Season 2, Episode 11

COLE'S STORY

In the courtroom Cole is recounting how Noah was choking Scott and Scott couldn't breathe. He pulled Noah off of his brother.He thought Noah was going to kill Scott. Noah's lawyer asks what Cole sees when he looks at Noah. Cole says he feels nothing and I'm glad about this. I don't think it's a lie. It's the truth, that there's no rage there. The lawyer asks doesn't he hate Noah for sleeping with his wife. Cole says ex-wife. Alison is just in the audience looking nervous and, at one point, averting her eyes from Cole and that bothers me. I wish her loyalties were clear. Or to the extent that they aren't clear and aren't with Cole, I wish they were.

I was surprised when the episode opened with Cole, his appearance was so fulfilling last week in Alison's story, that this is an embarrassment of riches. He and Luisa are driving and the fact that she has her shoes off and her feet on the dashboard works in her disfavor for me.

They are on the way to meet his mother and that annoys me, too, because her need to be a part of the family that he is rightfully distancing himself from is not only misguided but hurtful. She knows about Scott's drugs. I don't know if she realizes the mother's lie and Cole himself may not know how manipulative Cherry can be outside of his presence, but I think you should respect your mate enough to honor the boundaries he has set in parts of his life that predate or don't concern you.

Cole tells her that no matter what his mother won't like her and that she will tell her that they're cursed immediately, so she might not want to bring up the fibroids. I am glad they can joke about what was a painful subject and I'd like to know how they worked themselves past the night of the fire -- the fire itself.

She gets a phone call from her boss and Cole pulls over to give her better reception. She answers questions about what to do with the meat and we see she is a competent business woman and Cole defers to her job, which is unlike what he had with Alison.

He is walking on the beach, looking at the closed Lobster Roll, contemplating.

They are at a hotel. He is kissing her so much that she eventually says she has to go take a bath. Josh has tamped down his scenes significantly. He has less overt sex than the other characters and I have no complaints about that. She goes out to ask for some soap and Cole recognizes the housekeeper's voice. It is Cherry. Luisa is embarrassed and Cole is stunned and saddened to see his mother pushing the housekeeper's cart and humbled, although it's good medicine for her and she can't act like a raging evil psycho while at work, which may ward off the crazy a little longer. They say they will see Cherry later and, a bit shame-faced she says they will.

Later she is showing them pictures and she says she wishes they could have kept the ranch a little longer for Luisa's sake. Cole is surprised and dismayed to learn that she sold Cora's breakfront (?) and she says that he was gone for a long time and wasn't exactly around to give input.

Scott comes in and starts trying to get Cole to invest again. To Scott's credit, he hasn't spilled the beans about the baby to get the loan he wants so badly. I'm not sure why. Maybe he is doing it because there's some decency lying underneath, still. But that decency should be looking out for his brother's interests, not Alison's. Scott says he has $38,000 and needs half a million more. I don't know who Scott's other investor is and it might be interesting to find out. Not Max, I hope.

Cole tells Scott he looks awful and Scott says that Cole doesn't. I guess Cole doesn't look like a drunk anymore, but I don't like his pants. They tighten around his waist in a way that makes him look pudgy and poor, if sober. Josh could bring on the sexy more in different pants. A nice pair of jeans would do it.

Cole tells Scott it's absurd to think he can buy the lobster roll with $38k and then is shocked to learn that Cherry has been giving him money that she doesn't have. He tells Scott he needs to use that money to get sober. He tells Cherry and Luisa they need to leave.

They are having tea at Margaret's house with Luisa's mother. Margaret wants to know when the wedding is, so she can tell the landscapers. Cole is puzzled. Margaret has asked them to have the wedding at her house. Luisa practically grew up there and the house is empty now. They all stammer in a way that makes me mad. Spit out the truth about why that's not a good idea or don't. You don't have to give this stranger a reason. Cole says this is a Lockhart - [who knows Luisa's last name] wedding and it's a small private affair. Lockhart? Margaret asks. Is he the one who impregnated her granddaughter? No, Cole says tightly. That would be Scott.

Is he the one who shot her son-in-law. Cole doesn't answer, but kind of grabs his mother's arm and says they need to leave and I like the way he takes charge. I am waiting for Margaret to say that shooting Noah was a good thing, but she says that she has learned as she gets older that forgiveness is important and they can have the wedding there if they want.

Later, he says they can elope. Luisa doesn't want to. They can go to Vegas. She thinks that's a terrible idea. He suggests they marry at the Lobster Roll. She says it's falling apart, is he crazy? He says they should buy it and fix it up. She says they don't have any more money than Scott does. He says he has his money from Alison's house. She thought he didn't want to touch it. He doesn't, but he would, for this. It costs $2,000,000. He'd only have about half.

He says that Alison has the other half. He's pretty sure she hasn't touched her money. Why would he think that? And she was supporting Noah at one point. Did he pay her back? I guess since he later says he paid for her to go to med school.

Luisa said she can't believe that he wants to go into business with his ex-wife who cheated on him. He repeats that Alison did cheat on him and says that if Luisa is worried about him getting back together with Alison, she shouldn't. He promises that will never happen [well, it probably will happen in the future and if so, I wonder why. Bonding over the baby I guess. My worst nightmare is that Scott's secret will outlast the murder trial and Luisa will find out about the baby and hide the truth, just like in the daytime soaps, so Cole will have reason to hate her, but I'll be stressed silly waiting for the prolonged denouement).

Cole says Luisa can be her own boss. No more phone calls from the crazy general manager. She says they'd be out of the frying pan and into the fire, because they'd have to deal with the crazy Scott. He says they can't do it without Scott, but not the way he is now. He will have to go to rehab. Seeing as how she used to sleep with Scott, I wouldn't want to work with him, even when he was sober, but he's right that the Lobster Roll is a great buy. You can't enter or leave town without passing it and it's been there for years. She can keep the traditions, but make it her own as well.

Luisa hesitantly asks what if she says no to the Lobster Roll. What does she mean, Cole wonders. What if she says no. Is the wedding off. What? Cole is surprised by the question. He says he'll marry her anywhere she wants. I like the way he's not bossy the way he was with Alison AND he is unfaltering in his love for Luisa -- although I haven't seen that much to love. They are showing us and her that he's not putting any conditions or demands on it. So, any insecurities she had about him just dissolve.

They are at an auction. The property sells for 1.4 million (so they should both have a little $ left over). Cole has the paddle in hand and he and Alison are sitting side by side, looking pleased as punch. Does she need a ride back to the train? No, she says she wants to go take a look at their acquisition.

Scott comes in and says that THEY won. He was waiting outside to see who had stolen his dream from him and now he learns that Alison and Cole bought it. They're in business. He gives Cole the bag of 38K that he's been carrying around with him, as if that would have been enough to win at the auction. Cole tells Scott he needs to take his money and do something good for himself. He needs help.

At first he is angry and Scott pushes back and says he could tell him something that would change his life.
Alison looks alarm and screams at Scott -- but not as if to stop him from spilling a damaging secret. But Scott goes from angry madman to wretch and begins sobbing. He stumbles to the floor and Cole picks him up and holds him and tells him to get some help. He promises to bring him into the business, if he goes away and gets help first. Scott asks if Cole really promises and Cole does. He rocks Scott in his arms and says that this has got to stop. We don't see Alison and i wonder what she thinks about this scene. Compassion for Scott or just selfish apprehension. Is she as selfish as she was last year? We haven't seen as much of her as we have of NOah and his inner workings.

Later, driving in the car with Scott, Cole asks him what he knows that could change his life. So, Cole was listening to Scott's ravings and put credit in them. Scott says nothing, pretends to nod off.

NOAH'S STORY

So, Noah and Cole in the same story. Does that mean we get Helen and Alison next week? Well, it could be interesting, if Helen confronts Alison about paternity.

Noah is writing in the bathroom. Alison comes in and takes a shower. She says she needs to talk to Noah. He is busy. How about tonight. He says they will make it a date night.

Noah's agent wants a book. He needs to keep Noah's name out there. It's taking Noah too long a time to write about the military guy Omar. Maybe write Ascent, a sequel to Descent. He did Descent quickly and he can knock out another one, make money and then use it to take his time to write about Omar. Noah doesn't want to be Danielle Steel. He wants to write something of value and there's so much going on at home. He seethes that he has to write in the bathroom when no one else is up, because Alison has turned his office into a NURSERY! Well, where did he expect the kid to sleep, once it was born? Alison is taking an exam and if she doesn't pass it, she won't get into medical school. He can't leave her to concentrate on his work now. And he spends an hour a day (really?) writing to Whitney asking her forgiveness and she never answers him.

He goes home and Alison's not there. The nanny is with the kids. He goes over to Alison's school, with flowers to congratulate her and learns that she dropped her class weeks ago. She didn't take any exam. He gets a call on his phone, exclaims that he can't believe who it is and meets up with Oscar.

Oscar says he went in debt after the hurricane damage and lost the Lobster Roll. Guess who bought it from under his nose? He shows him a cell phone picture of Cole and Alison. They aren't embracing, but Alison has her hand on Cole's chest, it seems. Noah can't believe it. Oscar says that lying is par for the course, for Alison. SHe's pathological. That sad look in her eye isn't about Gabriel. It was always there. You always thought she was a damsel in distress who needed saving, but he's using him, just like she did Oscar years ago.

Distraught, but skeptical about Oscar's motives, Noah goes to Max's. Max greets him warmly. They hug. It's a great beach house. He starts complaining about Alison and Max says that in the old days they would hang out together and then the next day Noah would come to him with his problems and they'd solve it and hang out again, but nowadays, Noah just comes with his problems and he never sees him anymore. He's not friends with him anymore, he's just a soundboard when he needs it. Noah says that he'll leave. No, he should stay and gripe, but then he should come back another time and actually socialize, give and take, ask Max how he is.

