Episode discussion post: "The Walk In"

[jae]

Aired:
12 March 2014 in the U.S. and Canada
16 March 2014 in Israel
29 March 2014 in the UK

This is a discussion post for episode 203 of The Americans, intended for viewers who are watching the show on the U.S./Canadian schedule. (Feel free to dive in to the discussion even if you're coming in late--and feel free to start a new thread if it seems too daunting to read through what's already been posted first. If you're reading this at a point where you've already seen subsequent episodes, though, please take care to keep comments spoiler-free of anything that comes after season two, episode three.)

Original promo trailers

"Next On: The Walk In" (Watch on YouTube)

"The Americans: Exclusive Scene from Episode 3" (Watch on YouTube)

Episode recaps

From the Washington Post
From Vulture
From Hitfix
From the AV Club
From the Huffington Post
From IGN
From Collider
From Television Without Pity
From Sound on Sight
From tv.com
From TV Ate My Wardrobe
From the Houston Chronicle
From spoilertv.com
From showratings.tv
From The Cloture Club

More to come once they're available!

Comments

[katiac]

I loved this episode and felt like it touched on all the notes I've been missing.

-Having Philip and Elizabeth together more even in flashback works. They are the magic of the show.

-Loved them showing Elizabeth's reservations about motherhood. I've always imagined that she didn't really want kids at all, not just that she didn't want them with Philip, and I loved the note of her, despite what other problems she and Philip had with each other, acknowledging he would be a good father.

-...which made it a great touch to see Philip be the heavy in this episode after so many last season where they skirted a dangerous line as painting him as lenient. That scene with him and Paige gave me the chills.

-There was a lot of emotion there... certainly much of it out of fear for Paige... and I'm also wondering if the cover story of his dad dying when he was 6 could be somewhat close to the truth, perhaps not that exact scenario... but it seems like there was more emotion there than I expected, so I feel like that can't be accidental. It was like the Philip hot-button, but a different manifestation of it, if that makes sense.

-Some of the one-liners were great. Loved the bit about what married guy does laundry? And we finally saw Sandra! But where is Matthew? Maybe Paige would stop being so snoopy if she had a cute guy to stare at...

-Loved the detail of her mentioning to Kelly she wondered if one of her parents was having an affair. That'll have to start to come back with Philip being gone all the time, right?

[quantumreality]

I totally ship Paige/Matthew myself. Or Paige/Kelli I suppose! :P

Philip's cover story

[georgley]

Yes! I wondered how much of the "my dad died when I was 6" story was real. I know that the cover story of Philip's family could be totally different that Mischa's but given the emotion, it seemed like there was some truth there.

Although I always thought that maybe Mischa's mother had died when he was young. He just placed so much importance on Elizabeth staying with the kids in The Colonel that it seemed like he had some issues there.

Glad to hear you really enjoyed this one!

[maidenjedi]

That line about Philip making a good father just ripped me up. His face! He so wanted her to want him, for it to be about more than what the Center wanted. And it was a great sentiment for Elizabeth to have, and part of him knew it. Man. Killed me.

[quantumreality]

Welp! Subs came out early this time so I can finally be on the same page as y'all before the comment thread explodes. :P

Some thoughts

- Love the desaturated 1960s scenes. And the dynamic between Elizabeth and Leanne doesn't feel forced or unnatural.

- Ouch. I hope that scar heals! I can't tell if Phillip is being creepy or just concerned, but the camera angle and the shadow makes it look like the former at first. Elizabeth even lampshades that with "How long have *you* been watching?"

- Newport News ASAP and omfg wat, the Centre's "gonna put someone on the kids"? OH THAT'S NOT TOTALLY CREEPY U GUISE.

- And in that vein, P & E are being remarkably cynical and wary about the whole thing: "Is this supposed to make us feel *better*?"

- HAAAAAAAAAA Those comic book thingies you could order! LOL only surprised Henry didn't buy the "X-ray glasses" yet. But yay Phillip the handyman. :P

- HA DED OF LOL. Paige being all "THAT'S NOT STEAK" :P

- Elizabeth telling Paige to "come here" seemed like Paige thought she was getting a dressing-down over the mild contradiction, but it turns out Elizabeth just thinks too much lip gloss 'n all. Now if that isn't American enough for ya, Directorate S oughtta fold up its tent and go back to Moscow right now. :P

- Stan. Back from another night of banging Nina. Or maybe this "stakeout" was legit. At least he's on the ball enough to compliment his hot wife, although he manages to miss the target a bit when he fails to realize the course she's doing is srs bsns.

- *snerk!* Paige playing hooooookyyyyyyyyyyyy and getting Henry in on it by making sure he thinks she's doing girl stuff. :P (Back when I was his age, shopping for clothes was about as fun as a dentist visit.) That being said, it's gonna blow up in her face if the KGB contact tailing her thinks to report back to P & E down the road.

- More desaturated 1960s scenes! This time Phillip's being the paranoid one and acting a bit like Elizabeth doesn't know what she's doing. Considering how devoted she is - how crucial she considers their mission to be - I think at that moment she would have been correct to say Phillip wasn't totally respecting her skills or abilities.

- There was a fanfic someone on this comm wrote (Katiac, I think?) that addressed the aftermath of Elizabeth's rape and her consequent obvious reluctance to have sex or have children as a result of said sex. Her "I'm ready" and Phillip's frown fit perfectly with the "rules" Elizabeth laid down in that fic - she's obviously deviating from some set pattern he's acquiesced to, as evidenced by the "Are you sure?" - even if he doesn't know what happened, he obviously knows she doesn't just jump into the bed to hump like bunnies.

- Yay @ Jared being taken in!

- HAAAAAAAAAAA PHILLIP. "The Beemans'll totally take our kids in!" totally deadpan just like that. And Elizabeth blows her stack at the thought of an FBI counterintelligence agent taking in her kids.

- Hmm. The Jenningses are starting to confront the fact that their very existence in the USA is intended to be a fraud or facsimile and as such for all that they're "Americanized", they've also somewhat consciously atomized themselves and their family in a way that's a bit unusual even by late 1970s/early 1980s standards. Today we wouldn't think anything of the fact that nobody seems to know each other IRL, only online, but back then, not so much.

- OMFG DED. Elizabeth griping about the rush jobs on the fake IDs and squeeking it on the rubber window edge. It's so mundane! KGB deep cover agent grousing about minor stuff - kind of surreal. :P

- Kelli. Chatting up Paige. Hmm. Suspect she's the KGB contact. But even so it's kind of amusing the story about her bouncing back between divorced parents who can't stand each other. Interesting getting Paige's perspective on her parents' separation. *snerk* and yep! She was considering the affair angle. :P

- Hmm! Some of Gaad's history. And he has the feels for those stuck in Walter Reed. He DOES know Stan was in 'nam, too, right? At least, I think he was.

- Heh! Elizabeth being just slightly threatening to Derek the mill mook.

- Well well WELL. Paige has a few of her parents' instincts about spying. HOLY CRAP I "EEP"ED IRL WHEN PAIGE BUMPED INTO THE OLD LADY. But apparently whatever thing P & E cooked up totally checked out since the old lady answers to "Helen" and everything. But it all goes to crap when she calls Paige "Shelly"! And the game is up for Paige! Phillip got the phone call. Dun-dun-dunnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.

- OH CRAP STAN looks like Dameran gave you the slip! Now we know why he did all that laundry: he was prepping to take off for parts unknown after sniping his target! :O

- Interesting Vietnam motif in this episode: Elizabeth wondering at the way the war keeps going and being a meat-grinder for the troops being sent over by the tens of thousands every month, Gaad recounting his injuries, and now Dameran showing his embitterment stemming from that war. The irony is that, 30 years later, Dameran wasn't actually totally wrong: Joseph Stiglitz has written about how the WB and the IMF damage Third World economies in the name of restoring government finances to "proper order", and it's usually a few guys in suits who end up making decisions that affect entire populations.

- The letter! Nice touch. I wonder why they didn't write one to their daughter as well, but maybe that was factored in later. That said, it's interesting that Elizabeth chose not to give Jared that letter. I assume she decided it would simply hurt him to know they were Soviet agents.

