AliShibaz

I enjoyed this post and wanted to tell you that. I wasn't sure how to react to your previous posts where you strongly criticized the writing. But you made good logical arguments and I have to respect that whether I agree with you or not. I have never considered Stan in the light you suggest. But when I do, I have to admit that you could have hit the nail right on the head. It would be so very enjoyable to see Stan do one stupid thing after the other for the next 26 episodes. (two seasons with 13 episodes in each one means there are 26 episodes remaining - at least I think so.) At any rate, I just wanted to tell you that I enjoyed this post very much. Well done!

I'm always sad to see the end of a season. This show brings me so much enjoyment. I so look forward to every Wed night and the new episode. It feels so crushing to have to wait 9 months (approx) until the next season. Like many others here, I also don't know how I feel about this finale. I suppose I'll need to watch it a few more times. I previously posted that I dreaded the season would end in a cliffhanger where the question would be, "Will Paige betray her parents or not?". I'm very happy that isn't the issue. But I suppose the issue is, "Will P&E pack up their kids and move back to Russia?" That just seems absurd to me. The kids would freak out and rightly so. They may decide to go back to Russia and leave the kids in the USA. After all, the kids are US citizens - in fact, in heart and in mind. They could likely do OK in the US by themselves. I suppose P&E could always keep in touch by phone or mail. Couldn't they? The main issue would be to find some responsible adults to act as their guardians. But they must ensure both kids understand they are US citizens and don't have to move if they don't want to. At least not once they reach the age of 18 (I think). The kids must understand that once they turn 18 they become adults and they need to understand all the legal ramifications of that. It might be very clever to get the pastor and his wife to act as their guardians. If they did, it's extremely unlikely they would ever turn in P&E for fear of harming the kids. But, I can't imagine P&E would ever leave their kids in the US and move to Russia. I suppose they really have little choice. They will likely stay in the USA and take their chances. But they need to explain to Paige she must never tell anyone she knew they were Russian agents. She can concoct some lie about telling Pastor Dim. She can say she thought her parents were just joking. But I'm thinking she might be able to be charged with some kind of crime if she knows they are KGB agents and didn't turn them in. I'm not sure about that. Does anyone know for sure? Anyway, it's an interesting question. I'd love to hear from anyone else who has an opinion. If you were P&E, what would you do in this situation? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Also, we now have a new and very interesting plot line. Misha Jr. I seem to recall there is some other TV show or movie in which a married man tells his wife that he had a child with another woman many, many years ago and at first she freaks out but then agrees to accept the child (who is almost an adult) and she is willing to welcome them into her home. Does anyone know the show or movie to which I'm referring? They wouldn't start this plot line if Misha Jr would be unable to find his father. So, I'm fairly certain that one day next season he will turn up and introduce himself to Phillip. Best if Stan wasn't present at the time. In fact, P could not afford to ever be seen together with Mish Jr. until he learns to speak English with no accent. There would just be too many questions otherwise. But they should be able to get 3 episodes out of E's upset over learning Misha Jr. is in town. Eventually, I would hope she would agree to accept him into her family or at least as much as possible. They would have to find some kind of cover story for him of course. Lastly, I think it's time to say good bye and "have a good retirement to Gabriel". I really enjoy Frank Langella. He has made some great movies and I have posted about that in the appropriate thread under "The Americans". Dang it! I was certain that I posted that in the thread, "The Soviet Union is No More: Casting News, Story Arc Info". But now I can't seem to find it. When Gabriel spoke about the job, "not being forever", I think he was talking about himself. However, despite how much I admire and appreciate Frank Langella, I think it would be good for the show to have him retire and bring in a fresh youthful handler. I think his time is up. He's done a great job. It's just time to move on. I have so much more I'd like to say. But I think I should have mercy on you all and allow other people to express their opinions too. Thank you all so very much for putting up with me. I appreciate all the comments you have made and all the times you have answered my questions. I am pretty much amazed that after participating in this forum for an entire season, I can honestly say that I don't hate anyone here. That has never happened before. I very much enjoy and respect a great many of you and I sincerely hope we can pick up this discussion again next season. Bless you all!

Wow! It never dawned on me. But converting Paige to a KGB operative would be an amazing plot turn. Can you imagine? Especially if it turned out that she was really well suited to this work and had a hidden talent for being one of the best agents the KGB ever had. That would def be one way I could forgive and forget all the exasperating cliff-hanging we have suffered with Paige. Speaking of which ... I sure do hope like crazy that we don't get another Paige cliff-hanger as the season finale tonight. I really don't know how I could endure such a horrible thing. I don't mind cliff hanging from one season to the next. But surely they have to change the subject every season. They can't show us a situation where Paige or Pastor Dim or his wife appear to be ready to drop a dime on P&E only to find out they changed their minds next season. That would be just too much like last season's cliff hanger. If they want to give us a suspenseful finale, I would be quite happy if Dim and his wife die in some suspicious accident and then allow us to find out next season that P & E had nothing to do with it. I wouldn't mind one bit. I'd really like to see the end of the Pastor and his wife just as soon as possible. I'm sorry but I'm just fed up and exasperated with that story line. Enough is enough with that.

