theamericans | Episode discussion post: "Chloramphenicol"

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"The Americans 4x04 Promo "Chloramphenicol" (HD)" (Watch on YouTube)

Overnight reviews

From the AV Club
From Vulture
From Entertainment Weekly
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Aired:
6 April 2016 in the U.S. and Canada

This is a discussion post for episode 404 of The Americans, intended for viewers who are watching the show on the U.S./Canadian schedule. (Feel free to dive in to the discussion even if you're coming in late--and you should also feel free to start a new thread if it seems too daunting to read through what's already been posted first. If you're reading this at a point where you've already seen subsequent episodes, though, please take care to keep comments spoiler-free of anything that comes after season four, episode four.)

<cut text="FX's original promo trailer">Original promo trailer

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<cut text="overnight reviews">Overnight reviews

From the <a href="http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/death-counts-americans-234895" target="_quoteref">AV Club</a>
From <a href="http://www.vulture.com/2016/04/americans-recap-season-4-episode-4.html" target="_quoteref">Vulture</a>
From <a href="http://www.ew.com/recap/the-americans-season-4-episode-4" target="_quoteref">Entertainment Weekly</a>
From <a href="http://www.vox.com/2016/4/7/11378114/the-americans-episode-4-recap-chloramphenicol-nina-dies" target"_quoteref"="target"_quoteref"">Vox</a>
From the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/06/arts/television/the-americans-season-4-episode-4-quarantine.html?_r=0" target="_quoteref">New York Times</a>
From the <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2016/04/06/the-americans-recap-season-4-episode-4-chloramphenicol/" target="_quoteref">Wall Street Journal</a>
From the <a href="http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-the-americans-recap-20160406-story.html" target="_quoteref">LA Times</a>
From <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/movies/americans-recap-exceptional-punishment-030000353.html" target="_quoteref">Yahoo News</a>
From <a href="http://theyoungfolks.com/review/tv-review-fxs-the-americans-4x4-chloramphenicol/76419" target="_quoteref">The Young Folks</a>
From <a href="http://www.tv.com/shows/the-americans-2013/community/post/the-americans-season-4-episode-4-chloramphenicol-review-nina-dies-145980670715/" target="_quoteref">tv.com</a>
From <a href="http://www.slantmagazine.com/house/article/the-americans-recap-season-4-episode-4-chloramphenicol" target="_quoteref">Slant</a>
From <a href="http://mashable.com/2016/04/07/the-americans-chloramphenicol-recap/" target="_quoteref">Mashable</a>
From the <a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/the-americans-recap-and-analysis-chloramphenicol-a-big-word-bigger-episode" target="_quoteref">Examiner</a>
From <a href="http://www.tvfanatic.com/2016/04/the-americans-season-4-episode-4-review-chloramphenicol/" target="_quoteref">TV Fanatic</a>
From <a href="http://www.tvovermind.com/tv-news/americans-review-like-sugar-glass" target="_quoteref">TV Over Mind</a>
From <a href="http://www.denofgeek.us/tv/the-americans/254245/the-americans-chloramphenicol-review" target="_quoteref">Den of Geek</a>
From <a href="http://www.geeksofdoom.com/2016/04/11/tv-review-the-americans-4-4" target="_quoteref">Geeks of Doom</a>
From <a href="http://www.celebdirtylaundry.com/2016/the-americans-recap-4616-season-4-episode-4-chloramphenicol/" target="_quoteref">Celebrity Dirty Laundry</a>
From <a href="http://mstarsnews.musictimes.com/articles/111060/20160407/fx-americans-s04e04-chloramphenicol-keri-russell-matthew-rhys-jennings-premiere-recap.htm" target="_quoteref">Mstarsnews</a></cut>

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

theplatonicnonyeah

So many "funny" and telling quotes today!

Stan: "We got married, had Matthew and got divorced."
Martha: "I'm seeing someone. He's married...//..no false promises, no lies...//...It's probably the most honest relationship I've ever had."
Philip: "I'd be normal."