- Nina's laying it on a little thick with Stan, but in generalities, she's not totally wrong. You can go to Youtube and find absurdist film clips from the Soviet era that portray the USA as a land full of wealthy robber barons who make sport of the poor for a relative pittance doled out to them, when in reality the picture is a lot less clear-cut, and especially in the 1970s, economic inequality in the USA was far less than it is today. So she does have a point that seeing the USA up close has to at least disabuse some of the Soviet diplomatic and intelligence personnel of their preconceived notions.

- I find it kind of ironic that Paige and her parents are now lying to each other. "Lying will not be tolerated." Phillip you big ol' hypocrite you.

- Hmm! Another montage of Nina typing away. She seems rather affected again by it.

- Oleg, you have no sense of boundaries, you little snot.

- Aw, poor Jared.

- Yep, Arkady's working late again. :D No rum or vodka this time, though. But it looks like they set Dameran up so Stan could get a boost. Hmmmmmmmmm.

- And Paige goes to meet her new friend!

1967 - Work sex

[lovingboth]

She's doing it for work. Kids will make the cover better.

These have been the episodes where she's most been realising the costs of that decision.

Georgley's initial episode thoughts

[georgley]

This was a great episode!

- Loved the use of the flashbacks. I think they figured out how to use them better than they did in season 1(particularly the Zhukov episode). One subtle thing I liked, Philip and Elizabeth's accents didn't seem quite as strong to me. Also, the "it's time to make a baby" conversation went pretty much exactly how I thought it would have. It was so well acted by Keri and Matthew.

- Elizabeth actually looked younger to me in the flashback scenes. Well done, show!

- Elizabeth with baby Paige! That was really sweet and I liked seeing the contrast between the mother she was then and the one she is turning into.

- I think it was probably a good decision not to hand over the letter to Jared. Given he has been taken in by an American family and no-one has any idea his parents were spies, the letter probably would have done more harm than good. Also fits with Elizabeth's desire in the Pilot for Paige and Henry to never find out about her and Philip.

- I am really glad that Philip and Elizabeth had covered their tracks with the Aunt Helen story. I'll be honest that at first I thought she was just an old lady with dementia and they'd put a photo in her house so I was a bit surprised when she called Philip! I wonder if she also acts as a cover story for other spies?

- Philip was super scary (and a little bit hot) when he was talking to Paige. It had to really freak him out that she was checking up on them like that. Not to mention the fact that she had traveled so far on her own without them knowing about it given how worried they have been about something happening to the kids.

- I wonder if we'll get to see Elizabeth's reaction to Paige's little road trip.

- I like these glimpses of the fact that Philip is actually a pretty tough guy even though he comes across as such a jovial guy who is so in love with this kids. And he is those things as well, but there is a fair bit of steel to his spine.

- If the Centre was supposed to have someone watching the kids, did Paige slip away from them or did someone follow her to Aunt Helen's? That makes me suspicious of Kelly from the bus but she seems too convincing a teenager.

- Stan and Nina's story continues to fascinate me. I was glad to see that they explained why she told Stan about the walk-in and that Arkady knew about it.

- So nice to see the music montages return. This show uses music so well!

- Henry and Paige are both pretty terrible liars which is such an interesting contrast to their parents.

- I really like the kitchen scenes with the whole family. Nice to see a bit of normal in their lives.

- I like that we are still seeing conflict between P/E but on a different level to last season. This episode it was the discussion at the soda machine around what would happen to the kids and Philip saying it was Elizabeth that never wanted them to have friends. I hope they keep exploring those kinds of issues!

Paige gong off

[lovingboth]

Yes, it's the combination of her checking on them / going off while they are particularly worried about the kids.

"too convincing a teenager"

And Helen is too convincing an old woman :)

If Kelly wasn't one of the people watching the kids, who was?

comments subjects and spoilers

[treonb]

It just occurred to me that comment subjects could also be dangerous spoiler territory. Please take care how you phrase your 'subject' field.

Comments until now are excellent!

Re: comments subjects and spoilers

[jae]

Wait, what? As long as it's not a spoiler for a future episode, anything is fair game, right? (It's all under this episode's cut tag.)

-J

While watching thoughts

[lovingboth]

Odd set of shots when Elizabeth is getting dried. Why not just have an on-screen caption saying 'body double'?

Gosh, 'chopped and shaped' food pretending to be something else in 1981 (the 'Salsbury (sp?) steak').

1967 - work sex at home! Remind me when they arrived in the US?

Ha! "I thought one of them was having an affair or something..."

Derek should have run away - it's clear he knows he's in a murder/kidnap situation very early on. Don't the rooms have fire alarms etc?

Finger prints!! On the plastic covering of the sheet on the propeller and crowbar.

Why use different names with the aunt Helen? Ahhhh.

Ah ha, this is why Dameran was sacrificed.

(About the local hockey team) 'largely untalented' :) He would also need to explain 'scalping' to a UK audience - it's 'ticket touting' here. Being a capitalist was what got Nina into trouble...

Burning the letter - I can see why it was written 'The Soviets are not evil: look, your parents were Soviet spies!!' and why it had to be destroyed. Writing it helped her, but reading it wouldn't help him. Or anyone else. (Except, perhaps, the FBI if they ever knew about it.)

So, at the end, this is another episode with some very good acting - both in character (like the aunt's reaction to Paige walking in) and as actors (Keri Russell in particular, as ever).

As well as the title, does this win a prize for the number of lines we know are ironic? As well as the 'not tolerating lying', there's the hamburger pretending to be 'steak', and the stuff about Polaris - also the name of a cold war missile system, of course - being constant while other things move around them? (And why does anyone need a star chart to find it?)

Re: While watching thoughts

[jae]

Ha! "I thought one of them was having an affair or something..."

Yeah, I thought: "HA! Ian called that one." *g*

-J

First watch: Jae

[jae]

I've liked all of the episodes this season, but this was the first one that had me wanting to watch it again right then, before sleeping. I even woke up a couple of times throughout the night and debated getting up to post this comment each time. Well played, show.

I'm sure I'll have way more to say after second watching (which will be about 40 minutes from now), but for now:

• Opening with a flashback is new! It worked, I thought, but it'll totally confuse anyone who starts with this episode (who am I kidding--pretty much anyone who starts with this episode is going to be confused). The 60s "ladies' hats" were marvelous.

• We had some debate on Twitter over whether 'awesome' was an 80s-proper word or not. Anyone want to weigh in?

• It was really apparent that they were trying to fill in just bits and pieces of backstory for everyone. For Philip and Elizabeth most obviously, of course, and Emmett and Leanne, but we even got tiny bits on Stan, and on Gaad. This was the Official Backstory Episode.

• The guy in the factory was really, really quick to start suspecting something was up with Elizabeth. Yes, she's off her game, but she's not that off. He's got his own superspy-level senses, I think. *g* But that aside, that was such a chilling scene. It was Elizabeth's first real test for work-readiness: she had to weigh the cost of killing him over the cost of threatening him, and either was hard. The whole thing had shades of Viola, I thought. And the fact that he was a father made the whole thing worse for both of them.

• I did not actually jump up in the air and chortle at Philip's snarky "isn't that how you wanted it" in response to Elizabeth's "we don't have any real friends" line, but I did in my head. *g*

• Stan's second kill (that we know of)! How will that affect him, going forward?

• The Paige-looking-for-the-aunt storyline was telegraphed from miles off, but the reality of it was still somehow way more wonderful than I could have anticipated. I love that she actually got on a bus and got herself there, I love that she met someone on the way (and exchanged phone numbers! to have a phone call later! *g*), and I ADORE that there was a there there, that "aunt Helen" was based in layers of careful planning and that it wasn't just a flimsy cover story that fell apart once Paige checked it out. Right down to the photograph on the wall. That KGB sure knows how to cover its tracks! I am in awe at the intricacy of that.

• Which feeds right into my favourite scene of the episode: Intense!Philip and Paige. Matthew Rhys was masterful in this scene; this is going to turn into be my first "rewatch over and over again" scene of the season, I can already tell. His voice during the "lying will not be tolerated" bit bubbled just a shade over the top, just enough to give Paige cause to question why he was making such a big deal out of it. Holly Taylor held her own during this scene, too: she managed to make Paige come across as not bratty and and yet still not overly intimidated by her father, either. I give so many kudos not just to both actors, but to the director for the chilling success of this one. Just all-around brilliant.

