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The last part has repeated, again and again, pushing us into the start of each episode.
The penultimate episode of season four is no different.
It didnt feel particularly surprising.
But in a twist onThe Affairs familiar structure, both of them are Alisons.
The first is a dream in which everything goes perfectly.
Ben appears at her door, even-toned and ready to tell her everything.
After he fixes her sink, hes admits that hes married.
(She already knows.)
He killed a child while on tour in Afghanistan, mistaking an inoperative weapon for the real thing.
But the marriage thing, its now over, officially, and hes wants to be with Alison.
How she imagines him in her dreams as a teenager.
Make love on the deck.
He promises never to her hurt her again.
We wonder what could possibly lead to Alisons body being found the next day in the sea.
The sink is still broken.
It was all a dream.
Its Ben at the door, again, but this version of the story is immediately darker.
And, we have to assume, much closer to the real thing.
Its clear now where things are heading.
She asks him point blank:Are you married?
Do you live alone?
Do you have kids?He lies to her, straight-faced, each time.
He then starts pounding shots, while telling her a different version of the Afghanistan story.
In this one, he deliberately killed the unarmed child.
And he didnt care.
She asks him why.
Why do you kill an ant, Alison?
Why do you kill a mouse?
Because you dont want it running around your house.
You dont want it bothering you.
She tells him shes going to bed.
Hes drunk now, and her refusal angers him.
He shoves himself on her, again and again, and she refuses, again and again.
She tells him she knows hes married, that shes met his wife.
He slams her up against the wall and then across the room and into cabinet.
Blood rushes from her head, and we know shes dead.
As a storm rages, Ben carries Alison across the rocks and drops her into the sea.
It wasnt suicide after all.
