The Affair · Season 1 · Showtime
The Affair Season 1
The Affair Season 1 is a MUST-WATCH, BollyMeter 9.0/10. 10 episodes on Showtime from 12 October 2014.
Updated
What BollyAI Thinks
The Affair launched on Showtime in October 2014 with one of the most formally inventive premises in cable drama: the same events retold first from Noah's perspective, then from Alison's - with the two accounts diverging in telling ways that exposed each narrator's self-deception. Critics immediately recognised the structural sophistication. A 90% Rotten Tomatoes score from 130 reviews reflected near-unanimous enthusiasm. Dominic West and Ruth Wilson delivered performances that critics described as among the best on television that year; Wilson's Golden Globe win for Best Actress underscored the critical verdict. The Montauk setting gave the series a sensory specificity - salt air and off-season melancholy - that elevated it well above conventional infidelity drama.
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The Room
“Thanks to smart, creative storytelling and spectacular performances, The Affair is a somber, bewitching exploration of truth and desire.”
Rotten Tomatoes Critics Consensus“West and Wilson are astonishing, depicting not one but two three-dimensional characters as viewed through their own biases.”
Daily Telegraph
Standout Episodes
The hours worth arguing about - premieres, finales, and the turning points. BollyAI reads the room episode by episode.
- E1Episode 19.2
The pilot introduces Noah and Alison's accounts of their first meeting in Montauk - already diverging in small, revealing ways. The formal device lands immediately as something more than gimmick: it reframes what drama can do with subjectivity.
The moment: The moment both accounts reach the same event from different angles - and the gap between them tells you everything about desire and memory.
“The Affair becomes less and less obvious and more and more interesting as it goes along.” - The Guardian