Adultery entertainment: The Affair is back for a third season
Executive producer Sarah Treem says lack of vilification has been key to success; this season will introduce another lover and explore lead character Noah Solloway’s complexity
The show about two couples and their families entwined by the adulterers in their midst had something of a slow start. But The Affair was so searing and vivid that people could see themselves in the flawed, dysfunctional relationships being enacted on screen – so much so, that it has won a number of awards, including a couple of Golden Globes, for best drama, and for one of its lead actresses, Maura Tierney.
About to start its third season on November 22, The Affair is lifted from potentially being a soapish, self-indulgent mess by its structure. The story is told from four points of view: the errant male, Noah Solloway, played by Dominic West; his new paramour Alison Lockhart (Ruth Wilson); and their respective spouses. Noah is married to Helen (Tierney) and is a New York teacher, author and father of four, living with his family in a Manhattan brownstone. Alison’s husband is Cole Lockhart (Joshua Jackson), a strong and silent ranch owner from a large family.
In the first episode, Dominic goes on holiday with his family to Montauk in Long Island, where he meets Alison, a married waitress in a diner, who is recovering from a tragedy of her own.
Executive producer Sarah Treem has succeeded with The Affair because nobody in the series is vilified – not even the ‘other woman’.