes in an urn. And her entire life, all of her great emotions and sadness and everything she experienced was gone, vanished, and nothing of her remained... except for the memories others would have of her. I thought of the final scene of the film Synecdoche, New York. It is the experience of all of us. I don't think i felt LOSS like this over a TV character since Quinn died. Ruth Wilson must be one damn good actor.

I picked "who cares" only because it will be over a year before the next season airs and by that time I will forget she even is dead. Years ago, there was a summer hiatus and then shows began again in the fall. These days, serial shows take a year or more to start again and I am excited for closure for a while but after so much time passes, I move on to other shows. I had actually forgotten how Homeland ended this last season and had to rewatch it to be reminded that Carrie was part of a Russian prisoner exchange and had lost her mind off her meds. So with regard to The Affair, by the time it returns the interest within the excitement to learn about how Alison died will have faded. That is why I like a season to end with closure. Cliffhangers work for week to week episodes, but not season to season for me. Sarah Treem is a writer who manipulates the viewers for her own level of creative artistry. This: "the tragedy is that everyone (on the show) believes she committed suicide and the audience is the only one who'll ever know she didn't" is viewer emotional manipulation.

Wow! This video has some interesting comments from viewers about why Ruth Wilson left The Affair. The comments say it was not because of pay parity, a few comments say she was sexually harassed and fired, or that her body double was harassed and Ruth Wilson left the show because of that. That would explain a gag order! Maybe Ronan Farrow can get on the case! on YouTube

I think her smile was genuine happiness. I think she was happy to be alone and looking forward to her future free of all her male baggage.

I think the cremation of Alison sort of told us that her death is a closed issue. I now do not think that season 5 will in any way investigate Alison's death as anything but suicide. Why she did it may never be answered because it probably was murder. I think season 5 will be a time jump ahead and they will be back in NY. Anton and Sierra will be written out. Helen and Noah will be back together, Cole will be with Luisa and who knows what Sarah Treem will concoct. There is only one thing of which I am certain. The series will end in some way with many dangling stories and no closure. That is her style. She did it with the last episode of In Treatment so who knows what Paul Weston is doing these days.

The viewers did indeed get fucked. And we are fucked for one reason and one reason only: NO CLOSURE. Sarah Treem created many plot points and then just drops the ball. I hope Showtime has a change of heart and cancels season 5 like Amazon did with Zelda season 2. But wait, what about Trevor and Brooklyn? A spin off maybe? Showtime, please make it a comedy and fire Sarah Treem. She seems so smug.

I sometimes think that it is a passing fad with all of these TV shows that move season to season with cliffhangers. Sadly, This is Us has joined that group. I don't want to veer too far off the discussion of this episode though, so let me bring it back to that. In this episode they set the stage for Noah to not be with Janelle but to be back with Helen. Cole will be with Luisa for Joanie. And the story will go in the direction of solving Alison's murder. Ben was inserted into this episode for a reason. He will be back. However, I think Sarah Treem will end season 5 with a cliffhanger. And there will be no season 6. I think many of these writers build shows for their own creative and cheeky artistic satisfaction and really do not care about the viewers getting any closure.

I feel angry. No, I am not having fun yet. I don't need a happy ending, but I at least need the season to tie up loose ends. I was never a fan of cliffhangers because they are manipulative. But, I can deal with a cliffhanger for one week until the next episode. But, The Affair probably will not be back until late 2019 or early 2020. So as predicted, we have to wait a year for Ben to be arrested and for Alison to get some justice. There is something to be said about self contained episodes with a beginning and an end and the story continues episode to episode but there are no huge mysteries waiting to be solved. I never recall The Sopranos ending each episode with a cliffhanger. I am angry that Ruth Wilson left and is under some gag order and angry at this new writers' shtik. I can understand why so many bailed from this show. I love it and I loved this episode 10 and season 4, but all I could think of was my friend Phyllis who died last April. She loved Outlander and was so looking forward to the next season and she died and will never see it. When you get to a certain age, I think you can sadly slip into framing your life with the seasons of TV shows. And I need a life. This show, this show.

Well that is that I suppose. Does Ben get away with murder or will that be the plot in season 5? What I despise is waiting so long for the next set of episodes. Will it be January 2020? Anyway, this was an excellent episode and I loved this season 4. Rest in peace, Alison. Maybe in heaven you will find Quinn. I think you two would like each other.