Noah is humbled and says he's just embarrassed about how they parted at that party before. Max agrees that party was a disaster. Noah wonders if Alison has been lying the whole time and Max says Noah is crazy to think so. I am rather surprised he is defending Alison. But when Noah says he paid for Alison to go to med school, because he thought it would make her happy, Max says that he is surprised that Alison was studying medicine. Why? What is he trying to imply?

Noah says he has the kids right now. Helen has a new boyfriend and is "bananas" about him. Who is is? He is the doctor that treated Martin. Max can't believe it. Are you kidding him? "I wish I was," says Noah. Why does he wish that? Does he wish Helen wasn't dating? Max asks if Helen is in love with the new guy. Noah had just been talking, but his ears perk and he observes Max's mood, constrained. Why does Max want to know if Helen is in love?

Has he been sleeping with Helen. Did you f my wife? This is strange to me, because Noah immediately goes to the sex -- and the possessive -- "my wife" and doesn't ask whether Max is in love with Helen himself. Why can't it just be hurt feelings. Why always the sex? Max says that he loves Helen and always has. Which I like because it's clear it wasn't just about the fornication for Max, but that's all Noah hears. Noah says that Max paid $50,000 to f his wife. He is ready to leave and Max says don't. Don't do that. Say something. Noah says there's nothing to say. He's not going to tell him what he did was all right. Max says that Helen was his EX wife and Noah walked away. Max didn't take her. Noah left her. But she didn't want Max. She still wanted Noah, no matter what he did.

Max says that he loves Noah. Noah says that all of this time that Max has been jealous of him, not really his friend. That's not friendship. Max's problem is that he thinks he can buy everything, but he can't. He's an empty guy and all he has is his big house and possessions.

Good contrast that Noah says Helen is his wife repeatedly, even after Max corrects him and says "ex." When we began, when the lawyer called Alison, Cole's wife, Cole said, "EX." So, Cole has moved on and Noah hasn't. Although, Cole was on the stand with a reason to distance himself from Alison, but I like the implications, just like I enjoyed the part in the Thanksgiving show when Alison said that Noah saw her having sex with her husband -- like he still was her her husband.

Noah storms out. He gets a call and meets Alison at the Lobster Roll. She says, "please don't be angry." He says he's not angry. He was angry six hours ago and now he's just tired. Why did she lie. She said she tried to talk to him and didn't have the chance. Cole just called her and she had to act quickly. I would have liked to hear that conversation with Cole. Noah says that he is not comfortable with her working with her ex and she can still give up the restaurant. It's a done deal, she says. She can sell her share. She says she can't. Why, he asks. She just looks and then he asks if she is sleeping with Cole. Now, this interests me, because what did Noah take from her look? That she loves Cole and has to do this for him? Maybe so, because he immediately says, "Are you sleeping with him again." No, she says, she knew he would ask that and she's not. Of course, she doesn't promise never to do that as Cole did. And she doesn't say she has fairly recently either.

She says that she has to do this for HER (but I want to think it's a little about Cole, too). She says that she was a Montauk girl born and raised and she doesn't belong at book parties. She feels this is right. And Scott was correct that the Lobster Roll mints money (if it did, Oscar would have been more successful, but ok). This is what she wants to do. I am glad she is resolute in this and not wavering and whining, per usual. Noah is resigned. Is she going to move to Montauk. Is she taking Joanie with her (he hopes. I hate the name Joanie. It's like their baby is as old as Erin Moran). She says she doesn't know. She had hoped they would figure it out together. If I was Noah I'd say it was too late to make it about "them" now. But he just looks like he'll give it a try.

In Court, present day, Max is on the stand. He says that he saw Noah drive to his home. Since his car was not visible, he thinks NOah thought that he was not there, but he looked out the window and he saw Noah washing something from the front of the car. When he went outside afterwards, he saw blood on the driveway. How does he know it was Noah? Because the floodlights were on and he could see pretty clearly and because he has known Noah for 30 years and recognized him.

The whole audience thinks it's pretty incriminating. And the sidelong look that Max gives Noah? Is it triumph?

Season 2, Episode 10

NOAH'S STORY

This entire half of the show consisted of Noah talking to his couples therapist alone. I think it was the first time I was impressed with Dominic West's talent on this series. It went on about 5 minutes too long, but it was still admirable and should definitely make an Emmy reel. The only problem is there may not be any stand out lines, taken out of context. It's the conversation alone that was the triumph.

And it wasn't only that his delivery was good. It's that the dialogue worked. Even in the theater, when a character talks this much, for this long, it sounds unnatural. For the most part, Noah seemed human, not monologue-y and staged. And being a writer and teacher and a self-obsessed nut, it seemed believable that he would put this much thought into his feelings. People accuse Lindsey Buckingham of sounding like he's had a psychotherapy overdose when he introduces one of his songs. In this case, Noah WAS with his psychotherapist and his talk still didn't sound forced or unrealistic. I hate it when someone explains their reaction to something and diagnoses their own emotions, i.e. Howard Stern saying, "I went into radio because it was the only way I could get my father's attention. He loved listening to the radio and blocked everything else out, so I started broadcasting, because then I knew he would be forced to listen to me." That's too self-aware and precious, as if the derivation of our every act can be easily traced and expressed. It shows that the speaker has a very simplistic way of thinking, but likes to present it as deeply introspective. But Noah's words were more searching stream of consciousness than pat explanations.

He and the counselor are waiting for Allison. He calls her, but she doesn't answer (that happens to them a lot). Allison has gone back to school (it's a year after the kid's birth) to become a doctor and maybe she stayed after class to ask a question. He tries to help out as much as he can and got up with the baby last night. He got little sleep. The baby goes "Mama, mama, mama." The counselor is surprised. Is she old enough to talk? Yes, but he can't get her to say "dada" to save his life. But he loves her anyway, he says as an awkward after thought.

He says he is not going to talk about it until Alison comes and prepares to leave, but the counselor presses him. It can still be couples therapy, even if its her and him one on one and the more he starts talking, the more he reveals without intending to.

He says that he catches Alison staring at him with the baby, as if she's trying to figure things out. The doctor rather too magically says that he describes Whitney, Helen and Alison as all looking him in a certain kind of way. Helen when she found out about the affair. Whitney when he last saw her and now Alison. Isn't it important that all the women in his life stare at him??

He has to meet a student that evening. She's the smartest one in his class and is always making passes at him (isn't everyone) and he wants to sleep with her, just to bend her over his desk. The counselor pounces and says it's not the first time he's wanted to be unfaithful to Alison. He was with Helen for 20 years and made ONE mistake. Alison was his first "mistake" -- he rushes to say he doesn't consider her that. He just misspoke. But the counselor says now that he strayed once, it's easy to do it again. It's common when two people got together by having an affair for their own relationship to experience that outside desire and lack of trust. He's wanted to be with other women besides this student?

Yes, he tells her about Eden and how he sidled over to two women and it turned out to be Whitney and he ran away. He didn't stop himself from sleeping with Eden. He got shocked out of it. He left his daughter there and just as that happened with his eldest, his newest baby was being born at the same time. It has taken this whole year for Alison to forgive him for missing the birth and he has tried to make up for it, by doing chores and babysitting.

Helen and Vic are on vacation and they've had the kids. Does that bother him? No, he's happy for Helen. Vic seems to make her happy. Is Vic that doctor from last episode? I didn't get his name.

When talking about Whitney, he reveals he hasn't seen her for a year.

The thing he wanted to wait to say until Alison came was that his divorce is final. He got the papers, but didn't tell her yet. At Cloud Springs (was that the cabin they stayed at or the place where she was studying yoga with Athena) he would have married her in a heart beat. Now he doesn't know. He wants to write a third book that means something. His second did very well, but he knew he wanted to write something with significance. There's this real life guy, a war hero or something and he wants to write about him. He needs to go to Paris to finish the book, but he can't get away, can't leave Alison with the baby.

He likes being with a family and having people dependent on him and having a home, but he also wants to be with that student of his too. He talks about the subject of his book. The counselor says there are no women in this book right? Did he tell her that? No. He just said that he didn't want any characters in it that Alison might think resemble her. He didn't want to have that tension again. So, it's a war story, with all men, but then Marlene Dietrich shows up and she and the war hero have a thing. He grins slyly, clearly fantasizing vicariously as a biographer. Did he make up Dietrich. No, it really happened. They knew each other. They have been pictured together, but the affair is just conjecture.

Part of him wants to be that, to leave his responsibilities and have affairs and write great books, like Hemingway. But it's hard to do that when you're up at 3 a.m. changing diapers.

The doctor tells him that he can get a babysitter and still go to Paris. It doesn't have to be one or the other. His yearning to be a great writer, doesn't make him a bad father. She says their time is up and he's surprised it went so fast.

When he goes home, Alison is washing dishes and he says he will take over and she says no, she is almost finished. They end up doing them together. She says she was late because of class. He says maybe they have had enough counseling. After all their relationship has been repaired hasn't it? He pushes the divorce papers deeper into his jacket pocket and doesn't tell her about them.

ALISON'S STORY

Alison is putting the baby to sleep. She gets back into bed and says that the baby finally went down, thank heaven. She says next time it is Noah's turn. He says, "she doesn't want me, she wants her mama." He turns over and Alison tries to study.

Alison is at school, in a lecture, looking uncertain, inferior to the laughing students around her. When they take a break, she asks the teacher the last day to drop the class without getting a bad grade. He says it's tomorrow, but she shouldn't. She's a nurse right? Yes. Then this stuff isn't new to her. It's not new, but it's been a long time and she has a new baby at home. He says his advice is for her not to stop now. The longer you stay out of school, the harder it is to go back. She nods, but then leaves the lecture early when he is talking about the test they are supposed to cover tomorrow and we know she doesn't intend to take it.

When she gets to her apartment Scotty is there, looking half crazed and hyper. He says he wants money to buy Oscar's Lobster Roll and he knows she has it because he knows what her house sold for (so it didn't burn to the ground). She is surprised when he tells her that Oscar is going into foreclosure. He says he doesn't sell drugs any more. He was forced into stopping and he's obviously bitter about it. She says he looks like he still USES drugs though. She says that she can't help him. He becomes angry and says, sure she can, look at her swanky digs. She's a success. He already has one partner. He just needs her money to make it happen. She is backing away when the nanny comes up with her daughter, Joannie.