But really, I think I'm just stunned by the ending, even though I knew that was where it would end up eventually. I just didn't expect it to be so...quick. "Your sentence will be carried out shortly." Bam, you're dead. But it's efficient and she didn't have to suffer very long. (Only detail I'd comment on was the lack of splatter and blood that would probably happen in real life if you shot someone in the head at close range.)

I will miss Nina, even if her story arc had come to a end. Now to see how this will affect Oleg and Stan. I doubt that Oleg will keep his promise to his father, especially given that his father didn't save Nina (which really wasn't very likely anyway).

Now Stan sneaking around Martha's flat and actually taking time to flip through the Kama Sutra! Really? Stan? You dirty dog. But with Aderholt's newly received "information" Stan's findings can be explained away and Martha escapes once again. I wonder if Clark told her to tell that story should the situation occur. In any case, it's a very good lie, because part of it is true. Didn't someone say that on the show a long time ago? Or maybe even Fields/Weisberg? To lie successfully you tell something that is the truth, but not the whole truth.

My only aber with this episode is Elizabeth's increasing insecurities about motherhood. I sort of liked her as this beacon of strength and I don't quite buy into the self-doubt and worries. Having grown up with a mother not unlike Elizabeth, I find it hard to believe this sudden (?) softening of character. It's not something I would expect from someone who has never taken the time for introspection. It would just take longer and need something like EST to get there.

Edited Date: 2016-04-07 06:42 am (UTC)

From:

lovingboth

Not being an expert in such things, I'd expect them to use a low velocity bullet so that it did stay inside the skull, bouncing around destroying the brain, rather than exiting messily.

More efficient, less noise and less cleaning up afterwards.

Re: Lack of splatter

From:

theplatonicnonyeah - Date: 2016-04-07 09:37 am (UTC) - Expand

Re: Lack of splatter

From: (Anonymous) - Date: 2016-04-07 06:32 pm (UTC) - Expand

From:

lovingboth

Hello new call centre. Does William not trust Elizabeth and so wants to be close or is he relatively clueless about fieldwork? My ghod, he's got issues - on the one hand, that level of thoroughness is good, but on the other... it's a bit much.

Paige takes what should have been a relatively simple call worse than I'd have expected.

'If you have to touch each other' is said in a way that says William's not into sexual relationships.

Oooh, Moscow. They're not into interior lighting, are they? Big pause before the 'please' from Oleg.

Stan hasn't looked that young and alive in a long time... then the wonderfully emotionally clueless 'married, had Matthew, divorced' line.

Even I'd be suspicious of Paige looking that way.

Interesting that Elizabeth just wonders if Paige knows they love her.

Ha at the domestic conversation. I'm surprised he doesn't throw bleach over her...

Ha2 at the 'I love you' of Martha's message being cut off by the machine.

It doesn't happen often, but I am sure I look a lot worse than that when vomiting.

The prospect of imminent death has got Elizabeth wondering about death (asking about EST) and loyalty to family over country a lot... this time. She wasn't like that when she was shot.

Martha is not really at the restaurant, is she?

Why is Stan looking so surprised at the gun?? And at the Indian sex book? He knew someone else was hot for her, doesn't he?

.. now Martha is being thoughtfully - coldly - honest

'Look, we can find good young actors for both of them...'

Sweaty, but still not looking particularly ill.

Now all three main women have had their being thoughtful sequence.

I knew 'come home' was going to be the price, but he's not going to pay it, is he? ... Oh, he is.

'Sorry, I can't be more help' is probably the nicest thing William's said.

Neither of them know what it's like for the other one.

'Nobody sane would do this work.' 'She would.' The series in one exchange?

Looks like they're all going to live, unshock.

Back to this bit of the season's big dilemma.

Philip looks worse than Elizabeth did!

'You would be living in a burning house.' 'What's new?' Another series summary.

