AllyB

I think in all honesty that Poussey's 6 year sentence was a case of the writers giving her that sentence before deciding on her crime. And after realising what a popular character she had become and knowing how gut-wrenching this ending would be, they decided to make her crime so minor. (Similar to how Leanne was definitely not written as secretly Amish in the early seasons.) So I think I'm going to just think of P as serving a 2 year sentence that she was coming very close to the end of.

Yeah, I can't imagine why that got her 6 years. She had a well-off supportive family, her father was a high enough ranking military officer, at least a Major as he was in the German flashbacks, but more likely a General as that's what Caputo called him on the phone. She'd have had a good lawyer and had committed a very, very minor crime. Even if she'd gotten the worst judge who just desperately wanted to make an example of her, he family would have appealed and gotten her off. It was a wonderful juxtaposition of this woman having the best night ever which ultimately ended her life because she was very barely committing a crime. But it didn't fit with her background of someone with a 6 year sentence.

I always thought he was the oldest. He looked about as old as my dad when it originally aired, so I could never buy him as a teenager. I loved Brenda, so I liked him because Brenda liked him but I never accepted him a teenager. I never really noticed how old Andrea looked back then but I can't not see it now as she looks as old or even older than I do now.

So did I. And I couldn't work out in the later scenes when she was homeless why hair and make-up gave her such crappy wigs for older Lolly, when they'd made her look so great in the earlier flashbacks.

I don't think they are portraying him as a normal loving guy who made a slight mistake. He's a guy who did have some sort of genuine feelings for Tucky, did something awful and having had it pointed out to him is willing to say sorry. That doesn't mean he'll become a good guy or that if Tucky gave him the chance he wouldn't do it again. It reminds me of an abusive husband who really does love his wife (insomuch as he is capable of love) and who is convinced he is a nice guy (TM). He will hurt her and apologise seemingly sincerely in the aftermath. But in time will just repeat the same pattern over and over.

I was glad someone understood. The Hispanic characters treating Spanish as some special secret code is a bit irritating. Sure the majority of the white and black people in the prison won't understand but Spanish is a very popular language to study in America and the odds are some people will know at least roughly what you are saying. In fact, we already had Piper in the preceding episode pointing out to Blanca that she understood pretty much all of what she said about her as she has a reasonable ability to speak and understand Spanish.

Most of the guards walked out just ahead of the prison-swim-break. The remaining staff will just assume that he was one of the guards that quit.

The stupidest part of that scene was that if somehow all Lorelai had in her wardrobe were those shorts, the sweatpants she had slept in would have been a better option.

Vasili was mostly a fine Resident, remember he was even so hands on that he was still personally maintaining assets in the field. And it was down to this that the KGB discovered they had a mole in the Rezindentura. Arkady was just exceptional.

Yeah that seems crazy. Horses would be expensive to house and care for and of limited value as an amenity to offer to guests as they only had two. There was no way those horses came close to even 'paying for themselves' nevermind being something to increase profits. In fact, if they had used the space given over to the stables to special 'treatment rooms' they could have rented them to a local masseuse/beautician/yogi/etc for set times each week. Thereby generating an income from the rent while also offering spa type treatments in order to attract more guests.

But Stan and Philip aren't high level players. Just a couple of buddies who play for fun/stress release. The only skill requirement for them, is that their skills match each other.

Taking the show at it's word that Sookie was an astounding chef, I can see anyone being willing to put up with her in business. Getting a reputation for utterly fantastic food is worth a fortune in the hospitality industry as people will stay at the inn especially for the great meals. Having a concierge who is super rude in a way that happens to amuse children, not so much. Tobin would have been a much better fit for the Dragonfly, while Michel's attitude was much better suited to the hipster hotel he was working in at the start of S4.

All the talk of the kitchens at the inns has reminded me of something. So often in the kitchens Sookie and her staff would be working away surrounded by the most colourful array of cakes and dessert, with maybe a luscious bowl of fruit or two in the middle. It looked like the dessert table at an extremely fancy banquet. Not a working kitchen at an inn.

