S04.E05: Clark's Place

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Philip must consider his life with Martha and make a crushing choice from which there is no coming back.

 

Promo:

[Umbelina]

Perfection!

 

This show is so freakin' tense, even the small scenes have me on edge.  Excellent final song for this episode, or any of them really.

 

Martha + Valium + Booze + Gun + being followed by her coworkers at the FBI.  What could go wrong?

 

I can't tell what's happening with Paige, or the Pastor and his wife, but the somewhat cavalier way they are handling all of that is kinda/sorta bugging me.  Yes, Martha being burned is a big deal, but so are people you barely know being able to blow your cover, and lives, to hell. 

[AimingforYoko]

I wondered what the sex warning was about, I guess they were saving the best for last.

The noose is tightening, I think Philip knows Martha's fucked, and not in a Kama Sutra way.

They sure are emphasizing Oleg's disillusionment, I suppose a defection is imminent.

[Primetimer]

Philip and Elizabeth have to scramble to shore up all their relationships this week, and even Paige has to pitch in.

Read the story

[ptuscadero]

Boy, I thought Elizabeth was going to pop a vein in her forehead there at the end. 

 

I knew we'd have the scene of Oleg telling Stan about Nina, but I was half-expecting the two of them to suddenly decide to team up together like super-double-spies to avenge her, or at least do a guy hug or something.

 

Poor Martha is so fucked.

[Irlandesa]

Damn this show.  Just damn. 

 

The events in this episode felt like they should be taking place towards the end of the season. The way the noose is tightening is just brilliant in how not big it is.  I guess we're about to lose Martha next week but I don't want to.  Alison Wright has been so terrific in this role. 

 

That final sequence had me on the edge of my seat.  That is perhaps my favorite song use since the pilot episode. 

Edited April 14, 2016 by Irlandesa

[JennyMominFL]

The Pastor Ted story is pretty boring. It can end already.

[shura]

My absolute favorite part was the way Elizabeth said "I don't know" when Philip asked "Do you think that guy is really a priest?". Keri deserves an Emmy just for that.

 

Poor Matthew.  Comes to his father and finds himself replaced.

[tennisgurl]

Just when I thought I could not love this show any more, they use one of my favorite songs ever, Under Pressure. I just...so good. Such great musical cues, and a great use of music to sum up a feeling its characters are having.

 

Great acting from the whole cast, as always. They are all very subtle actors, but also know when to play big moments.

 

Nice little transition from Olegs brothers funeral to Reagan giving his speech about how great it is when young people fight for their country. Speaking of Oleg, I feel like his increasing disillusion with the mother land is going to take him to some very interesting places soon. Informing to Stan? Defecting? That would be a huge deal for him and his family, but this whole episode seemed to be emphasizing his anger at the seemingly pointless deaths of people he cares about, and how sick he is of this whole thing.

 

Its time both the Americans and the Soviets came to realize the true enemy, and that enemy is Pastor Tim's hair. It is a menace and it must be stopped.

[Chaos Theory]

There is like a hand full of shows that are on right now that I would call perfection and this is one of them. I loved every minute of the show. Oleg is definitely becoming disillusioned and I can see him ultimely defecting. His "friendship" with Stan and his knowledge of the illegal program (I forget what the Russians call it) will make him useful.

Boy did P&E shovel it yo Pastor Tim and his wife but then it was a realistic lie. I also liked how Rlizabeth shit down Pauge the way she did.

Poor Poor Martha. She is losing it and just in time to get caught. The floor is falling out from under her in slomo which makes it such a wonder to behold.

[Shriekingeel]

Loved the scene with the Rent-A-Salvadoran: a superb illustration of how the Soviets were always able to play American liberals like a fiddle.

The show is too good to have Oleg flip right away, but I think he's definitely headed that way.

[sistermagpie]

I feel like his increasing disillusion with the mother land is going to take him to some very interesting places soon. Informing to Stan? Defecting? That would be a huge deal for him and his family, but this whole episode seemed to be emphasizing his anger at the seemingly pointless deaths of people he cares about, and how sick he is of this whole thing.

 

 

I feel like it's almost too simple for him to just defect or turn traitor. Of course the US and USSR are not the same so you'd expect more defectors one way rather than the other, but given Oleg's background it's got to be more complicated than him selling out his country while Stan wouldn't do the same for his for Nina. But it's interesting how Stan and Oleg basically find each other because they're alienated from all the people they work with who aren't sympathetic to traitors. Stan almost crossed a line (and did cross one before that with the surveillance reports), Oleg has too. He refuses the drink with Arkady when his boss retreats into thinking Nina blew it and deserved execution.

 

Basically I think the show and Oleg are too smart and complex to simply be on the fast track to flipping in response to this. Btw, it's so funny on this show how I find myself siding with the most hardline Soviets even though I'd never actually be one. I kind of loved it when Oleg's father told him if what he was after was his father doing favors for him he should go back to America and all the perks. And I love Oleg!

 

I love how Henry is so totally uninterested and underwhelmed by his own parents. They're sitting right there being boring, telling him to go to bed, and Stan's house is just the coolest with board games, movies he doesn't understand and teenage sons who he now totally thinks is his brother. What 18 year old wouldn't want to watch Rocky Horror with a 12 year old in a living room with no audience. Poor Matthew.

 

Also, I love the casual point that on this block apparently everybody's parents go out and leave them overnight. Henry's totally cool hanging out with Matthew or at the Beemans' whether or not Stan is there.

