S05.E01: Episode 1

[PrincessPurrsALot]

Quote

Noah gets acquainted with his star, Sasha Mann; Helen mourns a tragic event; Sierra welcomes a new arrival; Joanie struggles with an upcoming birthday.

More Noah being Noah!  A reason for Helen to mope!  And adult(?) Joanie.  What more could  you ask?  Well, better writing . . . . Noah not being rewarded for being a jerk . . . the list goes on.

Original air date 2019.08.25

[marys1000]

I've kind of forgotten where things ended.  Guess I'll have to read wiki or something.  I had just gotten the impression that it was left with nowhere else to go....surprised to see a 5th season.

[Razzberry]

On 8/18/2019 at 5:22 PM, PrincessPurrsALot said:

 Helen mourns a tragic event; Sierra welcomes a new arrival.

What could they be hinting at? 

The suspense is killing me!

[Dminches]

If Joanie Lockhart, played by Anna Paquin, is now an adult, how many years have they skipped ahead?  Or, will season 5 cover 2 different time periods?

[scrb]

16 hours ago, Dminches said:

If Joanie Lockhart, played by Anna Paquin, is now an adult, how many years have they skipped ahead?  Or, will season 5 cover 2 different time periods?

That's what they seem to be doing.

The Helen and Noah segments were in the present, Vik dies, just after Sierra gives birth to his son Eddie.  Then they have a funeral.

So Sasha the director who's making the movie of Noah's book about the affair says he had to get integrity and courage back into his life and that the movie of Noah's book is the way for him to do so.

😂

A story about a man leaving his wife and children for a younger woman is inspirational to him apparently.  IIRC the book came out while Noah and Alison were married or were happily together?  So it must have had a rosy depiction of his new life.

They bring back Bruce, the guy who had so many arrogantly entertaining lines a few seasons ago.  But now he's just the doddering father/grandfather who insults Janelle.

Speaking of retcons, the Holloway kids are all well-behaved, not the spoiled brats they introduced to us in season 1 and repeatedly shown to be horrible little demons.  Well Whitney is still her bitchy self, about her boyfriend being this undiscovered genius painter.

Vik gives a corny, ridiculous tribute to the kids in his video goodbye.  BTW, he had time to make a video but he couldn't set up a will with his last wishes so Helen and his mother have to argue and scream at each other at his funeral.  Thanks Vik.

Then Noah is being nice cleaning up Helen's home after the wake while Helen goes and takes a nap.  Noah goes to wake her up and she shows him her tits (though in her version, she's got her shirt on when she goes to sleep).

Then we get Joanie's segment, some 30 years into the future.  She's married with kids, one of them adopted.  You know how it's way into the future?  They got these little robots picking perfect strawberries which she grows inside her home, which is perfectly climate-controlled.

Also, in the future, voice agents don't have to be coddled by being addressed by name (looking at you Alexa!).  Joanie and Paul, her husband, just ask questions into the ether and they get answers or their orders carried out.

Joanie's about to turn the same age as her mother, Alison, when she died.  So she's unfulfilled in some way or looking for closure.  Must be right, since she swallow a bottleful of anxiety pills?

Helen has to put up with Sierra's hippy-dippy natural birth and voodoo ritual party next door, because she wants to be in Vik's kid's life, take care of him.  Yeah Helen must have had some epiphany about that in season 4.

She's going to take care of a baby resulting from Vik cheating on her but she gives Noah hell one more time for leaving her for a "waitress" -- did she say "fucking waitress"?  I guess Alison is gone from the show and the present.

Show does do a beautiful job of rendering Vik's passing, with the music and with Helen kind of mute to the world swirling around her as she remembers or mourns him in that moment.  

But why?  Vik was just a substitute or a rebound for Helen wasn't he?  She moved out to CA with him because?

Main thing I remember him for is that Helen sneaked down to the basement and had sex with him while her children were upstairs.  Then she came up and prepared sandwiches for them to take to school.

Without washing her hands!

😳

[chocolatine]

1 hour ago, scrb said:

So Sasha the director who's making the movie of Noah's book about the affair says he had to get integrity and courage back into his life and that the movie of Noah's book is the way for him to do so.

Sasha is the actor who will be playing Noah. He's going "method" and emulating the way Noah eats his eggs and drinks his coffee.

