Ranking the top 5 moments from “The Affair” season 5 episode 4: “There You Are Noah”

Happy Sunday TV fans!  After watching Showtime’s The Affair season 5 episode 4, I realized that sometimes one decision can set forth a course of events.  If you are given the chance to have everything you ever wanted, would you take it?  Sometimes the decision is not always clear cut, but once we get everything we thought we ever wanted, is it enough?  Please note spoilers are ahead if you have not gotten a chance to watch the latest episode yet.  

In tonight’s episode, “504,” Noah shows us a glimmer of potential, but continues to be thrown off course by Sasha’s relationship with Helen.  Meanwhile, Whitney crosses paths with an ex-boyfriend who could change everything for her and Joanie tries to make a clean start.  My top 5 moments from The Affair season 5 episode 4 are:

5

“Well for once we want the same thing…”

Part one of the episode follows Noah and the kids seem excited about attending Sasha’s Halloween party, while Helen’s mother disapproves.  Noah seems to really be putting forth an effort with both Trevor and Stacey, reminding Helen that he just wants to maintain a healthy and stable co-parenting environment/relationship.  Let’s just hope he can keep this up because Noah has the tendency to get distracted and obsessed easily with other things, especially since Helen is still dating Sasha.

4

“You want her back.”

During Noah’s part of the episode, he runs into the new sheriff in town, Joel, who is just dressing the part for Halloween, but he does point out to Noah that perhaps he wants Helen back.  Noah denies this, but then why is he so obsessed with Helen’s decisions?  Is it more about Helen or does he feel like Sasha is replacing him? 

Noah is upset to discover that Sasha will be credited as the co-writer of the movie based on his book, so I have to wonder where his frustration is really coming from?  Helen is taking care of Helen and I wasn’t a fan of Noah trying to leave behind a bra so that she would get angry at Sasha.  It just seemed selfish and childish and Noah needs to leave that part of his life behind him.

3

“Hi Dad.”

Part three of the episode follows Joanie and she decides to start cleaning out Cole’s house.  Only she begins throwing out all of the pictures of Alison and Cole as well.  She then finds the box of letters that Cole learned about on his trip to Morro Bay and tosses it, which instantly broke my heart and then she stumbles across the chest with Gabriel’s toys.  Joanie pauses when she gets to this one, immediately recognizing and understanding the meaning behind it, but she throws it out as well and takes off on Alison’s old bicycle and heads to the cemetery to say hello to her dad.

It looks like Joanie is trying to erase every part of her past, but I’m not sure this is the right answer.  I’m looking forward to finding out what actually prompts her to go and find Ben Cruz.  She seems willing to part with these reminders of her family, but what makes her want to solve the mystery behind Alison’s death?

2

“I don’t want to be looked at anymore.”

Part two of the episode is from Whitney’s perspective, which was a nice change of pace.  I mentioned in last week’s blog that I wanted to find out more about Whitney’s story so I was pleased to see this.  Whitney has been struggling for a while now to get by and her rent is past due.  Colin is putting a lot of stress on her since he can’t work and she begins to resent him for it.  To make things more complicated, Whitney’s much older ex-boyfriend, Furkat, returns.  Remember him from Paris?  He begs Whitney for her forgiveness and invites her to a gallery opening, introducing her to some connections along the way.

Later on, Whitney has a conversation with Furkat’s new connection, who asks Whitney, “If you could have everything you ever wanted, what would it look like?”  Whitney talks about wanting to open up her own gallery and ends up sleeping with Furkat.  The man she spoke to comes in to watch and Furkat explains that he can give her the gallery she is dreaming of.  Whitney has come so far as a character, but she gives in here and allows this to happen; wanting to get that much closer to her dreams, but everything has a price. 

At the end of her part, she crawls back into bed with Colin and holds on to him, as the guilt of her actions washes over her.  I thought this was a revealing and vulnerable moment for Whitney and I started to think about how similar she is to both her mother and father.  Helen warned her daughter about not giving up her dreams for a man, while Noah has always put his dreams above all else in some regards, so you have to wonder which side of the scale Whitney will ultimately end up on?

1

“Because I’m her father.”

It’s been a while since I have given a Noah moment my number one spot, but I have to say that I was impressed by his loyalty to his daughter, Stacey.  After Stacey gets her period for the first time, she locks herself in the bathroom.  Noah asks Helen’s mother to help out and puts her in her place, reminding her that he is Stacey’s father and he is not going to leave her side.  Helen’s mother is actually impressed by this and says, “There you are Noah…welcome back.” 

Stacey is grateful that her father stands by her and they are absolutely adorable heading into Sasha’s Halloween party.  Too bad Noah makes some bad decisions after this, but his moment with Stacey reminded us that perhaps Noah needs to put aside Noah, the writerNoah, the directorNoah, the lover and just simply focus on being a good father.  Can he stay on track?  Stay tuned!

I hope you enjoyed the list and feel free to post your own theories and thoughts on The Affair below in the comments section.  Thanks so much for reading and happy viewing!

Best,

Amy Koto, TV Fanatic Girl

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Have a performance on TV that you think is simply outstanding? Feel free to contact me with your nomination for the week by Friday at midnight! 

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