S05.E11: Episode 11

[LoveLeigh]

Everything comes full circle on the day of Whitney's wedding.

Original air date 2019.11.03

[PrincessPurrsALot]

This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend

The end
Of our elaborate plans
The end
Of everything that stands
The end
No safety or surprise
The end
I'll never look into your eyes
Again
 

Series finale. Whitney's wedding bringing the Solloways together.  Will Helen and Noah decide to try again? Will the Solloway children be obnoxious? (Big money is on yes for Whitney and Trevor).  Will Martin appear like a sighting of a rare white tiger only with much less appeal?  Will Whitney say "I do" or will she grab something and run, bringing back memories of Cole with Alison's urn? Will Helen ever not look morose? 

And what about future Joanie?  Will we see the future?  Will she scowl? Will she have unappealing sex? Will she avenge her mother's death?  Will we see future Noah, Helen and the rest? 

Let's watch the end of The Affair and prepare to snark.

[Guest]

16 minutes ago, PrincessPurrsALot said:

This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend

[T Summer]

For all my snarking about the writing, the veering so far off course  and the  addition of extraneous characters...  I'll miss it! The acting has always made it totally worthwhile.

[LoveLeigh]

I can't wait to discuss this episode with all of you. I will be watching it at midnight, when Showtime puts it up On Demand.

We can go to the speculation thread until we view it. 

[scrb]

Full circle, we know what that means.

The Affair might as well not have happened at all.  Noah and Helen find a deeper love?🙄

It would be like they ghosted Alison.  If Helen takes him back and says some BS about how Alison just strengthened their relationship or made them appreciate each other, my TV may not survive.

[funnygirl]

I love the Fiona Apple opening song and will miss hearing it. I wish it was available for purchase but all iTunes has is a cover of it. Not the same. 

[LibertarianSlut]

Oy, that ending. What a cop out. Belonged on another show. One I wouldn't watch.

[DiabLOL]

I'm calling the police.

[LoveLeigh]

Well, it was sentimental and I cried in parts... but it also was corny in other parts.

I did NOT think it was funny that they duct taped Bruce to the chair. 

And of course Whitney who goes from yin to yang and decides she wants her father at the wedding. I thought the series would end with those kids outside the motel room. 

Did Margaret die in 2051, the same year as Helen? Wow she lived to be 100 years old. 

The Joanie thing was totally unnecessary. Totally.unnecessary. 

So much was left unanswered. Did Whitney stay married? What happened to the sex allegations against Noah? Why was Joanie calling Luisa "mom?

And I was right about EJ being Eddie. He was unnecessary too.

I don't know... I liked this series and I am sad to see it end but I feel this season was very flawed. 

Edited November 4, 2019 by DakotaLavender

[chocolatine]

This show should be retroactively renamed Noah Having His Cake And Eating It Too. Not only did he not suffer any long-term repercussions for all the hurt he'd caused, he also got to outlive both of his "loves" and is now a sweet old diner owner dispensing sage advice to troubled souls and dancing on top of cliffs.

And yuck to the scene of all four Sollo-spawn plus new son-in-law sitting outside the motel eating cake while mom and dad are having sex five feet away with the curtains open.

16 minutes ago, DakotaLavender said:

Did Margaret die in 2051, the same year as Helen? Wow she lived to be 100 years old. 

Yes, that's what it looked like. I wonder if it was Helen's death that killed Margaret, kind of like what happened with the late Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds.

16 minutes ago, DakotaLavender said:

So much was left unanswered. Did Whitney stay married?

I really wanted to know that too. On one hand, she's such an unpleasant person and she and Colin never addressed the problems in their relationship before the wedding, it's unlikely that the marriage lasted. On the other, it would be deliciously ironic if Whitney ended up having a more successful marriage than her parents.

At least we know that Stacey became a published writer.

Edited November 3, 2019 by chocolatine

[scrb]

OK, I've been as critical of this season and the later seasons as anyone.

I liked many parts of the finale, especially if they got Fiona Apple to cover The Whole of the Moon for this show.

If Treem claimed that from the beginning, the plan was always to reunite Noah and Helen and the kids, I'd say that sounds cool, though there's so much evidence to the contrary.  I mean did she plan to fire Ruth Wilson before the final season?  I kind of doubt it.

Or throw in these side characters in the last season or throw in a #MeToo plot?  Of course not, though what was the point of that, to make Whitney feel alienated from Noah just so she could forgive him on her wedding day?

(Makes me curious about how the Israeli show from which this was developed ended, whether the Noah/Helen reunion happened there too)

Noah has done selfish things throughout the show.  The main selfless thing he did was to take the rap for the manslaughter.  In the finale, he is the wedding planner, the guy who shapes up the kids to support Whitney and even the fucking choreographer.