1 hour ago, scrb said:

A story about a man leaving his wife and children for a younger woman is inspirational to him apparently.  IIRC the book came out while Noah and Alison were married or were happily together?  So it must have had a rosy depiction of his new life.

As was mentioned in the episode, the ending of Descent has Noah's alter ego hit Alison's alter ego with his car. So not exactly rosy.

1 hour ago, scrb said:

She's going to take care of a baby resulting from Vik cheating on her but she gives Noah hell one more time for leaving her for a "waitress" -- did she say "fucking waitress"?  I guess Alison is gone from the show and the present.

She said something like "you walked out on our marriage and left me alone to raise four children so you could go fuck a waitress you met at a restaurant." The situation with Vik was different because (a) Helen had slept with Sierra first so she couldn't begrudge Vik doing the same, (b) Vik knew he was dying and wasn't being his most rational self, and (c) Vik never had any intention of leaving Helen.

I feel so bad for Vik that he ended up being cremated against his wishes, but he should have written down and notarized everything as soon as he knew he was dying.

I noticed that Joanie said she missed her dad - does that mean that Cole died some time between last season and 2049 (or whenever the Joanie segments are taking place)? I hope we at least get some flashbacks of him this season.

[cardigirl]

4 hours ago, chocolatine said:

As was mentioned in the episode, the ending of Descent has Noah's alter ego hit Alison's alter ego with his car. So not exactly rosy.

She said something like "you walked out on our marriage and left me alone to raise four children so you could go fuck a waitress you met at a restaurant." The situation with Vik was different because (a) Helen had slept with Sierra first so she couldn't begrudge Vik doing the same, (b) Vik knew he was dying and wasn't being his most rational self, and (c) Vik never had any intention of leaving Helen.

I feel so bad for Vik that he ended up being cremated against his wishes, but he should have written down and notarized everything as soon as he knew he was dying.

I thought Helen slept with Sierra after Vik did, but before finding out about the baby. I’ll have to rewatch season 4.

I felt bad for Helen having to deal with Vik’s mother too. Since she and Vik weren’t married, I wonder what that means about the house, etc. Apart from losing someone they loved, her kids may be facing more upheaval by losing their home. And I realize that Vik’s mother lost her son too, but I have a hard time feeling sympathy for her for some reason. 

I loved that Sierra and Noah and Helen were all there when Vik met Eddie. That scene was well done. 

I also loved the breakfast scene with Noah and the actor playing him, where Noah thought the young girl was hitting on him. That was funny. 

[EtheltoTillie]

Anna Paquin looks a bit like Ruth Wilson, so good choice.  Not much else to add at this point.

[scrb]

Forgot to mention, they’ve either come a long way with prosthetics or the actress playing Sierra is really committed to the role, got pregnant so that she could be filmed giving birth while being very pregnant.

[PrincessPurrsALot]

9 hours ago, scrb said:

Main thing I remember him for is that Helen sneaked down to the basement and had sex with him while her children were upstairs.  Then she came up and prepared sandwiches for them to take to school.

Without washing her hands!

😳

Ball sweat adds a special brineyness to sandwiches.  She was enhancing the flavor profile.

[HaaCHOO]

Apropos of nothing, I agree that Dominic West is a good actor.  Why have I almost disliked him in everything...especially "The Affair"?

Never liked Ruth Wilson either...but I think it's her mouth.  Her profile matches Marge Simpson's.

And still...I've watched every episode of "The Affair."

Edited August 25, 2019 by HaaCHOO
PUNK-choo-ae-shun

[preeya]

I need a definitive explanation as to dates, who is dead and who is still alive and how old they are, and anything else that makes this less confusing. Not a good way to start the final season.

Edited August 26, 2019 by preeya

[DoubleUTeeEff]

I found it an odd choice to stick Joanie in between Noah and Helen's segments instead of at the end. I love how ridiculous the future is portrayed at times. A drone to pick strawberries as if you have so much money you can buy and operate a drone for such a specific task. How hard is it to pick them yourself? How many strawberries do you eat? Also, the bathroom mirror and the pill bottle. Especially the pill bottle. I guess you have to bring it in to the pharmacist every time to get it re-programmed and re-filled. Oh, duh. They probably have a drone to go to the pharmacist too. The picture frame/camera was pretty cool, except for the fact that the camera was spying on their children instead of a security camera for outside or something. Maybe if your kids are babies it's a good idea though. I wonder if her taking the pills is a flash-forward (within a flash-forward) and we'll see what led her up to that point. Especially from the preview where

Spoiler

she is looking for Alison's murderer (knocking on a door and asking for Benjamin Cruz.) Not that she knows he's Alison's murderer--I just can't stand to describe him any other way.

