This isn't strictly about this episode but it occurred to me that it's funny how Elizabeth is down on EST--mocking Philip for needing to talk to a room full of "strangers"--when she's the one most likely to do EST-stuff with her sources. She laid out to Lisa how she felt about Philip in S2, and told the story of her rape to Brad in a way that clearly helped her not only process it but understand that it had led her to shut off her feelings, and that those feelings were just now coming back.
That's a pretty great breakthrough and sometimes Philip hasn't ever really been able to do. Even his memory at the start of the season--one he's been trying to work through for a while--didn't seem to be something he was able to come to such a clear understanding about.
It reminds me of his struggling attempts to say something at the end of S3 when he's interrupted. It's so different than any of Elizabeth's scenes where she's very clearly stated how she thinks she feels about something, like with Brad or about her mother sending her away. Even if she's fooling herself about some things she is able to talk about her past and how it informs her feelings now.
Philip is by contrast so damned strangled about all of it. We know almost nothing about his background--like he's repressed it to the point it's totally cut off. Even his background with Irina seems to be about some other persona that haunts him.
The one clear memory/story we have about the milk took him a whole season to get out to the end, and even after bringing it up at EST he seemed frustrated that he hadn't worked out anything about it. Elizabeth gave him, it seems, a bit more comfort just by hearing it, but he still didn't seem to get a clear idea of how it affects him now. Like he said to Martha he was wondering about things in his past and if that's why he's so whatever now, but he still seems to lack understanding.
And we're now, what, 8 eps in? And since that first ep and the one scene in the second Philip's past has never been brought up again. He obviously feels something and desperately acts out on it (saving Martha, going to Gene's grave) but he still doesn't put these things in context of his whole upbringing rather than what's happening in that moment.
Elizabeth and EST
That's a pretty great breakthrough and sometimes Philip hasn't ever really been able to do. Even his memory at the start of the season--one he's been trying to work through for a while--didn't seem to be something he was able to come to such a clear understanding about.
It reminds me of his struggling attempts to say something at the end of S3 when he's interrupted. It's so different than any of Elizabeth's scenes where she's very clearly stated how she thinks she feels about something, like with Brad or about her mother sending her away. Even if she's fooling herself about some things she is able to talk about her past and how it informs her feelings now.
Philip is by contrast so damned strangled about all of it. We know almost nothing about his background--like he's repressed it to the point it's totally cut off. Even his background with Irina seems to be about some other persona that haunts him.
The one clear memory/story we have about the milk took him a whole season to get out to the end, and even after bringing it up at EST he seemed frustrated that he hadn't worked out anything about it. Elizabeth gave him, it seems, a bit more comfort just by hearing it, but he still didn't seem to get a clear idea of how it affects him now. Like he said to Martha he was wondering about things in his past and if that's why he's so whatever now, but he still seems to lack understanding.
And we're now, what, 8 eps in? And since that first ep and the one scene in the second Philip's past has never been brought up again. He obviously feels something and desperately acts out on it (saving Martha, going to Gene's grave) but he still doesn't put these things in context of his whole upbringing rather than what's happening in that moment.