What is it? The Affair, Season 1, 10 episodes on four discs from CBS DVD
When? Now
How much? $42.99
What sort of affair? Extramarital.
For Noah Solloway (Dominic West), a teacher and struggling writer in Brooklyn, N.Y., the summer starts like any other: packing up the car with wife Helen (Maura Tierney) and four children and heading to Long Island, where Helen's wealthy parents have a house in Montauk.
Things start to detour when a waitress named Alison Bailey (Ruth Wilson) catches his eye. Even though Noah has a loving devoted wife and Alison is married to rancher Cole Lockhart (Joshua Jackson), they keep running into each other and there's a definite spark and connection.
Noah's starting to get bored with his life, frustrated with his career and his troubled older children, and fed up with his overbearing in-laws. Alison's still struggling to get over a terrible tragedy and her marriage and relationships with in-laws, including Cole's mother Cherry (Mare Winningham), are suffering the repercussions.
Through the summer and beyond, Noah and Alison's relationship cycles up and down as their two families are increasingly entwined and affected in complicated and dangerous ways.
But it gets even more complicated than that because the story is actually told in flashback from two points of view. You see, at some point in the story, there's a murder. The story of Noah and Alison's affair comes out in their interviews with a police detective (Victor Williams), so each episode has two parts: one with Noah telling his version of what happened and one with Alison.
That means, really, two different stories. While they're on the same side, they don't see or remember people and events in exactly the same way. Sometimes those differences are small (What was Alison wearing?) and sometimes they're big (What really happened that first night on the beach?).
What's it like? Intriguing, for the most part. The series setup makes for a denser, more complex tale than your simple adultery or murder show. And since the stories are being told only from those two (obviously biased) narrators, there's always the question as to what really happened. What is the truth?
It's not difficult to follow along since the episodes are very obviously cut into two pieces, with a title card telling you when it's shifting over to the other story about midway. It doesn't bounce back and forth, leaving the viewer lost at sea.
The acting is top-notch, even if the characters they're portraying aren't particularly honorable or even likeable.
Since this is a Showtime series, expect adult language and sexual situations. Also, don't expect to get questions answered. They're apparently saving that for next season.
Are there extras? Short ones. There are very brief character profiles for the main characters, text-only biographies for the actors, and a bit about how the series's setup affects costuming.
As seems to be the common practice with Showtime series releases, there are also sample episodes from other series: Happyish, Ray Donovan and Madam Secretary. These have absolutely nothing to do with The Affair.
New this week: Atlantis, Season 2, Part 2; The Blacklist, Season 2; Grey's Anatomy, Season 11; The Jeff Foxworthy Show, Complete Series; Mike & Molly, Season 5; NCIS, Season 12; NCIS: Los Angeles, Season 6; NCIS: New Orleans, Season 1; Once Upon a Time, Season 4; The Rebel, Complete Series; Rookie Blue, Season 5, Volume 1; The Royals, Season 1; Welcome Back, Kotter, Season 4.
Next week: Criminal Minds, Season 10; Elementary, Season 3; The Good Wife, Season 6; King of the Hill, Season 11; The Mindy Project, Season 3; Portlandia, Season 5; Revenge, Season 4; The Walking Dead, Season 5.
Style on 08/16/2015