Ruth Wilson clearly said she never complained to Showtime about pay parity. So she wanted to leave for another reason. Maybe she just wanted to be free to do other projects. Or maybe she got tired of the show and playing Alison. If she is not allowed to discuss it, the showrunners must be afraid that the reveal could impact the next season's popularity because if she is sick and tired of the show maybe the audience should be as well.

I can't stand Angela. She is a real mean girl. I hope somebody takes her out. If she is sitting next to Tyler in a f2 she could win. I will be as angry as the season when Maggie won. Fessy is a fool. Rockstar gave them good parting advice: to break up that trio who will carry each other to the end. I get so aggravated with this show.

Would Vera be allowed to be alone with Julian and to coach julian like that while he is in that detention center?

We are in episode 3 and not much has happened. I love this show but it seems so dragged out. Nothing is really revealed. Why can't they put up all the episodes and let us binge watch it? I think many viewers fall away due to this weekly format.

I understand this. I get you. When they present two different versions and there is no clarity, it does sort of feel like viewer manipulation and gimmicky... done for the writers' own smug satisfaction at how cheeky, artistic, and clever they can be. The script can just be reduced to a complete manipulative device if it veers so far off from simple minor changes in different perspectives. I am glad I have this place to read the opinions of others. They are all so thought provoking.

I said that because even though the competent detective said it was suicide, many others here say the band-aid on her finger proves part 2. So I just said it has not been "solved," which I suppose I meant that we have not seen episode 10 yet which may show exactly what did happen. Please change my use of the word "solved" to " conclusively shown" to the viewers. Sorry about that. I read the great opinions of others and get all mixed up as the thread moves forward. I saw season 3 and all of Noah's delusions. So I know that this is how the show unfolds. So i am going with suicide and the detective's version because as he said, he has seen it before.

I rewatched episode 8. You don't think that detective thought that Alison could have been murdered and dumped into the water while she was still alive? How many people who commit suicide do it by drowning themselves? The detective said it was not his first time at this. He said they questioned Ben and Ben had an alibi. An alibi means he was not near her home during the time frame she died. Also, there was blood if Ben killed Alison. You don't think they used their equipment to check for cleaned up blood spills? You think Ben could have cleaned up that house to not leave any traces of detectable blood? So something is not right... I think if the detective said she drowned herself, he might be right. Alison was always fragile and never wrapped too tight. The first version may have been right and maybe she did see some text messages that were painful to her and broke her heart. Maybe she did commit suicide. Maybe she felt that Ben killed her with his lies. Alison may have a band aid on her finger but that is not enough to indicate the second version proves Ben murdered Alison. I think the death of Alison has yet to be solved.

I am confused about the timeline of the sequence of events: 1. Alison goes out to Los Angeles and then she returns to Montauk. 2. Cole is driving back from California and stops at Milwaukee at a conference Alison was supposed to attend, but she never showed up there. Ben IS there and he says he has no idea where Alison is. 3. Cole hooks up with Noah and Anton in Chicago and they drive east to Montauk. In Easthampton, they are told Alison is dead of an apparent suicide by drowning. 4. Then, they go to find Ben to question him about his last visit with Alison at her place. So here's my confusion. If Ben murdered Alison in Montauk, when he was in Milwaukee was Alison already dead because she never showed up at that conference? So Ben killed her and went to that Milwaukee conference and then was back on Long Island after that when Noah and Cole arrived at his workplace to question him about Alison's death? It was a weekend conference and as Cole and Noah and Anton drove east they reached Montauk on Monday and Ben was back on LI because the weekend conference was over? Does it make sense he would murder Alison and go to a conference? Well, maybe to give the appearance that all was right in his world. But his alibi was that she broke up with him and he got drunk and went to Riverhead to quit AA. But, the timeline just seems off.

Alison was alive when Ben threw her into the water is version 2. What we heard her saying were her thoughts as she was carried away. She did drown and that is why the detective called her death a drowning. I think the writers scripted this end to fit the song, rather than the song being written years ago as some relevant theme for the ending of Alison.

That is sooooo Mulholland Drivesque!