Obviously the 1930s were an incredibly fearful time - why did Elizabeth just think he was talking about the Great Patriotic War?

Oh, hello Lene Lovich.

Silly accent in public - is Henry not supposed to be able to hear that?

This is a dream sequence for Nina, isn't it? The lighting and, ha, flight tickets = definitely. This is setting us up for a Brazil-type ending.

Ah yes... Nice pull back of the camera and now we've seen it, 'special' punishment has its obvious meaning.

I'm still wondering why she didn't ask about sending the note. Presumably Oleg will be back in the USA soon - is he going to use this against Stan?

From:

theplatonicnonyeah

'If you have to touch each other' is said in a way that says William's not into sexual relationships.

Given that he has developed numerous allergic reactions to all the chemicals surrounding him, I doubt he would want to touch another human being for fear of either disgusting them (with scar tissue/eczema?) or catching something from them. He did seem very interested in the Jennings' family situation after all, so I do think he misses having someone to confide in and be close (physically) with. It was so poignant the moment they were all given the all clear, how the first thing Elizabeth and Philip do is hug each other.

Re: William and his non-touchiness

From:

lovingboth - Date: 2016-04-07 03:01 pm (UTC) - Expand

From:

sistermagpie

Obviously the 1930s were an incredibly fearful time - why did Elizabeth just think he was talking about the Great Patriotic War?

So fitting for Elizabeth, though, isn't it? She was raised with the War probably being the biggest thing in her life and of course in her house the Purges would have been downplayed. Nice that she'd immediately leap to the patriotic explanation of what Gabriel is talking about (the enemy from without) instead of the worse fear Gabriel is actually talking about (the enemy is us). She hasn't really accepted any of the downsides of her country and here's Gabriel talking about it.

Re: While watching thoughts

From:

selenak - Date: 2016-04-08 06:25 am (UTC) - Expand

Re: While watching thoughts

From:

sistermagpie - Date: 2016-04-08 03:08 pm (UTC) - Expand

From:

selenak

Alas, poor Nina. The first of our regulars to die. Not in a gratitious way. The lack of mercy in the spying world couldn’t forever extend to guest stars only, and the show made sure to give Nina an arc before she went that wasn’t about Stan, or Oleg, or for that matter Anton Baklanov, anyone but Nina. After s3 showed her the prospect of endless “betray to survive” cycles, she made a decision at the end of s3 and early in s4 not to play the game anymore. Not to keep selling more and more of herself. Nina, of all the people, knew which consequences this was likely to have. But she did it.

Mind you, I suspect Nina’s death will have consequences beyond ending her storyline. For starters, as opposed to getting blackmailed by Stan, I guess Oleg might actually volunteer. Especially if he assumes this was what his father had meant by “helping Nina”. If that’s the case, Oleg will probably reconsider – no matter how angry he’s about Nina’s death, there’s Arkady to think of – but then it will be too late. Anyway, what I don’t believe is that Oleg will stay in Russia with his parents as promised.

Meanwhile, chez Gabriel: I had hoped for more revealing conversation and less realism (if you’re living through a supposedly deathly pathogen, you’re not likely to have sensible conversations, I admit), but we did get several topics addressed: William and Philip talk about what it’s like to live as an Illegal, and Philip’s statement that he would be normal (read: quit) if not for Elizabeth does allow the question: could he even do that? Because suburbian family life notwithstanding, he and Elizabeth have never NOT spied while being on American soil.

