The scene with the knife is really hard to get a handle on without knowing just how they usually interacted. I think, like you say, it can't be that unusual because she doesn't react like WTF? when he does it. So I would assume there were other times when he just did something like that to see if she felt like sex, and by this point she'd be comfortable with that, I'd think. But here I think the change is that she says no and he keeps trying, pushing the boundary a little. When she pulls the knife it is, I agree, a lot of "Why is it such a crime when you're my wife?" but that doesn't contradict the idea that he's basically saying why can't they have a husband/wife relationship that's basically real?
Like, I said that Elizabeth was just having sex for her job, but I didn't mean she never had sex with Philip. I think it's just that she keeps a very tight control over sex with Philip that's based on the premise that they're not really married and that's what he's challenging. Like why does he always seem to be only inches away from being a stranger/enemy to her?
I was surprised at Zhukov here too. I'd totally forgotten that meeting with Elizabeth. It sets them up as being in cahoots against Philip. But I can make it work in my head because Zhukov, for all he might believe in Philip as a good match for Elizabeth, might still see that Philip might take the pragmatic way out if things got hot. So maybe he's at a point of thinking he needs to acknowledge Elizabeth's warnings about him here? I don't know. The trouble is Zhukov seems much more allied to Elizabeth throughout, including in the scene where they both meet and Philip seems more nervous around Zhukov than Elizabeth does. It's like if Zhukov does have good feelings about Philip, Philip doesn't seem aware of them.
I don't know, I guess maybe I just have to assume that the election of Reagan and things going south at the KGB has put Zhukov in a very specific frame of mind that makes him question his own previous support of Philip.
It's interesting to me too that now that Philip has committed to the KGB again, part of integrating his new life along with going off the reservation to beat up the predator could also be deciding to be friends with Stan. Like he's just going all in and trying to work out a friendship in his "real" life instead of his covert one. The fact that Stan is FBI maybe makes more sense to him because even if he's on the other side, he's in the game and would understand, so he's less of a victim like Martha. Philip's a little terrified of Stan.
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timeasmymeasure
Re: So much better on rewatch!
Date: 2013-08-31 08:29 pm (UTC)Like, I said that Elizabeth was just having sex for her job, but I didn't mean she never had sex with Philip. I think it's just that she keeps a very tight control over sex with Philip that's based on the premise that they're not really married and that's what he's challenging. Like why does he always seem to be only inches away from being a stranger/enemy to her?
I was surprised at Zhukov here too. I'd totally forgotten that meeting with Elizabeth. It sets them up as being in cahoots against Philip. But I can make it work in my head because Zhukov, for all he might believe in Philip as a good match for Elizabeth, might still see that Philip might take the pragmatic way out if things got hot. So maybe he's at a point of thinking he needs to acknowledge Elizabeth's warnings about him here? I don't know. The trouble is Zhukov seems much more allied to Elizabeth throughout, including in the scene where they both meet and Philip seems more nervous around Zhukov than Elizabeth does. It's like if Zhukov does have good feelings about Philip, Philip doesn't seem aware of them.
I don't know, I guess maybe I just have to assume that the election of Reagan and things going south at the KGB has put Zhukov in a very specific frame of mind that makes him question his own previous support of Philip.
It's interesting to me too that now that Philip has committed to the KGB again, part of integrating his new life along with going off the reservation to beat up the predator could also be deciding to be friends with Stan. Like he's just going all in and trying to work out a friendship in his "real" life instead of his covert one. The fact that Stan is FBI maybe makes more sense to him because even if he's on the other side, he's in the game and would understand, so he's less of a victim like Martha. Philip's a little terrified of Stan.