S02.E12: 212

[Tara Ariano]

Season 2 ends as events set in motion long ago come to their conclusion. A startling admission causes Noah to withdraw from his new life. Meanwhile, Alison is honest with Noah and herself; a dispute between Cole and Scotty is followed by tragedy; and a turn in Noah's trial results in a shocking event.

[cardigirl]

GDammit,

[Direwolf]

Wow! What a finale.

[AmandaPanda]

I was definitely not expecting that twist with Helen as the driver. Things just got a lot more complicated. I'm actually really excited to see where this goes next season! I know the mystery and the trial has been controversial, but it has actually been what keeps me coming back each week. I'm so thoroughly bored by everything to do with Noah and Alison's relationship that I am just enjoying seeing the mystery unfold.

[WaltersHair]

Good episode until the corny Courtroom confession.

[alisonsadface]

Scotty can saaaaang. It was haunting to watch him sing that song. gave me goosebumps. I enjoyed the finale alot. Until the confession. So cheesy.

[SoWindsor]

I enjoyed this episode. A bit hard to believe that Helen would attend the wedding. Was nice seeing Noah and Helen again. I wasn't a Helen fan last season but have loved her this season.

In Noah's memory does he actually see Alison or not? I couldn't see her but was wondering if it's just my bad vision.

Why couldn't Noah just say that he was driving and leave Helen out of it. Seems like that would be the best thing to do and he wouldn't be choosing.

Hope this doesn't veer too off in a soap opera direction. Wonder what next season will encompass.

[racked]

I understand why Helen didn't want to call the cops right away, she was drunk and it was her second DWI. But after everyone conferred, she could have gone to the police and only been charged with a hit and run, which was clearly not her fault since Ali pushed Scotty out into the road. It's the coverup that's the real problem here but I guess it made for good dramatic moments and a chance for Noah to redeem himself.

Both Helen and Alision come off so much better in Noah's POVs than they do in their own. Good episode, I liked going back to the S1 premise of seeing the same events (at least partially) from different POVs.

[Irlandesa]

Things just got a lot more complicated. I'm actually really excited to see where this goes next season! I know the mystery and the trial has been controversial, but it has actually been what keeps me coming back each week. I'm so thoroughly bored by everything to do with Noah and Alison's relationship that I am just enjoying seeing the mystery unfold.

Yeah. I don't care one whit about Scotty but I am a sucker for a mystery so I have been somewhat intrigued by it.  It's not the reason I come back because it's so little of the show but I didn't hate it.  And actually, it was kind of an interesting twist.  Not just that Helen was the driver while they were affectionately holding hands and looking into each others eyes but that Alison pushed him leading us once again to a "Who will Noah choose?" conundrum.

 

Once they showed Scotty getting hit in Noah's POV, and that POV happened in the first half, I knew Alison likely pushed Scotty.  Still, her POV regarding the revelation of Joanie's paternity was so good.  "House of the Rising Sun" was so inappropriate for a wedding but so perfect for the trauma Alison was experiencing. 

 

Why couldn't Noah just say that he was driving and leave Helen out of it. Seems like that would be the best thing to do and he wouldn't be choosing.

If he admits he was driving, he admits to the hit and run.  And that's essentially what he did at the end of the episode.

Edited December 21, 2015 by Irlandesa

[cardigirl]

I was so mad when Helen got in the driver's seat. Nooooooo!!!!! At least Alison and Noah are both involved.

So is Helen unaware that Alison knows what is going on? Was she trying to throw Alison under the bus with the whole pacifier thing? Or were all 3 trying to snow the lawyer?

I guess that's what the next season will be about.

Me not happy.

[grumpypanda]

It's seems so obvious now that Helen and Noah were in the car together. Prior to the episode I just couldn't think of a scenario where the two of them world be leaving the wedding together. Now it makes sense that they didn't report it because they were both shit faced drunk.

Anyway, I loved the episode except for the courtroom silliness. If Noah wanted to confess he should have told his attorney and he probably could have gotten a decent plea deal.

My favorite part of this episode was the scenes between Noah and Helen. The two actors have great chemistry together and they make me believe that they have a history and still feel a lot of love for each other even though they aren't necessarily meant to be a couple.

I really loved the beach scene and the scene in the car right before the accident. I gotta go back and rewatch because I didn't catch all of the internal dialogue.

I hope that Cole finds out about Joanie next season. Alison is a real piece of shit to keep that information from him and so is Noah for going a long with it. Cole deserves to know that he has a daughter and Alison is a cold hearted bitch for keeping his only child away from him.

Edited December 21, 2015 by grumpypanda

[cardigirl]

Part of me was thinking Noah and Helen were playing a long con on Alison and were going to end up like the first ending of Noah's book , sitting down to dinner with an unimaginable secret between them.

Edited December 21, 2015 by cardigirl

[Ellaria]

Yeah. I don't care one whit about Scotty but I am a sucker for a mystery so I have been somewhat intrigued by it. It's not the reason I come back because it's so little of the show but I didn't hate it. And actually, it was kind of an interesting twist. Not just that Helen was the driver while they were affectionately holding hands and looking into each others eyes but that Alison pushed him....

I am a sucker for a mystery, too, and its existence kept me hooked thru some of the slower moments in the last two seasons. I enjoyed this finale...cheesy confession and all. An unexpected confluence of events and three of them are involved in the accident/cover-up. Clever.

And the silly paternity question has been put to rest. Guess Cole will find out in S3 because he is the only one that doesn't know.

