Episode 3

I knew contentment after this episode, only because in her version of the story, Alison still hadn't slept with Noah. I know that will change soon, though. I strongly suspect it had already changed during the episode, only Alison didn't divulge that part. That brings me to a question: what exactly are the rules in this narrative. If someone "omits" an event in their version of the story are they lying about it? Does it lack priority for them? Of course, if Alison thought the first time she met Noah was significant and the first kiss was noteworthy, there's no way the first sexual encounter wouldn't merit mention.

I could tell myself that it didn't happen and that Noah, an inveterate liar in my view, made it up, except for one detail: as soon as Noah hoisted up Alison's dress, she begin moaning in what Noah and most viewers assumed was ecstasy. When I saw her version of the story, I began to suspect that she moaned in pain. She cut herself on the beach, slicing up her inner thigh. I think Noah pressed against this open wound. In fact, the very odd way they had sex seems like it was specifically designed to pierce her thigh, really. If she cried out because of her thigh cut -- something that Noah didn't even know about -- then he must have been telling the truth about the sex that she neglected to mention.

Later, when he got home, he went to wash his hands. Now, if he wanted to clean all traces of sex from his body, I think he'd do more than wash his hands. He should have just jumped in the shower whole hog. So, I don't think he was washing away residue or odor. I also don't think it was a symbolic cleanse either, as if he was trying to absolve himself of sin. I think he was washing away blood. We didn't see blood, blood from her leg. Of course, we didn't see blood and we got a close up shot of his hands. Still, I think Alison's instant orgasm which, frankly, looked less than pleasurable and the hand washing mean something.

And while I toil away trying to find hidden clues, I like to know that I will be rewarded at the end of the season. The best Rashomon story has at least 3 points of view. One belongs to the objective narrator, someone who will tell us what really happened. We struggle to find the facts that lie between the ego and delusion that shape the two narrative. We need to be rewarded for our pains at the end. We need an answer, telling us if our conclusions were right, wrong or just as unreliable as the characters'.

In an interview, Joshua Jackson was asked if the audience would find out who was telling the truth in the end. He said he would have to punt on that question. I took his evasion to mean that the answer was "yes," but he was sworn to secrecy. Now, I've changed that opinion to think that the answer better be "yes". The more I invest in figuring the true plot out, the less I'll be satisfied with an ambiguous finale. It's much more important that we learn which character was most trustworthy than that it is we eventually discover who died and who killed him. The murder is secondary. The personalities at the heart of this story are what need to be verified. If the writers give us a Sopranos ending where those are concerned, then they will guarantee themselves fewer people committing to the second season, after having been robbed of their payoff in the first.

NOAH

Once again Noah is swimming. This time he's in the Butler's outdoor pool, keeping a watchful eye on father-in-law Bruce inside. He sneaks into the house, hoping to avoid Bruce. Ostensibly, we're supposed to think he just doesn't want to spend time with a man that he loathes, but he's acting so jumpy that I suspect something else. I guess I'm hoping that he just came back from killing some pedestrian with his car and that he'll be locked up in about 7 more weeks.

But for now he just proves to be a stealthy son-in-law. His efforts to be as quiet as possible don't work. Bruce hears him and calls him into the den. Once again he asks him how the book is going. Uh, 20 people have asked him that in the last 2 days. How can he write it, if they won't leave him alone? Again, Noah says that there's not much to talk about yet. Bruce says that while Noah swims, he used to play tennis. He'd go out and play for hours against a "little Jewish guy" and then when he finished, he'd be too tired to write. Margaret, his wife, confronted him and said, "Why don't you write 10 pages and then play tennis." He did and didn't go back to the tennis court for weeks, when he did, his old (he says "Jewish" again so that Noah or the writers or both are sure that we know Bruce's mindset)partner beat the pants off him, but he had a best-selling novel.

Noah says nothing, but Bruce "is glad we had this talk." This is interesting to me, because I didn't take Bruce for someone who listened to his wife, but he does. He has a forceful wife, but he's still successful and confident. Noah has a less forceful wife, but he feels oppressed by her. He feels emasculated and in the Butler home, he's almost childlike, for reasons that I don't quite understand. Sure, being around 2 people whose values are so opposed to his own would be maddening, but Helen speaks up to her parents, I don't know why Noah doesn't as well. He doesn't strike me as shy or polite. I don't think his reticence springs from that. think he wants the Butler money. In the first episodes, I thought he wanted to be independent from in-laws he did not respect, but now I'm feeling that Helen could live without their money more easily than he could.

