PinkRibbons

I don't think Philip and Elizabeth even knew that Gabriel had retired when Claudia appeared, because Philip immediately asked something like "what happened to Gabriel?" The pilot makes a point of saying that with Reagan starting to get more aggressive about counter-intelligence, Philip and Elizabeth were now going to be working harder and presumably more than ever before. I wouldn't be surprised if before this they only saw Gabriel every few months or so. Any other instructions probably came from dead-drops that presumably Gabriel had left.

This was my thinking. I can't help but sympathize with Leonard on the unfairness of the situation. I mean, that's life, but it still sucks. I don't think it's a gender/relationship power struggle issue as much as it is about professional jealousy.

Just a point of fact -- Paige didn't barge into her parents' room; she knocked and was given verbal permission to come in. I thought from her attitude that she was actually coming in with the hope of having a sort of "truce" conversation, but she couldn't stop herself from asking what they'd been talking about. (She probably heard it through the door.) Not being lied to is a novelty to her, I'm not surprised she asked.

I think there's just the one explanation of why Nina is being given so many chances: Oleg. To say his father is powerful is an enormous understatement. Arkady (and Philip and Elizabeth, for that matter) is also very politically powerful -- he'd have to be, to get the position he's occupying -- which is why he of all people could stand up to Papa Burov. But other people in the system? The Soviet Union's government was so massively corrupt that I think if he wanted, Oleg's father could have gotten Nina released before she even went to trial. But he (and his children) do seem to have some sense of honor and a rare actual loyalty to the Soviets, and so he's giving Nina these chances to prove herself. Oleg is a good man, but he's a spoiled kid. He's clearly very passionate about Nina and obviously is adored by his father. I don't think Papa Burov would want to deny him anything he cared so much about.

A new featurette focusing on Paige: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nb36g7rlaRY

Promo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls3ZqAcHWes

As I recall, the only time they used Stan for information it was right after President Reagan got shot, and they signaled the Centre that an "FBI Source" had assured them the Soviets would not be blamed. I think he and Philip are friends because in a weird way they're colleagues. Neither of them are particularly forthcoming so they won't expect long angsty conversations from each other, so it's easier to just have fun together. Umbelina, I see your point about Paige, but I really wish you'd stop tarring every 15-year-old-girl that ever lived with the same brush. The term "teenage girl" is way to broad to uses as anything but a false stereotype. They may often have similarities, but they are not all alike. It is possible for many to keep secrets, rule over their hormones, see situations clearly and react correctly, etc.

Presumably they have an American legal marriage license, which is as good as being married under those identities. Although now I think on it, it's probably forged. So yeah, that's a question with a complicated answer. I'd say the bigger lie is about the kids being wanted. That's definitely a stretch for Elizabeth, at least.

It was a small thing, but it niggled at me that Philip said his name was Misha instead of Mikhail but Elizabeth went with the fully unpronounceable-for-Paige Nadezhda. Seriously, if your husband is introducing himself by nickname, you can just say (after your child has almost broken a tooth on your real one) "Nadia for short." Because seriously outside of formal situations no one would be calling her by her full name. I also would have liked Elizabeth to add that Nadezhda means "hope". More of the humanizing and making themselves relatable that Paige needs to hear. It's funny but when Paige asked how she could believe anything, I was waiting for Elizabeth to say, "because if I was lying to you I'd come up with something a lot more plausible."

I enjoyed it! They set a lot of storylines into motion in episode 1 that might be hard to keep straight, but it's good campy fun, imo.

Well-placed Los Angeles Real Estate is incredibly difficult to find for a decent price. If Howard and Bernadette want a house and it's in, say, West Hollywood, Hollywood or Silver Lake, then getting one that's been there for years and is free is an amazing thing. Otherwise once they want a house they'll probably be forced to move up into the Hills (expensive even if Bernadette can afford it, far from the metropolis and not to mention hard to live on. My grandmother's friend once accidentally put down a fresh watermelon and when she looked down it had gone. To this day we don't know what happened by the time it stopped rolling down that hill) or out into The Valley (which could mean a very long commute). Honestly if I were Howard and Bernadette I would jump to live in that house. Even the money from selling it wouldn't necessarily get them a different house with the same placement, if it is in one of the many older and/or funner neighborhoods of the city. Not to mention the property tax has a good chance of still being affordable.

