The extramarital relationship between a waitress Alison and Noah, the father of four who is a novelist and a school teacher and depends on his father in law financially.
That's a whole big mess of plot that The Affair... But the performances are so damned fantastic and the pacing so well handled that the episode feels breezy and fun along with being tense, dramatic, and poignant.
Dominic West and Ruth Wilson are fine, fine actors, and there are some good character beats - and also some sketchy ones, like Alison letting Noah get this early glimpse of where she cuts herself - but on the whole, this one dragged.
