S06.E01: Dead Hand

[Clanstarling]

2 hours ago, Chaos Theory said:

I don’t know why I am defending Paige so hard.  Maybe because I think I might actually like her.  Or even worse see myself in her,  I didn’t have many friends growing up and I was a virgin into my mid twenties.  I can see myself handling the situation with the Navy guy exactly the same way Paige did.   I know there are plenty of people who would have taken him to a dark ally and screwed him there....but I don’t think that would have even crossed my mind.  And I don’t think it would have crossed Paige’s. 

 

I don't like Paige, but I thought she handled the situation as well as she could have - without drawing additional attention to herself and compromising others (which driving away would have done, imo).  I think she pretty much did it by the book...until she ran to the end of the options she knew about, and her options in the situation itself.

The comments that focus on spy craft in this scene are fair enough. Though I rather doubt Paige's training has involved seduction at this point.

I'm with you, Chaos Theory.  I probably would have handled it the same way too (based on my actions in similarly threatening situations at her age #metoo). [not a spy in training situation, though ;) ]

Edited March 30, 2018 by Clanstarling

[sistermagpie]

11 minutes ago, Clanstarling said:

I don't like Paige, but I thought she handled the situation as well as she could have - without drawing additional attention to herself and compromising others (which driving away would have done, imo).

Why would driving away have compromised anyone?

[jjj]

Just now, sistermagpie said:

Why would driving away have compromised anyone?

That would have been much more suspicious, and he would at least have noted the license and car model, etc., (possibly shot at the tires if he were armed?)  -- then there would have been a broader alert out for Paige in that car.  Which surely was a burner car, but it could have involved more people in the coverup. 

[Umbelina]

I've been reading through reviews, and I love how so many catch different things, and all of the opinions as well.

Apparently the mail robot WAS shown (!)

Also, although Philip has been conflicted before, and it's fairly obviously, one reviewer noted that the main conflict of the story (KGB vs Gorbachev) is now going to play out inside the Jennings house as well.  With Liz team KGB, and Phil team Gorbachev, so we will have macro and micro, and this time with something quite specific, not just USA verses USSR.

2 minutes ago, jjj said:

That would have been much more suspicious, and he would at least have noted the license and car model, etc., (possibly shot at the tires if he were armed?)  -- then there would have been a broader alert out for Paige in that car.  Which surely was a burner car, but it could have involved more people in the coverup. 

Oh please.  Sailor dude had no authority to shoot at a car, OR to request ID, and KGB cars can be dumped, and certainly have no accurate DMV registrations.  Sailor dude wouldn't have given it a second thought, and even if he did, he'd probably think the girl was rightly spooked by him and left.  If she'd been aware of her surroundings, she could have pulled out before he even asked for her ID, and come back later.

[sistermagpie]

1 minute ago, jjj said:

That would have been much more suspicious, and he would at least have noted the license and car model, etc., (possibly shot at the tires if he were armed?)  -- then there would have been a broader alert out for Paige in that car.  Which surely was a burner car, but it could have involved more people in the coverup. 

Why would any of that happened? The guy asks to see her ID. He starts pushing for a date with her. She rejects him and says she'll just leave the bad neighborhood and drives away instead. Why would that require a big manhunt for her? The guy knew he was just creeping on her. Could a random naval officer really make a phone call and put out an APB on some girl who drove away when he hit on her? And yeah, if he was able to see the license plate that's probably still better than having a picture to keep. 

[Chaos Theory]

15 minutes ago, sistermagpie said:

Why would driving away have compromised anyone?

At the moment he was just a perv asking a girl on a date.   If she drove away he might have been tempted to check out her fake address.  Once he realized she didn't actually live there then maybe he might have been tempted to do further research like go to his boss.   "Hey I have an ID i picked up from a suspicious girl I saw hanging around a government building the other night.  I know I should have told you last night....."   

Edited March 30, 2018 by Chaos Theory

[sistermagpie]

10 minutes ago, Chaos Theory said:

At the moment he was just a perv asking a girl on a date.   If she drove away he might have been tempted to check out her fake address.  Once he realized she didn't actually live there then maybe he might have been tempted to do further research like go to his boss.   "Hey I have an ID i picked up from a suspicious girl I saw hanging around a government building the other night.  I know I should have told you last night....."  

The point of driving away is that he doesn't have her ID. So even if the Naval Officer wanted to go to his boss and explain that he was hitting on a girl in a car and she drove away rather than date him but he stole her ID so he tried to stalk her and it looks like the ID was fake so maybe she's actually a high school student and he wants the Navy to go after her now, he wouldn't have an ID to give his boss.

[spaceghostess]

23 hours ago, J-Man said:

From the recap:

It would've been great if everyone in the bar had turned around and yelled "NORM!" when he walked in.

Hee. I actually did that while watching.

[Umbelina]

Here's the movie they were watching, should you be interested. 

 

I edited, there is a much better version of Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears linked a few posts down.  The original one I posted was terrible quality!  Sorry.

Part one takes place in the sixties, part two in the eighties. 

Edited March 31, 2018 by Umbelina

[SlovakPrincess]

Having Paige do surveillance is dumb.  Elizabeth checking out her shiny new cyanide pill in what is essentially a public place (commercial airplane) was also dumb — although that was a great chilling moment when she realized what “you can’t be arrested” really meant.  

Otherwise, a solid episode!  Ok, show, I am all in again!

Let’s see if Stan finally gets a clue soon.  He needs to start having some suspicions about the Jennings soon!

 

also ... it’s really not that hard to get a new student ID if you lose it.  You just have to pay for it.  Stupid sleazy cop lost his life over a really dumb plan to force a girl to date him.  

Edited March 30, 2018 by SlovakPrincess

[Umbelina]

Liz waited until she was in the airplane bathroom to check out the necklace.  Why did she wait so long though, was she that rattled about facing what she probably assumed was inside?

ETA

I wonder if Nadezhda was named after Lenin's wife?

Edited March 30, 2018 by Umbelina

[Ina123]

19 hours ago, taurusrose said:

... I expect to see them pay heavy prices for the lives they chose and the crimes they've committed for the Motherland before the series ends.  In particular, I want to see Elizabeth bleed.  To hell with the cyanide pill.

Pretty much agree. I'd like to say life in prison but life in prison just doesn't mean that anymore in America. She's such a hero and so valuable that Russia would make a deal to exchange her.

