I've never been so happy to see Philip in a mustache. Not just because it's cringeworthy watching the travel agency stuff, but I've got a limited number of eps left with the guy and it's bad enough they seem to have really decided his backstory isn't worth sharing, but I don't want time wasted on the travel agency and The Forum as well.
Loved the Stan/Oleg scene. Oleg was in fine form pretending to have trouble with his wife to distract Stan and bringing up Nina, obviously mixing in the truth there.
No idea what's up with Stan's wife. She seems like another ditz like Sophia "the Soviet liar" is. Theories that she's really some sort of plant seem a bit silly to me after watching her. It could be that she gets herself into trouble or stumbles on something in her attempts to play at being a spy. (At least she's not doing that on the job like Paige.)
The Henry stuff seems like they're kind of retconning some things to put Philip more in the position of a striver Capitalist who's overreaching and outclassing himself trying to keep his kid at that school. Last season Henry seemed to be saying he was getting a full scholarship and there's no reason that shouldn't be still going on. Actually there's probably more reason now because Henry's a star hockey player. He's the kind of kid everybody at that school would prepare to take credit for and he's Ivy League bound. They're not going to toss him out to public school. They're banking on him being a big donor one day. He's a sound investment. That's why they wanted him to begin with.
Elizabeth continues to be desperate with Paige. Not just because of her disastrous instincts in this situation and others, but even when she spoke to her afterwards the scene's still written and acted as a regular teenager insisting to her mom that she's responsible instead of somebody who understands the danger. When Elizabeth said anyone else would have been finished by now I hoped that was a prediction because yes, they would have. This is pure nepotism.
The Russian cultures lessons still seem a bit weird--there's no reason Paige would need to know any of this and there's nothing in them that suggests that Paige has developed even a minimal interest in Russia or Russian culture. She seems like she'd obviously be just as happy making spaghetti. In fact, it's actually pretty rude the way Elizabeth is openly trying to get Paige to think of herself as Russian. That's essentially asking her to erase her identity and replace it with other peoples' filtered second-hand memories. Does Paige ever admit it if she doesn't like the food or whatever? Because she might be all into the "I Hate America/We're All Russians Here" club now, but eventually that would grate because she's never going to be Russian. Especially not by continuing to live her entire life in the USA.
Elizabeth's holding on tighter than ever now, just as Philip seems to be letting go. Interesting moment when Elizabeth claims that she knows what people in Russia want (they agree with her, of course) and Philip reports that things are changing according to the newspapers and reminds her she hasn't actually talked to anyone there in years. She says "Neither have you," but Philip didn't claim to speak for them. Elizabeth even claims that any reports of changing attitudes in Russia are American propaganda--an American plot to "make Russians like themselves."
I heard someone describe their conflict here as Philip wanting "the American dream" and Elizabeth wanting to kill it, but that wasn't what I saw as the conflict at all. It was about an end to the Cold War, which Elizabeth didn't seem to want. Anything short of the worldwide revolution she'd reject--possibly because she just needs things to say the same.
Actually, her conversation with Paige included a surprisingly honest moment when she said it was okay if random dudes got shot in the face every week because she didn't have to be afraid. Zhukov said as much back in S1. Elizabeth even framed the whole thing that way to Paige. Gabriel, too, said that he realized back during the Purges he told himself he was setting a good example when he was actually acting out of fear. That's what this is about.
Elizabeth killing that guy was a bit eye-rolly. I guess we're supposed to see the Centre getting sloppy in that they obviously hooked her up with this guy specifically without finding out his girlfriend is in security, so that made her have to suddenly need to kill him. But come on. She had to literally jump up to get her arm around his neck and the guy didn't even use his size and weight accidentally to his own advantage in a panic as he died.
Next week I assume she'll kill that Courier couple.
Philip and Oleg meeting at the end for their Casablanca moment was great and man, I hope they allow these two to have a relationship.
Maybe an advantage they have is that part of their arcs is that they're really not ideologues either way. Their arc was about disillusionment already. Neither of them seem to think Gorbachev is the second-coming. They just know things have to change. Philip, especially, probably doesn't expect there to be a place waiting for him in the new world any more than there is now, but he saw what Elizabeth was fighting for and knew it shouldn't be that.
