SusanSunflower

I remember in the first season (iirc) thinking that Elizabeth sort of "got off" on being the trigger man, the decisive one ... (and hoped that her character wasn't going to get more cold blooded). She got an satisfaction at putting a "full stop" at the end of the sentence. Like Indiana Jones pulling out a gun and shooting the scimitar wielding Arab -- Basta! Enough! She also reminds me of the older sibling who thinks she's "hot stuff" because she lords over everyone else and has little competition ... or an over confident house cat who has similarly over time cowed the family dog into submission. So much of their spying is actually "acting" or impersonation to gain access, and killing.

My original speculation was that "something" (many possibilities) would make Phillip go walkabout and that much/most of the final season would be Elizabeth trying to "bring him in" from the cold ... if Philip would have a child in tow was a variable, which? Phillip and Henry versus Elizabeth and Paige .... it's comic book but it could be edge of the chair suspenseful and placing duo v. duo could lead to shifting loyalties and questions of who is loyal and who is in jeopardy from whom. It's a bit too "cinematic" but it could be fun in terms of forcing these characters (who are fairly closed off and careful about how and what they communicate) to come clean and face brass tacks -- with Claudia and Gabriel playing bad mother and good father in cameos. My guess -- and I'm happy to be proven wrong -- is that given the current Russia-phobia (which I do not share -- business as usual) the production may hew closer to character driven narrative (since everything else becomes a screaming match -- look at the American coverage of recent WWII anniversaries and the 1917 revolution and -- god help us all -- the 2018 World Cup - don't get me started!). I genuinely hope they pull off a satisfying and thrilling final season, but -- my observation -- is that many shows these days get a "lease on life" because they do "well enough" when in fact, not only is the final trajectory unclear, they are dealing with burnt out and/or newbie characters no one has bonded to. It's a long season and it's a tumultuous historical period so I have NO DOUBT it will be worthwhile and interesting ... given the contentious nature of viewership, there's no safe storyline. (I liked the Soprano's "ambiguous" ending -- which wasn't ambiguous to me in the slightest ... it made the local headlines, and then the FBI moved in and shut down the story -- I had increasingly grown to loathe Tony Soprano and the mudflat stink of decay that surrounded him). YMMV. I wouldn't mind if P&E left the kids to fend for themselves and decided to decamp to some Ice Station Zebra ... Regardless of whether I "like" or feel satisfied by the ending, I will still miss them and looking forward to their further adventures.

my point is that they thought -- 20 years before this period -- that having a next generation of young "real American" agents would be extremely desirable and I think they might revise that thinking as unnecessary. Americans aren't terribly suspicious of furriners (at that point) as long as they have money and speak English well. That the post-war (WWII) fear of foreign agents would probably not apply to a foreign born 20 year old in 1985. Hard to imagine "investment" in Paige or Henry as "sleeper agents" in the CIA, FBI or State Department "paying off" for decades ... and who's to say that either of them would be happy working at some assignment for 20 years rather than having a "real life" ... following their bliss ... etc. Better Paige should go to medical school (public health and/or epidemiology) and Henry become a (forensic) accountant.... living lives of "quiet desperation"

I think they (The Centre) may realize that "second generation" although long a dream from at least the 1960's, is less viable in real life, because of the problems with American-raised, kids but also unnecessary since there is an influx of immigrants who are easily accepted and assimilated (like Tuan). I think Tuan is being undervalued, he may have only newbie skills and street cred, but he's eminently trainable and eager ... not only wants to prove himself, it's what he wants to do when he grows up. Willing to make sacrifices and endure hardships. In Russia, where everyone is Russian, family & personal pedigree is more important not least because of all that horrible history. FWIW, I don't see Elizabeth (now or in 15 years) serving as anyone's minder (Claudia/Gabriel). Philip might be able to handle the job and dealing with the individuals, but I don't think he's trustworthy in the sense that he would empathize with the other agents complaint. Elizabeth wouldn't empathize enough and would quickly loathe them all. If Tuan can "seamlessly" take over Kimmie detail from Phillp (and I think he can), there will be a paradigm shift. Kimmie plot could end in a heart beat if her dad switches briefcases or even just loses that one. I do wonder if Kimmie's dad's new assignment will involve greater security, even a security sweep and ongoing monitoring sweeps and/or if better technology (transmitters) could lead to some upgrade. (Aren't they going to be very tempted to pickup "the tapes" more ofte now that his work is so much more relevant and valuable?) ymmv. Just some random thoughts/reactions.

yes, that it was a disaster waiting to happen and that he wanted no part of ... so he procrastinated and deliberately "failed" to gain level IV

In hindsight I wonder if William had grown doubtful that the Centre wanted his "products" for purely defensive purposes. He may have simply become revolted by biologic warfare altogether and wanted no part in its dissemination.