[lucindabelle]

Am I the only one who found this episode draggy and slow?

 

i didn’t like the silent montage nor the editing of “don’t drram it’s over.”

i don’t like time jumps so that’s part of it.

but it is chilling to hear about how KGB doesn’t want Petestroika, in 2018

Putin is formerl KGB.

[Umbelina]

47 minutes ago, Ina123 said:

Pretty much agree. I'd like to say life in prison but life in prison just doesn't mean that anymore in America. She's such a hero and so valuable that Russia would make a deal to exchange her.

Well, not anymore.  She can't be taken prisoner now, so she'd be dead.

[Ina123]

17 minutes ago, Umbelina said:

Well, not anymore.  She can't be taken prisoner now, so she'd be dead.

Depends on whether she decides to take the pill or even isn't quick enough to.

[DorianGray]

Soooooo.....  I'm assuming last season's incredibly drawn out "grain drama" won't be a centerpiece of this season?

[jjj]

6 hours ago, Umbelina said:

I've been reading through reviews, and I love how so many catch different things, and all of the opinions as well.

Apparently the mail robot WAS shown (!)

What?????  Were they even in the FBI offices? 

[SusanSunflower]

Regardless, the foot soldiers of war and espionage are recognized as exactly that ... they are, in fact, only following orders, not setting policy or creating the plots and intrigues they carry out.  It's part of why things like the Christmas Armistice in WWI and other ceasefires become legendary for kindnesses shown ... because the soldiers are the cannonfodder, far from "driving the bus." 

After all these years, I doubt many of P&E's crimes can be traced back to them or of actual interest to investigators (particularly if discovering the common thread, the authorities look derelict in realizing they had "serial killers" on the loose.  That's how and why spy swaps happen and why it's always good to have some prisoners of value or notoriety to trade (see Bridge of Spies) 

[Clanstarling]

6 hours ago, jjj said:

That would have been much more suspicious, and he would at least have noted the license and car model, etc., (possibly shot at the tires if he were armed?)  -- then there would have been a broader alert out for Paige in that car.  Which surely was a burner car, but it could have involved more people in the coverup. 

 

6 hours ago, sistermagpie said:

Why would driving away have compromised anyone?

What JJJ said. There is clearly a split of opinion on this. I'm on the side that it could have created issues. Yeah, he was a creep. But though we are pretty sure he was a nobody in terms of security, in the situation, Paige could not be certain of that. Given that Elizabeth killed the creep and took back her fake id, I'm thinking she, at least, felt there was some risk. Even if she was  mostly being a mama bear.

[Clanstarling]

6 hours ago, sistermagpie said:

The point of driving away is that he doesn't have her ID. So even if the Naval Officer wanted to go to his boss and explain that he was hitting on a girl in a car and she drove away rather than date him but he stole her ID so he tried to stalk her and it looks like the ID was fake so maybe she's actually a high school student and he wants the Navy to go after her now, he wouldn't have an ID to give his boss.

Ok. I misunderstood the driving away thing - I thought whoever first proposed it meant after he started blackmailing her - when he did, in fact, have her (fake) id.

Even so, driving away doesn't seem like an optimal choice when you're still trying to maintain your cover. To me, at least. It negates her story, and looks suspicious. At that point she didn't have any way of knowing that he wasn't security and didn't have his own transmitter/radio/walkie on him where he could call her car in as suspicious.

Edited March 31, 2018 by Clanstarling

[SusanSunflower]

A woman alone at night reading in her car would not remotely be "acting suspicious" if she drove away when startled by a stranger's knock on her closed window .... 

If he saw her again "loitering" in the same spot, same car, on another day or hours later he might be more curious and more aggressive .... but this is fiction ... and maybe he has tomorrow off  or Paige would be more vigilant or be driving a different car with a different colored hat, etc. 

Edited March 31, 2018 by SusanSunflower

[Umbelina]

1 hour ago, jjj said:

What?????  Were they even in the FBI offices? 

I noted it in the caption or comment beneath the review I posted in the media thread, so you can check the article, I think it may have been part of a montage.

1 hour ago, SusanSunflower said:

Regardless, the foot soldiers of war and espionage are recognized as exactly that ... they are, in fact, only following orders, not setting policy or creating the plots and intrigues they carry out.  It's part of why things like the Christmas Armistice in WWI and other ceasefires become legendary for kindnesses shown ... because the soldiers are the cannonfodder, far from "driving the bus." 

After all these years, I doubt many of P&E's crimes can be traced back to them or of actual interest to investigators (particularly if discovering the common thread, the authorities look derelict in realizing they had "serial killers" on the loose.  That's how and why spy swaps happen and why it's always good to have some prisoners of value or notoriety to trade (see Bridge of Spies) 

If she's caught before the coup fails, she'd better worry more about the KGB killing her for not taking the pill as ordered herself.

OK, I suffered through a horrible copy of that film Paige, Granny, and Liz were watching, and posted the link here.  THEN I found a much much much better copy.  Here you go:

 

I wonder what part of Moscow shocked Liz?  It would have to be in part two, which takes place in 1980.  The woman running a huge factory who sleeps on a pull out couch in the living room, and has two cabinets in the kitchen as well as a small table?  That there are still social issues like thugs and bullying?  The condition of modern trains?  I just wonder what it was.  That women outnumber men, and sexism still exists?  What?

Meanwhile, Paige has to be a tad hardhearted to not appreciate her mother's new guy, or understand that his many good qualities overwhelm his one character flaw.

I can't believe I watched that whole video with dark scenes and heads cut off, when there was a clean copy of this movie after all!

ETA Part Two:

Edited March 31, 2018 by Umbelina

[Clanstarling]

4 minutes ago, SusanSunflower said:

A woman alone at night reading in her car would not remotely be "acting suspicious" if she drove away when startled by a stranger's knock on her closed window .... 

If he saw her again "loitering" in the same spot, same car, on another day or hours later he might be more curious and more aggressive .... but this is fiction ... and maybe he has tomorrow off  or Paige would be more vigilant or be driving a different car with a different colored hat, etc. 

It's certainly about timing. Yes if she drove off at the first knock, that wouldn't have been an issue. Then again, if she ran before there was even a problem, she wouldn't be much of an operative. Which, of course, she isn't.

[jjj]

6 minutes ago, SusanSunflower said:

A woman alone at night reading in her car would not remotely be "acting suspicious" if she drove away when startled by a stranger's knock on her closed window .... 