• This is from the same scene, but deserves its own bullet point because it sparked Twitter debate: "I lost my father when I was six." Obviously Philip wouldn't be spontaneously coming up with stuff like that on the fly that's not part of his official cover story, but it still had the ring of truth to it--Misha's truth, not Philip's "truth." So I had to wonder whether this was a case of the KGB embedding a lie within a truth to make it feel more real, and if Philip's official backstory is a version of Misha's own real-life experiences. I suspect this isn't the last we hear of this, either, and that just thrills me. The slow reveals on this show are so awesome when they're this well done.

• Nina to Oleg: "I don't make the rules, I follow them." Jae: "Well...sometimes. Remember how you got into this mess in the first place, girl!"

• Script supvervisor Molly Nussbaum tweeted during the Nina and Oleg scene: "Oh my god, the text of Nina's report here is incredible -- wish it was featured." I implored her to tell us, but she wasn't budging. Wah. ;)

• "Here Comes The Flood" killed me dead. How much do I love how much this show loves Peter Gabriel? God.

• The scene with Elizabeth and Jared at the end was heartbreaking. I'm glad for her sake that she did what she did (also: good for her keeping it together), and it looked like Jared got something out of it as well. I was glad she didn't give him the letter, though; it may have been what his parents wanted, but it certainly wasn't what was best for Jared.

• I was thrown by the fact that Philip didn't seem to know about the letter and that Elizabeth didn't tell him about what she was going to do before she did it. This concerns me a little--she really doesn't need to keep things like that to herself anymore. They're closer now, they can talk! I hope she told him later, at least.

• I missed Lucia this episode! Yes, yes, there was no room for her, but still. Maybe next week.

Okay, off to rewatch! Excitement! :)

-J

Re: First watch: Jae

[katiac]

I did not actually jump up in the air and chortle at Philip's snarky "isn't that how you wanted it" in response to Elizabeth's "we don't have any real friends" line, but I did in my head. *g*

That was so great and fits perfectly with what you would expect from their characters. That Philip would want to (and be great at) make friends right away and Elizabeth who mistrusts just about everyone and would see it as work rather than something enjoyable for most people she tried to be "friends" with would balk.

This is from the same scene, but deserves its own bullet point because it sparked Twitter debate: "I lost my father when I was six." Obviously Philip wouldn't be spontaneously coming up with stuff like that on the fly that's not part of his official cover story, but it still had the ring of truth to it--Misha's truth, not Philip's "truth." So I had to wonder whether this was a case of the KGB embedding a lie within a truth to make it feel more real, and if Philip's official backstory is a version of Misha's own real-life experiences. I suspect this isn't the last we hear of this, either, and that just thrills me. The slow reveals on this show are so awesome when they're this well done.

Ditto all of this. Exactly! (And are they ever going to stop spelling his name "Mischa"? Because it's making me crazy...)

I was thrown by the fact that Philip didn't seem to know about the letter and that Elizabeth didn't tell him about what she was going to do before she did it. This concerns me a little--she really doesn't need to keep things like that to herself anymore. They're closer now, they can talk! I hope she told him later, at least.

I thought he *did* know because of the line earlier about "you don't have to do this" when they were in the car. Like I didn't catch it the first time, but I noted it the second time. But then he seemed to ask about it when they were changing out of disguises. I need to rewatch, but I thought they had a little bit about "the police could still be watching the house" that indicated he knew what she was planning.

Peter Gabriel's "Here Comes The Flood"

[jae]

For anyone who may be looking for it: youtube audio link, lyrics.

-J

Re: Peter Gabriel's "Here Comes The Flood"

[apolla_savre]

Peter Gabriel is totally the go-to artist for "Paige is Snooping and Up to Something". They used him for the end of The Colonel when Paige went into the laundry room.

Submarines and propellers - why this is important in real life

[lovingboth]

You want your submarines to be really hard to detect. For the ones carrying the nuclear missiles, staying hidden is absolutely critical - it's not hard to destroy a submarine you know the position of.

There are two basic ways to find a submerged submarine. You can search for it 'actively', for example doing sonar pings, but that gives away where you are. (As with using a torch to find someone, they can hear the pings from much greater distances than you can find them with it.) Or you can search 'passively' and the classic way to do that is to listen for it, taking advantage of the way that sound travels further and quicker in water than it does in air.

So you want quiet submarines. One of the big problems is the noise the propellers generate. As the blades spin round, the rapidly changing pressure in the water causes bubbles to form - it's called cavitation - and reducing this is a critical aim of propeller design, because they are then crushed by the water pressure, especially at depth, and this can be heard for quite a distance.

Partly because Soviet subs were significantly noisier when moving, there was a major intercontinental system set up to listen for them, and the Soviets really wanted to make them quieter...

... so this is a big thing that they're after.

Re: Submarines and propellers - why this is important in real life

[katiac]

This is making me want to watch "The Hunt for Red October" again...

Second watch: Jae

[jae]

A few more things upon second watching:

• The scenes in this episode are so short! There's also a lot of cutting back and forth between two things going on simultaneously--not just once, but back and forth. It really added to the tension, I think. I wonder how much of that is credit to the editing, and how much is the writing.

• The bit with Elizabeth and Paige at the beginning with the lip gloss was well done. Elizabeth was being strict, but not stern, and Paige disagreed, but didn't fight her on it. The way Elizabeth reached for her as she was walking away was also nicely symbolic of the entire episode's theme (look, this is me channelling my inner sistermagpie! ;)

• Loved the Sandra-and-Stan bit: "What single guy does four loads of laundry?" "What married guy does four loads of laundry?" "Good point." Hee! Also, nice to see him sharing a bit (an innocuous bit, of course, but still a bit) of his work with her.

• Apparently one of the ways that American KGB agents maintain their secret life being detected is by putting American flags outside their homes. The woman we saw Elizabeth staying with while convalescing at the beginning of "Comrades" also had one, and so did "Aunt Helen."

• I'm pleased that Stan got to show competence in something, to remind us that he really is a good agent. He's still totally being taken in by Nina ("I'm proud of you, Stan"--when she's probably still internally gritting her teeth about her friend who he killed), but he got to take down his KGB walk-in. He's even going to get a medal!

• Somebody on Twitter was trying to claim that 9-1-1 didn't exist until 2001, so they wouldn't have been using it in 1982. Um, no--it was definitely around when I was in the U.S. as a kid in the 70s. And I just checked--it started in 1968.

• Katia and I were talking about the title of this episode back when it was first announced, whether it was meant to be "The Walk-In" (i.e. someone who walks in) or "The Walk In" (i.e. the journey by foot inside). I actually think it's meant to be both. The obvious reference is to the actual guy who walked into the Rezidentura last week, but this episode wasn't really about him. And "the walk in" could refer to this being the flashback episode that showed us a bit of how it all began.

• Why did Elizabeth go to the Connors home out of disguise? She even had to put one on for the visit to Jared's new family later, so why not just show up there with the disguise to begin with?

• I loved Philip being instantly suspicious as soon as Henry told him she was gone--and Henry covering up for his sister was great, too.

Re: Second watch: Jae

[katiac]

Somebody on Twitter was trying to claim that 9-1-1 didn't exist until 2001, so they wouldn't have been using it in 1982. Um, no--it was definitely around when I was in the U.S. as a kid in the 70s. And I just checked--it started in 1968.

Whaaaaat? Like they thought it was invented after the 9/11 attacks? Yeah, they even used to have that show "Rescue, 911" on TV too.

Katia and I were talking about the title of this episode back when it was first announced, whether it was meant to be "The Walk-In" (i.e. someone who walks in) or "The Walk In" (i.e. the journey by foot inside). I actually think it's meant to be both. The obvious reference is to the actual guy who walked into the Rezidentura last week, but this episode wasn't really about him. And "the walk in" could refer to this being the flashback episode that showed us a bit of how it all began.

One of the review sites pointed out it also has lots of people literally "walking in." (I take no credit for this geeky bit of cleverness, much as I wish I could.) Bruce Dameron into the Rezidentura (well, that was last episode), then Paige walking in to her Aunt Helen's house, and also Elizabeth walking in to the Connors' house, all uninvited and unexpected, and affecting the course of things in doing so.

I could not be more impressed with the attention to all the little details on this show.

Alison First Thoughts

[alisonx]

Wow!! What a fantastic episode. I liked the first two of this season but I LOVED this one, it was so good on every front. I have a feeling that ep 4 and 5 will be even better.

