Question of the week #14

[treonb]

The writers of this show seem to have a love for full formal names when it comes to the KGB side of the Cold War. Philip is always Philip, never Phil, and Elizabeth is never Liz or Beth either--and this despite the fact that Russian names all inherently have multiple alternate forms that everyone simply uses as a matter of course. The same goes for Robert, the other Directorate S illegal who we've met, and for that matter, for Gregory (who's not Russian, but whose own culture isn't exactly known for its lack of informal names).

Given this, the question of the week is a two-parter: one, what do you think the writers are up to with this? And two, any thoughts on an explanation for this that works within the world of the show?

You can expect spoilers for the entire first season in the comments.

(There's no expiration date on these questions, so if you're reading this post months later and feel like jumping in, please do.)

Comments

[jae]

Thank you for helping with this (and yes, in case you were wondering, this whole question was totally about me outsourcing the brainstorming about my conundrum about Gregory's name to you folks *g*)!

I guess it seems to me that if others were calling Gregory 'Greg' but SHE called him 'Gregory', that would draw attention to it rather than inviting a nickname for her own cover name. And then there's the fact that she would have initially met Gregory under a more temporary name anyway (like, she wouldn't have gotten involved in the SCLC under the name 'Elizabeth Jennings'). So the first option doesn't quite work for me, although I could still be talked into it.

The second one, though...maybe! I guess I have to figure out what that would have looked like to him, though, if she was introduced to him as Greg but she called him Gregory. And what the conversation they would have had about that would have been like.

-J