Except of course she was *totally* acting suspicious!  He had no idea he had tapped into gold when he tapped the window of a Russian spy-in-training!  Most 20-year-olds are not hanging out in the street waiting for their next spy shift...

[SusanSunflower]

nor are diner waitresses likely to "invite attention" by doing so.... (because it's always the woman being provocative, don't you know)  Paige was behaving like the privileged good-neighborhood suburban born and bred girl she is...  Working class diner waitresses know all about men who loiter around the shop at closing time ... 

[Sarah 103]

4 hours ago, SlovakPrincess said:

Elizabeth checking out her shiny new cyanide pill in what is essentially a public place (commercial airplane) was also dumb — although that was a great chilling moment when she realized what “you can’t be arrested” really meant.  

She was in the bathroom. As far as I know, bathrooms in commercial airplanes during the 1980s did not have cameras. It's not like she was checking it out in her seat or the airport. 

[sistermagpie]

1 hour ago, Clanstarling said:

Even so, driving away doesn't seem like an optimal choice when you're still trying to maintain your cover. To me, at least. It negates her story, and looks suspicious. At that point she didn't have any way of knowing that he wasn't security and didn't have his own transmitter/radio/walkie on him where he could call her car in as suspicious.

It doesn't negate her story at all. She's a girl trying to get away from a creep who's trying to hit on her. An ID with her picture on it is a much clearer tie to her than the guy calling in the make of her car to whoever as suspicious because she drove away when he started pestering her for a date. I'm going to guess she wouldn't be the first girl he's sent running. Imo he'd probably just mutter "stuck up bitch" and forget it. He gave her a perfectly good reason to want to drive away. He was harassing her.

[Cthulhudrew]

On 3/29/2018 at 1:24 PM, Tighthead said:

Was there a car phone?

I thought it was a removable tape deck/CD player like we all had back then. You would take the unit out of the dash so it couldn’t get stolen. Later just the faceplates became detachable. 

Phillip has both of those. He brought the cd player with him and put it in the car. The car phone is located down by the parking brake. 

The entire concept of the Dead Hand program just seems so ludicrously petty. Sad to think that people in power actually think that way. "If they kill us first, by God, we'll kill them all with our dying breath! And take out most of the rest of the planet with us, too!" Oh, silly humans.

So, is the storyline of Phillip's first kid done and gone? Is it going to be revisited this season? I wouldn't mind if it wasn't, except for the fact that it makes the arc from last season seem even more pointless than it did at the time.

[magemaud]

I was glad to see Paige got rid of that low ponytail. 

I was so hoping that when Oleg went home to his wife and son it would be Martha! I couldn’t take my eyes off of Elina’s weird knobby neck. 

I wasn’t surprised to see Oleg with a beard because just two weeks ago the actor was on “Homeland” playing, what else, a Russian spy! 

Edited March 31, 2018 by magemaud

[EtheltoTillie]

5 hours ago, Umbelina said:

I noted it in the caption or comment beneath the review I posted in the media thread, so you can check the article, I think it may have been part of a montage.

If she's caught before the coup fails, she'd better worry more about the KGB killing her for not taking the pill as ordered herself.

OK, I suffered through a horrible copy of that film Paige, Granny, and Liz were watching, and posted the link here.  THEN I found a much much much better copy.  Here you go:

 

 

I wonder what part of Moscow shocked Liz?  It would have to be in part two, which takes place in 1980.  The woman running a huge factory who sleeps on a pull out couch in the living room, and has two cabinets in the kitchen as well as a small table?  That there are still social issues like thugs and bullying?  The condition of modern trains?  I just wonder what it was.  That women outnumber men, and sexism still exists?  What?

Meanwhile, Paige has to be a tad hardhearted to not appreciate her mother's new guy, or understand that his many good qualities overwhelm his one character flaw.

I can't believe I watched that whole video with dark scenes and heads cut off, when there was a clean copy of this movie after all!

ETA Part Two:

Thanks for posting this, but there are no English subtitles!  You're lucky you can understand the language. Since I saw the movie many years ago, maybe I can follow along just for fun. People now don't remember how big a deal It was to have a film like this come out of the USSR at the time. They never show this on US tv anymore. 

Here I am again obsessively following this forum as I do every year. I cannot stop thinking about The Americans!

[whiporee]

Hanley was a man in uniform. He presented himself as a security officer and asked for ID, and then a second ID while explaining she was in a sensitive area of DC. While it became clear later he was hitting on Paige, it wasn't clear until he asked her out to dinner that that as what he was doing, at least not to me. I think she can be forgiven for assuming she was on the verge of being exposed and getting flustered and not wanting to rile him up. 

As for E being a true believer, I don't think so. She never talks about inequities in America or social justice here, nor does she portray her homeland as a worker's paradise that all should aspire to. She has personally suffered nothing at the hands of America, while she's inflicted actual suffering on the lives of dozens of people here. Even watching the movie she was being shown that inequities still exist in the USSR -- she's got to see it as no better (or worse) than where she's been living in a killing for 20 years. Last season she watched her own handler lie to her in order for her country to steal something -- she bought into the lie about the US poisoning wheat crops, and then when confronted with the truth, she brushed it off even as she spouts more unjustified and unevidenced propaganda. 

She's not looking to make the world a better place; her actions are of someone who simply wants to win.  She's just a soldier following her uniform -- not even her uniform, because the General told her that should the leader of her country do something the KGB didn't like, he'd be dead/removed within 24 hours. Elizabeth is loyal to her job, to her soldier's mindset, not to the USSR or or communism. 

That's why she probably has to die at the end of this thing, because she would not be able to survive the next 20 years. She's not overtly corrupt enough to hang out with Putin, and she'd have no real war to fight. Having lost, the pill or something like ti would be her only option. 

 

ETA: I know there was a scene with E showing Paige the inner city either last season or the one before. I know E has made commentary about the impoverished. I think it's all propaganda without actual belief behind it, but I did want to acknowledge she has at least mentioned what she perceives as problems in America. 

Edited March 31, 2018 by whiporee

[SlovakPrincess]

I always have to wonder why the Centre thinks it's a good idea to overwork Elizabeth.  Just, as a matter of logic, it's a bad idea to let her get run down, which Claudia and Gabriel have acknowledged a few times over the years.   I mean, what if she has to go seduce a guy and she has the flu at that precise moment and is all gross and snotty and coughing up a lung?   Shouldn't they want her to stay healthy?  Doesn't Elizabeth get promoted at some point out of the more unpleasant parts of the job?

