Trillian

Coming in late to the party to agree with the above. Like Paige, I was involved in the anti-nuke movement in the early/mid 80s (also involved in anti-Apartheid, albeit in a much less dramatic form that Philip and Elizabeth). The 80s peace movement tended towards the view that it was the (mad)man in the White House who was the greatest threat, not the men in the Kremilin, since the latter seemed increasingly ineffectual (due, in great part, to the unfolding disaster in Afghanistan). Sting's "if the Russians Love Their Children too" was still a few years away (I wonder if the series will ever go there if it makes it to 1985?) but the sentiment was out there in the peace movement that Paige was a part of. Plus, Paige may have been brought up American, but it's hard to believe that Elizabeth could have stomached raising her as a " m country right or wrong" person. Call back to the first or second episode when Elizabeth jumps in on the news report to say it's an achievement just to get into space. Paige would've been raised with lots of subtle comments that maybe the Soviet Union wasn't hell on earth. I don't find it implausible that she wouldn't react with complete horror and disgust. On a more shallow note, I don't remember the hair-over-one-shoulder look, but the flip on the left side of Paige's hair? Nailed the era!

This! 60 is the new 40, in so many ways. I look at my parents' wedding portraits where they posed with their parents and my grandmothers, who were in their mid to late 50s, look like old ladies. That would not be the norm today (or at least I hope not, since I'm just a few years younger than they were in those photos)! Most - that I knew, anyway - grandmothers in the early '80s dressed in a matronly fashion that today would be frumpy, didn't work out, didn't wear full makeup (a lady wears a little powder and lipstick, maybe a discrete touch of rouge), didnt colour her hair, wore "sensible" shoes etc etc. Factor in the hardships of living through a world war or two, the Great Depression, and years of doing the housework by hand (remember ringer washers, anyone? And what those did to your moms' and grandmothers' hands?).... I could totally buy that she was in her 60s at least.

You must love the final montage of The Godfather, then! That's what turned me off revolving doors.

Same thing happened n my high school (class of 81). At least one young woman (I.e. teenage girl) eventually married the almost-30 year old teacher - they are still married, seemingly quite happily. These days, of course, he'd have been arrested. Great take on the scene. I took it as well as Philip's trying to goad Elizabeth into admitting that his sleeping with Kimmie is gross and immoral, with the thought that, if she can admit that, maybe she can see that bringing Paige into that life would mean Paige would have to do gross and immoral things too. I think he *was* trying to get her to give an order - one way or another - so that she could see the reality of what he - and also Paige - is being asked to do.

Re: parental rights: any Tennesee-qualified lawyers out there? Because this Canadian lawyer is really puzzled by the talk of stripping Teddy's parental rights. In Canada, someone who has stood in the place of a parent - especially as long as Teddy has - gains the rights and obligations of a parent regardless of biology. Of course, Tennesee law could be different. Anyone know?

"After reading a recap, I have a question about the papers April and Jackson were signing. I've been present at the deaths of two of my family members, and don't recall having to sign anything at all for the death certificate - that was the doctor's job." I signed the death certificates for each of my parents - but at the funeral home and not at the hospital. On the formal copy they gave me, I am listed as "informant". I also have a hazy, grief-stricken memory of signing something official-looking at the hospital after my mother died - no idea what it was but I seem to recall it was some acknowledgement of her death that allowed them to transfer her body to the funeral home. I could see that some jurisdictions might require next-of-kin signature, especially since Samuel Norbert (I also heard Harper) was far enough along to require a birth certificate (and therefore a death certificate. Damn callous to ask them to sign it in advance, though.

Francesca IS very young at 21, both objectively and subjectively (some 21 year olds are mature for their years; Francesca isn't one of them). She never seemed to fit into the discernment process for me. My understanding, based on what I've heard from sisters and nuns over a Catholic lifetime and many years in Catholic schools, is that modern religious orders don't want 21 year olds for all the reasons Francesca exemplified. Modern orders want mature women with at least enough life experience to know what they'll be giving up and to do it joyfully. As I understand it, if Francesca had inexplicably decided to enter, most orders would send her away to grow up before they'd consider taking her.

Actually, Maggie's Russian struck me as realistic. I don't claim to speak to speak Russian, but I did understand what she was saying because I quickly learned the same kind of phrases for a trip to Moscow many years ago. She wasn't conversing as such, she was saying "excuse me, do you speak English?" Easy phrase to learn phonetically. Pahzahlsta vwee gavareetye pa angliski. The airline clerk said something to her back about Maggie's ability to speak Russian (I didn't understand the sentence structure but it had the same verbs and subjects as another phrase I memorized "excuse me, I don't speak much Russian") before she switched to English.