Then he goes away to stay out of sight at the Memory Motel when Whitney arrives.  So while his family is having supposedly one of their happiest days, he's by himself throwing money away on the minibar -- BTW how does that shabby little motel stock Moet?

What a martyr!

Joanie is ready to martyr herself -- throw her life away -- to kill Ben.  EJ talks her out of it says he wants to take her away.  Then he tells her he's really Eddie, as many of us suspected -- this is the kind of gimmicky writing that makes one suspicious there was a master plan from the beginning of the show for how it would end.

Then of course, she learns that the creepy old man at the Lobster Roll is Noah and she goes back and he drops a lot of wisdom on her, about learning to love, forgive, whatever.  Of course Joanie goes back to her family, after Noah talked about how much Alison loved her, how Alison was trying to become better, etc.  Joanie will forgive Alison and will ask Paul for forgiveness.

In the present, Bruce gives Whitney the same wisdom, about forgiveness, never passing up a chance to love, etc.  (So that's the reason for the Alzheimer plot, to give him a moment of lucidity and change Whitney's mind about Noah, as well as Helen, who we know is going back to Noah).

Bruce used to be a very entertaining character who trolled, belittled and verbally bullied Noah.  So I guess they never really cared about developing his character, he was just there to serve whatever function the writers needed, and they brought him back for this moment in the finale, after tying him up to a chair -- elder abuse!

It's a beautiful idea, that true love means forgiving all, that life is about forgiving and loving, at all costs.

Helen forgave Noah, took him back.

Whitney will forgive Noah and Helen for getting back together.

Margaret had forgiven Bruce when he ran off to be with his former student, in the name of love or he said something to that effect IIRC.

Colin forgave Whitney for cheating on him with Furkat.  They go forward with the marriage even though she's not sure she's in love with him.

Joanie forgave Alison because she learned her mother had loved her deeply.

Paul forgave Joanie for cheating so many times on him.

Helen forgave Vik for sleeping with Sierra, whom she also slept with and was a second mother to EJ.  

Cole forgave Alison kind of for cheating on him, wanted her back.

Joanie forgave EJ for hiding his true identity ... er, scratch that.  

And I guess Alison never forgave Cole for Gabriel.

Or Luisa didn't really forgive Cole for still loving Alison.

I think all these characters who forgive those who betrayed them and love them again is maybe about trying to justify Helen taking him back.  A few episodes ago, Noah declared his love to Helen and proposed that they get back together.  She shut the door in his face!

Helen could have just played it off like she felt romantic or horny from the wedding -- that's suppose to be a real thing at weddings right, though maybe not for the mother of the bride -- instead of sealing this reunion with sex.  She did say it didn't mean anything as she wept while they made sweet love!

My eyes were rolling towards the back of my head until the Fiona Apple cover came on.

TV shows and movies often end sentimentally so you can't criticize The Affair for this happy ending.  But does this mean Alison was just a detour for this great love story about Helen and Noah?

Maybe that's why  they killed her off early, so that she wouldn't detract from this joyful reunion.  But I don't think it was planned from the beginning.  It sounded like Wilson was surprised when they wrote her off the show when they did.

Edited November 3, 2019 by scrb

[scrb]

Kinda interesting that Stacey becomes so central.  Her "beautiful" story foreshadowed this reunion ending.

IIRC, she was conceived after Noah had left Helen and then either after Noah and Alison had split or they were having a fight or something, Noah and Helen did the deed and Stacey became their love child and eventually the prophetess as well as the chronicler of their great love reunion?

Anyways, I was wondering if she was drinking champagne out of that flute at the wedding party.

Then outside the Memory Motel, she was actually chugging it out of the bottle.

She's suppose to be 12?

Guess she'll have an interesting life.  Spinoff?

[DiabLOL]

9 minutes ago, chocolatine said:

Yes, that's what it looked like. I wonder if it was Helen's death that killed Margaret, kind of like what happened with the late Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds.

I noticed the identical dates too but my guess was murder/suicide

[scrb]

Oh one more instance of NOT forgiving.

Pregnant hitchhiker who wanted to live in Marina del Ray didn't seem to be in a forgiving mood when they had to flee the Topanga Canyon fires.

She said the only reason her hitchhiker hubby wanted to live up there was because of his social anxiety.

Then again who knows, as the fire swallowed them up in that $150k Tesla, she was going to forgive and not pass up a chance to love.

You wonder about these random characters they introduced and giving them several lines of dialogue, if there was some strategy behind it.

