Season 1 episode 1 recap/review 

Two Sides of the Same Coin – The Affair – Season 1 Episode 1 – Pilot

A man is swimming laps in a pool when a woman asks if she can split the lane with him, to which he agrees. She later tries to hit on him but then realizes he’s married. At home he wakes his wife up and tries to have sex with her. She knows they don’t have time, but he starts anyway. Just then one of their children calls for her looking for her shoe.

Our leading man is Noah Solloway, and he’s packing the car to for the family to spend the summer with his father-in-law. He’s packing the car and his son, Martin is not happy about not being able to do what he wants for the summer. Noah stops his youngest son Trevor and asks him what he’s going to read over the summer and suggests he read for pleasure while he can.

Noah is being questioned about how the “whole mess” started. He is still packing his family into the car while he is being questioned via voice-over. Martin isn’t in the car and he’s not in the house. The man questioning Noah asks him to tell him about himself before the incident. Noah says his life was great, and just at that moment Noah walks in and finds Martin hanged.

I Just Wanted Your Attention, So I Hanged Myself As A Joke

Understandably, Noah is very upset and takes Martin down. As he begins crying over Martin’s body, Martin begins laughing and reveals a harness. Martin tells Noah he thought Noah would be proud of him. Noah asks Martin what’s going on with him because last summer he was a happy kid. Martin again says he hates going to his grandfather’s. Noah admits he doesn’t like going there either, but at least Martin will get some of his money.

At a diner on the road, Maura, Noah’s wife, asks their oldest daughter, Whitney, to take off her sunglasses. It seems Whitney was out late with a friend and is clearly lying about what they had done. The poor waitress has to navigate through the family’s dysfunction as she tries to get their order. When she finally gets it, she places a hand on Noah’s shoulder and welcomes him to the town.

The voice asks Noah if he remembers when he first saw her, and he says of course he does.

Stacey, Noah’s youngest daughter, begins choking on something and Noah has to save her. After Stacey is okay, Martin has to go to the bathroom. After a bit Noah goes looking for Martin and runs into the waitress, Alison, instead. They introduce themselves to each other.

After Noah is packing the car again with his children he closes the door to the car and sees Helen very upset. He remembers he forgot to leave a tip for Alison and heads back in to give her a tip. He hands Alison her tip and flirts with her a little bit.

At Helen’s parent’s house, Helen’s mother comes out to greet them. She comments on how skinny Whitney is, and says that if she loses a few more pounds she’ll take her to Paris. Trevor asks Noah who his least favorite family member, hoping Noah would say Martin. Noah tells Trevor they are family and that they must stick together.

The voice-over man is asking Noah questions again as he watches his children play. Noah he was happy, his first book had just been published, and he had accomplished the goals he’d had as a young man. He tells the man he can’t tell him why it happened.

Noah’s father-in-law, Bruce, brings him a bottle of wine. Noah has a beer, and Bruce is surprised he found one. Bruce is a wealthy author whose books have gone to the movies. Bruce is very overbearing and demanding, and asks Noah how writing is going. It’s obvious Noah doesn’t measure up to Bruce’s standards, and Bruce makes no efforts to hide how he feels about Noah, but he does it in a nice way.

That night Noah and Helen are trying to have sex again, but she begins laughing at him. He gets offended and she tries to make it up to him. Just then Trevor starts looking for them, telling Helen he had a bad dream and asks to sleep with them. Helen agrees, and Noah gets kicked out of bed.

He sees a bonfire down the beach and decides to head down to the beach. He begins approaching the group at the bonfire when he runs into Alison sitting alone on the beach. She asks him to walk her home, and he agrees. He gets a glimpse of her bum, and then she offers him a cigarette. He denies at first, but then accepts. The two talk about books, and she asks him if he wants to see her house. He denies, but then follows her anyway.

Alison shows him her outdoor shower and asks him if he wants to try it. He says no, but she starts to get undressed anyway. She steps into the shower in only her underwear, and he watches her take off her underwear. Noah tells her he has to go, and she tells him to leave. Part way down the street, Noah stops and turns around when he hears arguing at Alison’s house.

He watches a man acting violently toward her, then watches him bend her over the hood of the car and proceed to have his way with her. She sees him watching them and looks at him the entire time.