Upstairs, Noah slips off his swim trunks and climbs into bed, slithering the chlorine smell all over the sheets, I'm sure. I can only imagine that he reeks of chlorine. He then starts making out with his sleeping wife and when she stirs, he tells her "don't wake up." The more lifeless she is, the easier for him to pretend she's someone else. She pulls him close, drowsily, purring "Good morning."

The next morning, Helen asks him if she should choose a product that will give a portion of the purchase price to Kenyan kids or a similar product that is made from recycled goods and comes from the Brazilian rain forest. What's the price difference he wonders. Negligible, she answers. He doesn't really give her an answer. I wonder if it should pose such a quandary. If you can help children or help the environment, I think the kids would come first to a couple with four privileged ones of their own. At the very least, give to both causes. Moreover, I think Helen liked the idea of having something from the rain forest more than she wanted to recycle. The need to possess something exotic was a little greater than the need to help.

Helen says she'll be busy ordering, so it seems that she owns some type of store or business. She wants Noah to take the kids, but he says he has an interview with an agent. Bruce lights up. He said he told the agent to call Noah. Noah says, "I called him." He wants them to know he took the initiative, but what difference does that make when it's Bruce's agent and Bruce went out of his way to put them together. It would mean more if Noah had found his own agent. As it is, it really doesn't matter whether he or Bruce's agent made the first phone call. It wasn't autonomous on Noah's part.

Margaret has set Whitney up to interview as an au pair. Helen doesn't think she's responsible enough for that and Whitney is insulted. Noah says he'll cancel to be with the kids. Helen says no, she wants him to keep the appointment. She tells her dad he's on kid patrol and Bruce looks quizzical, as does his grandson.

Again, I'm struck that Bruce is basically run by the women in his home and Helen has more power over her parents than I thought she did in the first two episodes.

Meeting with the agent, he listens to the agent's lifestory and the guy says, "I don't know why I'm telling you this. You have an honest face." In my eyes, he has anything but. Did the agent really say that. Next, the agent is calling him a "young" writer and the guy is about 50. So, I have to assume that Noah is just making this stuff up. This is how he sees himself, so this is what he hears people saying to him. Either that's it or the agent is super blind.

He asks what Noah's book is about and Noah says about how Montauk is changing from being a beautiful small town to a tourist trap, stripped of all it's natural splendor. And? The agent asks. Noah tap dances and says that it's about a fisherman who falls in love with a waitress, but they're both married. The agent has heard that one before. But this one is different. How. What happens? Noah thinks fast: "he kills her." Now, this is more shocking than it probably should be and Noah was clearly scrambling to keep the agent's interest. He blurted out something as wild as possible. It doesn't make me think he has murderous tendencies, actually. I can hate him for myriad other reasons than that. I bet more than 25% of all novels contain a murder, so... The agent says, that is different. Well, no, it's not the most original plot I've ever heard actually. The agent wants to know why he kills her and Noah says he doesn't know yet. Doesn't know why, which sounds pretty stupid to me, but it makes the agent eager. He tells Noah when he has a few pages, he should let him read them before anyone else does.

Noah heads over to the Lobster Roll and asks for a pretty waitress with long brown hair. Alison is not in today, he's told. Did he want her? Alison's boss, Oscar chimes in and is amused by Noah's interest in Alison. No, Noah wasn't looking for her, he just wanted to buy his kids t-shirts. He gets 4, I think, and is astounded that they're $100, total. Well, $25 each is really not that big a deal. If you buy one at a rock concert, it'll cost $40. In Alison's version, he leaves a note for her, in his version Noah doesn't, but it was clear that he went there to see her, so I don't know why he'd lie about leaving a note.

He goes to a library and looks at his own book on the shelf. Could they make him more of an egomaniac? He reads the dedication to Helen, who makes everything good. That's when Alison pops up. If he didn't leave her a note, the only other reasons she could have been there at just that time would be to stalk him. He tells her he is not interested in a relationship because ... she supplies all of the reasons, he's married, doesn't want to spoil that, etc. He says that's right. So, she understands that they can only be friends, correct?

