review of The Affair 2.4 

The Affair last night, in which Helen comes across as the most unpleasant we\'ve seen her, on any of the four major players for that matter, in this series so far.  And the kicker is: the worst of this was shown in Helen\'s own half hour.

The set-up on The Affair, up until now, is that our characters usually appear more considerate, are more sympathetically portrayed, in their own 30-minute segments.   Certainly Noah usually seems like more of a mentsch in his story than he does in Alison\'s, and Alison a little deeper and more loving in hers than in Noah\'s. Cole\'s first half hour in the series earlier this season was a real eye-opener - the contrast between him as a hurt and complicated human being in his story was in marked contrast to how he had appeared in Alison\'s a week before, where he was all but physically threatening.  And Helen was more sympathetic in her story in that same episode (2.2) than she\'d been any time in the first season.

To be sure, Helen\'s reasons for behaving so badly last night are crystal clear, and explicated powerfully by Helen when she asks Noah why he\'s "doing this" to her and the kids.  Noah is no doubt to blame for leaving Helen and his family in such disarray.  But no one including Noah forced Helen to drink and drug herself and drive - and, even worse, drive the kids.   That she made that bad decision is of course just another example of how off-kilter the affair has made her - but she still should have known and done better.

The kids are also foremost in Noah\'s story.  He, too, was a little reckless in driving the kids to hither and yon after he comes to their rescue from Helen - but he was far more in control than was Helen, and didn\'t do anything to endanger them.   The kids are the reason he was even willing to spend more time away from Alison, but the hour resolves with Noah now having a great set of cards in his hand for his negotiations with Helen, and Alison, who even tries to help when Noah\'s son gets sick, appearing better than ever.

See also The Affair 2.1: Advances ... The Affair 2.2: Loving a Writer ... The Affair 2.3: The Half-Wolf

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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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.

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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

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