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So glad he is doing better-- it's so hard to watch a pet be seriously sick. I guess all eyes are now turning to ?? Canada, with the G7 and election.

I guess this third hour is still live, with the shouting dear leader in front of the helicopter? (Still 5:30 AM out here; I have trouble identifying "live" versus repeat hour some days) It jolted me awake when I heard him say Anthony Bourdain had died. What another shock. Maybe Joe/Mika covered that earlier? What a terrible loss. I didn't mind that they provided all the shouted question scene. Did he really say O.J. instead of Ali at one point, for a pardon? I did appreciate that the camera cut away from him to show the glum reactions of Sanders and Bolton as he kept spinning impromptu sentences to the gaggle.

Wow, the opening segment in Thursday, about the architectural firm that closed down eight hours after being approached about links to the Trump intrigue. I am watching the repeat show, and as she is talking about the Justice Department seizing NYT reporter emails, I am reading that the Senate aide whom she referenced was just arrested, hours after Rachel was reporting on the story.

Joe just said "Monica Lewin's life is ruined," and I went who is that? Then looked up at the chyron and saw they were talking about Bill Clinton. I must have missed a Bill Clinton interview on another show. Mika' vouce is trembling with outrage.

Thanks, and I will hope to find this in the Media thread. That is the only scene I watched again, because so much was happening beyond what was said.

The one moment that really took my breath away and shocked me as it happened was Stan walking into the garage and heartily saying "HI, WHAT ARE YOU ALL DOING?" I expected him to trail them or call the FBI teams. But just walking in there -- shocked me. I could feel all of their blood run cold. (But man, all the fake friendship Philip expressed for Stan was as believable as Philip saying the car was a loaner and their actual car was in the shop. This tells you how fast and convincingly he was lying throughout. Salesman, for his family's life. And Elizabeth did not hesitate to use her daughter as an emotional hostage. "Stan, it's *Paige*.") The moment that had me laughing hysterically was Philip saying "She might be one of us." I was expecting some sort of reveal about her, but that was just hilarious to me. I could not even focus on them driving out, because I was still laughing. (Such a reaction because I was waiting for it, and I did not expect Philip to spill the alleged beans..) The most moving moment for me was Philip tearing through the train compartments to get to Elizabeth after they both saw Paige on the station platform. Then they separately glanced at each other and struggled to process this, side by side, breaking protocol to deal with this shock together.

I'm going out on a limb here and saying "no" to any visit of the USA, where they would be arrested on suspicion of espionage and probably murder, etc., and also probably not to any country from which they could be extradited to the USA. As many posters here have said, the bigger question is whether Henry and Paige would want to visit them -- my guess is that Paige would be much more likely to want to visit them in Russian, when that becomes possible. Who will pay her rent and tuition now? I was surprised that Philip was willing to cut back on Henry's tuition, but still subsidize Paige's apartment; maybe she had a scholarship at GW for tuition. If it can be proved that at least some of the equity in the house came from the travel agency, would the children be able to share in the profit from its sale? I hope they both have good lawyers; Henry does not need a criminal defense, but he will have a host of legal issues, and will also need a court-appointed guardian. (Maybe Stan, but opinions here vary for good reasons.)

Yes, when the question was asked here, it seemed that not everyone was aware of START (the arms deal), because some posters wanted to spell the episode title in all caps like the treaty, and others thought it was "Start" -- and I just said I thought it probably would end up having both meanings, but could guess at who was having a new "start". Turns out mostly Philip and Elizabeth had the new start. Interestingly, Ronald Reagan also had a policy in the early 1980s called "Fresh Start" -- about Middle East peace. I mention this only because it was from the same era! Here is a link from 1982: https://www.nytimes.com/1982/09/05/weekinreview/reagan-s-fresh-start-is-begin-s-anathema.html Absolutely agree -- they were always updating their own escape plan, and I could not imagine they had not had ANY discussion of what to do with Paige and Henry.

I can see that if everyone needs some paychecks in the future, there is plenty of unresolved plot that could lead to a followup special.

I guess I'm in the minority also. This finale could have worked if the writing leading up to it had been different. We did no need Elizabeth slaughtering someone at 10:55 most episodes this season if the plan was to let her escape. We didn't need three FBI agents killed. The preparation for this final confrontation could have been prepared in an entirely different way. But the writers chose a final confrontation that had lying rather than friendship. That's why it was false to me. Because it was not based on friendships, but on lies. And lack of justice. Elizabeth did not have to be so monstrous, leading up to this.

About the phone call preparation: Philip and Elizabeth telling Paige, "you have to sound normal, and you can't let him think anything is wrong." Then Philip gets on the phone: "I love you son, and we are all so very, very proud of you, we need to be sure you know that." Henry, "You drunk?" Good job sounding normal, Philip.

I never thought that was a safe house -- those are for people you need to stash to hide from the authorities, like they did with Martha. This just seemed like Claudia's sparse apartment, like Gabriel's sparse apartment. It was temporary lodging until she and he went home.

Plus, I think Martha left the U.S. thinking she was actually married to "Clark"/Philip, so she may well believe he is her husband. And yes, I think she will be shocked to see "Jennifer"/Elizabeth with him! I am sure Gabriel or someone who replaced him is keeping track of Martha.

Two rows behind Elizabeth, in the aisle seat, was someone who looked so much like Erica's husband!

Henry is the real loser in this -- another reason why the "happy ending" for the parents seems so false. And Henry would have been even more the loser if they had taken him back to Russia. But it sounds like they would have been caught if they had tried to get him at school. It will be a shadow he carries into the future, although there are many careers where having spy parents will not matter. But definitely closes off some careers.

They would have been extradited from Canada. I have to wonder why Elizabeth thought she would be having a future in Russia, after killing their deputy officer in DC and confessing to someone who appears to have beat her back to Russia. I would expect an inquiry, and maybe Nina-justice.

Spydar.

They certainly will compare the Clark fingerprint to Philip's, so will realize he was Clark, and directly bugging the FBI. And then link him to the murder of the computer tech guy? But this means Philip led to the downfall of Gaad. If they really had just been written as non-violent espionage agents, I could see letting them go. But what a horrible trail of violence they left.

Someone above in this page quoted a note from Emmerich to the writers saying this. Don't know if it is real.

And ironically, the message about the coup, which led to Claudia leaving, never did get sent. Apparently, there were still teams that did cleanup remaining!

Here's the thing for me: they basically turned Elizabeth into a vicious feral monster this season, killing in truly nasty ways for minor reasons. The military office hitting on Paige, the poor schlub with a girlfriend at the warehouse, the Teacups, more. These were awful, bloody killings. THE FBI AGENTS IN CHICAGO. How could Stan let that go in particular? If they knew they were going to let her off the hook, WHY make this the most vicious killing season for her?

"fucking piece of shit" And yes, Philip mind-fucked Stan. Shitty to end with telling him his wife "might be one of us". Because that is not what a "friend" does when departing forever. Passive aggressive move to put the final nail in Stan's paralysis.

Yes, Stan, we are pretty sure you are right to wonder:

but Marilyn's hair is in other cars in DC, along with Paige's. DNA (new, but being used in 1987) would connect them. I don't think that is enough to send Paige to jail, though. A good lawyer could suggest other ways her hair got there, especially if Elizabeth's hair is in the cars as well. There are going to be a lot of abandoned cars in DC now that the KGB has gone poof, for now.

Paige can tell the agency that Stan betrayed the FBI. That is called mutually assured destruction, in arms talk parlance.