Joel Miller opens his new book, The Idea Machine, with this famous scene from The Confessions because it sparked his own epiphany. Not a spiritual conversion, mind. What struck Miller during his recent reread was how Augustine marked his place with his finger. This seemingly unremarkable detail - a move any reader has made countless times - forced Miller to reevaluate books as not simply a vessel for ideas, but as history's most successful "information technology."
But by the episode's last act, Joanne has realized that Noah can't maintain his faith and be with her if she won't commit to conversion. "You can't have both, and I would never make you choose," she tells him tearfully over the din of his niece Miriam's bat mitzvah. And so she dumps him - it's the most painless way to move forward - until the episode's final two minutes, when the pair run back into each other's arms once more.