14 hours ago, chocolatine said:

Sasha is the actor who will be playing Noah. He's going "method" and emulating the way Noah eats his eggs and drinks his coffee.

I found it funny how he went to the extent of drinking it with cream and then insulted Noah by saying cream with coffee was a "children's" drink. I'm not sure how drinking your coffee with cream instead of without is really getting inside someone's head. Maybe it helps if he thinks Noah is childish.

9 hours ago, cardigirl said:

And I realize that Vik’s mother lost her son too, but I have a hard time feeling sympathy for her for some reason. 

Well, we've only seen her from Helen's POV where she's mainly been shown to be a busybody in her son's life. If we saw her perspective, it would probably look different and we could sympathize with her more. Not that I want to see her perspective, it's just that I'm sure she has her own feelings and rationalizations. 

Noah can't seem to live without a partner. I'm wondering if we're going to spend all this time with his girlfriend for no reason. Even from his perspective he doesn't seem to be too into her. Although complaining about your own work situation at someone else's funeral is kind of self-centered. Can't blame her for leaving after Bruce's casual racism though.

14 hours ago, chocolatine said:

I noticed that Joanie said she missed her dad - does that mean that Cole died some time between last season and 2049 (or whenever the Joanie segments are taking place)? I hope we at least get some flashbacks of him this season.

Same. I like Cole and wouldn't mind seeing him again. I feel like we need to since he was one of the original four voices and Alison's legacy is being continued with Joanie.

[Razzberry]

The cremation vs burial issue never gets old apparently.  

Vic's sickroom-behind-the-staircase door had so many locks I half-expected to see him in restraints.   Strange house layout but great views.

If only Vic's goodbye video had included his burial wishes, which is their primary purpose I think.  Admittedly was hoping he would express horror at being cremated. Might've given Helen some much needed leverage with the old battleaxe - not that I blame her for wanting him incinerated after seeing the appalling makeup job by the mortician.

Still digesting the interminable futuristic 'Joanie lays back closes her eyes thinking about Dad while getting poked by hubby' scene.

It's been so long since seeing Noah or Helen interact with Stacy that I completely forgot about her. 

Edited August 26, 2019 by Razzberry

[Guest]

33 minutes ago, Razzberry said:

Still digesting the interminable futuristic 'Joanie lays back closes her eyes thinking about Dad while getting poked by hubby' scene.

Yeah, that was pretty disturbing. 

Other than filler in the absence of Alison and Cole, I can see no other reason for introducing the adult Joanie character other than to have her eventually uncover that her mother was actually murdered and didn't commit suicide. 

[TexasGal]

Nice to see that Joanie got her mom’s stellar personality.  At least the writing is consistent. 

[mochamajesty]

Vick’s mom will never forgive Helen for “letting” Vic die without Helen calling her to come over. 

Joanie was thinking of her dad while having sex with her husband? Eww.

Noah is... still Noah. I still don’t get how he pulls  all of those women.

I’m looking forward to this season. I didn’t miss Allison at all. I did miss Cole. 

[CleoCaesar]

Vik, even from beyond the grave, is still the only person I liked. I caught the Affair marathon on Showtime today and his last episodes where he’s saying how much he doesn’t want to die were heartbreaking. So his funeral (and video message to his awful stepkids) was rough. The Solloway children are arguably the worst kids on TV and yet Vik found something to love there.

[nara]

I actually enjoyed this episode. A lot of it reminded of when my friend died of a brain tumor, so I thought the death and funeral were pretty realistic and beautifully shot.

 I like the casting of Anna Paquin as Joanie. She’s a good actress and resembles Ruth, though I think her natural hair color would have been even better. I do wonder what her connection will be to Noah and Helen—he’s not related to her, after all. And I am pretty sure Cole is not in this season.

I laughed a little at the portrayal of the future. You’d think they would have a better way to take medicine than swallowing pills.

