S05.E04: What's the Matter with Kansas?

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

Philip and Elizabeth have qualms about a new assignment, while a specter from Philip's past creates unforeseen dangers. At the FBI, Stan makes a shocking play that could throw his career into turmoil.

Promo:

[sistermagpie]

So looks like Paige is going after Pastor Tim's diary...

[Umbelina]

Thanks!  I couldn't figure out what diary that was, I kept thinking she was talking about Mathew, and wondering why the hell Mathew was keeping a diary!  That preview was too fast, too disjointed, and too full of tiny clips for me to figure out what was happening.  Get anything else from it?

[sistermagpie]

I'm seeing a little Oleg, a little Mischa getting transported somewhere (over a border?) hidden in a truck, Stan watching out the window with that telescope again. But mostly I think Paige searching what I would bet is Pastor Tim's house.

[SailorGirl]

I was thinking it was Stan's diary. 

Edit: But I just saw it again and realize Elizabeth said at the end that if "they suspect anything they will go straight to the FBI." So, I'm on board with it being Pastor Groovyhair's. 

Edited March 28, 2017 by SailorGirl

[sistermagpie]

More detailed preview for tonight's ep. Yup, that'd be Pastor Tim.

[wellread]

Once again, I am anticipating coming here after tonight's episode.  The comments of Pink Ribbons, Umbelina and the others about their and their parents' lives in the former Soviet Union add so much depth to this forum.  Thank you all for sharing these experiences with us.  You add so much to our understanding.

[gwhh]

Why is the Russian supermarket lady not shaking in her boots??   Two KGB agents are giving her the 3rd degree for 2nd time. They can beat her or thrown her in a cell until they get tired of doing it. Where the fear the KGB suppose to inspire?  Is this the kinder and more Gentle KGB???  

 

I like Ike how they can run several large complicated intell programs. But got no clue what there son is up to?  Welcome to American burbs life E & P.  

 

Oleg just found his hate point for old mother Russia. Put mom in gulag for 5 years. Time to make it hurt. 

Edited March 29, 2017 by gwhh

[Umbelina]

Good move Stan!

Oleg's mom, holy hell! 

Misha made it?  At least that story is moving forward, and he should add some legitimate stress to the equations. 

Paige's story meanwhile?  Drags on.  Still, it sparked her mom's imagination, and she hoped for some blackmail. 

It was a bit slow for me again, after last week's comeback. 

[AimingforYoko]

Man, I totally didn't see Stan manning up for Oleg. I didn't know they had that kind of relationship. Speaking of Oleg, that was a nice piece of wordless acting when his mom was telling her story.

Nice to see Henry, but I see why they use the kid sparingly, he's enormous. He's definitely caught "Bran" disease.

[Umbelina]

Stan was saving his own ass.

[gwhh]

2 minutes ago, AimingforYoko said:

 

Nice to see Henry, but I see why they use the kid sparingly, he's enormous. He's definitely caught "Bran" disease.

Bran disease?   You talking about this??

 

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bran disease

[benteen]

I thought the episode was good.  The show hasn't been bad this year but this storyline has been slow in moving and the season hasn't approached greatness so far.  I love the show but that's just my opinion of it so far.

I like how Philip and Elizabeth's mission was planned and played out.

Pastor Tim is back...boo.  But at least Paige is spying on him.

Didn't expect that play from Stan either...he's really burning his bridges.

[Chaos Theory]

Welcome to America Misha.

My guess is getting "fired" in the spy world is less pink slip and more bullet to the head.  Heck Stan is standing there playing with Fire and Oleg in contemplating treason.  I do love Oleg's mother though.

Ahhh wishing back for the good ol Martha days.  At least she didn't live that far away and she was interesting.  I think Philip is striking out.  

Paige is getting bold.  How much juicy stuff is in a diary of a pastor or his wife?  Although Pastor Tim is up on his Karl Marx so there is that.  Still snooping is the first step to spying.  Paige and her growing pains is still my favorite post Martha storyline.

Edited March 29, 2017 by Chaos Theory

[Primetimer]

While her parents ply their trade(craft) in Topeka, Paige freelances with an op chez Groovyhair.

