'The Affair' season 5 episode 2 spoilers reveal the start of Helen and Sasha's relationship as Joanie returns to Montauk
This article contains spoilers for season 5, episode 1.
The fifth and final season of Showtime's hit drama, 'The Affair' is here and it's already off to a rocky start for the protagonist, Noah Solloway (Dominic West.) While the first episode explores the dynamics between him and his ex-wife, the grieving newly widowed Helen (Maura Tierney), the second episode is set to showcase her budding romance with the charismatic actor, Sasha Mann, played by Claes Bang. In the newly released trailer for episode 2, Helen can be seen fiddling with a pen drive that has a note "For Helen, play me," attached to it. The message is probably from her deceased husband Dr. Vik, who passed away after a dreary battle with pancreatic cancer. But while Helen is still mourning the loss while consciously establishing she doesn't want Noah to step into Vik's place, especially since he left her and their four kids 20 years ago for a waitress (aka the titular affair), she seems to find comfort in a man not very different from Noah.
How and where she meets this new man, aka Sasha, hasn't been revealed, but the trailer shows Helen crying to him about how she didn't think how 'permanent' Vik's loss was going to be. Sasha being the empathetic man he is tells her how relentless death is and the next thing we know, Noah is introducing his family to him. For some reasons Sasha's eagerness in acquainting himself with Noah's very young daughter Whitney seems odd and speaking for all of us, Noah immediately reminds Sasha that she is his very young and soon to be married daughter. The tension established between the two characters in episode 1 seems to overflow on to episode 2, but at least we know it's not long before we get to see Helen and Sasha's eccentric new romance soar, as the official trailer for season 5 had teased.
In other areas, there's nothing more on the Sierra and her new baby front, but the tension between Noah's kids and his new lady, Janelle, continue. Whitney tells Janelle that her dad dating a woman of color was the coolest thing he'd ever done, and Janelle seems to take offense at that. So expect more drama! Speaking of drama, Joanie's narrative shows her being sent on a new assignment to... you guessed it right, Montauk. Even though slightly shaken, Joanie doesn't seem distraught or falling apart at the idea of moving back to the town and staying at her dad's old house. But this season's theme has been parental trauma and by extension their kids, so we can definitely expect some anxiety-driven moments for the now older Joanie, as she moves back into the house her mother, Alison, died in.
This season is also going to be about Joanie digging deep into the mystery surrounding her mother's death which had been ruled as a suicide, so her return to the old house definitely has to spark off something.
'The Affair' season 5 airs every Sunday at 9 pm only on Showtime.