review of The Affair 3.9 

The Affair tonight, which provided a little clarity into what has been happening to Noah - a very little clarity, actually, but a lot better than almost nothing.

What becomes more clear is why Noah went to prison for what happened to Scott. It was not only to protect Helen and Alison, but to expiate Noah\'s guilt for mercy-killing is mother.  Ok.

Also clear is that Gunther is not at all a bad guy.  He\'s a prison guard, yes, but I\'d say that scene with him in the present, back in Noah\'s hometown, was real.  And, if so, then all the scenes we\'ve been seeing this season of Gunther abusing Noah in prison were in Noah\'s head ... more expiation of his guilt about his mother.   This also explains why Noah didn\'t want Helen to let the prison officials know that Noah had been beaten - because some part of Noah knew he had done that to himself, smashing his face against the wall, or whatever.

Now we get to the part that\'s less clear - the most important part.  Noah stabbed himself in his apartment in New Jersey - I was thinking that was one of the likely explanations since the beginning (see my reviews, listed below). But where did Noah get the knife?  Not the knife we saw tonight, which Noah bought in the country store, after he had been stabbed in the neck.  We saw Noah holding that knife in his New Jersey apartment, and using it to stab himself, a little ... but that was a reenactment in the present of what happened earlier, a few weeks ago, right?

So what happened to the original knife that Noah used to seriously cut himself?  Why didn\'t the police find it?  And, for that matter, can\'t doctors tell the difference between a self-inflicted wound, and one inflicted by an assailant? Wouldn\'t the thrust patterns be different?

We did get some real clarity in Helen\'s story, though.  Her conversation with Alison was great, and satisfying to see.  And Helen finally unburdening herself was right, too.

Next week, in the season finale, I hope we get a few more questions answered about Noah.

See also The Affair 3.1: Sneak Preview Review ... The Affair 3.2: Sneak Preview Review: Right Minds ... The Affair 3.3: Who Attached Noah? ... The Affair 3.4: The Same Endings in Montauk ... The Affair 3.5: Blocked Love ... The Affair 3.6: The Wound ... The Affair 3.7: The White Shirt ... The Affair 3.8: The "Miserable Hero"

And see also The Affair 2.1: Advances ... The Affair 2.2: Loving a Writer ... The Affair 2.3: The Half-Wolf ... The Affair 2.4: Helen at Distraction ... The Affair 2.5: Golden Cole ... The Affair 2.6: The End (of Noah\'s Novel) ... The Affair 2.7: Stunner ... The Affair 2.8: The Reading, the Review, the Prize ...The Affair 2.9: Nameless Hurricane ... The Affair 2.10: Meets In Treatment ... The Affair 2.11: Alison and Cole in Business ... The Affair Season 2 Finale: No One\'s Fault

And see also The Affair Premiere: Sneak Preview Review ... The Affair 1.2: Time Travel! ... The Affair 1.3: The Agent and the Sleepers ... The Affair 1.4: Come Together ... The Affair 1.5: Alison\'s Episode ... The Affair 1.6: Drugs and Vision ... The Affair 1.7: True Confessions ... The Affair 1.8: "I Love You / I Love You, Too" ... The Affair 1.9: Who Else on the Train? ... The Affair Season 1 Finale: The Arrest and the Rest

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The Chronology Protection Case movie, with new extended ending

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Enjoy Levinson\'s Field Guide to Republican Tics

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Paul Levinson, PhD, is Professor of Communication & Media Studies at Fordham University in New York City.  His 8 nonfiction books, including The Soft Edge (1997), Digital McLuhan (1999), Realspace (2003),  Cellphone (2004), and New New Media (2009, 2nd edition 2012), have been the subject of major articles in the New York Times, Wired, the Christian Science Monitor, and have been translated into 12 languages. His science fiction novels include The Silk Code (1999, ebook 2012), Borrowed Tides (2001), TheConsciousness Plague (2002, 2013), The Pixel Eye (2003), The Plot To SaveSocrates (2006, ebook 2012), and Unburning Alexandria (2013).  His short stories have been nominated for Nebula, Hugo, Edgar, and Sturgeon Awards.  Paul Levinson appears on "The O'Reilly Factor" (Fox News), "The CBS Evening News,"  “NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” (PBS),  “Nightline” (ABC), NPR, and numerous national and international TV and radio programs. His 1972 album, Twice Upon a Rhyme, was re-issued in 2009 (CD) and 2010 (remastered vinyl). He reviews the best of television in his InfiniteRegress.tv blog, and was listed in The Chronicle of Higher Education’s “Top 10 Academic Twitterers” in 2009.

Chronicle of Higher Education puts Paul Levinson in Top 10 (#7) of Academic "High Flyers" on Twitter ... Online University Data puts PL in "Top 50 Online University Professors on Twitter Worth Following"...

Dear Paul, I just dreamed of airships flying between raindrops. I just returned from 2042 CE, where I sold my hardcover copy of The Plot to Save Socrates for seventy million Neo-Euros, because it had your response to this e-mail from way back in 2007 scotch-taped onto the inside of the cover. A Paul Levinson collector paid top Neo-Euro, because of the authentic archaic e-mail printout from you. It turns out that not many of your e-mails from before your tenure as CEO of HBO/Cinemax and terms as United Nations Secretary General will survive that far into the future. So, please respond to this e-mail, to help found my great-grandchildren\'s fortune. My Will will stipulate that they must share with your great grandchidren. Thanks! Tom

President, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, 1998-2001

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Twice Upon a Rhyme reviewed in Jan-Feb 2011 Shindig Magazine

radio stations that have played tracks from

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Science Fiction Magazines and Bound Galleys for Sale

science fiction magazines for sale: Analog, Fantasy and Science Fiction, Weird Tales, Locus

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Paul Levinson appears on "The O\'Reilly Factor" (Fox News), "The CBS Evening News," "Nightline" (ABC), the "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" (PBS), "The Dylan Ratigan Show" (MSNBC) and frequently on NPR and all-news radio...