Happy Sunday TV fans! After watching Showtime’s The Affair season 5 episode 6, I learned that there can be an ongoing game of tug of war between resilience and trauma. Is it possible to channel trauma to become even stronger or are we destined to be broken, repeating the fate of our parents? Please note spoilers are ahead if you have not gotten a chance to watch the latest episode yet.
In tonight’s episode, “506,” Joanie meets a man named EJ, who has been studying the Lockhart family history for quite some time. As Joanie uncovers new information behind her mother’s suicide, she begins to realize that perhaps there was more to it. My top 5 moments from The Affair season 5 episode 6 are:
5
“If you touch me, I’ll stab you.”
Part one of the episode follows Joanie and I was really happy that part one lasted for the entire episode, as Joanie has deserved some screen time for a while now. We catch up with Joanie in the cemetery and she meets a stranger named EJ. After being momentarily creeped out by his staring, EJ offers to give Joanie a ride and she hesitantly accepts.
EJ studies family histories and is very interested in the Lockhart family tree, explaining that he has a theory on trauma running in families. When he finds out who Joanie is, he is starstruck for sure, but Joanie doesn’t seem to be too interested in what he has to say just yet. That is, until she finds out that she is taking samples at the place where her mother died.
4
“There’s no way she could have drowned herself in water that shallow.”
After parting ways with EJ temporarily after viewing some old police records, EJ calls her and says he has something to show her. The two watch a breathtaking super moon in the sky, which ends up triggering something within Joanie. Joanie brings up the data on the super moon from the night Alison drowned and realizes that the water where she drowned was extremely shallow, like a bathtub.
This brings up some questions about her death, but Joanie doesn’t seem quite ready to process it, as she decides to sleep with EJ, trying to turn everything off. EJ questions her about her fetish for being choked and becomes a little bit too talkative, which prevents Joanie from truly losing herself…but perhaps she needed this to actually start dealing with the emotions swirling around inside of her.
3
“Are you sure it was suicide?”
Joanie returns home the next day, but seems extremely irritable and distracted. Joanie’s mom comes to visit and we learn that she is referring to…Luisa! Remember her? Even though I was never a fan of Cole and Luisa’s relationship, I was happy to discover that Luisa remained in Joanie’s life even after she and Cole split up because Joanie needed a lot of support.
Luisa tells Joanie that Cole was the most determined person she ever met and that Joanie reminds her of him in so many ways. Joanie proceeds to tell Luisa that she feels like Alison ruined everything, but it’s clear that she is unable to process the grief that is taking over right now.
2
“He could do anything.”
After having a meltdown over her oxygen garden failure, Joanie panics and tells her husband, Paul, that she has been cheating on him for years. Paul tells her to get out and Joanie ends up on EJ’s doorstep. She opens up to EJ about her father and we learn that Cole died of a heart attack at age 72.
Joanie blames herself because she thinks that if her father was not alone, he would still be alive. EJ tries to get Joanie to talk about her father, recognizing that she is not allowing herself to feel anything and she tells him that Cole could do anything, bringing up some touching and heartwarming memories.
1
“I don’t know who the hell Benjamin Cruz is…”
EJ shows Joanie Cole’s box of letters, which he rescued from the trash, and shows Joanie some newspaper clippings about Benjamin Cruz. Joanie initially doesn’t recognize him and I was laughing at EJ’s theory about him being Cole’s lover, but Joanie has a memory about the day she met Ben Cruz, as we see a flashback accompanied with Alison’s voice over. Joanie wakes up suddenly and tells EJ that she remembers that Ben Cruz was her mother’s boyfriend and says, “I think he killed her,” as all of the pieces start to come together now.
Will Joanie be able to uncover the truth? I can’t wait to find out! I’ve been waiting for this episode since the new season started and I thought that it was brilliantly done, giving us the chance to truly understand Joanie and allowing Alison and Cole’s memory to still be present and relevant. Joanie’s coming for you, Ben! Look out!
Justice for Alison Bailey!
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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