I'm guessing Paige is going to get to the edge of doing something drastic, only to be stopped by her Grandmother's death. I can imagine Elizabeth having a breakdown over it and Paige being there with her. The thought of losing a mother may give her a different perspective. Plus as I said in the episode thread, she really needs to see how human her parents are or she could fall into the trap of turning them into cartoon villains.

My guess? Next season ends with the crew running the CIA. Also, a thing that's been bugging me: if we look back at the missions of the season, they weren't actually all disasters (not for the CIA, anyway). Archer retrieved the computer and blew up the plane, Conway Stern was neutralized and his stolen info recovered. Crash was apparently killed in the avalanche; and Slater was the idiot robbing Lana's father without checking to see if Lana was visiting. Even the Wales mission isn't exactly a complete failure because they did what was asked: they left the terrorists at large and protected them from MI5 (although they coul have done without having to kidnap the agent). Even this miniaturization voyage was handled pretty damn admirably (well, aside from Krieger). Really the only operation they really destroyed was the Durhani thing, and that would have been executed quite well if Lana hadn't ruined it (btw, I love that of all people, it's Lana who blew the last two missions before this one, both out of jealousy over Archer.) Not only did the CIA set them up to fail, it referred to what were basically successful missions as failures as well.

I actually thought that Philip was going to tell Paige that if she told, he and Elizabeth would face execution, not just jail. I'm gonna assume he didn't say that because he a. didn't want to add that scare on to of everything and/or b. was afraid she'd take what he said as emotional manipulation. Also, I know they left the phone off the hook to see if Paige would try to dial someone from her room, but I strongly suspect they have someone at the ol' fashioned KGB switchboard monitoring calls. I'll bet they even heard that call she made to Tim. Philip and Elizabeth would have been wise to put the phone-monitors on alert so for all we know, that's what they did.

I thought Keri Russel was impressive with her Russian but I just played her words to my mother and Mama said her accent was "a nightmare". I did appreciate that she added solnushka ("little sun") to it. That was a nice, unexpected touch. Zinaida is BADASS. And I LOVE the Arkady thinks that Oleg's threatening of her was sanctioned, because this is really when the Russian government was becoming a complete mess (they touched on this earlier with the East German Bomber.) I also thought it was slightly hilarious how menacing Philip looked from Paige's POV at the very end while she was staring at Stan. I want her parents to relate to her with real stories about their families. They need to humanize themselves as much as possible to her.

Wooooo! Or as it's said in Russian, WOOOOOO! (No, not really.)

Extended Promo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Socx1hWHx4

I actually expected this response from Martha because of two things the producers are constantly repeating -- whenever anyone brought up Philip and Martha they would mention that in real life, these actual secretaries (and a good number of them!) seduced by spies would refuse to believe it for a shockingly long time. One has to assume that they noticed things were wrong or off -- even had the truth told to them point-blank -- but chose to rewrite the situation in their heads to make their husbands out as heros or fellow victims. The other thing the producers say is "when in doubt, go with what actually would have happened". Well, sometimes reality is unrealistic.

A thing about Russian attitudes towards The War: in the early 1990s, right after the Soviet Union collapsed, food was so scarce that my mother's jobless half-sister in Russia sent her kids to kindergarten just so they could be fed. At one point, they received some humanitarian aid in the form of chocolate bars for the children -- the only thing was, that chocolate came from Germany, and the parents had to sign for it. My aunt told my mother that it was "extremely humiliating". Now, to be clear, this was two generations removed from the war, and her own parents had been too young to fight. It's hard to explain the kind of impact WW2 had on the Soviet populace for years to come. Decades after the war there were no grandfathers, few fathers and no places to live (so much having been bombed out). The one thing people remembered till the end, no matter what the government said about America, was that American food had saved their lives. Literally, someone would say "the Americans are the scourge of the world!" and a war survivor would reply, "spam, powdered eggs, and chocolate". Elizabeth may hate the Americans, but when it comes to the war she has no way to deny that they were allies, and that America helped save them. I understand her particular reticence against harming the widow of a war hero.

Paige is wearing the outfit from that scene in the other promo!!!

I feel so stupid for only just realizing it, but that girl Stefan and Caroline...bonded over had been healed earlier in the episode with Caroline's blood. (It was even mentioned in the quotes thread!) Are we going to be taking any bets on how long the baby-vamp with last?

I think he stabbed Katherine out of Elena's body, which she was possessing after her original body died of age-induced heart failure? Man, this show is bugnuts crazy.

Promo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr3P2DQKzB4