She says sure. And they agree that she'll help him with his book as a friend. They go to the dock and she tells him they have great fish and introduces him to Will. Will offers Noah porgy and he doesn't know what they are, but Alison says to trust her, they're good. He should buy some. Now, I wonder if this is an allusion to Porgy and Bess, the story in which Porgy wanted to rescue Bess from her drunken and abusive lover. I'd think so after the first episode, but since then I don't think Noah sees Cole in that light any longer. That reminds me how disappointed that we didn't get any Martin and Cole scenes this week.

Scotty comes up and gives Will an envelope of money. He says that the Lockharts have Will on monthly retainer. Alison is tense and hostile. Scotty is practically leering. Are things really like this between those two or is Noah making it up? I think not, because even in Alison's version when Whitney went to the ranch to pick up Martin, Alison seemed pretty shaken up by Scotty. So, I don't know what is going on there. Did Scotty rape her or did they have an affair themselves (later Cole mentions how charming Scotty is, something I wouldn't have figured out myself). Is Cole aware of whatever the undercurrent is between his wife and brother?

There's a town hall meeting and Noah says he'll go. At home, Whitney claims that the dad at the home where she babysat was checking her out. Noah says, "that's it, she's not going back." Helen says they'll see. "Didn't you hear what she said?" Noah asks. Helen says that Whitney has a tendency to exaggerate. Yeah, like her dad. Margaret tells Trevor not to stab at his peas and lectures him on table matters. Helen tells him he need not listen to Grandma. Earlier Margaret had been telling Whitney how distressed she was when her 21 year old daughter married an idealist. She insists she was physically ill on their wedding day, but Helen claims she's lying, Noah says is it so awful that they're raising their kids to be decent human beings. When Margaret says she wanted Helen to marry someone more "pragmatic" she really means money, right? Noah wants to know. He becomes irate and Helen tells him not to take the bait. No, Margaret wants to hear it. If he thinks they're so bad, why is he happy enough to spend their money on private schools and all the other luxuries they give his family. Noah snidely says they're grateful for everything the Butlers do. Helen tells her mother not to pick on her husband. Margaret takes Whitney and tells her she'll relay the rest of the story about her "idealist" father later.

When they're at dinner, Noah starts to curse and Trevor hears it and repeats, when Stacey stops him and says he can't do what daddy does, because Daddy's a grown up. Noah smiles at this statement, but why is it in the script? Because Daddy doesn't feel like a grown up when he's in the Butler house -- or maybe not ever.

Noah goes to the townhall meeting, but it's over. Oscar says that his girl is over there. Noah is startled that Alison is referred to as "his" girl. He turns and Cole and Alison are walking to the car arm in arm. They kiss and Alison waves Cole off. Even in his version, Cole and Alison seem loving. When he drives off, Alison and Noah meet and he, frustrated, asks if there is anywhere in this town where people can be alone? Alison takes him to a deserted beach and begins kissing him. He tells her that he can't stop thinking about her, even when he's having sex with his wife. She says that if it helps, she thinks about him all of the time too. It doesn't help, he retorts. At least she doesn't tell him she's thinking of him while having sex with her husband.

Won't her husband wonder where she is, Noah wonders? Probably not, she answers. They're very independent. In Noah's view, the Lockhart marriage is not a traditional one. Yet, at base, Alison seems to have much more genuine love for Cole than Noah does for Helen. His relationship seems more perfunctory than affectionate, while Alison seems troubled and stifled by the Lockharts, yes. Still, there's often a gentleness between her and Cole that's more than going through the motions.

Doesn't she remember what he said, he asks? "You didn't say it. I did," she reminds. Irritated, he repeats that he's married. She keeps kissing him and he yelps "stop, stop, stop" in a way that makes him seem quite silly, if it really happened. First of all, I just can't imagine her that desperate to have him over his complaints. Secondly, he squeals but doesn't leave. His useless objections make him seem like more of a jerk than the infidelity alone would.

He takes a firm stand telling her that she can't rush him. He knows he sounds like an asshole (no kidding) but if this happens it has to be on his terms. He has to be in charge. I guess this is his acknowledgement that he's in charge of nothing else in his life. Alison is, unrealistically, accepting of this edict. So, I think he means that they will take this affair slowly, but the next thing I know he's unbuckling and pulling her close, hoisting up her dress and hauling her aboard. That's when she instantly begins gasping, almost before anything could have happened. That's why I now think she was in pain, not delirium.

