Question of the week #2

[jae]

Last week, in response to the question about what we'd like to see happen in season two, umbo said something that seemed to resonate with a lot of us: overall what I want is to be surprised by what happens instead of thinking, "oh, of course that's what they did." So in that vein: What happened during season one that surprised you most? You can expect spoilers for the entire first season in the comments.

(There's no expiration date on these questions, so if you're reading this post months later and feel like jumping in, please do.)

Comments

[jae]

Honestly, the thing that surprised me the most overall was just how sophisticated a show it turned out to be, storytelling-wise. Toward the beginning of the season, I remember thinking that it was going to be a sort of spy procedural with a story-of-the-week, cast against the backdrop of an overarching story about a marriage (sort of like the Good Wife transported to the 80s and moved to the world of espionage). I would have actually liked that show just fine, to be honest--the premise appeals to me that much--but the show it ended up being is so much better than that, and sometimes I want to give the showrunners big fat smooches for that. *g*

But in terms of plot points, the thing that surprised me the most--the thing that I remember making me jump out of my seat and yell "oh my god" while sitting under a hairdryer at the hairdresser's--was when Nina confessed to Arkady that she'd become a double agent. The show surprised me again and again in smaller ways, but that--I so did not see that coming.

-J

[treonb]

The show as a whole surprised me too. I gave it a try though I was sure I was going to hate it. Mainly because I assumed it would be good Soviet spies vs. bad Americans. Instead it turned out to be much more complicated, with the KGB side doing horrific things, and still managing to make our spies likable. By the end of the pilot, I was in love :-)

Specifically in the season - what most surprised me was Amador's death. I was spoiled for it by watching the next ep promo by mistake, but even so I couldn't believe throughout the ep that they were actually going to go ahead with it.

[quantumreality]

In generalities what surprised me is how easily the show gets you to accept the Soviet spies as human beings with an extra-special, extra-dangerous job. You hope (against all logic) that they get out of everything unscathed, even as you know Agents Gaad and Beeman will be hot on their tail.

Specifics?

1. When Nina confessed to Arkady what she'd been doing! Whoa!
2. Beeman killing Vlad! :O
3. Zhukov being killed off, and the reveal about Claudia's relationship with him.
3a. Zhukov's sensitivity to cultural differences between the Soviets and the Americans and grasping how to teach Elizabeth to relate to those differences - even how important it is to understand the way different cultures teach similar skills by different methods.