View the full article

[AimingforYoko]

Just now, gwhh said:

Bran disease?   You talking about this??

 

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bran disease

No, I was talking about when your cute little child actor grows a foot, like Isaac "Bran" Hempstead-Wright.

[Umbelina]

Stan had no other choice, he had to expose (come clean) himself before Oleg outed him.  It was really the only thing he COULD do.  He still hasn't come completely clean though. 

[Shriekingeel]

27 minutes ago, gwhh said:

Why is the Russian supermarket lady not shaking in her boots??   Two KGB agents are giving her the 3rd degree for 2nd time. They can beat her or thrown her in a cell until they get tired of doing it. Where the fear the KGB suppose to inspire?  Is this the kinder and more Gentle KGB???  

Yeah, I found that scene ridiculous too. This isn't an episode of Law and Order where Lenny Briscoe and Mike Logan put the squeeze on a witness. One word from a KGB operative and you're doing ten years in the Gulag. She would have been terrified. 

Stan destroying his career for Oleg. Did not see that coming. 

[gwhh]

I wonder if the KGB bug Oleg parents apartment. The only person off limits to KGB bugging was the Soviet leader and the head of the KGB. 

[Ellaria]

Everything is still a little disjointed for me. I know that the disparate "grain storylines" will eventually come together but I wish it would move along just a bit faster.

None of this is coming easy for Phil these days. Just wait til his long lost son shows up. Glad to see that Misha made it to the US so quickly. I expected that to drag out for longer.

P&E get to double date with Stan and Renee and she's smart, charming, etc. (Tell me again why she is with Stan.) Still don't know if she's watching Stan, P&E, or if she is just his girlfriend...

Are they really giving Henry a storyline? Loved his sass.

As far Paige, the Junior Spy and Pastor Tim...ugh! I am dreading it. 

[sistermagpie]

33 minutes ago, Umbelina said:

Paige's story meanwhile?  Drags on.  Still, it sparked her mom's imagination, and she hoped for some blackmail. 

Yeah, you know, I completely understand how important Paige is to the show but sometimes it really is hard sitting through her scenes of remedial deception. Many a teenage babysitter snoops through the house when the people are out and of course they’d read that diary and if they could they’d ID the people. But with Paige you really do need to tell her to back off because she probably would start acting differently. Right, Stan?

I mean, I get why Paige is considered valuable to the Centre. She’s a US citizen and she’s connected to her parents. The Centre doesn’t know her personally. But usually spies are at least somewhat scoped out for having a natural affinity for this stuff and Paige is reading like 5 years below her grade level on this stuff at all times.

Henry, now, seems more like a normal teenager. He’s not even trying to hide stuff that much (he’s talking on the phone at home), he just doesn’t announce everything to his family (why even bother when they’re always focused on Paige?). However playfully suspicious Elizabeth is, he’s established enough “harmless” cred to skate by for a while and when asked about anything is quick with a “I don’t know.” Maybe he does have more than one girl on the hook and is stringing them along.

I don’t think Pastor Tim has much blackmail material (except for those RUSSIAN SPIES HE’S PROTECTING), and he probably wouldn’t put it in his diary if he did. They’ve got his office bugged. Also, check out him giving Paige Marx to read, so he assumes her parents aren’t recruiting her or talking to her about who they are politically. That book will probably come in handy if somebody ever wants to claim he’s committing treason.

Meanwhile, I feel cheated out of a meeting with the math teacher. Maybe Henry’s staring at her boobs too much or something. Or running a cheating ring. Or dealing.

Edited March 29, 2017 by sistermagpie

[Pickles]

If Elizabeth told Paige that no one was home (during their talk in the kitchen), why did she turn the faucet on? In case Henry walked in? 

[sistermagpie]

Forgot to add—like the little touch of Henry throwing away his toast because it doesn’t have enough jam, like some pampered czar. There are little kids starving in post-war Siberia, Henry!

The energy he brought to his scene was a breath of fresh air after so much Paige. He just seems much more natural, like a kid with a real life. Even Philip’s little exchange with him was more interesting, when he gave him that little “Come on” thing.

