There have been a few times this season that it’s felt like The Affair was becoming emotional melodrama porn, but behold Episode 209 as the new God of melodrama! An unusual start to things sees a timestamp gracing the episode, and when news reports begin clamoring about the incoming Hurricane Alex, the purpose of constantly checking in on the clock begins to become apparent. As surprising as this timestamp is at the top of the episode, what’s even more startling is to see the episode using said stamp as a license to freebase this episode and get rid of the show’s defining structure for the first time ever (as well as the entry being void of flashforwards, too). The Affair often feels like it’s spiraling into chaos, but never has that feeling been more present than when this piece of tradition and familiarity is removed from the show.

A hurricane is the fitting sort of excuse to be checking in on everyone and moving all over the place, and that sprawling mentality is certainly felt here. That being said, if the plan is to hang onto this freeform for the remaining three episodes making them a lot looser and less encumbered by the series’ usual trappings, I could also see that sort of approach working for the show. This series has never been one to step back from experimentation, so something as drastic as this mixing up the final piece of the season would be consistent with The Affair’s motives so far.

Let’s start with this Dr. Oola, who’s kind of a hurricane in himself and acts as a cipher through this episode. I love that Whitney’s Tinder profile creation for Helen last episode is a quaint misdirection that ends up leading her to the more-than-suitable doctor that operated on Martin what feels like a forever ago. It’s in this sense that the show’s swooping time leaps greatly work in its favor, where this reunion between them can feel genuine and spontaneous rather than strained. At first he seems charming and persistent in just the right ways, and actually looks to be a good match for Helen. Then the storm clouds begin with his “needy bitch” comment, his deeply clinical approach towards empathy, and the timing of his Tinder “joke.”

Helen’s conversation with him where she tries to dissect whether or not he’s a good guy is maybe a little too much of the show putting its subtext front and center, however it’s perhaps excusable when her question largely becomes the theme of the episode. Repeatedly we see shades of everyone being “a good person that acts like a dick, and a dick that acts like a good person” with the episode leaving it up to us to determine the reality. In the past we’ve had the split perspective format as a tool to help inform our decision on the matter, but for once it’s absent and we’re left to do the heavy lifting ourselves. We don’t have the benefit of just asking these characters the answer point blank. Even after everything Helen has seen, she’s still drawn to the doctor in the end, ready to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Alison is left with much tougher decisions to make than whether her new beau is decent or not. She’s actually in a hell of sorts when she begins to go into labor during the height of the storm. Alison makes it to the hospital, but her doctor doesn’t, with Noah also unreachable and absent. Instead Alison’s lonely and scared, stuck giving birth under less than ideal conditions. I’m consistently rooting for Alison to just catch a break for once, but her situation here proves that the show isn’t finished putting her through the gauntlet.