Season 3, Episode 8

“The Affair” got back to Montauk with an Alison-and-Cole episode Sunday night, after two bleak weeks with Helen and Noah. But things weren’t very sunny on the South Fork. Cole worked out his feelings about his ex-wife over a couple of testy days, at the end of which Alison framed the question for him — he could leave his current wife, Luisa, to return to Alison and be a happy jerk, or he could stay with Luisa, preserve his self-image as a good guy and be a miserable hero. He decided to stay, and his episode-ending expression as he and Luisa hugged did look pretty miserable.

It was also the first sex-free episode in seven weeks, since the season premiere. If you’re keeping score, it’s Helen 3 (Vic, Max, Noah), Alison 2 (Cole, Noah), Noah 2 (Alison, Helen), Cole 1 (Alison) and poor Juliette 1 (the irritating undergrad Mike). Presumably Whitney and Furkat are getting it on, but we’ve been spared the visual proof.

Alison’s chapter came first, and the news for her was good. At a custody hearing, Luisa unexpectedly switched sides, saying that Joanie wanted to be with her mother and suggesting shared custody. And just like that, one of the season’s biggest conflicts was solved. Then Alison got a mysterious call summoning her to Woodlawn, the New Jersey psychiatric institution where she’d recently spent six months (losing Joanie in the process).

It turned out that her former doctor wanted her to speak to a woman who, like Alison, had experienced the death of a child. Kendra was a straw mom, an unlikely plot convenience to get Alison from one emotional level to another, but the scene was moving nonetheless, with Hope Olaide Wilson doing good work as the young mom with thoughts of suicide. Alison half-jokingly said that she had come close to committing suicide by having an affair — “I wouldn’t recommend it. It didn’t end well” — and told Kendra that while she’d always miss her daughter, “It’s incredible to be alive.” Alison handled the situation so well that her doctor suggested she might turn counseling into a career.