[Umbelina]

I kind of like the idea that they've ignored Henry in favor of slavish devotion to Paige is coming back to bite them in the ass.

[vb68]

1 hour ago, Chaos Theory said:

I think Philip is striking out.  

I thought he was trying too hard in the gym and rushing things. He came off like a creeper.  I thought the woman might question how he even got her phone number.

I was assuming Henry got a scene to note the similar look to Mischa. I wondered what the math teacher wanted, too.  I was hoping that he and his buddies were telling too many off color Russian-commie jokes or something. Heh.

When Renee said she had roots in Pittsburgh, I could see the wheels turning in Elizabeth's head. I got a flashback to John Malkovich in In The Line of Fire. "You shouldn't have ever been to Pittsburgh."

I think Stan's an idiot.  If he doesn't get arrested, how does he not even get demoted/transferred?  He's being too adamant about Oleg and telegraphing he's got potential to flip sides. 

As for Mischa, here comes trouble.

Edited March 29, 2017 by vb68

[PinkRibbons]

I...in response to Oleg asking about where his father is, Oleg's Mom's subtitles say, (about her husband's whereabouts) "Out. I don't know where." Oleg shrugs.

WHY THE HELL WOULD OLEG SHRUG AT THAT?

OH, HERE'S WHY. WHAT SHE ACTUALLY SAID WAS, "I don't know. He isn't in the house?"

And then, later on, during her amazing speech about living in the camps, when she says her most important/powerful line, the subtitles say, "You do what you need to do." What she actually says is, "People survive any way they can."

I wish I could write more about how much I liked Mischa's moment of relief when he realizes he's crossed the border, or how much I anticipated seeing Henry's teacher, but ASKJHA;SDFHJKSZHAWES.

[Kathemy]

Liked this one too.

I'm not feeling the Paige hate personally. Also was nice to have a little longer scene with Henry. Really curious what will happen with all the plot lines.

Edited March 29, 2017 by Kathemy

[escatefromny]

I keep scratching my head on the Russian grocery corruption storyline.

That that there were better stocked stores for the mucky mucks in Soviet Russia is a good example of the institutional corruption and hypocrisy.  But it would have existed on an institutional level ... the store manager of a shop that caters to the high level, special card holding types wouldn't need to pay bribes to get good product would she?  Those details would have been worked out several layers above from her.  Where would the store manager possibly get the money for the bribes?  She doesn't own the store, or share in the profit.  She can't syphon off "profits" for the bribes and it's not her problem is the shelves are bare anyway.  The whole thing makes no sense to me.  Is Oleg's department really unaware that that certain sectors of Russian society get preferential treatment?  Or are they like "internal affairs" and trying to clean up the system?  (Which still makes no sense to me ... that type of thinking would be rebellious and undermining to the authoritarian powers that be).  

Showing bribery and corruption on a personal level would have illustrated the point better in my opinion ... like Oleg's Mom being sick and needing to pay a bribe for the best medical intervention, that makes more sense than the convoluted grocery store scheme.  If they needed to tie it into the food crisis, then why not focus on the overseers of the farming collectives who likely diverted money for equipment, seeds and ferilizer into their own pockets.  Because again, it's not like the "market" is going to weed out poor producers.  

Great to see Oleg, great to see Tony Soprano's fling again,  but what I see as a big hole in the story is interfering with my enjoyment of this storyline.

[vb68]

Philip and Elizabeth have been filling Paige's head with so much righteous talk about missions that I don't see how they can really be surprised that she wants to snoop and seize opportunities herself. I think Elizabeth is a little thrilled the kid showed initiative. 

[Cosmosgravitation]

Quote

Meanwhile, I feel cheated out of a meeting with the math teacher. Maybe Henry’s staring at her boobs too much or something. Or running a cheating ring. Or dealing.

I'm guessing Henry's math teacher will tell them he is mathematically gifted.  It'd fit with Henry's interest in computers and astronomy, and since his parents speculated he was failing the class we can be sure it won't be that, especially since Henry said he thought he was doing well.