[chocolatine]

10 minutes ago, scrb said:

IIRC, she was conceived after Noah had left Helen and then either after Noah and Alison had split or they were having a fight or something, Noah and Helen did the deed and Stacey became their love child and eventually the prophetess as well as the chronicler of their great love reunion?

No, she was three years old when Noah met Allison. The Solloways stopped for lunch at the Lobster Roll on their way to Helen's parents' house. Stacey swallowed a marble, and Allison saved her. It was Joanie who was the "lovechild". She was conceived after Allison and Cole were divorced, when they spent the last night together at Allison's beach house before she sold it. Allison then went back to Noah and led him to believe for the first 2-3 years of Joanie's life that he was the father. We found out that he wasn't when Helen and her lawyer ran a DNA test during Noah's manslaughter trial.

Edited November 3, 2019 by chocolatine

[scrb]

10 minutes ago, DiabLOL said:

I noticed the identical dates too but my guess was murder/suicide

I don't see Helen doing a pact with Margaret any more than Whitney doing one with her mother.

[LoveLeigh]

1 hour ago, scrb said:

 I mean did she plan to fire Ruth Wilson before the final season?  I kind of doubt it.  But I don't think it was planned from the beginning.  It sounded like Wilson was surprised when they wrote her off the show when they did.

They wrote Ruth Wilson off because she asked to be written off. She wanted to leave the show, it was her choice. 

[NeenerNeener]

Hey, Julia Goldani Telles finally got a chance to dance on this show! Noah's old man makeup was so good I didn't recognize him at first. 

[T Summer]

3 hours ago, scrb said:

OK, I've been as critical of this season and the later seasons as anyone.

I liked many parts of the finale, especially if they got Fiona Apple to cover The Whole of the Moon for this show.

If Treem claimed that from the beginning, the plan was always to reunite Noah and Helen and the kids, I'd say that sounds cool, though there's so much evidence to the contrary.  I mean did she plan to fire Ruth Wilson before the final season?  I kind of doubt it.

Or throw in these side characters in the last season or throw in a #MeToo plot?  Of course not, though what was the point of that, to make Whitney feel alienated from Noah just so she could forgive him on her wedding day?

(Makes me curious about how the Israeli show from which this was developed ended, whether the Noah/Helen reunion happened there too)

Noah has done selfish things throughout the show.  The main selfless thing he did was to take the rap for the manslaughter.  In the finale, he is the wedding planner, the guy who shapes up the kids to support Whitney and even the fucking choreographer.

Then he goes away to stay out of sight at the Memory Motel when Whitney arrives.  So while his family is having supposedly one of their happiest days, he's by himself throwing money away on the minibar -- BTW how does that shabby little motel stock Moet?

What a martyr!

Joanie is ready to martyr herself -- throw her life away -- to kill Ben.  EJ talks her out of it says he wants to take her away.  Then he tells her he's really Eddie, as many of us suspected -- this is the kind of gimmicky writing that makes one suspicious there was a master plan from the beginning of the show for how it would end.

Then of course, she learns that the creepy old man at the Lobster Roll is Noah and she goes back and he drops a lot of wisdom on her, about learning to love, forgive, whatever.  Of course Joanie goes back to her family, after Noah talked about how much Alison loved her, how Alison was trying to become better, etc.  Joanie will forgive Alison and will ask Paul for forgiveness.

In the present, Bruce gives Whitney the same wisdom, about forgiveness, never passing up a chance to love, etc.  (So that's the reason for the Alzheimer plot, to give him a moment of lucidity and change Whitney's mind about Noah, as well as Helen, who we know is going back to Noah).

Bruce used to be a very entertaining character who trolled, belittled and verbally bullied Noah.  So I guess they never really cared about developing his character, he was just there to serve whatever function the writers needed, and they brought him back for this moment in the finale, after tying him up to a chair -- elder abuse!

It's a beautiful idea, that true love means forgiving all, that life is about forgiving and loving, at all costs.

Helen forgave Noah, took him back.

Whitney will forgive Noah and Helen for getting back together.

Margaret had forgiven Bruce when he ran off to be with his former student, in the name of love or he said something to that effect IIRC.

Colin forgave Whitney for cheating on him with Furkat.  They go forward with the marriage even though she's not sure she's in love with him.

Joanie forgave Alison because she learned her mother had loved her deeply.

Paul forgave Joanie for cheating so many times on him.

Helen forgave Vik for sleeping with Sierra, whom she also slept with and was a second mother to EJ.  

Cole forgave Alison kind of for cheating on him, wanted her back.

Joanie forgave EJ for hiding his true identity ... er, scratch that.  

And I guess Alison never forgave Cole for Gabriel.

