S06.E06: Rififi

[J-Man]

Between Marilyn and Paige, it must have been Mom Jeans week in the FX Wardrobe Dept.

So Henry's afraid of getting cancer from smoking, but he wants to work at a TANNERY? OK, then.

I love it when one or more of the characters pulls out his Captain Midnight Secret Decoder Ring!

Quote

Meanwhile Paige is getting rudimentary Russian culture classes and still doesn't seem that interested in any kind of culture.

I don't know about  that -- she probably enjoys yogurt.

Left to her own devices, Paige probably would've whipped up one of Claudia's Russian specialties to bring to the Beemans' for Thanksgiving.

Quote

The plan was to plant drugs on Kimmy, have her arrested, and then go to her father directly with Kimmy’s predicament. He would have to answer questions about what’s being said by the Soviet negotiator to the CIA or let Kimmy rot in a Bulgarian prison for 20 years.

I saw this posted in last week's thread, and again this week -- my understanding of the plan is that they were going to drug Kimmie (not PLANT drugs on her), smuggle her to Bulgaria, and then hold her for ransom. Nothing about a drug offense or Bulgarian prisons.

[kokapetl]

1 hour ago, J-Man said:

Between Marilyn and Paige, it must have been Mom Jeans week in the FX Wardrobe Dept.

So Henry's afraid of getting cancer from smoking, but he wants to work at a TANNERY? OK, then.

I love it when one or more of the characters pulls out his Captain Midnight Secret Decoder Ring!

I don't know about  that -- she probably enjoys yogurt.

Left to her own devices, Paige probably would've whipped up one of Claudia's Russian specialties to bring to the Beemans' for Thanksgiving.

I saw this posted in last week's thread, and again this week -- my understanding of the plan is that they were going to drug Kimmie (not PLANT drugs on her), smuggle her to Bulgaria, and then hold her for ransom. Nothing about a drug offense or Bulgarian prisons.

I thought the plan was to drug her, smuggle her into Bulgaria, and then frame her for drug smuggling. 

[duVerre]

I posted something speculative about changes to Elizabeth's face on page 4 of this thread, but it doesn't seem to be getting much traction. So I explained myself in (much) more detail on the Predictions For the Final Season thread, page 4. It's a rather wild idea, but I came by it honestly. Follow me into lunacy! 

Hope this link does what it's supposed to: (hmm, I may be working on this for a while. Hang in.) http://forums.previously.tv/topic/58223-predictions-for-the-final-season/?page=4&tab=comments#comment-4292549

Edited May 4, 2018 by duVerre
clarity, as usual

[millennium]

Tears For Fears.  From The Hurting, one of the best albums of the 80s.   That made me ache.  I was 21 that year.

The irony of using new wave music like Tears for Fears, etc., is that I can't picture Philip or Elizabeth ever listening to it.   I mean, the guy's into Texas line dancing.   Eddie Rabbit and Tears For Fears cannot coexist. 

[CaliCheeseSucks]

21 minutes ago, duVerre said:

I posted something speculative about changes to Elizabeth's face on page 4 of this thread, but it doesn't seem to be getting much traction. So I explained myself in (much) more detail on the Predictions For the Final Season thread, page 4. It's a rather wild idea, but I came by it honestly. Follow me into lunacy! 

(If there's a way to link right to the post, I haven't figured it out).

 

Hey @duVerre, to get the direct URL to any comment, just go to the timestamp beneath the (your) username and right click to copy the URL.

Then you can turn that into a hyperlinked text within a comment (use the "link" button on the top of your comment box while you're writing/editing).

Like so!

 

 

Edited May 4, 2018 by CaliCheeseSucks

[duVerre]

5 minutes ago, CaliCheeseSucks said:

Hey @duVerre, to get the direct URL to any comment, just go to the timestamp beneath the (your) username and right click to copy the URL.

