review of The Affair Season 2 finale 

The Affair on Showtime tonight, in which we finally find out who killed Scotty and--  [big spoilers ahead]

Like in an Agatha Christie novel - such as Murder on the Orient Express - it turns out that Scotty died from more than one hand.  But unlike in Agatha Christie, none of perpetrators intended to hurt Scotty, and his death was really none of their faults.

Alison pushes Scotty out into the road, where he\'s hit by the car.  But she\'s doing this to fight Scotty off, as he\'s trying have unconsensual sex with her, i.e., rape her.

Helen, drunk, is the driver.  But she didn\'t want to be driving in that condition - she was driving only because Noah, also drunk, gave her no choice.  And even if she had been cold sober, there was no likely way she could have swerved out of the way and not hit Scotty, given that he was pushed right in front of the car.

We finally learn the meaning of what Noah has been seeing in his dreams or visions all season: he was been seeing Alison on the road, because he in fact saw her there on that fateful evening.

Noah\'s character is also handled exceedingly well.  For most of the season and most of tonight, he was a selfish, not very sympathetic character.  But in the last scene, forced to choose between Helen the mother of  his children and Alison not the mother of his daughter but someone he nonetheless truly loves, he chooses to save them both, and confess to a crime he didn\'t commit.

Earlier, in his 30-minute story, he\'s furious at Alison about her sleeping with Cole, the height of hypocrisy, given that he twice was on the verge of sleeping with his pretty publicist - and didn\'t only because she pulled back the first time and Noah encountered his daughter the second time.

But you couldn\'t ask for a better redemption than we saw at the end tonight, and I\'m looking forward to season 3 next year, in this drama that is unique on television.

PS - One final point: Scotty deserves a big round applause for his rendition of "House of the Rising Sun," a powerful swan song for his character.

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

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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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...