What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
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T2 WHATS UP! August 25 - 31, 2019 BY KENNETH ANDEEL TV Media O ne of Showtime's award-winning prestige dramas is coming to an end. On Sunday, Aug. 25, the fifth and final season of "The Af- fair" kicks off, and this conclu- sion promises to resolve the cliffhangers of Season 4 and reward fans who have been loyal to the series for five years with satisfying closure. "The Affair" began as a rela- tively focused experiment that told the story of an illicit rela- tionship between two married individuals and the conse- quences of said affair. The show used multiple character perspectives, flashbacks and flashforwards to unfurl the drama, and it established early on that none of the main char- acters were reliable narrators. It was suspenseful and subtle, and initially the story of "The Affair" was designed to be contained in a single season. The success of the experiment led to renewal after renewal, and here we are five seasons later. The show boasts an impres- sive cast, and the ensemble is one of the reasons the series works so well. The series was built around the story of wait- ress Alison Lockhart, played by Ruth Wilson ("Jane Eyre," 2006). Alison was in a dark place after the loss of her child and made up one half of the titular affair — the other is Noah Solloway, played by Dominic West ("The Wire"). Noah is a writer and a school teacher with what most would consider the perfect family: he has four beautiful children with his wife and first love, but, of course, all is not as rosy as it seems. While both lead characters are sympathetic, they are also deeply flawed, and neither is a particularly reliable narrator. Two television veterans make up the supporting back- bone of the series: Joshua Jackson ("Fringe") played Ali- son's husband, Cole, and No- ah's long-suffering wife, Hel- en, is played by Maura Tierney ("ER"). Both struggled hard to keep their respective marriag- Anna Paquin stars in "The Affair" End of 'The Affair' continued on page T10 TV FEATURE