I don't know why Elizabeth was explaining what EST was to Paige. Last season Stan brought Tori to dinner with the Jennings and the conversation turned to EST. It was clear that Paige knew what it was, had an idea of what went on there and she even said she had previously discussed it with Philip. The conversation between Elizabeth should have been more that Paige was surprised that EST was genuinely something that Philip was genuinely interested in and not just going along to for Stan.

I've had the feeling all season of events literally closing in around the Jennings. The show was originally centred on numerous sub-plots and important secondary characters other than the Jennings and Stan, characters that the audience genuinely cared for. There was Nina, Martha, Gaad, Arkady, and, from season 2, Oleg. But in this season Nina and Gaad have died, Martha has been sent to Russia and hasn't been seen again and now Arkady and Oleg are leaving. Additionally we aren't seeing any of Stan's personal life outside of how it relates to the Jennings. It's making the show seem more claustrophobic as most episodes now are increasingly about the Jennings or Stan and Aderholt hard at the work of foiling them. I know we may still see Oleg and Arkady, and I really, really hope we do. But I can feel that everything is coming to an end for Philip and Elizabeth, because everything around them is ending. The KGB never caught Nina, they had no idea she had been compromised by Stan. She turned herself in out of loyalty to Russia and offered herself as a triple agent. Because of that, she was able to let Arkady know at the end of season 1 that the FBI were about to make a big capture. And Arkady literally rolled his sleeves up and sent out all the embassy cars with the abort signal painted on them (pretty much where we all started to love Arkady) which meant Philip was able to save Elizabeth in the season climax.

I want them to somehow manage to settle in Sweden as it's the nearest place to perfect for them as it's the best combination of both their worlds. Cold War neutral, all the personal freedoms and modern conveniences that they are used to, but highly socialised health care, education, etc. And winter weather that would make them feel truly at home. The language would be easier for Paige and Henry to learn than Russian and if all four of the Jennings were starting a new life together it would breed less resentment with the kids than if Philip and Elizabeth were at 'home.' And it's always struck me that if Philip really were Scott then he wouldn't feel like shit all the time.

I watched the pilot last week and when Brandon tells the two guys that he and Marianne did something few other guys could handle. Their over the top reaction, and Marianne's own implied lack of virginity, made me think that he'd accidentally implied that they'd had anal. As it became obvious that they just assumed regular sex, which seems like a weird thing for the whole school to have been so awed by, I remembered something from when I'd first watched the episode. I was 13-14 and watched it in my friends house with her much older sister and her boyfriend, and when that scene came on, they both gasped and tittered at what happened, refused to tell us what they were so shocked/amused by. Then after a few minutes, said they'd gotten it wrong and everyone just thought Brandon and Marianne had sex. Obviously they must have made the anal assumption too.

At one of my aunts weddings in 1992 14 year old me can be seen in all the photos wearing my docs, a purple, kind of figure-skater style dress, a choker and a black velvet (Blossom) hat with the floppy peak pinned up above my face with a big diamonte brooch. And for warmth I had a short black bomber jacket with a really loud vaguely floral pattern in green, yellow, red and the same purple as my dress. Apart from the jacket I'd totally wear that outfit again if I could fit in it. In my head it's still the absolute epitome of cool. (I know the hat was awful but it gives me such nostalgia. I nearly wept when I saw the 90s ad for Greendale in Community.)

I think that the first half of the series was all about Martha and all happened in just a few weeks in show, followed by a time jump to the second half, somehow made this series seem very, very short.

Julius had done some spying for the Soviets but it's highly unlikely that he passed on specs for the atomic bomb, which is what he was convicted and executed for. He should have been facing 5-15 years in prison not execution. And the most Ethel could possibly have been guilty of, is knowing that Julius had done some minor spying for the Soviets, though there is no evidence of even that. What's really interesting to me is how well known this was to the general public even at the time of the execution. Their execution was widely denounced and over 10,000 attended their funeral.