Scotty looks at the kid and is suddenly interested. The nanny says that people say the kid looks like Alison, but she thinks she looks like her daddy. Scotty peers into the stroller and says, "Oh I think she looks like her daddy too." His manner goes from desperate to cocky and jocular. He tells Alison it's been a great visit and heads off. Alison is zoning out and hardly hears the nanny asking if she's ready to go upstairs. She falters and then asks the nanny if she can stay until 4.

Then, I guess time has elapsed, but it looks like Alison has just turned the corner. She goes into a bar where Cole is sitting at the counter looking dreamy (sigh). He rises to greet her and says, "What do we do? Do we hug." She nods in a manner that is more friendly than awkward. I feel that she is really glad to see him in a way and he her, but not with longing. I like that, that he seems over her. I don't know if she blamed him for burning down the house and if Treem will revisit what happened or if she is just happy to have skipped forward a year and ignore all the unfinished plot points leap frogged over by time (like the direct aftermath of Alison and Cole sleeping together and how they parted after that happened). Maybe we'll never know why the house wasn't a total loss.

Alison says she heard Cole was living in Green point, Connecticut and couldn't believe it. He says yes. He does some construction jobs. Does he really have to? He has his share of the money from the house. He says he's not going to touch it, it belongs to her. She says she took HER half of the money out of the bank and if he doesn't touch his share, it will remain there forever. She won't take it out (I love her for that, especially since she was so hot for his ranch money last year and it made me hate her). He just shrugs.

He is surprised that she orders a Blanton neat. I don't know why or what that is. Is it more sophisticated than what she drank in the past? More expensive. The bartender fixes Cole's regular and Cole recommends the olives to her. She says that he seems to come here often. Well, Luisa's bar is across the street. It's not hers, but she manages it, so he hangs out here often, so as not to get in her way too much. I like that he does it to be near the woman he loves and not because he's a big alcoholic, drowning his sorrows. But maybe that's part of it too. I'll have to see more of him and Luisa together, to see what he's repressing in that relationship, aside from the childlessness of it. I saw this episode after the Kruger/Reedus scandal, so it did seem to mirror real life too closely, as I watched.

He says she'll get to meet Luisa and he says that he can speak a little Spanish. She doesn't believe it and tells him to say something in Spanish. he thinks for a minute and looks so earnest. Ack! Joshua is too gorgeous and gentle for words, sometimes. He says something in Spanish (reminding me of Peter Bishop saying that greek saying about being a better man than his father) and she asks what it means. He says he's going to be married. Oh, wow. She seems surprised and genuinely happy. She congratulates him.

He asks about her. Her baby is almost a year old now. Pain flickers across his body, as he lowers his head, lids drop over his eyes. Josh is so good in those seconds when he reacts to her second maternity. I am biased, but he is as amazing in those few moments of screen time as Dominic was in his 20 minutes of what was basically narration.

Then he says, "what is it you wanted to see me about, Alison?" I'm glad he's the one that decided to get to the point. Did anything bad happen? He still has concern for her. She says that Scotty came to see her this morning. He seemed like he was still on drugs and wanted to borrow money to buy the club. Cole's face goes from friendly to grim and says that Scott has had that plan for a long time. Is that what she wanted to see him about. He seems stern that he was called here for this and I'm glad he can still get mad at her, like he'd rather not see her if that's all she has to talk about. He doesn't seem hurt that she didn't want to visit with him for himself, just annoyed at having to talk about Scott. He says that the best thing he has done is leave his dysfunctional family behind. She says Scott said Oscar was in foreclosure. Hmmm. Cole didn't know about that either.

They talk about going into a bar when they were teens. How did they even get in? Did they break in, he wonders? No, she had the key. She worked there in the daytime when she was 16 and then they came back after it closed at night, with her key and drank. Oh yeah, he'd forgotten. He says remember when Scott burned his hand. NO, she didn't and he reminded her of how Scott burned his hand badly at the restaurant. She'd forgotten that. Their shared history can't be divorced or undone is the feeling. It was something to escape before, but now it's a bond, as, with time, the good memories, come back into as strong perspective as the bad ones. They laugh and Luisa comes in.

Luisa seems a little cool about meeting Alison, but not overly so. Alison seems fairly natural. She doesn't seem like she wants Cole back (which I'd like, so much as she doesn't want to impose on his happiness). Luisa says that she probably couldn't believe that Cole was out of Montauk and that the change has been good for him. She could have meant that in a catty way (like a change from Alison), but it doesn't come off badly and Alison doesn't react weirdly. I just don't like Luisa talking about what's good for Cole, as if he's a little boy.

Alison says it's been good to see him again and he says the same. Nice to meet Luisa. Pleasant partings. Outside, Alison looks through the window at them, seated with his legs scissored around hers, intimately. He and Alison sat knee to knee, across from each other. He and Luisa sit with Cole's leg overlapping Luisa's, pulling her inside of his body frame as they smile and talk, warm and familiar. I'm glad his mind isn't lingering on his ex.

I don't blame Alison for not telling Cole at this point. She doesn't know Luisa can't have children and she kept silent mostly to leave him to his newfound happiness, rather than to keep the baby all to herself. What I want to know is why she didn't tell him when she got pregnant in the first place. She wasn't happy with Noah then and Luisa wasn't a big part of Cole's life. Why deprive Cole of a child. Then, why not tell him after the baby was born, when she was mad at Noah for missing the birth? I assume it's because a drunken Cole had just burned down her house and she didn't think he was good daddy material, but I would like to have that confirmed. Although, I don't hate her right now, I should, because a child would mean so much to him and her silence is selfish.

She goes home and the boys are in the living room playing a video game. she apologizes as she squeezes in front of them, blocking their view of the big screen. Domestic life. Later, she and Noah are having sex. As they climax she keeps saying, "I love you, I love you." As if she needs to hear it back. Does she want his love badly or, as I would prefer, is she trying to convince herself that she loves him. Finally, he says he loves her too. Then the baby says "dada" from her crib. It's as if now that Alison has accepted Noah as the father, other options having been eliminated, that Joanie (why'd they name the kid that?) telepathically accepts him too, all of a sudden.

She urges Noah to go to Joannie. He picks her up and coos at her. "Did you say DaDa?"

Flash forward into the courtroom, with NOah's lawyer telling those assembled why his client wasn't guilty.

It was a fulfilling episode, because I liked the place Cole was in. I wish I had seen more of his relationship with Luisa evolve and wonder if it is healthy. Aside from wanting to be a father, what are his other regrets?

I have to say that the writing IS good for the most part this season. And this episode gave the audience an excellent understanding of Noah's character. The thing is, we can know what makes him what he is and even appreciate the good, alongside the bad and the ugly BUT it doesn't make us like him any better and it doesn't make him more interesting either. And that's the problem. We can understand. We can relate. We can stop blaming, but it still doesn't make most of the audience care whether or not Noah ends up in jail, guilty or not.

Season 2, Episode 9

A storm is brewing. We see Allison in her kitchen, monitoring the weather, having contractions and trying to reach Noah on the phone.

Meanwhile, Helen is at a bar waiting for a blind date that never shows. Whitney has set her up on Tinder.

I realize that we are getting stories from various characters, not just 2 per episode, when we get both Helen and Alison in the first few minutes. I think it's an almost seamless transition and I watch it with the understanding that we are still seeing the central character's point of view. But maybe that's wrong. Maybe we're seeing what's happening objectively. At any rate, this is the first episode where none of the 4 interact and that's interesting.

As Helen is packing her pride and preparing to leave the bar, a man stops her. She doesn't recognize him, but he turns out to be Martin's doctor. She says she didn't know who he was out of context. He asks her to have a drink and she says no. Why would she meet a stranger on Tinder and not him, he wonders. He says that he didn't know she was divorced. Really? The last time he saw her she and her husband were fighting like animals. He couldn't guess they were divorcing. No, is that what was going on? The weather is whipping up and the waitress tells them to take their conversation elsewhere, because they are closing early.

She shoos them out, but whispers to Helen that the doctor is cute. The doctor asks for Helen's number and she says no. He doesn't know why. She says dating is so awkward. It's just an interview to see if you want to sleep with someone. Well, he asks, "Do you want to sleep with me?" Her eyes widen, but she says yes and cut to them in the basement having sex.

She comes upstairs and plays normal with her kids. She says she's going downstairs to see if the basement is flooding and they point out that it hasn't even started raining yet.

She sneaks the doctor upstairs and is put off the way he talks friendly to his patients, but then insults them as soon as they hang up. Plus, he is drinking heavily, but says he is on call. She tells the kids she just happened to run into the doctor.

When Martin comes in he asks if he has been taking shots to his stomach that might make him feel better. He says no because they hurt and his mother's hand shakes, making it worse. The doctor says he can relieve the pain. He has a trick. He shows Martin and Helen how to pinch Martin's stomach when the needle goes in and that will make the pain lessen. This brightens Martin's spirits. When he leaves the room Helen asks the doctor who is the real him, the nice guy or the jerk? He says what difference does it make. Just take what you see. She says it matters what's inside. He disagrees. She asks him if he wants to stay until the rain subsides. The kids have "Babe" on tv and he says he'd rather be in a hurricane than watch that. She laughs, but gets emotional about being glad that he helped Martin and one thing going right when everything else is falling apart. He breaks the mood of relief by saying that it's not going to be all right for the kids because they're still the product of divorce. She runs upstairs and cries. He comes up after her, but ends up being flip again and she screams for him to get out.