Afterwards, he goes home where Helen and two of the kids are watching tv. The dialogue seems vaguely related to what Noah's going through, but I don't really listen. He smiles at them, tries to look like the typical family man, then hustles into the bathroom to wash those hands. He looks into the mirror, anxiously. No, that's not the face of an honest man.

ALISON

She's getting dressed and asks Cole how she looks. He says she looks like she needs a new dress. How old is that one? Let him buy her one. They can't afford it. Sure they can. The summer people are here. They will be flush in a few weeks. So, can he buy her a dress. She takes the money. She asks if the car has gas. Yes. What's wrong with him? He's gotten used to having her around. "I can't work for Oscar forever."

"I know. I'll just miss you is all." His voice dips and he's so sweet. I am too old to watch Dawson's Creek and Pacey is too young for me to care about, today, but if I'd known about it then ... I love Peter Bishop more than words can say. If I'd been watching Josh since Dawson's Creek, I'm sure the obsession would have killed me by now. Yum.

Cole starts complaining about the construction next door. Alison points out that it doesn't block their view. That's not the point. They're building it massive for no reason. They are only going to use it 3 months out of the year and the other 9 months, the locals will be stuck with the monstrosity. They will build and build until they can't any more, until there's nothing left. He works himself into a tither. She soothes him. They kiss goodbye.

In the first episode, I thought that Alison didn't need to work as a waitress, because they had money. While she doesn't act as if she's above her fellow waitress, she didn't see like that was her career level, even though we were told she started at the Lobster Roll when she was a teen. Now, I see that she didn't need to because she's a trained nurse. She left the job when her son died, but now she's ready to go back. The supervisor says they don't have any openings accept surgical and pediatrics. Alison will take surgical. But she's not trained for it. She thought she'd attend a few classes ... The supervisor says they need someone in pediatrics. Alison says she'll do it. Can she handle it? Sure, she declares.

She sees a child in the hall, bald with leukemia. He throws up in his worried mother's hands. The supervisor comes and takes him into a hospital room, gives Alison her keys and tells her to meet her in the cafeteria. Empathizing too strongly to sympathize, a dazed Alison goes into a supply room, takes some gauze and other items. Leaves the key on the supervisor's desk and walks out.

At first I thought she was going to take some kind of drug, but on the beach she pulls up her skirt and stabs her inner thigh with something (a shell or something she took from the hospital). Her leg bleeds and she bandages it up. Hurt is her release.

She goes to work and Oscar tells her that someone was there looking for her and left a note. Doesn't she want to read it. Alison says later, for reasons I can't understand, since the first thing she does is run to read the note. It has Noah's number and he says to meet him at the library.She asks to leave early. Oscar says that he wants to open a bowling alley and will seek permission from the locals at the town hall meeting. He hopes she backs him. Why would she want to do that, she asks.

At the library, Noah is glad to see her. She goes and shows him a historical book, "there it is." She finds a picture of her grandfather, a Montauk resident, next to a giant fish. She doesn't think her grandpa caught it. He probably found it on the beach and claimed he caught it, grandma said. That's how her grandfather was. He could tell tall tales. She tells Noah he's a lot like her grandfather. I agree that he's a liar, but I don't think she realizes this consciously yet.

She says her grandparents raised her. At a desk they sneak kisses. She's girlish. She takes him to the dock. There's no will in her version. Instead, she's telling him of the volume of fish they have lost to the fishing boats with nets that just sweep the sea clean. They will take until there's nothing more left. She gives him a lecture on it, sounding encyclopedic. Is her eloquence only imagined or did that really happen. If it did and Noah forgot all about it and only remembers she told him what kind of fish to buy, that, once again, proves what a jerk he is. A rather sexist one at that.

She tells him he should go out with the fisherman as background for a story, but it can get brutal on the water. Cold. Does she think he can't take it, he inquires? He's only here 3 months for the year. He thinks their life is easy. He doesn't see the hard times. True and when he looks at her he only sees someone trying to seduce him because he's so hot, I guess, he doesn't see a person in pain and torment and even when he does sense strife (as with Scotty) he doesn't ask why.

This story is set up so that anyone who takes sides will take hers. Noah is self-absorbed and has no problems except that his in-laws are too rich and he can't break free of them. He feels neglected, but for a woman with four kids, Helen is still awfully available to him as a lover and sounding board. Alison, on the other hand, has real problems: grief, money, a harassing employer. Yet, when they first meet, she is concerned about his family and, even when he thinks she is being raped, Noah is more aroused than worried for her. For Noah, everything is about him, while Alison seems to find nothing that is. She is drowning and trying to make a last ditch effort to save and find herself. So, unless she's an artful deceiver, it's hard not to think her version of events is leaps and bounds more credible than his.

