"Good news and bad news" - that's what Alison tells Noah when she calls him from lock-up, in the 2nd half hour of tonight's excellent The Affair 4.6, in which Alison's story is especially important, excellent, and pivotal, as it almost always is.

Alison's in jail in California, there because she takes advantage of Noah's kind offer to fly her and Joanie there.   But Joanie's back in New York, because Alison flew out west after she finds out - the hard way - that Ben is married (and apparently happily so - making what we saw Ben tell Cole a few weeks ago a lie, which we could see coming a mile away).   And she meets her father - whom she learns raped her mother - because he wants one of Alison's kidneys.  Almost just another day in Alison's life.

But the apex of tonight's episode, and her story, comes in the conversation she finally has with Helen.  Significantly, Helen's at her best in Alison's episodes - as is, come to think of it, Noah and Cole and just about everyone else.  I've always thought and said that Alison's the wheel that keeps this complex, multi-faceted narrative in high gear.

So the good news Alison tells Noah is that she's in California, and the bad news is she's in jail.  But the best news is how Helen tells Alison she can change her life, and no longer always be the victim if she doesn't want to be, which of course she doesn't.  My guess is that will put her on a road to getting back with Cole.  Helen aptly says she always saw the two of them getting back together, and we saw Cole coming to this conclusion himself last week.  And Helen says this - and that's why this conversation is so important - after she tells Alison that no one forced her to sleep with Noah, Helen's husband.

It may well be that this is the concluding season of The Affair.  I certainly hope not.  But that conversation between Alison and Helen sure had the feeling of something that had to be said in a series finale.

But there's still a ways to go, and I'll be back with a report next week,