Noah is driving with Eden. His phone is ringing, but it's dropped on the floor and he can't find it. Eden tells him it will be there when they get out of the party. They start talking about who will play them in the movie. Jennifer Lawrence, perhaps. They enter the house. It's a swinging producer's party, rather Hugh Hefnerish. When Noah is offered lines of coke, he doesn't even hesitate, which surprises me. I thought there'd be at least a pause. He is happy that everyone seems to like his book. He's feeling heady to be mingling with the "in" crowd. Then Max comes up and starts knocking the producer, not realizing that he's the one who is throwing the party. When Max starts suggesting stars for the movie, he throws out D-list/porn names. Noah forcefully tells Max to leave. Max says that haughty Noah still has his $50,000. Noah said that Max gave that to him. It wasn't a loan.

When Noah returns to his conversation, Eden becomes amorous. There's an announcement that the roads are being closed and everyone who doesn't want to spend the night, better leave now. He and Eden are content where they are. He says he thought she didn't mingle business with pleasure. She says now that the book tour is over anything goes. She tells him there's a bed upstairs and he should meet her there in 15 minutes. He wants to know what she needs 15 minutes for (Sarah Treem asks the same thing, so maybe it's a plot point. Is Eden setting him up) and she doesn't answer. As she slithers away, he bides away the time and takes a drug from some stranger. He takes off his clothes. Others are naked but he still has on trunks. He gets in the pool and everything is a blur. It's still blurry when he comes up. He sees some attractive women and kind of nuzzles over to them. They are making out and he seems to want to join the fun. The dark-haired one turns around and it's Whitney. "Dad!" She shrieks in horror. Get the F out. He is frozen, so she screams it again and he finds his clothes and runs out. Now, I would think he'd take his kid with him. I didn't watch a lot of Californication, but I remember the hard-drinking, wild dad on that show still carrying his kid out of a party against her will. He protected her, if not himself. Noah doesn't do that. I know Whitney is 18, but since there were drugs at the party, I'd think he'd want her to exit. He beat up a guy for impregnating her a year ago, why leave her with cocaine and naked lechers now?

I don't know if Eden knew that Whitney was there or not. Maybe she wanted them to see each other, but to what purpose? Does she want Whitney to rat on him, so that Alison will dump him. If so, why? I'm sure Eden must run into more successful and handsome writers than Noah. Why set her cap towards him?

Noah gets his car and sees his phone on the floor. He picks it up and realizes that Allison has been calling him all night. He curses and drives off crazily. He collides with a road block. The roads are closed and he can't get into the city.

Allison has taken herself to the hospital. She says the baby can't come now. It's five weeks too early. Her doctor isn't there. Her husband isn't there. She can't do that alone. The substitute doctor is young and I think it's strange for Allison to be the one to think "you're a kid, you can't be a doctor" because she's not that old herself, plus she has a medical background and must have seen doctors of all ages.

The staff asks if this is her first child. She gets that troubled look on her face and says no it's not. Second season in, I am tired of this pained look from Allison. No, I don't think you ever get over such a loss, but I think you stop flinching like that after 4 years, when someone either assumes you haven't been a mother before or asks if you have. You learn to cope. The only reason Allison is still so visibly harried is so that the audience is reminded of what she's been through, but after the first 3 episodes we didn't NEED any reminding. It's in the back of our heads. We know that's part of everything that she experiences. We can guess what's in her head, without you pushing all the unsubtle buttons you can find. Enough already.

Allison kept trying to call Noah and then she asks the doctor to do it. I think that the doctor will look in the "contact" list and find "Husband" or (well, more likely ICE) and call Cole by mistake, because Allison has yet to edit her phone list. I keep waiting all night, for Cole to show up at the hospital, but to my dismay he's too busy burning down Allison's house to do any such thing.

We cut from Allison's labor pangs, to Cole at the house. It's all packed up and Luisa is telling some boring story about her ballet class as a kid. Even if Cole wasn't depressed, I can't see it being that engaging, especially since I don't know what conversation led up to it. She tries to draw him out, but he just sulks. He says that he can't believe that Allison didn't show up to clean out the house. She's the one who wanted to sell it. Now, their time there is over and she's not there, as if it all never mattered. He says the only reason they got packed was because of Luisa. She says, if that's the case, how about a thank you?

They start pulling off their clothes and he says darn, he didn't bring any condoms. She says it's ok. He asks if she's sure and he says yes. So, it's interesting to know that HE's sure it's all right to conceive as long as she is ready. He is.

After the sex, she says he is Mr. Moneybags now, with the sell of the home and half of it going to him. he says that he hasn't thought of doing anything with the money and he doesn't want a penny of it. She says it's up to him (and doesn't press him to take the dough, as Scott did), but points out that now that the house is gone, Montauk is pretty far and she can't keep coming out there as regularly as she has. Has he ever thought of relocating? Not even once, he says curtly. She looks like her spirit is dampened and he softens, says, "I love you. We'll work it out." I want to know why he's living there now, instead of out in the trailer as he had been. What made him move back in? He talks about the notches on the wall that he marked to show how tall that Gabriel was getting. Should he take the wall? He says that they might have kids of their own some day and create new notches.

She begins to stammer. There's something she should have told him before. she can't have kids. She had a large fibroid and when they removed it there was scarring and she can't 'grow a baby' in her uterus. This leads me to think that she still has good ovaries and healthy eggs. So, I don't see it as hopeless, but Cole is not of the same opinion and has a tantrum and says that his mother's curse was right. What? Luis questions. He told her that his mother was acting crazy at Thanksgiving (I'm glad he shares these things with her) and saying that the family can't have kids, because his grandfather was a baby killer. He thought she was gaga, but now he thinks she's telling the truth. They are cursed. He'll never have children now. Well, I'm glad (or Luisa should be glad) that he's committed enough to her that if she is barren, then he is (angrily) resigned to not having children and doesn't think of getting a new mate. But has this guy ever heard of surrogacy? Or adoption? For Luisa to just sit there and not bring those alternatives up makes her look dumb and the writers too.

She says she's beginning to realize that whenever he has a problem, it's always someone else's fault, never his own. Well, that's fine, but I don't like the fact that she thinks one of his "problems" is not having a relationship with his family and that's not a fault. His family was unhealthy. His brother is a drug dealer (but she compliments Scott for staying with their mother, Ma Barker, when Cole has abandoned her) and his mother is the Queen of Blaming Others. So, the fact that Luisa is lecturing him about breaking ties with her is reason enough for Cole to dump her in my book. Plus, what other problems does he blame on others? Has he spoken to her about the cause of Gabriel's death?

She says she can't fix his curse. Only he can. Plus she reminds him that she was the one with scarred uterus, not him. It's not all about him. She says she is leaving. He says he doesn't want her to go out in this rain. She says it's a short walk and she'll be ok. He says that he thinks it's best that she goes too.

When she leaves, he sees visions of Gabriel calling to him, telling him to come into the water with him. So, it's not enough that Allison wanted to drown herself, now he has these visions too. Did Gabriel ask him to join him in the water just before he drowned? Is that why we're seeing this? I do want to know Cole's version of Gabriel's death at some point.

Cole starts drinking heavily -- his grandfather's moon shine, I guess.

We intercut his scenes with Allison giving birth, pushing. She screams she can't and that she doesn't want this baby, but she keeps pushing. Even at this point, I think Cole will get a phone call and head to the hospital, but even if his phone rang, he'd be in on condition to go to the city. I think he doesn't know that Allison is pregnant or else he might conclude that something had happened to her (especially in this weather) and not that she had stood him up for the house closing. Although, why didn't she call and give him some excuse for not being there, before her contractions got heavy?

Plus, I think the fact that the baby comes early is one of the reasons he concludes he is not the father, because the (9 month gestation) math doesn't work and he doesn't know the baby was premature. He never knew when her pregnancy was announced and never knew a due date for it. So, he never thought he was a daddy candidate, even though Scott, for some reason, does.

He looks at the wall with Gabriel's height marks and tries to tear it loose. He can't and he goes crazy and finally pours liquor all over the floor and walls of the house and sets it on fire.

It bothers me, because I'd rather have Cole destroy himself than destroy a house that is not his, that Allison's grandfather gave to, built for, her and is the only financial security she has. It's like they presented him as a Montauk lover and then told us he was pushing drugs. Then, they presented him as a guy who loved Allison's house unselfishly, refurbished it for her benefit, not his own and didn't want to take any money for it. NOw, he is burning it to the ground, because he's drunk, angry and jealous and, yes, sad too.
But why can't he be sad in a way that doesn't hurt someone else or take something of theirs. After the cliffhanger last season, I thought they would redeem Cole and bring him back from the edge of sanity. That's what they seemed to be doing this season, but now they pushed him to the brink again -- which is fine, if his craziness didn't always result in him threatening someone else with harm.

From the preview next week, he is calmly saying to Allison, "you wanted to see me" and not being arrested for arson. So, I can only hope that he puts out the fire and salvages the house, but the episode ends with it in flames and him inside.

If the house does burn down, I'd just as soon he were in it. But since he had money to invest in the club, I gather the house survives, along with him.

Season 2, Episode 8

HELEN'S STORY

Helen and Whitney are touring a campus and Whitney is putting her mother's profile up on Tinder. Helen keeps remembering her time on campus there. How her dad used to work in the restaurant and she and Uncle Max would go in and have him give them meat balls. Whitney says she wishes she'd stop calling him "Uncle Max." Helen wants to know why and Whitney just gives her a look, letting Helen know that she knows they slept together.

Whitney says Helen only has 5 good years left and she wants to see her with someone. It's sad and telling to hear her talk, Whitney says, because she only looks back on the good times she had with Noah on that campus and is living in the past, rather than the present. She tries to get her to flirt with a man who is passing by with his student son and says that Helen doesn't look half bad, she is already getting Tinder pings. Helen is embarrassed. When they go to eat Whitney tells her that she is not going to college. She will be a model. She met a photographer, an older man. Helen is beside herself. She shouldn't waste her life. Whitney says she probably won't get into school. Yes, she will, both her parents went and that shouldn't matter but it does. Also, Whitney inherited her father's insane charm (um?) and that will win them over in admissions. But Whitney doesn't want to go. She doesn't even want to spend a night on campus. She says she'll probably get bedbugs and it's a waste of time. As they exit the restaurant, they see Noah across the street with Eden, his publicist. They are all surprised to see each other, except Eden who knew that Whitney and Helen were touring the campus that weekend, but didn't bother to tell Noah, because she doesn't think his personal life has any importance. He will be going to a book signing on campus. Now, I guess people don't sign books 2 nights in a row, but it seems to me that he and Helen had two different evenings, not variations on the same one. So, I would prefer to think she attended two different book signings of his, but that's not the way Treem works. She doesn't want to tell different parts of the same night. She doesn't want to tell different nights. She wants to tell the same night, with the people who shared an evening together remembering absolutely nothing in common. She wants to alienate her audience with what she thinks is cleverness.