 

Also like the parallels of Paige and Philip not wanting to have to make up with the person they're leery of at the moment but they both have to do it. At first I thought Paige was being smart by going with the truth, saying she "had to" forgive Pastor Tim but claiming it was because her parents thought he was a good guy. But then, I'm not really sure what she even really thinks. I was really glad Elizabeth shut her down early on. It was a subtle criticism of her maturity too, that no, she couldn't know what they were doing because she screwed up. She's going to have to prove herself if she wants more--and she shouldn't want more. I wasn't sure if she was being honest about Pastor Tim "being nice" and really caring about her. I mean, it's on the surface true but...

 

Hilarious line where Paige talked about the "grown up conspiracy" where they tell her what she should feel and do whatever they want given that her parents have literally been ordered what to feel and do since they were not much older than she is. They can barely find a few minutes to do what they want to do--as they did at the end of this ep. At least they make it worth it. Paige at least still got to use her talk with Pastor Tim to vent to him about grown ups. Philip just kept his tail tucked firmly between his legs.

 

But then, Philip doing that got more out of Stan than Paige got out of Pastor Tim--Pastor Tim was still the one grilling her at the end of their convo while Stan unburdened himself to Philip as he so likes to do. Even his convo with Sandra worked out as he could tell Stan that Sandra talked about him and said she was too hard on him when in fact it was Philip who said that and got her to agree.

 

Young Hee is still awesome. Loved Henry's snarky "You have friends?" to Elizabeth--and Elizabeth throwing the same line back at him about what happened to his own friends. I think a lot of the issue with Henry right now is he wants to be more grown up and Stan and Matthew make him feel that way while his parents treat him like a kid.

 

Oh, also I read an interesting review that had a really negative view of Stan that I don't totally agree with but it did make an interesting point about Stan being rewarded for selfishness. Now that they said it, I could sort of see it. I mean, just that Stan's gotten away with things just as much as some other characters and the review felt this made him feel like he was a big hero etc. Here Oleg was questioning not just the fact that he'd lost the woman he loved but asking bigger questions about the war his brother died in etc. while Stan was just like "Yeah, they told us you could lose an agent but I really liked this one." I don't know if that has any meaning, I just really can see Stan as emotionally kind of simple and short-sighted...like in that scene at his house he and Henry really are on the same wavelength, happily grabbing at stuff they want while Philip and Matthew seem to have more going on they're not saying. (Matthew did a great job, I thought, with his silent reactions to Henry.) Stan was just on the receiving end of everything good in the scenes--Henry's admiration, Matthew's patience and Philip's apologies.

[Maire]

Great episode and maybe Nina's death won't be in vain if we get to see Oleg defect.

I always get such a kick out of the props and design. Tonight's items; the kitchen chairs and the pillowcase Elizabeth was folding. We had those in our 1970s household!

[Umbelina]

I don't know if Martha's dead though. I'll tag it just in case, but from the previews,

that "Get in Martha" sure sounded like Philip, so maybe he got her out against orders, once again, going against the KGB.  (!)  If the following scene is really Gabe chastising him for that.

 

This is the best show, and I agree, I don't think Oleg's story is going to involve defection, it just doesn't feel quite right, or maybe it's that it seems TOO right? 

 

You'd think either the KGB or the recently infiltrated FBI office just might catch one of Stan and Oleg's little meetings.  Neither is reporting it, right?  Somehow, I think that's a pretty big no no. 

 

The Paige story is realistic for a fairly immature girl her age, but once again, it seems a tiny bit off to me that the KGB just wouldn't take the Pastor and wife out.  I guess that has it's own risks though, so maybe they are trusting the Jennings' instincts on that.  For now.

Edited April 14, 2016 by Umbelina

[Dev F]

But it's interesting how Stan and Oleg basically find each other because they're alienated from all the people they work with who aren't sympathetic to traitors. Stan almost crossed a line (and did cross one before that with the surveillance reports), Oleg has too. He refuses the drink with Arkady when his boss retreats into thinking Nina blew it and deserved execution.

 

I think that's a large part of what the whole episode is about -- people who have been initiated into a conspiracy but nonetheless feel like they're on the outside of it looking in. Hence the title "Clark's Place": this secret hideaway where Martha and her husband can be together, but she's constantly reminded that it's his place, not theirs. It's also how Paige feels about the "grown-up conspiracy" she might've been better off never finding out about, and it's even echoed in the moment in which Philip reconciles with Stan and discovers what Henry's been doing over at the Beemans' the whole time, but he nevertheless ends up feeling like an interloper, because it's still Stan's place, not his.

 

I'm really impressed that the series has been exploring themes like that this season, because it would've been so easy for the show to treat "Whoops, the Jenningses' secret is out!" like it's the end of the inquiry into their double life. Instead, it's been a jumping-off point to a deeper exploration of what it means both to keep a secret and to lose it, and how hard it can be to confront other people's secrets.

 

That's why the final sequence of this episode is so devastating. It's easy to think that the Jenningses have it worst of all, since they're the ones who have to safeguard their secrets against everyone around them. And in some ways they do. But in others ways, they're the only two people in the calm eye of the storm -- the ones who know the full scope of every major secret and are free to share it with each other. So they can find comfort in each other's arms while Martha waits at Clark's place, miserable and alone.

Edited April 14, 2016 by Dev F

[Knuckles]

"a deeper exploration of what it means both to keep a secret and to lose it, and how hard it can be to confront other people's secrets."

