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.
Oh, okay, I see what you're saying. I definitely think Elizabeth would control every last detail, both to make it as "okay" as it could be in her head, and also to give Philip those little constant reminders she was controlling the closeness factor, and he'd better not forget it. On another note, I kind of wish we'd seen a little taste of an interaction closer to the present but before the pilot. It's so hard to determine how much of Elizabeth's behavior is just par for the course, and how much was due to the stress over Timoshev. So many things could fit.
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.
Right, the Zhukov stuff swings so wildly one way to the next. Like, in the pilot flashback scene, Philip looks nervous... but then is that really because of Zhukov or because he's meeting the woman who's about to be his "wife"? Zhukov comes up and smiles at Philip in an almost grandfatherly way, and really, IMHO, isn't particularly warm with either Philip or Elizabeth in the flashback. Now certainly, in the other flashbacks and in the pilot scene with him and Elizabeth, we definitely see he has a strong sense of favoritism for her. A daughterly vibe, really. But I have a hard time seeing him as anti-Philip, because then it doesn't fit in my head that he would've matched up the girl who was like a daughter with Philip, or that he would've kept pushing Elizabeth so strongly to give Philip a chance romantically, which not only seems really pushy (!) but practically against what KGB policy has been shown to be.
Plus, there's the factor that Elizabeth says in "Trust Me" something to the effect of, "If I said anything at all, it would've been so long ago..." in terms of reporting on Philip. That and the "you reported on Philip several times over the years" makes me think Zhukov already had that information before those meetings with Elizabeth took place, and yet still was very pro-Philizabeth. So I'd guess your thought about the Reagan situation putting more pressure on things is probably the best one. Otherwise it just makes it hard to piece together.
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.
Yeah, I mean like there's the angle where Philip is trying to get close to Stan from a job sense--it's good intelligence and it makes them safer if he sees Philip as his friend rather than "could be a spy guy." And then it's also a nice little piece of symmetry where Elizabeth is having to challenge her previous boundaries and put a relationship first (hers with Philip) above the KGB and then at the same time Philip is sort of testing out a new sincere friendship with the FBI neighbor across the street, which probably feels risky to him in some similar ways. And, it probably carries some of the same trepidation for him that Elizabeth feels actually having to open her heart to someone because all indications are that Philip hasn't ever had a close relationship with a friend either.
Re: So much better on rewatch!
Oh, okay, I see what you're saying. I definitely think Elizabeth would control every last detail, both to make it as "okay" as it could be in her head, and also to give Philip those little constant reminders she was controlling the closeness factor, and he'd better not forget it. On another note, I kind of wish we'd seen a little taste of an interaction closer to the present but before the pilot. It's so hard to determine how much of Elizabeth's behavior is just par for the course, and how much was due to the stress over Timoshev. So many things could fit.
Right, the Zhukov stuff swings so wildly one way to the next. Like, in the pilot flashback scene, Philip looks nervous... but then is that really because of Zhukov or because he's meeting the woman who's about to be his "wife"? Zhukov comes up and smiles at Philip in an almost grandfatherly way, and really, IMHO, isn't particularly warm with either Philip or Elizabeth in the flashback. Now certainly, in the other flashbacks and in the pilot scene with him and Elizabeth, we definitely see he has a strong sense of favoritism for her. A daughterly vibe, really. But I have a hard time seeing him as anti-Philip, because then it doesn't fit in my head that he would've matched up the girl who was like a daughter with Philip, or that he would've kept pushing Elizabeth so strongly to give Philip a chance romantically, which not only seems really pushy (!) but practically against what KGB policy has been shown to be.
Plus, there's the factor that Elizabeth says in "Trust Me" something to the effect of, "If I said anything at all, it would've been so long ago..." in terms of reporting on Philip. That and the "you reported on Philip several times over the years" makes me think Zhukov already had that information before those meetings with Elizabeth took place, and yet still was very pro-Philizabeth. So I'd guess your thought about the Reagan situation putting more pressure on things is probably the best one. Otherwise it just makes it hard to piece together.
Yeah, I mean like there's the angle where Philip is trying to get close to Stan from a job sense--it's good intelligence and it makes them safer if he sees Philip as his friend rather than "could be a spy guy." And then it's also a nice little piece of symmetry where Elizabeth is having to challenge her previous boundaries and put a relationship first (hers with Philip) above the KGB and then at the same time Philip is sort of testing out a new sincere friendship with the FBI neighbor across the street, which probably feels risky to him in some similar ways. And, it probably carries some of the same trepidation for him that Elizabeth feels actually having to open her heart to someone because all indications are that Philip hasn't ever had a close relationship with a friend either.