Elizabeth thinks he can, and that when she thinks she might die she effectively tells him to go on the run with the kids in that case and to blame the whole impending (at this point) Pastor Tim drama on her so Paige will not blame him and Henry would never find out is a powerful statement to that effect. Note it’s also different from her “take care of the kids” request when she was shot in the s1 finale. But of course Elizabeth survives, this not being the show’s ending. It’s also not a reset button; she has reconsidered the Pastor Tim question (as I suspected: that man WILL survive the apocalypse, I tell you!) and now agrees with Philip that a Tim and Alice assassination, no matter who gets the blame, would destroy Paige. But she also can’t go on the run with Philip and the kids; she’s Elizabeth, she doesn’t quit. So she goes for the “work Tim and Alice” option, which: okay, I must admit the prospect of Pastor Tim finding himself turned into a KGB asset is morbidly humorous to me. And then there’s the show’s typical irony. Just as last week Philip, the one to whom Paige as recruit is the most abhorrent idea, actually is the one who first teaches her some actual spy behavior, this week you have Elizabeth and Philip finally back on the same, no pun intended, page re: their daughter - and the price for that turns out to offer the KGB her recruitment.

Speaking of this: we do get one intimate conversation with Gabriel near the very end of the episode, and he does reveal something he hadn’t told them before. I could be wrong, but I think this is the first time the show brings up a Russian experience that predates the Great Patriotic War (which until now was the earliest we had characters like Claudia or General Zhukov reflect on) – the Stalinist 1930s with their purges. Gabriel describing living in constant fear, of killing and aware every day it could be your turn, foreshadows Nina’s end on a Doylist level, but it does work on a Watsonian basis the way he intends, as a comparison to Philip’s and Elizabeth’s situation now. Despite or because of the dark subject, this is the most harmonious we’ve seen the three of them together since P & E welcomed Gabriel back in 3.01, and I think they’re back to believing he’s on their side in this… and then, at the end, comes the sledgehammer with Paige.

In another subplot, Martha gets taken on a dinner date by Agent Aderholt so Stan can search her apartment (in vain, if you don’t count her copy of the Karmasutra). Martha keeps her cool and serves Aderholt an explanation for her distracted state that’s brilliant and also infinitely sad. Her “I’m having an affair with a married man” speech is at the same time true and a complete lie, in more ways than one, because Martha still has no idea “Clark” is married.
In minor matters: in between pathogen angst, Philip and Elizabeth realize neither of them has studied with Henry for his latest school test, and by implication that they need to pay more attention. None too soon, since Henry informs Stan in the same episode his father isn’t available for confidential conversations due to all the work (btw: it occurs to me that instead of Stan reconciling with Philip prompted by Sandra, Stan might reconcile because he worries about Henry and sees Philip as making the same mistake he made with Matthew and Sandra – though this of course could lead, long term wise, to Stan figuring out that there’s something wrong in the Jennings household that has nothing to do with Philip not being there to talk with Henry about girls). Philip and Elizabeth taking both kids bowling at the end of the episode is the first time since eons we saw them – as in, all four of them - do something fun together without work being somehow involved, and that Elizabeth is able to share a joke with Paige about being Russian is pretty amazing. But the audience knows it can’t last. For starters, I have no idea how Paige will take Pastor Tim and Alice getting “worked”…

From:

From:

saraqael

Oh, Nina. I had hoped that her fate was to be condemned to the gulag forever. I was so horrified when she was executed. Her dreams were a good clue that she was rapidly coming to a sad end, but I wasn't prepared for this. Her execution, as as well as Gabriel's comments about life during the pre-war era of the Great Terror/Great Purge reminded me of Arthur Koestler's novel 'Darkness at Noon'. Gabriel and Claudia both survived those bad old days of Stalin-era terror as well as the horrors of WWII. As Gabriel said, he survived on a day by day basis by just doing as he was told and hoping that he wouldn't be one of the unfortunate ones who got murdered. Nina opted for a different course of action and paid with her life. I'm glad that the writers had Gabriel talk about this time period. It serves as a good counterpoint to Elizabeth's starry-eyed zeal that the cause she represents is so gloriously wonderful.