The flashback scenes were done so well, they have found what works and stuck with it. I like they're continuing the Misha hair from Duty and Honor and both Philip and Elizabeth do look younger. The 'I'm ready' scene was so beyond perfect!! And the desaturated effect really worked. I also liked how much the Vietnam War was mentioned purely because of how much this proxy war effected the Cold War.

My favourite scene was of course Philip and Paige's (can I mention how ridiculously fine Matthew Rhys looked in that shot of Philip with the coffee mug watching Paige go up the stairs). I'm looking forward to more backstory, that this episode teased but I was also so happy we got to see Philip out of the mould of the 'lenient, fun one.' Wow, Paige is really hitting the rebellious streak. I don't know if Kelly is KGB or not - while watching the episode I thought she was, but now I'm on the fence.

I'm glad the Bruce Dameran situation was handled so swiftly particularly after all our wondering in the comments of last week about whether Nina was authorised to share that information.

I find Nina one of the most interesting characters right now, largely because of how much Annet is killing it. She really could be feeling any amount of things and maybe she doesn't even know how she herself is feeling. When Stan says he loves her, is she smiling because she has feelings for him too, or because she's got him trapped? Does she love Stan? Is she happy she's doing her job well? What does she actually want in the long run - for her, for her and Stan, for her career?

Hmm I definitely thought before the episode there was no way Elizabeth was going to give the letter to Jared but around the middle of the ep I was like, "hmm this could actually go down." Yay for a new music montage, I reckon one every three episodes or so is a good amount.

The Henry plot was probably the least interesting for me, only because everything else in the episode was so strong. I liked all the tension of Elizabeth weighing her options with the worker - it was pulled off so effectively!

So if this were not a tv show and Philip and Elizabeth did die, who would the kids go to? Do you think the KGB would take them, or they'd be put into foster care? (I guess the KGB option would depend on the circumstances of their death) Would there be a fair chance of them going to live with the FBI counter-intelligence officer and his family? So what can Philip and Elizabeth do, apart from worry about it? Magically make some new close friends?

Re: Alison First Thoughts

[quantumreality]

I don't know if Kelly is KGB or not - while watching the episode I thought she was, but now I'm on the fence.

*snerk* it seems like we're all so primed to be watching for every little detail in this show that at least four of us are guessing she's affiliated in some way with the KGB. :P

It will be so ironic if Kelli really is just another teenager who happened to cross paths with Paige and has nothing to do with anybody. :P

sistermagpie's thoughts on first watch

[sistermagpie]

Wow, this ep was the most intense for me yet. My stomach was jumpy throughout. That was some good dread! I think I'll have a ton to say after watching it again, but things that stood out to me that I remember from last night:

As much as I'm sure I'll appreciate the story with Stan and Nina I could never wait to get back to the Jennings in this ep. They were just crackling!

But Sandra had a great moment. Stan's just a dick this season. "Have fun." Still not getting it, Stan. Now I think about it it's a nice contrast to the Jennings where Philip's so hyper aware of being lied to, where Stan's so clueless he isn't even really clear on what his wife's doing and his kid's just in the shower somewhere. Also his girlfriend's playing him. Though he does share a little truth with her about the Laundromat. Maybe he's just excited he actually spend the night on a stake out for once.

I did like how the Rezidentura apparently used the half-crazy walk-in to their advantage.

Oleg continues to be hilarious--here's two tickets to something that doesn't interest you at all. Oh, it doesn't interest you at all? Make some money for yourself with it, sweetie, using my awesome capitalist advice.

I think Kelly is an ordinary girl who's going to have a friendship with Paige, not a KGB op who looks or is 14 and has a set up with a house and parents for Paige to hang out at. The show gets much more mileage out of people being inconveniently real than everybody being a clone spy.

In fact, I was talking to somebody who thought Kelly had to be a spy because "what were the odds" of Paige running into another girl who could empathize with her exact situation? Um, what are the chances of a 14 year old girl meeting another 14 year old girl who thinks her parents are weird? Those odds are pretty good.

Aunt Helen is badass and I love her.

I think Leanne just wrote the letter when Jared was a baby and then meant it to be for both kids rather than rewrite it.

Philip/Paige was great--and nicely contrasted with Elizabeth being nicer earlier, almost in a bait and switch. As she tries to be softer, or needs to be softer, Philip happens to find himself having to play the heavy, which is obviously not so different for him. But it was funny for him to also be channeling her "let me tell you about my childhood" thing, which he's never done before.

I tend to take the dead father at 6 as being equally potentially true or not true. Even if it was fake he would channel the real emotion into it that he was feeling.

I actually disagreed with someone elsewhere who felt Philip was just totally sketchy in that scene and was making Paige more suspicious because he was supposed to be yelling about the perils of Greyhound instead of his dead father. But I totally disagree. To me, that's like when on shows about True Crime there's always some dumb policeman who decides on a suspect because they're not acting the way a person "would" act in that situation, except the person totally is acting the way you would act.

So in this case, I don't think there's anything unbelievable about the fictional guy who's Philip Jennings reacting more passionately about Paige taking a risk *because she resents him not giving her more of a family* than focusing on bad things that happen on buses. The fact that he feared for her safety is implied by reminding her he's already lost family members. Plus, far from being mad about her intruding on his secrecy (as someone claimed to me) he opened up by having a personal reaction that referenced his alleged past.

This ep was also a first for me in that I was kind of rooting for that warehouse guy. Usually I just want P&E to get away and even when they're being terrible to people I get it's their job, but I guess I felt like Elizabeth was just so off her game that she created a more dangerous situation and then the guy knew it. I almost wondered if Philip worried about that too, though he wasn't there at first.

Okay, now the thing that really blew me away on thinking about the ep. Philip and Elizabeth, of course. This was another ep that I felt like really beautifully set up the way the two characters are contrasted. I felt like Elizabeth got a very clear arc in this ep that was straightforward and that she worked through by taking actions, where Philip was like a simmering pot getting hotter and hotter and yet always smothering it.

Like, we see here in flashbacks not just Elizabeth talking to Leanne about the letter which she originally agrees to deliver, but her not wanting to have children regardless of the situation. Leanne reminds her it's her duty. A year later, Elizabeth has worked herself up to do it--although this is actually probably two years of working up to it since Philip reminded her of the task when they first got there. So she's worked up to it, and she's doing it. That, of course, changed her and she's now dealing with more ramifications from that, particularly in dealing with Jared. She's now worried where Paige and Henry would go etc.

Plus she comes, on her own, to the conclusion that it's wrong to give Jared the letter, and she does it by taking action to get the letter, going to see Jared, talking to his foster mom, talking to Jared. There's some closure for Elizabeth in the episode. She's accepted Jared can't know, which means something for her own kids, and she's also working through her new feelings about her own children. She burns the letter, symbolizing a decision she's made and a conclusion she's come to on her journey.

By contrast, Philip was constantly not getting to say or choosing not to say whatever he thought. In the conversation with Paige he was emotional, but whatever real emotion there was there had to be filtered through the cover story. Whether the father who died was Philip's father, or a cover story that stood in for Misha's father who died when he was six, or a cover story for a completely different situation, he couldn't tell her the truth.

But more importantly, to me, were the scenes with Elizabeth. We know by now that she tends to not pick up on other people exactly feeling different from her (though she obviously made the right decision with Jared-it's not like she's incapable of correctly assessing situations), but that seemed really clear in this ep. There's the convo where she frets about them not having any real friends to take the kids and Philip says "Isn't that how you wanted it?" She reacts aggressively: "ME? WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?" and he retreats into "I don't know, Elizabeth."

It sounds like Elizabeth is claiming, and has always claimed, that the Centre and their situation made it necessary that they not make friends and that she thinks Philip understands that, while Philip has always wanted American friends and gave that up because she insisted on it. Stan seems to be the first friendship he was able to form, and that was because he could pretend it was just about the intel.

So there we have a situation where Philip seems like he's revealing some actual long-time problem he's had and Elizabeth is defensive and denies any wrongdoing and he just lets it go.

In the 1967 flashback there's a much lighter moment where she says she sent a signal and he says, "You took a codebook outside?" or whatever he says. Since we know Philip is less of a stickler for rules than she is, I took that to be against the rules and reckless. I didn't think he was disrespecting her skills there (how could he after even that much time?) but having a genuine concerned reaction to a breach of safety protocol. But Elizabeth is completely confident that it was warranted in this case. I wonder if she'd have dropped it as quickly had the situations been reversed.

