Season one group rewatch: "The Colonel"

[jae]

This is the discussion post for "The Colonel" (episode #13, the season finale) 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. Feel free to join in even if you didn't get a chance to watch the episodes that preceded it!

Comments

[jae]

Great to see you in the discussion!

The center never should have had Elizabeth have children of her own. It's changing her.

I've wondered about this too. In real life there were illegals who didn't have kids (though there were of course some who did too). I imagine that they must have discussed that; weighed the pros and the cons.

So are we to take it that Claudia thinks Elizabeth should be pulled out of the field? What has changed in Elizabeth to make Claudia believe that? Is it her growing attachment to Philip? Her feelings for her children? Her loss of control?

I can't imagine she wants Elizabeth pulled out entirely; she's too good, and they've made too much of an investment in her. Maybe given a vacation (and some reeducation). I think the fact that she's shown herself to be someone who could fall in love with Philip makes Claudia suspicious, certainly. And the way the thing with Patterson went down must have made Claudia go "whoa, hold on."

Philip. His biggest vulnerability is his feelings for Elizabeth, which have only gotten stronger since the separation. He told her that he wanted to do the meeting with the colonel because of the children. The children need you. You're their mother. And maybe he half believes that.

I think you're exactly right about this, but I do think that he's not just deceiving himself about the role the children play in this, either. My read is that becoming parents sort of originally sealed the deal on his burgeoning feelings for Elizabeth, back in the day, so it's all sort of one big blob of an Achilles heel for him. Look at the pilot, where he avenges Paige's honour in very much the same irrational way that he wants to defend Elizabeth later, in "COMINT."

But the Center is staffed with at least some people who make bad decisions, so who knows what will happen.

Absolutely. But the Center are people who are following orders from people very high up the food chain who may or may not have any idea about spywork. It must make them feel conflicted all the time.

The big operation went south because his forced recruit, Nina, turned on him. He's developed feelings for her and she's his weakness now. She's working him now. Maybe she's been working him all along.

I think they were both working each other all along, but you're right--by the end Nina definitely has the upper hand.

-J

[sistermagpie]

I think they were both working each other all along, but you're right--by the end Nina definitely has the upper hand.

Which is probably why there's that scene with Sandra. Stan's making a half-assed attempt to save himself by making things up with his wife but it's not that easy and he turns back to the relationship he thinks he has with "easier" Nina.

I think you're exactly right about this, but I do think that he's not just deceiving himself about the role the children play in this, either. My read is that becoming parents sort of originally sealed the deal on his burgeoning feelings for Elizabeth, back in the day, so it's all sort of one big blob of an Achilles heel for him. Look at the pilot, where he avenges Paige's honour in very much the same irrational way that he wants to defend Elizabeth later, in "COMINT."

Yes, for me the important point here is that he doesn't separate the kids from Elizabeth. Because if he had to sit down and really assess the dangers, it would make sense to save the kids first even if the danger to them seemed less pressing. But his instinct is, of course, to save Elizabeth in hopes of saving all of them. I think he'd do exactly the same thing if Paige was in danger in such a way that he'd risk his cover or whatever to save her, but his actions here and in the pilot show that when he says "family comes first" he doesn't necessarily mean the children come before everything. Whoever is in the most danger at that moment is the priority.

[katiac]

I think you're exactly right about this, but I do think that he's not just deceiving himself about the role the children play in this, either. My read is that becoming parents sort of originally sealed the deal on his burgeoning feelings for Elizabeth, back in the day, so it's all sort of one big blob of an Achilles heel for him.

And really, this is one of the only "real" things about their lives that grounds them and can't be taken away. For someone like Philip who can be such a slippery personality, having something that roots him (to use Elizabeth's great choice of words) would be a huge draw.

The center never should have had Elizabeth have children of her own. It's changing her.

I've wondered about this too. In real life there were illegals who didn't have kids (though there were of course some who did too). I imagine that they must have discussed that; weighed the pros and the cons.

It's such a great scenario to have them have kids because on the one hand, who knows how much earlier someone might've gotten suspicious of them if not for the presence of kids continually working in their favor to present an image that was the opposite of "spies" in their minds? But on the other, it's a risk to bank on the idea they won't get attached to their kids and bond as a family. Sure, some people don't, but most do.

[sistermagpie]

They probably tried it differently with different people. Robert doesn't have kids, so they did have some agents working alone. I wonder if they thought Elizabeth was one of the better candidates for being able to handle the division of loyalty, with Philip there to smooth things with his manipulations.

[treonb]

Except that Robert did have a kid, a secret family.

Which makes me wonder if the KGB expectations from people to completely devote their lives and give up a family wasn't too much.

[sistermagpie]

Oh right, but I meant that was his own thing. As far as the KGB knew he was living as a single man, so they must have put agents in different living situations that would have different advantages. For Robert the pressure of living completely alone seemed to be too much--I'd guess the KGB totally did expect him to just be "married" to the KGB, unless they ordered him to get into a Martha-type marriage, for instance.