[nara]

19 hours ago, scrb said:

They bring back Bruce, the guy who had so many arrogantly entertaining lines a few seasons ago.  But now he's just the doddering father/grandfather who insults Janelle.

Speaking of retcons, the Holloway kids are all well-behaved, not the spoiled brats they introduced to us in season 1 and repeatedly shown to be horrible little demons.  Well Whitney is still her bitchy self, about her boyfriend being this undiscovered genius painter.

I assume Helen’s dad is going to be one more burden for her to bear. But it’s not that surprising that he has suddenly gone downhill.

Regarding the Sollomanders, it’s pretty natural that they would be less bratty as they grow up. Plus, they are in mourning for someone they really liked. I don’t consider that a retcon.

[Blakeston]

 

 

 

 

14 hours ago, cardigirl said:

And I realize that Vik’s mother lost her son too, but I have a hard time feeling sympathy for her for some reason. 

She's always been portrayed as a vicious, oblivious mother-demon who lives to make others miserable. My sympathy for her was going to be limited no matter what.

 

 

 

1

21 hours ago, scrb said:

Speaking of retcons, the Holloway kids are all well-behaved, not the spoiled brats they introduced to us in season 1 and repeatedly shown to be horrible little demons.  Well Whitney is still her bitchy self, about her boyfriend being this undiscovered genius painter.

Trevor still seemed extremely irritated by Noah's existence. He wasn't as over-the-top nasty as he was last season, but he's still pretty snide.

A few other thoughts:

- The scenes with the doula were completely ridiculous. Yes, we get it, Sierra is a new-age flake, and Helen gets annoyed with her. The "your baby won't come out because you're a tool of the patriarchy" thing was still totally silly and unnecessary.

- Dear god, please let me have a body on the level of Maura Tierney's when I'm 54! Sanaa Lathan was also looking great. With longer hair, she appears so much younger. I wondered if they had recast the role.

- The most disturbing moment of them all - Helen sexually assaults a woman in the middle of her labor, while the woman screams in pain for her to stop. I don't think I've fully processed that...and I really don't want to.

[Armchair Critic]

Depressing episode and I really don't like any of the characters yet I will keep watching because I feel like I need to finish it out. LOL the story of my life.

[weaver]

How old was Joanie when last we saw her, 4 or 5?  I forget.  And now the Joanie character is saying she'll be as old as her mother when her mother died, 27.  So the Joanie scenes are 22 or so years in the future.  

As for Helen and money, I don't think she has to worry after Vik's death because of Daddy's riches from his novels.  She bought the Brooklyn brownstone when Noah was an underpaid teacher.

I liked the beginning.   Not so sure I'm going to like the Joanie plot or the Helen with next door neighbor's baby plot or Noah's bratty daughter's boyfriend plot.   I really miss Ruth Wilson and JJ.  I'll follow it through until the end.  Wonder what happened to JJ in  Treem's script?  

[Pallas]

Quote

I need a definitive explanation as to dates, who is dead and who is still alive and how old they are

The Helen/Noah timeline begins about 8 months after Season 4 ended, when Sierra first knew she was pregnant: so, it's roughly contemporaneous. 

Ruth Wilson and Anna Paquin are the same age (37), and Joanie is turning the same age as her mother when she died. I'd guess her narrative is set about three decades in our future. Where we're not yet meant to know if Cole -- or any other of her elders are still alive, or in her life.

Overall, the show's contemporary timeline has advanced about two years to our one. The show premiered in 2014. In this ep, Helen said that Noah left ten years ago; Vik reinforced that in his message, when he said he'd known the kids for eight years.  

Edited August 26, 2019 by Pallas

[ShortyMac]

13 hours ago, Blakeston said:

- The most disturbing moment of them all - Helen sexually assaults a woman in the middle of her labor, while the woman screams in pain for her to stop. I don't think I've fully processed that...and I really don't want to.

Helen wasn't sexually assaulting Sierra. She was rubbing sage oil on her feet to speed up her labor, what she searched and found on Google. That's why her hands itched after, and she took a Benadryl, a reaction to the undiluted oil. I agree that touching her without permission was wrong.

***

God, I love Maura Tierney and she's so great in this role. The music choice at the end was perfect. Her telling Noah to fuck off at the funeral was so satisfying. I'm forever angry that they killed off Vik.

I see Noah's kids still hate him. I thought Stacey looked too young for the timeline being ten years since Season 1, but, the actress is 13. Nevermind. 