 

Nicely stated, reflects much of what I was thinking, especially how the partial truths that the Jennings are feeding Paige are slowly poisoning her relationship with them.

Her scenes of withdrawal from her mother were telling, and when she finally tries to seek some clarity from the mother, mom shuts her down. The center and Gabriel may be focused on Pastor Tim and Alice, and holding their fire, but I think Paige has already begun to spin out of the Jennings orbit, much more than her parents suspect. Philip is more attuned to this, but he is overwhelmed at the moment with Martha. Elizabeth seems to be measuring the depth of Philip's attachment to Martha, and while sympathetic to "losing an agent" is more jealous than she can acknowledge.

 

Martha, poor solitary Martha, the walls are closing in. Bravo to Alderholt (sp?) for not buying the married man story...he and Stan made an interesting team. And Hans, Jennings-trained, is not so impressive. The full cost of her choices is bearing down on Martha, and her hubby, Philip, is full of excuses but not much support. Nice that she noticed the wedding photo is gone. Martha is so fully believable, the actress has been dead-on, the utter loneliness of her position is so painful to watch.

 

The scenes with Oleg and his father, the funeral, the conversation with Arkady...the show is so wonderfully adult.

[snarktini]

 

Its time both the Americans and the Soviets came to realize the true enemy, and that enemy is Pastor Tim's hair. It is a menace and it must be stopped.

 

This! I was thinking tonight that if anything would convince me there was something more sinister to Pastor Tim, it would be the hair. How is that not a bad disguise?!

 

Poor, poor Martha. 

Edited April 14, 2016 by snarktini

[Umbelina]

Yeah, the actress who plays Martha has been doing a superb job.  Even if Philip gets her out of this, what are her options though?  Life in Soviet Russia, without her "husband?" 

 

She's so screwed.

[numbnut]

Wow, I'm surprised and happy that Oleg is still on the show. And I agree with the posts that his situation is too complicated to lead to a simple defection. I think Martha is doomed but I hope they'll find a way to keep her on the show for a while longer. For a second I thought Paige was going to be a double agent. Or was she lying to her parents when she said "You were right"?

[Bama]

That use of "Under Pressure" was just flipping perfection.

 

Reminded me of "In the Air Tonight" and "Tusk" from the pilot.

 

Just perfect.

[Umbelina]

One little nitpick.  Why did Philip pick up Martha's phone when he knows she may be watched?  At most, I feel like he would have picked up and not said anything, or at least disguised his voice a bit.

 

Am I missing something?  I guess he could have said, "Sorry, wrong number." if it wasn't his contact though.  I doubt that would have fooled the FBI if they called though.

Edited April 14, 2016 by Umbelina

[VCRTracking]

Whoa! I was drifting off and the last minute of the episode woke me right up!

 

Phillip: You think that guy was really a priest?

Elizabeth: (shrugs) I don't know.

Edited April 14, 2016 by VCRTracking

[solea]

"My absolute favorite part was the way Elizabeth said "I don't know" when Philip asked "Do you think that guy is really a priest?". Keri deserves an Emmy just for that."

Yeah, that was perfect.

Why is the sex on this show so very, reliably, awkward?

[Darren]

One of my favorite parts of this show is the long, pregnant stares; the loaded pauses. There were several great moments of this sort tonight: Elizabeth watching Philip on the payphone; Oleg staring down Arkady when he said "they don't just execute people for nothing."

So much of TV is rush-rush, get the dialog in fast as we can - and comes across as totally unbelievable. But this show gets it right. So much of life is unsaid, or said in the unsaid.

Edited April 14, 2016 by Darren

[relaxingrain84]

edit:  you're right. sorry got confused since he was wearing the exact same tie and all his speeches sound exactly the same.   in the '89 speech it seems the makeup person got the message about easing up on the blush. 

Edited April 14, 2016 by relaxingrain84

[Darren]

So, that Reagan speech: 

 it's his farewell speech, which was 1/11/89.

 

The Berlin Wall fell in November of that year.   I'm sure that things related to the fall of soviet satellite governments and the soviet union will start to be explored very soon in the show. 

It's only 1983 in present time on the show. So the SU collapse is quite a ways off. I'd love to see the show eventually get there, but would likely have to run at least two more seasons (with some time jumps) to get there.

[jjj]

My heart broke for Oleg twice -- not even when he tossed the dirt into the grave, but when he turned and saw his father breaking through the fog of Soviet denial by firing his gun -- that was when Oleg saw that his father really was in the same place of pain as himself.  And that conversation with Arkady, when Oleg clearly expected horror and sympathy for Nina, but saw Arkady immediately assemble a wall of bricks that told Oleg he would be alone in his pain and Nina's legacy was gone, because Arkady had to blame Nina for the sake of his own political survival.  Party line, indeed.  It put Oleg in a very lonely place, with no escape.  Except, perhaps, to Stan. 

 

Philip, for the love of heaven WHY did you not look at the license plate of Agent Aderholt, especially since you knew his connection to Martha! 

One little nitpick.  Why did Philip pick up Martha's phone when he knows she may be watched?  At most, I feel like he would have picked up and not said anything, or at least disguised his voice a bit.  Am I missing something? 

That was not Martha's phone -- it was Clark's phone, and it is not a phone the FBI knows about.  So far. 

[dramachick]

Stan still sucks.

