In Svetlana Alexejevich's Zinky Boys, about the Soviet soldiers in Afghanistan and after, one of the many aspects that caused an utter disconnect and alienation among the surviving Afghanistan veterans was that when they had left, full of the usual propaganda, there had been a Soviet Union, and when they returned, there simply wasn't anymore. There were Russia and several other states, but the Soviet Union was gone, and the war they fought wasn't regarded remotely like The Great Patriotic War everyone had been taught to revere but like something shameful and lost. During that scene with Elizabeth and Philip in the kitchen, I had to think of those passages in the above named book.
Regardless whether they end the series dead or in prison, the country and the cause for which they as young people signed on for, killed, betrayed, risked their lives and gave up their physical autonomy for will be irrevocably gone. And it's not like Philip will be proven any more right in his hope/belief about what "the people" want than Elizabeth will be - yes, there will be a few years of openess, but the corruption will be even worse than it used to be (how much money did Yeltsin and family squirt away to the US again?), there'll be an oligarchy, not a democracy awaiting, and then you get Putin and his promise of restored "strength" stripped of any of the ideals young Nadeshda and Mischa once had. It's more obvious with Elizabeth that she's motivating herself via a phantom Russia she thinks she's recreating in Claudia's kitchen and living room, but Philip's Russia isn't any more real, either, in the end. (And is it Russia he's hoping for? With Arkady, at least, and probably Oleg, I suspect they want something along what Gorbachev did, which was not a dissolved but a reformed Soviet Union. Which was an illusion, too.)
There's a lot of disconnect despite attempts to connect through the episode. In the season opener, Philip hanging out with his staff and joining them at square dancing might have looked like connection and successful assimilation, but in this episode, his attempt to be the ultimate American motivational speaker for his employees comes across as downright embarrassing, and the reaction among the staff is bewilderment and apathy. Philip Jennings, travel agent, might be who he wants to be, but it's not really working out right now, not with his mind half at matters back home, "home" meaning both his famiily and his country of origin. He can be good at being a travel agent. But what he really is, is a spy.
Elizabeth in the episode talks about the disconnect with Pilip to the Russian priest who married them and actually does talk to Philip, telling him bits and pieces about what's troubling her (just enough to confirm what Oleg told him about her possible assignment) yet stopping short of going against orders. But her attempt to draw Philip into that phantom Russia via shared food (an echo and counterpart of him bringing her caviar a few seasons back, which did connect them then) does not work out the way she wants to, and not just because he's already eaten (yet at least gets a taste). It's because they have very different ideas of what Russia/the Soviet Union is or should be about these days, and what its people want.
(BTW, have to repeat what I said in the review of the season opener - this is far more interesting than if it was a self conglaturatory US versus USSR finale we're steering towards.)
Now, when they both point out that the other hasn't talked to anyone from back home in more than two decades (and each does not mention General Up To No Good and Oleg, respectively), I'm assuming they really meant "someone not in the spy business" anyway, because of course they did talk to other Russians - but spies or former spies like themselves. (Or the occasional dissident whom they either killed or ruined in other ways, let's not forget those.) And given that I doubt whether we'll see Philip's son Mischa again, chances are they won't any time soon. They can only guess and hope they're right.
Philip eventually decides to go through with Oleg's request (and not a moment too soon for dramatic purposes, yet another episode of him in Hamletian vein would have irked), and there's the sad irony that him returning to spying for the good of the mother country would, in theory, be something Elizabeth would be very proud of - but what he sees as good is no longer what she sees as good, and it will be directed against what she works for. Given their collective experience at spying, I wonder how long before she catches on?
Then again, this season shows her as quite capable of delusion where her family is concerned. The anger that burst through at Paige's panicking (which was also directed at herself) gets eventually surpressed in favour of yet more declarations that Paige is good at spying (to the priest). And well, she's not. Anyone who at age 19 is still naive enough to buy "it was a suicide" under those circumstances really should stay the hell away from the intelligence business.
Meanwhile, the Oleg & Stan reunion: basically asks for an AU where there's bitter reunion sex in addition to that conversation. Only half kidding. Also, I loved that scene. And can understand why Oleg doesn't really buy Stan's declaration of innocence (despite the fact Stan's not lying in this case), because a) Stan made that tape in the first place, and there could only have been one intended purpose, and b) this is actually what Oleg and Arkady were planning to do to Stan via Nina. But for that same reason, he's also not really displeased at Stan seeking him out again, and, methinks, not just because Stan is the only person with whom he can reminesce about Nina.