The fact that it appears Dim did not lose his hold over Paige immediately may well mean that she is taking some time to think things over. I sure do hope that she puts these two pieces of a puzzle together and realizes that like most Christian pastors, he is really full of shit and not to be trusted with any serious secrets. I apologize for this extreme opinion to all good Christians. I have had several experiences with Christian ministers in my past which were extremelly disappointing but very valuable insofar as they taught me that people are just people and can never be trusted to be anything more than that. Desipite the fact that they call themselves "priests" or "ministers" or "pastors", they are all vulnterable to human frailties and can all slip and fall and do things that most any human being can do. I would never ever again trust any of them to act like anything more than just human beings. Most of the priests and/or ministers I met truly did have their hearts in a good place. But none were ever anything more than humans and were all susceptible to making errors that included lying, cheating and stealing. Trusting any of them with serious secrets that could get you into big, big trouble can only be undertaken at your own risk. So, beware and proceed at your own peril!

Right. So many people seem to think the wounds Arya received were intended to be mortal. People have said the waif stabbed her in vital organs. But it seemed to me that she deliberately missed the vital organs. All the stabbing went to the stomach. None to the heart. None to the liver. I'm not a doctor. But what is the truth of this? Was it just bad writing? Or was it some kind of deliberate deception? Something just ain't right in Denmark. (there is a famous line from Shakespear about something being rotten in Denmark. Isn't there?)

I must agree. Although I have no idea just how Margery intends to defeat the Sparrow, I sure hope she succeeds. But this show is well known for delivering heartbreak. Surely there will be some big heartbreak before the end of this season. Could it be that the Sparrow actually turns the tables and arranges for Margery to die?

Did you ever see Deadwood or Lovejoy? The lead actor in both of those is Ian McShane who is a great, great actor. Many people really love his acting ability. He played the man who was hanged. I sense a lot of people were very saddened at the thought of his only appearing for a single episode. I would have loved to have seen him have a leading role in this show - right from day one. But, to answer your question. No. He had never appeared before in this show. It seems like it was just one show and he is gone. A real pity he couldn't appear in more episodes. Although, to be fair, he never displayed any of his great acting ability in last night's episode. I guess there just wasn't sufficient time.

Arya suffering the kinds of wounds she did and then walking wherever she was going did seem very preposterous - very unrealistic. It also seemed highly unrealistic that a trained assassin would be able to stab her 5 or 6 times and she would still be in a condition good enough for a strenuous swim and a long walk. I have to tip my hat to Bannon who keeps complaining about poor writing and say this is one case I would have to agree if he feels this was all very shabby writing. My main reason is that it just seems like it would have been so easy to write this in a more realistic way without making any sacrifices to the story arc. JMO.

Recent events between Sansa and Littlefinger have been very disturbing and perplexing too. I have to wonder, is there any chance Littlefinger may be telling the truth in that he didn't know about Ramsay and he would truly prefer to remain a friend to Sansa? I know most of you will have a first reaction to this question that will be something like derision, disgust and disbelief. But, I have to wonder (or maybe "hope" is a better word) that if LF shows up at some future battle with the Knights of the Vale and indeed tries to help Sansa, he won't have some dirty underhanded trick that will actually destroy her and get him something in return. Please don't snort too loudly. I just feel the need to ask.

P&E might want to consider installing another phone line that is reserved primarily for the parents. The idea being they can install a switch that turns off the ringer so when both parents go out, the last one out can turn off the ringer and so that phone never rings unless one of the parents is at home. They can tell the children that phone is reserved for them and the children must not use it. Or they can let them use it to make outgoing calls. But it will never ring when both parents are out. I remember installing such a switch on my phone in the early 1970s. At that time, phones connected to the wall socket with three wires and one of them was for the ringer. So you just install a switch on that wire and you can turn the ringer on or off easily. You can even do it in such a way to disguise the switch so the kids would never even know about it. I'm not sure which option would be best for the Jennings. But I know that I was P or E, I would never want the kids answering a phone call for one of the parents originating from the "agency".

Excellent insight. Well done!

