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theamericans2013-08-31 08:18 am
jae) wrote in theamericans2013-08-31 08:18 am
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Season one group rewatch: the pilot
This is the discussion post for the pilot episode in the group rewatch of season one. When you rewatched the episode, was there anything you noticed that you didn't notice the first time (and any subsequent times) you saw it? What things about it did you perhaps view differently after having seen the later episodes?
You can expect spoilers for the entire first season in the comments.
You can expect spoilers for the entire first season in the comments.
So much better on rewatch!
So watching this again one thing that did stick out is I was paying attention to the convo between Philip and Robert in the beginning because I love it, and I noticed that Philip asked him if he followed the NHL. Watching it now I realized that some of my initial impressions/memories of that convo were off. I thought of it as Philip and Robert being friends and chatting before a mission, but really it's that Robert is far more nervous than Philip (which I'd noticed before but thought this was just the way he was and Philip knew that) and Philip is managing him by trying to distract him. His question about the NHL made me think they actually didn't know each other as well as I thought, which casts a different light on the later eps like Gregory. When Gregory says Robert wasn't really Philip's friend I thought it was a situation where Philip thought they were friends and might be hurt (or might not be) that Robert hadn't told him about his wife. But now I wonder if it's that Philip just more wanted Robert as a friend and wanted him to be that because he didn't often get to work with other agents. So he's meeting Stan after a failed attempt at connection with another guy and when he says Robert was his friend he knows they didn't really get a chance to be that.
Amador says in the pilot that the agents aren't allowed to speak a single word in Russian once they get here. And they never ever do, until Elizabeth speaks those last words in the finale.
Love that Elizabeth sort of scowls at Paige taking coffee and then Philip says, "What, no coffee for you?" to Henry.
Boot scoot. Still hilarious.
How has that sexual predator not been picked up yet?
So the scene in the kitchen where Philip comes onto Elizabeth--proof that they have a physical relationship outside of producing kids, but watching it now I think it plays as something that Philip is trying out rather than just a usual thing. That is, I assume that most of their encounters come from Philip giving it a shot and seeing if she'll go for it that time, but I hadn't remembered how his defection contemplation is all under the surface in this ep. So now I'm seeing it as he listens to the tape in the context of Elizabeth just having sex for her job, and then his later pass is trying out sex for affection/pleasure's sake with his "You're my wife" being less about possession/entitlement and more about the idea that they have this relationship that they can't enjoy.
Philip's theory that no FBI agent would be so stupid to to announce he's in counterintelligence, so Stan must be messing with him makes more sense than the truth. Honestly Stan, did you not read your orientation packet where it says not to tell people you're in espionage?
Again, Philip's arc in this ep is more subtle than I remembered it. I think originally it was clear that he was the one who was going to want to defect so I saw him wanting it early, but that's more about me knowing where it's going because it's fiction. But I think Philip himself is in a bit of denial about what he's thinking about until Stan's appearance gives him a practical reason for defecting (we're blown). He still seems to enjoy his work as a spy--it's not that making him want to defect. It's I think genuinely just wanting his family to be real. Watching his telling this to Elizabeth this time I think the whole thing is a metaphor for that--electricity works, food's pretty great etc. He's really asking if it's so bad being really married to him, like isn't there something real there. He's essentially doing what Elizabeth tries to do later, pretending "our family comes first" means doing it only for the children when it's more about what he wants. Though I do think he's also thinking of the children. Because if they're really blown this is the only way to keep the family together and I think in that scene he might honestly believe they are blown. Her response to that would be to go down protecting the mission by killing Timoshev--that's her priority, so she doesn't care about him.
Basically that whole scene is way more intense now that I know how much they depend on each other. I can see how Philip must seem to Elizabeth here, like a stranger, suddenly, who cares about money and the good life. And I think he knows that, which is why it's followed by his own flashback of their first meeting when that, as we know from later, is all about how she was always disappointed in him and he was never good enough.
