Conan Troutman

I'm sure he would use some trick to alter his voice. Even if it's something as low tech as clamping your nose or putting a hand kerchief over the microphone.

I assume what's-her-name simply fought back. She shouldn't have been able to hurt Elizabeth at all, but it seems like maybe she got reckless because she was tired/distressed or went a bit berserk. That has to be Gabriel's takeaway too, because it convinced him to give them their vacation. I don't think it's Lisa's blood. It's looking like a wound with blood running down, either Lisa scratched her or pulled her earring or something like that.

Of course they know the phone's bugged. But Philip also knows how long it takes for them to trace the call and the location isn't really worth anything by itself. So he could just A) keep it short and/or spread it out over multiple calls (not that there's a ton that needs to be said) or B) go to a location where he knows the FBI won't make it there fast enough so he has ample time to escape. It's not like he'd be calling them from his house. Re: Gaad: I thought that was simply a send-off for Gaad. He's now retired and maybe Stan visits him every once in a while. It also served as a reminder that Stan would continue to search for Clark on his own, even if the agency moves on. I don't think Stan's suspicious, let alone convinced, of Philip being Clark. Besides, there was the time jump after that, so if he had been suspicious, it would be game over already. Him taking the beer was purely comic relief I think (well, that and product placement). People often complain about a lack of humor on the show, but there are always little gems like that missing beer story.

Short term, I think Elizabeth' approach worked and I'm not sure Philip would've been able to get her to fall in line (whether it was absolutely necessary is a different question). But long term, there have to be repercussions. Also, if she has to chose sides at some point, no doubt she's rolling with Philip.

Nah, I just meant the expression, not Martha herself. Although it was interesting how Elizabeth and Philip referred to her in the past tense. I don't think that means anything about her actual fate (it looked like she did make it safely to Russia and I think we're supposed to take that at face value, there won't be any kind of twist to that), it just kind of stood out a bit that they were talking about her like that just hours after she boarded the plane. Maybe because both of them realized it would probably be for the best if they move on, for the sake of their marriage. Anyway, great send-off for Alison Wright, who has been absolutely killing it this season. I assume that was her last scene on the show, and damn, was brilliant! The same goes for everyone else though, everybody brought their A-game tonight. I guess she'll continue working Pastor Tim for the time being. I kind of expected Paige to play the "or what?" card when Elizabeth ordered her back after Paige told her she didn't feel like going to bible study, but she was obviously scared shitless once Elizabeth went into rage mode. Still, I think things will have to get a lot worse before she's doing anything drastic.

That's been my assumption, too, but what if it's the complete opposite? We don't really know anything about her, so she could go in any direction. Eventually, Stan has to find out about the Jenningses, and either he has a Hank-on-the-crapper moment or someone spills the beans to him, which would most likely be someone in the Rezidentura. Oleg seems to be the obvious choice for that, but maybe we shouldn't get fixated on that idea too much.

Poor Martha is dead, long live Poor Paige!

Yeah, getting rid of Roose was necessary to put House Bolton in a weaker position (with at least one of their allies betraying them eventually) so that the second war for Winterfell can be successful and not the unmitigated disaster that Stannis' doomed effort was.

In one of the trailers,

Yeah, Tyrion would certainly be toast by now had he addressed them in Vaylrian. He! At least he wasn't forced to take part in the other thing Jamie likes to do over corpses of close relatives... Pretty good episode. I was a bit underwhelmed by the resurrection, I guess I expected something a bit more spectacular. Interesting choice that Jon woke up after everyone left. Does that have any plot ramifications, like him going underground for a bit or something like that? Although I don't really see the point in that, now that Thorne and the mutineers are imprisoned. It was probably just to make for a more interesting scene when they see him again. Also surprised by the timing. I thought we'd be getting ToJ flashbacks before Jon was coming back, didn't think he'd be back before episode 5 or 6. But the show really seems to speed things up this season. Thankfully not a ton of forced humor with awkward lines this week. D&D are solid writers, but their one-liners sound like they're straight from one of those CBS multi-cam sitcoms (and I agree that they sound too modern). At least their non-verbal bits usually hit, like the faces of the KG when seeing the Mountain.

There needs to be a Westerosi version of Sarlacc's pit...

That's what I'm hoping for. I don't want to get Alison in trouble, but she's really at her best when she is...