I've been fairly vocal in my criticism of the Paige character. But after thinking it over, I now see most of the problem (or most of the fault) rests with her parents. When Paige was pushing and pushing and pushing for answers near the end of this episode, it seems to me that it would have been pretty easy for P&E to lay down the law and tell her, "We're not lying to you. But that doesn't mean we have to answer all your questions. Don't you understand that it's safer for you you not to know certain things? Don't you know how terrible it would be if your mother allowed you to get raped? Do you have any idea just how traumatizing it would be for you had you been raped? Do you realize that trauma would stay with your for the rest of your life? So, you need to knock off all the questions. We are not going to answer those questions. We may discuss things with you from time to time. But they will be things that we want to discuss and they will be at our discretion. Do you understand that? If you want to know all the details of our work, we can arrange for you to join our organization. You will have to travel to Russia for 5 years and be trained in the Russian language as well as in our work which includes things like self-defense. So, you think that over Paige and if you decide you want to join our org, then we will take it to the next step. But in the meantime, I think you owe your mother a very big thank you and I'm quite disappointed that you have never thanked her for preventing you from serious harm. Please think that over." In conclusion, Paige is doing what every teenager does. She is pushing her limits with her parents to see how far she can go. The problem largely rests with her parents because they take such a wishy-washy approach to answer her questions. The approach they take is just terrible and so, I'm thinking that much of the "Paige hate" is really the fault of her parents for not handling her questions in a way that would make the boundaries more clear.

There were some other excellent acting techniques in this episode. I hope it's OK for me to post this here. Remember the scene where Tatiana told Oleg he could come to Africa with her? At the very end of that scene, her last line is something like, "I just hope I don't kill the entire population of the Eastern Seaboard." Then she quickly turns and walks away before Oleg can show any reaction. I thought that was an excellent acting technique because Oleg must have been horrified at the realization of just how dangerous the stuff she works on is. I strongly doubt (very extremely strongly) that he will want to go anywhere near her again after that. Also, I think that was what caused Oleg to get in touch with Stan. Oleg is scared to death to learn that Tat is working with stuff that is that bad - worse than many H-bombs all put together. But, back to my thought about the acting. If she would have waited for a reaction from Oleg, she would have realized that something was very wrong and if she ever learns there was a leak about her work, she might well know it came from Oleg. Actually, it was not his fault. It was her fault for saying something so stupid. IMHO, she does not deserve to get that promotion if she can't keep her mouth shut about something so highly secretive. Shame on her. She is a terrible spy. (Is she really a spy?)

I miss Martha. I truly do. Now that she is no longer part of this show, I realize just how much I enjoyed her particiapation and just how much I enjoyed her part in the action. I want to say that I sure do wish she was back in the thick of things. Even if she can never come back again, I would very much like to be able to see the actress again - even if it's in another show. I wonder if anyone here might have any info or opinions as to where or when I might be able to see her again? I like her a lot.

Was anyone else taken aback by Paige's weird eyebrows in the scene where she and Matthew are alone and talking with each other? I don't know why. But her eyebrows really shook me up. One eyebrow seemed to point at a 45 degree angle. (I believe it was her left eyebrow). It just looked so extremely bizarre that I thought it had to be some kind of signal (probably to the audience) that something was very wrong with this girl. I'm probably mistaken about this. But I'd really like to know if anyone else had a similar reaction. I honestly just wish that Paige would somehow disappear from this show. Upthread, someone posted a link to an opinion posted by a reviewer about a recent episode and they were quite explicit when discussing Paige's acting ability. (actually, it would be more accurate to say they were discussing Holly Taylor's ability). They used the word "range" more than once and I'm pretty sure they implied that she either had no range or a very limited range when it came to her acting. I've been saying that for quite a while now. Until last night, I've only ever seen her display two or three different "looks" on her face and I've always assumed that meant that she just did not have much of any kind of range when it came to her acting ability. I'm sorry to say this because I know that it will upset a great many people. But I honestly think she really ruins the quality of this show. So sad. So very sad.

I have a suggestion for Phillip and Elizabeth. If Paige persists in demanding to know the details of their work, perhaps they should just tell her they are not permitted to divulge that info to anyone who is not also an agent. However, if she is interested, she can go to Russia and they will give her the necessary training to become an agent. She can learn to speak, read and write Russian and she will learn everything she needs to know in order to become an agent. When she returns, they can tell her everything she wants to know. With any luck, that may shut her up for once and for all. I'd be very happy no matter what she chooses. If only she would stop whining and questioning her parents. I must say that this episode was a real downer for me. I found it to be the most disappointing episode I've ever seen.

I couldn't take this episode seriously. Paige asking, "Do you trust me or don't you trust me?", followed by her demanding to know who was calling and the details of where P was going and what he was doing. Then ... worst of all ... her parents actually tell her. When I compare that to the previous scene where she is talking with Matthew and one of her eyebrows is running at a 45 degree diagonal, I started to question myself as to why I like this show as much as I do. Tonight's episode had a whole lot of unbelievable events. I was very disappointed. Just my opinion, but parts of this episode were real crap.