Loved that the blue boat on the side of the road was finally given a purpose.

Edited December 21, 2015 by Ellaria Sand

[AttackTurtle]

I have never felt there was any chemistry between Noah& Allison, but Noah & Helen have it coming out their ears to me.

The confession was cheesy and totally predictable.

[crashdown]

I loved this finale! A couple of stray thoughts:

 

• Noah made a big point of liking Alison's yellow dress in his POV, even having Helen comment on it. (Funny aside: I couldn't quite catch Helen's line of "Great dress" to Alison until I turned on the captions--I thought she said "waitress," which would have been a *little* too catty, even given the awkwardness of the situation. Then again, it's pretty telling that in Noah's POV Alison *is* a waitress--or at least she's serving food.)  But in Alison's POV, it was a different dress, a print.  Where have we seen that yellow dress on Alison before?  It looks familiar to me.
   
• I enjoyed the fact that in Noah's POV the wedding vows were traditional, but in Alison's they were written by the bride and groom and were all about trust, fidelity, and letting each other follow his or her own dreams.  I didn't think it was actually likely that Noah would have mis-remembered the vows--he's a writer, after all, so words are important to him--but I still thought it was clever.
   
• I loved the easy closeness in the Helen/Noah and Cole/Alison conversations on the beach--it really shows how affection and history really trump passion. In a lot of ways, I think that's one of the larger themes of the show.
   
• Incredible use of music throughout this episode--that never really struck me regarding any of the other episodes, but they really knocked it out of the park with this one.
   
• I really dug the fact that Noah was put in a position of having to choose between Helen and Alison, and he threw himself on the sword instead.  That rang very true to me--he's a selfish dick who has been spending altogether too much time pondering what heroism and living a larger, grander life actually mean. I think he *would* make a grand gesture like this, even though he'd actually be a better person if he just made the hundred and one smaller, kinder gestures that he fails to make every day of his ordinary little life.

 

Is it October yet?

[Turtle]

Scotty can saaaaang. It was haunting to watch him sing that song. gave me goosebumps. I enjoyed the finale alot. Until the confession. So cheesy.

Worse than cheesy, it went completely against everything we've come to know about Noah over two full seasons and from several people's points of view, including his own.

The baby-daddy revelation was so confusing, and it seemed like possibly the greatest diversion of viewpoints on a major issue we've seen. Noah remembers her telling him immediately after the ceremony, crying, and them having a big blowup and a breakup. She remembers blurting it out as an aside in a room full of people watching Scotty meltdown, with basically no reaction. I could understand if details of the conversation or clothing or whatever got mixed up, but that disconnect seemed ridiculous.

[Milburn Stone]

I thought it was a perfect season finale, in that it gave the audience satisfying closure on one big point--we finally know how Scotty died!--while creating new suspense going forward. Well done, Sarah Treem!

Edited December 21, 2015 by Milburn Stone

[izabella]

Worse than cheesy, it went completely against everything we've come to know about Noah over two full seasons and from several people's points of view, including his own.

The baby-daddy revelation was so confusing, and it seemed like possibly the greatest diversion of viewpoints on a major issue we've seen. Noah remembers her telling him immediately after the ceremony, crying, and them having a big blowup and a breakup. She remembers blurting it out as an aside in a room full of people watching Scotty meltdown, with basically no reaction. I could understand if details of the conversation or clothing or whatever got mixed up, but that disconnect seemed ridiculous.

 

That really struck me as well.  It also affects the timeline a bit.  In Noah's version, it's daylight when he goes off with Helen to the beach, and they go from the beach into the car to drive home.  In Allison's version, Noah is there with her at night when Scotty is singing.  So when did Noah go off with Helen?  How was Scotty in the boat on the side of the road, when Allison left him still singing at the Lobster Roll?

[jrlr]

I always bought the strength of Noah and Helen's relationship, but tonight was the first time I've seen the serious chemistry between them, and it was VERY convincing!  I also thought the twist of having both of Noah's women equally culpable for Scotty's death was a nice ironic touch and also (darkly) funny.  So I guess I will be tuning in next season, which I hadn't planned on until tonight.  

[Milburn Stone]

I also thought the twist of having both of Noah's women equally culpable for Scotty's death was a nice ironic touch and also (darkly) funny.

 

And willing to take the fall for both of them! Which of course won't buy him an ounce of compassion from those determined to hate him. :)

[sunflower]

This finale left a bad taste in my mouth.  I don't hate Noah, but was this redemption of sorts necessary?  The hoops they had to create to get Helen as the driver of that car, beginning with her mother paying for the wedding and having Helen as her date?  Please.  And don't get me started on Allison...she pushes him right into the car?  That's so soapy and not in the good way.  Also, as bad as Scotty was, was I supposed to believe he would try to rape Allison in his final moments?  Scotty was an asshole, but a believable one, now he's going to rape his former sister-in-law, which makes Allison the victim and so we don't feel any pity whatsoever for Scotty.  

 

And Cole, the only one in the dark about all of it.  Why did Allison want to get involved with Lobster Roll 2.0 knowing she was keeping this huge secret from her ex?  How was that going to play out well?

 

Just didn't like it.  Very plotty as I suppose this episode had to be, but it felt like we were returning to some of the worst aspects of season 1.  The feeling of Noah and Allison against the world is not something I enjoy. 

 

Is this series going to end with Cole and Luisa raising Joannie?

[Bama]

I'm curious to go back and check the episode where we saw Scotty and Alison arguing on the security tape.

