# "The Affair": New Showtime Series \*\*spoilers\*\* **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 13, 2014, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-affair-new-showtime-series-spoilers/701200 "2014-10-13T14:19:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-affair-new-showtime-series-spoilers/701200/1 "2014-10-13T14:19:05Z")
Anyone watch this? I liked it quite a bit. It was a bit confusing with the two different versions of the meeting, but I’m guessing this is the two of the recalling events differently quite a few years later as they are being interviewed by the police. Looking forward to this one. _Homeland_, and then _The Affair_. ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-affair-new-showtime-series-spoilers/701200/2 "2014-10-13T14:33:19Z")
I will give it a try though I am not sure I liked the two versions of the story. I’m guessing she’s the more unreliable narrator though maybe that’s too obvious. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-affair-new-showtime-series-spoilers/701200/3 "2014-10-13T14:37:53Z")
The opener had elements of _True Detectives_; they were being interviewed for their version of events and we don’t know why. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-affair-new-showtime-series-spoilers/701200/4 "2014-10-13T15:42:25Z")
I liked it well enough and the end implies that the framing story is many years after the main story but I don’t know if it can carry a series. Still, plan to stick with it. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-affair-new-showtime-series-spoilers/701200/5 "2014-10-13T20:20:15Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > I liked it well enough and the end implies that the framing story is many years after the main story but I don’t know if it can carry a series. Still, plan to stick with it. Yeah, this might be a one season show, which would be fine. Basically a mini-series. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-affair-new-showtime-series-spoilers/701200/6 "2014-10-13T21:27:16Z")
How is it that they were showing ads that yesterday was the series opener, when I saw it last week? ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2014, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-affair-new-showtime-series-spoilers/701200/7 "2014-10-14T01:10:07Z")
It premiered yesterday on Showtime but has been available online and on demand for a little while now. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-affair-new-showtime-series-spoilers/701200/8 "2014-10-19T17:34:11Z")
I think I liked it, but I’m a little confused about what the scenes are. Bear in mind that I went into this assuming it was like True Detective, where the witnesses are saying their version of the story, but the flashbacks show us in the audience what actually happened. Applying that idea to this series, I assumed the flashbacks were accurate portrayals of their memories. But after watching both stories in the first episode, there is simply no way that’s possible. For most of the episode, sure, but there’s no way he could misremember her getting naked and taking a shower right in front of him, while she misremembers that they just awkwardly said goodbye and that’s it. The other inconsistencies are believable; that one is so far out in left field that it isn’t believable those scenes are their memories. So now I’m thinking that the scenes we see are accurate representations of the stories they’re telling the cops, and that their actual memories – which are faulty like all human memory – aren’t being shown to us at all. In other words, we’re the cop. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-affair-new-showtime-series-spoilers/701200/9 "2014-10-19T17:35:34Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > I liked it well enough and the end implies that the framing story is many years after the main story but I don’t know if it can carry a series. Still, plan to stick with it. One article I read said that the plan is to also show scenes from the points of view of the two spouses – his wife and her husband – but that we won’t get to any of those in the first season. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-affair-new-showtime-series-spoilers/701200/10 "2014-10-19T17:44:47Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > I think I liked it, but I’m a little confused about what the scenes are. Bear in mind that I went into this assuming it was like True Detective, where the witnesses are saying their version of the story, but the flashbacks show us in the audience what actually happened. > > Applying that idea to this series, I assumed the flashbacks were accurate portrayals of their memories. But after watching both stories in the first episode, there is simply no way that’s possible. For most of the episode, sure, but there’s no way he could misremember her getting naked and taking a shower right in front of him, while she misremembers that they just awkwardly said goodbye and that’s it. The other inconsistencies are believable; that one is so far out in left field that it isn’t believable those scenes are their memories. > > So now I’m thinking that the scenes we see are accurate representations of the stories they’re telling the cops, and that their actual memories – which are faulty like all human memory – aren’t being shown to us at all. > > In other words, we’re the cop. I think you’re over-thinking it. My take is that we are seeing their flawed memories as they are telling them to the cops. The events took place “a long time ago”. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-affair-new-showtime-series-spoilers/701200/11 "2014-10-19T17:56:19Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I think you’re over-thinking it. My take is that we are seeing their flawed memories as they are telling them to the cops. The events took place “a long time ago”. Right, and I bought into it up until the two depictions of the shower scene. I can’t suspend disbelief far enough to buy into the possibility that that’s really how the two of them honestly remember it. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-affair-new-showtime-series-spoilers/701200/12 "2014-10-19T18:08:13Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Right, and I bought into it up until the two depictions of the shower scene. I can’t suspend disbelief far enough to buy into the possibility that that’s really how the two of them honestly remember it. Memories are nowhere near as accurate as we like to think they are. Especially in works of fiction. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-affair-new-showtime-series-spoilers/701200/13 "2014-10-19T18:50:50Z")
What, are you trying to say that there’s no alternate ending to Big?! hehheh. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-affair-new-showtime-series-spoilers/701200/14 "2014-10-19T18:57:11Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Memories are nowhere near as accurate as we like to think they are. So true. And it may well be that the show creators _do_ intend us to believe that each character is reporting what they genuinely do remember. On the strength of just the first episode, I’d find that plausible (shower scene, too). He remembers her being the sexual aggressor, and she remembers him being the sexual aggressor. Seems like good psychology: we all like to think of ourselves as the Magnetic One, innocently going about our business–and being pursued and desired by the other person. And/or we all like to think of ourselves as being Not the One Who Started It (adultery, in the case of both characters). ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-affair-new-showtime-series-spoilers/701200/15 "2014-10-20T16:09:41Z")
The second episode proved me wrong. What we see are their actual memories, which can be different from what we actually hear them say to the cop. This happens early in episode 2. Given her memories, Alison’s character doesn’t make a lick of sense. All of a sudden out of the blue she’s into the creepy stalker guy? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-affair-new-showtime-series-spoilers/701200/16 "2014-10-20T22:16:30Z")
Alison speculated about killing Cole. Was that supposed to be a decoy thrown out so that we think he’s the guy who died? I don’t think Noah is being all that stalker-ish. They are both attracted to each other for whatever reasons. He’s on vacation and she wants to get out of Dodge. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-affair-new-showtime-series-spoilers/701200/17 "2014-10-20T22:37:01Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I don’t think Noah is being all that stalker-ish. Not in his memory, agreed, but in her memory he’s definitely stalker-adjacent. (Following her to the bathroom, watching her have sex with her husband, finding her on the beach by the bonfire, finding her during a smoke break while she was working the party.) I also didn’t get the impression in any of those meetings that she was attracted to him in the slightest. Well, until the last one. ---
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-affair-new-showtime-series-spoilers/701200/18 "2014-10-22T13:05:33Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > The second episode proved me wrong. What we see are their actual memories, which can be different from what we actually hear them say to the cop. This happens early in episode 2. Not so sure about it being their actual memories…one or both could be spinning their version of events for a couple of dif reasons. If one is a killer, he/she could be doing more than just spinning. Upthread it was mentioned that they are retelling something that happened a long time ago. That was my impression at first; I think Allison said she had to get back to a baby. But didn’t the death occur the night of the party? I suppose it could have been considered an accident until other things came to light and an investigation was reopened. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-affair-new-showtime-series-spoilers/701200/19 "2014-10-22T14:58:30Z")
The series needs to start picking up the pace. Bored husband and depressed housewife hooking up is not going to carry the day for me. ---
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2014, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-affair-new-showtime-series-spoilers/701200/20 "2014-10-28T21:30:36Z")
> [@What\_the](#): > > Not so sure about it being their actual memories…one or both could be spinning their version of events for a couple of dif reasons. If one is a killer, he/she could be doing more than just spinning. > > Upthread it was mentioned that they are retelling something that happened a long time ago. That was my impression at first; I think Allison said she had to get back to a baby. But didn’t the death occur the night of the party? I suppose it could have been considered an accident until other things came to light and an investigation was reopened. Must have been a different party than the one in ep #2. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-affair-new-showtime-series-spoilers/701200.md?page=2)