[SunnyBeBe]

Ref. discussion of Henry and Paige in it for the long game......it would seem so, but, to me, if that's the plan, then why place their cover at risk by having E continue to work?  That's pretty risky stuff and if she's caught, both younger, American born plants lose it all and are useless to the Centre. Wouldn't a long game involve letting P & E go silent, which would allow Paige and Henry years of time to build a very solid cover?  (I'm assuming that Henry would be open to the idea, like Paige was, which is a big IF.)

[Tetraneutron]

9 hours ago, SusanSunflower said:

nor are diner waitresses likely to "invite attention" by doing so.... (because it's always the woman being provocative, don't you know)  Paige was behaving like the privileged good-neighborhood suburban born and bred girl she is...  Working class diner waitresses know all about men who loiter around the shop at closing time ... 

I'm going to have to disagree with that. Paige did not bring that creep's behaviour on herself by not being tough enough. Gross men use their power to prey on women from all economic backgrounds. A diner waitress (if you assume that diner waitress = working class and not like many kids from Paige's neighbourhood don't have part-time service jobs, which I don't) is just as vulnerable to creepy men, probably more actually since the kinds of exchanges we saw with Paige and Hanley occur because Hanley could use his power to get what he wanted, and working-class people have less power. Saying it's the kind of behaviour that anyone should have been able to shut down by being cool and sassy enough blames the woman and is commonly used to attack women the person doesn't like or think is deserving. And it had nothing to do with "knowing about" men. You don't think suburban high school girls know about creepy men. For heaven's sake we saw Paige have to deal with a creepy man in the very first episode, when she was an adolescent. In general, acting like men only prey on women who they don't respect, and it's on women to exude this respectability by being some version of tough and cool just excuses the man. 

Also, I think the show was showing us that Paige made a minor rookie mistake, on her first real spy mission. Not good, but low-stakes and not at all the kind of thing that sets her apart from any other trainee. Yeah, Elizabeth probably would have been harsher to someone else, but I really don't think the show is trying to show us that Paige is fundamentally unsuited to spy work. We've seen every major spy character screw up, ways both big and small. 

[SlovakPrincess]

15 minutes ago, SunnyBeBe said:

Ref. discussion of Henry and Paige in it for the long game......it would seem so, but, to me, if that's the plan, then why place their cover at risk by having E continue to work?  That's pretty risky stuff and if she's caught, both younger, American born plants lose it all and are useless to the Centre. Wouldn't a long game involve letting P & E go silent, which would allow Paige and Henry years of time to build a very solid cover?  (I'm assuming that Henry would be open to the idea, like Paige was, which is a big IF.)

Yes, this would make WAY more sense.  

I also wonder why the Centre didn't ever think of possibly luring Paige in with half-truths or lies -- especially after the first kid who was supposed to be second generation went apeshit and killed his family.  Like, this whole thing might've worked better if P and E told Paige they were CIA, then Paige got into a government post with access to classified intel and fed them information mistakenly thinking they were on the same team (kind of like how Philip tricked Martha at first, making her think he was in another department running a "check" on how her department was running and she could tell him anything safely).  

Of course, that would take way too long to play out over the life of a TV show, especially when the amount of time jump they can do is limited by historical events and Holly Taylor's age.  

[Darrenbrett]

5 hours ago, whiporee said:

As for E being a true believer, I don't think so. She never talks about inequities in America or social justice here, nor does she portray her homeland as a worker's paradise that all should aspire to. She has personally suffered nothing at the hands of America, while she's inflicted actual suffering on the lives of dozens of people here. Even watching the movie she was being shown that inequities still exist in the USSR -- she's got to see it as no better (or worse) than where she's been living in a killing for 20 years. Last season she watched her own handler lie to her in order for her country to steal something -- she bought into the lie about the US poisoning wheat crops, and then when confronted with the truth, she brushed it off even as she spouts more unjustified and unevidenced propaganda. 

She's not looking to make the world a better place; her actions are of someone who simply wants to win.  She's just a soldier following her uniform -- not even her uniform, because the General told her that should the leader of her country do something the KGB didn't like, he'd be dead/removed within 24 hours. Elizabeth is loyal to her job, to her soldier's mindset, not to the USSR or or communism. 

That's why she probably has to die at the end of this thing, because she would not be able to survive the next 20 years. She's not overtly corrupt enough to hang out with Putin, and she'd have no real war to fight. Having lost, the pill or something like ti would be her only option. 

 

The Elizabeth you're describing here is not someone I recognize from the show. Secondly, if the show runners made one of the most central characters as one-dimensional and unappealing as you're describing, I don't think the show would be anywhere near as successful as it is. Why do you think people keep talking about -- strange as it seems -- wanting P&E to have some sort of happy, redemptive end? It's because people actually resonate with her/them.

Now, has she been brainwashed by Soviet propaganda from a young age? Absolutely! Is she a loyal soldier? Absolutely! But she also believes in the cause; deeply, passionately. That's been made clear over and over again in the show. She would have torpedoed her job ages ago if not. Her Achilles Heal is not that she "just wants to win", it's that, unlike Philip, she just can't expand her perspective enough to see what's really going on around her - either in America or the Soviet Union. The only reality she responds to is the one that's been pre-constructed in her head.

That said, again, what makes her journey compelling is that, as Philip pointed out in the episode, it IS finally getting to her. This sets up the ultimate showdown -- between two parts of Elizabeth, as much as anything else, in the final 9 episodes. Should make for excellent television!

Edited March 31, 2018 by Darrenbrett

[kokapetl]

7 hours ago, GussieK said:

Thanks for posting this, but there are no English subtitles!  You're lucky you can understand the language. Since I saw the movie many years ago, maybe I can follow along just for fun. People now don't remember how big a deal It was to have a film like this come out of the USSR at the time. They never show this on US tv anymore. 

Here I am again obsessively following this forum as I do every year. I cannot stop thinking about The Americans!

The subtitles are there, they’re just not turned on by default. 

[EtheltoTillie]

4 minutes ago, Kokapetl said:

The subtitles are there, they’re just not turned on by default. 

Thanks!