 

I'm pretty sure she was wearing the dress from Alison's point of view.

 

Wonder if that's a hint that Alison's recollection of that night is the more accurate one?

[Pallas]

But in Alison's POV, it was a different dress, a print.  Where have we seen that yellow dress on Alison before?  It looks familiar to me.

 

As luck would have it, we have video evidence of the dress Alison was wearing at Cole's wedding.  I admit I was surprised: even in black-and-white, it's clear she is wearing the print dress.  

 

I can see where the booze and the shock of Scotty's death could have twisted Noah's recollection of everything that came before.  What I don't understand is why Noah and Helen were on the road to The End, rather than the Butler house.  

[HunterHunted]

That really struck me as well.  It also affects the timeline a bit.  In Noah's version, it's daylight when he goes off with Helen to the beach, and they go from the beach into the car to drive home.  In Allison's version, Noah is there with her at night when Scotty is singing.  So when did Noah go off with Helen?  How was Scotty in the boat on the side of the road, when Allison left him still singing at the Lobster Roll?

I've never been inclined to believe Noah's POV over anyone else's until tonight. Alison's timeline was completely screwy. Also Alison has never been that forthcoming about any of her secrets. Everything that Alison did in Noah's POV felt like Alison: insecure, withholding, and manipulative. This was a bit of a redemption of Noah, but I read it as subconsciously feeding into his great man narcissism.

[Bama]

Yup.  Alison's recollection of what she wore is the correct one.

 

I don't know if that means anything or not but there it is.

 

[blixie]

 

I also thought the twist of having both of Noah's women equally culpable for Scotty's death was a nice ironic touch and also (darkly) funny.

 

 

Except they aren't,in no universe is Allison fighting off a rape attempt, "equally" culpable in the accident. What they are all equally culpable in is obstructing justice, Alison going along with this is dumb as fuck. As is the entire bullshit excuse of having Helen at the wedding in the first place. Throw in the janky as hell time line and huge divergence in when and how Noah found out he's not Joanie's dad, and OY. This show out does General Hospital on the soap meter. 

 

I did like Noah in this episode, but the contrivances to provide him this opportunity for redemption were a bit much as was his wanting credit for NOT fucking around on Alison. Lortd, these two. I hope they lose Joanie, and Helen/Alison/Noah all end up in jail.

[Glade]

Wow, this was really powerful and moving.  The resolution to the 'murder mystery' was satisfyingly dark and complex.  I liked it, except for the final five seconds when Noah stood up and confessed--hopefully that will be overruled and thrown out.  I wanted him to go ahead with the defense strategy.   If he had, this could even have been a satisfying series finale...though I guess we know that Noah and Alison did/do get married before his arrest, which seems to be a mistake.  It's clear that the ties between the original two couples will always be greater then anything between Noah and Alison.   And N/A can't seem to share their lives together, unless they form a trauma-bond after the accident, though it's more likely to drive them apart. 

 

I loved Helen and Noah's scenes together, they rang so true and made me root for them.  But I find Helen's statement "I have a DWI (s***)" quite unforgivable, if she could remember that in her drunken state, maybe she should have taken it a step further and said 'neither of us can drive, let's call a cab!'  But it makes sense that all three of them made horrible choices leading to this moment.  And Alison saying "why don't you just tell the truth..." was horrible, too.  Why don't YOU tell the truth, Alison?  Say that Scotty tried to rape you and you pushed him in front of a car in self-defense.  Does she think he should just pin it all on Helen, as if Alison played no role?  The two of them should not allow Noah to take the blame. 

 

Are there really two seasons left?  Are there 24 more episodes of story here?  Presumably the show isn't going to turn into a prison drama.  But maybe the writers can continue to evoke these feelings even after the trial is concluded and take us to the 'happiness doesn't exist' ever after.  The most powerful parts of this show for me has been the human drama, not the plot, so it can work.

Edited December 21, 2015 by Glade

[bunnywithanaxe]

(Blinks for a while)
OK,  remember how I said the Lockharts were total Yankees? They all just became total Yankees. Montauk Does Miskatonic.

Edited December 21, 2015 by bunnywithanaxe

[ScoobieDoobs]

Except they aren't,in no universe is Allison fighting off a rape attempt, "equally" culpable in the accident. What they are all equally culpable in is obstructing justice, Alison going along with this is dumb as fuck. As is the entire bullshit excuse of having Helen at the wedding in the first place. Throw in the janky as hell time line and huge divergence in when and how Noah found out he's not Joanie's dad, and OY. This show out does General Hospital on the soap meter. 

 

I did like Noah in this episode, but the contrivances to provide him this opportunity for redemption were a bit much as was his wanting credit for NOT fucking around on Alison. Lortd, these two. I hope they lose Joanie, and Helen/Alison/Noah all end up in jail.

 

Very much agree, Helen was driving drunk.  But here's the thing.  It's all very murky AND extremely hard to prove -- ANYONE's guilt here.  In Noah's version, Helen turns her head to look lovingly at Noah (go back to Tinder, Ullah), and that's when she hit Scotty.  In Alison's version, she pushed Scotty off of her as he was attempting to rape her.  True, this is Alison's version, but she might not have purposely pushed him in front of an oncoming car or even into the road.  

 

Helen was drunk & not paying attention.  She may have been driving on the edge of the road or even off the road.  Still, cops would have no proof of Helen being drunk at the time of the accident.  Nor do they have much (or any) case against Alison, other than placing her at the scene & a vague motive.  Everyone at the wedding witnessed Scotty drunk as a skunk, so if Alison said he was trying to rape her, it would be a very plausible explanation.