Or Luisa didn't really forgive Cole for still loving Alison.

I think all these characters who forgive those who betrayed them and love them again is maybe about trying to justify Helen taking him back.  A few episodes ago, Noah declared his love to Helen and proposed that they get back together.  She shut the door in his face!

Helen could have just played it off like she felt romantic or horny from the wedding -- that's suppose to be a real thing at weddings right, though maybe not for the mother of the bride -- instead of sealing this reunion with sex.  She did say it didn't mean anything as she wept while they made sweet love!

My eyes were rolling towards the back of my head until the Fiona Apple cover came on.

TV shows and movies often end sentimentally so you can't criticize The Affair for this happy ending.  But does this mean Alison was just a detour for this great love story about Helen and Noah?

Maybe that's why  they killed her off early, so that she wouldn't detract from this joyful reunion.  But I don't think it was planned from the beginning.  It sounded like Wilson was surprised when they wrote her off the show when they did.

I just recently ( in the past few days) read that it was In Treatment that was based on an Israeli show. I took notice because I have that series on DVD. One disc is in my computer right now because we lost cable last week and I re-watched it. 

here's a link to the article:

https://www.haaretz.com/life/television/the-affair-wins-big-at-golden-globes-1.5359176

"Treem created the show with Israel's Hagai Levi, who created and directed the highly acclaimed Israeli TV series Betipul, which was adapted to become HBO's Emmy award-winning "In Treatment."

[Stad15]

So Noah bought The Lobster Roll.

He told Joanie "Welcome to End of the World" just like Alison did at The Lobster Roll in first episode.

I actually enjoyed the Noah-Joanie convo.  How they talked about Alison and Cole.

But that old bastard Noah outlived Cole, Alison and Helen.  😂😂😂

[cardigirl]

Well, I enjoyed that. I really liked that the Solloway children plus Colin ran off to go get Noah, and that the family was ‘together’ at the end of the wedding.

No tv show is ever perfect, but I have really enjoyed this exploration of marriage, love, passion, errors, sorrow, joy, family. I’m glad Helen decided to do what she wanted and to stop caring about how it would look to the world. 

I really enjoyed the flash mob dance. Colin was quite yummy in that. 😉

[weaver]

It was far from perfect and left so much unanswered and was a cop out for the most part but I loved the performances.  The final song was spectacular.  

Oh, main gripe was I don’t think Cole would have done that to Joanie.  

Edited November 3, 2019 by weaver

[PrincessPurrsALot]

4 hours ago, Stad15 said:

But that old bastard Noah outlived Cole, Alison and Helen.  😂😂😂

Only the good die young; evil endures.  Then again, how many were "good"?

[preeya]

I would have liked to see a scrolling epilogue describing the fates of all the secondary characters (i.e. the kids, relatives, acquaintances, etc).  Something like a "where are they now" thing.

Edited November 3, 2019 by preeya

[nara]

I am so glad this is over.  I have been watching for closure and now I have it.

The good of this episode:

Stacey is a published writer. 🙂 Maybe her next book will be “Trying to Grow”. 

Margaret joining flash mob. She was a good sort. On a side note, I don’t think you’re supposed to announce a flash mob like that...

Whitney’s wedding dress, especially the lace overlay. Did not care for the coverups she used, but I appreciate that it was cold.

Noah -Joanie discussions and the subsequent impact on her reunion with her family. (Is it bad that I thought, Noah is much wiser now that he can’t get it up?)

i liked the Noah Helen reunion. Predictable, but it does happen in real life too.

Martin speaking for all of us in questioning why anyone would marry Whitney. Stacey for telling her off. Helen for finally calling Whitney out.

The bad:

Goofy hijinks to leave the wedding. Not in keeping with the characters or the tone of the series. I literally yelled out WTAF (the words, not the letters) so I am glad I did not watch at midnight.

It still annoys me that they didn’t cast an actor that looks a little South Asian as EJ...

The lobster roll being in such great shape while the police station has been abandoned.

Noah buying the Lobster Roll, where his affair began and Stacey almost died. It feels like a slap in the face to Helen.

Where was Noah’s sister during Whitney’s wedding? I hate when relatives are forgotten.

Noah claiming that Whitney would always keep Colin’s life interesting. I do think he’s right about Whitney being passionate. However, she’s also abusive and it is a mistake to romanticize that.

Aged Noah looks more like a 100 year old than an 80-something. But if I didn’t know in advance that we would see old Noah, I would not have recognized him (except his teeth) so maybe it’s a wash.

Overall, glad to have watched the series but I don’t think I will ever watch anything by this  creator ever again. Some people are simply not great at multi year stories, but do very well with 1 or 2 seasons.

