Do I think “The Affair” set out to tell a #MeToo story from the start, before the #MeToo movement existed? No. But the pieces have been there all along. If it took until now for the show to look back and put those pieces together, that doesn’t make the resulting picture any less real.

Noah can be a good father, as Helen insists he has been. He can do his best to be a good man, as he has insisted time and time again — going so far as confessing to a crime he didn’t commit in order to protect Helen. He can even be the victim of opportunists like Sasha, who care only about the accusations insofar as they can be exploited for personal gain.

But Noah has been a bull in the china shop of women’s lives for a long time. All “The Affair” is doing now is surveying the damage.

I reviewed this week’s episode of The Affair for the New York Times.