The Affair Recap: Movement is Life (S5 E10)

It can’t be denied that disasters make strange bedfellows, and the threat of imminent death will make everyone forget about everyday problems, large and small, to concentrate on survival. But, oh lordy! The 10th episode of Season 5 of The Affair, featuring Helen and Noah escaping the wildfires ensemble, was actually quite funny in some parts. Spoilers ahead:

Maura Tierney as Helen in The Affair

Noah repeating the “movement is life” line he just heard on TV several times was even more hilarious when Helen called it “mansplaining” as she almost went screaming into the canyon with a “The End” baseball cap on her head. Seriously, I could not keep a straight face!

What we saw in Episode 10: In total harpy mode, Whitney heaped verbal abuse upon her parents, told them they deserved each other and stormed off to her room. Helen tried damage control and Noah left. Colin came back with the younger kids and asked Helen for Whitney’s birth certificate. For realz. I mean, Whitney is a grown woman and should have or know where to get a certified copy of her birth certificate, for heaven’s sake. Her driver’s license or passport would work too, but that was just thrown in to give Helen an excuse to go to Noah’s house. (He has the birth certificate). Helen left Trevor and Stacey with Whitney.

Noah was passed out drunk and she couldn’t wake him up so she got in bed with him and went to sleep. The next day, they were advised by an authority going door-to-door to evacuate because of the looming threat of the wildfires. Noah rudely refused to leave, telling Helen that Whitney is right — Helen has a codependent fixation on him. “I hope you burn,” Helen said and flounced off.

After picking up a man and his pregnant wife, Helen ran into gridlock traffic. The couple argued. Helen told them to stop while she figured out how to make Sasha Mann’s car Armageddon-proof. At home, Noah moped about and watched news reports. The next-door neighbor showed up and told him it was too late to evacuate but Noah decided that firefighter Dan Foster was right: “Movement is life.” He took off and found Helen, insisting she had to hike back to civilization with him or die. The couple in the car refused to go. Noah and Helen admitted their shortcomings to each other on the journey. Noah also learned that Whitney banned him from her wedding.

They survived climbing down a steep cliff only to have a rattlesnake bite Helen when she sat down to rest. With a mile to go, Noah had to carry her until help appeared. She was given anti-venom and stabilized in the hospital. Noah saw a news report that said an estimated 100 people were believed to have perished in the gridlock. We might never know what happened to Noah’s next-door neighbor, but Sasha’s car was toast. His license plate “DA MANN1” was shown on the TV. We wonder if he saw that on TV wherever he helicoptered off to.

What we didn’t get to see: Anything about any of the other storylines that have been going on this season, but like we said, that will happen when disaster strikes.