Then you can turn that into a hyperlinked text within a comment (use the "link" button on the top of your comment box while you're writing/editing).

Like so!

 

 

Thanks, Calicheese. I am like a puppy when it comes to internet skills. Meaning, you have to show me the ball before you throw it. So I'll now go and attempt it!

[Lily H]

2 hours ago, J-Man said:

I saw this posted in last week's thread, and again this week -- my understanding of the plan is that they were going to drug Kimmie (not PLANT drugs on her), smuggle her to Bulgaria, and then hold her for ransom. Nothing about a drug offense or Bulgarian prisons.

The plan was definitely to lure her to Bulgaria (probably on the pretense of sightseeing or something), plant drugs on her, have her arrested and thrown in prison. Her dad would then do whatever they wanted in order to get her out. Philip even said something like "And what if he doesn't, are you going to just let her rot in a Bulgarian prison?" To which Elizabeth replied that she didn't think it would come to that.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I'm glad that Henry is being proactive and trying to find ways to deal with his tuition so he doesn't have to leave school. Between the available scholarships he mentioned and working at the tannery over the summer, it might be feasible for him to stay for his senior year. I was surprised that the tannery job pays $7.10 because that was a lot back then. If he can work 40 hours a week for 12 weeks, he could earn over $3000 which is a third of his $9K tuition. But does Henry know what working in a tannery entails? There's a reason it pays more than twice the minimum wage.

I had to laugh when he mentioned his scheme to Philip to introduce him to a rich friend's dad so that he might book future trips through the travel agency and recommend Philip to his other rich friends. Networking!

Edited May 4, 2018 by ElectricBoogaloo

[TheBride]

8 hours ago, Umbelina said:

Oh I think she cares for her children now, probably more than she realizes, but not quite as much as her sworn duty to the cause.

That's the stressor, her childhood communist indoctrination up against her intuitive love for her family.

[BetyBee]

4 hours ago, duVerre said:

I posted something speculative about changes to Elizabeth's face on page 4 of this thread, but it doesn't seem to be getting much traction. So I explained myself in (much) more detail on the Predictions For the Final Season thread, page 4. It's a rather wild idea, but I came by it honestly. Follow me into lunacy! 

Hope this link does what it's supposed to: (hmm, I may be working on this for a while. Hang in.) http://forums.previously.tv/topic/58223-predictions-for-the-final-season/?page=4&tab=comments#comment-4292549

I did notice a mark on Elizabeth's left cheek, that seemed to disappear, depending on the light.  I wondered if it was just a mark that Keri Russell has, that I never noticed before.  I only noticed it in the hotel scene, about the time she started drawing.  I should rewatch anyway and be sure to watch for it showing up more.  

[TheBride]

9 hours ago, Erin9 said:

IA with that. She’s always been that way. 

I keep wondering if there’s any chance she’ll learn to put family first before this is over. 

And how strong was the communist indoctrination? She was trained from childhood, difficult to break that code!

8 minutes ago, BetyBee said:

I did notice a mark on Elizabeth's left cheek, that seemed to disappear, depending on the light.  I wondered if it was just a mark that Keri Russell has, that I never noticed before.  I only noticed it in the hotel scene, about the time she started drawing.  I should rewatch anyway and be sure to watch for it showing up more.  

Yes, I was thinking about the same thing! I was doubting it's Russell's, and it's rather a mark of her violent interactions. It would be very difficult for someone to be so violent and have no "medals" to show for it. I suspect it's part of her character and part of this final, violent work she's been forced to accept--without Philip's help. It's part of her enormous stress.

[Dev F]

4 hours ago, Lily H said:

The plan was definitely to lure her to Bulgaria (probably on the pretense of sightseeing or something), plant drugs on her, have her arrested and thrown in prison. Her dad would then do whatever they wanted in order to get her out. Philip even said something like "And what if he doesn't, are you going to just let her rot in a Bulgarian prison?" To which Elizabeth replied that she didn't think it would come to that.