Speaking of that meeting, during Zhukov's whole speech the main thing is Philip keeps looking at Elizabeth and Elizabeth keeps her eyes fastened on the Colonel. Nice symbolism. Before that Philip goes to shake her hand and she cuts him off just with her body language. Also he not only pours her tea he hands it to her, echoing the earlier scene where he holds out his coffee cup and she doesn't notice/isn't looking at him.
I think the reason Philip seems off to Stan is that he's conflicted (and scared) in this whole first ep. Once he commits to the KGB again, that's gone. He's scared in part because Stan is such a terrible spy, even telling Phil there's a "shitstorm" brewing at work. However, he is a great cop, noting the car and knowing just what Philip/Elizabeth the criminal (which is what they temporarily are while they have Timoshev) would do while they hide him.
So it's really a perfect set up at the end. Philip recommits to the KGB at the very moment he gets further proof that they are a flawed organization that doesn't always have the best interests of the people or their agents at heart. He kills Timoshev because he's the guy who hurt his family. And also maybe he now understands that before he kills him Elizabeth sees him as just another Timoshev hurting her for what he wants.
It's got to be a big deal to Elizabeth, too, to realize how much it effects her that Philip is loyal to her rather than the KGB since her belief about herself was always that she needed someone who shared her loyalty to the KGB. Gregory would never have considered defecting, but he also would have killed Timoshev as a traitor rather than for Elizabeth.
In the car afterward I think Philip must be pretty wary/defiant of Elizabeth's reaction because he knows he's shown his hand about his potential disloyalty as a KGB officer, yet he's unapologetic about his devotion to her. He's not quite sure of her motives and intentions for a long time after she starts kissing him. Or maybe ever. He's really watching her the whole time, like other times where she's confessing her feelings to him.
The costume colors change kind of wonderfully the next morning. Philip's in pale blue and Elizabeth's in sunny egg-yolk yellow. It's morning again in America!
Still love Sandra's theories about the mail man pimp.
Had briefly forgotten Philip's great hot dog attack. In the larger context it's another way of him to commit to things, make himself whole as spy!Philip. He's allowing himself to go against the rules to protect Paige rather than sticking with the Philip persona for anything other than KGB business. I think this might be a big change, so it's not just Elizabeth who starts adjusting post-pilot. Philip's learned important things about himself too, like what his real priorities are. That's probably a big thing for a slippery character like Philip. He's now trying to integrate what he's learned just as Elizabeth is.
God, I forgot even Zhukov is anti-Philip. Very big deal that Elizabeth vouches for him so dishonestly there (again, she's adjusting her loyalties/priorities).
I love it when P&E drink vodka or basically do anything Russian.
The only time Philip shows any physical affection to Elizabeth in the ep is where he's testing. In the hotel he claims he was just touching her hair because they're supposed to be married so they have to start doing that. Later he's kind of asking why they can't just have sex because they're married. It's interesting because I think of Philip as being so affectionate, yet every time he's affectionate with Elizabeth you can see him strategizing and pushing to see where her boundaries are. With the neck nuzzling (he's ready for the knife and making a conscious decision to keep going when she's told him to stop), the hair touching (seeing how she reacts) and the ice cream (genuinely apologizing when it's not charming and he's just annoyed her and feels foolish). In fact, the only spontaneous physical thing he does is when he goes to shake her hand back in Russia and is stopped short by her "Pleased to meet you." The physical connections that do work are Elizabeth reaching out--for sex in the car and for his hand in bed--and Philip carefully under-reacting and watching.
In short: brilliant ep that's deeper on rewatch and tells us a bit more about Philip than I realized.
Re: So much better on rewatch!
