'The Affair' season 5 episode 2 sees Janelle's dilemma and disgust while Helen finds acceptance through a voice beyond the grave
This article contains spoilers for episode 2.
The second episode of Showtime's hit dramedy The Affair's fifth and final season unpacks a lot. There's grief shrouding the budding of a new bond, while parental boundaries get established and kids break into their parents' house to find themselves in all of this commotion. But all vagueness aside, while we got to see some much needed Noah and Helen dynamics in the first episode of this season, episode 2 is all about putting Helen in the spotlight, looking at her grieving in agonizing pain in the aftermath of her long-time partner, Dr. Vik Ullah, while the prospects of a new love knocking on her door make her ease closer to self-acceptance.
Divided into its usual share of narratives, the first one we see is that of Noah's current girlfriend, Janelle's. She takes us back through her point of view of Vik's funeral, where she and Noah are the only person attending in non-white outfits. Prior to this, Janelle had picked Noah up from his breakfast with Sasha, who is gearing up on the filming of Noah's semi-autobiographical book-turned-film 'Descent'. Sasha, the ever so charming actor, is kind and cordial with Helen, the same air of fascination he seems to be harboring for all of Noah's women, but he is the only one who shows Janelle any compassion through the day.
At Vik's funeral, we see Helen's father Bruce mistaking Janelle for the help but this time, it isn't senile dementia. Worse, Noah doesn't find anything wrong with it either and when Helen herself asks Janelle to go see why the valets are being so incompetent, Janelle finds it's an African American valet who explains the petty issue that ticked Helen off. There's an underlying tone of racial bias that the sequence beautifully tackles through someone who still feels very much like an outsider to Noah Solloway and his kin's world of grandeur. Even when Noah's daughter Whitney tells Janelle that dating a woman of color is one of the coolest things her dad has done, Janelle's latent disgust is visible. In this narrative, she feels like a prop and her workplace doesn't help with reinstating Joel as a co-principal with her at the Compton Academy.
It is not lost upon Janelle that the Solloways and their many riches will always be a far off pretense for her, a reality she could never be a part of without feeling disgusted in the slightest. Perhaps that's what drives her to her ex-husband Carl's office after she gets a new contract from the school. Carl is able to steer Janelle's mind straight, and as we learn the secrets behind why their relationship ended despite sharing a son, it's even more shattering for Janelle worshippers among the show's fans because there's this strong extremely well-reasoned woman who just keeps getting tossed around because of her husband not being able to keep in his pants. But this ex comes of some use as he instructs her to run for superintendent, promising to campaign for her. And the two call it a night with a passionate kiss, while Noah bombards Janelle's messages asking what he did wrong, completely oblivious to what's going on in her life.
Noah's relentless, even though not always consistent, efforts at breaking through to Janelle will find similarity in Helen's growing bond with Sasha, the celebrity. The two meets on the sets of 'Decent' three months after Vik's funeral and Helen doesn't shy away from opining that the character 'Ellen' - a clear portrayal of her - needs to be more of a bitch and less broken. It doesn't take long for the intrigued Sasha to ask her out but she refuses; until she is in the discomfort of her own psyche urging her to google if she has narcolepsy and right then Sasha's text asking her to come "hang" with him, arrives. Cut opinions about the book, basketball injuries, and a long admission later, Helen finally allows Sasha to get through to her and help her cope with the loss as he admits to being undergoing the same pain too. The two engage in aerial yoga, which makes Helen feel better, before she heads home, finally ready to watch the video message left behind by Vik for her.
The third narrative is of course Joanie. Set all the way in a future couple of decades ago, we see Joanie's detachment issues continue to plague her family life as she struggles to bag an out-of-town assignment, despite her boss asking her to take time off with her family. Her new assignment as an environmentalist working for an organization trying to put the pieces of devastated earth back together happens to be in a climate change adversity addled Montauk. When her husband calls to tell her that their daughters miss her, Joanie says "I know" instead of the typical I miss them or I love them and that is enough to strike as odd. Next, she breaks into her 'dad's place' using a flashlight and even though the episode ends there, we know there would be some fresh trauma to come.
'The Affair' airs on Sundays at 9 p.m. only on Showtime.