[EtheltoTillie]

3 hours ago, Tetraneutron said:

I'm going to have to disagree with that. Paige did not bring that creep's behaviour on herself by not being tough enough. Gross men use their power to prey on women from all economic backgrounds. A diner waitress (if you assume that diner waitress = working class and not like many kids from Paige's neighbourhood don't have part-time service jobs, which I don't) is just as vulnerable to creepy men, probably more actually since the kinds of exchanges we saw with Paige and Hanley occur because Hanley could use his power to get what he wanted, and working-class people have less power. Saying it's the kind of behaviour that anyone should have been able to shut down by being cool and sassy enough blames the woman and is commonly used to attack women the person doesn't like or think is deserving. And it had nothing to do with "knowing about" men. You don't think suburban high school girls know about creepy men. For heaven's sake we saw Paige have to deal with a creepy man in the very first episode, when she was an adolescent. In general, acting like men only prey on women who they don't respect, and it's on women to exude this respectability by being some version of tough and cool just excuses the man. 

Also, I think the show was showing us that Paige made a minor rookie mistake, on her first real spy mission. Not good, but low-stakes and not at all the kind of thing that sets her apart from any other trainee. Yeah, Elizabeth probably would have been harsher to someone else, but I really don't think the show is trying to show us that Paige is fundamentally unsuited to spy work. We've seen every major spy character screw up, ways both big and small. 

This was a nice juxtaposition with the previous scene where Paige was watching the movie and was "shocked, shocked" that the Russian men were so domineering, and Claudia said that men "back home" were more "traditional."  What a crock.  First of all, Claudia was going too easy on the Russian men.  But more to the point, men are like this everywhere, and that Navy guy was a perfect example.

[sistermagpie]

3 hours ago, whiporee said:

she bought into the lie about the US poisoning wheat crops, and then when confronted with the truth, she brushed it off even as she spouts more unjustified and unevidenced propaganda. 

She did the same thing with the bio weapons. Their reason for stealing them was allegedly that the US was creating diseases to use against the USSR. That's how she convinced Philip to get it. She even referenced how only the USA had ever dropped an atom bomb--iow, this was as usual about how the USA was uniquely sadistic and treacherous and the USSR was therefore forced to stoop to their level. Then Claudia proudly announces that they did not use the disease defensively. They weaponized it and used it against people in Afghanistan (while the US may have actually not been planning to weaponize it). Philip was sickened again. Elizabeth had no problem with it. She doesn't think things through that way. Whatever the Centre says she immediately starts justifying in her head even if it directly contradicts what she told herself five minutes earlier.

3 hours ago, Tetraneutron said:

Also, I think the show was showing us that Paige made a minor rookie mistake, on her first real spy mission. Not good, but low-stakes and not at all the kind of thing that sets her apart from any other trainee. Yeah, Elizabeth probably would have been harsher to someone else, but I really don't think the show is trying to show us that Paige is fundamentally unsuited to spy work. We've seen every major spy character screw up, ways both big and small. 

I don't know exactly how minor it was. Hans was accidentally spotted for a second by that other SA agent and Elizabeth said that took him out of the game for good. Doesn't seem like losing a picture ID early on could be said to be on that level, but the mistakes spies make like this in the past have actually always been presented as very very serious. That's why people usually end up dead for them. Usually they do the killing themselves, though so they know it's serious. The only other time I can remember a recruit being told their mistake was no big deal was Hans...right before he got shot in the head. (Now I'm also fondly remembering Philip's constant irritation with Kate doing stuff like ordering vodka straight up.)

I agree, though, that the show probably isn't trying to tell us she's fundamentally unsuited to spy work. I believe, unfortunately, that they're trying to do the opposite and show how awesome Paige is through the spy work even when she makes mistakes. (Surely at other times she'll do something right.) That, to me, explains why they seem to consider it a non-issue that she's such a casual traitor. She thinks it's cooler to be a Soviet spy and we should feel that way too.

This is bizarre on a show that usually takes such care with these kinds of decisions. I know that they *have* taken care with it with Paige in terms of showing her drawn to the church and then rejecting it for her family church, as it were. Psychologically I buy it and it's consistent with her character. I just hope they're planning to show the cost of that kind of treachery. It makes me nervous that the showrunners and the actress seem to act like for Paige and Paige alone, spying is simply a metaphor for personal growth when being a traitor or not has always been one of the most powerful motivations the show has in its arsenal over the years.

39 minutes ago, Darrenbrett said:

Now, has she been brainwashed by Soviet propaganda from a young age? Absolutely! Is she a loyal soldier? Absolutely! But she also believes in the cause; deeply, passionately. That's been made clear over and over again in the show. She would have torpedoed her job ages ago if not. Her Achilles Heal is not that she "just wants to win", it's that, unlike Philip, she just can't expand her perspective enough to see what's really going on around her - either in America or the Soviet Union. The only reality she responds to is the one that's been pre-constructed in her head.

I agree. I think Elizabeth has been shown to absolutely buy into The Cause of Communism. We just don't hear her lecture about it because it would make for bad television. The few times she mentions it it's to Philip who doesn't need to hear it because he believes in it too (he just sees the reality as well).

10 minutes ago, GussieK said:

This was a nice juxtaposition with the previous scene where Paige was watching the movie and was "shocked, shocked" that the Russian men were so domineering, and Claudia said that men "back home" were more "traditional."  What a crock.  First of all, Claudia was going too easy on the Russian men.  But more to the point, men are like this everywhere, and that Navy guy was a perfect example.

And Paige's Russian father in this very episode gets told he "likes to talk" like a 50s housewife being dismissed by her sexist husband. But I guess we can really see in the scene how these three tend to think. They look for evidence to support what they want to or already believe, dismiss anything that goes against that as unimportant and don't ask questions about much else. This apparently makes Paige"curious" in the eyes of the showrunners.

[Erin9]

I wonder if any of us pegged what looks like the real reason for the Henry boarding school story- (or at least a reason): so P and E would have both kids out of the house in the last season. They are alone with each other now. I hope Henry factors in some way though. 

The beginning and end of the show really was brilliant. With dialogue and without they emphasized the distance between P and E. But they also underlined one more thing: this show is about them. Their relationship. It always has been. 

Elizabeth seems to hitting Philip’s S5 levels of burnout and exhaustion now. That’s got to go somewhere. 

It is interesting to realize that seeing everyone burn out- even Elizabeth was starting to- last season had a real point in setting the scene for the final season. They weren’t showing burnout and disillusionment  just as a natural part of being in the spy world for so long. 