 

It is soooooo clear why Stan was successful as an undercover agent in a white supremacist group. His sense of entitlement makes me want to gag. When he was married to Susan, he cheated on her without a care in the world. Now that she's divorced his ass and has a real life, he doesn't want Philip to talk to her without clearing it with him, and felt he was "owed" an apology for jumping to the wrong conclusions.  He murdered Vlad for no reason -- other than he could -- and got Gaad demoted.  He exploited Nina for little more than his own sexual gratification, and she ended up with a bullet to the head. Stan is way overdue for some setbacks.

 

Too bad for Oleg that the only person he could commiserate with about Nina's death was Stan, who immediately made her death about himself. I have a feeling that Oleg is gonna fuck some stuff up, but will land on his feet because he's just that kind of guy.

 

Martha should have left town with no forwarding address as soon as Clark told her about himself. I feel sorry for her, but in many ways, she's the author of her own misfortune.

 

Philip is on a slow boil, and I think he'll be the one to set it off when he's had enough regardless of what Elizabeth says. He's a scary dude, who will do whatever he has to do to make sure that his family gets out of this alive.

 

[Umbelina]

Oh thanks!  I got the two apartments mixed up.  That makes so much more sense!  Duh.

 

That was not Martha's phone -- it was Clark's phone, and it is not a phone the FBI knows about.  So far. 

[millennium]

I could never stand Freddy Mercury or Queen, and especially that godawful, so-overplayed song that I've heard on the radio nearly every fucking day for more than thirty fucking years ...

 

(deep breath)

 

Anyway, I nominate Keri Russell's vein for an Emmy. 

 

I hope Martha's storyline doesn't end.

 

I wish they would make greater use of Richard Thomas.

Edited April 14, 2016 by millennium

[jjj]

It was odd to see the phone center woman face on -- usually we have seen her and her predecessor (who was killed last season) from the side or over the shoulder, but not with the camera in her face while chowing down and watching the television.  It took a second to figure out whether it was a commercial or some new character, then I realized who she was.  "Well, hello, Martha, Clark said you might be calling."  "Is he there?"  Poor Martha. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I loved that we got to see the phone lady watching tv and eating. That must be such a boring job, sitting around waiting for urgent phone calls.

 

It amused me to see Stan and Oleg as reluctant co-mourners in the car. Until now they have made no secret that they don't like each other so it's both sad and kind of funny that now they're in a position of bonding over the one thing that they can't share with anyone else.

[echo.Echo.ECHO]

<quote> Also, I love the casual point that on this block apparently everybody's parents go out and leave them overnight. Henry's totally cool hanging out with Matthew or at the Beemans' whether or not Stan is there.</quote>

I'd say that happened on most blocks back then. Leaving the kids on their own was much more common in the 80s than it is now.

[Inquisitionist]

Per Alan Sepinwall, the Reagan speech we saw last night was his SDI speech from March 23, 1983.  I agree with Elizabeth: he did look like a clown.

 

I found it kind of funny that, according to Gabriel, the USSR has been supporting William for 25 years without his doing much of anything for them, while P&E seem to carry out several missions every week.  Talk about playing the long con!

[JennyMominFL]

See for me, Phillip is a better human being than stand. I know he is Soviet, so I'm not supposed to do that. Philip does the things he does for the good of his country. He really believes that. He feels guilt and sadness when he does these things, but he feels he  must. As someone else described  Stan a few posts ago, he does most of what he does for personal gain.

[benteen]

Really good episode.  The show has been on an absolute role since its return.

 

Stan really is a self-entitled asshole and it annoyed me when he called Philip an asshole.  Despite what he's done, Philip is still more likeable and less selfish than Stan.

 

Good stuff on the Martha front.  It'll be interesting when that bubble finally bursts for good.

 

Speaking of Stan, Noah Emmerich directed this episode again.  His two episodes always feature a great song choice.

 

I see I wasn't the only one who noticed the veins in Keri Russell's head during that sex scene at the end.

 

Pastor Tim really is a moron.  I laughed at Elizabeth legitimately not knowing if that guy was a priest or not.

 

I continue to like Elizabeth's new friend, Young Hee.

 

Oleg has really been put through the ringer.  Good storyline for him.  His father looks like Putin.

Edited April 14, 2016 by benteen

[attica]

I'm not worried about Martha. In a couple of years, she'll meet a nice lawyer and soon enough be the wife of a Supreme Court Justice.

[Bannon]

It's pretty rare that  a show's writing measurably improves in season 4, from previous seasons, but I think that is the case here, so kudos to the writers. When they don't have Elizabeth and Phillip out- double-OH-sevening James Bond  (I swear, in previous seasons, I half expected the writers to give them a secret lair in a fake volcano) on a weekly basis, it makes other stuff easier to tolerate. Yes, knowledge of E & P's real work has become a little too widespread, Martha's situation probably should have been resolved by now, and Pastor Tim is unfortunately not written all that well, but they have done a good job of portraying the grinding wear of a life undercover, and the limits of the ideological life.

 

I like that Stan has been written as kind of an A-hole, and frankly, I think the show would have been better if it had gone further in that direction.

[sistermagpie]

This is the best show, and I agree, I don't think Oleg's story is going to involve defection, it just doesn't feel quite right, or maybe it's that it seems TOO right?

 

 

Yeah, it's just a little too pat or...black and white? Like he'd just say "I don't like you anymore because you did this...now I'm on their side." The issues with his father were very complicated.

 

I'm really impressed that the series has been exploring themes like that this season, because it would've been so easy for the show to treat "Whoops, the Jennings' secret is out!" like it's the end of the inquiry into their double life. Instead, it's been a jumping-off point to a deeper exploration of what it means both to keep a secret and to lose it, and how hard it can be to confront other people's secrets.