[Guest]

That is all.

[Stad15]

1 hour ago, nara said:

The lobster roll being in such great shape while the police station has been abandoned.

Eddie told Joanie that he worked in construction while in high school and he helped renovate and restore The Lobster Roll.

[Stad15]

11 hours ago, scrb said:

It sounded like Wilson was surprised when they wrote her off the show when they did.

Ruth wanted to leave the show (before Season 4 was written) for unspecified reasons (Showtime made her sign a NDA), so they wrote her off accordingly.   

[SoWindsor]

11 hours ago, DiabLOL said:

I noticed the identical dates too but my guess was murder/suicide

What makes you think that? I thought perhaps a car accident. 

[preeya]

6 minutes ago, SoWindsor said:

What makes you think that? I thought perhaps a car accident. 

7 minutes ago, SoWindsor said:

I noticed the identical dates too but my guess was murder/suicide

This is the reason we should have been provided with an epilogue.

[LoveLeigh]

11 minutes ago, SoWindsor said:

What makes you think that? I thought perhaps a car accident. 

Well, since the show is fiction and not a documentary I suppose we will never know. Only Sarah Treem knows and I think she did it as a shtik. Her writing is just awful. How does she get work? Who does she know? 

[LilaFowler]

Trash.

[Razzberry]

I've only seen half of it so far but it's really dragging for me. Some random thoughts -

So a flash mob is line dancing.  Why not just call it that instead of the rebranding.

Yay,  I'll never again have to hear that fucking Fiona Apple song.  Actually, the music in this entire series could've been better.

Oddly disappointed to learn Colin is from Northern Ireland.  Is he still considered Irish?  Just asking!

Nice flower arrangement, Sasha Mann. 

Sierra's director/date looks a lot like Eddie.  

Martin apparently is unaware of the green card issue here.

Edited November 3, 2019 by Razzberry

[whisperingtheblues]

12 hours ago, DiabLOL said:

I noticed the identical dates too but my guess was murder/suicide

Ok, I have to admit that I LOL'd at this statement.  (And no, I am not making fun of the idea of murder/suicide in the real world, but these 2 characters....hmmmm)  Thank you for that as I did become a tad sentimental throughout the episode even though the ending was a bit hokey.  I think the wedding/ending song totally got me as it was so on point with the show.  I did appreciate that.  Getting back to the original quote - the only question is which one was was the murderer and which was the victim.  ? 

[KBrownie]

12 hours ago, DiabLOL said:

I noticed the identical dates too but my guess was murder/suicide

The were no dates that were identical.  There were no dates of death given on either headstone.  The year they died was the same: 2051.  Which means that they could have died any time in the 365 days of the year 2051.  One's death didn't have to have anything to do with the other.  Or maybe it did.  Maybe it was the same day, maybe it wasn't.  Helen could have died on January 1, 2051 and Margaret on December 31.  Or anywhere in between.  But there was nothing given to prove that they died on the same day, only in the same year.  

[scrb]

32 minutes ago, Razzberry said:

Yay,  I'll never again have to hear that fucking Fiona Apple song.  Actually, the music in this entire series could've been better.

I've always FF or skipped through the opening song after I'd heard it several times, though I like Fiona Apple.

I floved her cover at the end of the finale.

[preeya]

23 minutes ago, KBrownie said:

The were no dates that were identical.  There were no dates of death given on either headstone.  The year they died was the same: 2051.  Which means that they could have died any time in the 365 days of the year 2051.  One's death didn't have to have anything to do with the other.  Or maybe it did.  Maybe it was the same day, maybe it wasn't.  Helen could have died on January 1, 2051 and Margaret on December 31.  Or anywhere in between.  But there was nothing given to prove that they died on the same day, only in the same year.  

You are 100% correct.

Besides me, how many went to lookup the dictionary definition of "assiduous?"

Edited November 3, 2019 by preeya

[T Summer]

1 minute ago, preeya said:

You are 100% correct.

Thank you for this Preeya!

I was wondering what last name was on Helen's headstone. As she'd gone back to Butler, should we conclude from this that she and Noah remarried?

[T Summer]

3 hours ago, PrincessPurrsALot said:

Only the good die young; evil endures.  Then again, how many were "good"?

Cole and Helen were good!

Ok, I'll stop 😄

Edited November 3, 2019 by T Summer
typo

[Lemons]

1 hour ago, preeya said:

You are 100% correct.

Besides me, how many went to lookup the dictionary definition of "assiduous?"

I thought the murder/suicide post was just being funny because these two are always at each other’s throat.  

Im too lazy. What does assiduous mean?