Edited March 29, 2017 by Cosmosgravitation

[Umbelina]

Maybe I'm missing something, but all I saw with Stan's move is Stan trying to save his own ass.  Oleg knows a lot more about Stan than just Vlad's murder.  If they push Oleg, he's likely to tell the CIA everything Stan was really up to with Nina, and with him.

I thought it was a clever move on his part, lead with the least treasonous thing he's done that Oleg knows about, try to stop the Oleg coercion to save his own ass.  Am I missing something?

[gwhh]

1 hour ago, Ellaria Sand said:

Everything is still a little disjointed for me. I know that the disparate "grain storylines" will eventually come together but I wish it would move along just a bit faster.

None of this is coming easy for Phil these days. Just wait til his long lost son shows up. Glad to see that Misha made it to the US so quickly. I expected that to drag out for longer.

P&E get to double date with Stan and Renee and she's smart, charming, etc. (Tell me again why she is with Stan.) Still don't know if she's watching Stan, P&E, or if she is just his girlfriend...

Are they really giving Henry a storyline? Loved his sass.

As far Paige, the Junior Spy and Pastor Tim...ugh! I am dreading it. 

I'm glad mischa made it to the USA so fast. I thought they would string it out till the last episode of the season as a cliff hanger.

i get the feeling Granny may get the Hans exit this season fby way of the E special. 

[Dev F]

1 hour ago, Shriekingeel said:

Yeah, I found that scene ridiculous too. This isn't an episode of Law and Order where Lenny Briscoe and Mike Logan put the squeeze on a witness. One word from a KGB operative and you're doing ten years in the Gulag. She would have been terrified.

She doesn't know they're with the KGB. Last week Oleg identified himself as a member of OBKhSS, the Department Against Misappropriation of Socialist Property. The fact that he's actually investigating high-level Soviet officials for corruption on behalf of the KGB is hugely sensitive and secret.

1 hour ago, Ellaria Sand said:

Everything is still a little disjointed for me. I know that the disparate "grain storylines" will eventually come together but I wish it would move along just a bit faster.

This was actually the first episode of the season that felt really coherent to me, at least on a thematic level. "I was there. Not you." That's basically what every storyline was about -- the lonely responsibility, but also the power, of being the only one in the room where it happens.

[MisterBluxom]

I have just a very few observations about tonight's episode.

When it comes to seducing people with the idea of later on being able to take advantage of them and getting some info from them, E sure does seem to be better at it then does P.  At least judging from this epi. P did do a great job on Martha.  But after watching tonight's epi, it sure does seem to me that E is the Queen of that department. I don't know how any man could ever resist her. She is such an attractive lady and so appealing.  I could write pages in praise of Elizabeth.

Tonight's episode seemed markedly different to me than most others because there was so much movement along so many different plot lines. We saw progress in Mischa's story, Oleg's story, oh heck ... in almost every story. But the big surprise was Henry's story. Never expected that.

If I had to guess what is going on with Henry, my current guess would be that his teacher has discovered he is a genius "savant" when it comes to math and the school wants to place Henry in some advanced math program and/or pave the way for Henry to attend some advanced university. That would bring a fair bit of attention to the family and  I bet that's just what they wanted. What do  you think?

I'm just joking of course. The last thing this family wants is a bunch of attention.

What do you think of Oleg choosing to confide in Mom? Of all the people in this world, I would think the very last person in whom you would want to confide is Mother. It looks like Stan is going to get the CIA to drop its stupid plan to force Oleg to do anything. But if they didn't, I'm guessing that his telling Mom would become a very serious problem. Mothers just seem to need to talk to someone/anyone to help their offspring. Unfortunately, my experience has been that often leads to much bigger problems instead of solving them.  Oh, shit! Don't tell your mother. Tell most anyone else. But not mother!

Oleg's story line here seems like it might be one of the most interesting of them all this season.  Hard to believe the writers made a teeny tiny bit of progress on almost all the story lines. There was a microscopic amount of progress made in the story about the father who hates Russia. But it seemed kind of silly to me that the major happening was for him to announce (once again) that he hates Russia.  This is just getting downright boring!  Booo!