I always kind of got the same feeling... like I think it really serves to highlight how lonely their lives are as spies. Rob was the closest thing Philip could have to a "friend" and yet, it's obvious that's a pretty pale version of friendship if he doesn't share he has a wife, they probably only see each other occasionally for missions. And yet, that's really the best Philip can do. He's got a wife who won't let him get close, is grasping at straws with this "friendship" and has to lie to everyone else. You can really see why he would reach out to Stan a little bit in desperation even though it's obvious that's just such a bad idea on some levels.
That scene is still up in the air for me, although I could definitely see it that way. Like, I firmly believe they have some sort of regular sexual relationship, if only for the fact that Elizabeth doesn't seem surprised when he comes up behind her, and that Philip is so devastated when some of the later season revelations come out. I don't think Elizabeth would have ever initiated, or even participated much if at all, probably just lying there and sort of going along with it because they're married and she's expected to, but for me it would seem not to fit that he would've never gotten suspicious of her if there wasn't at least somewhat the ruse of her going along with it at times, tolerating occasional attempts at affection just enough to throw him a bone. I took the whole "You're my wife" less as a possessive thing and more as "You're pulling a knife on me? You're my wife!" (so don't attack me in our kitchen like kissing your neck is such a crime.)
Yes, this. Just watching Elizabeth's reactions in the garage and in the car, it's just absolute shock. Like she's seeing him for the first time, practically, and that the idea someone could put HER first rather than the cause could feel so good (like in a sinful way, from her POV, since everything's supposed to be for the cause, not personal.) You can still see her sort of reeling from that in their bedroom the following night when she reaches for his hand, the same woman who'd been ready to beat him up in the garage all shy and a little uncertain as she reached for his hand.
And I love the times when Elizabeth takes action and Philip just observes her because I think that just goes back to what a spy he is. Always trying to gather information about who the real Elizabeth is, little differently than he'd do in the field (except of course, here it's personal.)
That scene is weird for me, and hard to square in my head. It kind of makes me wonder if they couldn't get a handle on how they wanted Zhukov to come down on the whole Philip issue. Because here, you're right, he seems pretty anti-Philip. But in "Covert War" he couldn't have been more pro-Philip if he tried. Having little chats about love, constantly asking what Philip thought of their family, practically shoving Elizabeth towards him every time they met up over the years. I've never been able to get the two to fit.
One thing I noticed about the episode (and this is really shallow!) is how much better I liked Philip's hairstyle in the pilot and the early part of the season. I think it makes him look younger/fitter versus later in the season where they kept kind of combing it to get it halfheartedly to be fluffy when it really wanted to curl. Not my favorite look for him. I think it looks better curly, at whatever length, unless they're actually going to go full out and make it straight.
I liked the kid stuff a lot here, and I kind of missed the family dynamic at points in the season. Like the scene in the mall and the breakfast stuff added some levity at points that was nice. Certainly that won't be a good fit with the tone of every episode, but that was one thing watching that I really liked and missed later on.
And I LOVED watching Elizabeth in the garage scene because Keri Russell just played the heck out of it. So furious when she yelled at Philip, and so perfectly focused on Timoshev as she stood over him with the tire iron. You could really feel the raw emotion in that scene, and it was just great.
Re: So much better on rewatch!
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.
Re: So much better on rewatch!
Re: So much better on rewatch!
Re: So much better on rewatch!
Re: So much better on rewatch!
Just one little thing
I'll have more to say about the rest of your comment once I gather my thoughts better, but I just wanted to jump in and say that the actual lines from "Gregory" are:
Philip: Robert was a friend of mine. And I trusted him.
Gregory: Well, he had a secret wife and a baby in Philly. So I'm not entirely sure he trusted you.
It's a nitpicky distinction, but I think an important one--because even Gregory isn't denying that he and Robert were friends, he's just kind of throwing in Philip's face that the friendship might not have been as deep as he thought it was (and if you think about the context of what else is going on in that episode for both Philip and Gregory, that had a double meaning--and just imagine what kind of additional slap that must have been on top of everything else!).