 

Now, all of this seemed convoluted & complicated to me.  But kudos to Treem cuz I was entertained.  And it is believable (to me) that everyone would be lying & covering up for each other and/or themselves. That's life & happens all the time.  What I find interesting is if they all had told Gottlief the truth of what really happened, he could have advised them properly & got them all off.  But then we wouldn't be hearing him go on like the windbag he is.  And yeah, Noah jumping up at the end was pretty silly.  It was the only standout dopey moment in what was otherwise a very compelling finale.

 

Well, I have been super critical of Colin's (Scotty) acting.  Sorry, but I still think he's a ham sandwich as an actor.  But DAMN, the guy really can sing.  He did a great job on that song.  The music in this ep was superb.

 

I was confused a few times.  In Noah's POV, when he gets out of the car & looks at dead Scotty & sees someone in the shadows, I couldn't tell that was Alison.  And in Alison's POV, Noah looks at her in the bushes, while she's saying she pushed Scotty.  She sorta whispered that.  Did he hear her?  So if Noah did see Alison, then why did he just leave her there & drive off with Helen?  He didn't want to tell Helen about Alison's possible involvement?  So Alison & Noah continue to lie to Helen & Cole?

 

I was kinda surprised Noah went back to Alison (even tho we already knew he does, but still), which we only saw in Alison's version.  Is it that "wounded bird" thing or he gets off on wanting to "save" her?  And when they were dancing, I couldn't hear much of what they saying.  Guess cc'ing helps, eh?

 

Just an aside, is little Joanie totally adorbs or what?  OK, Noah-haters, please don't slaughter me or rip me to pieces, but I actually (kinda/sorta) dug Noah in this ep -- well, for few moments anyway.  There's something very sweet about a daddy who goes on about his little daughter.  

 

The "Who's the douchebag in the beemer?" line did give me a giggle.  Thanks for the one laugh, Treem, within this pretty intense stuff.  Wonder if that was a shout-out to the Noah-haters.  

Edited December 21, 2015 by ScoobieDoobs

[AlliMo]

I do believe that Alison has hidden the question about Joanie's paternity out of a selfish desire to preserve the status quo. I also think, that for Cole and Alison, the marriage was already irretrievably broken and that Alison did and does still genuinely care about Cole. She sees that he's happy now with Luisa, and the part of her that still cares about him doesn't want to screw that all up. I also refuse to believe that it has never even once occurred to Cole that he could be Joanie's father. He's not an unintelligent man, and I'm sure he's done the math. He's worked hard to move on and build a new life, and while he may have a good relationship with Alison as business partners, being acknowledged as Joanie's father would suck him back into the maelstrom of chaos that is Alison. From what he can see, Alison and Noah are in a stable relationship and Joanie is being raised by a loving and caring father. He and Alison have both told themselves that they only slept together the one time, the odds are slim, so leave well enough alone when neither of them are bringing it up.

 

Well, this certainly explains why Helen was the one who turned up with a lawyer when Noah was arrested.

 

I'm not surprised that Noah stayed with Alison. There's a whole lot of sunk cost fallacy in this relationship.

Edited December 21, 2015 by AlliMo

[Armchair Critic]

I thought maybe Alison's yellow dress reminded Noah of her waitress uniform when she first caught his eye?

[chocolatine]

I loved Noah's burn to Alison right before they entered the courtroom that Helen is "the mother of [his] children", and for a second I thought he was going to go through with Gottlief's plan to throw Alison under the bus, but then he had to ruin it with the stupid confession. *sigh* I'm sure he thinks he's a hero making a great sacrifice.

 

It felt kinda weird to have all the exes be so chummy at the wedding. Being civil is one thing, and Alison obviously had to be there since she's part-owner of the venue, but for Helen to be there and coo over a video of Joanie on Noah's phone, then to go drinking and swimming with him without missing a beat; Luisa getting ready for the wedding at Alison's place; Alison feeling Cole's forehead and Cole touching her knee? Too much if you ask me.

 

One way for Cherry to make some money so that she can stop working as a housekeeper: sue the rehab facility that let her son interrupt his program to attend an event that is notorious for family tensions and an open bar.

Edited December 21, 2015 by chocolatine

[loki567]

I just can't get past how screwy the timeline is. Noah and Alison aren't married by the time of Cole's wedding and yet, they're married during the present? When the hell would they have decided to that? How many days could there have been between the Jeffries investigation and them getting married?

[scrb]

Extenuating circumstances all over.  Distracted driving, fending off a rape attempt.

 

But in this day and age, it never would have went down the way Noah remembered it.  He wouldn't have been holding Helen's hand, he'd have been staring at his phone as soon as he got on the passenger side.

 

The difference in the paternity revelation between the two POVs is crucial.  Helen and Noah left together only because he didn't take the news well.

 

In Alison's POV, there wasn't much of a reaction.  And she left while Scotty was still singing and he teleported to the road ahead?  Why was she on the road anyways? She was going to go to the hotel room at The End, after telling Noah, who reserved the room, that he wasn't the father? 

[Anne Elk]

All right, show. I will say it: Noah is the most martyr-like, self-sacrificing person alive. I know that's what you've been trying to get me to think, so now I've said it. You get your wish. But I still don't like him.

