But I have to say, it seems a bit unfair to talk about him quitting as her taking on a burden alone. They both were doing a job. Philip became morally opposed to the job and wanted to quit. Elizabeth was not morally opposed and didn't want to quit. So he quit and she didn't.
I understand her telling him to quit as an act of love, but saying that she's therefore taking on his burden is implying that she's entitled to him helping her as long as she wants to work. She has the same choice as he did: keep working if you want or stop if you don't.
I'm not trying to undercut Elizabeth's gesture in telling him to quit, but it's just always seemed significant to me that scene back in I think S3 when Elizabeth talks about how she secretly hoped to get a chance to "be there" for him the way he's there for her. But she never actually gets or takes that chance because the mission is always more important.
The single time Elizabeth made a choice where she put Philip above the mission was at the end of S5 when she suggested quitting--and then she took that back when an important mission thing came up. Perhaps if it hadn't been that, it would have been something else that she couldn't leave.
So again, this isn't to undercut that Elizabeth did tell him to quit out of love for him, the pattern is unchanged. Philip freely chooses to work when he doesn't want to because she needs him. Elizabeth does not choose to build a life without the work for him.
The best she managed was to tell him to quit on his own, but inevitably that meant he'd wind up working again. In this ep he himself suggests it without her having to openly ask (just say in general she needs help). In the last ep she openly asked him to do exactly the kind of thing that was killing him before and when he didn't she insulted him.
One other thing that occurred to me about her insults to him, actually, is that she still has that black and white thinking that came up in the fight of David Copperfield, whether or not she really means what she's saying. When Philip tells her he will not help kidnap Kimmie and use her as a hostage, she accuses him of sleeping with her because he wanted to. For Elizabeth you're either doing it for the cause or you're doing it for some selfish reason. She's never been able to understand his objections to the job as ideological. It just comes down to what he wants personally.
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timeasmymeasure
Re: Philip and Elizabeth
Date: 2018-05-04 05:13 pm (UTC)I understand her telling him to quit as an act of love, but saying that she's therefore taking on his burden is implying that she's entitled to him helping her as long as she wants to work. She has the same choice as he did: keep working if you want or stop if you don't.
I'm not trying to undercut Elizabeth's gesture in telling him to quit, but it's just always seemed significant to me that scene back in I think S3 when Elizabeth talks about how she secretly hoped to get a chance to "be there" for him the way he's there for her. But she never actually gets or takes that chance because the mission is always more important.
The single time Elizabeth made a choice where she put Philip above the mission was at the end of S5 when she suggested quitting--and then she took that back when an important mission thing came up. Perhaps if it hadn't been that, it would have been something else that she couldn't leave.
So again, this isn't to undercut that Elizabeth did tell him to quit out of love for him, the pattern is unchanged. Philip freely chooses to work when he doesn't want to because she needs him. Elizabeth does not choose to build a life without the work for him.
The best she managed was to tell him to quit on his own, but inevitably that meant he'd wind up working again. In this ep he himself suggests it without her having to openly ask (just say in general she needs help). In the last ep she openly asked him to do exactly the kind of thing that was killing him before and when he didn't she insulted him.
One other thing that occurred to me about her insults to him, actually, is that she still has that black and white thinking that came up in the fight of David Copperfield, whether or not she really means what she's saying. When Philip tells her he will not help kidnap Kimmie and use her as a hostage, she accuses him of sleeping with her because he wanted to. For Elizabeth you're either doing it for the cause or you're doing it for some selfish reason. She's never been able to understand his objections to the job as ideological. It just comes down to what he wants personally.