Anyway, my read is that Philip actually did care about Robert, so "failed connection" doesn't quite work for me. But it wouldn't have been--couldn't have been--the kind of friendship Philip-the-extrovert was really craving. And you're absolutely right that meeting Stan right around when he lost Robert meant that Philip would have been looking for another connection.
-J
Re: Just one little thing
But still, maybe failed connection is the wrong word. It's just that in my memory I saw Philip and Robert as having hung out a lot and their conversation in the Pilot actually suggests people who haven't hung out a lot. Philip would still have good reason to call him a friend and say he trusted him, but I think Gregory's right to call him on getting carried away in that moment because he's trying to challenge Gregory.
And now, the rest of my comments ;)
This is totally my read on Philip too.
I love it when P&E drink vodka or basically do anything Russian.
Meeee tooooo. Because, really, Elizabeth would need that connection to her culture (if not to her past), and even for Philip it would be something that can be shared with her. It's there in the pilot, and it's there in episode two with the caviar, too. I'm a bit sad that they dropped that thread in later episodes, actually.
The only time Philip shows any physical affection to Elizabeth in the ep is where he's testing. [...]
This whole paragraph was some brilliant analysis, and I want to love it and marry it and have its babies. ;)
-J
Re: And now, the rest of my comments ;)
Absolutely agree with this. And interestingly, Philip is really kind of the only person she can share that with in a way because he's not only a fellow Russian, but also enough of a deviant that he's willing to go against the rules for her and discuss/share things they're not supposed to under the terms of their unbreakable American cover. Zhukov always spoke to her in English and instructed her not to say a word about her past. Telling Grannie she missed home or had never had caviar would be a sign of weakness to be watched or exploited. So Philip is kind of her once source where she can share that and know it has a safe place to nest.
Re: So much better on rewatch!
Philip's theory that no FBI agent would be so stupid to to announce he's in counterintelligence, so Stan must be messing with him makes more sense than the truth. Honestly Stan, did you not read your orientation packet where it says not to tell people you're in espionage?
Philip says that? I missed it. But really, Stan's stupid.
Re: So much better on rewatch!
Re: So much better on rewatch!
The comments about electricity working, etc made sense. When my parents first came to the U.S. (from the Soviet Union/Russia) they took pictures of the open fridge as though it were a landmark. It seems a funny thing to take a picture of, but food in the Soviet Union was problematic, even in Moscow and Moscow had relatively everything. This was a little later than The American's timeperion but the 80s were already starting to see a decline. My parents constantly say that they are glad my brother and I got to grown up here, any feelings of patriotism not withstanding and I see that conflict in Phillip. He's a patriot, he'd have to be to be part of the KGB, but he sees how things are in America and "it's really not that bad." In contrast, Elizabeth comes off as coldly fanatical and to me that was very alienating.
Re: So much better on rewatch!
Re: So much better on rewatch!
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I'm finding it kind of daunting to try to sort my thoughts into anything coherent, so I'm going to go for point form, I think. First, some general observations:
- A local friend of mine who's a huge Fleetwood Mac fan told me that the version of "Tusk" used in the Timoshev chase scene at the beginning had been remixed for the episode, emphasizing the drums. I listened hard for that this time, and managed to catch what she was talking about.
- Somehow I'd managed to forget that Robert died already in the pilot! I'd somehow gotten it stuck in my head that he went to the hospital in the pilot but didn't actually die until episode two. Of course it logically couldn't have been that way because there was so much else going on in episode two, but that's how I remembered it. Bizarre.
- I was very struck this time around by how calculating Timoshev was. There he is, captured and in mortal danger, but everything he says is well thought through and his words chosen for their maximum effect, both in the car and every time Philip takes the gag off. Of course he would have been trained for this very sort of situation, but that speaks to what sort of brain he has. Also interesting: when he's alone with Elizabeth, he doesn't make the same sort of promises to her that he makes when he's alone with Philip. He says nothing. He knows better.
