DrumJunkie

Two things we know wrt to Paiges' value to the FBI. 1. She is the daughter of two KGB illegals. 2. She has been shown to not remember details well. So under questioning, her limited exposure to the darker parts of the trade are going to be limited to methods they already know or will find out, but actionable intelligence will be limited to one garage, a few cars, an empty safehouse, and confirmation of the few ops she was a lookout for. Beyond that, I'm not sure what additional value there is and I don't expect it would take much questioning to get that. I don't know what charges they would bring that would stick, but more importantly what value would there be in prosecution?

There were a few scenes that I remember. Paige, Henry and Matthew at Stan's. She shared her beer. I thought there was a scene of them playing on the computer. In hindsight, those showed that Paige cared about Henry and had a seemingly typical brother/sister relationship. If you're asking specifically about a scene of them alone together, it would have been nice as well.

What kind of teenager would she be if she didn't bum some money off of her parents? :D

Agreed. This will be the first show where I'll buy the season DVD's.

My apologies, Bannon. I didn't mean to discount your viewpoints. While I don't understand why someone would watch something they find large problems with, it is your prerogative to "Hate watch" (as you've said.) I've come late to the game on the Previously forums, though I've been a fan of this show since it's pilot aired. I agree with you completely on the quality arc of Martha's story - simply fabulous.

I don't know what to tell you on this point. It made sense to me. Many of the show reviews over the years have been enlightening on the thought process of the characters and their struggles and motivations. You never seem to address those things in your critiques. I took their upbeat comment at the end about their children's future to be them comforting themselves and giving themselves false hope. After years of lying, they even lie to themselves, which is what Elizabeth did about Paige in order to form a bond with her and to convince herself that she's doing the right thing even though she wasn't. Liz didn't think that Henry was going to get it easy. She told Philip in the first scene that Henry would get torn apart. It seems that maybe The Americans wasn't the show for you with all the things you hate about it.

They were also driving a Volvo that would suggest a Scandinavian country (though not a definitive proof). I think it works for me too,

One of the few things I did get right, haha. I also thought they would try to grab Henry and he would put up the fight that Paige did. I didn't see Paige skipping out on her parents. and a few other missed steps. I thought Stan would go it alone because of his internal struggle to confirm his suspicions. With Philip and Elizabeth, there was a conflict between serving ideology or humanity, and I thought Stan would be having those same thoughts and want to be alone when confronting these people who have been a part of his life, yet against his way of life.

It was still home, warts and all. They just survived 20 odd years in a country hostile to their ideology, the unstable climate was exactly why they were headed home. They were soldiers. They had to delivery the message to Arkady and had no other way now that their cover was blown. The mission was over.

I liked the double meaning. You're exposing yourself and showing your hand, but also giving yourself away to your cause/country/spouse/etc. Maybe triple meaning by giving away your identity.

Re: whether or not Philip played Stan in the garage. I think it's both. He has been hiding his true identity from Stan for years, so twisting lies with a pinch of truth is reflexive to Phil at this point. This time, he also poured on the truth instead of just a pinch. Philip was being truly honest with their relationship. He knew Stan as a person, a human being, and a friend. Yet it's also true that Philip was fearful of the threat he posed. All that was true and Philip poured his heart out while also furthering his final mission to get the message of the coup to Arkady.

I'm not a U2 fan, but that was a great use of the song. Props to everyone who predicted it!

Yes, DNA was just starting to be used in criminal cases in 1987, but how many of those were prosecuted by the FBI? I still stand by my statement that the FBI would not have used DNA in 1987.

I think a lot of the hate for Paige is that many expected her to act like an adult. Having two teenage daughters, I found her performance entirely believable. Some have criticized HT acting suggesting a limited range, but teenagers expressions aren't as nuanced as an adults. The emotional development or even the ability to articulate what they are actually feeling, much less understand it, hasn't evolved completely. All-in-all, I found Paige an integral part of a story about a marriage and the conflicts that raising children bring.

From various wiki pages: CODIS: The creation of a national DNA database within the U.S. was first mentioned by the Technical Working Group on DNA Analysis Methods (TWGDAM) in 1989. In 1990, the FBI began a pilot DNA databasing program with 14 state and local laboratories. Colin Pitchfork (born 23 March 1960) is a British convicted murderer and rapist. He was the first person convicted of murder based on DNA fingerprinting evidence, and the first to be caught as a result of mass DNA screening. He was arrested on 19 September 1987 and sentenced to life imprisonment on 22 January 1988. So, needless to say, DNA would not have been used by the FBI in 1987.