 

I don't believe for a minute that the paternity news went down the way it did in Alison's POV. The whole thing was like some kind of sick nightmare, with Scotty wailing away onstage while glaring threateningly at everyone (as if Cole would have let him do that), the red lighting, the fog, Alison looking as if she was sleepwalking, etc. I think Alison is repressing how Noah actually reacted and what he actually said because she knows there is no possible way to dress up the paternity revelation where she, Alison, does not come out looking like a total asshole who did a terrible thing. And she can't face it. Sure, she was involved in Scotty's death, but there were extenuating circumstances that let her off the hook. There's nothing like that to explain away what she did about Joanie. So rather than relive all of the terrible but true things Noah said to her, she's just not going to think about it. She admitted it; now cut to Scotty in the rowboat.

 

It was interesting, though, that in both hers and Noah's point of view, she really did seem to be over "that asshole in the Beemer." Even in her own telling, she was unhappy as soon as he honked that horn, and she wanted to stay in Montauk. But then, tragedy struck -- and suddenly Alison is all passion and neediness. Just like she was when she and Noah met. That is what's really holding them together, I think. Good thing the two of them live on a TV melodrama, so there will be no shortage of tragic events to reignite their love.

 

Why drag Helen into this? That really made me sad. Poor Helen, first her husband cheats on her and leaves her, and now she's going to have to choose between confessing to a murder or the guilt of letting him rot in jail for her. What the hell did she do to deserve this? 

 

I hope Cole and Luisa just cut ties with this whole bunch. Sell the damn restaurant and move back to NYC. 

Edited December 21, 2015 by Anne Elk

[yourmomiseasy]

Also, as bad as Scotty was, was I supposed to believe he would try to rape Allison in his final moments?  Scotty was an asshole, but a believable one, now he's going to rape his former sister-in-law, which makes Allison the victim and so we don't feel any pity whatsoever for Scotty.  

 

Keep in mind that we only see this in Alison's POV and in her POV she's always victimized and men are always predatory.  

[ScoobieDoobs]

In Alison's POV, there wasn't much of a reaction.  And she left while Scotty was still singing and he teleported to the road ahead?  Why was she on the road anyways? She was going to go to the hotel room at The End, after telling Noah, who reserved the room, that he wasn't the father? 

 

Certain aspects of Alison's POV were weird as hell to me.  It almost seemed dream-like.  Colin/Scotty was absolutely singing his heart out -- and quite beautifully (and hauntingly), which moved Alison to whisper to Noah that he isn't Joanie's father.  Alrighty then.  BUT she doesn't tell him Cole is Joanie's father or explain the circumstances behind it.  And we see ZERO reaction from Noah to this news, other than a constipated look on his craggy mug.  Er, what the what?

 

And then there's poor soon-to-be-dead Scotty singing his guts out one minute -- and seemingly 2 seconds later, Alison is walking along the roadside & so is Scotty.  Again, it felt like some weird dream sequence.  What gives, Treem?

 

And that dance scene with Noah & Alison made me feel like I need to get my hearing checked.  I could barely hear what they were saying.  Am I alone in this?  I had to watch this 3 times before I finally got it.  You did this on purpose, right, Treem?

[EyesGlazed]

 

• Incredible use of music throughout this episode--that never really struck me regarding any of the other episodes, but they really knocked it out of the park with this one.

I think the use of music has been terrific in other episodes too.  Most notably at the party when Noah is coking and drinking it up with Eden and things are spinning out of control.  They played "North American Scum", which starts out kind of slow and low-key, though with a great beat, and then builds to a huge chorus with a lot of semi-screaming.  It really fit Noah's increasing craziness and bad choices.

 

I don't believe for a minute that the paternity news went down the way it did in Alison's POV. The whole thing was like some kind of sick nightmare, with Scotty wailing away onstage while glaring threateningly at everyone (as if Cole would have let him do that), the red lighting, the fog, Alison looking as if she was sleepwalking, etc. I think Alison is repressing how Noah actually reacted and what he actually said because she knows there is no possible way to dress up the paternity revelation where she, Alison, does not come out looking like a total asshole who did a terrible thing. And she can't face it. Sure, she was involved in Scotty's death, but there were extenuating circumstances that let her off the hook. There's nothing like that to explain away what she did about Joanie. So rather than relive all of the terrible but true things Noah said to her, she's just not going to think about it. She admitted it; now cut to Scotty in the rowboat.

This is a very good explanation.  I was perplexed by the huge difference in POV too, but this seems right.  In her POV, Alison is even lying to herself about how things went down.

 

Perhaps Noah and Alison got married to have the benefit of spousal privilege to help cover up the crime?  But I don't think it applies to events that happened before the marriage?

 

[Ellaria]

The difference in the paternity revelation between the two POVs is crucial.  Helen and Noah left together only because he didn't take the news well.

 

In Alison's POV, there wasn't much of a reaction.  And she left while Scotty was still singing and he teleported to the road ahead?  Why was she on the road anyways? She was going to go to the hotel room at The End, after telling Noah, who reserved the room, that he wasn't the father? 

 

 

Certain aspects of Alison's POV were weird as hell to me.  It almost seemed dream-like.  Colin/Scotty was absolutely singing his heart out -- and quite beautifully (and hauntingly), which moved Alison to whisper to Noah that he isn't Joanie's father.  Alrighty then.  BUT she doesn't tell him Cole is Joanie's father or explain the circumstances behind it.  And we see ZERO reaction from Noah to this news, other than a constipated look on his craggy mug.  Er, what the what?