 

 

This. The show really understands how secrets are part of life and how they change the dynamics of things without always blowing them all up.

 

Her scenes of withdrawal from her mother were telling, and when she finally tries to seek some clarity from the mother, mom shuts her down.

 

 

 

 

I took that also as Paige being at the crossroads of adulthood. She can't keep having it both ways where she wants to know the secret but also reserve the right to resent the grown-ups for it. She's trying to be "half a gangster" to quote other prestige dramas. Or not even a gangster. Be an insider and an outsider at the same time.

 

I thought it was actually great of Elizabeth to just say you know what, we're taking a break on this. Because Paige really did need a break from her constant escalating responsibilities--plus there was the reminder even from her that she's being *pressured* about this stuff from Pastor Tim. Sure she also wants reassurance and is maybe using his questions as her excuse for asking about what they do, but he is also asking her for info the same way her parents are telling her to work him. For me the biggest poisoning moment was that she now felt like her relationship with Pastor Tim was more compromised because she had to be dishonest with him. But that line also puts pressure on Paige for Elizabeth--the price of intimacy is keeping the secret.

 

I'm really impressed with those Paige and Philip scenes. Paige was smart enough to see she couldn't really lie to Pastor Tim, so she used the truth (I'm being told to forgive you because you're a good guy, according to my parents) but twisted it (she didn't say "I'm being told to forgive you so you don't rat them out and reminded you care about me so maybe you won't.") I don't know how much Paige really got how Philip (scarily good at inducting people into lying) was prompting her. I think his telling her how Pastor Tim cared about her was more him saying that this is what she needed to use on him--and she did to an extent when she talked about feeling like grown ups could do whatever they want. That was like her saying he held his life in her hands. But I also think she believed that and applied it to her parents as well, so it wasn't just a manipulation. Still, I think it must have galled her that Pastor Tim still doesn't have to apologize for breaking her trust.

 

But compare that to Philip. When Stan thought he'd stepped out of line he reacted by intimidating him violently and Sandra, too, validated that Stan always had to "be the tough guy." Philip used that to his advantage, abjectly apologizing, not defending himself or saying Stan was wrong to do that. He very carefully used the word "wimp" to explain his actions and when Stan went for "asshole" again he repeated the word. Wimp wimp wimp. He knows that Stan wants to be the tough guy, that it's central to his relationship that he (Stan) is the alpha, the tough FBI guy who deals with things Philip can't understand. He trusts Philip because he looks down on him in some ways, doesn't see him as a threat. (Shades of Breaking Bad's Hank and Walt.) When Philip put himself back into place by confessing he knew he was wrong to talk to Sandra (Stan's woman!) but was scared maybe of Stan's reaction Stan was more confident and could again treat Philip like more of a confidante and open up to him the way he had in the past. His bullying had worked just the way he wanted it to, and Philip came crawling to him on his belly assuring him that he was totally wrong. As was Sandra (note Stan's generous admission that he knows Philip wouldn't sleep with Sandra because he's "a good guy" --which in itself might mean wimp here -- but that he didn't trust Sandra not to do something--as if Sandra is in any way the woman he's describing there).

 

 

Arkady immediately assemble a wall of bricks that told Oleg he would be alone in his pain and Nina's legacy was gone, because Arkady had to blame Nina for the sake of his own political survival.

 

 

I don't know if that was just about his own survival, like he was lying. I think he was just as likely feeling genuinely betrayed by her. He seems to be a bit of a true believer, if not as starry-eyed as Elizabeth.

 

I found it kind of funny that, according to Gabriel, the USSR has been supporting William for 25 years without his doing much of anything for them, while P&E seem to carry out several missions every week.  Talk about playing the long con!

 

 

I suspect he actually has been doing a lot, he just hasn't gotten major results. He's specifically a scientist so they're waiting for breakthroughs. I also loved that insight into William from Gabriel, if indeed it was that, that he complains a lot but is a patriot.

 

Stan really is a self-entitled asshole and it annoyed me when he called Philip an asshole.  Despite what he's done, Philip is still more likeable and less selfish than Stan.

 

 

It's just fascinating to think of their friendship from Stan's pov, since he has no idea that Philip is actually a Russian spy. That aspect of it makes Philip the bad guy, obviously, even if he's not pumping Stan for info. But without that Philip is kind of Stan's sounding board. He's come with him to EST, gotten him cheap tickets to try to repair his marriage, invited him over to dinner with his new girlfriend to make the date smoother, had him over for dinner multiple times, pretty much always been there whenever Stan needed him. The most Stan's ever done for Philip was bring the FBI guys in to use him as a travel agent, which I think Stan enjoyed and maybe even resented when he saw Philip's new car.

 

There was a review that described Stan in Glanders as having the Midwestern swagger of a gym teacher who calls everyone by their last names compared to Philip's milquetoast American white guy act and I think of it now whenever they're together.

 

 

 

 

I'm not worried about Martha. In a couple of years, she'll meet a nice lawyer and soon enough be the wife of a Supreme Court Justice.

 

 

And again be asking her husband what's going on!

 

Also a couple of small things, love that Stan also gets to look like the man with Henry by getting the right answer on trivial pursuit and that it was a question about American pop culture -- literally Mickey Mouse. In that moment where Philip was gamely trying to guess I saw him not as the average American guy who might also have gotten it wrong (Lassie was a good guess) but as a Russian who didn't live this stuff the way Stan did. Stan would have watched Lassie on TV as a kid.