Then we get to what to me was the most interesting scene, the "I'm ready." For Elizabeth, this whole story is about her coming to terms with and getting ready to have these children. So her way of getting to that place is to just say "I'm ready" while unbuttoning her blouse.

Now, we know that back when they arrived Philip made some affectionate overtures and reminded her about the kids. He didn't seem to have the same issues she did. But throughout this scene Philip seems pretty wary of her. Part of it might just be that they're not so used to each other yet even after 2 years, but I seem to remember his body language as being a bit submissive--like he hangs his head when talking to her. This is maybe particularly when he hands her the orders to go after somebody, almost apologetically. So he's just given her instructions from someone else to maybe go sleep with someone, and then she orders him to sleep with her.

Only...a bit less sensitively. I mean, Philip's reaction when she says she's ready seems pretty negative to me. His "Are you sure?" didn't seem like concern over Elizabeth so much as concern that this was going to bite him on the ass or maybe just him hiding his own reluctance by reminding her of hers. Whatever's truly going on, he's obviously not happy about the prospect of what's going to happen. I seem to remember he sort of lets his eyes drop and sort of slides them to the side.

Everything about him says he's not into it, but Elizabeth doesn't react to that. She's not opening the subject as if this is a big deal that they're doing together. Hell, she doesn't open the subject at all, just starts unbuttoning. Even after Philip reacts that way she doesn't slow down a little and ask him if he's ready or whatever. The second she's ready it's just a done deal.

Even the nice thing she says to him is kind of hilarious because while I wouldn't call their relationship an exact flip of traditional gender roles, she basically is just announcing to him that is now to service her and give her a child, and "You'll be a good father" kind of fits with that. Philip's reaction to that seems to be a bitter kind of disgusted laugh. And Elizabeth's just not acknowledging any of it. She's ready so let's go!

I think that scene in particular just seemed really significant that way. Like the ep in general is more Elizabeth's story, and this is part of that arc because it's showing us her coming to the decision and later we see her with the baby etc. But in this scene it seems like Philip's reaction is telegraphing something pretty intense that's just ignored in the scene. So it's like in one ep we get three moments with Elizabeth where Philip seems to be telegraphing something that he doesn't fully communicate for one reason or another.

It just seemed important because there's plenty of ways to play Philip's reaction in that scene. Obviously it's going to be important whatever it is. But, like, rather than him being even a little hopeful or pleased about something, he looks dejected or maybe bitter is a better word. More bitter than he was in 1965, so I kind of connected it to their relationship.

So there's a lot of focus on Elizabeth as a parent and her reluctance about it, both in terms of sex with Philip and raising kids. But she never seems to consider that Philip has any feelings worth discussing or acknowledging whatsoever. Not, I don't think, because she's intentionally being insensitive, but because for so many reasons she just thinks he's a guy, this means nothing to him--even when it clearly does.

So I wonder if Philip's one emotional outburst about his family is tied to all of it. Because I just feel, like I said, that Elizabeth is getting feelings here that she's working through where Philip just gets scene after scene of stewing and being dismissed when he gets close to talking. Even Paige, understandably, reacts to him talking about losing his father with "Can I go now?"

Maybe that's again something Henry's subtly providing here. He and Philip start out enjoying each other's company talking about Polaris, and they end the ep having retreated to separate rooms dealing with their own little projects that kind of subtly mirror each other, with both of them holding things up and squinting at them. If Henry wanted company that night, he just silently accepted that it wasn't going to happen while Paige brings attention to how she feels.

Re: sistermagpie's thoughts on first watch

[jae]

But it was funny for him to also be channeling her "let me tell you about my childhood" thing, which he's never done before.

Oh my god, that's exactly what he did! He didn't do it by playing her, exactly--that was definitely a Philip way of being angry and scared rather than an Elizabeth one--but the tactic was identical.

It sounds like Elizabeth is claiming, and has always claimed, that the Centre and their situation made it necessary that they not make friends and that she thinks Philip understands that, while Philip has always wanted American friends and gave that up because she insisted on it.

Yeah, this is my read too. She even tried to talk him out of getting close to Stan and it was only because he was able to make it about the work (and he could point to real intel Stan had given them as a result of that friendship) that it ended up being mostly all right. But Philip totally would have been happier having those kinds of relationships all along.

His "Are you sure?" didn't seem like concern over Elizabeth so much as concern that this was going to bite him on the ass or maybe just him hiding his own reluctance by reminding her of hers. Whatever's truly going on, he's obviously not happy about the prospect of what's going to happen. I seem to remember he sort of lets his eyes drop and sort of slides them to the side.

This was absolutely my read too. And I agree that that was obviously something Matthew Rhys thought about in playing it that way (and was probably directed to play that way). He's not all "yay, she's finally ready" at ALL. This is so clearly the first time they've had sex, and yeah, okay, he does want that to happen, but he doesn't want it to happen like THIS.

-J

Missing last 10 minutes of The Walk-In

[wendelah1]

When I recorded the episode last night, it didn't start at the beginning of the new episode. I was recording the 1:00 am rerun (we have other things that we record at 10, 11, and 12 pm) and it cut off about ten minutes from the ending, I guess because the showings before it ran over, too. Did this happen to anyone else?

I'm not reading the other comments yet because I don't want to be spoiled for the ending. So don't tell me what happened, please.

I will say this: given the critics' ravs about season two, what I've watched so far was rather a letdown. Maybe something more exciting happens by the end but I won't know until I see it.

I just started my season one Bluray rewatch. I am up to episode four now and I have to say, so far this second season isn't nearly as compelling to me as last season was. Part of the problem I know is that my emotional response was blunted because I was spoiled for the first two episodes because of promo commercials on Fx itself, which I will be careful to avoid from now on--but also because of some comments in last week's discussion which mentioned some of the events of this week's episode. I assume that won't happen again.

Re: Missing last 10 minutes of The Walk-In

[jae]

It didn't happen to me. If you need a copy of the episode, though, I can get one to you. Drop me a line if you do end up needing that.

-J

[thesquawk]

Things I really find weird...:

- Aunt Helen got Paige's name wrong. What am I missing here? How did that get resolved? Did they pass it off as her mistaking Paige for her daughter, only now with red hair? And, did Helen actually just not recognize Paige (who did she think she was?)
- I'm always boggled by how they don't leave a trail. Elizabeth scared that warehouse guy and that whole scene seemed uncharacteristically unsubtle from her. What's to stop him from reporting them?
- And what's to stop Jared's current foster parents from mentioning 'the last person they sent' the next time someone from the Child Advocacy Centre comes along? Or, if nobody does (i.e. the Centre was made up itself) what's to stop them from trying to call and then finding out it doesn't exist?

[sistermagpie]

I think she always intended to appear to be confused because that was part of what to do if somebody came by.

The thing with the warehouse guy definitely seemed risky to me. I guess they thought the threats to his kid and the disguises would have to be enough.

I think they'd trust to good old bureaucracy for the last one. Different agencies or different departments checking in for different reasons etc.

Apolla's Thoughts

[apolla_savre]

1. "Young lady" - whoa, that was intense. What is it with parents and "young lady" whenever they're mad at their daughter?

2. "That's awesome." "Yes, I am." I really want that moment gif'd. When Henry threw that star wheel away at the end, I felt so sad for him. He really loves space. It's cute.

3. Does anyone have any screencaps of the report? I'd be happy to lend a hand translating them. (But I kind of wonder if it's gibberish, I thought I saw a word start with a hard sign, and that's not...no, that wouldn't happen. You put hard signs after the letter to be stressed, otherwise you're stressing nothing. Unless, of course, she made a typo and that's the mark Arkady made on her page - but the key for a hard sign isn't close to В (In our alphabet = V)

4. The Capitals...the propellers... Oleg works on technology, P/E are investigating propellers. Philip likes the NHL, Oleg got tickets to an NHL game. Foreshadowing?

5. You promised you'd give him the letter, Elizabeth! You PROMISED. Outside of her job, I don't trust her very much now.

Re: Apolla's Thoughts

[quantumreality]

One screenshot comin' right on up.

Actually, make that five - and voila.

http://i.imgur.com/Sxqh6s4.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/gjJzTNK.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/gVPcYms.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/o33nwuc.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/qGVd3dN.jpg

Actually, it looks like the words you're talking about are "voprosami shpionazha", which sounds like she's talking about spying? But why? I mean it's kind of obvious what her job is and what Stan's job is. Well, maybe your translation can answer that. Heh.

