"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."

Maybe he did lose her too?

Or maybe he figured that because he'd lost his dad young, kids grew up fine without dads but moms were vital? (Sexist, but maybe it's what he thought?)

I bought that line that his dad died when he was six. Elizabeth's dad died in WWII, it's entirely possible that Philip's dad did too - WWII *devastated* the Soviet male population. I want some Philip backstory flashbacks even more now!