 

Also loved Elizabeth having one of her Soviet moments where she's laughing with such contempt at Reagan and Paige is like "What are you laughing at?" I mean, his cheeks were too red and he did look like a clown, but Elizabeth tends to pick on stuff like that when they're touting the kind of American philosophy she can't stand.

 

Also in this ep there was Henry choosing to not be at his own house where he's almost always ignoring everyone for his video games while Stan gets Matthew for the weekend, already has a different kid over and then leaves until morning. I don't think there's a simple meaning to take from any of that, but I do kind of like this pattern of everything coming up Stan in ways that make him feel like he's been right all along but often are more about other peoples' agendas.

[Tetraneutron]

Yes, knowledge of E & P's real work has become a little too widespread, Martha's situation probably should have been resolved by now, and Pastor Tim is unfortunately not written all that well, but they have done a good job of portraying the grinding wear of a life undercover, and the limits of the ideological life.

How should Martha's situation have been resolved? Seems to me they have two options with her: killing her or turning her. I know Gabriel was pushing for the first but she's SO valuable to them. She's getting them things no one else can, and even if they're onto the photocopies there are other ways around that. And it would take a very long time to get a new mole as good or as useful as Martha is to them. And honestly, they can;t just go killing EVERYONE who gets even slightly in their way. People get suspicious. This would be third mysterious FBI death in the run of the show. 

 

As for Pastor Tim, I'm increasingly thinking they don't have to bother about killing him or turning him, because he's so stupid that he can't possibly be a threat. I mean, it's probably realistic that that's how a normal person would react if they were told by a normal middle-class teenager of their acquaintance that her parents were Soviet spies. It wouldn't be realistic if he suddenly became a badass like everyone else. But still, he seems pretty easy to manipulate. 

 

I do love that now that Paige knows, Elizabeth is just totally mocking the US. In the first season, she was cautiously trying to remind her kids that the USSR was the first to make it into space. Now she's just snarking on the President for being a vain sissy. 

[whiporee]

No one has mentioned this, but that last scene with Phillip and Elizabeth may have been a breaking point for him. But was clear to me -- and I think to him -- she was working him, using sex to bring him back to where she wants him to be. The aggressive stance, the cowgirl ride, the overly loud orgasm, all seemed intended to bring someone whose resolve is wavering back into the fold. There wasn't any tenderness or affection in that scene, it was fantasy sex without context of mutuality -- it's not the way sex between couples plays usually plays out.

And Phillip knows it. Big problem, because if Phillip starts doubting his actual connection to Elizabeth, then he could be gone in more ways than one.

[txhorns79]

Also, I love the casual point that on this block apparently everybody's parents go out and leave them overnight. Henry's totally cool hanging out with Matthew or at the Beemans' whether or not Stan is there.

I'd say that happened on most blocks back then. Leaving the kids on their own was much more common in the 80s than it is now.

 

I think it's more that Henry is just very used to his parents keeping odd hours, and giving him a lot more freedom than many children would ever be given.  I can't speak to others' experiences, but my parents would leave me home alone (once I was around 10 or 11) when they would go out to dinner or during the day, but I can't imagine they would ever have left me alone overnight at Henry or Paige's ages unless there was some kind of extreme emergency.   

[topanga]

No one has mentioned this, but that last scene with Phillip and Elizabeth may have been a breaking point for him. But was clear to me -- and I think to him -- she was working him, using sex to bring him back to where she wants him to be. The aggressive stance, the cowgirl ride, the overly loud orgasm, all seemed intended to bring someone whose resolve is wavering back into the fold. There wasn't any tenderness or affection in that scene, it was fantasy sex without context of mutuality -- it's not the way sex between couples plays usually plays out.

And Phillip knows it. Big problem, because if Phillip starts doubting his actual connection to Elizabeth, then he could be gone in more ways than one.

That scene made me wonder if Philip was thinking about Martha during that time. Sex with Elizabeth is usually not so athletic, but we know that Martha is a lady in the streets but a freak in the bed. 

 

 

It's pretty rare that  a show's writing measurably improves in season 4, from previous seasons, but I think that is the case here, so kudos to the writers. When they don't have Elizabeth and Phillip out- double-OH-sevening James Bond  (I swear, in previous seasons, I half expected the writers to give them a secret lair in a fake volcano) on a weekly basis, it makes other stuff easier to tolerate. Yes, knowledge of E & P's real work has become a little too widespread, Martha's situation probably should have been resolved by now, and Pastor Tim is unfortunately not written all that well, but they have done a good job of portraying the grinding wear of a life undercover, and the limits of the ideological life.

 

I like that Stan has been written as kind of an A-hole, and frankly, I think the show would have been better if it had gone further in that direction.

I agree. I'm really enjoying this season. 

[Mozelle]

"My absolute favorite part was the way Elizabeth said "I don't know" when Philip asked "Do you think that guy is really a priest?". Keri deserves an Emmy just for that."

Yeah, that was perfect.

Why is the sex on this show so very, reliably, awkward?

 

Was it awkward? It didn't feel as such to me. I think Elizabeth and Philip were looking for something in each other at that moment. There's been so much happening in their lives--where they were away for several days while recovering from any possible exposure to glanders; where they're trying ways to contain Pastor Tom (and his hair. Heh); where Elizabeth is working Yung Hee; where Philip is dealing with Martha and her (rightful) anxiety about what her involvement with "Clark" means; where Philip is purposely avoiding Stan--that Elizabeth and Philip, with Elizabeth's initiation, coming together to have this uninhibited sex felt anything but awkward to me. 

