The Affair (TV Series)

Episode #5.11 (2019)

Anna Paquin: Joanie Lockhart

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Quotes 

• Joanie Lockhart : Well, what good did it do her, all those changes? He killed her anyway.

  Noah Solloway : Joanie, if the lesson you're taking away from your mother's death is not to try, then that's a great, great tragedy. Change is hard, takes a long time, sometimes more than a lifetime.

  Joanie Lockhart : What the fuck does that mean?

  Noah Solloway : Sometimes we can only start journeys that our children have to finish for us.

  Joanie Lockhart : It's too late to hear those things.

  Noah Solloway : It's not too late.

  Joanie Lockhart : Yes, it is, I've already screwed it all up. I can't go off with someone new, and I can't go home. So instead I'm stuck here in some sort of seafood purgatory, talking to you.

  Noah Solloway : Why can't you go home?

  Joanie Lockhart : Why don't you tell me, Noah, you seem to know a lot. Why can I go home?

  Noah Solloway : Well, maybe because it's hard. Going home is hard. Staying with someone, loving them no matter way, that's hard. It's so easy to go find someone new, reinvent yourself in their eyes, and try once more to live without flaw. But sooner or later you'll realize the only thing you're running away from is death. It's not another person at all, it's death, and.. when that finally occurs to you, you yearn more than anything for someone that really knows you. Who really knows every inch of you, and will remember you when you're gone.

  Joanie Lockhart : What are you trying to say?

  Noah Solloway : What I'm trying to say is if... trauma and pain can echo through generations, then so can love. If abandonment can ripple across time, then so can presence. I mean, you-you've suffered a lot of loss in your life, Joanie, but you've also had a lot of love. And you may not be able to save the earth, but you can be there for your children, no matter what happens.

• Joanie Lockhart : Look, I have a big decision to make, so if you don't mind, I'd like to be alone.

  Noah Solloway : Be brave.

  Joanie Lockhart : What?

  Noah Solloway : Make the difficult choice.

  Joanie Lockhart : I wasn't actually asking for your advice

  Noah Solloway : Well, I'm offering it anyway. The universe rewards courage.