Whitney asks Noah if she can stay in his suite, because she doesn't want to spend the night in a dorm room. Noah doesn't blame her. He says they can both get a room in his hotel. Eden can arrange it. Helen tells him that she needs his support, especially since Whitney thinks he can do no wrong, no matter what and is always mad at Helen, on the other hand.. She needs him to back her up on this. He backs down and says he will. But before they can settle where Whitney will sleep that night, she is walking away chatting animatedly to a campus guide that she had been trying to avoid before. Helen and Noah agree that neither of them understand him.

Noah asks Helen if she wants to attend his book signing. She says no and turns away and he walks away in the other direction.

Still, Helen finds herself at the book signing store and can't believe that all of those people are there to see him. She is impressed. She looks up at him on the balcony and he smiles, glad she is there and gestures as if to say, "can you believe this crowd?" She sits in the audience while he reads. It's a passage about her. He recalls what a beautiful, wild girl she was. When they got together they had no money and he was happy, but when she got pregnant, he couldn't stand to see her worried because they were living in near poverty and that's when he finally agreed to take the loan from her parents (but why is he agreeing to take the loan from first Max, $50,000, and then Allison now? He is not threatened with poverty anymore).

He wonders when Helen changed, in the passage he reads and Helen listens thoughtfully, seeing things from his perspective and wondering what happened to her -- instead of just being sure she married a jerk.

He can't believe she hasn't talked to her mother in months. She says she through her out of the house. She sent an email a few weeks ago but her mother never answered.

She tells Noah that Whitney wants to model. He is not happy that the photographer is an older man, but he thinks it's good for Whitney to take some time off between high school and college. It would be a learning experience. And why is it impossible for her to be a model. She's beautiful. She's too short Helen says and she is too smart to be a model (oh, so that sounds like a dig towards Diane Kruger). She says that Whitney needs to be reined in. Noah asks if she remembers herself at that age. She wanted to go to exotic places. She was a rebel, a protestor. Zany. Maybe she was Helen says, but she never did go away. NO she didn't and does she remember why, he prods. it comes back to her slowly. Because her parents didn't let her. She starts banging her head on the table, realizing what a hypocrite she's been. how she's become her mother. How she is pushing Whitney away by doing so and stifling her daughter's dreams like she did NOah's and her own. She just keeps banging her head and, rather than telling her to stop or not to beat herself up, NOah just seems glad he made his point.

Hearing about that side of Helen makes it seem not so crazy that she took that pot candy and got incredibly loopy at the hairdressers. Maybe it wasn't out of character so much as it was out of repression.

Afterwards they are walking together. He asks if she wants his hat and she says no, she's fine. he says she's not. She is freezing. He gives her his hat. She says it will be too big for her. He says it looks charming. She asks if he is hungry and he says he is starving. They go to an old place they visited as college students (all of my college haunts are surely gone from Ann Arbor) and she tells the waitress about something she used to order there. He tells her that was 25 years ago. She tells the waitress how to make it and says to order him one too.

She tells him she's sorry that she wasn't understanding about his book and made him move into the brownstone to support their family. She says that she was glad when his first book failed, not because she didn't think it was great, because she did, but because she thought he'd finally give up his dream of writing and spend more time with her and the children and just be happy with what he had. She didn't realize what giving up his writing meant to him as a person. Now she does and she is happy for his success. She's proud of him.

He looks modest. When they leave he asks if she wants to come to his hotel. She can sleep on the sofa. NO, he'll sleep on the sofa and he'll give her his bed. She says no. He says he'll have Eden call her a taxi. He motions to her and it's like he is gesturing for her to come closer for a kiss, but then he says "my hat" and the mood is broken. I think it's kind of crummy that he asks her for his hat back. I mean, he's not going to die without it and it's not the last time he'll ever see her. He can get it back later. but it's not played as a tacky move on his part. Just an ending to this bonding they'd been doing that looked like they were realizing why they'd loved each other back when they were college students themselves. She says that she has changed her mind. She'll walk back after all. Again, I'm thinking that he could have walked her himself, but I guess all in all it's a tender scene.

In the present, Helen is telling the lawyer that she will do anything to save Noah, the father of her children. She is at a game with him watching Martin play and he has the baby in the stroller. When he gets up to go to Martin, the baby drops its pacifier and Helen picks it up. She takes it to the lawyer, but she doesn't want to give it to him, even when she is reminded that Allison is the woman who stole her husband (no, your husband jumped into her purse. She didn't have to shoplift).

NOAH'S STORY


Noah and Eden are reveling in his book's success. Eden reads the good reviews to him. There is only one bad one and it is written by some college student for the school paper. It still makes Noah mad. How dare the man say that his book is a cheap romance and not literary fiction. Eden tells him that nothing is ever going to be perfect and is annoyed that he is kvetching over that insignificant review when he got so many great ones. He hopes to win a book award. He is in the lobby looking at a pretty woman who is reading a book. When he sees the cover, he's mad that it's not his book she was reading.

He does a skype call with Allison. He is not there for her 5th month check up. He is telling her about his book. He got a glowing review from the New Yorker and Allison says that even she knows who they are. It's annoying that they are again telling us she's not a reader and doesn't know anything about that world. She tries to seem interested in his book, but can't wait until he finishes talking about it so she can show him the nursery. Ooooh. He says, politely. Now, he should have known she was skyping from his office all along. It's not like they have an unlimited amount of rooms in the joint. but it's not until she shows him the crib that he says, "Is that my office?" Y-yes Allison stammers. Where's his desk? It's in the hall. Well, where'd he expect the baby to sleep, I'd like to know. He takes a call, trying to see what is happening with that award he hopes to win. he knows he is on the shortlist and wants an update. Allison can see he's clearly distracted. She's as wimpy in this story as she usually is in her own POV.

Noah goes to the book signing (I guess this is the only one and he and Helen did not share two nights together). He begins to read a steamy passage about Allison from his novel, but then sees Helen in the audience in big hoop earrings and gets shy, as she looks angry. He reads the passage about her instead. Now, I don't think Helen would forget that he started to read about Allison (if he did). I think that prick to her ego would resonate in her memory longer than the fact that he eventually read a passage about her. The hurt would last longer than the salvage move, in her mind. When Treem makes these memories different, they aren't different in ways that are in character or real to what the person is going through. They're just different for the sake of being divergent and surprising.

Noah takes questions afterwards. One is from the writer who panned his book. Noah is bristling, but holds it in check. The writer tells him he did not win the award he was hoping for. Noah masks his disappointment and says the writer who won deserved it. Someone asks him whether love can last and he says that it takes trust and when you betray that trust, the love begins to fail. You have to have faith in the other person and when you break it, the whole thing falls apart. That's why they call infidelity being "unfaithful". His words make it seem like he is taking the blame for destroying Helen's trust and she seems to appreciate them.

Later when he is signing books, a pretty woman gives her his number and he pockets it.

He and Helen go out afterwards and she tries to be understanding about his losing the award. he is angry at the critic and she says why, he's just an undergraduate. He is explaining and she is trying to listen and then she says. Wait this isn't my job anymore. I don't have to be nice. That's Allison's job. Then she says she will do Allison a favor and tells him to give her that phone number that he took from the woman. He takes it out of his pocket. She reminds him that he has a pregnant fiancé at home.

He says he should apologize to her. For what? He says does she remember the fight they had in that booth back there. She smiles, self-consciously and nods that she does remember. He says that he's sorry he asked her to do it, especially now that he sees how beautiful the other four are. She says she knows. He says he still thinks about that. she is surprised to hear it. But she is touched.

When they are ready to leave, the undergraduate critic comes in and Noah wants to confront him, but she says she is doing him another favor and pulls him away. He follows her out, but when she drives off in a taxi, he enters the place again and starts a fight with the writer, who tells NOah he is drunk. Noah persists and punches him. A brawl breaks out. he goes to his hotel room and Eden knocks on the door. "Where were you all night?" Um, why is it her business. But actually they have set this up, that she and he are more the couple than he and Allison are. Eden and Noah's interests are aligned and Allison's pregnancy is not his priority. Eden made him late for Thanksgiving. "We" (he and NOah) forgot the turkey. Eden is his partner (but also his errand girl). And he is more involved in her offerings than he is with Allison, Helen or Whitney. Although Helen and Whitney seem to take priority over Allison too. Eden wonders if he has seen the news. The fight is already on YouTube. he wants to kick himself, but she says it is ok. She will spin it and say he is the bad boy writer. It will be good for his reputation. But since Hemingway died, do we really care about the reputation of writers and whether they are bad boys or not. I mean, who cares whether Dan Brown gets into bar fights? Writers are prized for their product, but they don't make the celebrity gossip pages. I've seen stories on P.K. Rowling, but she doesn't sell tabloids.

He and Eden start to make out in the hall. He doesn't pull away at all. They take it inside and she is straddling him on the bed when she is the one who pulls away and says she doesn't mix business "with this kind of pleasure." Well, what took her so long to remember that stance? Was Noah that irresistible that she had a delay before coming to her senses, she was so overcome with passion? Hard to believe. So, although he was drunk with Eden, we've pretty squarely been told that NOah would have no qualms about cheating on Allison. Is it because he loves her less than he loved Helen? Maybe doesn't love her at all? Or just because this new fame of his makes him want to explore all of his new options. Would he have acted the same way if he was still with Helen when his book made such a splash?

