SmoothCriminal

You should consider yourself lucky. My mom was born in 1959 and I really envy her. Everytime I ask my mom's generation about their youth, the answer is always the same: relaxed, layed back, no worries about the future, jobs were available everywhere... I just love the 60s, 70s and most especially the 80s: The fashion, the music and that people weren't so over reliant on technology. It's just not like that anymore. And yes it's funny how fast times change. I was in Moscow a couple of years back. The young Russians I talked to weren't any different than young Germans my age. To them, Russia is just Russia and not the Soviet Union anymore. Just as for me, Germany is Germany, there is no East or West. That kind of thinking is foreign to us. At least, these were my impressions. And that only took one generation. Let's just hope an old Soviet guy named Putin doesn't destroy all of that in the future!

Were Americans really allowed to enter the Soviet Union (generally speaking)? Weren't foreigners regarded with suspicion there? I am sorry if these questions come of as stupid, but I have no personal recollection of the Soviet Union at all. I was born in 1990. That's why I just can't imagine how this will work out in the show, but I guess we will all find out next week. I met a German guy once who had been living in the US for almost 30 years. He spoke German with an accent and occasionally could not recall certain words. He did however speak English perfectly. It is definitely possible with enough training and practise to loose your original accent.

Elizabeth's and Paige's trip is really happening. In the preview, when they are crossing the street and Paige says "What's going on?", there is a neon sign behind them. It says "Apotheke", which is German for drugstore. I am guessing they are going to cross over to the "eastern block" from West Berlin and then continue on to the Soviet Union. I don't know what to think about this plotline. I believe it is possible for the KGB to arrange th logistics of this trip, but it doesn't make any sense to allow an american born teenager without any russian language skills into the Soviet Union. I mean, does Paige have to stay silent the entire time they are there? Also, Elizabeth now speaks Russian with an accent. How will they fend for themselves without arousing any suspicion? That said, I can't wait to see the finale. The Martha/Phillip scene at the end was intense and I am guessing it's gonna be even more so in the next episode. I believe Philip will kill Martha and it's gonna be extremely hard to watch. My prediction is that Philip will hesitate, thus giving Martha the opportunity to get her gun and turn it on Philip. Of course, Martha will still end up dead, but Philip won't have time to make it look like a suicide. That would open up a whole other can of worms in S4. I mean at some point, the writers have to set Stan on E and P's path. I believe they already have set the groundwork for it.

 You must have read my mind. That's what I've always thought about Philip's past. He might be disillusioned about the KGB and maybe even The Cause, but he is still a Russian patriot. Every time the topic of Russians dying comes up, he becomes visibly upset. That wouldn't be surprising if he is a few years older than Elizabeth and actually has memories of the unbelievable suffering in Russia during WWII. I don't know about the intelligentsia thing, but one thing that struck out to me in S1 was when Stan brought over some expensive caviar. Philip expertly cut up a plate to eat with the caviar and shared it with Elizabeth. She said she has never tried it because her family couldn't afford it. Philip of course, didn't reply anything. Then again, maybe all Russians know how and with what to eat caviar. Personally I don't, so maybe that's why it stuck out to me. Isn't it possible that Philip was the only one of his family to survive the siege of Leningrad and was then evacuated to live in an orphanage in Tobolsk? In Germany, there was something called "Kinderlandverschickung". Lots of children were evacuated from the cities, which were bombed by allied air planes, to live in the countryside where it was more safe. Maybe the Soviets had something similar.

I barely recognized anything from the beer list. I am a 90s kid and not American, though. I take it German beer wasn't popular back then? As a German, I should be offended xD