Yep. The plan requires at least a plausible cover story that Kimmy has legitimately been arrested by the Soviets, since "I know your daughter didn't mean to break the law, but we can help with the Bulgarian officials if you help us" is a much better pitch than "We took your daughter. If you want her back you have to do what we say." Plus, kidnapping the daughter of a high-ranking CIA officer would provoke a shitstorm of international consequences in a way that "College kid does something stupid and gets arrested on her trip abroad" probably wouldn't.

40 minutes ago, BetyBee said:

I did notice a mark on Elizabeth's left cheek, that seemed to disappear, depending on the light.  I wondered if it was just a mark that Keri Russell has, that I never noticed before.  I only noticed it in the hotel scene, about the time she started drawing.  I should rewatch anyway and be sure to watch for it showing up more.  

I assumed those marks were part of her Chicago cover identity. Do they really show up in any of the earlier scenes?

[JFParnell]

21 hours ago, Sarah 103 said:

I wished we could have seen Aderholt working on the investigation and piecing everything together over time instead of getting a giant info dump

"Info dump" ... a perfect turn of phrase for what that was. Or maybe even info jump. All I know is, thank goodness Aderholt's been on the case off-screen this whole time!

[benteen]

11 hours ago, Umbelina said:

 

Nah, I agree with Dubbel Zout on this one.

Elizabeth could stand Philip, but barely, if she had feelings for anyone?  It was Gregory.  She was ordered to have children, they both were, when she was ready to face fucking Philip, she went to him and said just that, "I'm ready."  Then she spent the next 15 years seeing and being in love with Gregory.  It wasn't until the Americans started that she realized she cared for Philip after all of those years.  She went to Gregory and broke off the romance in the first episodes, and began to fall for Philip after he killed her rapist.

If I had one issue with the Philip/Elizabeth relationship at the beginning of the series it's that I thought they would have had more of a connection after nearly 20 years of playing at marriage.

Elizabeth definitely came on to hard with the intern, especially during the subway ride.  Enough that the intern should be viewing it at least as suspicious.  I said last week that Elizabeth has become the old athlete who has hung around long after their prime.  She's accomplished very little this year save for killing an insignificant defector and is just messing up all the time.  She's Willie Mays at the end of his career with the Mets falling in the outfield.

[SWLinPHX]

Is it just me or does anyone else find the mail robot kinda cute?

[JFParnell]

Late to the party, and you all have been so thorough there's hardly anything left to observe. Well done, board! :)

Wow. The time is getting short now for show, and they're measuring off and telling huge gobs of story -- fast.

Elizabeth's response to Philip about killing the hockey player and his wife was absolutely chilling, even by Elizabeth's standards. NO feeling about it at all. She was just like, "What? Kid was in the next room. Why so pissy, Philip? We have any leftovers? Long night. I'm hungry." She might just as well have replied, "Oopsie. Sorry, kid. My bad." (Although I don't think "my bad" was in play yet in 1987..??)

Glad -- for the actor at least -- that Henry has finally been acknowledged as a member of the Jennings family. He's a cool customer who, in a weird way, might be the only Jennings thinking with a clear head at the moment. But that's only because he doesn't know he shares a home with a family of murderous Soviet spies. I DO hope we get to see Henry's reaction to that, though it's hard to know what they will do with him in the final eps.

Was Philip eating the Corn Flakes or the Rasin Bran? Inquiring minds want to know. Henry went for the RB. Did they have milk carton kids in '87? Would be funny to see Peter Jacobsen's face on the milk carton -- the ultimate trolling of fans like us by the writers. Or Martha's face, maybe.

Liz's impatience to get the Cold War party started again is indeed affecting her job performance. She's moving SO fast to seduce/interrogate/kill/whatever movie boy that it's almost painful to watch. Movie kid is either genuinely wary that he's a target for spies or he's thinking, "What's with Mrs. Robinson, here? She's old enough to be my mother. And she doesn't even know when a director's not French."