Finally, did anyone else wonder about the name of the "experienced interregator"? My subtitles indicated his name was "Russia". Could that be correct? I have never before heard that name used as the first name of a Russian citizen. What's going on with that? Does anyone know if that is really a first name in the USSR?

 

8 minutes ago, MissBluxom said:

 

Edited March 29, 2017 by MissBluxom

[MisterBluxom]

2 hours ago, Umbelina said:

Maybe I'm missing something, but all I saw with Stan's move is Stan trying to save his own ass.  Oleg knows a lot more about Stan than just Vlad's murder.  If they push Oleg, he's likely to tell the CIA everything Stan was really up to with Nina, and with him.

I thought it was a clever move on his part, lead with the least treasonous thing he's done that Oleg knows about, try to stop the Oleg coercion to save his own ass.  Am I missing something?

The only possible thing I can see that you might agree is "missing" is that Stan would have been absolutely terrified about doing this and we failed to see that at all. If he wasn't terrified, there are several other strong emotions that he could have shown us. I feel as if I would be within my rights to ask for my money back on account of that failure.  Did anyone else feel like that was some kind of FAIL?

It must have taken a huge amount of courage for Stan to have done this - especially since he knows what a ****** jerkoff that little weasel (his boss) is and that his boss would almost certainly have chosen to take the course of action that would cause Stan the most  amount of pain and suffering (and harm and trauma) and would be most likely to cause him to wind up in prison.

Also, I'm taking into consideration that Stan is so very happy to have found this new lady and he would be so fearful to lose her by getting into trouble with the FBI).  So ... why in the world did the director not give us some glimpse of all these emotions? We know they must have been there and we know Noah Emmerich is certainly capable of delivering them. So ... why didn't he?

I was seriously disappointed with this scene. I thought they could have delivered one Hell of a lot more acting chops - both of them - both Stan and his boss. I was left scratching my head and wondering out loud, "WTH???"

I have to say the acting in that scene did not seem very well done to me. I would have expected for Stan to have shown us a much greater amount of tension and fear. In addition, I would have expected his boss to have shown a great deal of anger and stupidity.  I just don't understand the casting of Stan's boss.

I would have figured he was cast because he has the ability to display a great deal of anger and/or stupidity or something else. But we saw nothing like that. Almost anyone could  have acted the part of Stan's boss. If there was one disappointing aspect of this episode, that would have been it. What was the point of casting that guy? Seems very ridiculous to me.  Of course, I could easily be wrong about this and I'd sincerely love to hear what you all have to say about this. Since there was so little delivered to us.

Edited March 29, 2017 by MissBluxom

[alvajon]

20 minutes ago, MissBluxom said:

I have just a very few observations about tonight's episode.

When it comes to seducing people with the idea of later on being able to take advantage of them and getting some info from them, E sure does seem to be better at it then does P.  At least judging from this epi. P did do a great job on Martha.  But after watching tonight's epi, it sure does seem to me that E is the Queen of that department. I don't know how any man could ever resist her. She is such an attractive lady and so appealing.  I could write pages in praise of Elizabeth.

Tonight's episode seemed markedly different to me than most others because there was so much movement along so many different plot lines. We saw progress in Mischa's story, Oleg's story, oh heck ... in almost every story. But the big surprise was Henry's story. Never expected that.

If I had to guess what is going on with Henry, my current guess would be that his teacher has discovered he is a genius "savant" when it comes to math and the school wants to place Henry in some advanced math program and/or pave the way for Henry to attend some advanced university. That would bring a fair bit of attention to the family and  I bet that's just what they wanted. What do  you think?

I'm just joking of course. The last thing this family wants is a bunch of attention.

What do you think of Oleg choosing to confide in Mom? Of all the people in this world, I would think the very last person in whom you would want to confide is Mother. It looks like Stan is going to get the CIA to drop its stupid plan to force Oleg to do anything. But if they didn't, I'm guessing that his telling Mom would become a very serious problem. Mothers just seem to need to talk to someone/anyone to help their offspring. Unfortunately, my experience has been that often leads to much bigger problems instead of solving them.  Oh, shit! Don't tell your mother. Tell most anyone else. But not mother!