Agree that Noah doesn't seem to be that into Janelle. 

So weird to see 'the future,' with the smarter technology and drones/robots. 

[preeya]

10 minutes ago, ShortyMac said:

Agree that Noah doesn't seem to be that into Janelle. 

But he certainly does manage to get himself involved/injected into everyone else's business.

I'm anticipating that following the past, current, and future arcs will be difficult to sort out.

[Blakeston]

 

 

 

 

41 minutes ago, ShortyMac said:

Helen wasn't sexually assaulting Sierra. She was rubbing sage oil on her feet to speed up her labor, what she searched and found on Google. That's why her hands itched after, and she took a Benadryl, a reaction to the undiluted oil. I agree that touching her without permission was wrong.

If she was rubbing the oil on her feet, why was Sierra screaming that it hurt? I got the impression that Helen decided to go straight for Sierra's lady parts and rub it there, for the quickest possible effect.

[chabelisaywow]

Dr. Vic ... the only likable character on this show (even with the cheating).

I will watch for closure. 

[nara]

9 minutes ago, Blakeston said:

If she was rubbing the oil on her feet, why was Sierra screaming that it hurt? I got the impression that Helen decided to go straight for Sierra's lady parts and rub it there, for the quickest possible effect.

I really do think it was her feet. However, the reaction was that Sierra felt it burning and itching, which caused her to scream. Helen didn’t know that was a side effect until she also started itching and needed medicine 

[scrb]

That would be something, if Helen just decided to grab her down there based on something she read on the Internet.

Don't think men could get away with "I was just trying to induce labor" excuse.

[ShortyMac]

1 hour ago, nara said:

I really do think it was her feet. However, the reaction was that Sierra felt it burning and itching, which caused her to scream. Helen didn’t know that was a side effect until she also started itching and needed medicine 

I went back and watched it again, and you can see Helen rubbing her feet; maybe she was too aggressive, which hurt Sierra.

[Babalu]

1 hour ago, ShortyMac said:

I went back and watched it again, and you can see Helen rubbing her feet; maybe she was too aggressive, which hurt Sierra.

I agree - I think when Helen looked it up online, it probably said to apply it with force to certain pressure points. There was a Roadblock on The Amazing Race several years ago where one member of each team had to get a foot massage in China and they were all in agony.

[chick binewski]

On 8/25/2019 at 2:44 AM, scrb said:

Helen has to put up with Sierra's hippy-dippy natural birth and voodoo ritual party next door, because she wants to be in Vik's kid's life, take care of him.  Yeah Helen must have had some epiphany about that in season 4.

***

But why?  Vik was just a substitute or a rebound for Helen wasn't he?  She moved out to CA with him because?

Right now I'm kind of hoping they leave LA and the baby and Sierra. I did always see Vik as a kind of substitute...he and Helen felt as distant to me as Noah & Alison did when those two were living together in NYC. I think the writers wanted Vik to have the possibility of shadiness when he first arrived and I never shook that feeling. I realize I may be alone on this!

On 8/25/2019 at 9:08 AM, cardigirl said:

I thought Helen slept with Sierra after Vik did, but before finding out about the baby. I’ll have to rewatch season 4.

I felt bad for Helen having to deal with Vik’s mother too. Since she and Vik weren’t married, I wonder what that means about the house, etc. Apart from losing someone they loved, her kids may be facing more upheaval by losing their home. And I realize that Vik’s mother lost her son too, but I have a hard time feeling sympathy for her for some reason. 

Yeah, Vik slept with Sierra first. After Sierra & Helen were together and mystifyingly walking from the desert to a landscaped home full of greenery (I'm sorry that STILL bugs me!), Helen advised Sierra not to sleep with any more married men as it affects the whole family forever.

ETA: and YES I have always thought Mother Vik would swoop in to take that house when Vik died. I sense Helen getting screwed or Vik doing something like leaving everything to Whitney .

On 8/25/2019 at 7:00 PM, DoubleUTeeEff said:

I found it an odd choice to stick Joanie in between Noah and Helen's segments instead of at the end. I love how ridiculous the future is portrayed at times. A drone to pick strawberries as if you have so much money you can buy and operate a drone for such a specific task. How hard is it to pick them yourself? How many strawberries do you eat? Also, the bathroom mirror and the pill bottle. Especially the pill bottle. I guess you have to bring it in to the pharmacist every time to get it re-programmed and re-filled. Oh, duh. They probably have a drone to go to the pharmacist too. 