Facing the possibility of her own death, Elizabeth bluntly acknowledged that she knows that Philip has always wanted to stay in America, raise the kids here and just 'be Americans.' Philip didn't deny it. In fact, there was at least one other moment in this episode when Elizabeth said something to Philip but he didn't reply. (Early on she says that they have no choice about killing Pastor Tim and Philip doesn't respond.) It's as if these topics touch on something so profound within Philip that he still can't (or won't) articulate his feelings to her. He confessed to William that all he wants is to 'be normal' (not a spy) and he again asked Elizabeth if she wanted to run (nope!). No matter what else Philip may want in his life, the thing he wants most of all is Elizabeth and his family. If Elizabeth wants to stay in the spy life, he stays.

As for Philip's other wife... Martha's declaration that she's proud and unashamed to be seeing a married man because it's the most honest relationship she's ever been in... POOR MARTHA. She is trying so hard to convince herself that her marriage to Clark is a wonderful thing. She does still love him, but it seems to me that the sheer weirdness and awfulness of her relationship with Clark is starting to make her crack. Related to this: I appreciated the way Clark's answering machine cut off her awkward, rambling message right in the middle of her saying 'I love you.' It came out as 'I love--' BEEP 'you.' Yes, she does love, but the 'you' she loves doesn't exist.

Outcomes from the episode? Oleg was willing to trade away his future in order to save Nina. Now that she's been executed, what will he do? Elizabeth and Philip essentially agreed to trade away Paige's future to the KGB in exchange for hanging on to her innocent love for them now. That can't turn out well in the long run, but since Elizabeth won't run, it was the least bad option they had. It's hard to know if Stan found anything suspicious in Martha's apartment, but she does seem to me like she's starting to crack.

From:

lovingboth

They might have gone 'oh' at Gabriel using it to stop the murder of Mr and Mrs Tim, but I think there's no way that they will agree to it actually happening.

It was just a necessary part of stopping the murder, done by someone else.

Re: Trading away Paige's future?

From:

saraqael - Date: 2016-04-07 09:43 pm (UTC) - Expand

Re: Trading away Paige's future?

From:

sistermagpie - Date: 2016-04-07 11:45 pm (UTC) - Expand

From:

quantumreality

Paige still has a long way to go in the spy game. She spoke on a potentially tapped line. It was pretty hard to watch her react to the thought that she might have been the reason her parents needed to disappear.

"Great. Never better." PFFFFFFFFF X-D *ded* I have to say William can be a pretty good wiseass when he wants to be.

Oleg is back in the USSR all of a sudden and concerned about Nina. Hm!

Henry, you shouldn't be swearing. :P But interesting re the computer problem. I wonder what's up with that. And he wants girl advice. Interesting contrast of his everyday rather pedestrian life compared to Paige's.

Oh come on, Stan. That was a beautiful set-up telling how you met Sandra, and then you had to go and completely let the air out of that balloon.

Oh crap crap crap crap. Henry just innocently let it drop to Stan that Philip does all this "travelling" :O

Paige looks like she just felt Mount Doom itself looming over her with Stan showing up unannounced :O And BTW, Paige, facing away from a trained FBI agent as you tell a halting story is like waving a huge sign that you know more about your parents' activities than you're letting on.

Philip and Elizabeth have a heart to heart! And then have a banal argument about Henry's bio test, heh.

Aderholt, you smooth-talker, you. :D

Oh crap, Elizabeth got sick :O And she's basically giving Philip her last will and testament :O

Martha does not look happay. Meanwhile, Stan snoops! And Martha starts spilling the beans :O How ironic she calls it an "honest relationship" when it's founded on lies and deception to begin with!

Elizabeth remembers!

And now, Nina is back in Soviet Shithole Prison #24601.

I wonder what park Oleg and his dad are walking through.

It's interesting how Philip tells William "we did [tell Paige]", when in reality it was more of a mutual pull towards unveiling the truth.

William can be a bit of an ass sometimes, but it was nice to see him almost gentle with Gabriel as he got better.

It's also really interesting how Elizabeth's barriers have come down like they've almost never done in the series. She's putting her hands on Philip, and even patting Gabriel on the shoulder. I never really realized it, but she seems to tend to avoid physical contact with people, or when she does it's rather businesslike.