- I thought a lot about how furious it must have made Elizabeth that Timoshev had turned traitor on top of everything else. After all the strength he displayed when she was his charge, it was him who was weak to the west's charms while she stayed firm and loyal even after fifteen years.
- This is something I caught the first time around but had forgotten: the way Philip is jealous at hearing Elizabeth having sex with her 'asset' on the tape, but that jealousy slides into feelings of pride when he hears the way she ultimately gets the job done.
- I noticed this time around the way that Philip actually brings up defecting twice before he really brings it up, which is terribly clever of him. The first time it sounds like a deliberate joke, and the second it could have been read either way. He's testing the waters to see how she will react.
- During Philip's running scene, they actually play the theme song (the remixed version that they sometimes have in the background of scenes in later episodes), despite the fact that this episode doesn't have any opening credits!
- "Tusk" gets replayed in the very final scene where Stan is going through the trunk and Philip is standing in the shadows with the gun, to hearken back to the Timochev chase scene at the beginning and remind us that there's a whole new kind of chase now. Which is fairly genius. :)
- And finally, this is something I actually did notice on earlier viewings, but I'll sneak it in anyway: wouldn't Stan have smelled the cleanup when he broke into the trunk and become more suspicious? Maybe the KGB have special cleaning fluid that has no scent and dries extra-fast? :)
There were also a few things that sadly no longer worked as well for me after reading the stuff I read about the KGB and the illegals programme as research for the fan story I wrote. Here's what they were:
- The way they react to the lights and the air conditioner when they first get inserted together into the U.S. makes it clear that this is their first time in a western country, and that's not how the illegals training programme worked in real life. (I have an explanation for this in my head that makes it work, but it still irritates me.)
- There is no way, just NO WAY IN HELL that General Zhukov would have been in the U.S. under any circumstances. And I think most of you know that I'm pretty good at coming up with scenarios in my head that can explain away some of the smaller goofs on this show, but there is just no explanation in the world for this one. I can't believe I never noticed it before, in fact, it's just so ridiculous. Especially since they're so careful in "Covert War" to have all meetings between him and Elizabeth taking place in various third countries.
- This one's much more nitpicky, but it still went through my mind as I was rewatching, so I'll still mention it here: real-life illegals were trained completely separately from other kinds of KGB officers, and in fact they learned little to nothing about the KGB as an insitution (one of the books I read said something about how this was because they then couldn't be pressured to reveal information about something they didn't know anything about) and as a result, didn't experience the KGB as the KGB in the way that people like Nina and Arkady and even Claudia would have. There were so many things in the pilot that contradict this (the way Nadezhda's training was clearly military, the way that Elizabeth refers to herself as a "KGB officer" rather than a "Directorate S illegal" or suchlike, a couple of other things), and it's certainly all internally consistent, so it's no huge deal or anything. But it's definitely another way in which the show's KGB is somewhat different from the real-life one.
-J
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I wondered about that too. I hypothesized (at least for my fan-fic) that maybe Elizabeth had done something really smelly in the garage to cover any smells (like I had her paint a birdhouse and leave it out on the counter in the garage so it would reek of paint.) P/E seem to be pretty good at the details, but maybe it's just something they couldn't sneak into the dialogue without it sounding clunky so we're supposed to assume?
With the Zhukov being in the US thing, not only was it implausible logistically, it just seemed so unnecessary too. I mean... what was so important about "What happened to the traitor?" that their handler couldn't have delivered the message? Or they couldn't have ordered one of them to fly to a neutral country for a meeting? It seemed a little forced for the purposes of seeing Elizabeth/Zhukov together.
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I had the same thought about the trunk, though, smelling like it was just cleaned.
Also I thought the same thing about Timoshev, that he's a traitor on top of being an abuser of power when he was loving it back in Moscow. It's funny that Elizabeth would feel contempt for him being weak that way while Philip, I think, feels contempt at him being stupid (he came back to give lectures).