Oleg's story line here seems like it might be one of the most interesting of them all this season.  Hard to believe the writers made a teeny tiny bit of progress on almost all the story lines. There was a microscopic amount of progress made in the story about the father who hates Russia. But it seemed kind of silly to me that the major happening was for him to announce (once again) that he hates Russia.  This is just getting downright boring!  Booo!

Finally, did anyone else wonder about the name of the "experienced interregator"? My subtitles indicated his name was "Russia". Could that be correct? I have never before heard that name used as the first name of a Russian citizen. What's going on with that? Does anyone know if that is really a first name in the USSR?

 

[SWLinPHX]

Quote

Finally, did anyone else wonder about the name of the "experienced interregator"? My subtitles indicated his name was "Russia". Could that be correct? I have never before heard that name used as the first name of a Russian citizen. What's going on with that? Does anyone know if that is really a first name in the USSR?

No, it was "Ruslan" -- or something like that

[MisterBluxom]

Alvajon? Did something go wrong with your reply? It looks like maybe you wrote something but then it failed to get posted?

SWLinPHX. Oops! I missed that. Thank you kindly.

Cosmosgravitation. I did not see your post about Henry being a gifted math student. I'm sorry if you felt I was stealing your idea.

It was not intentional.  Pls excuse me.

Edited March 29, 2017 by MissBluxom

[scrb]

Looks like Philip and Elizabeth both didn't want to do the honeypot thing again.

Especially having to fly all the way to Kansas frequently.

Philip didn't seem to like the idea of his wife sleeping again with other men again.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth looks at her mark as a guy who's working on starving another country yet the guy seems like a nice person, not the monster that she imagines him to be.

Wonder how Paige would react if she knew what her parents were up to in Kansas.  

"How do you get him to tell you what you want to know?"

"I sucked his cock"

Oh wait, that was Nina.  

If they are having qualms about still having to seduce people to get information, are they going to teach Paige how to flirt, seduce, extort and kill?

[Umbelina]

They have no intention of teaching Paige to flirt, seduce, extort, or kill.  They are, or at least Elizabeth is, still deluding herself that Paige won't have to do any of that.

I'm so bored with the wheat story.  It just doesn't feel credible to me, maybe that's why.  Of course, that's probably mostly because of google and never hearing anything about this in real life.  I can believe the Jennings and Center may THINK it's happening, but I'm just waiting for it to hit them that, no, it isn't, so the killed or fucked a bunch of people for nothing.

[scartact]

It's interesting how during that final scene with Elizabeth and Philip, when Philip asks Elizabeth about her honey trap, he guesses she likes him, only for her to discredit that and bring it back to the ideology. As much as Phil and Liz have made their relationship real and are fully functioning as partners and as a couple, they're both still at such very different mindsets. Philip guesses Elizabeth likes this guy because he is ultimately grounded and people and emotions, but Elizabeth's reluctance to talk about him actually stems from ultimately her ideological stance. That final scene is also an interesting contrast to the other one where Elizabeth comes back to find Philip watching TV and I really loved the close and quiet intimacy of it. They're so at ease with one another, regardless of those differences they ultimately do have.

Random thoughts:

The scene where Phil and Liz try to opt out of Kansas was amusing. They're both gettin' too old for this shit, eh?

I'm impressed Mischa made it to JFK already! Glad the show wasn't tryna show us a very long and arduous process. I wonder how he's gonna get around with a probable lack of English language knowledge?

Paige's snooping scene and reading of Pastor Groovyhair's diary interspersed with Elizabeth's honey trapping was an interesting parallel of mother and daughter.

I dig the Stan/Oleg parallels.

The continual mention of Henry's math teacher is probably the closest to a real storyline that kid's gotten since season 2. I was wondering if it would amount to anything just because it felt like the writing was purposely drawing a lot of attention to it.

I recognize a lot of things actually happened in this episode, but it still felt weirdly slow to me. Or maybe last season spoiled us with so much intensive and focused action. There are definitely a lot of moving pieces, so I generally like when the show slows down to focus on one or two different things. Meanwhile, these first few episodes have definitely been working to set up and progress things.