Edited March 31, 2018 by Erin9

[Clanstarling]

16 minutes ago, sistermagpie said:

And Paige's Russian father in this very episode gets told he "likes to talk" like a 50s housewife being dismissed by her sexist husband. But I guess we can really see in the scene how these three tend to think. They look for evidence to support what they want to or already believe, dismiss anything that goes against that as unimportant and don't ask questions about much else. This apparently makes Paige"curious" in the eyes of the showrunners.

Which, to be fair, makes them very human, as that description fits a large percentage of people around the world.

[sistermagpie]

14 minutes ago, Clanstarling said:

Which, to be fair, makes them very human, as that description fits a large percentage of people around the world.

That's definitely true--there's nothing in that conversation that isn't familiar to any human, I agree. And I think the show is absolutely meaning to show this as a recognizable part of human nature. But I think they've also been shown to do it more than some, even more than most when it comes to Elizabeth and Claudia. There's scenes on the show that seem set up to show exactly that.

And given the specific conflict this season it seems not only thematically important but necessary plot-wise to set up their attitude as being against new attitudes and a changing world and in contrast to more adaptable people like Arkady, Oleg and Philip.

23 minutes ago, Erin9 said:

I wonder if any of us pegged what looks like the real reason for the Henry boarding school story- (or at least a reason): so P and E would have both kids out of the house in the last season. They are alone with each other now. I hope Henry factors in some way though. 

Yeah, and also getting him out of the house maybe cements the fact that he's not going to be told. If he doesn't even live there there's nothing for him to not notice. He got out.

But I will be disappointed if they don't see a story in that. Like if Philip is leaning more towards Henry as Elizabeth is towards Paige, it seems a waste to not explore how they can bond without Henry knowing the truth, especially when Paige's relationship with Elizabeth becomes almost entirely about being a spy. It's like a complete contrast where Elizabeth is all spy and Philip is all cover with the kid. But neither of those sides represent the whole person. As a handler Elizabeth can't be totally honest with Paige. Everything she says to her now is touched by making her a better spy and loyal the the USSR. Philip is, of course, also lying to Henry but in other ways he can be more honest and certainly less manipulative. That seems like something he's always wanted to avoid with the kids--sometimes maybe too much.

Edited March 31, 2018 by sistermagpie

[Umbelina]

10 hours ago, GussieK said:

Thanks for posting this, but there are no English subtitles!  You're lucky you can understand the language. Since I saw the movie many years ago, maybe I can follow along just for fun. People now don't remember how big a deal It was to have a film like this come out of the USSR at the time. They never show this on US tv anymore. 

Here I am again obsessively following this forum as I do every year. I cannot stop thinking about The Americans!

I understand only a few words here and there, there is no one to practice my extremely rusty Russian with anymore.  The subtitles don't start immediately, but they do come on.  I didn't have to use the options button at the top for subtitles, but maybe you will.  (Already answered though, thanks!)  The first version I posted and took down had them talking at double speed and cut off their heads and it was SO dark!  This one is very good, and it was actually kind of fun to watch!

7 hours ago, whiporee said:

 

As for E being a true believer, I don't think so. She never talks about inequities in America or social justice here, nor does she portray her homeland as a worker's paradise that all should aspire to. She has personally suffered nothing at the hands of America, while she's inflicted actual suffering on the lives of dozens of people here. Even watching the movie she was being shown that inequities still exist in the USSR -- she's got to see it as no better (or worse) than where she's been living in a killing for 20 years.  (snip)

She's not looking to make the world a better place; her actions are of someone who simply wants to win.  She's just a soldier following her uniform -- not even her uniform, because the General told her that should the leader of her country do something the KGB didn't like, he'd be dead/removed within 24 hours. Elizabeth is loyal to her job, to her soldier's mindset, not to the USSR or or communism. 

That's why she probably has to die at the end of this thing, because she would not be able to survive the next 20 years. She's not overtly corrupt enough to hang out with Putin, and she'd have no real war to fight. Having lost, the pill or something like ti would be her only option. 

(snip)

 

@Darrenbrett already said most of what I'd like to say here.  I will add though that Elizabeth's "cause" which is to make a fairer economic and social world for all people, and eliminate war completely, by removing power from the very rich people who control wars themselves, sending masses of people who are not super rich to their doom, and selling patriotism as the reason, when it's really all about money and profit in most cases?   May be idealistic, and it certainly may be unattainable, and it definitely is violent?

Isn't stupid, or a bad goal.  It's not about "what is" for Elizabeth, it's about what "could be" if they succeed.  A peaceful world, without hunger, war, and with respect for all people, a true equality, regardless of social station.  She's sacrificed quite a bit, and it has nothing to do with personally "wanting to win."  She really is a true believer in what could be.  Is she bummed that the battle is long and progress is slow and there are so many problems?  Of course.  So is Oleg, even more than Elizabeth, because he's seen first hand the corruption and the problems. 

Elizabeth wavers between denial (with that Russian couple and William telling her things she didn't really want to hear) and her indoctrination/education about the Marx and Lenin warnings that this will take time, especially in "new" countries like the USA, and in older countries like Russia where feudalism and religion are so embedded in the mind set. 

You may be right about her dying, now that she has that suicide pill, it certainly seems that way.  I just never thought it would be Elizabeth who would die though, it just seems like an easy out for her.  She needs to see and feel it all fail, it would have a much greater impact.  Her entire life "wasted" on a noble but unworkable dream.

 

6 hours ago, SlovakPrincess said:

I always have to wonder why the Centre thinks it's a good idea to overwork Elizabeth.  Just, as a matter of logic, it's a bad idea to let her get run down, which Claudia and Gabriel have acknowledged a few times over the years.   I mean, what if she has to go seduce a guy and she has the flu at that precise moment and is all gross and snotty and coughing up a lung?   Shouldn't they want her to stay healthy?  Doesn't Elizabeth get promoted at some point out of the more unpleasant parts of the job?

I think the show has prepared that way.  We know the USSR is in panic mode, we know they lost several embedded spies, and those are not exactly easy to replace.  William, up and coming Hans, Gabe retired, the family that was slaughtered by their son, Philip,  Arkady and other regular spies expelled.  What we know as viewers is that the soviet union is in it's death throws, which is a desperate state of affairs.  Now we also know that they are considering "taking out" Gorbachev, and many in the KGB are extremely concerned with giving up their weapons while the USA keeps their own.