 

And then there's poor soon-to-be-dead Scotty singing his guts out one minute -- and seemingly 2 seconds later, Alison is walking along the roadside & so is Scotty.  Again, it felt like some weird dream sequence.  What gives, Treem?

 

And that dance scene with Noah & Alison made me feel like I need to get my hearing checked.  I could barely hear what they were saying.  Am I alone in this?  I had to watch this 3 times before I finally got it.  You did this on purpose, right, Treem?

 

Great observations in both of these posts. I was confused by a lot in Alison's POV. Scotty is singing (btw, well done) and she whispers the paternity reveal to Noah in a crowded, noisy room and Noah doesn't react? Doesn't even say "well, who is the father." Say what you will about him but any man would have a reaction to that news. IMO, Alison doesn't want to deal with the fallout from her poor choices so it is not part of her consciousness. The differences in the paternity reveal - and his reaction - are too striking.

 

I am also suspect about her conversation with Cole on the beach prior to his wedding. Why would he vocalize apprehension about marrying Luisa to Alison? Since that only appears in her POV (and we never get that sense in a Cole POV), I am guessing that's what she wants to believe. Also, that is when he tells her about Luisa's inability to have children. And that must inform the emotions that she demonstrates in the rest of the episode. 

 

No explanation as to how Scotty was beamed into the blue boat so that Alison - presumably walking towards The End - would encounter him. No scene of her wondering where Noah went and why he left her. Why wouldn't she head upstairs to her room above the Lobster Roll? And she heads out on a dark road on a misty night with no cell phone, purse or flashlight. 

 

Also, Noah was having visions/hearing voices while driving. Why does the end of his book - with him killing Lana - play so heavily in his mind?

Edited December 21, 2015 by Ellaria Sand

[GeminiDancer]

Holy shit! What a really good episode. I was not expecting that both of Noah's women were involved in Scotty's death. I figured Helen was going to be the one to actually hit Scott the minute Noah asked her to take over driving duties. Speaking of, Noah is still an asshole. He knows she's drunk AND has a DWI on her record, yet he still wants her to drive the car. Seriously?

 

That being said, I think Alison has Noah beat on the asshole scale. She's heinous. To not only hide Joanie's paternity from Cole, cover up her role in her former brother-in-law's death (and there's nothing that Cole has done to warrant her disrespecting him like that), and then tell Noah that he has to choose between her and Helen. Oscar is absolutely right about her. She uses her wounded bird act to cover up the fact that she's heartless.

 

 

I was confused a few times.  In Noah's POV, when he gets out of the car & looks at dead Scotty & sees someone in the shadows, I couldn't tell that was Alison.  And in Alison's POV, Noah looks at her in the bushes, while she's saying she pushed Scotty.  She sorta whispered that.  Did he hear her?  So if Noah did see Alison, then why did he just leave her there & drive off with Helen?  He didn't want to tell Helen about Alison's possible involvement?  So Alison & Noah continue to lie to Helen & Cole?

 

I think Noah saw her, but he's trying to tell us that he didn't. I guess he's trying to protect Alison by leaving her there, which is awful because Helen blames herself for Scotty's death. Helen doesn't know that Alison pushed him into the street, but Alison knows that Helen was driving. Gah, those two...

[GeminiDancer]

 

So is Helen unaware that Alison knows what is going on? Was she trying to throw Alison under the bus with the whole pacifier thing? Or were all 3 trying to snow the lawyer?

 

I doubt Helen knows Alison's role in all of this, so I do believe that Helen was trying to get Gottlief to pin it on Alison.

[nilyank]

I need to rewatch this because I couldn't hear what Noah said when they were dancing.

 

This would be the one time I would have loved if we have a Scotty version.

 

Of course this is my bias based on watching these characters, so I want to believe the following is true:

• Noah and Alison don't bother to listen to each other over the little things, so they will always have different recollections of what is happening in their lives
• Noah totally blew up at Alison when she told him about Joanie 
• Noah saw Alison after the accident but only believes that she was witnessed Scotty's death. Not that she was in any way responsible for it, Because getting Alison to tell the truth about anything is like pulling teeth from an unwilling someone.
• Noah is covering for Helen only but Alison believes he is covering up for both of them.

[nara]

Really excellent episode in my opinion.  

 

I know that a lot posters didn't like the confession, but I thought it was quite in keeping with a man who wants to be seen as great and is rather reckless.  I do think it would have been better to end the season with him having made up his mind, but the audience not knowing what he decided. Then they could have started the next season with the confession.

 

I am so annoyed with Noah and Helen for driving when they shouldn't have been.  Apparently neither of them learns anything from past mistakes--they are perfect for each other.  I do like the drunk driving didn't come out of nowhere.  We have seen that they have both been reckless in the past. (By the way, does Alison not know how to drive?  I don't think we've ever seen her drive--she's always walking, riding a bike, or being driven places.)

 

This is very late to be asking, but do we know if the POVs refer to how they remember events or how they perceive the events at the time?  Alison's perception of Scotty's behavior during his (beautiful) song and even by the side of the road was very threatening.  If it's a memory, it's possible she remembers him as more threatening than he was (trying to rape her) even if that is not the case.

 

There are many huge discrepancies between Noah's and Alison's versions of the paternity conversation.  The one I find interesting is that in his version he was told he might not be the father and is hers she told him that he was not the father.

