JennyMominFL

I just realized that they used Deutschland 83's theme songs, Major Tom (Coming Home)

That was good. So many things that I remember. I wondered if they would address the almost nuclear war in Sept of 83. I was traumatized by the Day After but even more so by Threads.. The British equivilent.

NO, it was more to point out that working mothers and latchkey kids were something that both people shared and that both cultures of the time would not have viewed Elizabeth's time away from home as shocking or unusual. But it also means that the Jenningses would not have seen it is a negative characteristic of Capitalism, for both parents to be working long hours and leaving kids at home. I too would expect Elizabeth to be more strict, and certainly my own mother spoke to me many times, in way that was more harsh than Elizabeth did with Paige in this episode.

Yup, I too was a latchkey kid. I was also babysitting by 12. It was very very normal back then. Numbers wise 86% of Soviet Baby boomer women worked outside of the home compared to 42% of American women. Soviets had the highest rates of female employment in the world

Since this weeks episode is the Day After, I would like to recommend the film Threads. It came out at around the same time as the day after. It traumatized me when I first saw it. It's a BBC production and is very intense. It's better than the Day After. I'm not sure if it's OK to post the link.

My professor in my last cold war class said that Russians often called Afghanistan the Soviet Vietnam

yeah, and Apologize. I didn't mean to imply that a buffer was the only reason. It was true, but there were definitely other factors that are far less easy to understand or accept. For one they needed the water ports that the Balkans and Ukraine could give them. I mean, they have been fighting over Crimean ports since Peter the Great. And Stalin was a cruel, vile ,power-hungry man who wanted an empire

It not a theory though, about the buffer. That's really what they were doing and they left documents declaring just that. In March of 1946, in response to Churchill's Iron Curtain speech , Stalin gave and interview in rebuttal. He specifically states thet the USSR needed a buffer. It As for the eastern countries, you are right to a degree. Lithuania, for example, had been a part of the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth. They were actually annexed by Russia in the last decade of the 1700's. There was an attempt to establish and Independent Lithuanian state during WW1, but it failed. Moldova, went back and fourth, being part of the Russian Empire, then not, before the Revolution. Eastern Europe has also spent 100 or so years prior to the Revolution experiencing so-called Russification, in which their usual cultures and languages were lost. Languages like Belarussian, Lithuanian, Polish and Moldavan were completely lost in many places. Canada never really tried to invade us. In reality, we were the invaders with Mexico. Russia was repeatedly invaded for 150 years or so most famously, by both Germany and by Napoleon. Russia also felt they had longstanding claims in many of the Eastern Block nations due in part to the above reasons. Bernie wouldn't be remotely close enough to communist for Elizabeth to support him.

Yes, Russia was constantly being invaded for about 150 years preceding WW2. I can sort of understand(but not necessarily agree with) why they felt they needed a buffer. Also. They viewed the Marshall plan as almost a direct attack against the. We didn't just do it out of the kindness of our hearts. If we had not helped West Germany and other areas, they may very well have become communists of their own free will. When you are starving and your cities are in ruins you will take help from anywhere. I think a lot of people are unaware that we tried to invade Russia from the east. We really wanted to control, or at least help Japan control a port on that coast.

I know, it's like the Mail Robot is a full-fledged character. Bring it back! Re the poster above me and when does this end for Paige, I think it would be okay if she had a legitimate reason for leaving. School, Marriage, etc. But just stopping going when she is still right there at the same time might set off some alarms. I don't think she will have to spend the rest of her life(or at least until 89-91) keeping watch on Pastor Tim.

I must say that most of the time, I think the people that say it are genuine. I just say thanks back and move along. The only thing that bugs me is that when I get a military discount or something, people always say ,"thank you for your service" to my husband when it's me that served. I also can't say I've ever meant anyone who was in the Marines because it was jail or military.In fact, I know some who were not allowed to join for minor things on their record.

As a Marine, I disagree with Barbra. I fought or free speech, all free speech, including speech I disagree with. In fact, that's sort of the whole point of it. Barbra needs to get off my TV

The rules are more strict for having dairy after meat, then having meat after dairy. Traditionally one must wait at least 6 hours after meat to have dairy, but it one has dairy, they can clean out their mouth, wash their hands, and have meat

I'm assuming because they are Russian. The USSR was a union of separate states, with the biggest being Russia. In the book I just read the interviewees called it Russia too. I thnk it's like saying, we could go back to California. But also, Russia was almost viewed as an ethnicity . Ukrainians called themselves Ukrainians, and Georgians called themselves Georgians. IME Soviet citizens still held to their individual nationalities.

I agree with you. I would have gone to The USSR, especially the USSR of the 80's.I just finished reading the book Soviet Baby Boomers, which had hundreds upon hundreds of interviews with citizens ,about their lives from the 50's up to around 2000. A chunk of them preferred life under communism, and these were not party members, just regular citizens. NO, they didn't have a lot of things to choose from in stores but they had what the needed. Communal housing was much less in the 80's than it was in the 60's. In the 60's the housing market was still recovering from the war. A lot of the deprivation in the 50's and 60's was less about communism and more about recovering from war. While the government told them where to work, there was no real unemployment, No one was homeless ,everyone had medical care, family leave, day care etc. Now their stories about their parent's generations were harrowing and life was tough in the 50's and 60's, but most had fond memories of their lives in the USSR. Things didn't get better for most of them when the USSR fell. It got worse and took 10+ years to really get better. The life expectancy even dropped dramatically in the 90's. As some of them said, yes, there were more things to buy at the store after the fall of communism, but what does that matter when you have no money? I don't know how Martha would do. It would be a shock to the system. The living standards would definitely be lower, but people are more adaptable than you would think.

And then a whole lot of people in her small town die under mysterious circumstances?

I have to say that I initially believed Martha was a weak person. I don't think so anymore

At least perestroika is right around the corner. Although that could be good or bad for her.

Definitely a stab in the dark on my part , as I have no clue where they are going with her. Damn this show is good lately. Between watching this and Underground last night I am surprised I didn't have a stroke

The USSR of the late 60's is very different from the one Martha is going too though. What if Tatiana is the double agent and she gives up Martha to the FBI?

I thought for sure Gaad was going to commit suicide.

I actually thought Gabriel might be sending Phillip away so that he could kill Martha himself.

My stomach hurts. I went between nausea and wanting to cry. Intense.

At one point last night, during Trumps speech, I told my son, 2 choices of things to watch, both full of sh**

It could...Sept 1 1983