[T Summer]

5 minutes ago, Lemons said:

I thought the murder/suicide post was just being funny because these two are always at each other’s throat.  

Im too lazy. What does assiduous mean?

I know it basically means diligent / hard working (like Whitney saw herself on her terrible day at work), but now I can't remember who said it and in what context in this episode?

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Anyone here "resilient" enough to relive this trauma by watching the marathon run up to the finale?

Put me in the camp who fast-forwards past the theme song. I'm over it despite liking Fiona Apple. I was over that whole of the moon song by the end of the episode too.

[chick binewski]

OK, I kind of loved it! Except for Joanie.

A flash-dancing flash mob, Bruce doing something just to make a family member happy, Stacy drinking like a future writer.

I'll miss reading everyone's thoughts here regarding the show. So now probably isn't the time to tell you all I had to look up "augury".

[LibertarianSlut]

 Ok, so I hated the ending, but I had lots of other observations--

Trevor was totally tolerable in this episode.  I...liked him?

The actor that plays Colin is a great actor.  His scene with Noah and the plane ticket was so well-acted.  He's also a great, I mean great, dancer.  Sierra couldn't hold a candle to him.

Ok, maybe I was wrong about Colin, at least a little.  Hear me out:  Whitney's view of Colin is flawed, as Colin wasn't shaven at the wedding from Whitney's POV.  However, from Noah's POV, Colin had shaved and he used a straight razor.  I'm more likely to believe Noah, because he pointed out the straight razor, and why would he do that if it wasn't a factor?  Outside of season three, Noah isn't known for hallucinating, so I conclude that Whitney is a very unreliable narrator when it comes to her husband.  If she couldn't remember if he had a beard, it's possible that he told her he hates America and she just ignored him.  This is also me trying to sew up plot holes. 😟

I love Margaret.  I laughed through the whole scene of Margaret, Helen and Whitney getting ready.  I could watch a whole episode of this light dysfunction.

I did think it was funny that Bruce was taped to the chair, because I didn't take it literally, but I didn't think it was funny at all that he fell into a pool so that the kids could "escape."  In 40 degree weather.  This is not a young man.  That could have killed him.  And it wasn't necessary.  The Sollawy children + Colin could have just walked away.  No one was paying any attention to them, so...fail.

The wedding dance was so good and entertaining, even though I don't see how it was a flash mob.  It really warmed my heart, like the ending scene of Slumdog Millionaire, which is so strange for this show.  

What was the date of the wedding supposed to be that it was 40 degrees in New York, and Colin's mom wasn't slated to get there until 8 or 9 o'clock, but she was there when it was light out?  It only stays light in New York that late in the early summer.  Also, even if she landed at JFK, there would be the whole two-hour plus drive to Montauk, so..never mind.  Why am I still trying to make it make sense?

Why were Whitney and Martin dancing--yikes--cheek to cheek?  Y'all know you're related, don't you?

I really laughed when Helen went to Noah's hotel room and did her monologue about codependency and long marriages and exploded with "nobody does what's good for them!"  True story.

Call me a Helen apologist, but I thought her speech in the hotel room was great, about how she didn't really remember her wedding to Noah, because she was stoned, but also because she never remembers anything, because she's always so anxious for things to go right, and I thought it was really honest.  Then take Noah's speech to Joanie about how Alison was always so darn present, and I was like, "fuck Alison, and fuck you Noah for saying that."  Alison never seemed present to me at all. She always looked like she was dreaming on her feet.  I think Helen is far more present than Alison was.

Um...how did Joanie get away from Ben?  Anyone?  Bueller?

And we're supposed to buy that Joanie left her ID bracelet at the Lobster Roll, so no one should have any idea where she is, but EJ/Eddie was able to find her because he has "a tracking device" in his car?  What the actual fuck is a tracking device?  Do people just not care about privacy in 2060?  Creepy!

EJ/Eddie also proved himself to be a creep when he tried to get Joanie to come to Vienna with him by saying, about society "we don't owe them anything."  If he had asked, he would have known Joanie has two daughters that she adopted from Senegal.  She owes them pretty much everything.  Shut up EJ.  

Where does EJ get gas if Noah has no idea where a local gas station was located?

Finally--I know roughly how big Montauk is, having grown up on Long Island and having been there a few times--but my question is, how big does the show want us to think it is?  The kids and Helen were able to run from the Butler home to the Memory Inn in formalwear, which meant it could have been like a mile away at most, yet once again in this episode we see EJ driving Joanie across what appears to be a vast wasteland at a pretty high rate of speed for a couple of minutes at a time, and when Joanie jumps out of his car, she's in the middle of nowhere.  So, once again showrunners, did you bother to research Montauk, or did you just make it what was expedient?