 

They've been working so hard at trying to keep all these balls in the air (really, no pun intended) that that final release between the two of them seemed right.

 

So, that Reagan speech: 

 it's his farewell speech, which was 1/11/89.

 

The Berlin Wall fell in November of that year.   I'm sure that things related to the fall of soviet satellite governments and the soviet union will start to be explored very soon in the show.

 

I've started listening to the Slate TV Club podcast after watching the most recent episode of The Americans. Last week, June Thomas and The Americans' show runners spoke with Costa Ronin (Oleg). In today's episode, they're speaking with Noah Emmerich who directed "Clark's Place." Anyway, this preamble was to share that the podcast clarified that the Reagan speech the Jenningses were listening to was Ronald Reagan's speech on "Star Wars" (missile defense).

 

Edited because I just realized I called them Jenners instead of Jennings. 

Edited April 14, 2016 by Mozelle

[Uncle Benzene]

Daaaaaaaamn, Keri. Good lord.

 

Say, Matthew... how's life workin' out for ya there? Livin' the dream, are ya?

 

 

I was hoping it was gonna be Ice Ice Baby. Anachronistic for sure, but would have totally been worth it for the lulz.

[scartact]

So this is the first episode of The Americans I've watched live (literally binged the series on Amazon Prime and then caught up with the last four episodes ASAP) and I can't believe how unbelievably tense and pulse pounding it is to watch week to week! There's something to be said about a weekly episode schedule that helps build those feelings of dread that become lost in binge watching.

I mean, especially coming off Nina's death and how it just casts a really long shadow on Martha. I just feel such dread for what the resolution will look like for her and how this will affect Philip. We've been building up to him snapping since at least season 2 and the tension of that thread has been just getting tighter and tighter and it makes me really nervous to see how it will happen and the outcome.

Also Allison Wright is truly this season's MVP, no? I love how the show has really crafted such a very strong cast and that even if the characters are unlikable/irritating/infuriating, very rarely can I say it's at the fault of casting. And they allow everyone the chance to shine.

That being said, I still don't know what to make of Henry's latchkey kid presence and how it affects the overall narrative arc, other than to strain tension between the family. Some part of me is wondering if I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop. This show has made me read it as inherently deceitful, even when it may not be.

[sistermagpie]

No one has mentioned this, but that last scene with Phillip and Elizabeth may have been a breaking point for him. But was clear to me -- and I think to him -- she was working him, using sex to bring him back to where she wants him to be. The aggressive stance, the cowgirl ride, the overly loud orgasm, all seemed intended to bring someone whose resolve is wavering back into the fold. There wasn't any tenderness or affection in that scene, it was fantasy sex without context of mutuality -- it's not the way sex between couples plays usually plays out.

 

 

I didn't see that at all. I saw two people who were really stressed out and needed some physical release. It wasn't athletic at all the way Martha sex is, imo. There was a lot of trademark Philip and Elizabeth eye-contact. It was very tender to start with when they were kissing, and then we skipped to the end when Elizabeth was kind of beyond that. She didn't even sound that loud to me--certainly not as loud as Martha's been in the past. The aggressive stance, especially, is exactly the way most of their most intimate sex scenes go. The scene in the car in the pilot, the one before they talk about Martha's talk with "Jennifer," the scene in the kitchen in Yousef. Most of those have some variation of Elizabeth standing over Philip, often touching his face, and then climbing into his lap. I'd say it's one of their favorite positions. In this case, thinking about it, I would think we're maybe supposed to see them switching who's on top to suggest a give and take just as the 69 scene was going for equality.

 

I don't think she was working him in any particular way. They talked openly about Martha. They both know she might wind up dead. There's nothing Elizabeth can say about that besides they'll do the best they can. It seemed to me like it was a scene when they were being totally honest with each other and Elizabeth wound it up by honestly just saying, "Hey, I'd really like to fuck now" and they did. It was a great idea on her part. I thought she was asking in large part for herself rather than out of any idea she could turn Philip's head with her sexual prowess.

 

That said, this is making me realize that even in bed there is a real pattern of Elizabeth being the more open of the two. Many noted in that scene in S2 how it winds up with Elizabeth lying there naked and Philip is fully clothed after sex. He's always paying attention to the other person. I think it's just a really deep character trait of Philip's that he rarely loses control the way she sometimes can--and this might go back to that early memory of beating that kid to death. Which again reminds me that we got one brief, tantalizing glimpse into Philip's past and now it's clamped shut again. We still don't know the context of any of it in terms of his life circumstances.

 

 

t I can't imagine they would ever have left me alone overnight at Henry or Paige's ages unless there was some kind of extreme emergency.

 

 

To be fair...there was one! The kids just didn't know it. I don't think they're usually left alone overnight. They used to always have babysitters if they were out at night. Now Paige is old enough to babysit. Love that in this ep it was Stan telling his kid he'd be back in the morning. (Matthew's I guess 18 now.)

[Bannon]

How should Martha's situation have been resolved? Seems to me they have two options with her: killing her or turning her. I know Gabriel was pushing for the first but she's SO valuable to them. She's getting them things no one else can, and even if they're onto the photocopies there are other ways around that. And it would take a very long time to get a new mole as good or as useful as Martha is to them. And honestly, they can;t just go killing EVERYONE who gets even slightly in their way. People get suspicious. This would be third mysterious FBI death in the run of the show. 

