Sanaa Lathan’s Principal Wilson also gets a healthy amount of attention in this installment. It seems that the other teachers aren’t too keen on her and are ready to push her out as soon as possible. What’s tough here is that Noah attempts to be her ally and tries to empathize with her, but Wilson only pushes back. I’ve had a number of problems with Noah in the past, but even I think he’s making a genuine effort at teaching. Wilson’s disagreeable to a hyperbolized nature, but thankfully due to the powers of alcohol, she eventually opens up so she can seem like less of a villain that would bite Beyoncé on the face. Wilson’s backstory definitely helps humanize her character and at least explain where her disciplinary inclinations come from. It also allows Noah to finally melt her icy demeanor and although the prospect of Noah in a relationship with his boss is a terrible idea, we’ll see where all of this is headed. Someone tough that challenges Noah would actually be perfect for him, but it does reflect a possible return to poor decision making for the character.

Finally, Noah’s interest in Anton continues to grow, but the troubled student becomes a whole lot more interesting when it turns out that he’s actually Principal Wilson’s son. Not only that, but the reason that Anton has been left behind is because his mom wants to make an example out of him and show the school that she doesn’t play favorites. Anton continues to show more promise, in spite of his brief screen time, but he’s mostly the catalyst to the events of this episode. It’s safe to say that he probably wouldn’t react too kindly if he found out what was going on between Noah and his mother.

Noah’s material is strong because it avoids the typical trappings of the program, but Helen’s half of the installment goes in a different direction that’s decidedly more somber and focused on mortality. Maura Tierney continues to act the hell out of this role. The opening scene where Helen and Vik deal with his diagnosis is masterful. Helen runs through a gamut of varying emotions and approaches in a matter of seconds while Vik instead internalizes in silence. So much of The Affair is about differences in romance, but Helen’s half of the episode really speaks to how people can be different in other fundamental ways, like how they respond to bad news. This is the sort of story where it’d be absolutely beneficial to have half of the episode devoted to Vik’s perspective on all of this, but the episode intentionally keeps Noah and Helen (mostly) apart this week so their stories are in isolation and can’t lean on each other’s point of view.

As strong as Tierney’s work in this episode is, Omar Metwally truly goes above and beyond in this one. Vik’s very much in free fall mode through a lot of this entry and a reactionary Helen tries to radically fix things that can’t be fixed. One of Vik’s responses to his bad news is the idea to have a baby—something that’s broached in the season’s premiere—so that he can “live on.” There’s an especially brutal sex scene—well to call it sex would be generous—that’s incredibly mechanical and meant to serve a very specific purpose. Helen is already depressed when she enters this installment, but her mental state ping-pongs around in this episode and she only gets worse. Helen does not handle Vik’s decision to avoid treatment very well and she winds up a worried mess.