That's a pretty fucking big deal.  The threat of mutual destruction is probably the only reason nukes weren't already used.  Abandoning that balance?  SHOULD be scary and desperate measures would certainly be considered.  After all, the only country that has ever used nukes is the good old USA.  They don't want to risk the USA using them again, and destroying the USSR.  They believe, and it's a logical belief, that the main thing stopping that from happening is that if the USA did?  The USSR could strike back, automatically, with Dead Hand.

They don't give a shit about one little overworked agent near DC.  In the scheme of things, with all that's happening?  "At such a time, it's a minor point my dear."  /Rhett Butler

6 hours ago, SunnyBeBe said:

Ref. discussion of Henry and Paige in it for the long game......it would seem so, but, to me, if that's the plan, then why place their cover at risk by having E continue to work?  That's pretty risky stuff and if she's caught, both younger, American born plants lose it all and are useless to the Centre. Wouldn't a long game involve letting P & E go silent, which would allow Paige and Henry years of time to build a very solid cover?  (I'm assuming that Henry would be open to the idea, like Paige was, which is a big IF.)

Kind of answered above in my response to @SlovakPrincess  However, if things were not at such a desperate pitch right now, I agree, that would probably be the ideal for the KGB, or Center.  I honestly don't think we are going to get much about Henry.  It feels like the writers only really ever cared about the Paige and Elizabeth thing, and come hell or high water, that's where they are going with the main story.

I DO think though, that they've read the reviews mentioning the sad and stupid ways they've kept Henry out of the story, and probably some on line message board comments as well.  Frankly, I think we are being thrown a small bone, so we may see a tiny bit more of him, but not much.

2 hours ago, sistermagpie said:

(snip)

1.

I don't know exactly how minor it was. Hans was accidentally spotted for a second by that other SA agent and Elizabeth said that took him out of the game for good. Doesn't seem like losing a picture ID early on could be said to be on that level, but the mistakes spies make like this in the past have actually always been presented as very very serious.  (snip)

I agree, though, that the show probably isn't trying to tell us she's fundamentally unsuited to spy work. I believe, unfortunately, that they're trying to do the opposite and show how awesome Paige is through the spy work even when she makes mistakes. (Surely at other times she'll do something right.) That, to me, explains why they seem to consider it a non-issue that she's such a casual traitor. She thinks it's cooler to be a Soviet spy and we should feel that way too

________________

(snip)

2.

I agree. I think Elizabeth has been shown to absolutely buy into The Cause of Communism. We just don't hear her lecture about it because it would make for bad television. The few times she mentions it it's to Philip who doesn't need to hear it because he believes in it too (he just sees the reality as well).

_______________

3.

And Paige's Russian father in this very episode gets told he "likes to talk" like a 50s housewife being dismissed by her sexist husband. But I guess we can really see in the scene how these three tend to think. They look for evidence to support what they want to or already believe, dismiss anything that goes against that as unimportant and don't ask questions about much else. This apparently makes Paige"curious" in the eyes of the showrunners.

1.  Yes, it was a huge deal.  It was even more serious than Hans' mistake.  Paige is her daughter, and even with the barely there "disguise" Paige's photo could lead them directly back to Philip and Elizabeth.  Other than that, I've kind of talked the Paige/sailor thing to death, and I stand by all I've said.  There were several good options for Paige, she did none of them.  Further, she wasn't paying attention to her surroundings, which hello!  Spycraft 101, and no, I don't believe that in 3 years of training by her own mother, the super spy?  Paige was not told those basics, or allowed to participate in a stake out without Elizabeth painstakingly going over each one of them beforehand.

If the writers aren't telling us Paige sucks at this?  I don't know what they are saying.

2.  Of course she believes.  You don't have to think everything is perfect back home to believe in the ideals that everyone "back home" always knew would take time and effort.

3.  To the first sentence?  Yes!  That was very well done, I wish they had tied the movie into that a bit more, but may Paige sounded so stupid I didn't really care about her opinion of the movie which does bookend that.

I don't understand what you are saying after that first sentence of that paragraph though.  ???

2 hours ago, sistermagpie said:

(snip)

Yeah, and also getting him out of the house maybe cements the fact that he's not going to be told. If he doesn't even live there there's nothing for him to not notice. He got out.

But I will be disappointed if they don't see a story in that. Like if Philip is leaning more towards Henry as Elizabeth is towards Paige, it seems a waste to not explore how they can bond without Henry knowing the truth, especially when Paige's relationship with Elizabeth becomes almost entirely about being a spy.

(snip)

 

I agree that they are both lying to their kids, and always have.

The only way Henry could "get out" is if both parents die and their bodies are spirited away by the KGB with a staged and believable accident.  Also, the FBI would have to never find out they were the illegals they've been tracking. (!)

Other than that, which frankly, I would find a cheat by the writers?  HOW would Henry remain unscathed by all of this? 

If they are caught, Henry's whole life blows up, he'd probably be deported, or at the very least investigated for the rest of his life.  Meanwhile, his sister is now also a spy, and she can't lie worth shit, or think on her feet, and she'd crumble like a ver old, stale biscotti under FBI interrogation, spilling those crumbs of secrets and evidence all over the place.  Honestly, if they go a different direction with Paige, should the above happen?  I would be seriously angry.

I suppose if Phil, Liz, and Paige all bite it, or escape back to the USSR after a staged "accident?"  Perhaps Henry would be free to live his life, until the KGB, or if it's later, the SVR  comes knocking at some point in the future and spills it all, trying to recruit him, perhaps even with letters from mom, dad, and sis back in (now) Russia.

I can't wait to find out where they go.  It might be super cool if that happens, and the ignored and unimportant Henry ends the show on Henry's face, while the SVR recruits him, and he reads a letter from mom, or dad, or sis.

Honestly though, it's all Paige with these writers, so I doubt it.

Edited March 31, 2018 by Umbelina
added SVR and fixed typos

[KarenX]

What makes me so sad, with the benefit of hindsight, is that it’s all such a stupid waste. The USSR will collapse so soon. Elizabeth has already lost.

 

And then... what Philip doesn’t realize either is how close the travel agent industry is to collapsing, too. He’s got a few more years than the USSR, though, so maybe he’ll have enough to retire on. 

 

I doubt that was a parallel the writers had in mind when they gave Philip and Elizabeth a travel agency to run (a travel agency gave then reasons to be away traveling), but capitalism really isn’t all roses for workers. Although, it’s pretty goddamn good to lady Russian spies with a closet full of beautiful designer shoes.