Elizabeth is the better agent, Phillip is the better "human being" ... so I think, even if he becomes some sacrificial lamb, Elizabeth will not triumph. Elizabeth has betrayed Phillip, her partner, husband, father of her children, casually, easily to both Gabriel and Claudia either to show her her (in contrast) unquestioning loyalty or push her case as "favorite child." Poorly parented children (in "The Americans" universe -- and beyond) seek validation ... Paige with Pastor Tim, Henry with Stan and his new girlfriend's high-status family ... As I've said, I think this is also part of a natural maturational process, seeking the approval and input of other people -- beyond mom&dad. I can hope that Elizabeth doesn't become some bad guy, in contrast to Phillip being some good guy ... within the conventional humanist versus pragmatist paradigm (in which career women are yesterday's "refrigerator mothers" or wire cage moms, versus the -- smacked into superman redemption mode -- men "risk everything" to protect and affirm conventional conservative "loving" nuclear family values) ... This get into "attenuated ideologic paradigm" territory ... Is Phillip the "good father" and Elizabeth the "bad mother" ... like, respectively. Gregory and Claudia ... The question of who "should" win and why seems to be the puzzle under discussion here ... (also known as: suspense)

No, keeping Tuan "on the reservation" is part of job #1 ... and he made it clear that he had (somehow) been keeping in touch with Seattle all along -- as able, as "safe" ... Tuan gambled that he could travel out of state to contact Seattle without being detected ... without anyone noticing ... His AWOL was detected because Elizabeth got really really annoyed to be wasting her time waiting for him to return ... but she didn't care enough to ask after the foster-brother or wonder how many times Tuan had made that exact trip to some safe telephone (how exactly was it really "safe"? and was the exposure of a "child" riding a greyhound bus in the wee hours of the morning really "safe enough" to be some entre-nous "let's never talk about thts again" -- again, not empathy, but not willing to be bothered with Tuan's little drama) ... This is going to explode like some crate of Roadrunner ACME TNT ... Even when she discovered Tuan's deception, she didn't much care ... entre nous... let's pretend this never happened.

WRT #2, I was talking about the credibility of the story as written ... it didn't make sense for that character (as written) to stay with the FBI to be abused and have his awesome profiling skills dismissed (rudely). It was easy to forget that he was declared, in the first scenes, the most awesome profiler in recent memory ... I felt the show straddled the fence on whether TedK was/is a paranoid schizophrenic (or suffers any mental illness at all). The paradox of his not wanting an insanity defense -- because he wants to maintain credibility -- has a certain lunacy given he (allegedly according to "as-written") sent multiple senseless bombs in-order-to get attention and get his manifesto published ... ymmv, but that would undermine his alleged "sanity". The fixation on the bomb found in his cabin when the warrant was served was not really clear. Yes, he had promised that he would stop sending bombs if his manifesto was published, but it wasn't clear why they though it had been manufactured after that promise - and - it occurred to me that it might be a potential "suicide bomb" to be used to avoid arrest, trial and whatever verdict. It may just have been some other "security blanket" -- a personal talisman. I felt David's story -- which I realize has been told before -- got short shrift and I was confused since my limited knowledge was that David had secured the promise of "no death penalty" in exchange for identification, only to have the FBI renege or claim they had made no such promise. I really appreciated the misuse of "plea bargains" to avoid public disclosure of evidence -- as has become common practice in so many cases, including the 2008 related bankster settlements. Just today 50 years later, the JFK files are finally released except -- oh wait -- some number of files that were withheld ... pending review. No wonder we have folks in GITMO still waiting trial, now wait, indictments, after 15 years of confinement -- it's a misuse of negotiations, which become endless ... justice delayed, etc. nuf. I still thought the series was fascinating -- well spent TV time. Not sure I'm motivated to read more or do research ... too much to do already, added to daily, more pressing.

Have you watched Mystic River? specifically the final scenes with Laura Linney and Sean Penn? ... (it's a masterful and sociologically important scene ) ... He's her man and she is his woman ... yes, for many, without options, there's no particular morality involved in this sort of blood-allegiance. It's deeply ingrained ... children are deeply schooled ... after Columbine, I posted a comment of concern about the kids who "knew something" in advance .. (there are kids who "knew something" found after the fact in most school shootings) ... I was told, emphatically, by several commenters that "if my child" ratted out a friend, there would be hell to pay ... The idea (fact) that this was a (high body count) suicide -- would you want your child's friend to betray the secret to intercept your child's suicide -- nope ... code of silence, took precedent. I don't call that (malignant) "code of honor" love ... and this circles back to the issue of culpability wrt war crimes.

Philip's "love" for Elizabeth is the result of 16+ years of partnering, the first years of which must have been very difficult (Elizabeth being a rape survivor and all). He didn't choose Elizabeth as his partner, so it's a bit like an arranged marriage in which the two parties eventually (Elizabeth only recently, it seems) develop genuine affection beyond "appreciation" and spousal duty. In calculating fashion Elizabeth uses her seductress charms on Phillip ... to sooth the savage beast, but I think she only began to see him as separate individual man because of his "unfathomable" concern and 'over-involvement" wrt Martha. Such involvement would be both unthinkable and utterly foreign, even repugnant, to Elizabeth. Matthew may well reconsider his "love" for Elizabeth. I've never been particularly impressed by this "love" and have felt that, as Elizabeth "manages" Phillip, Phillip "manages" Elizabeth ... there's work to do and no time to waste being "moodly" about domestic issues. Not very romantic. Yes, when Elizabeth was shot and when she's been endangered, Phillip has come through like a champ, but he's also invested all those years in this partnership ... Obviously YMMV, and but imho, neither individual is remotely "romantic" towards the other, although I think Phillip believes that he has "won" Elizabeth's affections after years of patience (except of course we know she keeps undermining him to Claudia/Gabriel)

No, not at all, just that the lowly common sailor's refusal would cost him a great deal (the brig and court martial) and almost certainly do nothing to change anything. While I'm sure there's a rationale somewhere, Nazi prison guards seem to be most often prosecuted, and yet, they didn't build the camps, order the transport of prisoners/labor/soon-to-be-exterminated, nor did they have any voice wrt the policies that these camps (and policies) were meant to effect ... (note I'm not arguing their "innocence" just again their place as a cog in a machine designed by others in support of genocide). Evidence that these camps were considerably less secret than we were told only adds to the sense of wide spread collective guilt. Are the prosecutions then "symbolic"? Refusal to follow an order in combat could -- in theory -- result in execution, or at least that's what sailors believed / were told. A single civilian "kid" surrounded by older authorities would feel -- and be -- fairly powerless to resist effectively. I don't know how fully communicated "the final solution" was, although the death camps were initiated when the mass machine gun killings proved too distressing for those holding the guns. I'm not sure that the desirability or "necessity" of such killing was ever discussed, apparently being largely accepted, even with historical precedents. I watched "Judgment at Nuremberg" and thought (being a child) that things were -- as it was supposed to be and as I was supposed to think -- fairly and neatly concluded. So many subsequent horrors, massacres, genocides and attempted genocides. This episode largely reduced this woman's guilt down to some foregone conclusion/outcome ... but neither P or E cared much about the "details" before killing her (and her husband).

so, did anyone else - besides me -- think that the search warrant should have been thrown out? based on an inverted aphorism? that I'm pretty sure I've heard both ways throughout my life (it's like wanting to spend your tax refund on fun stuff, but wanting swearing you're going to either add it to your savings or pay off bills)... get people talking about what "pride goeth before the fall" some time. I thought this was very well done (even as I agree with many criticism about the pedestrian domestic drama and the too-good-to-be-true hero, who I read as being portrayed as almost-autistic-spectrum clueless ... not a savant, just, like Ted, really really bad at intimacy and compartmentalization, more comfortable obsessing over minutia that breaking the "flow" and being present for his family. Extended intense concentration can get you higher ... been there/done that ... (see Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi) ... I found myself curious as to his continuing relationship with the FBI after they threw away his work and denigrated his character ... like all "old-timers" do ... still he was still drawing a salary. For balance it would have been good to see him working effectively with other teams. I suspect few FBI guys bothered with the manifesto ... it's hard-going and has little to nothing to add to why the author sent all those bombs ... but then neither, did the series, except, some vague random reference to a desire to be listened to and to get published ... (a premise less than convincing as his bombs undermined his thesis being treated "seriously" rather than the product of a diseased mind -- serial killer/mad bomber/creep/crazy). I wished there were more Bettany/Ted to portray his actual level of capacity for socialization ... was he delusional? was he paranoid schizophrenic? what was his relationship to the librarian and her son -- ongoing, caring, sporadic, mentoring, dunno? Worthington expanded his role beyond cardboard cut out ... but not far enough ... I will look for him in the future but, oddly, I rather wished they had cast Dominic West, who he kept -- again and again -- reminding me ... I wish him well, but the 3-D really didn't hold. I'm glad they left out speculation about sexuality ... because what many today may not recognize is that waaaay-back-then ideas like "staying pure" and abstaining from sex to hone your (more important) intellectual/spiritual powers were pretty common. Nothing I remember about his religious upbringing also. Older than me, but that sort of platonic same-sex friend was not necessarily latent same-sex attraction, as a "safe" companion who -- unlike girls -- would not distract a young man or woman from "being all that you can be" ... boys and girls did not mingle comfortably and for Ted being at least 2 years younger than his classmates -- his dating prospects were dismal. Some folks take up long distance running, dungeon and dragons or video gaming.

No, I just meant to acknowledge that not all collaborators could successfully claim they were "under duress" ... some just went along socializing with the enemy/occupiers/Nazi because it was gay, music, dancing, food, and occasionally presents and/or a better job ... simply opportunistic reasons. Others got involved because "nature took its course" -- did you read Suite Francaise? Well educated, handsome, german officer from a good family put up in a villa with two a woman and her mother in law (a disapproving woman) while the husband/son was a prisoner of war. Hardly some bodice ripping romance, the two young people fell into a companionable friendship looked upon with suspicion ... nonpartisan love, lust and prostitution could also be labeled "collaboration" ... part of why the pursuit of "collaborationists" was so frought ... lots of old grudges could motivate people to finger enemies while better connected or wealthy collaborators got off scot free except for "rumors" The French had a different history than the Germans or the Czech or the Austrians ... Although I never got far into Tony Judt's book "Postwar" (I realized I needed to read up on WWI first), I was shocked (as a naïve American) how many "collaborators" and party members in many countries just resumed their lives, barely bothering to renounce their participation in the occupation government and assisting the Nazis in transportation of "labor" etc.

No, I just meant to acknowledge that not all collaborators could successfully claim they were "under duress" ... some just went along socializing with the enemy/occupiers/Nazi because it was gay, music, dancing, food, and occasionally presents and/or a better job ... simply opportunistic reasons. Others got involved because "nature took its course" -- did you read Suite Francaise? Well educated, handsome, german officer from a good family put up in a villa with two a woman and her mother in law (a disapproving woman) while the husband/son was a prisoner of war. Hardly some bodice ripping romance, the two young people fell into a companionable friendship looked upon with suspicion ... nonpartisan love, lust and prostitution could also be labeled "collaboration" ... part of why the pursuit of "collaborationists" was so frought ... lots of old grudges could motivate people to finger enemies while better connected or wealthy collaborators got off scot free except for "rumors" No, I just meant to acknowledge that not all collaborators could successfully claim they were "under duress" ... some just went along socializing with the enemy/occupiers/Nazi because it was gay, music, dancing, food, and occasionally presents and/or a better job ... simply opportunistic reasons. Others got involved because "nature took its course" -- did you read Suite Francaise? Well educated, handsome, german officer from a good family put up in a villa with two a woman and her mother in law (a disapproving woman) while the husband/son was a prisoner of war. Hardly some bodice ripping romance, the two young people fell into a companionable friendship looked upon with suspicion ... nonpartisan love, lust and prostitution could also be labeled "collaboration" ... part of why the pursuit of "collaborationists" was so frought ... lots of old grudges could motivate people to finger enemies while better connected or wealthy collaborators got off scot free except for "rumors"

There is so much ambiguity in this episode that rather than be "profound" it trivializes and, worse, really didn't tell or show us anything about P&E we didn't know before. I don't believe that plan B (leaving without killing them) was ever a realistic option. Even if she was "her", that doesn't necessarily make summary execution appropriate for her ... certainly not for her husband. P&E's job has increasingly involved killing people simply to eliminate witnesses, now they're assassins working from some Soviet/Centre vigilante justice hit list. Regardless of sentiments about hunting down war criminals decades after the war has ended (The Reader's Hanna's fictional trial was in 1965; most recent trials have been of guards in their 90's) it's always been controversial in much of the world if not in self-righteous fortress America. This episode rather brazenly ignored most of those issues and controversies. Too big and complex a subject to trivialize as a plot point, particularly given P&E's body count and peculiar collateral damage crime wave "cleaned up" by the Centre. P&E seem to have fallen into the trap of allowing their "higher purpose" to justify whatever ... not always even claiming (as in earlier seasons) necessity, there was no alternative. Oh, I think "only following orders" is the preserve of people who have sworn to follow the orders of their superiors, it has little relevance to civilians, particularly those pressed into collaboration under duress (opportunists who collaborated for "nice things" -- food material reward, were especially despised)

... and then there's his wife ... Pastor Tim might have intended to mentor Paige (as Chris and his parents have been mentoring Henry) into the whole high school graduation/college prep process, but I think the chill of Mrs. Tim and that tape and that whole missing in Ethiopia drama precludes some resumption of the former naive pastor/congregant trust ... seriously ... let them just be gone. Still, Henry found some adult/parent surrogates to get excited about his future while Paige's mentors got sacrificed (like so much) to the family secrets. Much too familiar a story, IMHO, where the drudge gets left largely forgotten in the dust (yes, I'm projecting). She deserves better ... even if it involves the KGB wants to finance her education in some advanced computer science program, etc. I don't want her to end up being drafted into being Elizabeth's mini-me. "Wanting to help people" is not enough to get most people through the hard science classes of most career-focused college health care curricula. Paige is (and has been) so underwritten and so dull. I hate for her future to be determined by having -- once upon a time -- asked some awkward questions.

... just a belated thought -- it occurs to me -- not knowing when those diary entries were made (no I'm not going to rewatch) that Pastor Tim may be rationalizing having strong-armed the family ... hence the over-the-top "child abuse" analogy... because he recognizes that he abused his position in ways that might well be appropriate in a child abuse case (although there are myriad reasons why mandatory reporting laws exist and why they do not always exempt clergy. ) My memory is that Robert Hanssen (nortorious spy convicted of espionage, also a devout a Roman Catholic said he had discussed his espionage on several occasions with his clergy -- they never turned him in either. (He was arrested in 1994 after DECADES of selling secrets to the KGB). I don't think that Pastor Tim's interest in Paige was "personal" so much as he was a symbol of his successful ministry ... a devout follower who could be profiled and who would testify to his "good job" as an inspirational leader, because he was ambitious and wanted that sort of a reliable acolyte. I'm not (and have never been) religious so I don't know, but what I've observed is that "cults of personality" around a leader are not only common but are even encouraged as proof of successful ministry ... see Justin Bieber's high praise for his pastor ... blech ... ... watch your parking meters, indeed.