[Bannon]

Eh, this season has not been compelling for me at all. The grain operation doesn't make any sense (I'm really going to be disappointed if the big reveal is, possibly after E has killed yet another hapless sap, that the U.S. really isn't trying to starve millions of Soviets; why watch this show if E & P are going to be written as stupid people?), the Stan arc is incoherent to me, likely in part because the Stan and Nina arc never made any sense to me, and there isn't anything about the Mischa arc that grabs me. It just seems contrived, as does the impending reveal that Stan's new gf is a Soviet. Oh well, maybe the writers will turn things around.

[Bannon]

5 minutes ago, Umbelina said:

They have no intention of teaching Paige to flirt, seduce, extort, or kill.  They are, or at least Elizabeth is, still deluding herself that Paige won't have to do any of that.

I'm so bored with the wheat story.  It just doesn't feel credible to me, maybe that's why.  Of course, that's probably mostly because of google and never hearing anything about this in real life.  I can believe the Jennings and Center may THINK it's happening, but I'm just waiting for it to hit them that, no, it isn't, so the killed or fucked a bunch of people for nothing.

The wheat thing is dumb, because if the United States was trying to kill millions of citizens, via starvation, of a nations with thousands of nuclear warheads, they wouldn't be treating the effort like a minor agricultural research exercise. Either P & E will be exposed as nitwits when they discover midge-a-palooza isn 't about inflicting death by starvation upon millions of Soviets, or the Americans will once again be revealed as nitwits.

[MisterBluxom]

4 hours ago, Pickles said:

If Elizabeth told Paige that no one was home (during their talk in the kitchen), why did she turn the faucet on? In case Henry walked in? 

Nice observation. Well done.

[MisterBluxom]

4 hours ago, benteen said:

I thought the episode was good.  The show hasn't been bad this year but this storyline has been slow in moving and the season hasn't approached greatness so far.  I love the show but that's just my opinion of it so far.

I like how Philip and Elizabeth's mission was planned and played out.

Pastor Tim is back...boo.  But at least Paige is spying on him.

Didn't expect that play from Stan either...he's really burning his bridges.

Yes. Pastor Tim is back. But really .... how much back is back?

What I mean is there was really little point to having him appear on screen tonight. What was the point? To tell us that Alice is nervous? Oh dear. That was just umm ... in a word ... dismal.  Just pathetically dismal.  For shame. For shame!

The producers could easily rent a soundstage and create a few scenes to tell us whatever they need to tell us. They don't have to waste so much time and resources. To advance the story line, it seems to me, they are just wasting an incredible amount of resources. Just incredible. It is not necessary. Not at all.

I am just plum disappointed. Shame on the producers. Shame, shame, shame on the directors too. Someone really ought to know better.

The producers, director and actors are all so very talented. They are just plum more talented than this. Shame on them!  Why oh why do they feel some need to waste so much of our time? It is just a shame.

Edited March 29, 2017 by MissBluxom

[Bama]

Stan wasn't telling his new boss (Agent Wolfe) about the killing of Vlad.  He was telling  Deputy Attorney General Warren.  Warren was the guy he went to when he bypassed Gaad in the season three finale and goes to Warren with his plan to get Nina back.

Agent Wolfe (Stan's boss) - 

Deputy AG Warren -

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I really felt for Elizabeth and Philip when they were told to get their asses to Kansas to sleep with these two new potential sources. Even if you take the honeytrapping out of the equation, they're running a legit business, they have two pain in the ass teenagers to deal with (one of whom is dating the son of their FBI agent neighbor), they have a fake family so that they can cozy up to the Russian family, and they're running around investigating the grain bugs. They really don't have time to be flying to Kansas every few days. Ain't nobody got time for that! Surely they the Russians must have some agents closer to Kansas who can handle a simple "seduce and get secrets" operation.

4 hours ago, Cosmosgravitation said:

I'm guessing Henry's math teacher will tell them he is mathematically gifted.  It'd fit with Henry's interest in computers and astronomy, and since his parents speculated he was failing the class we can be sure it won't be that, especially since Henry said he thought he was doing well.