I can't believe Anna Paquin won an Oscar.  Girl friend, call me when you decide whether your accent is from New Zealand, southern, or regionally neutral.  All three in one episode is a LOT.  

I'd give the finale a 5/10, and only that high because of the present-day antics.  The future was boring as hell.  

[preeya]

Question for the forum:

If the wedding took place in present time (2019) and Noah told Joanie his daughter got married 30 years ago, that makes the scene with Old Noah in 2049. Then the tombstones read 2051, two years later. What year was it and how old is Noah when he's reading the book at Helen's grave?

Sure wish they had provided an epilogue.

[JenE4]

How does Helen not “remember” that Whitney is wearing her own wedding dress?!? I mean, i know she’s supposed to be checked out of the wedding planning, but at least have a different coat or something. Or was Helen so “stoned” for her wedding and Whitney’s that she thinks that’s what she wore at her own wedding, too? Or, as she told Noah in the hotel that she’s always so busy thinking of a better story and she’s not present that we’re therefore supposed to take Noah’s version of the series as fact and hers as revisionist history? Noah said similar to Joanie about Allison that she was the one person she tried so hard to be present for—so were her “memories” of Joanie “real” and everything else was the “wrong” version? I mean, I know the whole point of the show was supposed to be that everyone’s own perspective clouds the way they perceive things, but they sure as hell seemed to be hammering home that everyone else only “saw the crescent” and Noah “saw the whole of the moon.” (Um, minus the season where he hallucinated attempted murder whilst stabbing himself.)

44 minutes ago, preeya said:

Question for the forum:

If the wedding took place in present time (2019) and Noah told Joanie his daughter got married 30 years ago, that makes the scene with Old Noah in 2049. Then the tombstones read 2051, two years later. What year was it and how old is Noah when he's reading the book at Helen's grave?

Sure wish they had provided an epilogue.

This show is already in “the future,” such as when Noah was in jail for 5 years between the length of one season, so the wedding we had assumed was December 2024, but considering Bruce DIED in 2024, uh, did he DROWN at Whitney’s wedding or die within days due to complications from bitchy, selfish Whitney using him for her own ploy?! Actually a fitting ending: Noah and Helen fucking, kids eating cake and Stacy swigging champagne (for the second time this episode so add “preteen drinking” to the list of public service announcement plotlines), while grandma and grandpa are floundering in the pool. “Where’s grandpa? Oh, he’s dead.” (Quote from “This is Us” when a young Kevin was being dramatic that his family didn’t even seem to notice that he could have drowned in the community pool.)

Edited November 3, 2019 by JenE4

[LibertarianSlut]

I don't know if this further muddles the timeline or creates clarity--I'm way too stupid to do the math--but Cole's headstone read "2059" in the episode when Joanie met EJ.  So "the future" is in 2059 or later, unless Joanie just perceived the headstone to read that number, in which case, I quit!

My take on the wedding dress was that Whitney decided to go for something far more glamorous (and weather-appropriate) after she had decided to wear her mom's dress, and Noah just "saw" Whitney in Helen's dress, because he'd seen it before and he was filling in the gaps.  Because wasn't Whitney wearing a different dress entirely from her POV--not Helen's dress and not the dress Helen pictured her to be in?  Helen was also wearing a different dress and had different hair between Noah's and Helen's POV's.  She looked like she was going to a funeral in Noah's.  I wonder what that was about.  I could be wrong, and Whitney could have been wearing Helen's dress in Whitney's POV, and she just put a coat over the dress.  I just remember Whitney was definitely wearing long white sleeves with her front completely covered in white during Whitney's POV, which was a stark contrast to Helen's dress.

Also, I can't believe I forgot to mention Janelle, but I have been waiting all season for her plot not to pay off so that I could say, "why, show??" And my moment came and I forgot!  But, really, why, show?  I can understand--even if I don't agree--why Sierra and Whitney had POV's, as they were part of the story to the end.  But I can't justify Janelle's presence.  Noah brought her son to Princeton last season.  It seemed like a good ending to that chapter.  If Noah and Janelle were supposed to be a couple, and not just sleeping together, at the end of season 4  (I don't even remember) that could have been taken care of with two lines of dialogue, like, "where 's Janelle?"  "Oh, that didn't work out."  Why give Janelle a POV?  It didn't lend insight into Noah--it was about her career and her relationship with her ex-husband.  Oh my God, why not just bring back Professor Oh-So-French and let her have another POV??

