The Affair season 4 ratings rise for Ruth Wilson send-off episode

The Affair season 4 has officially killed off Ruth Wilson’s character of Alison, and it was clear this weekend that enthusiasm was high for what could be her final episode.

Sunday night’s episode “409” ended up drawing 595,000 total live viewers, which marks the highest total that the show has drawn on Showtime all summer. This is the closest that the series has come to matching the season 3 average all season long; the drop from season 3 to season 4 has been one of the more saddening ratings trends of the summer since this is easily one of the best shows on television, but we also can’t say that we’re shocked. The third season was largely polarizing, and despite how great season 4 has been it’s often difficult to convince viewers to tune back into a show after they’ve decided that they want to move on to other things.

Want more on Sunday’s big episode? – Then we suggest that you watch the video below and subscribe for more videos. Also check out our playlist on The Affair right now.

With The Affair in particular, one of the things that we do know is that many viewers are simply watching it at other times. There are many who have been checking out the episodes early via the app, just as there have also been some watching it after the fact via DVR. The truth here is that the live ratings are just a small piece of the overall puzzle.

We are aware of the fact that the ratings for The Affair are at this point somewhat meaningless, largely because the series has already been renewed by Showtime for a fifth and final season. Yet, we do like to see what the effect of a huge character’s death has on a series and whether or not it helps to restore the show to a level of pop-culture clout that it once had. While we’re not fully sure that it has reached that point just yet, at least it’s nice to see there was more attention than there was previously.

On Sunday night’s finale, we will say farewell to Alison completely in the form of a funeral — you can check out a preview for what’s coming here. It’s possible that Wilson makes some sort of small appearance in it for closure, but on the other side of it, we’d be shocked if she turns up again.

How do you want to see The Affair season 4 conclude? Share in the comments!

Meanwhile, remember that you can like CarterMatt on Facebook to get more scoop regarding the series. (Photo: Showtime.)