[thesquawk]

something I forgot to say: I LOVE OLEG. I know he's supposed to be smarmy and all and usually I have a decent sense of these things but he's just so smooth. (I may have a little crush! I appreciate a boy with confidence haha.) He doesn't strike me as insecure or anything - despite probably having a patronage position he does seem knowledgeable and like he's truly there to work.

But he does need to learn to respect boundaries lol.

[katiac]

He's a little smarmy to me. I'm not sold on him yet, but he has potential. They didn't hook me on Claudia until episode 13 either, so I trust the show usually has something interesting up its sleeve.

[soupytwist]

I feel kind of totally overwhelmed by that episode! Between the amazing scene of Philip FREAKING OUT at Paige and the wonderful, gut-wrenching montage set-piece at the end, I am done. I have lost the ability to can. OMG.

The montage at the end first -I love love love that it was so much about how their lives are so fundamentally conflicted, driving each other away and tying each other together all at the same time. THEY JUST ALL FEEL SO MUCH AAAHHHH. In, like, the most tragic way. and I didn't know the song until I saw it mentioned in comments, but it was perfect.

I don't think Paige's new friend is KGB but I do think that there's probably going to be SOMETHING there. Like, maybe the friend - as an outside entity - is better able to tell Paige what about her family life is REALLY WEIRD and what isn't. I also liked that Paige on the bus is a TERRIBLE liar!

I was so happy the link to "aunt Helen" worked so well! I was totally impressed. Paige is obviously not finished snooping yet though and oh my god I don't know if I am going to survive it.

Flashbacks were awesome (Elizabeth is ROCKING that sixties fashion, helloooooooooo) and I am so pleased to see some of their earlier life, but I was kind of surprised that we saw NOTHING from back in the day that indicated Elizabeth was even vaguely doubtful about giving Jared the letter. I mean, having children would obviously be a pivotal moment in terms of her feelings about that, but as a good Soviet soldier I would have expected a bit more pushback from Elizabeth on that, I felt?

Also, yo, Elizabeth, your colleagues are planning for their children's future in the event of their death, you share a very dangerous profession, IT MIGHT BE A GOOD IDEA TO THINK ABOUT THAT ISSUE BEFORE YOU SEE SAID COLLEAGUES BRUTALLY MURDERED. Also, Philip, if that "my dad died when I was six" thing is as biographical as it really seemed like it was, you KNOW parents can die before their children. It happens. PLAN FOR THESE THINGS.

This was the first episode where I kind of wondered if maybe Nina was getting feelings for Stan, but then her little smile made me go straight back to nope, she hates his guts. She fakes it REALLY WELL though. Damn. Also, I wonder how much report Oleg saw and whether it's telling him anything he isn't supposed to know.

I really liked that even though Stan could realise that married guys don't do their own laundry, he still completely didn't take Sandra seriously. And that complimenting her appearance was not enough to stop that being clearly a dick move. Sandra trying to explain why that comment hurt her, and then basically giving it up, made me sad. Sandra, honey. :(

I will have to rewatch all the flashback scenes a billion times. The fundamental conflictedness in their conceiving children - that these are kids who were produced on demand, by people with very little in the way of consent, but who are hanging onto the last bits of consent they have... ouch. And I think that's what Philip's asking her if she's sure was about, and her pause after - a sort of acknowledgment that the whole situation is so complicated and confusing and frankly non-consensual at that point.

Response to soupytwist's thoughts

[jae]

I love love love that it was so much about how their lives are so fundamentally conflicted, driving each other away and tying each other together all at the same time.

I know! I think this was my favourite montage yet--there are just so many layers there. Like, a film studies undergraduate could write a whole course paper on it. *g*

Like, maybe the friend - as an outside entity - is better able to tell Paige what about her family life is REALLY WEIRD and what isn't.

This is what I'm hoping for. Because, you know, Paige needs that--there has been so much weirdness in that home lately that she needs someone who's able to help distinguish between weirdness and WEIRDNESS. And of course it's going to freak her parents out for good reason.

I was kind of surprised that we saw NOTHING from back in the day that indicated Elizabeth was even vaguely doubtful about giving Jared the letter.

Yeah, that is surprising, and no one else has brought it up yet. It could well be that Leanne was also ideologically very rooted and Elizabeth looked up to her for that, so she didn't feel like she could turn down a request that came from a place like that? But certainly it's a major violation of the rules (and rules that in this case have a damn good reason). It's weird that neither one of them acknowledges that at any point.

This was the first episode where I kind of wondered if maybe Nina was getting feelings for Stan, but then her little smile made me go straight back to nope, she hates his guts.

See, I don't think it's either of these. I think she's very angry with him about what he did to Vlad, and that's always going to overpower any real feelings she ever has for him from this point forward. But I do think she genuinely enjoys having sex with him at the same time that it totally comes from a place that's all about the manipulation. And going through the motions on something like that can make it almost FEEL real sometimes, so she probably has to remind herself sometimes why she's doing this. But her job, Vlad, all that is still always at the forefront of her mind.

And I think that's what Philip's asking her if she's sure was about, and her pause after - a sort of acknowledgment that the whole situation is so complicated and confusing and frankly non-consensual at that point.

I LOVE this interpretation of that.

-J

[maidenjedi]

Okay, so, I'm late because I had to wait a night to watch, and hot damn, y'all. This SHOW!!!

Keri Russell was so young-looking and naive in those flashbacks. It just hurt to watch them. The way she comes to her decision to try for children, the show's acknowledgment that yes, this is the first time they're having sex and yes, it's just because of kids. And Matthew Rhys telegraphs emotion in his eyes and purse of his lips like no one I've seen in awhile. He wants her to want him, gosh darn it!

(also, I can practically hear the frantic typing of a thousand preggers fics in the wake of that scene...or so I hope...)

About Elizabeth being the one who didn't want them to have friends. Well, duh! Friends complicate things, she's already not a particularly warm person and I think on some level, the play-acting and fake family are harder for her than anything else she does. Interesting to me, very interesting, that Paige and Henry don't seem to have friends, either. Paige in particular, especially given the way she clings to Kelli-who-may-be-KGB-or-not. BTW, I fall in the "not KGB" camp for now because that's not really how they'd play it, with someone who wants to be her friend, but I do wonder about whether Paige was being tailed to Newport News or not.

The Aunt Helen storyline!!! OMG. But okay, I have to wonder, how, in all this time, that excuse hasn't been used before. Was it a default mortal injury kind of thing? Hmm. Still, love. As said above, the level of detail put into that scheme is just incredible.

Stan. Oh, Stan. :-(

And. AND. I LOVED Matthew Rhys and Holly Taylor playing off each other in the "lying will not be tolerated" scene. That was easily one of the best scenes of the show. I mean, Philip is about to *lose it* with Paige and we all know why, and what that whole ordeal cost him as a dad and as KGB, but wow. Paige has to have thought, on some level, that her dad was the "good" parent up until this moment. I don't think he's called her on the carpet like that before, so it's worse when it happens. And he is definitely borderline violent toward the end. That voice, that *look* - that's someone you do. not. fuck with. Paige just hears Angry Dad, but there was more to it.

How very thirteen to lie to your dad, get called out on it, and turn around an hour later and sneak out the FRONT DOOR.

Meanwhile, poor Henry. Kid is so left out of things. :-(

NEXT WEEK!!!!!!!!!! /flail/

The Aunt Helen thing

[jae]

But okay, I have to wonder, how, in all this time, that excuse hasn't been used before. Was it a default mortal injury kind of thing?

My read on this is that Aunt Helen wasn't set up for Philip and Elizabeth in particular, but was there in case of dire emergency for any of the illegals who might need an excuse to be away for a while, recovering. That would explain why she hadn't been brought up before as part of their cover story--they hadn't needed her before.

What I wonder is what "Aunt Helen" does for the organization during the rest of the time. Her and the woman who was actually supporting Elizabeth during her convalescence out in the woods--the one we saw at the very beginning of "Comrades." Surely they don't just sit around the rest of the time, right?

-J

sistermagpie Second Watch

[sistermagpie]

*I like how the first flashback makes it look like one of those kids must be Leanne's but he's not.