[Razzberry]

So Cole suspected Alison didn't commit suicide after all, but still allowed Joanie believe it.  Nice.  Moreover, he withheld information about her mental breakdown and subsequent custody battle, casting himself as the hero/savior and sweeping the Horrible Parent Awards with self-righteous posturing.   Cole I hardly knew ye.

Whitney also had a personality transplant this episode.   Sorry, Noah, but Hitler was   "passionate", "believed deeply in things" and was a "little dramatic".   It's called narcissism.

And God forbid we should have an episode where the kids weren't still guilt-tripping Noah 10 years later. 

[T Summer]

10 hours ago, weaver said:

It was far from perfect and left so much unanswered and was a cop out for the most part but I loved the performances.  The final song was spectacular.  

Oh, main gripe was I don’t think Cole would have done that to Joanie.  

Yes! Cole would have NEVER told Joanie they were better off without her(Alison)! Did I actually hear that? I'm going to have to listen to that closely when I re-watch the episode.

I too, will miss discussing the series with you all! I was reading a season 2 thread looking for something and ran across  Sturm und Drang* and had to look that  up.

I'm conflicted about this finale. I got teary-eyed during the Helen / Noah scenes which I guess is because the actors are just so damned good. I've always wanted better for Helen and have never  believed exes who've gotten to this point would  make their way back to each other. I have a feeling when I watch it again it's going to anger me more. Just like last week.

I also agree that Alison seemed like the one who often didn't seem present in the moment rather than Helen.

The timeline stuff drives me  batty too, so I've decided not to waste my time trying to figure it out.  I thought of Noah saying there was a month to plan the wedding, then  Furcat asked Whitney what were you doing in Montauk in December. Colin's mum was arriving at 10? (or was it 9?). So was that a.m. or p.m.? Because in January I'm pretty sure  it's dark between 4:30 and 5:30 in the afternoon in Montauk.

A poster here pointed out to me the other day that Alison is supposed to have died in 2021. However I always thought Noah's prison sentence was 3 years.  Was it actually 5? All of this just makes my head hurt and it never ends up making sense.

I can't believe how much I used to enjoy True Blood with Anna Pacquin. I enjoyed her in a movie set in the 70's called Free Ride and Almost Famous has long been a favorite of mine, but  I'm sorry,  she is awful in this.The whole Joanie the coastal engineer  her  family and the look into the future as as well  grown up Eddie (E.J.)  and the Ben nonsense added nothing to this series as far as I'm concerned.

Also Libertarianslut you are so right;  the whole Janelle / Carl story line didn't need to take up so much of this last season of The Affair  Spin them off or something because they were just as  compelling as other characters   we see on TV, but it all just seemed weirdly out of place here...just as so many other random  characters and incomplete story lines did. Plus  their story wasn't done any justice or  resolved here anyway.

Being as it was part of the season, I can accept Joanie receiving  info from E.J. just a little bit easier now knowing he spent some time living in Montauk and working for Noah. I was never going to buy Helen his next door neighbor in California whiling away the hours talking to little E.J. about Alison and Alison's  first in-laws meaning Cole's family. Even if Noah ended up moving into Helen's house,  by the time E.J. gets to the age to be reading novels  I just don't see E.J. becoming obsessed with Lana the the  character based on Alison and her supposedly traumatic life. Though it still doesn't explain why he was hanging out in the cemetery.

I don't like that Noah ended his days walking around the Lobster Roll where he met Alison. It does almost seem like some sort of slight to Helen and a tribute  to Alison.

Risking an old man with dementia getting pneumonia or worse, drowning was ridiculous.

It would have been a very different wedding if I was  writing this show. As soon as Whitney answered Helen's question why am I here ... if this is how you feel about me? with "awp tics it would have looked terrible. I didn't want any empty seats" . I, the videographer would have been long GONE!  and I'd  have taken my dress with me! Whitney's personality is trash start to finish! I give poor Colin 6 months.

Why was Sierra there with  her director as her plus one? Did we ever hear Sierra and Whitney exchange so much as one word? Was she there because they all had to escape the Ca. wild fires? If so where was little Eddie?

*a late 18th century German literary movement characterized by works containing rousing action and high emotionalism that often deal with the individual's revolt against society. [in German it literally means storm and stress]

Edited November 4, 2019 by T Summer
added Sierra

[LydiaE]

So, are we to believe that Cole was just a bitter, destroyed individual? Is that supposed to be a lesson or a simple causation?

All of this ridiculous plot and the most important (to me) b-side sub-plot has never been solved: WTH happened to Will the Fisherman from season one? There were some strange, intimidating looking guys on his boat that day and he’s never heard of again. Offed by some cartel member or the guys who beat up Hal after he tried to sell back the family’s drug supply? 🙄