Lastly: I'm still in the dark as to what the point of the Gennardy subplot will be, other than to show Stan is anxious not to lose another asset and this time to fulfill his promise of extraction above potential further use.
My review
Regardless whether they end the series dead or in prison, the country and the cause for which they as young people signed on for, killed, betrayed, risked their lives and gave up their physical autonomy for will be irrevocably gone. And it's not like Philip will be proven any more right in his hope/belief about what "the people" want than Elizabeth will be - yes, there will be a few years of openess, but the corruption will be even worse than it used to be (how much money did Yeltsin and family squirt away to the US again?), there'll be an oligarchy, not a democracy awaiting, and then you get Putin and his promise of restored "strength" stripped of any of the ideals young Nadeshda and Mischa once had. It's more obvious with Elizabeth that she's motivating herself via a phantom Russia she thinks she's recreating in Claudia's kitchen and living room, but Philip's Russia isn't any more real, either, in the end. (And is it Russia he's hoping for? With Arkady, at least, and probably Oleg, I suspect they want something along what Gorbachev did, which was not a dissolved but a reformed Soviet Union. Which was an illusion, too.)
There's a lot of disconnect despite attempts to connect through the episode. In the season opener, Philip hanging out with his staff and joining them at square dancing might have looked like connection and successful assimilation, but in this episode, his attempt to be the ultimate American motivational speaker for his employees comes across as downright embarrassing, and the reaction among the staff is bewilderment and apathy. Philip Jennings, travel agent, might be who he wants to be, but it's not really working out right now, not with his mind half at matters back home, "home" meaning both his famiily and his country of origin. He can be good at being a travel agent. But what he really is, is a spy.
Elizabeth in the episode talks about the disconnect with Pilip to the Russian priest who married them and actually does talk to Philip, telling him bits and pieces about what's troubling her (just enough to confirm what Oleg told him about her possible assignment) yet stopping short of going against orders. But her attempt to draw Philip into that phantom Russia via shared food (an echo and counterpart of him bringing her caviar a few seasons back, which did connect them then) does not work out the way she wants to, and not just because he's already eaten (yet at least gets a taste). It's because they have very different ideas of what Russia/the Soviet Union is or should be about these days, and what its people want.
(BTW, have to repeat what I said in the review of the season opener - this is far more interesting than if it was a self conglaturatory US versus USSR finale we're steering towards.)
Now, when they both point out that the other hasn't talked to anyone from back home in more than two decades (and each does not mention General Up To No Good and Oleg, respectively), I'm assuming they really meant "someone not in the spy business" anyway, because of course they did talk to other Russians - but spies or former spies like themselves. (Or the occasional dissident whom they either killed or ruined in other ways, let's not forget those.) And given that I doubt whether we'll see Philip's son Mischa again, chances are they won't any time soon. They can only guess and hope they're right.
Philip eventually decides to go through with Oleg's request (and not a moment too soon for dramatic purposes, yet another episode of him in Hamletian vein would have irked), and there's the sad irony that him returning to spying for the good of the mother country would, in theory, be something Elizabeth would be very proud of - but what he sees as good is no longer what she sees as good, and it will be directed against what she works for. Given their collective experience at spying, I wonder how long before she catches on?
Then again, this season shows her as quite capable of delusion where her family is concerned. The anger that burst through at Paige's panicking (which was also directed at herself) gets eventually surpressed in favour of yet more declarations that Paige is good at spying (to the priest). And well, she's not. Anyone who at age 19 is still naive enough to buy "it was a suicide" under those circumstances really should stay the hell away from the intelligence business.
Meanwhile, the Oleg & Stan reunion: basically asks for an AU where there's bitter reunion sex in addition to that conversation. Only half kidding. Also, I loved that scene. And can understand why Oleg doesn't really buy Stan's declaration of innocence (despite the fact Stan's not lying in this case), because a) Stan made that tape in the first place, and there could only have been one intended purpose, and b) this is actually what Oleg and Arkady were planning to do to Stan via Nina. But for that same reason, he's also not really displeased at Stan seeking him out again, and, methinks, not just because Stan is the only person with whom he can reminesce about Nina.
Lastly: I'm still in the dark as to what the point of the Gennardy subplot will be, other than to show Stan is anxious not to lose another asset and this time to fulfill his promise of extraction above potential further use.