[sistermagpie]

25 minutes ago, Umbelina said:

Is she bummed that the battle is long and progress is slow and their are so many problems?  Of course.  So is Oleg, even more than Elizabeth, because he's seen first hand the corruption and the problems. 

What also strikes me about her with this is that she feels little connection to the kind of life people would enjoy in this world. She flat out said she didn't think Paige should have an easy life. She doesn't really fit in that world of peace. Even less so now where when she says art isn't her thingit seems to honedtly be true. Though of course it really is getting to her.

Re: that last sentence I meant that Paige, Claudia and Elizabeth have just watched this movie where a lot happens. Paige's reaction is not really about it as a movie. She runs it through all the things they believe. That is, she looks for signs of feminism and for something to say about the USSR. 

So the girls are too boy crazy and the good character is the strong woman in a suit like her mom who shouldn't be put in her place by a man. Claudia agreed that it's great that in the USSR women run factories.  She brushes off the idea that people can be more traditional about gender roles as if that's fine too. And Paige has no more complicated questions, say about how there actually does seem to be differences in the standard of living. 

To me Paige's response to the movie was shallow and uninteresting both from the cultural perspective and a cinematic one. Henry's obviously still the one more interested in movies. I still love his little speech about the upcoming Star Trek movie back in I think season 2.

Oh, also when I said Henry got out I definitely meant temporarily.  He's no longer living at home.

[Umbelina]

I think that would be part of her 24-7 years of indoctrination as a spy.  She would have been told over and over again, about not only the dream of a equal world, but also about how difficult attaining that world would be.  Lenin and Marx certainly spell it out, that this would be a generational struggle, and not achieved easily, let alone without pain and blood.

I'm not sure what Paige's response meant, because honestly, I have no clue what the writers are intending as far as Paige is concerned.

After watching that movie, what I felt (aside from interest at all the Russian surroundings) was quite happy for the Factory head woman, Tatiana I believe.  that she found, at such a late stage in her life, an extremely good man.  He was good in so many ways.  He had dear close friends who respected him.  He didn't care about status or money for himself, a true socialist in the best way, he cared about being good at his work, and that he enjoyed it, and was helping society with his skills.  He took on the mob beating the daughter's boyfriend and dispatched them, solving it.  He was romantic, he immediately did the cooking on their first date, because Tatiana was tired.  He was her real love, found later in life.  His ONLY flaw was that he was a bit of a sexist about a wife having a higher status than a husband being problematic for a marriage.  Further, he obviously changed his mind about that and returned to her, because despite his beliefs about that, she was more important.

What makes me wonder about Paige is the complete lack of interest in the romance of the tale, it's almost as if she is blind to the appeal of being in love and in life with a good partner.  At her age especially, WHAT? 

Another interesting thing about that movie by the way, is that in many scenes, Tatiana looks quite like Elizabeth, and her daughter looks like a prettier Paige.  Their ages are the same as Paige and Elizabeth in part two as well. 

So Paige doesn't really comment on the mother/daughter relationship either.  I just find that so odd.  It jumped right out at me.

[SlovakPrincess]

Yeah, I never can tell if the writers are making Paige have odd reactions to things on purpose (or to what end, since it's not helping the story, really) ... or if they simply don't know how to write her now that they've decided the plot calls for her to blindly follow Elizabeth into this new life.  They seem to be able to write other teenagers in a believable fashion (Henry, Kimmie, even the young Vietnamese spy from last season made sense to me).  Even Matthew, who didn't get a whole lot of writing or consistency, had that youthful awkward earnestness about him, and he truly seemed to be into Paige.  

[Umbelina]

Yes, that's why I do read interviews, and listen to podcasts, to try to find out what the writers intend.

By the way, latest podcast here:

https://slate.com/culture/2018/03/the-americans-insider-podcast-for-episode-1-of-season-6-dead-hand-audio.html

I haven't listened yet, so I don't know if it's good.

[sistermagpie]

Here's what I thought about the movie scene. I have no idea if this is totally off base. I can't tell with Paige. But here it is.

That movie, as I remember it, is all about relationships. You've got the great mid life romance with the yes, pretty great guy. But there's also the three girls having a friendship for years. There's parents and children, especially with the daughter. It's a movie about people living ordinary lives and the relationships are the most important thing in it. They look out for each other etc. 

Paige doesn't talk about any of the relationships. In fact, she only comments on how it's good when the one woman is by herself with power. It's good when she runs a factory in a suit. It's bad when she's in a relationship and doesn't have all the power. She says the worker's place reminds her of her freshman year dorm and Claudia fondly recalls living in a place like that and sneaking in boys. Paige's only response is to say that that's why she lives off-campus. Iow, she dismisses the whole communal fun aspect that even Claudia remembers fondly and says she got out asap. She doesn't have any stories of her own about fun with friends. Either she left to get rid of stupid girls with boys or she left so she can bring in her anonymous one night stands in whenever she wants. She takes a movie about the value of relationships and turns it into a story of one woman wielding power alone. Like that's what she wants to be. Her college life is solitary. She lives off campus in her own apartment. (Seems kind of funny given the whole communist thing.)

Meanwhile, in the previouslies we've got the clip of Philip saying he and Elizabeth deserve to have a life and Elizabeth saying "I can't." She means she can't go back to the USSR, but in context it obviously sounds like she's saying she can't have a life. Then remember the montage in the beginning. Elizabeth doesn't have a life. She has a job. Every time we see her she's in a costume interacting with someone in a fake way. When she does come home she doesn't talk to Philip. Then there's Philip. Yes, he's got a fancy car with gadgets and that's fun but more than that he's connecting with people all over the place. Given his freedom he's into that. When he talks to his employees he talks about them making personal connections, being people. He takes them all out after work as if to say they're important personally as well as as workers. At the hockey game he's not just silently watching for Henry, he's up at the front, totally engaged in the game, yelling to Henry. Another woman comes over to talk to him. She mentions Henry, too, seeming to have made connections with people (he's also on a team) and Philip's reaction shows he knows the different players etc. He's connected to all these ordinary people in ordinary ways.

And I thought maybe that was part of the idea with Paige and that scene. Because Elizabeth is lucky enough that she also found her great guy in mid-life, even if she's not appreciating it now. Paige is making the same choice, focusing on power and not appreciating relationships. She probably thinks she's got all she needs with her mom and Claudia, but that's a terrible plan.