OMG this ep was AMAZING!!! Okay, now to watch closely...this is going to be super long.
* Interesting that there's no mention made of Elizabeth's loss of control at all. Not that they have a chance for that in this ep, but these two never waste times on detailing where the other one obviously made a mistake when they both know it happened.
* Love Elizabeth picking the lock to a hiding place. She's like Mr. Bates on Downton Abbey with her general thief skills. Also the secret knocks.
* That policeman really gets a good look at them.
* So it's Philip going for the gun in that scene--I couldn't tell on first viewing.
* Yossi's accent on his Gambler thick is not as clear as Philip says at all. But he is into accents.:-)
* I love Philip's "It's Washington, I mean..." in response to the gunfire.
* The cigarette exchange is so awesome. It just shows how much better the world is when we work together. You can have good vodka and good tobacco.
* George in his basement is fantastic.
* Elizabeth has learned to knock and wait in Paige's room.
* I wonder how that Columbia House code works. I mean, Elizabeth obviously gets specific info before heading to Martha's.
* If you went back in time and said KGB used Columbia House as a front people would find it really hilarious and perfect.
* You know, I was having this convo with someone on AV Club who at first I thought was being very judgmental and holding P&E to 2014 parenting standards where, as the author of an article I was recently reading said, a 10 year would have never spent more than 10 minutes out of adult supervision in her entire life. But then it seemed like they generally felt that P&E didn't love their children at all, that they just thought of them as a burden, I guess because we see them so focused on other things and sometimes the kids were an inconvenience to their plans. I have this theory that a lot of current TV is a backlash against that attitude in the way it has people be parents with concerns outside of their kids that they're actually passionate about.
* It's like I read comments elsewhere last week about how Henry is sad and neglected because he's alone in his room at the end and really he wanted to memorize all the constellations *with* Philip and a good father would have loved that project.
* Philip and Yossi get right down to their intimate relationship with Philip tying him up and also doing some quick first aid on his arm while noting Yossi's choice to avoid the police and Anton's mistress being well-trained.
* Also, Yossi, would you like a little casual anti-Semitism to go with your arm splint? Just what the doctor ordered.
* I wonder actually--and this is not meant to suggest that Philip's anti-Semitism isn't really antii-Semitism, but I wonder if some of that is an opening gambit to get a reaction from Yossi. It leads up to him finally saying: Mossad and then noting the accent.
* To be fair, Philip has earned the right to be smug about his superior English skills because they are mad superior.
* Okay, so to track the icicles theme, Yossi says it's cold--Philip says shock, Yossi says no, he's cold. He's not wearing a jacket and there are icicles on the windows. Philip notes the icicles, but they don't make an impression--and they really wouldn't.
* Is that what you Jews do, spy on your friends? Says the man who got really annoyed when his wife reported on him to the KGB...
* Yossi's little sum up of US/Israel relations is so great. And Philip's expression looks genuinely interested in what he's saying.
* I know next to nothing about the stuff Sandra's doing--EST is just something I think of as a 70s thing and soul retrieval sounds, well, like soul retrieval. But I really love that she's doing this stuff. She's stopped trying to remake the relationship she used to have with Stan and is working on herself independently, no matter how she's doing it. It's like Paige later says to Elizabeth--it's not just him, it's for her.
* I like that she specifically says she's finding the parts of herself that she's lost, like when she became Mrs. Beeman and that became central to her identity.
* Kate's fangirling is really kind of hilarious and weird in ways Philip can't really deal with right now.
* I love how Elizabeth's just looking all around for that job application at Martha's, I assume, to start the convo about it. (And also she must just be curious about the apartment.
* "Pulls a Clark." That Clark!
* "I mean, I love him to death but my lord." It's like MR started this midwestern thing in what he thought was a one-off character and KR and MM just run with it to make a broader impression more quickly because they have less time with Martha. Betty Buttinsky. It's like Clark is trying to cover that up in himself because he's in Washington now.
* Funny listening to Elizabeth say somebody else has a few missing notes when it comes to social graces. Hee!
* "If I'm saying too much you're going to stop me, right?" says Jennifer. Martha gives no such warnings!
* I would think it would be pretty easy to drink Martha under the table since she was already drinking in the last ep.
* So we never really learn the truth about Anton, if he was actually having an affair or knew who his girlfriend was and it was a cover. I assumed the affair was real, and a honeytrap, but others have said it's not for sure.
* Back to Yossi and Philip. Philip's looking out the window, and Yossi says they don't have icicles where he's from. Yossi's got the icicle obsession.
* I definitely don't take Philip's "I don't remember" as any real revelation or confession on his part. He's not giving the guy anything, and he's not thinking about "back home" because the guy talks about Israel. Though in that moment, like I said elsewhere, I don't think he's lying either.