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The first time he starts talking about the 3 million, it starts off with him sounding really upset. Though now I wonder what he was so upset about - the idea that a traitor would be enjoying the good life while he's not getting the basic support he needs from Moscow?
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- I loved how they had Tusk playing through the entire abduction sequence.
- Driving like crazy to make the hand-off was really stupid. They were really lucky not to have been caught, because any passing patrol car could have ruined the op.
- I loved the understated humor, already in the beginning: we've got Timoshev getting constantly kicked down, Philip sending Robert to the hospital with his 'you can deal with anything' spiel, and then missing the hand-off ("why is everyone so punctual in this business"). Then later on, moving from the basement (spying) to the house (family) - I love when they do that so naturally.
- Learning Russian - I wished they'd have continued with it. Also Stan's undercover job. He's the mirror of Philip/Elizabeth in that sense, but they didn't really build up on that.
- On first viewing I missed some of the 80s stuff, like Paige working on the typewriter. It's so cute :-) Also Elizabeth putting down the teacher, which I guess was becoming non-acceptable in the 80s.
- The two scenes, first with the ice-cream, where Elizabeth actually enjoys seeing Philip 'train' the kids (until it gets to her), and then Philip listening to the tape, where I think he's actually proud of Elizabeth.
- The defection idea - I didn't remember Elizabeth getting so upset about telling the kids. It seems like it's one of her greatest fears, even worse than betraying the Motherland.
- Elizabeth and Philip's meeting and first date
- I don't understand why Philip invited Stan down to the garage. They must have been some other way to do this. And shouldn't the rental have jumper cables?
- Elizabeth says she'll die before she betrays her country, and Philip repeats that when they're tortured by the KGB. I don't really understand how he flipped from wanting to defect to not saying a word while being tortured to death.
- During the Timoshev fight scene - He's been tied up for a couple of days, it's a wonder he can even walk, let alone fight. And Philip seems awfully dense in understanding what happened.
- Cleaning the car - I'd love some of that cleaning material. I have never managed to get stains out so nicely. And the audio's off, but that's really nitpicking.
As for Philip and Elizabeth - I can't say rewatching this really helped me understand their dynamic.
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I think Philip took Stan to the garage because Philip suspects from the start that Stan is toying with him so he's going to go down or get away clean. He doesn't really believe Stan's innocently asking for jumper cables so doesn't bother to pretend he doesn't have them. At least that's how I read it.
Re: Philip, I don't know if he really flipped regarding the KGB. I think he was considering defecting when he thought they were made and he could get out ahead of it to save his family, but he never would have just broken under torture if he wasn't sure it was the best thing for him. When he's kidnapped in Trust Me I don't think he sees himself in a good bargaining position, plus he knows that Elizabeth would be counting on him and he wouldn't want to put her in danger. Dying for his country was probably never a problem for him.
Do they fully drop Stan's learning Russian? It's used well in Trust Me but I'm with you--I wish they'd bring it up again because I've no doubt Stan must be near-intelligible in Russian. Really I want a scene where he says something in Russian to Philip and Philip totally sincerely just says "What?"
I don't actually think Philip is being dense understanding what happened, just shocked at taking in the emotional impact. He pretty much does pick up on exactly what happened the minute Timoshev says what he does. He just wants one of them to say it.
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What I can't understand is why they would ever have used the family car. I mean, from a plotting standpoint, I get it, they needed a reason for Stan to get suspicious, but given how easily they seem to have cars the rest of the series, this makes as little sense as Zhukov coming to the US to ask a question that could've been sent through their handler. I'll have to square it in my mind that every other car in the area was in use that night, but...
This is absolutely one of my favorite Elizabeth moments because I think you're exactly onto it, that she carries a lot of fears about the kids, despite one part of her telling herself for years that they aren't supposed to matter, that it's just for cover. Clearly, there's some major conflict there for her and it bubbles up here and there.
