The Affair Review: 406 (Season 4 Episode 6)

The Affair Season 4 Episode 6, “406,” starts from Noah’s perspective, but it’s really all about Alison. So, let’s jump right in!

She certainly has a really bad day, but something about the entire narrative this year is starting to feel very forced. Whenever Athena is around, trouble seems to follow. But Alison’s dad pretty much appears out of nowhere.

It’s not clear what the purpose of the connection between Alison’s drowning experience and her son Gabriel’s death by drowning actually is. But, it feels very contrived that she would remember the experience just as her father comes back into her life.

The memory itself feels out of place, too.

Gabriel’s death is one of the main catalysts for The Affair. The infidelity between Alison and Noah that set this whole series in motion. Maybe the EMDR therapy sparks the memory and the journey, but it’s hard to believe.

Allison isn’t at the beginning of her grieving process.

The Affair has done a wonderful job telling the story of grief after the death of a child. They depict grief as messy, not contained into a story arc for one season. At times, grief has even pulled Cole and Alison together rather than pulled them apart.

Alison still connects to Gabriel. So, bits of both drowning memories could’ve come back sooner, even if there was still questions connected to both memories.

I hope Alison doesn’t give her father a kidney, especially after Athena’s rape story. She probably wouldn’t even consider it, if it weren’t for the memory of him saving her life.

Athena says one of the most important lines of the episode when Alison asks her why she didn’t press charges: “Because no one would’ve believed me, honey. He was rich as shit, I was a teenage hippie.”

That quote, and Alison’s whole experience on the plane to California, is a subtle yet really effective way to discuss #MeToo/The Women’s Movement on the show.

So many shows have made #MeToo a story arc. The Affair makes it a factor in one episode that affects Alison’s past (her existence) and her present.

Parts of the scene on the plane feel unrealistic like how she hurts the old woman and the fact that they detain her and put her in jail so quickly. But, sadly, it’s impossible to say definitively that it wouldn’t happen.

2 out of 3 sexual assaults go unreported, according to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN.), which might be because women know that most predators don’t go to jail. (According to RAINN, only 6 predators out of 310 reported cases will go to jail.)

Noah may have bailed Alison out and gotten her help when she started panicking, but the way he was talking to her before her panic certainly didn’t feel like support. She’s just another woman whose story is dismissed.

After seeing the way Noah talks to her in the car, it’s obvious and really sad how quickly Alison turns to men for help and support. Men who don’t deserve her.

After meeting her father and hearing Athena accuse him or rape, Alison seeks Ben out for support. When she finds out Ben is married, she runs right to Noah, conveniently using the airline gift card to go to California.

The Affair‘s timeline jumps around so much; it’s hard to keep track of sometimes. Perhaps Noah is the only person she can call since they’re still legally married (though we’re not quite sure why that is.) Whatever her reason, it’s upsetting Alison still relies on Noah.

He’s not Joanie’s father, and in the car before Alison’s panic attack, he is making a pathetic, obvious attempt to make her question her experience — an experience he did not witness.

Alison deserves better than Noah, and we’re glad that even after all of their history, she has Helen to turn to. We won’t deny that she seems to get taken advantage of by men, but Helen is right. She also has some responsibility in all of it.

She also has the power to change her life. We have a feeling that a yearning for change is related to why she’s missing.

We don’t know where she’ll end up, but all signs are pointing to Cole’s arms, and we are more than fine with that!

What did you think of this episode of The Affair? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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The Affair airs Sundays at 9pm ET/PT on Showtime.

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