Question of the week #27

[treonb]

What's your most memorable scene of S1?

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

[soupytwist]

Oh man, there's so many GREAT scenes to think about here! And I do feel like I have more a... wider? less scene-specific? memory and impression of the show.

Some important ones though:

- Philip and Gregory showdown
- Gregory's death (Damn, Grgeory was memorable!)
- Nina telling Stan that she did exactly what he told her to do
- Nina confessing!
- Martha's wedding, which was just omg painful
- the death of Amador

[katiac]

I can't pick just one... but in no particular order...

-Elizabeth and Philip finally coming together in the pilot, both the car scene and the holding hands scene in the bedroom later

-Their talk in the kitchen in Ep. 3

-The end of "Duty and Honor"

-The "come home" at the very end of the season

[georgley]

The talk in the kitchen at the end of Ep. 3 is a great scene. The single tear falling down Philip's cheek just kills me.

[jae]

I thought this would be an impossible question to answer, but now that I'm actually answering it, there really is one scene that I've rewatched over and over and over again more than any other: the scene where Gregory tells Philip about his longstanding relationship with Elizabeth. Both actors are just so, so good in it, but Matthew Rhys is so understatedly awesome that you kind of have to watch frame-by-frame to figure out everything he's doing.

It should have won him a freaking Emmy (stupid Emmy voters! *shakes fist*).

-J

[soupytwist]

That scene is just a POWERHOUSE. It is amazing. And should definitely have given people some awards.

[jae]

There are scenes that I like almost as much (including at least one from that very episode), but if I have to pick just one, that's it. I can actually almost recite it from memory.

-J

[sistermagpie]

I can't believe how impossible I'm finding this question. Because I want to pick just the one and so many were memorable! but I totally can't pick just one!

But for me it might be "вернись к нам."

Actually, the fact that that's not even the first time I've c&p'd that probably proves it was the most memorable for me. Which makes sense because for me this was a show that really built up to a whole even greater than its parts and that line kind of encapsulates all the parts.

[georgley]

I agree! There are lots of scenes that I love but that's the one I come back to. Such a quiet scene and so well acted.

[katiac]

I think I've watched that scene easily 100 times, loving the simplicity of it, and how perfectly it tied the whole thing together. It worked both on the simplest level and also on the most powerful ones, that this was Nadezhda, not just Elizabeth, that she was finally returning to her true self and that true self was choosing Mischa... it was just perfectly done.

[sistermagpie]

I love the pause before she speaks. Like she's just woken up and the first thing she knows she needs to do is tell Philip to come home. I wonder if she'd been worried she'd die still rejecting him.

So then she knows she wants to talk to him, but she must have to choose what words to use, what she wants to say, and of course to her it means something to say it in Russian. I know at the time some people suggested she was groggy, but no way a groggy Elizabeth would switch back to Russian to talk to Philip. It was part of the meaning.

[katiac]

Yes. I love every aspect of that scene, both that she is reaching for his hand, whispering Philip, without even opening her eyes, as if she just *knows* he'll be there, and then that it just came out so plainly after all the walls and avoidance and putting up the image of toughness. Just perfectly done.

I see it the same way as you do, with it being a choice. It would've worked for me either way, but I think you're right that after that long, to switch back into Russian is something that would be on purpose (and very meaningful in its symbolism) rather than just that she was groggy.

[georgley]

My absolute favourite was Elizabeth's "come home" in the finale but there were others that I also loved:

- the flirting about Elizabeth's socks in COMINT
- Philip freaking about after Elizabeth was beaten in COMINT. It suggested a lot about his backstory and I liked that.
- the Clark/Martha wedding. I think it'd be interesting to have another scene in season 2 where Elizabeth has to pretend to be Clark's sister.
- Philip and the kids in the hotel room. That was a cute scene..
- the end of Duty and Honout
- the scene where Elizabeth tries to convince Philip to let Gregory commit suicide by cop. So well acted by Matthew and Keri.

[sistermagpie]

Oh, you just did totally name two of my favorites--they're small and light, but "The Jennings are natural foragers" and "I'd hire you...you and your socks" are both so great. Because her socks were so awesome of course he appreciated them.

[katiac]

I also love the small moments like the ones you mentioned--the socks, the flirting over caviar, talking spywork in the midst of teeth brushing, the moments with the kids. I think that's something the show does incredibly well--making small moments into something so meaningful.

[sistermagpie]

Done so badly on The Assets!

The great thing about those moments is the show creates such an all-around reality that it can, for instance, have funny moments where the KGB spy is boot-scooting or being dorky and we can laugh at it, but it doesn't suddenly make it seem like it's not taking the spy stuff seriously. It's not easy to do, but it seems like it comes from just a real commitment to the reality of the situation.

[treonb]

I agree, those moments really give the show character. And they're so cute.

[ninety6tears]

Several scenes from the pilot stand out a lot (the show left a strong first impression). I particularly tend to think of Elizabeth and Philip's confrontation in the kitchen when Elizabeth had the knife, which was very telling and yet very ambiguous about the emotional vs. situational state of their "marriage."

Stan shooting the KGB agent in the back of the head was definitely memorable too. Heh.

[treonb]

It's hard to choose.. but if forced to go for one, I'd go for drunk Stan showing up at Philip's doorstep to talk about Amador's death, and the following (I think) scene with Stan and Nina.

[apolla-savre.livejournal.com]

Most memorable for me would probably be the pilot chase scene or Elizabeth kicking Timoshev's ass in the garage - or "In the Air Tonight" by Phil Colins because, I totally lost it at that.

Elizabeth going from car trunk to car trunk to get the encryption code, followed by the walk out of the parking lot and the donut conversation.

And then of course Henry's homework, "America won."

[quantumreality]

Some of the scenes with Nina:
* Bluntly telling Stan Beeman things about what she's had to do to get the things he wants.
* The swearing of her KGB oath! (powerful stuff)
* Confessing to Arkady and then turning that into a Long Game!

Elizabeth and Paige:
* That kitchen scene! Paige was so cowed. Elizabeth rarely goes full KGB, but when she does, hot damn.

Claudia playing Pac-Man!

Shot ot the head

[cerveny]

For me it was the scene where Elisabeth shot that private security guy to the head. It was kind of signal to me that the show committed to the more gruesome aspect of being an operative.