Scenes from a Marriage – Season 1 Episode 2 Recap & Review

Poli

Episode 2 of Scenes from a Marriage shifts the perspective from Mira across to Jonathan. After putting Ava to bed, he greets Mira as she arrives home early from work. The pair share a glass of wine, where Jonathan apologizes for what he said about renovating the attic and decides to take control of the project himself.

Mira is quiet though and it soon becomes clear why. She’s been having an affair and she admits outright that she’s in love with someone else. According to her it “just happened.” Now, remember what we said last episode about unrealistic reactions? Well, Jonathan is calm, saying nothing about this bombshell revelation beyond quiet one or two word answers. “What am I supposed to do with this information?” He quizzes eventually.

Mira admits she’s going to keep being unfaithful and she’s going to Tel Aviv for a bit (see: three months) with Poli, the man she’s cheating on him with. She’s going to tell Ava that she’s going away for a bit too and see their daughter at the weekends by flying back.

Mira plays the victim here too, claiming she’s been miserable for months. “Lets not play the blame game,” Says the woman who’s cheating on her husband, deciding to just try and get this separation over and done with. There’s no fight here though, as the pair talk calmly about their situation while floating from the kitchen to the bedroom.

Jonathan eventually sees a picture of Poli, who happens to be 29 and running a start-up business. He and Mira actually met at a party on a boat a while back, during a significant moment in Mira’s career where she closed a big deal at work. After drinking and doing coke, she ended up dancing with Poli. They talked until the morning and kissed, eventfully having sex. According to Mira, they didn’t leave the room for two days.

Mira wants to leave, deciding it’s the best thing for Ava to not have a Mum around. Honestly, this woman is unbelievable. In the morning, Mira packs up her things after having a shower, leaving Jonathan to watch silently as she talks to herself and packs up. As the suitcase is brought downstairs, Jonathan pleads with her to see reason.

According to him they were “shouting for an hour” that previous night (must have been off-screen) and he wants to try and salvage what they have. Mira though, is pretty adamant that she wants to leave. As she walks out the front door and drives away, Ava sleeps peacefully in her room, blissfully unaware of what’s happening. At least to begin with anyway. It doesn’t take long before she wakes up, and Jonathan is left with the unenviable task of talking to his daughter about Mira.

The Episode Review

Scenes From A Marriage returns with a deeper look at the ugly side of Mira’s character. Not only is she a cheater, she’s also quite happy to leave her daughter and spin it as something that’s “good for her”. That’s not to mention the fact she’s been unfaithful for months and sees herself as a victim. She really is a horrible character. And what of Jonathan?

Well, Jonathan is clearly devoid of passion and emotion, as seen by his reaction in this episode. If your spouse told you they’re in love with someone else and are leaving for Tel Aviv post-haste without even telling your child, how would you react? Tears? Anger? Shouting? Or a nice, rational conversation where you ask how that makes the other person feel and talk about your feelings? Sure the latter option may happen but how often?

This is the biggest problem with this series and although the acting and the filming are both top notch, the script feels really unnatural. Don’t get me wrong, there are some stand-out moments, like when Mira mentioned this relationship feeling like an asthma attack, but these moments feel fleeting. No one really talks over the other, there’s no passion or emotion (which I guess is the point in this relationship) but neither of these people are actually that likable. I feel sorry for Ava more than anything else.

There will be a lot of people who do like Scenes From A Marriage and it’s definitely a well-made show. Still, with Mira gone and Jonathan forced to pick up the pieces, how will he handle this going forward? Probably calmly, and Ava will probably have an unnatural reaction too.