lazylou

I wondered about Philip being able to outrun the younger men, but he did jog, apparently, and play handball regularly with Stan, so he stayed in shape. Also, once out of sight he had the presence of mind to ditch the glasses and change hats. And, has been said earlier was fortuitously dressed in layers.

Thanks, I did see that woman but failed to register the significance.

The Feebs say they are waiting for surveillance footage -- from the meet with Father Andrei, apparently. But in 1987, how much footage would there be? maybe the video mentioned is of more garages. Maybe one of the watchers has a camera. if Stan sees Philip on a video, he will likely recognize him disguised or not...he will be able to recognize him by the way he moves. So I agree. Better for Philip to assume he is blown and to warn Elizabeth right away.

I live in Denver and always get very annoyed when neighborhoods, etc., are clearly not Denver but are supposed to be. (Pre-sixties housing here in the city was brick...much of which is now painted, but still brick...and movies are always trying to pass off Victorian era frame houses as being Denver. So...do shots supposed to be in DC look right? I do not require that everything be done in the correct location...just that it looks like it was.

In fact, it sure seems to have snowed a lot in the 80s in DC. It all looks like Brooklyn to me!

The last episode did establish a couple of time elements. The garages will be searched in 48 hours...and Father Viktor will be brought in for questioning. Father Viktor is the wrong priest to lead them to P and E, but Father Andrei is likely to find out the FBI is looking. And we do not know which garages will be searched nor what the search will unearth. Wigs, etc., I suppose. P and E will be tipped the Feebs are on their tails, unless they are actually caught there. So they will have two goals: getting their kids and leaving the country and short circuiting the proposed coup. Christmas might be meaningful to Henry and Paige, but not really to E and P who grew up in the Soviet Union where religions was officially discouraged. I imagine Stan will go back to see Oleg. That meeting offers some intriguing possibilities...

Elizabeth says she has to go out to protect whatever his name is, so she expects Claudia to kill him or to order someone else to do so. Maybe this will be how Claudia dies...

Look at the awards for which they have been nominated, have won. Plus, they met each other. At least I assume that is how they came together.

Well, Elizabeth would certainly be JUSTiFIED if she contrives to end Claudia! (Sorry. Could not resist.)

Yes, true, he would have been the driver. Life insurance then.

Wasn't there a case of a girl born to Russian illegals arrested in NYC a few years back? Maybe Paige becomes that girl. I think both E and Philip will work now to save the Gorbachev faction, even Gorbachev himself since he is in the US, which puts them historically on the right side. So somehow they will either die or disappear...if Paige continues in this country, her parents cannot be unmasked as spies...so maybe they die. Maybe they fake their deaths with the help of the Gorbachev faction, and return to Russia, where Philip gets to meet Mischa and becomes good buddies with Oleg. Henry refuses to answer phone calls from his dad, so he is in the dark until much later Paige tells him the truth. He gets to stay at his fancy school because he (and Paige) inherit life insurance, proceeds of the house and whatever might be left from the travel agency (if anything. ) Maybe Stan becomes executor of the will and Henry's guardian; a car accident would be good because people may doubt Philip would have had life insurance, but he would have been required to have auto insurance. maybe the Orthodox priest could help them secure a substitute body or two to stage the wreck. Maybe Renee does something to assist in their escape from Stan, who knows the truth, who really likes Henry and would do nothing to mess up his life. I like the suggestion of Renee making a chalk mark on a mail box... Also like the idea of Elizabeth feeding the poison pill to Claudia to protect the Russian diplomat. Claudia has been quite terrible throughout... No doubt the writers had something completely different I mind, but I like my proposed ending!