I'd be cautious about assuming Elizabeth is feeling "guilt" rather than "regret" ... she misses Young Hee and the fun times with her family -- a "real friend" -- so much laughing (something conspicuously absent anywhere else in this series) ... I think that Elizabeth got a taste of how a happy loving (non-uptight) family interacts (too bad Philip, and Paige and Henry missed out on this, like some exotic dessert) ... I'd guess that she mostly feels her own loss.. Rather than "guilt", her personal take-away lesson may well have been to NEVER get so close ever again. Yes, I also wondered if Tuan might be doing double-duty informing on the Jennings... and absolutely Claudia would jump at the chance (and delight in Tuan's scathing assessment). It really bothers me that neither Philip or Elizabeth gave a damn about Tuan's foster brother battling leukemia and/or the fact that it sounded as if Tuan had been keeping in touch with them -- as able -- all along. They could have relayed the issue to Claudia to see if some actually safe channel of communication could be created to plug that threat to the mission's security/Tuan's cover and relieve Tuan's anxiety/sense of duty. This isn't coddling Tuan, just acknowledging he's a 3-dimensional human being who was -- obviously -- willing to break rules and taken risks to contact his foster-brother. If there is no foster-brother, the problem(s) multiply and become even more critical. (I don't know if they had curfews for minors back then or how conspicuous an unaccompanied minor at 2 am taking a greyhound, mistaken for a runaway; mugged as an easy target, etc).

Tuan's calculations -- means to an end -- are very cold, but he has strong feelings, emotions and is jealous of Pasha and, well, everyone, because he's very angry (understandably) about his losses and his isolation. He's something of a shell-shocked survivor. He shares with Elizabeth a sense of being the determined somewhat romantic hero of his own movie and a noble soldier for the cause, good versus evil, us versus them Elizabeth's emotions wrt being a mother and having recently destroyed Young Hee's happy marriage and family surfaced in her condemnation of Tuan's "plan". See also Elizabeth as "Patty"'s faked pregnancy and suicide's role in trying to blackmail Young Hee Seong's husband. Pasha contrived "cry for help" suicidal gesture (since his parents were failing to decide to move back to Russia) ... hare-brained and certainly unethical -- rather echoes Patty's suicide and the arrival of her brother ... as Tuan said , it worked. ((I can't remember if the Don Seong operation was a "success" because I can't remember its objectives)) If Phillip's father being a guard at a camp did not relate to the family's circumstances during his childhood, I'm not sure why that news was "devastating" --particularly with the now-too-familiar rationale for all sorts of things based on how desperate things were the time. I'm genuinely asking because there's a great deal of "acceptance" of terrible things (the Stalin years) done because there was no alternative and/or resistance was both futile and likely suicidal. We don't know that Phillip's father was "one of the bad ones" ... even if there probably were few if any "good ones". I thought Philip was trying to understand why he personally was so consistently brutally bullied ... lord of the flies ... children emulating the adults, maybe? ETA: Wasn't it out of character for P&E to agree to not include IHOP in their report ... and why don't they want to know if there really is a "foster brother with leukemia"? I'd bet that there isn't but that Tuan calculated that P&E would avoid letting the Centre know about IHOP because of how it reflected on their management of Tuan.