Season 2, Episode 7

ALLISON'S STORY

Allison is about 5 or 6 months pregnant. She is at a book party and Noah seems to be the life of it, while she stands alone. She's ready to leave, insists that they go, but he says that although it doesn't look it, this is business for him and he needs to stay. He converses with his publishing assistant Eden who has booked him on loads of things and has a "rush, rush, rush" mentality. She finds his pregnant girlfriend a mere, occasionally irritating, nobody.

When Allison catches Noah's eye and he waves her over to meet a group he's been talking to, she doesn't have much in common with them, especially when she says she hasn't read his book. She retreats again, when Eden "steals" Noah.

She takes her shoes off and rubs her sore feet. A friendly woman comes up and inquires about the baby. Is this her first? No, it's not. She says she and Noah are not married yet, his divorce isn't final. Eden comes over and pulls her away. That woman's from Page 6, she's a gossip columnist. She tells Allison not to talk to anyone else without asking her. Then, Eden leaves and forgets Allison's existence again. Allison goes into the kitchen and asks permission to sit down. The only person who was nice to her out there was working her. She has more in common with the kitchen staff, who are genuinely kind. That's what we're supposed to take away from this, but Allison was a successful nurse and could go back to that if she tried. So, this theme that she's out of her realm if she is not waiting tables doesn't play well.

I should get satisfaction from it, since she thought she was too good for the Lockharts and now can't fit in with the intellectuals. But she does have a niche and won't seek it out, so it just makes her weak, and poor-me annoying. I guess she was independent last week, practicing yoga, but that too seemed phony. Athena's world (and a gimmicky one at that) not hers. But she felt at peace there, so why she has apparently plopped herself back into Noah's world where she repeatedly feels invisible is irritating. Some people do repeat patterns and, in doing so, are responsible for their own continued unhappiness. So, I guess what Allison is facing is realistic, but it's not good television.

The show is more truthful psychologically this season than when Treem was all "the point of view, reflects their psyche and personality" earlier, though. So, it rings deeper and is not as trite as it once was. Still, it has its moments.

Eden wants him to work on Thanksgiving. Allison is angry. Noah insists that he'll be back in time for dinner and will pick up the turkey. She accepts it.

She goes into her luxury apartment. Athena is in the lobby. The fancy doorman wouldn't let her up. Allison is self-conscious. Doesn't want to be "that girl" who puts on airs. This makes me laugh because I don't see her as a "down home" kind of person. And the shows attempt to push her as a small town girl with values is laughable, because she doesn't seem to respect much, as far as I can see. She hated Montauk and not just because that's where Gabriel died. It seemed too slow for her. She hated family too. And she wanted the millions she thought the Lockhart ranch was worth. So, when they present her as non-materialistic I don't buy it. She sure liked using up Helen's expensive shampoo!

She takes Athena upstairs and Athena raves at the swankiness. She lays down on the sofa and wonders if it's suede. Allison won't say, but Athena confirms it is. They start on Thanksgiving dinner. I did not think of Athena as the domestic type, but she is more motherly this season. She brought her mother's cookbook. It's worn, but welcome. Allison thought she'd forget. Athena says she wants a tour and there's a sign on the boys room saying keep out. Allison doesn't open it, she says they respect their privacy.

The other room is the girls', but only Stacey uses it. Whitney hasn't been there yet. The younger kids like her. The older ones don't. Well, in my experience, the younger ones wouldn't like her either, since they probably want their mom and dad back together more than anyone.

Athena really wants to see the baby's room. Allison takes her into an office. She says that Noah is only using it this way until the baby comes. Athena says that you're supposed to prepare for the baby before hand. She wonders how much this place is setting them back and by probing Allison's silence and sideways glances, she figures out that Allison paid for the apartment with money from her house. It's only until Noah gets his book money she says.

Athena can't believe that Allison sold their home. Allison says it's her home. Her grandmother left it to her. Only because Athena told her too. Allison is startled to hear this. Athena says it's true. When Allison was born, Athena told her mother to skip over her in the will. She wanted Allison to have the security that she knew Athena could never give her. She wanted Allison to keep the house so that her children could have that same security too. She shouldn't support Noah, so that he can live a high life that Allison doesn't even want herself. Noah should pay for this.

Allison says she wants to contribute. She doesn't want to live off of men, like Athena does. Athena wonders if she will spend the rest of her life just trying to be the opposite of everything she thinks Athena is, rather than doing what's best for her. I wonder if she remembers that she probably married Cole for the security his family could offer. Becoming a Lockhart meant moving away from waitressing at Oscar's -- until it didn't. So, it's not just Athena who has that history, as far as I can glimpse.

Anyway, this tells us a lot about Noah and it's something that Cole would never do. Live off the equity in her house. Although the writers made this clear of Cole from the beginning, a lot of viewers didn't see it. When he ran after Allison in NY, a lot of them on twitter (and Cody too) thought he was interested in the drugs, not in getting his wife back. It was clear to me he used the drugs as an excuse to follow her, not the other way around. I guess since he sold drugs in the first place, it was hard to see that he wasn't a hypocrite about loving the land, but it didn't seem that way to me.

Allison looks like she regretted investing her money in Noah's dreams -- and being asked to do that, but she tells Athena it's too late. The house is already in escrow.

Her friend Lucy or whatever (Jane actually) comes for dinner. They haven't seen each other in ages. Jane has finished school. Has Allison been back to Montauk since leaving. Uh, no, no she hasn't, Allison stammers guiltily, so that everyone but Jane knows she is lying. Jane wonders about the blind date that Allison has fixed her up on. Allison tells her the guy is loaded, but he's kind of obnoxious. Jane thinks loaded is enough to make up for it. Athena is glad to see her again. Again the downhome friendly people compared to the cold stock market crowd that Noah hangs out with.

Time passes and Jane and Max are on the sofa. Dinner is waiting because Noah hasn't shown up yet. Jane is tipsy and says that she and Max should marry. He is drunk too, but says they definitely should not get married. I am embarrassed for Jane, but they start making out and when Allison does nothing except look askance at Athena to interfere, it gets even worse. Athena comes to the rescue (again being more mature than she was in S2) and tells Jane to put her tongue back in her own mouth. I am annoyed that Jane had to be the inappropriate one coming on to Max. He was receptive, but not the initiator and I wish that weren't the case.

Athena says she has something for them to do that is ladies' only. They go into the bedroom and listen to the baby's heartbeat with a stethoscope. Everyone is awed, but Allison can't find the heartbeat at first and panics a bit. Allison, the nurse. Noah comes in, finally home, and Athena asks him if he wants to listen. Sure he says, and he seems to be trying to seem eager and pleasant, more than anything else. He listens and is wowed. He says, "that gets me every time." Allison is dismayed. Since she's not a first time mother, I don't really think her reaction rings true. I mean, why would he act like it's his first time. It means more to her because she's lost a child, but why should he act like he hasn't done this four times before. Yes, it makes her feel second best, but ... well, I guess if you're selfish and the show is presenting selfishness as human and not trying to hide it that's valid. But you can be selfish and not be unrealistic. I don't think it's realistic to think that a man with 4 kids would be as neglectful of them as Allison seems to want Noah to be. In real life, some men are though. ONce they fall "in love" they forget their first families. I don't like Noah any more because he does not do this, but I guess I should not fault Allison for wanting him too, since in real life it happens. And I should credit the writers for making Allison more dimensional. She's not pretending like she wants what is best for the children and most women wouldn't. I just thought since she lost a kid, she might care more about their happiness, since we met her when she was concerned about little Stacy choking. I would think her not wanting kids to be distressed might be her thing. But not wanting Allison to be lonely is her main thing.

When Allison goes out into the living room she sees Eden. She's as disgusted as the audience is and I want her just to go off on the woman. Not only did Noah fail to bring home the turkey, but he has to leave that night. Noah is sorry about the turkey and says he'll go now. Allison says the store is closed. It can't be! They closed at six.

They sit down to dinner and Allison tries to salvage it by saying they are her grandmother's recipes, but Eden keeps interrupting with business. Noah gets a call from Helen and it seems Whitney has run off. Noah tells her Whitney is playing both of them. Sour grapes Max says that if he knows Helen she will keep Noah on the phone all night. But I like the way the audience understands Max's bitter tone, when no one else does. Noah goes into the other room, telling one of the kids that he wishes they could be together too. He returns, but dinner is not a success. Athena, Max and Jane are fed up with Eden too. Eden talks when they say the blessing, at the end when she discovers that Noah is trending. The Page 6 article about his and Allison's affair is generating interest. Neither of them are divorced yet. People are titillated. Allison says she's sorry. But Eden says this can be good for them. Noah was a nobody. Scandal can help publicity. He needs to align himself with the story in the book, Descent. He can talk about the hot affair with Allison and her abusive husband in tv interviews. "Excuse me?" Allison says. He's not really considering this is he? They begin to argue about the book and Noah says she hasn't even read it. She says she has, surprising even me. She read it and knows how he lied about everything in it.

She didn't pursue him. He pursued her. He stalked her. He watched while she was having sex with her husband (I like that she calls Cole that). He says she was having sex for his benefit. So, he didn't think she was raped? She says he didn't know he was there. He killed her in the book. That was his editor's idea. Max said that clearly they have different views (and their conversation is supposed to be a reflection of the whole POV premise of the show, which is preciously self-referential). He says but Allison has done something that no one else has she has given Noah a school teacher living off of his wife's money a personality. Harsh and it puts Noah in the same light in his friend's opinion that Athena had cast him in before, when she talked to Allison about supporting NOah. So, I'm glad about that.

Allison stalks out. Noah goes after her and apologizes. He says that he won't talk about their real life in any interviews he gives. Of course, I'd like to see her protect Cole, but she indicates she wasn't really worried about that anyway. She asks what is really bugging her, "Do you even want this baby?" He pauses in a manner I think is telling, but he kisses her stomach and indicate he is looking forward to the baby.

The doorbell rings and Noah goes to get it.

In the present, the Solloway lawyers are questioning Allison about Scott. She barely saw him at the wedding. She said they were on good terms. He wasn't happy about Cole's deal on The Lobster Roll, but he blamed Cole not her, Allison says.