***

Noah can't seem to live without a partner. I'm wondering if we're going to spend all this time with his girlfriend for no reason. Even from his perspective he doesn't seem to be too into her. Although complaining about your own work situation at someone else's funeral is kind of self-centered. Can't blame her for leaving after Bruce's casual racism though.

Same. I like Cole and wouldn't mind seeing him again. I feel like we need to since he was one of the original four voices and Alison's legacy is being continued with Joanie.

Future Joanie (whose identity the show seemed to want to hide for the premiere and who may take the Most Annoying Character crown away from Prof Eau So Franch) was a little too Jetsons for me. 

Spoiler

Idk if they're doing this for a climate crisis/anxiety mash-up which kind of makes me cringe but that may be due to my Anna Paquin issues only. I AM hoping they all end up back in Montauk.

Edited August 26, 2019 by chick binewski

[HC87]

I put it on late and it was in the "Future Joanie" segment...thought I had the wrong show.

I too miss the Montaulk/NYC setting....show was much more interesting then.

[PrincessPurrsALot]

I will admit I enjoyed every time Noah was verbally slapped or embarrassed this episode.  I could watch a whole hour of people treating him like trash.

The birth part was annoying.  Yes, Sierra is all hippy dippy California, but the insistence she was having a girl and having a boy would be supporting the patriarchy was so overplayed.   Science much? Also, her being in labor for more than 24 hours when the doula finally arrived.  Doulas help with the entire birthing process.  They don't just run in when the baby crowns. Was Sierra supposed to try to wait for the doula or was she supposed to be :"opening up" to let the baby out? 

I don't care about adult Joanie.  I guess we are supposed to surmise she's rich from her special strawberry room and robots.  What a silly thing to add to the episode.  She certainly did have quite the Debby Downer vibe.  

Also, this show continues it's fine standard of making sex seem incredibly unappealing.  Go ahead and finish; I'll lay here bitter and depressed.  

[HC87]

Nitpick but if Helen was so artsy and hip at Williams in the 80s, she wouldn't have been a Springsteen fan....probably more like the Cure, New Order etc

[cardigirl]

1 hour ago, PrincessPurrsALot said:

I will admit I enjoyed every time Noah was verbally slapped or embarrassed this episode.  I could watch a whole hour of people treating him like trash.

The birth part was annoying.  Yes, Sierra is all hippy dippy California, but the insistence she was having a girl and having a boy would be supporting the patriarchy was so overplayed.   Science much? Also, her being in labor for more than 24 hours when the doula finally arrived.  Doulas help with the entire birthing process.  They don't just run in when the baby crowns. Was Sierra supposed to try to wait for the doula or was she supposed to be :"opening up" to let the baby out?

The doula was there, it was the midwife that came in at the end. The midwife has medical training, the doula usually does not. 

[Cheyanne11]

2 hours ago, PrincessPurrsALot said:

Sierra is all hippy dippy California

I was in and out of last season, so maybe there's a reason Miss Hippy Dippy named her kid...Eddie?  I would expect Moonbeam Jupiter or Gemini Ascending or something like that, but Eddie? 

[chabelisaywow]

Quote

Eddie?

Vedder?

[ch1]

I see no point in bringing in an adult Joanie.  Just wrap up Helen and Noah’s story and put this show to it’s overdue rest.  Honestly who thought bringing in a depressing character who we don’t know anything about in some sort of weird Jetson’s like future reality was a good idea?  It was ridiculous.

[Dminches]

7 minutes ago, ch1 said:

I see no point in bringing in an adult Joanie.  Just wrap up Helen and Noah’s story and put this show to it’s overdue rest.  Honestly who thought bringing in a depressing character who we don’t know anything about in some sort of weird Jetson’s like future reality was a good idea?  It was ridiculous.

Word

[Guest]

9 minutes ago, ch1 said:

Honestly who thought bringing in a depressing character who we don’t know anything about in some sort of weird Jetson’s like future reality was a good idea?  It was ridiculous.

Having slogged through four previous seasons of this hot mess of a show, I can guarantee the shitty writers thought this was a brilliant idea. It makes total sense in the mythology of the show--meaning it makes no sense at all. 