Sistermagpie's thoughts on Urban Transport Planning
Loved the Stan/Oleg scene. Oleg was in fine form pretending to have trouble with his wife to distract Stan and bringing up Nina, obviously mixing in the truth there.
No idea what's up with Stan's wife. She seems like another ditz like Sophia "the Soviet liar" is. Theories that she's really some sort of plant seem a bit silly to me after watching her. It could be that she gets herself into trouble or stumbles on something in her attempts to play at being a spy. (At least she's not doing that on the job like Paige.)
The Henry stuff seems like they're kind of retconning some things to put Philip more in the position of a striver Capitalist who's overreaching and outclassing himself trying to keep his kid at that school. Last season Henry seemed to be saying he was getting a full scholarship and there's no reason that shouldn't be still going on. Actually there's probably more reason now because Henry's a star hockey player. He's the kind of kid everybody at that school would prepare to take credit for and he's Ivy League bound. They're not going to toss him out to public school. They're banking on him being a big donor one day. He's a sound investment. That's why they wanted him to begin with.
Elizabeth continues to be desperate with Paige. Not just because of her disastrous instincts in this situation and others, but even when she spoke to her afterwards the scene's still written and acted as a regular teenager insisting to her mom that she's responsible instead of somebody who understands the danger. When Elizabeth said anyone else would have been finished by now I hoped that was a prediction because yes, they would have. This is pure nepotism.
The Russian cultures lessons still seem a bit weird--there's no reason Paige would need to know any of this and there's nothing in them that suggests that Paige has developed even a minimal interest in Russia or Russian culture. She seems like she'd obviously be just as happy making spaghetti. In fact, it's actually pretty rude the way Elizabeth is openly trying to get Paige to think of herself as Russian. That's essentially asking her to erase her identity and replace it with other peoples' filtered second-hand memories. Does Paige ever admit it if she doesn't like the food or whatever? Because she might be all into the "I Hate America/We're All Russians Here" club now, but eventually that would grate because she's never going to be Russian. Especially not by continuing to live her entire life in the USA.
Elizabeth's holding on tighter than ever now, just as Philip seems to be letting go. Interesting moment when Elizabeth claims that she knows what people in Russia want (they agree with her, of course) and Philip reports that things are changing according to the newspapers and reminds her she hasn't actually talked to anyone there in years. She says "Neither have you," but Philip didn't claim to speak for them. Elizabeth even claims that any reports of changing attitudes in Russia are American propaganda--an American plot to "make Russians like themselves."
I heard someone describe their conflict here as Philip wanting "the American dream" and Elizabeth wanting to kill it, but that wasn't what I saw as the conflict at all. It was about an end to the Cold War, which Elizabeth didn't seem to want. Anything short of the worldwide revolution she'd reject--possibly because she just needs things to say the same.
Actually, her conversation with Paige included a surprisingly honest moment when she said it was okay if random dudes got shot in the face every week because she didn't have to be afraid. Zhukov said as much back in S1. Elizabeth even framed the whole thing that way to Paige. Gabriel, too, said that he realized back during the Purges he told himself he was setting a good example when he was actually acting out of fear. That's what this is about.
Elizabeth killing that guy was a bit eye-rolly. I guess we're supposed to see the Centre getting sloppy in that they obviously hooked her up with this guy specifically without finding out his girlfriend is in security, so that made her have to suddenly need to kill him. But come on. She had to literally jump up to get her arm around his neck and the guy didn't even use his size and weight accidentally to his own advantage in a panic as he died.
Next week I assume she'll kill that Courier couple.
Philip and Oleg meeting at the end for their Casablanca moment was great and man, I hope they allow these two to have a relationship.
Maybe an advantage they have is that part of their arcs is that they're really not ideologues either way. Their arc was about disillusionment already. Neither of them seem to think Gorbachev is the second-coming. They just know things have to change. Philip, especially, probably doesn't expect there to be a place waiting for him in the new world any more than there is now, but he saw what Elizabeth was fighting for and knew it shouldn't be that.