Question of the week #49

[treonb]

At the end of the season finale, Stan saw Nina taken away, to be returned to the USSR. What do you think will be his next step?

You can expect spoilers for the entire first two seasons in the comments.

(There's no expiration date on these questions, so if you're reading this post months later and feel like jumping in, please do.)

Comments

[treonb]

Hm... I didn't think she'd be rescued. I thought she'd somehow save herself.

[sistermagpie]

I assumed she's going to be because we know she's on next season. I think she'll have a hand in it, too. She'll need somebody to pull strings, either her allies like Oleg and Arkady or people she meets/knows back home, but I'm sure she'll find a way to survive. She's just gone to a place where Stan has no power. I'm sure power jockeying on the Russian side will come into play too.

[jae]

The problem with her saving herself (by successfully running away or something) is that where does she go from there? If Stan rescues her, she's under FBI protection. If Arkady or Oleg manages to convince The Powers That Be that she should be let go, she's got her career back. If she saves herself, there's no next step.

-J

[treonb]

I think we're all talking about the same thing. I meant she'll convince the KGB she's far more useful alive and in Washington. Arkady and Oleg might help, though I thought Arkady already tried? If he didn't, why wait till Nina's back home? Oleg might have the connections needed - which actually would be interesting because she put down Oleg for doing that.

Stan - I don't see helping at all. Definitely not after she leaves the US, where he has no power at all. However, I did expect him to at least show that he's trying to do something before it's too late. Not just stand there and feel sorry for himself.

[quantumreality]

It might end up being Arkady will have to (much to personal distate) ask Oleg to use his connections to help save Nina. But he's convinced, and with good reason, that people like Oleg who haven't experienced the privations and hardships that came with growing up after the war are the kind of people who'll happily help the Soviet Union go to hell in a handbasket if it means more for them.

(He's not wrong, either, in retrospect, but from a 1980s perspective Arkady's one minor concession to asking Oleg could be seen as a step to condoning the kind of things Oleg does to get extra pull for himself, which I think he would not like to have to deal with.)