Gabriel reveals he was old enough to remember Stalin's purges :O

Paige is worried, but Henry is just gamin' away on his C64 :P

Bowling! Awwww. :) And woohoo! Elizabeth clears the pins :D

XD oh my god, Elizabeth and Paige actually made a joke about spycraft!

Seeing Paige and Elizabeth next to each other really makes me wonder if Paige could discover the kind of inner toughness and drive that makes Elizabeth do what she does every day.

I really liked the light shining on Nina motif, but shit-all, it was just a dream :(

And she's going to get executed! :-( One unmarked grave for Nina Sergeevna Krilova, RIP. From the highest of highs as the deputy director of the illegals program to the lowest of lows in the Soviet gulag, may she one day be rehabilitated.

From:

treonb

To start from the end - I did not see Nina's execution coming (I guess she didn't either), though there was a limit to where she could go from here. Relating to what I wrote on the previous episode, gore was minimal.

I admit that when Oleg's father offered him Nina for coming home, I preferred Oleg over Nina.

Aderholt taking Martha to dinner was less interrogation and more Martha channeling Elizabeth, but it was interesting how she introduced Clark, and that she's announcing she doesn't feel guilty (as much as she phrased it about having an affair with a married man, and not helping out a Communist spy).

Though I would really expect something like this to be enough reason for her to lose her security clearance.

Stan found the gun, and I wonder what else he's going to find in those pictures he took. Shouldn't Philip also search Martha's apartment every once in a while?

I wonder if Stan is suspecting Philip is having an affair, with all that traveling. He's not likely to think 'Russian spies' as first option.

From:

sistermagpie

Stan found the gun, and I wonder what else he's going to find in those pictures he took. Shouldn't Philip also search Martha's apartment every once in a while?

Just a reminder, Stan knew about the gun. He taught Martha how to shoot.

I wonder if Stan is suspecting Philip is having an affair, with all that traveling. He's not likely to think 'Russian spies' as first option.

I do wonder. On one hand, Philip's traveling has always been out on the open. After he married Martha there was a scene where he was explaining to Henry that he'd be traveling more now because of the competition in the travel agent business. So while Stan's never had his attention called to it before, it's not conflicting with any story Philip's told him.

But it does make him think of Philip differently--he probably reflexively thinks of Philip as not like himself in some ways and seeing Philip described as absent, like he himself was, probably does make his radar go off in some way. Probably a way he can't quite explain yet.

Affairs? I don't know. He was gone with Elizabeth in this case, but Henry talked about Philip not being around. Stan might be thinking that now that he's suspected something of Philip he's realizing the guy has all the time in the world to get up to stuff like sleeping with Stan's wife.

Martha's gun

From:

treonb - Date: 2016-04-10 09:19 am (UTC) - Expand

Re: Martha's gun

From:

sistermagpie - Date: 2016-04-10 06:01 pm (UTC) - Expand

From:

sistermagpie

Yeah, I think that is a step in that direction. Now that she knows the truth it makes a difference to her if her parents disappear. I don't think she thinks of it as "wanting in" but just that she's realized now how precarious her parents' position is and she wants to protect them.

It'll be interesting to see how they run Pastor Tim. I don't know if they'll really have her lying to him, but I can definitely see them shaping what things they want her to emphasize in her relationship with them.

Central to that is going to be, I think, assuring Pastor Tim that they're not hurting anyone and that's about Paige too, because they're lying to her about that.

From:

treonb

I really appreciated Willima's dry humor in this ep, and in general he seems to be adding comic relief.

But I don't get why he's still around. He doesn't like his job and it's ruining his life. His partner left him and he's all alone. He does his best not to get the security clearance that the KGB really needs.

Why does he stay around and why don't the KGB replace him?

From:

sistermagpie

The KGB probably has good reason not to replace him since it would be very difficult and he's still doing his job. It took them years to get him to where he's working and they probably don't have anybody they could ever get into the same job.