Cole's Story

Cole is having sex with Luisa when she says "Te amo." He says, "what did you say?" I assume that he must not understand Spanish. He rolls over on top and then pulls away. She asks what is wrong. He goes into the living area. I'm not sure if they are still at Allison's house or not, but he wasn't living in there before. If he is now, did she tell him she wants him to stay there, or what?

He and Luisa make coffee. She invites him over for Thanksgiving. Margaret has given her mother the day off and the family is getting together. He says he's seeing his family. She doesn't believe it. They've been estranged. But he promised he would go by for Thanksgiving. She asked what just happened in there. What does she mean. "When I said I love you, you lost your erection." Pretty funny. Cole says he wants some muffins. Does she? He gets money out of his money clip and leaves.

At the story, his phone rings and it's Scott. He doesn't pick up. Scott calls out, "I'm right behind you." He bugs Cole to sell the house again. He tells him to come over for Thanksgiving. He hasn't seen the family in months. Cole said he promised Luisa he'd go to her family's. Do they even celebrate Thanksgiving, Scott wonders. So, they push every button to make him seem killable. He says he hates to tell Cole this, but Luisa tried the same thing on him. She only wants Cole to get her green card. Cole ignores this.

Oscar shows up (popular convenience store) and asks if they have read Noah's book. The family figures prominently in it. Cole seems more riled up than Scott. Scott being a hothead, I don't know why he doesn't care.

Cole goes back home. He looks at the mantel and asks why Luisa moved the picture of him teaching Gabriel how to ride. She says it was such a cute picture she was just looking at it. Well, I don't think she should have moved its position myself. He moves it back and when pressured more to talk by Luisa he says what happened to his money clip. She says she doesn't know and wasn't concerned, but then realizes that he means to accuse her. She says he better apologize right now. He says there was $150 in that clip and it was right on the table. She leaves, more hurt than angry.

I wonder if they will have Cole take out the money clip, just to prove to the audience that he was deliberately driving her away, but I guess they decide not to belabor the point. I wish we had seen more of them getting together and not just jumped from seeing them talk in the bar to having sex a few episodes later. I know Josh is only supporting, but I'd rather see him with Luisa than with a load of Lockharts who are just extras and not interesting ones at that.

He buys Noah's book (with money from the money clip?) and begins flipping through it. Next we see him going to the new, small Lockhart home with flowers. At the table, he says he's sorry that his sister-in-law lost the baby. She says that they had a ceremony for it a month ago. He says he knows and is sorry that he didn't come. Well, i'm glad he is not making excuses for not coming, but sorry gets old too. So, they're hurt that he has been away from them, but Mary Kate doesn't seem half as torn up about him as she as when stupid Allison left the family last year and she had a little betrayed outburst about it.

Cole starts reading from Noah's book and I'm not sure why. I don't think he wants the family to unite in anger over Noah. I mean you want to be with people who feel the same emotionally as you do, but his attitude is not like he needs support. It's more like he wants to goad them, but goad them into doing what? Scott and Cherry say it's just a book and I wonder if maybe they sold the rights to their family to the publisher and that's why they are not objecting. The book says they are lowlifes but they inherited it from their grandfather who earned his money by cheating others and baby killing. Cole thinks they should sue or something. Hodges stole their land, not the other way around, but there's silence and he asks why Scott and Cherry keep looking at each other. Cherry says it's true. That old grandpa hated Hodges (is that Oscar's family?) because he had an affair with his wife and she got pregnant by him and when he found out, he killed the baby and stole Hodges' land. And that's why the family is cursed. Gabriel dies and Mary Kate lost her baby and they can never have children. Well, they had children in S1. When we saw the first family dinner there were kids there and looking at them caused Allison to get all mopey -- as everything does. Now, suddenly they're a barren family. And it's stupid, because this show is not about the Lockharts and I was glad to go 6 episodes without seeing them. This is not Dallas where the Ewings and the Barnes are at the heart of the plots. It's one thing to give characters a family but giving Cole such a BIG one is a real drain. It would be better if he just had one brother or something. Three brothers is a bit much and I don't want to see Cole's scenes burdened with them. Scott gets a phone call and texts back. Cole is disgusted. Scott is still doing drugs and I know he's dying soon, but not soon enough. I don't want to hear anymore about the drug running.

The family wants Cole to come back and Cherry says she's worried about him. She says the last time she saw someone drink as much as Cole has been doing the man hung himself. I think she means old grandpa. Cole leaves and Scott catches him outside and again asks him about the house. He heard Allison sold it. I wonder if Cole is going to get any of the money and where he will live when it's gone. Whitney pulls up in a taxi. What! Cole can't believe that Scott is still seeing her. Scott asks how Whitney new where he was. She says he just texted her 10 minutes ago. He says, "that was you??" So, he apparently hadn't been trying to meet up with her. He rejects her and Cole asks where she is supposed to be. She says no where. He says he better give her a ride. She is in the taxi with him.

She is crying about Scott. She says that she loves him and he cares about her too. He says, "that's not the way it works. Just because you love someone doesn't mean they love you back." I think this line really hits home the way Josh delivers it and I think it's more quietly effective than his tears were last season. Whitney says that the last time he saw her, he shot at her. What? Cole raises a brow, but takes the accusation in stride. He says he thought he was aiming at her dad. But he's truly sorry she had to witness that, either way.

Whitney says he's in her father's book. He says he knows, but doesn't blast her dad in front of her, which shows he is a gentleman at heart. She says she's not in her father's book at all and she thinks it means he doesn't care about her. He says that maybe her father didn't want to expose her to the publicity. Gracious Cole.

He says his father hung himself when he was 10 (aha!) and he thought it meant his father didn't love him and he realized that's not what it meant. It had nothing to do with him. She is shocked at the revelation and it must make her realize that her problems are nothing compared to those who have really suffered loss. He shows up at NOah's door. She must have asked him to take her there. She stopped punishing her father with her absence because of Cole.

They ring Noah's bell (which he answered during the 1st half) and he is shocked to see them. I tense waiting for him to blame Cole angrily, but Cole just says that she was out chasing Scott and he thought he ought to bring him home. Noah appreciates it and doesn't seem to think that he needs to be concerned about having his child in Cole's custody, even though Cole supposedly shot at them. He asks Cole if he wants to come in for a drink. Cole says "no" and I am relieved. I wish he'd said "no" to Allison when she asked him to keep her company in bed. I suppose that was a humorous moment for other viewers. But I am too protective of Cole to get much pleasure out of his scenes with NOah or Allison.

Noah shows up at Luisa's door with drinks. She buzzed him in, but is sullen. Cole is at Josh's most charming. He says that it's been a long time since he had any one to care about and that's why he tried to push her away. "I was trying to hurt you. I wanted you out of my house and as soon as you walked out that door, I wanted you back." He says he promises never to hurt her like that again if she gives him another chance. He says he may not be much, but he is a man of his word and anyone will tell her that he is. She softens and tells him to come in. And one more thing, "Te amo, tambien." Swoon.

He goes in and chats with those assembled inside, eating, smiling. A contrast from the stark dinner at NOah's and the angry one at the Lockhart's, for sure.

IN the present, the defense lawyers are looking at video Oscar gave them. It's Allison on a porch with Scott. She pulls away from him angrily and the police observe she doesn't seem to be on good terms with him like she claimed. They wish they knew what they were saying. Oscar says he was nearby (isn't he always) and he heard what they were saying loud and clear. Scott is saying, "that's our baby. That's OUR baby." Oscar says you can read his lips and see that's what he said as plain as day.

Online some wrote that they thought this meant Allison slept with Scott. That never occurred to me and Treem better not suggest it. It just means that Scott is saying that the baby is a Lockhart. Cherry made a big deal about then not having kids because the family is cursed and Scott is saying that child is their family's. Plain and simple. I hope Treem didn't mean to imply anything different, even as just a red herring.

My question is, if Scott did the math and suspects, then why doesn't Cole. when he saw Allison at the courthouse he just said to her, "is this your baby?" Did he have a conversation with her before where she gave him some excuse about it not possibly being his? I'm upset that she would take the chance for Cole to be a father again away from him, after he lost Gabriel, but that wouldn't be the first time she'd been heartless.

Season 2, Episode 6

HELEN'S STORY

Noah is coming to pick the kids up and take them to a baseball game and no one is cooperating as Helen tries to herd them along. She even has to throw something at Trevor from her balcony to get him to stop playing around. And her mother is nagging her saying she should not allow the visit in the first place. She finally yells at her mom to just help the kids get ready, help Stacy untie her shoe, and shut up about everything else. Martin is still not feeling well, but he says he's going with Noah, because otherwise there'll be trouble if he doesn't.

When she goes out to the car to talk to Noah, she tells him to watch what Martin eats. He doesn't want parenting advice from her after her arrest and if he doesn't get them home on time, so what? She's hardly likely to call the police on him, as they aren't her friends. Margaret yells that Martin is stressed out because of Noah.

Helen frets over Martin and he insists he will be ok.

She and Margaret go for a meeting with her father. She suggests they drink on the way and Margaret doesn't think it's very funny, even though Helen says she only wants to lighten the mood. At the attorney's office when they try to figure out a way to stop Noah's custody bid, the mother and father speak over Helen's head like she's a child, whose life is still under their control. She interjects, but her efforts are weak. Like she's invisible. In the first season, she was pretty assertive against her parents even when at their home. So, "i'm not sure I buy this shrinking violet. Margaret says it's his fault that Helen used such bad judgment. The father says that Max led Helen astray by giving her that "candy." Margaret says they can say she didn't know what's in it. Did she know the father asks. Of course she knew, Margaret hollers. But they can still have Max take the blame. The father says they'll give him money, to shoulder Helen's folly. He says absently to Helen, "sorry Gumdrop," as he basically calls her an irresponsible idiot. Interesting that Max gave her candy and her dad calls her "gumdrop." With Max, she was starting to let him take the lead too and might have created a new relationship that mimicked the one she had with her parents. With Noah, she was the one more in charge.

