The Affair' Showrunner Sarah Treem Explains That Shocking Death
With two episodes remaining in its penultimate season, the Showtime drama says a tragic goodbye to one of its central characters.
Courtesy of Showtime
With two episodes remaining in its penultimate season, the Showtime drama says a tragic goodbye to one of its central characters.
[Warning: This story contains spoilers from episode "408" of Showtime's The Affair.]
Alison Bailey's (Ruth Wilson) life had been filled with enough tragedy, heartbreak and loneliness to make her demise seem inevitable. But that demise coming before the end of The Affair's penultimate season only adds to the shock that one half of the titular extramarital coupling that started the Showtime drama won't be there to wrap up the intense series when it ends next year.
In episode eight of The Affair's 10-episode fourth season, rivals Cole (Josh Jackson) and Noah (Dominic West) are drawn together for a road trip to search for their MIA ex-wife. It's an unexpected pairing that includes some welcome, but even more unexpected, levity and bonding, until it all ends with the shocking, but perhaps ultimately inevitable, news that Alison has committed suicide by drowning herself near her home.
Below, The Affair co-creator and showrunner Sarah Treem talks with The Hollywood Reporter about when — and why — it was decided Alison would die now and how her story is far from over.
'The Affair'
READ MORE
'The Affair' Renewed for Fifth and Final Season on Showtime
To be clear, Alison is dead? That is Alison's body Noah saw in the morgue?
Yes.
Was this always the plan for Alison from the very beginning?
No. It was always a possibility for Alison. When I was coming up with Alison, I was thinking of this character we were going to meet right after her child died. As any parent would ask themselves in that terrible situation, even hypothetically as you do sometimes, would you be able to survive it? So that was always a question that I had for the Alison character as a kind of an existential question. How does a parent survive it? And would this character ultimately be able to? That is a question that she was asking herself when we first met her, before she met Noah. And in so many ways the impetus for the affair from Alison's perspective was trying to outrun that pain. It was always a possibility for Alison somewhere in my mind that she wouldn't ultimately survive.
At what point did you decide Alison would die this season? And why at this point in the story?
Ruth wanted to leave the show. That was a request, so that was decided basically before we started writing. It wasn't a discovery of any kind. That was very deliberate. And actually, we shot all of her work first. Her whole storyline was shot before we shot anything else.