That was my assumption too. His teacher probably wants him to become a Mathlete.

[kokapetl]

This wheat plot is all so stupid. Does the Centre not remember how incredibly difficult it was to access last season's biological weapons? That William spent twenty years at it? The wheat midges are clearly not something that's going to cause the deaths of tens of millions of people. 

Stan has lost his mind. I hope he enjoys his new assignment to the X-Files or whatever in the basement, because he clearly can't work in counterintelligence anymore. 

Edited March 29, 2017 by Kokapetl

[Umbelina]

14 minutes ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I really felt for Elizabeth and Philip when they were told to get their asses to Kansas to sleep with these two new potential sources. Even if you take the honeytrapping out of the equation, they're running a legit business, they have two pain in the ass teenagers to deal with (one of whom is dating the son of their FBI agent neighbor), they have a fake family so that they can cozy up to the Russian family, and they're running around investigating the grain bugs. They really don't have time to be flying to Kansas every few days. Ain't nobody got time for that! Surely they the Russians must have some agents closer to Kansas who can handle a simple "seduce and get secrets" operation.

That was my assumption too. His teacher probably wants him to become a Mathlete.

I doubt they had any embedded agents, or even an embassy in Kansas.  Remember Stan telling Nina that the KGB has no one out west?  Well, I doubt they have anyone in the Midwest either.  

They are also down 3 illegals now, 4 if you count Misha's mom.  I guess it would depend on how many they have stashed away.

I think they are trying to show us the increased desperation of the Soviet Union by running the Jennings ragged, and probably by the insane "America is going to poison our grain!" paranoia. 

I dunno, it's just not holding together for me, the pieces are there, but it's failing.  There is too much stuff that we don't really understand and they don't usually leave it all open to fan-wankings, so it's like a sea-change for this show.  Too many "we can only guess" stories going on all at once for me, which is strange, because I actually kind of like the new characters.

For example, I love that Oleg's mom was in a Gulag, but I don't understand anything about this investigation or who is really running it.  Are they trying to bust the privileged, when they are probably PART of the privileged?  It's just confusing.

So many moving pieces to the grain story, and maybe it's because we can look that stuff up, but it's falling flat because we pretty much know it didn't happen, so all of this angst is either for nothing or to really piss off Liz and Phil when they find out how back-assward this whole thing is.

Last week gave me hope, and next week (from previews) gives me hope, but they really need to start pulling these stories together.  This whole season has been "teasers" and one of the beauties of this show is we usually get SOME kind of payoff for at least a few stories, as well as the long story arcs. 

This is like fumbling foreplay that's gone on too long and you've realized your lover really has no idea what he's doing. 

Edited March 29, 2017 by Umbelina

[Kathemy]

12 minutes ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I really felt for Elizabeth and Philip when they were told to get their asses to Kansas to sleep with these two new potential sources. Even if you take the honeytrapping out of the equation, they're running a legit business, they have two pain in the ass teenagers to deal with (one of whom is dating the son of their FBI agent neighbor), they have a fake family so that they can cozy up to the Russian family, and they're running around investigating the grain bugs. They really don't have time to be flying to Kansas every few days. Ain't nobody got time for that! Surely they the Russians must have some agents closer to Kansas who can handle a simple "seduce and get secrets" operation.

It's a ridiculous workload for sure. The only explanation I can think of, which doesn't seem very plausible either, is that the center wants to limit the people in the know on the plot. That, plus Liz and Phil being their best agents, obviously.

The honeytrapping obviously is a bigger problem now. I mean, I don't think they ever liked that part of the job, but now they really don't like it, what with having a functioning romantic relationship and said relationship having been threatened in the past by things like that.

However, this is where I have to apply suspension of disbelief. Realistically, after all they've been through I think Elizabeth and Philip would've been pulled off front line duty long ago. Especially given the prospects for their children. They'd possibly be managing junior agents, like Gabe does. Their experience and knowledge is far too valuable to waste on an operation gone wrong.