*More than one person has claimed that Leanne and Elizabeth have accents in this scene, just a little, and I'm not hearing a trace of any Russian accent anywhere. I think they just mean Leanne speaks a little weirdly on a few lines. Weird, but not Russian weird, imo.

*Philip says the Centre's going to put someone "on them", a limited...just when they're not here. I heard somebody change this to "The Centre's going to put someone on them. We won't know who it is" just to connect it to Kelli on the bus. (And I doubt Philip and Elizabeth would agree to random people infiltrating their lives that way.)

*For some reason I love Philip's "I think so. Yes," when Elizabeth asks if it's supposed to make them feel better.

*Philip answers a lot of questions with a sigh.

*"Totally awesome" is used in Fast Times in Ridgemont High, which came out in 1982. (Looking for proof of the existence of awesome in 1982. I know it was ubiquitous enough in 1986 that an English person I met said she'd met an American and that was all they said ever.)

*Awww. Elizabeth and Paige being affectionate.

*Oh look, says Sandra, it's the random man who sometimes drops by the house. I'll make him coffee.

*"Have fun." Bonehead.

*There's little I love more than young!Philip and his sad clown hair.

*Take a moment here to appreciate Matthew Rhys showing Philip trying and not yet able to assume an air of serious spy authority. The way he stands up and says "You have to put this out now" he looks like a boy scout trying to sound important reporting on how he heard a sound in the woods and it might be a bear.

*In fact, I'm just going to seriously read for character details here because Elizabeth is already so herself here and moments like that it seems like Philip's still searching for a persona. Like maybe he's trying to copy Elizabeth's seriousness that comes so naturally to her.

* Yet Elizabeth herself was far more hesitant about pop culture references in the scene with Leanne.

*Like, in Philip's early flashbacks he seems to play a lot of shyness and unsureness. That seems pretty significant for somebody who is--or will be--Philip. I wonder if he's already more confident when he's playing a role as a spy, which he must already be doing by this point.

*I really hope this comes out more in his scenes with Emmett if they do any to match Elizabeth's with Leanne.

*Philip's also shy/awkward about giving Elizabeth her assignment, presumably one that involves sex. I think that's setting up that he knows she probably still dislikes those kinds of orders.

*Dying to know what Philip's little laugh in reaction to "You'll make a good father" means. Is it just his reaction to the situation or does he have opinions on fatherhood we don't know about? After all, we started the ep with Elizabeth telling us she never wanted to be a mother.

*It really is so very very not January.

*I wonder how many times just this season these two have had a moment of silence that one of them broke with "You alright?" because the other person actually did have something to say.

*Also I love how their dialogue is always written to show they know what each other means without introducing the subject. It's Jared who's been taken in. "I'm ready" means for kids. Even though they haven't been talking about the subject at all.

*I love that Philip says "Want a soda?" at the soda machine. Like, he isn't just using the soda machine for cover and then asking Elizabeth if she'd actually like one. He's playing the part by asking if she wants a soda before getting one to cover the pick up, because she ignores the question.

*the real question is: do they get a Tab? My mom used to drink that all the time.

*Oh Philip, you totally do know what you mean by "Isn't that how you wanted it?"

*I love love love Elizabeth's impatience with the shiny new badge and rubbing it on the car. This whole convo is amazing for how much it gets in: Jared's situation, marital dynamics, family choices, irritation about work.

*They're talking about everything...except their biggest current problem: Paige.

*When I first watched this I misheard Gaad saying he was in the *war* (not ward) for only a month and didn't get what he meant.

*So Stan's been in the FBI a long time. maybe at the time of the Philip/Elizabeth second flashback? Very interesting collection of snapshots of the late 60s. Gaad and Stan were presumably squares back then.

*It really is smart to give Paige a friend--or anybody she can talk out loud to, because what she's saying really makes sense here. It's not any one thing she can point to, she just *feels* like there's always something going on she doesn't know about.

*I think any weirdness in what Kelli says that makes her sound like a KGB agent is answered by what I think she is but won't say because kind of speculation.

*A lot of people have said Philip handles the confrontation with Paige "all wrong" but I think if anybody here fails to keep a situation from escalating a little it's Elizabeth. I don't mean she completely bungles it--sometimes things are just going to go this way. It's just interesting to me how many criticisms Philip gets for failing to masterfully make all of Paige's suspicions go away and have her never wanting to snoop again, while Elizabeth's praised for being scary with a crowbar after the guy totally makes her.

*Derek is actually doing a better job thinking on his feet to plead for his life without breaking character.

* Love Paige's sportsac.

* Helen, you're a KGB agent. Maybe lock your door?

* The way Helen comes in it makes me think of an actor rushing on stage fearing she missed her cue.

* Aunt Helen is so awesome.

* I know this case for Stan's been laid out for him, but it's a good thing he's good enough to figure out what this guy was doing to prevent him from murdering somebody. I guess it would have worked for the KGB if Stan was beating himself up over missing the answer too.

*Philip assures Elizabeth Derek will stay quiet. Viola didn't. But then, people who believe in God don't make rational decisions, right Philip?

*Interesting he's reassuring her, actually. I can't help but feel like Philip's keeping a silent tally of things that seem a little off to him about Elizabeth that he's just not saying.

* The previews tried so hard to make us think the guy with the gun was Philip because he had wavy hair. You didn't fool me, previews!

* Seriously, why is this house just sitting there? You'd think it would look like the police were investigating it even if they don't think there's anything weird about Emmett and Leanne. Philip mentioned the police might be watching presumably as reason the KGB haven't swept the place but you'd think the KGB could have gotten someone in to check hiding spots. The police probably wouldn't have found secret stashes of things if they were doing a preliminary look at the house, I guess.

*It's probably not good for Stan that I say "Yuck, Stan" when the scene with Nina starts.

*Stan/Nina makes me think of Philip/Emmett talking to the Lockheed guy about why two babes would suddenly want a threesome with him. Only here it's like...why would this beautiful young woman you were blackmailing and threatening be in love with you?

*Nina knows where to hit American cops in their American pride, telling him that he's single handedly wiped out all those previous impressions of the US by being so heroic and awesome. Every American's dream. We're just doing our job, fighting evil and stuff.

* Philip's immediately totally panicked about Paige and it's hilarious.

* Aunt Helen is, again, awesome.

* Wow, that's an 80s sweater Jared's foster mom is wearing with that turtleneck. It almost looks like it's from the later 80s but maybe this lady is just ahead of the curve. Pink and grey and fuzzy. Nice!

* Jared just wants to feel safe, so I'm planning to tell him his family was probably specifically targeted by unknown assassins because his parents were liars in a dangerous job and his whole life was a lie.

* Love Philip with his coffee cup.

* Watching it again, I'd remembered Henry's lying wrong. He's actually much better at it than I remembered. Paige is not.

* I've read people saying Philip is a big douche here for basically bullying Paige. This always makes me feel like I'm talking to an actual teenager who honestly thinks parents should be cool with everything they do.

* I've also heard all this criticism about how he's being hugely suspicious because why is he talking about his dad and being so controlling and he should be acting sad instead of mad or else talking about how dangerous buses are and it just seems like so much bullshit to me. He's acting completely within character as a suburban dad with no family dealing with a kid who did something bad and is being snotty about it. And is acting really entitled.

*I'm also not seeing Philip acting like KGB agent here rather than father of sassing kid. "Watch it, young lady" can sound scary coming from Dad too.

* Oleg's quite the breath of fresh air in this ep, he's in such a different mood from everyone else.

* But he's still nosy and forward.

* And typical that he's giving Nina something even when she doesn't want it. Very capitalist of him trying to get her enjoying the advantages of knowing Oleg Igoravich even against her will. (If that's his name--I forget it suddenly.) Feeling indebted is a good thing.

* What on earth would have happened if Elizabeth gave Jared the letter? He would have probably broken down immediately. And that's the best case scenario. The worst is he immediately mumbles the whole contents of the letter into a comforting fuzzy pink and grey sweater.

*Honestly, it's not only weird that they don't talk about this being against the rules, but that they don't talk about how she's setting off a bomb.

* Does Elizabeth have a different quilt hanging behind her bed in her earlier apartment where she's looking out the window with Paige?

Re: sistermagpie Second Watch

[jae]

More than one person has claimed that Leanne and Elizabeth have accents in this scene, just a little, and I'm not hearing a trace of any Russian accent anywhere. I think they just mean Leanne speaks a little weirdly on a few lines. Weird, but not Russian weird, imo.

