Will Maura Tierney's Likability Ruin The Affair?

The idea of taking the conceit of Rashomon and applying it to a serialized TV show is such a smart idea it's kind of surprising that I can't think of another series that's done it for more than a single episode. In a way, TV is the better medium for such an undertaking: we get so much more time to get to know the characters over a longer span of time, so there's more potential to appreciate the subtle differences in their perspectives on the same events. There were lots of those in the show's second episode -- how much jam Noah buys from Alison; how much she charges for each jar; how she reacts to his letting her onto his father's private beach; how effusive each is when finding him/herself in the other's presence. But I can't focus on any of that whenever Maura Tierney's Helen appears onscreen, and since I'm supposed to be investing in the people who are sneaking around behind her back, that may be an impediment to my enjoyment of the show.

I know how the show is supposed to make me feel and the thoughts it's supposed to provoke. How reliable is memory? How do we rewrite the past to make ourselves the heroes of our stories -- or the victims of forces beyond our seeming control? What elements of an experience were pivotal for those we shared them with, but which we didn't even take note of? All of that is ambitious and exactly the formal innovation that probably helped Sarah Treem and Hagai Levi sell the series to Showtime in the first place.

But for me, Tierney is so likable that whenever she shows up -- too briefly, so far -- she's all I can see and all I care about. And it's not just that she's one of the show's two wronged parties, in that her husband is fooling around with another, also-married woman; it's that she's such a Dealmaker that no matter which of Noah or Alison is recalling what Helen did in various situations, there's no version of Helen that I don't side with, against them.

In the second episode, for example, Noah's recollections of his interactions with her on the day of a big garden party her parents are throwing are:

• she tried to get into the shower with him and he stopped her because he was jerking it to memories of Alison, which made him feel guilty
• she told him about riding horses at a local ranch when she was a kid and made him feel poor
• she made him a sandwich with jam he bought from Alison and made him feel guilty, again
• she presented two dresses she was considering, and decided on the one he didn't pick, and made him feel dispensable
• she got upset that her father's old mistress had come to the party and let him comfort her, which made him feel protective

Noah's moment of usefulness isn't enough to stop him from sneaking away to the beach with Alison, but still: even in Noah's (imperfect) memory, Helen comes off pretty well from my perspective. She's making sexual overtures AND sandwiches, and when she dares to stop being a cool girl at the sight of her father's old (maybe current?) side bitch, it's for a pretty good reason. We should all be so lucky as to find ourselves partnered with wives as great as Helen.

Naturally, Alison doesn't have as much contact with Helen on her side of this particular day. But in Alison's version, Helen's look signifies "rich" a lot more than Noah's: Alison has her in a chic black gown with tightly pulled back event hair and statement earrings, as opposed to Noah, who remembers her in a standard-issue Eileen Fishery plum number and loose, accessible hair. Alison sees Helen talking animatedly to Noah about something (the mistress, probably). Then, when Helen's mother -- who's also spotted the mistress -- offers her $1000 to "accidentally" spill a drink on her husband, Alison goes over and has a run-in with Helen that doesn't even figure in Noah's version, though he's standing right there, having taken the drink from her tray before she could earn her bonus. Helen orders a drink from Alison and, before she can go get it, condescendingly calls her "dear" and even more condescendingly volunteers herself, not that anyone asked, to help Alison tuck her bra back under her strap, frostily joking that "This dress couldn't be any tighter."

I get that I'm supposed to take Alison's part in this Townie vs. Richie skirmish, and though Helen getting all handsy isn't okay...I mean, it is an indecently tight dress -- and also indecently short, which Helen doesn't even mention. Also, in Alison's recollection, Helen acts like they've never seen each other before, whereas in Noah's, Helen recognizes Alison from across the farmer's market, so even though I KNOW NEITHER PARTY'S MEMORY IS PERFECT, since THAT'S THE WHOLE POINT, I don't remotely trust Alison's version of Helen as your typical oblivious privileged dickhead, not only because Noah gave Helen the credit for taking notice of people around her, even in service positions, but mainly because she's a Maura Tierney character. I cast my lot with her circa NewsRadio and I'm not about to change allegiances now. Go suck a dick, Alison -- OH WAIT, THAT'S PROBABLY WHAT YOU'RE DOING NEXT WEEK, ALL OVER MY GIRL'S MAN.