最赞回应
还有这季的海报。哈哈哈。是编剧格局大还是我们小剧场太强
我没理解错，这句话其实是有两个意思，我是知道的。但你我了解Cole的为人，我初听也觉得是说责怪上周Noah做少了事，其实你仔细想想，会觉得我的理解为嘛不抓住她（其实也包含了你的意思，也可以理解为多年前没把握住她），不好意思看的不是熟肉，可能和字幕组理解不一致哈，个人看法你说呢？
嗯嗯。因为Alison不像Helen爱碎碎念，她一方面心理负担爱自己担着，所以压抑着显得楚楚可怜，一方面是个温柔的人观世界而不多语，所以内心戏很多。加上演员演技所以人物塑造很饱满啊！估计大多数都喜欢Alison还有Cole哈哈
是的，这些年Cole成长了不少。前段的getaway更是。所以他打Noah之后说你为嘛不抓紧她！（潜台词承认自己当初是个混蛋），关于重回悬疑片轨道我倒存疑…毕竟下一集看预告极有可能一整集的Alison视角，通过A（假设是受害人）视角展现被害回忆？不可能的。我倒觉得下一集更像是A对这个世界的遗书，毕竟当初那么撇不下Gabriel如今撇得下Joanie？当然我还是更期待编剧的鬼斧神工，埋个疑点，然后写出个凶手，就跟以前悬疑片模式做到的那样哈哈！
毕竟Father Figure，被Frazen赏识过的男人，进普林斯顿找大腿看他了！不过这倒深刻印证了撩带娃的女人核心点是让她娃先爱上你哈哈
Ruth决定离开…不过写死她也是情理中吧。死在这季比死在下季好多了…
嗯，写死是不太意外。这剧因为N和A在一起造成的影响一直延续到现在，灵魂人物死了一个，没有再看一季的动力了。。。我一直觉得故事讲到Alison的时候才有看头😄
嗯嗯。因为Alison不像Helen爱碎碎念，她一方面心理负担爱自己担着，所以压抑着显得楚楚可怜，一方面是个温柔的人观世界而不多语，所以内心戏很多。加上演员演技所以人物塑造很饱满啊！估计大多数都喜欢Alison还有Cole哈哈
Cole是可恨又可怜，第一季Alison在他身边没有任何安全感可言，他让A运毒这事儿很混蛋，明知A陷在失去孩子的痛苦中，还要让她背负这些。没有Noah出现，Alison会加速崩溃，也许自杀。Noah肯定是爱Ailson的，不然以他自私自恋的性格，没可能和Helen离婚。只是Noah更爱他自己，他心情好，就会对A好。反之，就责怪、抱怨。不过，在N知道Jonnie是Cole的孩子之前，N确实比C更包容和接受A，无论好的坏的。Alison就像她第三季对Noah说的一样，只是利用Noah离开了Cole的身边。。。Alison爱的只有孩子，所以应该不会是自杀。本剧重回悬疑片的轨道😂
是的，这些年Cole成长了不少。前段的getaway更是。所以他打Noah之后说你为嘛不抓紧她！（潜台词承认自己当初是个混蛋），关于重回悬疑片轨道我倒存疑…毕竟下一集看预告极有可能一整集的Alison视角，通过A（假设是受害人）视角展现被害回忆？不可能的。我倒觉得下一集更像是A对这个世界的遗书，毕竟当初那么撇不下Gabriel如今撇得下Joanie？当然我还是更期待编剧的鬼斧神工，埋个疑点，然后写出个凶手，就跟以前悬疑片模式做到的那样哈哈！
嗯，Cole独自旅行那集对Alison满满的爱意，好感动❤️对比现在Alison的死真让人唏嘘。编剧让Cole和Noah合体找Alison，效果也是相当棒
前面半集笑，后面半集哭…Anton这小子堪称这季惊喜啊
没心没肺的人啊😂
人聪明话少活好不黏人哈哈哈哈
allison死了这剧基本就可以弃了吧。。
她的气质才是整部剧迷人之处
虽然也很爱cole，但他显然不是编剧的思考重点
嗯，整个故事都是围绕Alison展开的，绝对的灵魂人物！毕竟追这么久了，还是看看脱离了Alison，N，H，C的人生轨迹如何发展吧
他可是一路黏着Noah啊，哈哈哈😄
我估计要弃剧的，因为我一直再本着Alison和Cole复合追下去的😭
即使A死了，我始终觉得，下一季卡司一定还有ruth，肯定回忆杀不停哈哈哈
毕竟Father Figure，被Frazen赏识过的男人，进普林斯顿找大腿看他了！不过这倒深刻印证了撩带娃的女人核心点是让她娃先爱上你哈哈
关键是Ruth不演了啊😓
那这剧真的要往nc这cp上靠才不会太割裂了吧🙄
这个真可以有，超配的😂两人一起抚养Jonnie长大
原来爱好一样的两个人才是真正的绝配么😂
didn't see that coming
不演可以啊给个credit，或者下一季拍个一两集的片长来凑回忆，这个操作起来不复杂，演员花的时间成本也不高。
之前你可以怀疑，看过这集之后你不觉得Cole前面刚说“My husband and I”，Noah后一句“Honey honey”真的配一脸么？我感觉编剧已经在铺这条线了，只是这一集比较明显。有可能和主题曲一样铺了好些年了。你没发现第二季坠落这本书爆火后，Noah把Lockhart家族史全盘剽窃，Cole第一反应不是去揍Noah，而是在圣诞前夜找家人对峙？我就感觉Cole貌似会喜欢上Noah……
以ruth的面相气质判断，她应该不会接受的吧。离开就是离开了
如果猜错，那一定是我把Ruth和Alison弄混了😂
还有这季的海报。哈哈哈。是编剧格局大还是我们小剧场太强
Alison的演员叫Ruth啊你没说错，这个剧给她带来了视后的奖啊，肯定会适当尊重主创的完美主义结尾的需求的
…本来觉得挺唯美的海报，被你这么一说，我想起了一部西班牙电影《天使的性》……
Cole一脸小委屈的表情太逗了
那句husband and I一出来，我心里想的是，谁更小受一点…唔…画面太美
你理解错了。Cole责问Noah“You have her in your hands. Why didn’t you do more?”并不是指的当初N和A婚姻关系的时候，而是指A去LA探访N的时候，她因为发现生父的事情而正经历着情感创伤情绪。Cole认为发现生父的事情是压垮Alison的最后一根稻草。
你这个观点厉害了👍🏻完了，现在看海报都是N和C的身影哈哈哈
我没理解错，这句话其实是有两个意思，我是知道的。但你我了解Cole的为人，我初听也觉得是说责怪上周Noah做少了事，其实你仔细想想，会觉得我的理解为嘛不抓住她（其实也包含了你的意思，也可以理解为多年前没把握住她），不好意思看的不是熟肉，可能和字幕组理解不一致哈，个人看法你说呢？
那部电影在我三观尽毁的道路上有不可磨灭的功劳
我是说吧Alison代入Ruth去分析了，影响了我对Ruth的判断
> 我来回应