It does seem odd to include an apparent shopping spree in this carefully sequenced series of events. We already see P has been on a spending bender; he has already admitted to Stan that he sees there is no need to grow...staying the same would be better, maybe...acknowledging his bad business decisions. He has made amends to Stavos and does seem to expect he may die...but I have trouble imagining anyone buying a suit to be buried or to die in. I think the suit has some future purpose; for some reason he thinks he needs a suit that is both right in style and a little too big (though the salesman suggests alterations. ) . He has admitted to E that they are ultimately responsible for the things they have done...in fact, he has prepared us for his death in the manner prescribed by the Greeks. But, this is American TV, so accepting responsibility may not be a precursor to death. On on the other hand, I see no such acceptance of fate on the part of E. She has at last come to see that she is a pawn of the Center. Why did it not seem to bother her that the biological weapons had been used as weapons and not simply as a means for devising an antibody, that it was going to take years for the Soviets to use the miracle wheat they'd stolen, or even that the plans they stole for the submarines actually caused the death of many Russian seaman (why didn''t the Russians test the system before putting it to use?) Maybe the most we can hope for her is the place she is now...she knows she has been used ...but this is not the same as accepting responsibility for her actions. Lacy Macbeth goes crazy from guilt before she commits suicide, but E is likely to die or be arrested trying to make her Cause great again...that may not be quite Aristotelian, but it would work, I think, for us to accept her death. But I am an American. This is a TV show. Maybe everything will turn out OK in the end...Gorbachev still has some time left, P and E can help Arkady and Oleg bring down the saboteurs in the Center, return to Russia, meet Mischa Jr., help Paige learn Russian, and live happily ever after. Well, OK for everyone except Henry. But maybe he can change his name, go into a field that will not require a security clearance, and live happily ever after.

Protagonists...but not heroes. P is easier for us to sympathize with because he struggles with the morality of his actions, particularly in later seasons as he realizes the Kremlin has lied about the purposes of their missions. Ultimately, his driving purpose is the safety of E and the kids. E is a true believer and like a true believer is willing to accept any means to reach the desired ends...in her case, the safety of the USSR.

Well, I actually agree with you...I had trouble at the end of last season buying her longing looks at her kitchen and her clothing. I think those responses are very human, though, and we should have seen more of that I. Earlier seasons...

At the end of last season, Elizabeth, after killing the woman/war criminal in Boston, said she wanted to go home. They decided to take the kids and go...but as P listens to the tape from Kimmie's and resigns himself to staying, Elizabeth is shown looking lovingly at her American home and her well stocked clothes closet...as though she is succumbing to what she has always accused P of ... Her devotion to the Cause is not the only reason she so quickly decides to stay. In the first season, E apparently plans to raise the kids as American Socialists and maybe never going back, realizing her soft American children could not survive in the USSR...which plans of course prove to be impossible. I think throughout we see E fighting the temptations of capitalism. .. A temptation that makes her feel guilty. It is true she is cold blooded and fanatic, but she has always cared about her children. She has seen the unhappiness of the Russian boy...and surely she realizes how difficult life would be for H and P in Russia. She is a more complex character throughout than some think.

Just watched the episode a second time. E and P are completely unaware of how the Feebs are tracking them down by using the info on the tradecraft used in Chicago. It is clear to us that P will have a better disguise when he goes to see the priest...but...I cannot remember. Did they wear disguises with the priest? So P, not E, is walking into surveillance. Interesting P has rented a Russian movie...all about a coop garage, apparently, and, if you read the subtitles, about how useless it is to oppose the coop management. Underlining, maybe, P's experience with trying to reason with his handlers over the years.

I have been wondering about this, too...especially looking at that suit! I do not buy the idea of a suicide suit...who buys a new suit for his burial? This is another costume, this time a high fashion one. And now we know Stavros knows a thing or two, yet another stone for Stan to turn...but the visit may have been intended to keep Stavros silent a little while longer. It does seem as though Philip is making amends. Maybe he is getting set to a) turn himself in and make a deal of some sort...but why would he need the suit? b) finally go home, c) run some sort of con in a last gasp effort to save the day for his beloved Elizabeth and the kids.

I have found that I recognize people I know fairly well from quite a distance by the way they move. It has always bothered me that Stan saw Elizabeth moving down the street in one of the earlier seasons...just prior to her being shot...and did not think...wow! Is that Elizabeth? Or, maybe my memory misleads and he did not actually observe her but was in a distant car.

What is not realistic: Usually it is a young man hired to be the new drama teacher who puts on a controversial show, then finds his contract is not renewed the following year. The kids walk out, protest, go to the school board...all to no avail That is what REALLY happens. Here they had an experienced teacher...he reminded me of the teacher in Updike's The Centaur...volunteer to take over the play. Advantage to the storyline: It will be hard to fire him. The union will go to bat for him. I believe an older teacher would volunteer to take over the drama department, but I doubt he would cancel a show already in production or cast a star football player during football season, especially one who is already on the edge of ineligibility. Nor would he be surprised when he runs into trouble with Spring Awakening. I think he would postpone shaking things up and go with something like Grease, or, as mentioned above, Bye Bye Birdie. The controversy could have been in the casting. I am a Jason Katims fan from way back...and I yield to his knowledge of what has to happen these days in the pilot episode, but, as mentioned over and over above, this is too much.