I've been wanting to express my opinion about Bran's story arc for quite some time now. Reluctantly, I must admit that I just don't understand why so many people seem so interested in Bran or his part in this story. When I look back at all the scenes involving Bran, I find that I'm just left empty. I know the White Walkers are an important part of this story and Bran has some connection with them. But this show has spent such a huge amount of time watching Bran and ... to what end? I sure don't know and I sure don't understand. I would think that if all the time the show has spent on scenes involving Bran were removed, there would be so many other scenes that could be inserted that could have contained some really excellent entertainment. If anyone is feeling charitable and would like to explain to me just why Bran is such an important part of this show, I would certainly appreciate hearing about that.

Could the broken man be Ian McShane? I keep on waiting. Keep on watching. Hoping and praying for Ian. I like him so much. I want to see him. Please oh please do not have him appear once near the end of the final episode and then make me wait the entire off season until I can see him again in Season 7. Some times this show can be so cruel. Not only to the actors. But also to the audience. They just love to make us cry. Bastards! Umm ... this is "Speculation". So, I hope it will be OK for me to wonder out loud if anyone has any speculation on just who Ian will play and when oh when will he appear?

Excellent insight! How very clever of you. (seriously).

Keri is adorable. A real beauty.

Do you think Arya would be happy and feel fullfilled working for an org that murders anyone and everyone for a price? Seems like a very immoral kind of life. She will be much better off if she leaves that place and kills the waif and reunites with her family and uses whatever skills she has learned to help them. Then again, the waif may well end up killing Arya. That wouldn't be much of a shock the way this show has gone in the past. Although it would be a very disappointing waste of so many hours of story for nothing.

Tommen is a twit. For sure. But it's not really his fault. He's been completely sheltered and given his life lessons by his mother. I'm surprised he isn't more of a monster like his older brother after being raised by Cersei. Besides, didn't the witch who told Cersei her future when she was a young girl prophesize that all of her children would die before they became adults?

I do not write for a living and this post should make it clear why that is true. Recently I've been thinking about the final episode for Season 6. Apparently, HBO has said that will also be the finale for the whole show. Can you imagine what would happen if even a small number of all of the outstanding issues that need to be resolved were resolved during that episode? There are so many, I can't even come close to listing them all. . Stan realizes the Jennings are KGB officers. Oh what a delightful writing job it would be to show what would happen to his career. On the one hand, it was good that Stan discovered his next door neighbors were KGB spies. But on the other hand, Stan would forever be known as a bumbling fool who lived next door to KGB spies and didn't figure it out for 5 or 6 years. Would the net result be good for Stan? Or bad for Stan? He would likely be asked to retire. The FBI would not like it's agents to look like imbeciles in the national media. Stan may well suffer a similar fate to Special Agent in Charge Gaad. . Martha's parents are forced to confront the truth about their daughter. Her father has said that Martha was just "too clever" and "too good" to ever fall for marrying a KGB agent. Perhaps there was a good reason the Casting Director chose a known actor to play the part of Martha's father. He would get a very powerful appearance during the finale to show the impact the KGB has on ordinary average Americans. That could be a very small or very large appearance. There is so much damage for which people would like to see "come home to roost". . Stan's murder of that nice young Russian lad who just wanted to be a doctor would be discovered and Stan would have to pay for that. Perhaps the price would be as little as being forced to retire from the FBI. Perhaps it could be as much as Stan and Phillip sharing a cell or inhabiting neighboring cells? In a perfect world, the prison people might reserve three cells and keep E in the center cell with P and Stan in cells adjoining to E's cell? Then, Henry could come visit "his pal" Stan and they could play video games in the penitentiary. . I would guess that before any arrests are made, one or more federal law enforcement agencies would bug all of the major characters in this story for several weeks or months before they arrest them and then Paige would give plenty of evidence that would result in her going to prison too (of course I'm just guessing and this is all very unlikely). The law enforcement agencies could pick and choose just who they would want to see arrested and charged. Even better, I wonder if the laws in the 1980s would protect what was said between a spy and their minister? If Treason was exempt from the laws concerning "priviliged information", maybe Tim and Alice could also be sent to prison? . The mystery of what those 3 KGB agents were going to propose to Agent Gaad needs to be revealed. I wonder if that is when all the secrets about Tatiana will be revealed. Is it possible the KGB could ever recruit a real nymphomaniac to work with all these unimaginable bio-tech weapons of mass destruction? At the very least, if Oleg and Tatiana decide to make their relationship permanent, I wonder if they will be shown riding into the East - into the setting sun (oh what a terrible joke). If anyone else would like to list any of the other outstanding mysteries or crimes that need some resolution or at least requrie their chickens to come home to roost, please feel free to add some of your own fantasies to this list. I'd really love to hear a description of how Marvin would get arrested and punished for his part in the espionage his wife committed.