She gets a call and runs out to the hospital, where Martin has been taken in. Her parents briefly look worried. At the hospital, they won't give her the room number and she is frantic. As she is calling him, she runs into Noah and together they rush to Martin who is on a gurney. When she finds out Martin has had popcorn and hotdogs she reminds Noah that she told him to watch what Martin eats (which I think was careless of him as well). Noah snaps back at him and the doctor tells them to shut up. He's taking Martin into surgery. He has an obstructed bowel and he'll know more once he opens the boy up. They can't believe it's happening this quickly, that it's really such an emergency situation.

Helen tries to soothe Martin. Noah rushes her along to come over so they can talk more to the doctor. I think her calming instinct was the right one. When Martin is wheeled away Noah says they can go wherever he wants for vacation next summer. He says "Hawaii" and they agree (tacitly saying they will all go together). Helen is in accord and says how great it will be. As they say goodbye to him, they say "Aloha."

As he paces the waiting room, Noah tries to call Allison. Helen wonders how many times he has tried to call her already. He says she can help. What! "She's a nurse." She's a pediatric nurse, he says and if they'd listened to him before, Martin might not be in surgery now. Helen kept saying that Martin's symptoms were psychosomatic, his fault and ignored the fact that Martin might have a real physical problem. They are still fighting when the doctor comes out. He shushes them again and, I imagine, is fed up with their immaturity.

Martin has Chrome's disease. It's very serious, but it's treatable, if they watch Martin closely and work together to monitor his diet and health needs. They agree. When Martin is out of surgery they sit by his bed, relieved, but exhausted and post traumatic. Noah gets another call on his phone and ignores it. At first Helen says nothing then she tells him to take it. She wants to stop doing this. They need to stop fighting. She'll drop the divorce papers, go back to mediation and Noah can have whatever he wants. He is stunned but says he only wants joint custody of the kids. She says she knows and concedes he's an excellent father (I don't agree with that. Reconciliation and compromise are nice, but she shouldn't go crazy).

Helen returns home exhausted. She just wants to go to bed, but Margaret, after being relieved that Martin is ok, once to press the divorce and is astounded that Helen has conceded joint custody. Helen turns on her mother and says she really hates her. She means it. She is the one that was always telling her that Noah wasn't good enough and she wants her to get out. Get out right now. I guess the audience likes having Margaret get her just rewards, but I think she only does as much as Helen lets her do and I don't think it's Margaret's fault that Helen treated Noah any way -- not that I think Helen treated him badly to begin with. I think she was supportive of him and only ridiculed him when hurt by his infidelity. By blaming her mother for it, I see Helen regressing, not growing. She can want her mother out (after using her as a babysitter for weeks), but not blame her for her own failed marriage.

The actress who plays Margaret has thinning hair and that makes her vulnerable to me. She is a caricature, too much so for me to really dislike her. I don't applaud her getting her comeuppance. Margaret stops to tell Helen that her father has filed for divorce. If she thought this would win Helen's sympathy, she was wrong. Helen says she's sorry, but hands her mom her luggage, all the same. The taxi drives Margaret away.

In the present Helen tells her lawyer that they have to get Noah off no matter what. He's the father of her children. He wonders if she even has the money to afford his defense. She says she'll sell her stuff, mortgage the house. Whatever it takes. He says that he got information from a local, who says he has evidence that could be very important to Noah. She says why doesn't he just go to the police. The lawyer says because the police won't pay him.

NOAH'S STORY

We see him at the house serving breakfast to the kids. He is not familiar with some of the changes they have made in the kitchen. Helen is at the hospital, because it's her turn. The kids are planning a welcome home party for Martin and they hide and surprise him when he returns with Helen. They give him presents and he argues with his brother, calls him a "little bitch." Noah says just because he almost died doesn't give him the right to call his brother names. Martin says he thinks it does. They eat dinner together. As it winds down, Helen reminds them that tomorrow is a school night, so they have to turn in. Once again, she looks like the bad guy, having to be family disciplinary. Noah says he has a place where they can stay when they come see him. It has 2 bedrooms. Whitney says she's not coming. He tries to reason with her. She refuses. Helen steps in and says that she will go away to visit a friend and Noah can come and stay in the house when it's his turn to have the kids. Really? Yes. As he leaves, when he gets to the door, he looks back at the family and misses that domesticity.

Noah is driving to the address he has for Allison. It's at the Yoga place she went to after she left Noah and Cole at the train last season. It disgusts me, because I don't like Athena's character and considering that Athena's flighty beliefs were the basis for much turmoil and neglect in Allison's youth, I don't think she would embrace it. More importantly, it suggests that Allison again dumped Cole to find herself and I just don't know why she is always the one leaving. Why can't he leave?

When Noah gets to Allison's place, he is shocked to find Athena there. He obviously thought that Allison was living there alone (where's Athena's boyfriend?). He is not in the mood to engage with Athena. She says that she and Allison have been closer than they've ever been and she tells him that he was drawn to Allison's darkness and now that she's finding the light, it bothers him. Almost rolling his eyes, Noah leaves to find Allison. He sees her in the pool. From the neck up she looks nude. His face lights up, but then he sees nude guys around her and is irritated. When she rises from the water, we see that she is wearing a tube top and bikini pants. I don't know why the writers wanted to give the impression that she was nude. Perhaps that's because Noah would assume that and they are showing us she is more conservative and traditional than he understands.

She introduces him to her "friends" the nude guys on the rocks. They are familiar with her and indicate they will see her soon and Noah is uncomfortable. They go eat and Allison says she's got a job in the kitchen there are something and I wonder why she's still getting waitress jobs.

Noah is talking about their future and she wonders if there is still a "we" at all. She hasn't seen him for 6 weeks. He is shocked. They talked to each other all the time. His son was sick and he couldn't have his kids around her. But that's over now. Helen has dropped the custody dispute. They can be together. He even rented that place she wanted. He's had it for a month. It's small but it's perfect for them. He says he owes her an apology. His son almost died and he didn't realize what that meant until now. He realizes he must have been insensitive to her about Gabriel and he's sorry for that. Ok, but I think anyone who HAS a kid would be more sensitive than he was. I don't think you almost have to have your kid die to develop empathy. Allison nods in acceptance of his kind words. I would not be so understanding.

She says she read highlights from his book. She's sex and no marriage can survive her. He asks did she read the whole thing. No, but she read several different parts all the way through and they all seemed to be about sex. Is that how he sees her. No. The book is based on real life, but it's a fictionalized version and it's not even about her. It's really about him. He wants her to read it before she judges. She refuses to read it. He says they're in love and it has a happy ending. Oh really? Isn't that the part his editor wants him to change, she asks.

Allison says she's been in therapy and has learned a lot. After her son died, she didn't want to talk to anyone because no one understood (I'd like to hear her say that Cole wouldn't talk to her because Josh is always saying that in interviews. I want verification that he turned her away, rather than her not being that into him in the first place). So, she sought out reckless behavior, because it was a way to feel emotion without communicating. She says mutilating herself was reckless, sex with him was reckless. He is taken aback that she defines their relationship that way. She says she hasn't had sex in 6 weeks (so did she have sex with Cole more recently than Noah. We don't know if she saw Noah after the night with Cole -- or does Treem intend to say that was just in Cole's version of the story, like the delusional person she is?)

Allison says being here has taught her a lot and he should stay and take some classes. She keeps praising one instructor, Sebastian. He is derisive and tired of her praising this guy. She leaves him and he tries to work. He can't concentrate. He can't end his story. Later she introduces him to some author he admires,Sebastian Jung, her instructor. He's surprised. Jung respects Alison and Noah respects him. Noah says that he can't write there and Jung says a true writer can write anywhere. The writing comes out, noise and bustle can't keep it in if you're in tune. He says being in such a spiritual place has done a lot for him. This causes Noah to see the place in a new light. This is not lost on Alison, the way he takes interest when someone other than she says something.

He decides to take a Reiki class it turns out that Athena is his instructor. She says she's heard he has writer's block. He denies it. He just needs to have the right place to right. She says he needs to relax. She tells him to take off his shirt. He lays down on a table. He wonders if you have to believe in this to get any benefit and she says no. To the contrary, once you experience a benefit, you start to believe. He says he doesn't think it's working. She cuts him off. She concentrates on his body, which is very embarrassing for him. She sees tension all, especially around the groin. It's supposed to be humorous and before he can respond she tells him to flip over. Although he feels both skeptical and awkward, he begins to concentrate against his will.

He has a vision of driving at a fast speed down a dark road and almost hitting something. There's someone on the side of the road and it's Allison. He comes out of his trance with a start and angrily leaves to find Allison. She is in a yoga class and he pulls her away (being a little too physical for my tastes) and takes her outside to talk. He says he wants to be with her and it's not a priority for her. She says she's put just as much into this relationship as he is. It's the first time that she confirms that she wants to stay together and I am sorry to hear it.

They spar. She says that she doesn't belong to him. They aren't living in his book and he can't control her. As if to prove her wrong he grabs her and starts with rough kissing, then tears her clothes down and turns her against the tree and they have sex with an inordinate amount of huffing and puffing. It's very similar to the sex she had with Cole in the pilot episode, in that she didn't indicate her consent, but is clearly excited about it. To me, it's more reckless behavior and tells me that's the only way they can relate. Plus, it proves that he does see her the way he painted her in his book, as a sex partner rather than a soulmate. I see it as a negative assessment of their relationship. After the sex is over, she doesn't express renewed love or delayed indignation. Instead she gasps, "I'm pregnant." He is wide-eyed and has another trance. He is on the road, driving fast. Allison turns on the side of the road and faces her. He careens right into her. Flash to him at his typewriter, hitting the keys rapidly now that he has the perfect ending to his story. I guess that's his expression of the anger and resentment he has at her being pregnant, tying him up with new obligations, just when he was feeling free, ready to move forward with her and have a full relationship with his children who were just beginning to get over their resentment at his leaving. Now this!