[blixie]

 

I don't believe for a minute that the paternity news went down the way it did in Alison's POV. The whole thing was like some kind of sick nightmare, with Scotty wailing away onstage while glaring threateningly at everyone (as if Cole would have let him do that), the red lighting, the fog, Alison looking as if she was sleepwalking, etc. I think Alison is repressing how Noah actually reacted and what he actually said because she knows there is no possible way to dress up the paternity revelation where she, Alison, does not come out looking like a total asshole who did a terrible thing. And she can't face it.

 

I agree with this there is simply no way that happened, especially after Cole just confronted Scott about staying clean, and not RUINING his wedding, sure Cole and Luisa will just calmly watch his drunk ass sing some totally inappropriate song of reckoning while he downs a scotch? SURE, Ali, sure. I love you're idea that this is just how she processed Noah's rejection/condemnation/her own guilt. Not guilty enough to tell Cole he is the fucking father though. I just really resent Treem dragging Helen/Alison through the mud to make her avatar Noah into a heroic redemptive figure. Having said that, Dominic West was amazing this episode, and he truly made me like Noah for the first time in a long time, even while I still though he was full of shit (I almost cheated but didn't NYAH so mature). He owned that he didn't want "Joanie", felt trapped, and that his real struggle was sticking with Alison because he wanted The Affair to be worth having harmed so many other people.

 

 

t's all very murky AND extremely hard to prove -- ANYONE's guilt here.

 

There is tons of evidence they colluded to obstruct justice. The law really really hates people who obstruct justice. Unlike you I actually don't find it believable that everyone's first instinct was to lie and cover it up. Especially Alison, everything about this incident was an accident, but only Helen (and thus Noah) have a motive to conceal it due her being drunk and having a previous conviction. Alison's motive to conceal is weak as fuck. Assuming of course that she's being truthful about her confrontation with Scotty, she was fending off a rape attempt and bears ZERO culpability in his death.Fargo also had someone do something like this but the character was consistently portrayed as "touched" and out of her damn mind. Alison does love to be a victim, but she should have then welcomed the opportunity to tell everyone how she was almost raped and then accidentally caused Scott's death.  

There isn't a lot of hard evidence, but few cases actually contain hard evidence and most juries are dumb as shit and will convict anyone based on a good enough "story" evidence or logic be damned.

[Pallas]

ff Alison cops to having pushed Scotty in front of an oncoming car, she'll not only place herself under suspicion but also be asked for a descriptions of the car and driver. (Tire tracks will indicate that it stopped, at least.)  Either she then implicates Noah (his car) and possibly Helen in the hit-and-run and destruction of evidence, or she then starts lying to the investigators.  Plus, she now has regained emotional leverage on Noah, given his concern to protect both Helen and himself.  I understand Alison's staying far away from involving herself -- even if the end of the story did occur as she recalls, unlike much of what come after the wedding ceremony.  

 

Back to Noah and Helen: if Noah had make a reservation at The End for that night, as he told Alison in his recollection, why does The End later have no record of it?  I'm more inclined to believe that Noah and Helen were heading there -- and not the Butler house -- to tryst. There's no record of a reservation because they never arrived.  

[Constantinople]

At least it's not getting so soapy that Scotty walked into the courtroom after Noah confessed.

[nilyank]

If Noah actually did see Alison on the road, he should have called her out and asked her to lie that she was the one driving Noah and Helen as she was the only one sober. They could have called the police about the accident and said drunk Scotty appeared out of nowhere when Alison hit him.

[truthaboutluv]

So it's a whole night later and I'm still processing and deciding how I felt about this finale. My friend and I were on the phone breaking it down to each other and she is adamant that she was disappointed. There were parts that I enjoyed and by the end I guess I sort of understood what they were going for but in all, I'm not really sure it worked for me. Just like last week, there is so much to talk about, I'll just go point by point. 

 

First of all, forget everything else - um, so is anyone going to inform Cole that he's a father again (and speaking of I'm glad we got a definite answer on that)? Or are the three (I assumed Noah told Helen when they were on the beach, even though they didn't show him actually saying it. Of course I'm not sure why else he would be saying he didn't even want Joanie in the first place) just going to go on deciding that Joanie's biological father doesn't need to know he's her father. Also, it now seems even more certain that's what Cole's look in the season premiere was about. However, the season ends with nothing and no confrontation from him about that. So that was probably one of the biggest letdown's of the season finale for me. The season ends and we NEVER get to see Cole react to the truth about Joanie's being his and Alison not telling him? Okay then... 

 

I mean I am assuming it will be addressed in the third season and I wonder how things will work with them being business partners. Because I don't imagine Cole is going to be too kind and understanding about this and from all we've seen, he seems the type to really hold a grudge if he's sufficiently pissed off and that is certainly a sufficient reason to be pissed off. I have a feeling that situation will get a little ugly, between custody, the restaurant, etc. Not to mention I don't trust Alison one single bit so there is that. 

 

Which speaking of, it's official in my opinion - Alison is awful and a bitch. Lying about the baby's paternity is bad enough. But to sit there, listening to Cole go on about always hoping and believing that he'd get a second chance, another chance to do it right and STILL not admit the truth? I guess she gets points for having enough of a semblance of conscience and telling Noah but damn woman. And then, not only was she lying about Joanie's paternity, she apparently just dumped her with Noah (I guess that's one convenient way to explain why Cole never saw her and made the connection) while she was off for the summer working on her restaurant. WTAF...