I'm guessing that Tuan may turn into something more frightening that that bunny-boiler in Fatal Attraction ... I'd love to see Phillip and Elizabeth come home to find Tuan playing video games with Henry as Paige looks on ... if P&E's report thwarts Tuan's ambitions, his revenge might well be terrifying (see season #1). Regardless, I think leaving Tuan's actual Seattle family crisis an unresolved blur (was he lying? was his story even plausible?), indicates that even after Pasha and his mom leave (if they do), Tuan likely to still be around (even if he goes underground at the news of Elizabeth's damning report. Elizabeth doesn't really see Tuan, even if she murmurs the "right things", he's just a cog in the wheel. Advising him that going forward, he needed a partner, when on that operation Elizabeth and Phillip WERE his partners (and AWOL, despite Tuan's warnings) I think will be the fulcrum of the final season. Along with Phillip "suddenly" deciding he wants Henry at home and the family "kept together" ... when Henry's been AWOL for months or hanging with Stan (more recently Chris and school friends) because much of the time no one's home at the Jenning's home ... except Paige on her non-Church activity nights. Both Phillip and Elizabeth have been AWOL with Henry and too eager to hear "I'm fine" from Paige. I've watched parents try to get all parental as "empty nest" approaches ... and seen their kids' irritation and even anger at this sudden intrusion into their private lives. I'm wondering if Pastor Tim's horrible wife will reemerge as a player ... seeing as what PT wrote in his diary might well reflect his conversations with his wife over pastoral matters. (Yeech, no I don't think members of the congregation would want to know that PT was sharing their marital and sexual conflicts with his wife, even if she were warmer and nicer). The diary still exists -- unsecured -- to be found and read ... what did P&E do with the photos? don't remember. If this turns into a generational war-of-the-worlds, I'd expect Kimmie to walk in on Phillip in her dad's home office, en flagrante.... cue sh*tstorm (alternatively Tuan might show up at one of Kimmie's soirees as some new friend ... Wonderful to imagine P&E weighing the plus side of re-partnering (and passing the tape interception to him, freeing Phillip). In any event, I think this is going to oh-so-subtly circle back to season 1 and the ungovernability of that both welcome and feared next generation. I'm doubtful Elizabeth is likely have some redemption arc, so it may come down to P versus E in the clinch, with Claudia pulling Elizabeth's strings, and pushing her buttons ... I doubtful Claudia will survive her attempts to destroy P&E union, but that doesn't mean they will. ETA: I've thought for a long time that Elizabeth's Achilles heel is her vanity -- not just about her looks, but also about being better-than-Phillip as an agent and that both Gabriel and Claudia have played on this weakness in giving her praise in that direction and agreeing with her (I think likely mistaken) belief in her own superiority. We will never see (I hope) Elizabth sending Paige out on her first honey-pot assignment but I have already found her eagerness for Paige to follow in her footsteps in such "work" stomach turning. Elizabeth is mostly used as an assassin and as a seductress (even when being friendly to lonely housewives), women are not immune to the charms of such a beautiful well-put-together new friend (maybe they can learn how she does it!). It was mentioned by his brother that Phillip was a recognized "really smart one"... and I think part of his smarts (as "emotional intelligence") has been to play the submissive role in the partnership, and that he has been getting a bit more assertive in their personal relationship as their "partnernship" has morphed towards being a more of a "marriage" ... the writing and character development on this show really is a treat.

well then nevermind.

prospect for more Grantchester is looking rather dim as Norton is the star of a new series "McMafia" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt6271042/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_1 with all that talk about his hot-hot-hotness as an actor I checked IMDB for any upcoming projects and was surprised to find he is busily filming this series which I had not previously seen mentioned.

Dinner with Oleg's parents ... I think his father was trying to tell Oleg that he was being unspeakably rude and anti-social (and childish) and he needed -- particularly for his mother's sake -- to grow up and snap out of it ... and he did. I just read the recap and realized that they may have read Phillip's insecurity/jealously wrt the studly and furry agricultural man-god Ben (who is also tall and teaching an oh-so-appreciative Elizabeth Tai-Chi. Elizabeth has had handsome lovers/assignations before but Ben could be a real contender ... unlike Phillip's passive-aggressive loser "girlfriend" -- both of them act like they'd rather be home alone reading a book ... (too lazy to look up her name).

Whatever Pastor Tim thinks/thought about Paige and her situation, it mostly came from listening to Paige drama-queening to him -- and that P&E should realize this and ask her about it. If you've ever been in the unenviable position of listening to a friend vent about a boy/girl friend they either just dumped or was dumped by -- only to find they have reconciled a week or two later -- many things things can be said passionately only to be disavowed when things cool down. The writing is usually better that this ... and it's important because as a pastor, PT may be mandatory reporter ... which should scare everyone when he's equating what was done to Paige with child sexual abuse. ... and if he's seen child sexual abuse and how it destroys families (even when the perpetrator is not a family member), it's a stupid equivalence ... It used to be fairly common practice (until I think the 1960's) to not tell children they had been adopted ... some children on learning the truth were deeply shaken, angry and wounded (part of why the practice was stopped) ... I have no idea the incidence of "permanent damage" to ability to trust forever and ever ... Such things are "reality altering" but -- as with so many things in life -- some people accept the "new reality" and others take much longer and are much angrier, sadder and grudge holding... refusing to get over anything ever ... Shouldn't Paige (the brainiac) be jealous of Henry? I would be, in fact, I am for her. While I understand Phillip wanting his son at home for his last teenaged years before college, a scholarship to a top-flight school should thrill him (and yet, he didn't seem even interested in this cost-free ultra-cool opportunity for Henry) ... of course, the wheels were turning in Elizabeth's head but they weren't about Henry's well-being either.