Yeah, I'm not hearing a foreign accent, either (and I don't mean to get all "I know better" on folks but I would hear it if it were there--this sort of thing is my real-life job). Also, it just doesn't make sense. They wouldn't have been sent over if they still had noticeable Russian accents, you know? I mean, okay, there were real-life illegals with detectable accents, but their covers were always that they were foreigners from some other country; they weren't trying to play American anyway. And in this a-little-bit-fantasy version of the KGB, clearly we're meant to understand that their training does manage to get all of them completely to native-level.

*"Totally awesome" is used in Fast Times in Ridgemont High, which came out in 1982.

Noted! :) (For what it's worth, my partner also said that it was definitely used in the early 80s, not just later.)

My new little beef is that Paige uses 'like' more frequently than was common back then (it did exist, and her age group would have been the ones to use it, but probably not yet in suburban D.C., and not as many times in one conversational turn). But I'm more noticing than complaining, I swear--I actually think this show does a very, very good job with the 80s setting.

They're talking about everything...except their biggest current problem: Paige.

This will totally change next week. It kind of has to, after Paige's latest maneuver. They've been distracted, but Philip's eyes are trained right on her now, and he knows the danger she is.

The previews tried so hard to make us think the guy with the gun was Philip because he had wavy hair.

Yeah, that was just dumb. A throwback to the stupid!previews of early season one.

-J

[jo_lasalle]

I don't know if I was a bit too tired to watch this episode, but this was the first time that the show left me rather confused. I missed why that guy was no longer in the Rezidentura (and then wondered if he was another guy), I totally didn't understand what was happening with storage guy (he suspects Elizabeth of being up to no good but still assumes she has 'clearance'? Does he think the CIA beat storage guys to death with crowbars? I am creeped out but what is going on??), wait which timeline are we in???

Which I guess is to say, this show is probably too smart to watch while half-asleep. *g*

Though I was very sure Elizabeth never intended to give the letter to the boy and was lying, and her bitter exhaustedness at the end had 'doing what I always knew I'd have to do in this case, and now it sucks more because I have mellowed somewhat' written all over it for me.

[lovingboth]

In the factory:

It's 'current' timeline.

The guy knew something was not right and that he could be in danger very early, but didn't want to die and went into full 'look at my kids' mode. It's clear that it really was fishy when Philip started doing the photos, but by this point it was definitely too late to try to run away screaming.

Will he talk in a later episode? Who knows? :)

Letter:

I think there were letters that could have been written that she would have given, but - especially after meeting the son - that wasn't one of them. I read the look as 'I've failed to do what I promised a dead friend I'd do' as well as the increasing 'what about my kids?' thoughts.

Treon's thoughts

[treonb]

Ok.. I'm very late to the party. It will take me a while to get through all the comments, but here's mine for now.

Based on the promo I thought we'll have a KGB-FBI showdown, so it was a bit disappointing when there wasn't :-( and whatever action there was, fizzled really fast.

1. Poor walk-in guy. Set up by the Arkady/Nina duo in order to get to a juicier target. Very nicely played.

2. The letter - I guess that was expected. For Jared's sake, it was also the more compassionate move. I can't even imagine how he would respond now to having his entire life turned upside down and sideways again. And he so much looks up to his parents.

3. 4 loads of laundry - sorry if that was already mentioned, but I figured he was wasting time in the laundromat (across the street from the hotel) to do surveillance.

4. Matthew - at least he got an honorable mention, but are we ever going to see him again?

5. Gaad is all the patriotic American, volunteering for service even when he didn't have to. Poor Stan.

6. Paige is really stepping over the line, going on an unsupervised trip on her own. It's a bit too much for me, because I don't see how they'll resolve this. Paige is getting used to lying to her parents. I'm on the "Kelli is KGB" camp, btw. Aunt Helen knew who was coming.

Was Philip just skulking there with his coffee cup? I wonder how many times he's had to refill waiting for his wayward daughter to come home. And then Philip and Paige both lying to each other about where they (or Elizabeth) were.

They let Philip handle things this time, but I wonder how Elizabeth will respond, and whether we're going to see any repercussions to Paige leaving home for the second time.

7. That factory worker taking out his kid's photos - ouch. Very smart move, though. I was sure he was gonna end up dead.

8. Nina, of course, was right about waiting for Stan to say "I love you". And she didn't say it back yet. I was waiting for the follow-up Arkady/Nina scene where they discuss that.

9. Love Oleg - and I'm sure Nina knows how to scalp tickets.

Nina and scalping

[jae]

Love Oleg - and I'm sure Nina knows how to scalp tickets.

Yeah, given how Nina was caught by Stan to begin with, she could probably teach him a thing or two about that sort of illicit activity.

Someone above (I don't remember who) actually said that wording was probably deliberate, though, and an indication that he's either fishing, or knows more than he's letting on.

-J

[shapinglight]

Late and brief comment on a fantastic episode - the whole Aunt Helen thing blew me away with how well planned it was. I'm glad Elizabeth didn't give Jared the letter (I was pretty sure she wouldn't) and Oleg is a total creep.

FWIW, I expect Philip's father did die when he was six - probably in the war (ie. WW2).

[sistermagpie]

Wouldn't that make Philip too old to be six when his father died in WWII? He'd have to be born in, like, 1939 at the latest and be 40 by 1980.

Paige's Bustrip to Harrisburg PA

[wendelah1]

I'm trying to move on but I'm stuck on how long it would take in real life for a girl to get from suburban Virginia to Washington DC and then up to Harrisburg, PA by bus. I don't see it. It's 3 hours by bus just to Harrisburg, so that's already six hours rt. I'm thinking the writers have never traveled via bus in their lives but if Paige did the research necessary to organize this trip she would have known she was never going to make it home in time, even if Philip hadn't gotten home early. I'm also not sure they did the necessaries to make her journey believable psychologically. Maybe there's a missing scene somewhere in which she asks when they'll get to meet this aunt and her parents put her off? We know she's curious but this was reckless--daring--rebellious behavior.

Lying, cutting school, challenging authority. Sounds like an American teenager to me. Poor Philip and Elizabeth have no idea what they're in for.

It never occurred to me that the girl Paige met on the bus trip was anything other than another girl, but--she's out of school, too, heading on a bus alone to see her father. Paige swallows her story whole but I can't decide if we're meant to or not. I'm assuming it's meant to be ambiguous. We know someone is watching the kids. We surmise someone alerted "Aunt Helen" that Paige was on her way. The door was left open on purpose to lure her in. The "Aunt Helen" cover story was elaborately planned--probably well in advance--and not improvised on the spot after Elizabeth was injured as I had worried it might be. This was oddly reassuring.

Her confrontation with Philip at the end. I've read through some of the comments. I don't think the emotional charge during that conversation necessarily has anything to do with Philip's real life story. What Paige did potentially put the entire family in mortal danger--and Philip is all too aware of that. He's angry at her and he's afraid that what happened to his friends and their children could happen to him and Elizabeth, to Paige and Henry. I think those are the losses he's reacting to, that is the dead family in his mind's eye, people he felt strongly about and identified with, his comrades-in-arms, not his family back in the USSR.

Re: Paige's Bustrip to Harrisburg PA

[sistermagpie]

I was trying to figure that bus ride out too. It's really an amazing journey for Paige to contemplate making. Even if she'd planned for being a little late. Iirc, didn't Kelli mention the time it took being 6 hours? So I think they were using that time frame, it was just pretty amazing that she could not only get there and back but find this woman's house and get there.

Maybe there's a missing scene somewhere in which she asks when they'll get to meet this aunt and her parents put her off? We know she's curious but this was reckless--daring--rebellious be

Elizabeth did say that the kids weren't even allowed to visit her those two months (for obvious reasons) so I think the idea was that she really was just checking up on her mother's story because she believed she'd find something other than a great aunt there.

I don't think the emotional charge during that conversation necessarily has anything to do with Philip's real life story

That's how I read it. His father's death could be true, half-true, or not true at all, but I think all of Philip's emotional focus was on Paige and anything he was saying about losing his father was really a way of talking about his real situation--that he'd left behind everyone he'd ever known and he'd recently watched his good friends gunned down with their child. Paige was taking risks beyond what she even knew she was taking, and he could channel his emotions about that into reacting to her being entitled about the family she had.