They really missed the opportunity for an Alison-as-Helena-as-Alison scene during the interrogation. Would have loved to see Alison's take on Helena's accent. Maybe the cops visit her again?

That makes sense. I guess potential deflectors would then also lack someone to recruit them. Or having trouble spending the money without being noticed.

I always assumed the CIA also had agents like the Jenningses running around in Russia. Still, even if there aren't, I'm not sure the KGB would take even that small risk. So I can definitely see them killing her once they picked her brain. Even if they don't, I doubt she'll be free to do whatever she wants, maybe locked away in one of those bunkers Nina was in. She also doesn't really have a ton of valuable skills. She's a secretary who doesn't speak Russian, so she couldn't even serve as a translator or something. You don't have to root for them. Breaking Bad or Hannibal worked just fine without rooting for the protagonist. The one show that didn't work was Dexter, because the show did treat him like a straight up hero, at least in the later seasons. That said, I don't really want them to get caught and then locked up, that doesn't sound all that exciting. I'd really like Philip to be turned eventually, with or without Elizabeth knowing. When did that happen? I can't remember. Was it related to their wedding? Yeah, that sounds more realistic to me. Sure, she helped them and maybe that's enough reason not to kill her, but I think the KGB won't be terribly loyal to her. Interesting thought. Is that realistic, though? It seems to me like she's somewhat high up the pecking order, were there any defectors/double agents with high ranks? I thought maybe she was from the Sovjet equivalent of internal affairs and trying to sniff out potential moles in the Rezidentura or preparing some mission of really high importance or whatever. But of course I know very little about all that stuff.

Yeah, that was great. The sense of inevitable doom looming over what was otherwise a fun and lighthearted scene makes it even more compelling. Also loved the line about Stan finding out when the beer pool's running too low. He might not notice his neighbor spying for the KGB, but not enough beer - that won't slip by him. That would make for some fine irony, on dead rat carrying another. I'm really curious where that whole thing is going. I can see plenty of plausible scenarios: - Martha will simply live out her life in Russia, never to be heard of again. - Martha will be squeezed for some info about the agency and then get Nina-ed because she knows too much - Someone drops the jar with the rat and the whole plane will get infected. Please not! - A CIA agent in Russia will somehow find out about Martha and find her - or she contacts someone on her own - and she'll spill the beans about Philip. And I'm sure I missed the one we'll be actually getting. Wow, as much as it would suck and make things even worse for everyone, it sure would make for great TV. I don't think it was about reassurance, it was that she was sure she was about to be executed and that was the reason someone took the gun away from her. She thought Philip screwed her over, which is why she was so surprised when he answered the phone and skeptical at first. Philip really screwed up here, he never should've taken the gun or leave her alone with who had to look like a seasoned hit man to her without telling Martha. Overall, best episode of the season so far. Btw, the script was written by a playwright, Tanya Barfield, and it really shows. It gives the episode and especially those final scenes between Martha, Philip and Elizabeth a chamber play feel and a very claustrophobic atmosphere. Martha, despite being about to be transported to the largest country in the world, is trapped and alone again.

But poison doesn't work THAT fast. I get that they had to cut the scene short to save time, but why not cut his throat instead? Or did they want to do some literal backstabbing?

I thought that letter would read "Hi, Doran. You're about to get stabbed. Greetings, Ellaria." Why did Areo Hotah just drop dead? Yeah, Tyene stabbed him, but unless it was in the heart, you don't drop like a wet sack of Jorah's dreams.

Pun intended?

I think everyone would agree on that.

I'm certainly no book wanker, but I do think the quality of the dialogue wasn't on par with what the previous seasons had offered. The episode had great cinematography and the plot was fine (except that whole Dorne thing, but who knows what Doran will amount to eventually? Maybe he's just another filler), but those lines just weren't up to snuff.

So all those 15 year old boys were right all along?

Of all people, you're now making me root for ̶m̶̶o̶̶t̶̶h̶̶e̶̶r̶̶f̶̶u̶̶c̶̶k̶̶i̶̶n̶̶g̶ brotherfucking Cersei?!?

Sure it's real, but it's rare. My point was that if we can accept Helena coming back from the dead without shouting "this is ridiculous!", we can do the same with Beth having faked her suicide. Both cases have somewhat unlikely, but totally plausible explanations.

Information from interviews, so I'll put it in spoiler tags just to be sure: