But I don't think it's a coincidence that Claudia becomes "family" in the season where Elizabeth starts replacing family with the work.
I disagree that Elizabeth is starting to replace her family with work. IMO, for Elizabeth, the family has always just been part of her work. That doesn't mean that she doesn't love them, but unlike Philip, I don't think that Elizabeth has ever drawn a line between the family and her job. The children were part of the job, meant to enhance their cover and breed the next generation of more perfect spies. We know that Elizabeth loves them, but she's always always loved the Cause more. Now that she's facing her own likely death, of course she hands off her daughter/work assignment to her supervisor/Claudia and says, 'if I die, you finish the project.' In fact, Elizabeth hates everything about America so much, she thinks that Paige becoming a spy is Paige's best possible fate, and handing Paige over to Claudia is the very best thing possible that she can do as a mother for her daughter. She's rescued Paige from becoming a 'weak, soft' American and fulfilled her job to breed a second generation spy.
There is so little time left in this series for Elizabeth to finally learn that it's okay to live a life that is not devoted 100% to ideology. The show is dropping suicide pill shaped anvils on her head that if she doesn't wake up and choose life for herself (and now for her daughter), she is doomed (and so now is Paige). We're also coming right down to the wire about whether or not she will be able to separate her family from her ideology.
Right from the start Philip said he would be okay with allowing his kids to live out their lives as Americans. He only wants what's best for his kids in terms of educational and economic opportunities. Happy Americans...happy Russians... he doesn't care so long as his kids are happy. Elizabeth puts ideology first. She's delighted that Paige was recruited and she's perfectly content to allow Claudia to continue to train Paige. Elizabeth wants her daughter to be an ideological reflection of herself, even if that dooms Paige to be unfit to be an American or a Russian.
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timeasmymeasure
Re: Claudia
Date: 2018-04-08 08:31 pm (UTC)I disagree that Elizabeth is starting to replace her family with work. IMO, for Elizabeth, the family has always just been part of her work. That doesn't mean that she doesn't love them, but unlike Philip, I don't think that Elizabeth has ever drawn a line between the family and her job. The children were part of the job, meant to enhance their cover and breed the next generation of more perfect spies. We know that Elizabeth loves them, but she's always always loved the Cause more. Now that she's facing her own likely death, of course she hands off her daughter/work assignment to her supervisor/Claudia and says, 'if I die, you finish the project.' In fact, Elizabeth hates everything about America so much, she thinks that Paige becoming a spy is Paige's best possible fate, and handing Paige over to Claudia is the very best thing possible that she can do as a mother for her daughter. She's rescued Paige from becoming a 'weak, soft' American and fulfilled her job to breed a second generation spy.
There is so little time left in this series for Elizabeth to finally learn that it's okay to live a life that is not devoted 100% to ideology. The show is dropping suicide pill shaped anvils on her head that if she doesn't wake up and choose life for herself (and now for her daughter), she is doomed (and so now is Paige). We're also coming right down to the wire about whether or not she will be able to separate her family from her ideology.
Right from the start Philip said he would be okay with allowing his kids to live out their lives as Americans. He only wants what's best for his kids in terms of educational and economic opportunities. Happy Americans...happy Russians... he doesn't care so long as his kids are happy. Elizabeth puts ideology first. She's delighted that Paige was recruited and she's perfectly content to allow Claudia to continue to train Paige. Elizabeth wants her daughter to be an ideological reflection of herself, even if that dooms Paige to be unfit to be an American or a Russian.