I agree that Jep is acting very strangely. Sometimes, though, his body language seems to indicate he likes Shawniece. I think he is very inexperienced with women. Shawniece with her desperate efforts to get him to show affection also clearly shows a certain inexperience with people. Seems like a more extreme example of what played out during the Miami season between the social worker and the Air BnB super host. That season, the woman moved out ... ultimately, it did not work out, but the couple managed to play being on the show for all it was worth. I think Jaclyn should refer to her deceased boyfriend by his name. "Ex" does indicate something other than the reality. And "late" seems awfully formal. The experts ought never to have matched her to anyone...whether you like Ryan or not, he has little chance with Jackie because she is still in mourning. And why, though Jon is very gracious to get rid of his cat, would the "experts" match a cat owner with someone who has a cat allergy? Again, this has happened previously, as a woman afraid of dogs was matched to a man who liked his dogs a lot more than he liked her.

In many ways, I thought the season was great. But another problem for me was that outdoor scenes often showed trees fully leafed out...meanwhile, it was supposed to be Christmas or maybe, later in the season, early spring. If they had to begin filming in March, why did they not change the script to match? I don't know. Maybe trees do not loose their leaves in England; some of the shrubs did appear to be broad leaf evergreens, but I also noticed a number of clearly deciduous trees. And, though I love the period costuming, sometimes the women appeared inadequately dressed for winter weather. Apparently the Brummie accent is difficult; Adrien Brody could just have gone with an American accent...just as we Americans cannot tell when the actors are successfully pulling off the Brummie accent, I doubt Brits heard the Brooklyn in Brody's rasp.

Did no one notice the trees are in full bloom at John's house the afternoon he is shot? it is supposed to be Christmas!

I rewatched the final couple of episodes last night. I did not mind the Marlon Brando imitation so much the second time around, but I have a new question: What happened to the Solomons operation that Changretta took over, and that of the London Italians? I still don't believe the miraculous solution to the vendetta, nor do I believe the Peaky Blinders would (really) agree to turn over everything to the Changrettas after Arthur's apparent death. The lack of negotiation hints that Tom has a plan...so that part did not bother me the first time through the episode...but I still do not buy the solution. Even so, I think this has been a great series and I look forward to the fifth season in 2019.

Actually, I agree. Changretta seemed like a joke.

I thought the idea of Luca Changretta showing up to revenge his parents ...and a brother, too, I think...was a good underlying problem for the season. At the same time. Knight sets up the labor problems; this is a continuation of the story from previous seasons, but it remains secondary in this season. But... I had trouble believing the final episode and the resolution to the vendetta, which had occupied most of the previous episodes. What, all those gunmen who show up with Luca are suddenly Capone's Chicago guys? I believe Tommy could make a deal with Capone via phone and send Michael to NYC to close the deal...by sea, remember...it is still the twenties...but the betrayal of all Changretta's hired gunmen from either Italy or NY seems bogus. A more believable ending requires that someone ambushes and kills him, surely; let Tommy be saved by Arthur when Changretta makes a final attempt to kill Tommy...thinking Tommy is the last man standing. Meanwhile, I think the Red/Labor Union issues needed a bit more development. This is all too hastily shoved into the background. As someone else noted earlier, Jessie gives up names far too quickly. There needs to have been a couple more episodes. Everything is too condensed here. While I do believe Tommy would have been able to discredit the Reds and turn the labor movement into the Labour Party...after all, that happened...the show did make short shrift of all of that after setting up the Jessie Eden character. Sort of. I thought the Jessie Eden character ought to have been based on an historical character, but given a different name...she did serve to remind Tommy of what and who he had been before the war. I think a return to or a reminder of what had once been important to him helps us buy his turn to unions, politics, and all that. At the end Jessie seems to realize she has been used ... the camera catches a surprised look on her face when she sees Lizzie at the end walking out with Tom and the baby. But do we know for sure that he has married Lizzie? As someone noted earlier, he would not be the first MP with an illegitimate child. After all, he is a known gangster and I doubt those who voted for him would imagine he was a faithful husband and family man in the traditional sense. On the issue of so little of Michael being seen this season, it may be true that filming of Peaky Blinders may have begun before filming of Animal Kingdom ended. Also, I think Finn Cole was in two other movies made in the summer. At the same time, we have the addition of two major actors to the cast, Aiden Gillen and Adrien Brody. In six episodes, there is only so much screen time available. Did anyone besides me think the Marlon Brando/Don Corleone accent Brody adopted was a hoot?