He might just be working under inertia at the moment. Not wanting to do his job anymore and not wanting to make things more difficult for himself would probably make him not want to do something even more difficult like leave or defect.

I think this is the same reason Philip thinks about defection. It's not like either of them want to start some new life, they just want to put down their burden.

Edited Date: 2016-04-10 06:08 pm (UTC)

Re: William

From:

treonb - Date: 2016-04-11 10:33 am (UTC) - Expand

From:

soupytwist

We've definitely hit the 'point of no return' in this season's plot, omg.

Oh my poor, poor Nina. I knew the plane tickets thing couldn't be legit, but just getting the bullet to the head straight off like that was so sad. Poor Nina. And now stuff is gonna GO DOWN with Oleg. Oh man. I think the note above about Oleg thinking his dad meant this when he said 'help' might well be true.

Stan has started looking into Martha. And ok, he didn't find anything she couldn't explain, and the 'I'm seeing a married dude' was a BRILLIANT move on the writers' part because it's TRUE and EXPLAINS SO MUCH and Martha has no idea. But it's also not going to hold up to real scrutiny, and Stan is properly suspicious now. I think Aderholt may be on Martha's side here, though. Stan might get blocked that way.

But I think we're definitely seeing the end of Clark and Martha. Not only is Stan on the warpath, but I felt like Martha frantically calling and getting nowhere was a Sign. We know why Clark couldn't answer, but she didn't. Martha has put up with a lot from Clark, but we also know she's getting closer and closer to the edge. To me that scene looked very much like she might be about to fall over it. I don't expect her to now immediately shop Clark to Stan - if nothing else, she herself is in WAY too deep trouble to just easily do that - but setting up Martha as disengaging? Hell yeah.

The superbug plot creeped me the fuck out. I thought something would happen, but the sudden jump to 'oh my lord he's dying on the floor and everyone else might be about to die too' was really well done. (I may be a sucker. Shh.) I really felt the visceral horror. Poor Philip telling Elizabeth it might be okay even as they were both visibly trying to deal with the idea it might not was just awful. And I very much took the conversation about blaming it all on Elizabeth in that light: Elizabeth sincerely trying to figure out in difficult circumstances whether there might be anything to salvage, some way she could help her kids even then. I thought that was much more about her and Philip's renewed combined commitment to their family than anything else.

Oh and I am THRILLED that Henry is getting bolshy and wanting things. It's about time. I see him finding out in the near future - especially because the whole 'left home alone' thing to me seemed like it might be leading to Paige spilling the beans to him, too. Although I am a little concerned Henry might be leading Stan to consider his neighbours a bit more closely. The travel agents thing covers quite a bit, but again, it's the sort of thing that won't stand up to the sort of investigating Stan can do.

From:

treonb

I agree that the affair story was brilliant, it was a fascinating way for Martha to express her thoughts. But I also think it's dangerous for her to confess to having an affair. She might not feel bad about it, but the FBI and her bosses surely would (or should).

I found this article, about this:
http://www.fedsmith.com/2013/01/06/sleeping-with-trouble-extramarital-affairs-and-federal-employees/

Best case, she loses her security clearance. Worse case, she gets fired.

Re: Martha's story

From:

soupytwist - Date: 2016-04-12 06:09 pm (UTC) - Expand

Things shifting in this ep

From:

sistermagpie - Date: 2016-04-12 05:30 pm (UTC) - Expand

Re: Things shifting in this ep

From:

soupytwist - Date: 2016-04-12 06:16 pm (UTC) - Expand

Re: Things shifting in this ep

From:

sistermagpie - Date: 2016-04-12 06:47 pm (UTC) - Expand

From:

shapinglight

Just watched this episode for the first time, and while it was absolutely stellar - best of the season so far -for so many reasons, I can't say I'm not horribly upset about Nina, even though the dream sequence beforehand kind of telegraphed what was going to happen.

I'm just glad she didn't suffer and that ultimately she was true to her better self.

Think I'll go and have a good cry now.