My take on that was that in the moment they were going to trade in Timoshev, he actually had some bargaining power. Like it would buy his kids' safety and he was coming from a position of power. In "Trust Me" they kidnapped him, tied him up and started beating the crud out of him. They didn't offer to make a deal, and he really had nothing to gain by talking.
I give him a little slack for that one because he's known this woman for almost twenty years and she's very secretive, and even lies outright. So poor old Phil has probably been kept guessing a lot of the time, and the revelation that your wife was raped and kept that secret for 20 years is a huge shock to take in.
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They do a bit more of Stan's Russian, there's the bit with Amador and the candies (which I originally thought were pins and when he put one in his mouth, I freaked. Then I realized they were like M&Ms or something.) I imagine they'll do more of it later on.
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I disagree with people who say there there wasn't any physical contact/romance on anyone other than Philip's part. The ice cream Olympics suggested that they'd done playful things like that before and she'd participated. Holding the coffee cup out suggests that they'd filled each other's coffee before. At the beginning of their relationship, he backed off really quickly when she shut him down. This time he kept it up despite hearing her say "stop", so rather than reading "disinterested", I think he thought she meant "not in front of the kids" or "not now". Her behavior is off, in this episode, but we don't know that upon first watch because this is our first time seeing her. But having her rapist locked in her trunk is upsetting her, I think he was trying to console her, that they'd get orders, that the mission wasn't a failure. Obviously he didn't know Timoshev raped her.
The car scene was easier to understand the second time around, I thought it was two because I got Rob and Timoshev mixed up (I have really poor facial recognition skills).
I liked the Western stuff for Philip, it kind of ties into the cowboy "law in your own hands" nature that spies have, especially with no direction coming from the Rezidentura then. They had to decide what to do. Plus, they arrived in the 60s and Bonanza was on for 14 years in addition to other westerns. Cowboys are also pretty well known in Russia/the former USSR. When I was there, one of my fellow tourists wore a pair of cowboy boots and every single Russian checked them out and several women complimented them.
The fact that her name is Nadezhda makes me want to cry. It's Russian for "hope". (I also named my Russian blue cat Nadezhda for Elizabeth's character. I'm disappointed nobody calls her Nadya.) I also hate not knowing her father's name, not knowing a Russian's last name feels like not knowing someone's last name here in America.
Sandra's character doesn't do anything for me in the pilot, but she does grow on me.
The NHL thing, mentioned above, I think it was just an aspect they'd never talked about before. They probably only met when they had to do joint missions and they couldn't talk to each other regularly because of secrecy, sports wouldn't be something they'd be able to bond over since months probably went by before they heard from/saw one another again. And they can trust each other without knowing too much about each other - they were fellow spies, each was just as responsible for other's life.
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That was actually what I meant. Not that they don't really trust each other in some profound ways, but that they don't get to spend a lot of time together so they don't know the kinds of little quirks, details and preferences that, for instance, have become such second nature to Philip and Elizabeth. Philip's question, to me, shows that he's somebody who wants to know those kinds of things about Robert, who is interested in his friend as a person etc. but who hasn't had lots of time to just hang out with the guy. That's also reflected even in the way he's looking for ways to smooth things with Robert where he and Elizabeth have become a well-oiled machine through practice. So when he finds out that Robert had a secret life, he might be surprised at it, but he can't be too surprised that Robert hadn't confided in him, I don't think.
That just seemed important because the show's always looking at the ways that intimacy and familiarity can effect relationships or not. And seeing it again I realized that things I'd mistakenly thought were telling me these two guys were very familiar with each other were actually telling me that they weren't.
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I like your take on this, because I find it difficult to accept that Philip and Elizabeth had lived together for 20 years without developing some sort of relationship.
