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So remarkably reminiscent structurally to “Gone Girl” that one wonders if it wasn’t timed to have its premiere while that David Fincher film owned the pop culture zeitgeist, “The Affair” is another he-said/she-said drama about the dissolution of a marriage, and illegal activities. The program is structured as a pair of sometimes divergent flashbacks brought to mind through the interrogations of Noah (Dominic West) and Alison (Ruth Wilson). Why they’re being interrogated in separate rooms is unclear in the premiere, but their relationship is clearly of great interest to the police, leading viewers to suspect that perhaps the two conspired to kill a spouse. Did I mention Noah and Alison are married to other people?

Noah has a large family with supportive wife Helen (Maura Tierney). As he makes clear to the officers, he was happy. Sure, his son was going through that period of adolescence in which young men become nearly sociopathic and his daughter barely paid him any attention at all, but life wasn’t bad for this NYC public school teacher. He heads to his in-laws for the summer, where he meets waitress Alison. She’s there when Noah’s daughter begins to choke at lunch, causing a scene and an emotional response from the waitress. It turns out Alison has lost a child with husband Cole (Joshua Jackson), and she’s more than a little fragile.

Each episode will consist of two interpretations of the same series of events: the meeting between Alison and Noah which would eventually turn into an extramarital affair for both in the premiere. Differences are subtle but crucial. In Noah’s flashback, Alison is far more aggressive, flirting with him from their first encounter, and practically daring him to shower with her later that night. She’s more of a temptress in Noah’s memory. In Alison’s flashback, Noah is nearly an afterthought. She places their meeting more in the context of her entire day, which happened to be an anniversary of the tragedy that shaped her life. It’s interesting that his memory of the beginning of an affair is more deeply sexual and flirtatious, while hers is more about emotional needs not being met and fragility. At its best, “The Affair” could be a conversation starter about how men and women view the emotional and physical entanglements that come with cheating on your spouse.

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