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TV Media Weekly | November 19 - 25, 2016 By Cassie Dresch TV Media I f you're a fan of Showtime's psychological drama "The Af- fair," you are no doubt itch- ing for some more episodes. In a brief departure from the norm, the show premieres in No- vember this year, instead of its regular early-October slot, and after the events of last season, there are plenty of questions that need answers, and answers that still leave questions. Season 3 of "The Affair" premieres Sunday, Nov. 20, on Showtime. This season picks up about three years after the events of the season 2 finale. Noah (Dom- inic West, "The Wire") has just been released from prison after serving his sentence for (spoil- ers!) falsely admitting to vehicu- lar homicide; Helen (Maura Tier- ney "ER") and her children have all but seemingly moved on; and Cole (Joshua Jackson, "Fringe"), Luisa (Catalina Sandino Moreno, "American Gothic") and Alison (Ruth Wilson, "The Lone Rang- er," 2013) are trying to raise Joanie together. In typical "The Affair" fash- ion, though, things are never as straightforward as they appear — with regards to both the sto- rylines and the timeline. "When season 3 starts, it's three years later, so quite a bit of time has passed," Tierney said in an inter- view with Entertainment Week- ly. "We go back and forth — sometimes it's a year and a half later, sometimes it's three years later. So everyone has moved on quite a bit, and Helen's in a new relationship and Noah is sort of beginning a new relationship." Despite many of the charac- ters moving on (and some not moving on), Scotty's (Colin Don- nell, "Chicago Med") death has had a lasting impact on the characters. The big reveal at the end of season 2 — that Helen was driving drunk with Noah in the passenger seat when Scotty was hit — affects everyone in- volved in Montauk. "The season will sort of be about ... all of them kind of deal- ing with the consequences once again of their actions in the pre- vious season," Tierney said. "Ev- erybody did it, not just Helen. Because Alison pushed him and Cole wouldn't let them be apart. Everybody played a role. Noah wouldn't drive, so we all did it. It's not only Helen's fault." While the big four characters all try to come to terms with their roles in Scotty's death, se- ries co-creator Sarah Treem says that season 3 will also try to an- swer some burning questions that many of us ask ourselves in the real world. "We're always asking ourselves, what is love?" she said in an interview with EW. "Is love a product of time and place and circumstance? Or is love something true that can't be undone? This season we kind of tried to answer those ques- tions." An answer to one of those questions — if love can be un- done — may come in the form of Noah and Alison's relation- ship. Spoilers being floated around seem to indicate that Noah wants nothing to do with Alison anymore, and, as Tierney mentioned, he's getting in- volved with a new woman. That woman is Juliette Le Gall, played by French actress Irène Jacob ("Three Colors: Red," 1994). Juliette is described as a woman with her own secrets, but she helps Noah better un- derstand himself and deal with his past trauma. Jacob won't be the only new face joining the series this sea- son. Brendan Fraser ("The Mum- my," 1999) has been tapped for a recurring role, as has Jonathan Cake ("Desperate House- wives"). While Fraser's role has been mostly kept under wraps, Cake is slated to play Whitney's (Julia Goldani Telles, "Bun- heads") boss and love interest. Jennifer Esposito ("Blue Bloods") returns for season 3 af- ter appearing in three episodes last year as Noah's sister, Nina. "The Affair" is a compelling drama, something that both fans and critics agree on. The se- ries premiered in 2014 to a little more than 500,000 viewers in the U.S., but it has steadily picked up more eyeballs since that first episode. By the end of season 1, more than 950,000 people were tuning in, and the season 2 finale, which aired around Christmastime last year, picked up the series' first mil- lion-plus viewership (1.111 mil- lion, to be exact). If ratings aren't enough to convince "The Affair" showrun- ners that they have something good on their hands, the acco- lades that keep pouring in should be. In its first season, Ruth Wilson took home the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Television Drama, beating out Robin Wright ("House of Cards"), Julianna Margulies ("The Good Wife"), Claire Danes ("Homeland") and Viola Davis ("How to Get Away With Mur- der"). The series also took home the Globe for Best Drama Series over HBO juggernaut "Game of Thrones" and Netflix's "House o f Cards." For season 2, Tierney took home the Globe for Best Supporting Actress in a Televi- sion Drama, and was nominated in similar categories at the Em- mys and the Critics' Choice Tele- vision Awards. The slightly extended wait for more thrilling episodes of Show- time's "The Affair" is now over. With many questions left unan- swered and more undoubtedly on the horizon, you won't want to miss the premiere of the criti- cally acclaimed series when it airs Sunday, Nov. 20, on Show- time. Joshua Jackson in a scene from "The Affair" Three years hence Consequences are dealt with in new season of 'The Affair' 2 | Cover story A/Grindstone Charlie's B/Norris Insurance 1 x 4"

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