As the episode begins on Helen’s side of the story, we’re in the middle of witnessing a complete legal decimation of Noah. Things could not be going more poorly in his favor when all of a sudden some pedantic phrasing ends up becoming his savior. There’s also some value in seeing Gottlief hate Noah’s guts here as he tries to take him down as opposed endlessly having his back like the guardian angel that we’ve seen in the flash-forwards. While the scene might seem preoccupied on Noah, it in fact ultimately reveals more about the growing ulcer that is Helen.

Points really need to be given to The Affair for the beautiful job that it’s doing at having Helen’s mother annoy us just as she does everyone else in her orbit. The tension amidst the two of them is palpable and growing until Helen is finally able to empathize with her mother. Margaret lets loose what we’ve already known about her former husband and his paramour (concubine, slut face, what have you…). They don’t dwell on for too long, but the simple gesture of Helen passing the wine glass to her mother is the perfect, subtle reaction. Maybe there will finally be some commiseration between the two after all, and these collective experiences will help bring them closer together.

Someone who certainly isn’t coming closer together with anyone in the near future though is Whitney, who continues her tirade from last week to the point that I’m even surprised I gave her the benefit of the doubt. In her sparse amount of screen time she manages to backstab and seem more interested in money and pissing people off than anything else. Why wouldn’t Scotty want to get back with her?

Elsewhere in sociopath land, Max continues to be a question mark that’s constantly in flux between hitting his mark and completely shitting on it. From what we’ve seen of him he certainly seems like a big gesture sort of guy and for someone like Helen that can kind of be a nightmare. Him just casually mentioning to Helen that he gave Noah $50,000 last episode, and then being bemused when she’s upset about this almost feels like the distillation of all of the dissonance in their relationship.

Things with Max certainly ended sooner than I thought that they would (but with his connection to Noah as well, I’m sure it won’t be the last that we see of him), but it might almost be worth it for the work that Tierney churns out as a result. To see the cracks slowly form in her and start to rapidly spread as Max pours his heart out over how much he loves her is brutal, but at least Helen is taking some agency here. Companionship doesn’t always mean that you’re not feeling alone. In fact, it can even accentuate your loneliness sometimes. Helen might be alone again, but at least it’s on her own terms.