 

As for Pastor Tim, I'm increasingly thinking they don't have to bother about killing him or turning him, because he's so stupid that he can't possibly be a threat. I mean, it's probably realistic that that's how a normal person would react if they were told by a normal middle-class teenager of their acquaintance that her parents were Soviet spies. It wouldn't be realistic if he suddenly became a badass like everyone else. But still, he seems pretty easy to manipulate. 

 

I do love that now that Paige knows, Elizabeth is just totally mocking the US. In the first season, she was cautiously trying to remind her kids that the USSR was the first to make it into space. Now she's just snarking on the President for being a vain sissy. 

Well, I think it is always a mistake in heavily serialized drama to give very stupid characters a lot of screen time, because very stupid characters are boring.

 

I understand the desire to draw out the Martha story arc. The actor playing her is great, and she is not stupid, and rather interesting, and provides the Phillip character with a lot of internal conflict. One of the (perhaps necessary) weaknesses of the show is that FBI and CIA personnel are portrayed as doing some really inept stuff. As I've said before, when they had the FBI unable to execute a simple stake out in the season 1 finale, I almost quit the show. The writers, to their credit, have gotten away from that kind of nonsense this season, but they still are underplaying how counterintelligence agents would respond to developments. They would be highly suspicious that Gene's suicide was staged, and upon finding out that Martha was now admitting to an illicit sexual relationship that she denied in her polygraph session, there's no way that the surveillance of her would be limited to two agents, doing it on a part time basis. Martha's not a powerful person, like infamous FBI double agent Robert Hanssen was, and thus able to insulate herself. Her life would be far more dramatically turned upside down. E & P would have known this was coming. I think it is a lot more likely they woud have killed Martha instead of Gene.

 

Is it a dealbreaker for me? No, not even close. I loved Breaking Bad, despite the fact that it was competely implausible that Jesse Pinkman wasn't killed pretty early on, as was the original plan by the writers. Martha's a great character, played by a great actor, and it is understandable that they don't want to rid themselves of those assets any sooner than absolutely necessary. 

 

In any case, I'm happy that this show's writing has improved a lot. I suspect that the writers felt compelled to be a lot more action movieish early on, because they were't confident how patient FX would be with it They seem to have a lot more confidence to get away from that stuff now, and that's good.

Edited April 14, 2016 by Bannon

[SunnyBeBe]

Well, I agree that the episodes sure are more tense this season.  I find myself watching the show twice, back to back.  Still, I wonder if I am catching everything. 

 

I am a tad disappointed in the way they approached Pastor Tim and Alice.  I mean....really? That's the best they could do?  I just thought it was a mediocre attempt to  solve a gigantic problem.  I mean, that's all it takes to keep your cover?  

 

And then there is the Martha situation.  I just have trouble swallowing that one as well.  I realize there are other people who are working to help the soviet Union, however, I would think that Martha is in a VERY unique and valuable place.  WHYI in the world there was not more security and surveillance to help protect her is beyond belief.  She isn't being treated the way I would think they would treat her if she were that valuable.  I bummed by that.  And I also had envisioned that Martha had a lot of abilities that were left to be tapped, if trained properly and given the right incentives.  Instead, they've pushed her against the wall with no support and little guidance.  I'm ot too thrilled about the mess she's in right now.  

 

Then we have daughter Paige.  I'm not sure what it is, but that character annoys the hey out of me.  I just don't like her attitude at all.  Taking her brain size and age into consideration, I still loathe her.  I couldn't help but envision Pastor Tim and Alice taking Paige on a mission trip to a Central American country and as they are making there way up this winding curve atop a very high mountain...........no chance of that I guess.  

 

Can someone help me with this question?  When Stan was telling his co-worker what he found in Martha's apt,, he mentioned finding the gun and then said that he already knew abut that.  I can't recall how he knows.  

[Tetraneutron]

They would be highly suspicious that Gene's suicide was staged, and upon finding out that Martha was now admitting to an illicit sexual relationship that she denied in her polygraph session, there's no way that the surveillance of her would be limited to two agents, doing it on a part time basis. Martha's not a powerful person, like infamous FBI double agent Robert Hanssen was, and thus able to insulate herself. Her life would be far more dramatically turned upside down. E & P would have known this was coming. I think it is a lot more likely they woud have killed Martha instead of Gene.

But wouldn't they be reluctant to kill their woman on the inside? Who else can plant a bug in the office and get surveillance reports and tell Philip what's going on? Besides, narratively, it's boring when every obstacle gets murdered. 

 

Well, I agree that the episodes sure are more tense this season.  I find myself watching the show twice, back to back.  Still, I wonder if I am catching everything. 

 

I am a tad disappointed in the way they approached Pastor Tim and Alice.  I mean....really? That's the best they could do?  I just thought it was a mediocre attempt to  solve a gigantic problem.  I mean, that's all it takes to keep your cover?  

I don't think they're done with Pastor Tim. That was just the first step in turning him; not the whole operation. 

 

 

That being said, I still don't know what to make of Henry's latchkey kid presence and how it affects the overall narrative arc, other than to strain tension between the family. Some part of me is wondering if I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop. This show has made me read it as inherently deceitful, even when it may not be.

I think it's to show how completely American their kids are, but in different ways. Paige is an idealist, who believes in optimism and that good wins out, and Henry is obsessed with the latest toys and luxuries and American pop culture. That in a way he's more comfortable with Stan and Stan's lifestyle than he is at home, just like Paige is with dumb Pastor Tim. 

Edited April 14, 2016 by Tetraneutron