* The caring of Philip for his charge here is wonderful the way it gets more and more intimate. It reminds me of the scenes with Amador and how there was the same eerie back and forth between greatest care and torture. Or in this case just hostility. And Yossi is actually on the offensive here, too. Elizabeth will later put Martha to bed, so they're both doing parent things with these other adults.
* Then Yossie brings up the connection between them as spies, though "we" in "we don't get to pick and choose" could mean people in general (don't get to pick where they die). The one thing he knows about Philip is that he's really Russian, and that's something they have in common (being foreign) and he's poking that connection for anything he can get. That also includes spy life in general.
* And he gets at least some reaction with "nothing's easy" in response to America allegedly being an "easy posting." Philip may be trying to choose words that shut him down, but his delivery gives away more warmth than that. Yossi can no doubt see this is someone who isn't completely cold.
* So Yossi then moves onto comparing himself to his mother--who survived pogroms so there's another connection and not. Back when Anton was first introduced he referred to the Jewish people as "invisible people" in Russia, but the term just as obviously applied to Philip and Elizabeth. Both these men (Yossi and Anton) are technically Russian (by heritage) but can't feel at home there--you can't pick a better country for an episode about home than Israel.
* Yossi's continues to work something of a softer side in Philip, suggesting that he's a wimp who is dying. Philip doesn't fall for it completely but he does point out that he's not dead yet, they'll make a deal. This said through a peanut butter sandwich, which was one of my favorite touches. He fed Yossi first.
* It's interesting the dynamic they slip into here. Yossi says he can't tell if Philip's being kind or naive ("kind" bringing up shades of him telling the busboy "It's okay") and Philip has no problem explaining to him exactly what's going on. There doesn't seem to be any hostility between them anymore. Philip may no longer be mad about the ambush.
* His "I don't know" about his own worth to his government also seems very sincere, like this is a conversation he's getting something out of--personally, I mean, as well as whatever professional stuff is happening.
* Yossi starts off with flattery, calling himself bronze to Philip's platinum, but he's circling around again to the biggest thing he knows about Philip--the thing most non-KGB people don't know about him. He's flattering him but he seems to have some genuine contempt there. Which makes sense--spies are usually mistrusted, and the "better" a spy you are the less trustworthy. When Yossi says he doesn't hide who he is he doesn't sound impressed, he sounds like he's saying he wouldn't. Which in some ways fits someone from a country of people who've been erased or sometimes hidden themselves to survive. And Philip definitely seems to hear it.
* How is Martha still standing with all this wine?
* Martha really just wanted somebody to pay attention to her to talk her down from this. I've read comments elsewhere saying maybe she didn't agree to not use his name, but she totally did imo.
* "God, you're easy to talk to!" says Martha--proof that Elizabeth has fully immersed herself in her role! Paige does not find this to be the case, Martha!
* The thing about the Clark persona that impresses me so much as a creation of Philip's is the combination of nerdy fussbudget and sex monster is just so perfect for Martha in ways that Elizabeth wouldn't immediately get but Philip no doubt did after spending time with her. She likes to feel like she brings that out in him.
* Now, I think that the "some of the things that he does" is a specific, sly reference to his actual job. I mean, like he's got a lot of tricks up his sleeve that real Clark, monster or not, wouldn't have.
* Elizabeth's "What does he do?" is just the best thing ever. Martha's totally hooked her here and she just can't not ask. I feel like she's jealous but also deep down a little turned on or think she might be later.
* But I love that ultimately what Martha's really talking about is the emotional story of the whole thing which would obviously be so different from anything in P&E's emotional history. Elizabeth has never been his. The few times early on last season when he even tried to verbally claim her that way she shut him down sharply.
* I love how every government's opening position ever is that they don't know what you're talking about.
* Feeling silly, but I always thought "Russkie" was some straight American slur but when Arkady says it it seems like it's the actual Russian word for Russian? Or sounds like it?
* I love the line about principles vs. tribe because like so many things on this show, it's quickly contradicted by Arkady's own actions and the way he seems to behave. What was that line about the perfect Soviet? Here he goes again.
* He says Mossad agents are expected to be sacrificed on the altar which immediately calls to mind the many more extensive ways Directorate S agents are sacrificed--just as Yossi pointed out.
* Yeah, that big spot right there would be where Clark sleeps when he's not being an animal, Elizabeth.
* I love that both the FBI and the Rezidentura have people running secret private things on their own.
* Back to Philip and Yossi (Hurray!) Uh-oh, Yossi needs to shit. Well, we know how this goes. They both know how that had to go. I love the "Sorry" from Yossi, and that Philip's "yeah" isn't as friendly.
Sistermagpie's Thoughts on Rewatch: The Deal part 1
* Interesting that there's no mention made of Elizabeth's loss of control at all. Not that they have a chance for that in this ep, but these two never waste times on detailing where the other one obviously made a mistake when they both know it happened.
* Love Elizabeth picking the lock to a hiding place. She's like Mr. Bates on Downton Abbey with her general thief skills. Also the secret knocks.
* That policeman really gets a good look at them.
* So it's Philip going for the gun in that scene--I couldn't tell on first viewing.
* Yossi's accent on his Gambler thick is not as clear as Philip says at all. But he is into accents.:-)
* I love Philip's "It's Washington, I mean..." in response to the gunfire.
* The cigarette exchange is so awesome. It just shows how much better the world is when we work together. You can have good vodka and good tobacco.
* George in his basement is fantastic.
* Elizabeth has learned to knock and wait in Paige's room.
* I wonder how that Columbia House code works. I mean, Elizabeth obviously gets specific info before heading to Martha's.
* If you went back in time and said KGB used Columbia House as a front people would find it really hilarious and perfect.
* You know, I was having this convo with someone on AV Club who at first I thought was being very judgmental and holding P&E to 2014 parenting standards where, as the author of an article I was recently reading said, a 10 year would have never spent more than 10 minutes out of adult supervision in her entire life. But then it seemed like they generally felt that P&E didn't love their children at all, that they just thought of them as a burden, I guess because we see them so focused on other things and sometimes the kids were an inconvenience to their plans. I have this theory that a lot of current TV is a backlash against that attitude in the way it has people be parents with concerns outside of their kids that they're actually passionate about.
* It's like I read comments elsewhere last week about how Henry is sad and neglected because he's alone in his room at the end and really he wanted to memorize all the constellations *with* Philip and a good father would have loved that project.
* Philip and Yossi get right down to their intimate relationship with Philip tying him up and also doing some quick first aid on his arm while noting Yossi's choice to avoid the police and Anton's mistress being well-trained.
* Also, Yossi, would you like a little casual anti-Semitism to go with your arm splint? Just what the doctor ordered.
* I wonder actually--and this is not meant to suggest that Philip's anti-Semitism isn't really antii-Semitism, but I wonder if some of that is an opening gambit to get a reaction from Yossi. It leads up to him finally saying: Mossad and then noting the accent.
* To be fair, Philip has earned the right to be smug about his superior English skills because they are mad superior.
* Okay, so to track the icicles theme, Yossi says it's cold--Philip says shock, Yossi says no, he's cold. He's not wearing a jacket and there are icicles on the windows. Philip notes the icicles, but they don't make an impression--and they really wouldn't.
* Is that what you Jews do, spy on your friends? Says the man who got really annoyed when his wife reported on him to the KGB...
* Yossi's little sum up of US/Israel relations is so great. And Philip's expression looks genuinely interested in what he's saying.
* I know next to nothing about the stuff Sandra's doing--EST is just something I think of as a 70s thing and soul retrieval sounds, well, like soul retrieval. But I really love that she's doing this stuff. She's stopped trying to remake the relationship she used to have with Stan and is working on herself independently, no matter how she's doing it. It's like Paige later says to Elizabeth--it's not just him, it's for her.
* I like that she specifically says she's finding the parts of herself that she's lost, like when she became Mrs. Beeman and that became central to her identity.
* Kate's fangirling is really kind of hilarious and weird in ways Philip can't really deal with right now.
* I love how Elizabeth's just looking all around for that job application at Martha's, I assume, to start the convo about it. (And also she must just be curious about the apartment.
* "Pulls a Clark." That Clark!
* "I mean, I love him to death but my lord." It's like MR started this midwestern thing in what he thought was a one-off character and KR and MM just run with it to make a broader impression more quickly because they have less time with Martha. Betty Buttinsky. It's like Clark is trying to cover that up in himself because he's in Washington now.
* Funny listening to Elizabeth say somebody else has a few missing notes when it comes to social graces. Hee!
* "If I'm saying too much you're going to stop me, right?" says Jennifer. Martha gives no such warnings!
* I would think it would be pretty easy to drink Martha under the table since she was already drinking in the last ep.
* So we never really learn the truth about Anton, if he was actually having an affair or knew who his girlfriend was and it was a cover. I assumed the affair was real, and a honeytrap, but others have said it's not for sure.
* Back to Yossi and Philip. Philip's looking out the window, and Yossi says they don't have icicles where he's from. Yossi's got the icicle obsession.
* I definitely don't take Philip's "I don't remember" as any real revelation or confession on his part. He's not giving the guy anything, and he's not thinking about "back home" because the guy talks about Israel. Though in that moment, like I said elsewhere, I don't think he's lying either.
* The caring of Philip for his charge here is wonderful the way it gets more and more intimate. It reminds me of the scenes with Amador and how there was the same eerie back and forth between greatest care and torture. Or in this case just hostility. And Yossi is actually on the offensive here, too. Elizabeth will later put Martha to bed, so they're both doing parent things with these other adults.
* Then Yossie brings up the connection between them as spies, though "we" in "we don't get to pick and choose" could mean people in general (don't get to pick where they die). The one thing he knows about Philip is that he's really Russian, and that's something they have in common (being foreign) and he's poking that connection for anything he can get. That also includes spy life in general.
* And he gets at least some reaction with "nothing's easy" in response to America allegedly being an "easy posting." Philip may be trying to choose words that shut him down, but his delivery gives away more warmth than that. Yossi can no doubt see this is someone who isn't completely cold.
* So Yossi then moves onto comparing himself to his mother--who survived pogroms so there's another connection and not. Back when Anton was first introduced he referred to the Jewish people as "invisible people" in Russia, but the term just as obviously applied to Philip and Elizabeth. Both these men (Yossi and Anton) are technically Russian (by heritage) but can't feel at home there--you can't pick a better country for an episode about home than Israel.
* Yossi's continues to work something of a softer side in Philip, suggesting that he's a wimp who is dying. Philip doesn't fall for it completely but he does point out that he's not dead yet, they'll make a deal. This said through a peanut butter sandwich, which was one of my favorite touches. He fed Yossi first.
* It's interesting the dynamic they slip into here. Yossi says he can't tell if Philip's being kind or naive ("kind" bringing up shades of him telling the busboy "It's okay") and Philip has no problem explaining to him exactly what's going on. There doesn't seem to be any hostility between them anymore. Philip may no longer be mad about the ambush.
* His "I don't know" about his own worth to his government also seems very sincere, like this is a conversation he's getting something out of--personally, I mean, as well as whatever professional stuff is happening.
* Yossi starts off with flattery, calling himself bronze to Philip's platinum, but he's circling around again to the biggest thing he knows about Philip--the thing most non-KGB people don't know about him. He's flattering him but he seems to have some genuine contempt there. Which makes sense--spies are usually mistrusted, and the "better" a spy you are the less trustworthy. When Yossi says he doesn't hide who he is he doesn't sound impressed, he sounds like he's saying he wouldn't. Which in some ways fits someone from a country of people who've been erased or sometimes hidden themselves to survive. And Philip definitely seems to hear it.
* How is Martha still standing with all this wine?
* Martha really just wanted somebody to pay attention to her to talk her down from this. I've read comments elsewhere saying maybe she didn't agree to not use his name, but she totally did imo.
* "God, you're easy to talk to!" says Martha--proof that Elizabeth has fully immersed herself in her role! Paige does not find this to be the case, Martha!
* The thing about the Clark persona that impresses me so much as a creation of Philip's is the combination of nerdy fussbudget and sex monster is just so perfect for Martha in ways that Elizabeth wouldn't immediately get but Philip no doubt did after spending time with her. She likes to feel like she brings that out in him.
* Now, I think that the "some of the things that he does" is a specific, sly reference to his actual job. I mean, like he's got a lot of tricks up his sleeve that real Clark, monster or not, wouldn't have.
* Elizabeth's "What does he do?" is just the best thing ever. Martha's totally hooked her here and she just can't not ask. I feel like she's jealous but also deep down a little turned on or think she might be later.
* But I love that ultimately what Martha's really talking about is the emotional story of the whole thing which would obviously be so different from anything in P&E's emotional history. Elizabeth has never been his. The few times early on last season when he even tried to verbally claim her that way she shut him down sharply.
* I love how every government's opening position ever is that they don't know what you're talking about.
* Feeling silly, but I always thought "Russkie" was some straight American slur but when Arkady says it it seems like it's the actual Russian word for Russian? Or sounds like it?
* I love the line about principles vs. tribe because like so many things on this show, it's quickly contradicted by Arkady's own actions and the way he seems to behave. What was that line about the perfect Soviet? Here he goes again.
* He says Mossad agents are expected to be sacrificed on the altar which immediately calls to mind the many more extensive ways Directorate S agents are sacrificed--just as Yossi pointed out.
* Yeah, that big spot right there would be where Clark sleeps when he's not being an animal, Elizabeth.
* I love that both the FBI and the Rezidentura have people running secret private things on their own.
* Back to Philip and Yossi (Hurray!) Uh-oh, Yossi needs to shit. Well, we know how this goes. They both know how that had to go. I love the "Sorry" from Yossi, and that Philip's "yeah" isn't as friendly.