I was just thinking that. I really enjoy watching Eigeman. He's also an actor who, like Todd Lowe, before I got to know him, I didn't always recognise him in all of his roles. I remember IMDBing him when I watches Last Days of Disco and being shocked that he was Jason. (Though I was less shocked that he was Malcolm in the Middle's horrible teacher.)

Of course the buck stops with an adult when it comes to who is responsible for their actions. But realistically how that adult was raised has an enormous impact on the adult they become. Rory was raised to have a sense of entitlement and used to constant praise. So when Mitchum told her she didn't have 'it' she reacted with anger and petulance, made a horrible decision and then deflated completely. If she had been given a more realistic grounding in her expectations about herself, she'd probably have had a good cry in the toilet after Mitchum's assessment of her and then talked to someone about what he said and maybe even worked out if there was any merit in his comments and learned from them. For example, she could have taken on board how she didn't contribute to the meeting they'd had just before their talk and decide to be more forward in future. It wasn't Lorelai's decision to steal a boat and drop out, but how she raised Rory made certain reactions and actions feel more natural for her.

I have developed a fear that it might. We saw last week how Stan doesn't want Oleg's demise on his conscience. He told Oleg that he was tasked with turning him and to stop meeting with him, to protect himself. I believe Stan meant that but of course when Oleg comes to him with the kind of information he gave him in this episode, Stan has to act on it. But if as an eventual result Oleg comes to a bad end, Stan is going to feel even more like crap. And it's that increasingly crappy emotional state that might compel him to show some sort of leniency toward his 'best friend' when he learns the truth about him. Which is how I potentially see the series climactic moment. Stan is in a position to arrest/kill P and/or E and he doesn't because he knows that if he does it will take an emotional toll he'll never recover from. But Oleg will be another person sacrificed to get Stan into this state. William knows so much though. Earlier in the season I was suspicious about why William was getting so much information out of Philip and what his motivation was. Now I'm sure William's motivation was honest, he just wanted to connect with a man in a similar position. But for the sake of the plot, William's knowledge about the Jennings, makes him so very, very dangerous if the FBI take him alive.

There is precedent for Paige being naive when it comes to Tim. She gave him all her money, a very considerable sum for someone her age in the early 80s, within months of knowing him. We also know that shortly after joining the church Paige ditched her old friends, like Shelley who is almost never mentioned post Grooveyhair, and the volleyball team. So I'm not sure that we can apply our own experiences to how Paige is feeling and reacting. Paige has no family beyond her nuclear one, I know that if I was a teenager and had discovered a troubling secret about my parents I would have had a number of trustworthy people to talk to, my grandmothers, my aunts/uncles, my best friend from childhood. I'd probably have tried to talk through how I was feeling by applying subterfuge, 'umm I have this 'friend' and she just found out her parents are really spies.......' and I'd probably have been as obvious as all hell. But Paige was under the influence of Tim's religious teaching which was never to lie and to trust him. It's really unsurprising that she confided in him. Ironically the fact he told Alice her secret almost immediately meant that he lost his hold over her.

Is that reality? Because when the Cohens were arrested and jailed they were traded after a few years and lived the rest of their lives together in Russia where they lived relatively comfortable lives. The Heathfield/Foley SVR agents who inspired this show were caught and back in Russia 2 weeks later. They now live comfortable lives in Russia, while their children suffer the loss of the Canadian citizenship and American schooling but still live comfortable, educated lives and have a relationship with their parents. As for the Rosenbergs, the boys didn't have to change their name, they were adopted and that meant taking their adoptive parents' name. They have never disassociated from their origins and have campaigned hard for their mother to be exonerated, (as she was almost certainly innocent) while running a charity to help children in similar situations. Even some of their own children, Ethel and Julius' grandchildren, have either joined their cause or used their background to further their own career in the case of Ivy Meerpool.