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I actually agree with all of this. They were definitely comfortable with each other physically and there's no question they slept together outside of making the kids. And I think Elizabeth even enjoys some of Philip's soft touches at times--like the ice cream game with the kids. She was smiling at points before he got ice cream on her nose :). But I do think sex and staying in control of how close people can get to her is a huge issue with Elizabeth. It affects every relationship she has that we've seen except for the one with her mother (and that may or may not even be the case since we haven't seen them interact since she was a little girl.) So I think that's part of why Philip looks so shocked when she comes onto him in the car. Clearly the sex part wasn't new. The kissing him part looked like they never did it. The coming on to him part looked like it had never happened that way before, like he always had to initiate and she just sort of tolerated it.
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-J
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The main thing that really stands out to me is the kids factor. It's obvious that the kids are one area where they both agree on - at least in terms of parenting styles.
I agree and the more I think about it, this is a huge thing. I think it must form a huge part of their bond and affection for each other. Because I agree also that it doesn't seem like Elizabeth was just cold to Philip while he was affectionate with her. It's one of the things that struck me in watching the scenes with Robert is that I think there are hints that years of familiarity have probably changed the way they understand each other.
For instance, I think in a later ep Elizabeth has a line of something like "Well, I know it can't be too serious because you're still making jokes." It probably took her a while to get a handle on how and when Philip joked, what was behind it, because we know that she herself finds joking a little awkward (as we see when she tries to make one). But at this point she's clearly comfortable with it, it doesn't get on her nerves, and she actively enjoys it in relaxing moments, especially with the kids. I think for both of them watching the other person with the kids might show them the other person's best self and make them really value the other person.
So yeah, there's really no indication that Elizabeth doesn't have plenty of affection for Philip by the pilot, even if we're seeing her in moments when she's being standoffish. I don't think she often made specifically romantic gestures towards him simply because she's so truthful that way and she herself admits that she wasn't in love with him. But that doesn't mean she never showed him genuine affection or was never physically attracted to him.
I does still play to me that Philip pushing boundaries with her in that kitchen scene, but I don't think the boundaries he's pushing are sexual, if that makes sense. And in the ice cream scene he's trying to draw her out and sees it doesn't work, but not because he's never been able to draw her out. He just doesn't know what's weighing on her mind yet.
That seems like one of the unique things about the show, that the excitement doesn't come from newness. They're not two people who've just met, and they're not friends who've just now started thinking of each other romantically. They're an arranged marriage that worked really well and is just now getting more passionate.
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The Garage scene
(Anonymous) 2015-04-07 03:02 pm (UTC)(link)It really feels like he is trying to sneak Timoshev out of the house and when Elisabeth shows up he feels threatened, especially after she gives her "I'm a KGB officer speech". You can see on Philip's face the implications - first the realization that she is completely inflexible on it, then a touch of fear that she'll tell the Center about it, which would be the end of him, then the realization that there is a whole other conflict going on that he was not aware of. He looks both horrified and confused as he sees E. beating up Timoshev.
And by the time she says "Do what you want with him" - he lets out a sigh, because he knows that he is given an out from a terrible misjudgement of her possible reaction to his "reasonable solution of defecting".
Do you think she would ever let him go through with his plan of taking Timoshev to Stan? - I thank there was no chance of that, she would have killed them both, and I think Philip clearly realizes this. This not to say that he doesn't kill Timoshev because he raped Elisabeth (he is clearly very emotional about it) ad wants to protect his wife, but that as an agent he also realized that that was his only call in that situation.
2. Another thing I like how they do the vodka scene back to back to the flashback of their arrival. In my reading it was significant for him that possibly he could reinterpret their history through this revelation - he always assumed that Elisabeth was not attracted to him, but after learning about the rape it becomes entirely plausible that the initial deflections of his attempts by her were really more rooted in the rape than in the lack of physical attraction.
3. I love the after-sex make-up scene - it is so cute and intimate.