We finally see who is interviewing Noah, who is in a police station interview room. The detective (presumably) asks Noah what happened next.

It’s the same morning we started off on with Noah, and Alison is in bed with the man that attacked her. She gets up to make breakfast and clearly has a wedding ring on. Her husband tells her to go back to bed, and the two have sex. He tells her he loves her, and she tells him to hold her hand. Later, Alison is sitting outside sewing. He tells her to try to have a good day today.

Her husband, Cole, leaves, and she takes off after him. She tells him to be careful, and he tells her he always is. She watches him drive away, then takes a shower in their outdoor shower.

The detective asks Alison to tell him how it began. She tells him it all began on a dark and stormy night, then says she kidding.

We see Alison arrive at work and obviously has a strained relationship with her boss. He asks her how she’s doing, and she says she’s slowly dying. He’s remembering when she first began working for him 15 years ago and slept with her. Her co-worker comes in late, and later in the day Alison talks to her co-worker about a guy she’s seeing whose married. Just then, Noah and his family comes in. She tells her co-worker she’ll take them.

She remembers taking the Solloway’s order and Stacey choking. Her version is slightly different than Noah’s, and in Alison’s version she helps save Stacey. She becomes emotional and leaves, throwing up in the bathroom. Someone keeps knocking on the bathroom door, and through the door Noah says, “I just wanted to say thank you.”

She cleans up and opens the door, and he thanks her for saving Stacey, offering her money. He asks her if she’s going to go back and finish taking their orders and he introduces himself to her.

Later, Alison bikes to the beach. Her voice-over says that the first year was still such a blur. She remembers the sun being bright and the lighthouse. She admits to being angry, and sits on the sand. She bikes to a cemetery and notices she has a missed call from Cole. She leaves some rocks she collected on the beach at the tombstone of her son, Gabriel, and talks to him. Today is his birthday, and she reads him Peter Pan.

As it grows dark she bikes over to Cole’s family ranch. Everyone is laughing and having a good time when she arrives. She’s clearly late, and Cole is upset with her. Later, a woman is reading Alison’s tarot cards. She flips over Lucifer, which is the card of temptation, something powerful, something wild. She flips over the page of cups, and Alison asks if he’s a child. He is like a child and very sensitive.

Cole comes out looking for her and tells her he’s heading down to the bonfire. She tells him she’ll meet him down there later, and he tells her to do whatever she wants. Her friend asks if they are okay, and she says they are. She heads down to the bonfire and sees Cole hanging out.

The detective asks her how old she was when it all began, and she says she was 31 and had promised herself to get to 35. Cole is getting over the death of their son, but Alison is having more trouble being happy. She turns from the group at the bonfire to head down the beach when she runs into Noah. He’s even wearing something different in her version than in his. He tells her he was going to check out the bonfire, and then asks her if she lives nearby.

Noah offers her a cigarette, and after some convincing, she takes one and sits on the sand next to Noah. Noah tells her he wants to compensate her for saving Stacey and tells her he’s neurotic. He asks her if he can walk her home, and she agrees.

At Alison’s house, Noah notices the outdoor shower and asks to check it out. She asks him if he wants to try it, and after thinking about it, he tells her he should go home. Alison puts her hand out to shake, and Noah kisses her on the cheek. They’re both a bit stunned, and Noah leaves.

Alison takes a shower and is in shock. A girl drops Cole off just as Alison is getting out of the shower. Alison is jealous of the woman, and she starts an argument with Cole. Cole tells her she’s not the only one who lost a child, and she says it just hurts. She tells him to make it stop, and he says he doesn’t know how.

They begin kissing, and he tells her they should go inside. She says no and slaps him around. He bends her over the hood of the car and asks her if that’s what she wants, and she says yes. In the middle of it, she sees Noah, but allows Cole to continue. Noah backs down the driveway.

In present time, Alison has shorter hair and is talking to the detective. She asks how much long it’s going to take, and the detective asks her if he’s keeping her. She tells him she needs to pick up her kid.

Two Sides of the Same Coin – The Affair – Season 1 Episode 1 – Pilot was last modified: October 16th, 2014 by

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