They start kissing again and almost get caught. She says they have to stop, because she lives here. He says fine. If her hands make their way into his pants, he promises he'll stop her. She doesn't laugh. He says they'll just be friends. She agrees, but as they are parting she tells him that there's a town hall meeting and he should attend, but it sounds more like an invitation than a gesture of mere friendship and I am disappointed that she makes no effort to avoid him. But she doesn't lie and tell the interviewer that she's tried to either.

Speaking of the interviewer, we learn that the interrogation scenes are out of sequence. This week Noah says that the interviewer should read his book, but last week he said that he already had and Noah humbly answered "good for you man," rather than thank you. Last week, we/I thought that when the interviewer said he wanted to talk to everyone at the party, he meant Helen's birthday party, but he was actually referring to a party that must take place much later.

Noah tells the interviewer that Oscar is someone the police should look at. Alison concedes that the feud between the Lockharts and Oscar goes way back. The suggestion that this crime had to do with someone being enemies with the Lockharts, suggests that one of them dies. Again, my guess is Scotty, but that's only because I don't know the other 2 brothers yet. The detective asks about Cole and wonders how he was at that point when his wife was having an affair. Alison counters that at that point, she wasn't having an affair. All she'd done is kiss a man on the beach. I wish she'd clarified later, after the day and night of the town hall meeting was completely over, that she still hadn't had an affair yet. I want her to contradict Noah outright, not by implication.

When Alison leaves her "friend" Noah, she warns that her husband will be at the town hall meeting. Noah agrees to be discreet.

When Alison gets to the town meeting it is already in session. She sits with her sister-in-law, takes a beer. Oscar stands up to talk about his bowling alley plan. People in the crowd seem hopeful, but then Cole rises and Alison tenses. Why is she working with Oscar if he not only propositions her every chance he gets, but is also an enemy of her husband's? Why would Cole not worry about her working there?

Anyway, Cole talks about not wanting to see Montauk ruined by new building and tourist attractions. Everyone knows he doesn't like to talk. He leaves that to Scotty, but he can't stay silent when it's something he cares about so much. He wants to preserve their heritage. I would think bowling would be for the locals, not tourists really. Who goes to Montauk to bowl?? But Oscar is planning more of an entertainment center than a bowling alley, I suppose. Cole starts speaking passionately about his love for Montauk, rallying the crowd. His wife was born here. His son is buried here and one day he wants to be buried with him. Alison stiffens and I don't blame her. You don't bring up a subject like that to raise cheers. A child's death is not a fight song. At least Cole is more educated than I'd first thought. I wish Noah had been there to see him at his most articulate.

The thing is, despite the little history lesson she gave Noah about the poor fisherman, I don't think that Alison particularly agrees with Cole. She looked like she would have backed Oscar if she didn't think it would cause family conflict.

Has Josh aged in the year since Fringe? He looks congested around the eyes and nose. Bloated even and drowsy. Sinuses? Give that guy some Claritin.

When Cole finishes speaking, the crowd is anti-Oscar, many are crying. Afterwards, Mary Kate and Scotty say they are proud of him. He turns to Alison, "What about you? Are you proud of me too?" "We'll talk about it later."

"What'd I do now?" He queries. No. That's ground for divorce. I'm sure if he cared to think about it, he would know good and well what he did. For it to be worth hurting her to make a point is bad enough, but to feign ignorance of where he went awry adds further insult. "Your son is buried here??"

"He is."

"You can't do that. You can't use him to make a statement, when you want to win a debate."

"Is that what you think," Cole begins indignantly. Well, I kind of think that too Cole. You seemed more rabble rouser than heartbroken father. I want to be buried next to my boy, Whoo hoo! Yeah, that's not going to go over well with the Mrs.

At that point, they're interrupted by an irate Oscar. Cole tells him to build something useful like a daycare center. Mary Kate says they just want something that is good for the community. Oscar says, "Listen, sweetheart," the Lockharts get angry. Alison backs up against the wall. She seems neutral at best. Oscar goes after Cole, Scotty jumps in. Cole breaks up the fight. Oscar clears out. Cole reaches for Alison.