Elizabeth's line "We can't go back" was a little weird. Philip suggested to bring her mother to the US (not to get Elizabeth home), so she couldn't have meant "We can't go back to Russia". More likely, she meant "We can't go back to our old lifes", because in training they were clearly instructed to never even discuss them again. So given how indoctrinated by and devoted to the KGB Elizabeth is, Philip's suggestion would seem pretty ludicrous and unrealistic to her. However, I understand where Philip was coming from. He may still feel loyalty towards the Soviet Union and his fellow countrymen (as evidenced again this episode by his answer to Yousaf "MY PEOPLE are dying in Afghanistan"), but when it comes down to it, he will put his family first. He saw that his wife was hurting, wanted to make her feel better and would have gone to considerable length to do so. Also, now that I think about it, Philip often uses expressions like "MY People" in relation to fellow Russians, but when it comes to the KGB he always refers to them as "They" (like this episode "THEY owe you that much"). It's like Philip is disillusioned with the organisation and knows that in the end, they wouldn't care one bit for his well being (or that of his familiy) if it conflicted with an important mission or The Cause. Yet, when the issue of Russians dying comes up (like in S2 in the Afghan restaurant or when he was told the soldiers in the submarine died), Philip gets incredibly upset. He is such a fascinating character! I want to know more about his past so badly, I literally screamed at the TV at the end of the episode when he didn't say anything back to Elizabeth. There just has to be a reason for that. I hope the writers are building up the suspence just to have some big reveals in a Philip centric episode down the road. I expect great scenes between Anet Mahendru and Katja Herbers, who plays the Belgian woman. Like Anet, she had a somewhat international upbringing and speaks several languages fluently (German, Dutch, English). They seem like a good fit and the scenes at the Soviet prison had me hanging at the edge of my seat. I can't imagine where the writers are going with this, but I am excited to find out. The funniest moment in this episode was in the bar! "We should do this more often" really cracked me up. The most gruesome moment was of couse Annalise being stuffed in the suitcase. I had to stop eating lunch for a moment... But given that I'v been obsessed with The Walking Dead lately, I've seen worse.

This seems like the plotline of Allegiance, which will start to air this thursday. Are you guys planning to watch it? I will probably check it out. It won't be as good as The Americans, but the family dynamic seems interesting. A former KGB spy is approached by a member of SVR, who tells her and her american husband (also a former spy) to recruit their son. He is a young CIA Agent and very good at his job. The older daughter already knows the secret and seems to be working with SVR.

The new guy sure is on board, the question is for what exactly? With Paige, I've gotten the impression that she is supposed to join a government agency and spy for the Soviet Union by copying files, spilling the beans on secret meetings or influencing policies and such. That would be a different job discription than a Directorate S officer. It means no honey trapping, going on super secret dangerous missions with the potential of getting caught or even killing people. Maybe that's how Elizabeth justifies wanting to recruit Paige. For a government job, she would need a good education and a pristine record, what Elizabeth wants for her daughter anyhow. With the added benefit that she potentially gets to indoctrinate Paige with the same ideals that she was indoctrinated with herself. It's the ideological part that I am interested in. The way I see it, it's a form of brain washing. How exactly do you get somebody so dedicated to a cause, they would betray the country they were born in for it? The show has hinted at this before, I just think it would be interesting to see the whole process in detail. Phillip is an extremely fascinating character and I'm frustrated at how little background information we get on him. I get the sense that, he is an orphan who grew up dirt poor. It would explain why his "family comes first" and why he loves that in the US "food is pretty great" and "electricity works all the time". Also, I am wondering if he has actual memories of the war. I am guessing he is a few years older than Elizabeth, who was born around 1940/1941. I really hope we get more flashbacks of Mischa this season. Or even some great little moments like the one in "The Deal", when Phillip and Elizabeth talked about icicles and winter in Russia.

The Americans is one of my favourite shows and I'm so glad it's finally back on! The first 10 minutes of the premiere certainly raised the stakes right from the start. The fight scene was great and now the FBI has a new scetch/description to go on. I would be seriously disapointed if Stan doesn't put the pieces together over the course of this season. From what I've read online though, some viewers think that Elizabeth beating the crap out of 2 guys was unrealistic. I don't think so! She totally got the drop on them, used the element of surprise and took out Gaad right away. When the other guy had her in a choke hold, she smartly used the oncoming motorcycle to her advantage. Overall, I thought the opening sequence was well done. The FBI getting a new defector could be really interesting, too. I think the US-Canada Institute might be where Directorate S agents learn how to speak English and fit into american/canadian society so perfectly. If that's true, the FBI is gonna get some really interesting insights into the KGBs training process. Martha knowing how to use a gun is not gonna end well. For her that is. She is probably gonna point that thing at Clark sooner or later and end up getting herself killed. Who was the guy Elizabeth was teaching countersurveillance? I couldn't place his accent. That scene felt rather random to me and it didn't give us any explanation of what this is even about. I am interested to see the whole recruitment and training process, but I would much rather see it play out with Paige than with some other character. Hopefully we'll get to see Nina next week!