Frankly I'm shocked they didn't bring back Alison's dad on his quest for his internal-organ replacement part. 

[LoveLeigh]

4 hours ago, ch1 said:

I see no point in bringing in an adult Joanie.  

Maybe she will solve her mom's murder. But, it has to be at least 25 years in to the future. So Ben Cruz is how old? 65? And how will Joanie solve the crime? The only way is if Ben confesses. 

Maybe we will get to see Helen and Noah together as grandparents. Maybe it will be some journey in to the future like the last episode of SIX FEET UNDER. 

I LOVED this episode 1. The only part I found irritating was that guy at the beginning copying Noah eating eggs. 

[LovesTheDrama]

When Joanie’s husband checked the weather, it was for Houston or some other Texas city. When Joanie mentioned missing her father I thought it was because he still lived in Montauk and she didn’t. 

[chabelisaywow]

Quote

I see no point in bringing in an adult Joanie. 

Writers way to bring in Anna Paquin as  replacement for Ruth Wilson, without having to introduce a "new character." 

I hated the Allison character because she was a wet blanket, but I thought killing her off was a dick move. 

Gosh, I hate this show. 

[cardigirl]

1 hour ago, chabelisaywow said:

Writers way to bring in Anna Paquin as  replacement for Ruth Wilson, without having to introduce a "new character." 

I hated the Allison character because she was a wet blanket, but I thought killing her off was a dick move. 

Gosh, I hate this show. 

Anything you like about the show?  Just wondering . . . 

I didn't care for Season 3 all that much, but really liked Season 4 and was shocked that it took the direction it did with Allison.  I enjoyed the first episode of Season 5, looking forward to seeing what comes next, although I'll miss Joshua. 

[lightninggirl]

Clearly I'm hormonal because I cried through the whole thing. Mostly at the funeral, then the Vik's death, then Noah being so kind to Helen and bringing Sierra and the baby in the wheelchair to Vik's room. And I don't even like Vik.

Someone kick Vik's mother in the mouth, please. What an old bag. She's so taking everything away from Helen once she figures out she and Vik weren't actually married.

Not sure what was going on with Joanie and it took me a bit to realize they were in the future (sorry; it's been a long few days). I was like, "WTF kind of blow horns did those kids get? Am I high? Where can I get one?" With the bedroom scene with Joanie's husband, all I could think about was that he was taking a walk up the old dirt trail until I got to the pill bottle scene and realized why she was so detached. And the actor playing him is so freaking adorable, I can't wait to see more of him. He's Joanie's balance with his positivity. Also, it's good to know my house in 2049 will have hydroponics and magical invisible strawberry pickers who so very neatly present the fruit in bowls for me. Yessssssss.

I completely miss Ruth Wilson. Not really Alison as much, but I cried every time Ruth came on the scene. I guess I'm still not over what happened to Alison. They're presenting her demise as if it was 100% Ben (totally fucking hated him from his first scene!!!), so is that the reality that we're going with now? Which is good, because that's what I've always thought anyway, even when the police said "suicide."

Let's hope I can get my shit together before E2. 
/eye roll

Edited August 28, 2019 by lightninggirl

[Growsonwalls]

The reason I liked Alison and Cole was that the times they showed them having sex it seemed like a normal sexual relationship. Every other coupling made sex seem like an expression of a totally fucked up psyche and that got tiring. Joanie just “lying there” was more of the same of that. People can have a normal shag in bed, ya know? 

[preeya]

1 hour ago, Growsonwalls said:

Joanie just “lying there” was more of the same of that. People can have a normal shag in bed, ya know? 

Apparently not on this show. That alleged sex scene with Paquin was absurd.

[chabelisaywow]

Quote

Anything you like about the show?  Just wondering . . . 

I got hooked before S3 and I binged S1 S2 because I caught the marathon... I got sucked in.

I'm so anti - infidelity, I was instantly on Helen's "side" and thought she was the character to root for.   When she was shown time and time again chasing after Noah - she lost me.

I thought her redemption would be a normal, supportive relationship with Vic.

Dominic West must be a great actor because I hate him! lol

Allison was a character liked and by extension - Cole, because I could never understand how mopey dopey could make men lose their shit.

At this point, I just want closure! lol

Whitney has a thing for painters.....