That night in bed, Cole is asleep. The tattoo that takes up half of his back is an eyesore for me. Even though they aren't facing each other, they are pushed close together, back to back. Alison's not squished over to her side of the bed, with a sea between them. Again, the body language is intimate, loving even when outward conduct says otherwise. At least she doesn't seem to be stewing over the town hall speech.

Alison's phone buzzes. It's a text from Noah. He's sorry he missed town hall. She says, "that's ok". He wants to know what she's doing now. She texts back and I'd like to know how she responded, but we don't get to find out. Perhaps she didn't say anything salacious. Maybe she told him she was snuggling with her husband. Probably not. Those texts may return to haunt her. She puts down the phone, with a smile on her face and begins to kiss Cole, his back, his ears. He moves. "Don't wake up," she whispers. Oh, this kills me, because I don't want her motives to be the same as Noah's. They have Noah and Alison doing the same thing, but I hope, like the structure of the show itself, the similar scenes are there to show the contrasts between them, not to establish that they're equally tired of marriage and besotted with one another. Besides, physically since the male has to be more alert during sex for it to work properly, it would be harder for Alison to fantasize that a sleeping Cole was actually Noah, than for him to imagine Helen was someone else.

To me, their behavior is similar to Dorothea and Rosamond's in Middlemarch. Rosamond spends her husband into financial ruin and when he asks her to show spending restraint she says, "But what can I do, Tertius." Dorothea, on the other hand, is walled out by her cold husband, but when he is ailing still asks, "Can you lean on me, dear." With the "don't wake up" I see Noah (Rosamond Vincy) as saying, "be quiet so I can enjoy, myself" while Alison's meaning is, "Relax, let me do the work."

I don't see her as wanting him to remain still so she can imagine it's Noah. Besides, she didn't look especially lustful when she hung up with Noah. Her smile was soft. Then she was contemplative for a second, before moving towards Cole. I don't think it was guilt or desire that spurred her, so much as a need to make affectionate contact. This isn't Richard Gere and Diane Lane in Unfaithful, where she loved her husband but was attracted to another man. I (want to) see Alison as more attracted to her husband than Noah and loving Cole, while Noah maybe not at all. Yet, somehow continuing "normally" with her marriage seems like an affront to her son's memory. Disrupting it mirrors her turmoil within and gives expression to the wrongness she's feeling inside. This affair isn't exactly punishment like the self-mutilation is and I don't know how excited she is by the danger. I think her need is more subtle. She feels completely different than she was before and if she acts the same, as if unchanged by the loss, it's somehow a betrayal.

When Noah says he loves her and, judging from what he said to the agent, I suspect he will, will Alison say it back. He says he loves his wife. Alison hasn't said she loves Cole, but when they're together, the atmosphere is taut or affectionate, while with Helen, Noah feels only frustration or ennui.

He doesn't listen. He wakes up, turns her over and they engage. Both seem enthusiastic. Too much so for me to think she's seeing Noah in her mind. But who knows. Of course, I just want to think of Noah as another knife in her leg. Her punishment, not her pleasure.

Actually the scene between her and Cole reminds me of the opening scene in Fringe's Welcome to Westfield, where Peter starts out on top, but Olivia rolls him over and has him tell her that he loves her. Awwww.

Back in the police station, she tells the questioner (who would probably be getting to the truth faster if he had Kevin James there to help. I still watch King of Queens often on TV Land)that she'll need to get a sitter if she stays longer. He says if Oscar hated the Lockharts so much, why was he at the wedding. Alison says he doesn't understand. Even though they fight, they're still all family. When it comes down to it, they will support each other. Why doesn't the investigator know that. Did they bring him in from out of town? Is this a federal crime?

But her comment makes me think that the Montauk locals will protect each other and point a finger at an outsider for the crime, even if they suspect one of them did it. Maybe Alison was already trying to do this when she told the detective that locals don't use the road where the man was hit by a car. I'll repeat that my hope is,in the end, Alison will finger Noah for the crime, even if she thinks Cole might have done it. And, when push comes to shove, I guess what Alison is saying that even Oscar would support Cole and the evil Lockharts, if they needed a defense against a non-local.

So, if they're still all family, despite feuds and dissension, is that why she was at the wedding? Hmmm. So, was she separated from Cole by then and is that what would make it strange for her to attend a Lockhart wedding? That saddens me. Next question is: who got married?