 

I can see why some think the character changed somewhat in the second season from how she was portrayed in Season 1. Like are the writers just writing her in whatever way is convenient for plot reasons or is Oscar right and she's always been heartless but just really good at playing victim so people don't see it at first? I mean it would have been nice if the writers had given SOME explanation for why Alison felt it necessary to lie about Joanie's paternity. Was she really just that desperate to keep Noah - a relationship that seemed to be falling apart before it even began? A relationship that she seemed surprised when he brought up them getting married at Cole's wedding? Okay...

 

And speaking of seeing herself as a victim, considering what we've seen of her and how untrustworthy she is, I'm not sure I buy Alison's "memory" that Scotty tried to sexually assault her and she shoved him into the road where he was accidentally hit. Oh don't get me wrong, I don't put anything past Scotty who was a total asshole but it's just really convenient excuse on her part and feeds to her need to see herself as a victim and see herself as this woman men over-sexualize all the time. Honestly, right now, I'm willing to believe Alison and Scotty were arguing about Joanie's paternity, he was threatening her, it got physical and she deliberately shoved him with the intent for him to be hit. 

 

Okay, the accident - another one of my biggest disappointments. I HATE that they've made Helen the guilty person as many speculated during the season. Aside from the fact that I really didn't think they'd make it one of the leads (so I guess kudos to them for having the balls to go there), I especially hate that it's Helen who is now well and pretty fucked. Helen has a DUI with her kids in the car and now she ran a man down because she was drinking. That is some serious jail time. Yeah they could have told the truth of Scotty jumping or being pushed suddenly into the road which does sometimes absolve drivers of negligence (I actually recently read a case about this) but the fact that she was drinking would make that moot, I think. So now Helen is a bonafide criminal. 

 

But that leads me to my biggest issue with this finale. So clearly, I guess like the first season finale where in Noah's memory, while Cole was pointing the gun at him, he saw himself in the middle with Helen at one end and Alison on another, we're supposed to view this as Noah protecting both women in some way. He won't say Helen was the one behind the wheel at the time because again with her previous DUI, she would be in serious trouble (and really, two grown ass adults not just taking a damn cab when they've both been drinking is so stupid and irresponsible) and if he says the truth about Alison, especially with the baby paternity, she very well may be charged with deliberately shoving Scotty into the road because he was threatening her with the truth.

 

Here's my issue though...I don't buy it. Specifically, I don't buy Noah and Alison. So I am supposed to believe that Noah ended up so perfectly okay with Joanie's not being his child after all and Alison lying for that long about it? Sure I guess they can sell that he bonded and really fell in love with her, especially since Alison seemed to just up and leave them both for the summer. But then seeing how Noah reacted and the things he said to Alison in his version when he learned the truth, I don't see it. Then I felt like Noah was giving Helen some really longing looks in his version. Like even her "I love you..." to him seemed more romanticized on his part in my opinion. Of course he was covering her ass at the time so she very well might have said it. 

 

The point is, I spent most of this episode trying to figure out HOW Noah and Alison ended up getting married with all the shit that's gone down and happened with these people. And I'm not sure I buy Alison's memory of him coming to the restaurant after and this so called passionate and romantic moment in the wake of the Scotty tragedy. I think I would have bought all of this if during the season we had seen the love story between Noah and Alison. That this season showed the aftermath of them leaving both their spouses and yes the difficulties of the divorce but them together, happy and so in love and passionately consumed by each other and just the joy of being together. 

 

I DIDN'T SEE THAT. Instead this season seemed determined to show how bad these two were together and for each other. The people were in couples' therapy before Noah's divorce to Helen was even final. And Noah's whole "I never cheated..." to Alison, was laughable. Acting like he could have but didn't. Yeah he didn't because the first time Eden stopped it and the second time he ran into his daughter making out with another girl while he was naked and freaked out, not to mention traumatized her and that woke him up. So whatever Noah. But Alison and Noah have been a mess of dysfunction and misery this season and I'm supposed to believe, that in the aftermath of realizing that she was telling the ultimate lie to him, then Scotty being killed because he and Helen were drunk and Alison shoved him into the road, they happily get married. 

 

No, I came away thinking that next season we'll see the truth about that marriage. I think Noah married Alison as a convenience. They have this big secret between them - namely she knows he or Helen was behind the wheel of the car and they were drunk. Sure he can say she pushed Scotty but again she can say they were drinking. So it was for all their best interests to say nothing and them being married maybe provides spousal privilege or whatever it is. I'm not saying he maybe doesn't love her and the ending of him taking the blame certainly suggests that, but again I'm just not buying it. Not from what we've seen this season and if that was I am supposed to be buying then the writers fucked up in delivering that.

 

If anything, this season felt like the ending of Descent coming to fruition - the man realizing that this woman he blew up his family and life for wasn't who he thought she was and wasn't worth it and in the end, in a fit of anger and bitterness, he kills her. I don't think the killing Alison part will happen but I have a feeling the show will end on the original ending Noah had - the couple sitting down quietly to dinner with this big secret between them. Basically in my opinion, I think The Affair is really a tragedy. This isn't a love story but a Shakespearean tragedy of how one decision can change the course of so many lives. 

Edited December 21, 2015 by truthaboutluv

[Milburn Stone]

I know that a lot posters didn't like the confession, but I thought it was quite in keeping with a man who wants to be seen as great and is rather reckless.

 

That's an interesting interpretation of Noah's motive, different than mine. Mine is that he did it because he loves both women and wants to protect them. Go figure! ;-)

[GeminiDancer]

I think it could be both. I could see him wanting to be seen as a great man who sacrificed his freedom for two women he loves and wants to protect. Makes for a nice Ascent.