As others have noted, there had better be a five-alarm Level 10 dramatic payoff for us when Stan finally learns the truth (though he'll probably have to wait until Aderholt figures it out for him). I want to see Noah Emmerich's finest hour. Or 30 seconds. He'll be in a tough spot vis a vis his career -- a true Hank and Walt breaking bad moment, though I hope we don't have to see Stan on the toilet when he finds out -- but he *seems* like he will put country before career. Or does he?!

The trailer for this ep. was such a fake tease, given the Oleg/Philip message exchange was in the last minute of the ep. Hmmph. Sneaky show, sneaky...

Might as well see it through though! The writers have written so many big checks; it's time we start cashing some of them, no? We'll see..

[duVerre]

4 minutes ago, icemiser69 said:

I wonder if that has anything to do with the fight she had with the general in the park.  I was wondering why her face wasn't all messed up with bone fragments from the bullet penetrating the general's skull.  I don't think those injuries would have healed that quickly, who knows.

That's possible, though I don't know why they would sometimes show up when she's not in full make-up and other times disappear. I rewatched "Great Patriotic War" yesterday and they're not visible at any time in that episode. Of course, maybe Elizabeth just got tired of wearing foundation. And maybe the marks show up next week because Elizabeth gets involved in some body contact we haven't seen yet.

Never have I ever obsessed about such a tiny detail! 

But I find the inconsistency bizarre, which then makes me think it's a deliberate choice.

[Anela]

13 hours ago, Erin9 said:

I wouldn’t go that far. She loves them. That’s what that phone call with Henry was all about. Part of her trying so hard to turn Paige into a spy is because she wants a bond with her (and the centre wants it- fair enough). 

However, Philip sees family as a higher priority than Elizabeth does. Always has. 

 

12 hours ago, Erin9 said:

I didn’t mean she wanted children. IA- she wasn’t interested at the time. But I think she does love her children. No might or maybe about it. They are much more than a means to an end to her now- ie the surprise phone call to Henry when she tried to connect with him. Or, since i’m watching early episodes-when she woke Paige up to pierce her ears to bond with her. Among other examples. 

I agree. They've always been very protective of their children, and I remember them being afraid of them finding out who their parents really are. I think it was Philip that she was indifferent to, until he killed the man who raped her. 

[Clanstarling]

10 hours ago, UGAmp said:

20 hours ago, misstwpherecool said:

Have to wonder if Stavos is good for a workplace shooting. Didn't going 'postal' have it's roots in the 80s. Or Stavos could come back for something and stumble upon something he shouldn't.

Would they could do after the dust has settled at the very end of the show and the fate of most characters has played out they could show Renee meeting Claudia or another handler even if Stan is out of the picture.

Yes it did. It came into being because of at least one (maybe more, I forget) Post Office worker shootings. Hence, the "going postal." They are certainly giving Stavos more to do this season, I imagine he will play into the ending in some way, but I hope it isn't that.

8 hours ago, millennium said:

Tears For Fears.  From The Hurting, one of the best albums of the 80s.   That made me ache.  I was 21 that year.

The irony of using new wave music like Tears for Fears, etc., is that I can't picture Philip or Elizabeth ever listening to it.   I mean, the guy's into Texas line dancing.   Eddie Rabbit and Tears For Fears cannot coexist. 

Listening to it, no. But "Ideas for Opiates?" Perfect metaphor for Soviet spies.

2 hours ago, JFParnell said:

On 5/3/2018 at 8:00 AM, Sarah 103 said:

I wished we could have seen Aderholt working on the investigation and piecing everything together over time instead of getting a giant info dump

"Info dump" ... a perfect turn of phrase for what that was. Or maybe even info jump. All I know is, thank goodness Aderholt's been on the case off-screen this whole time

It just occurred to me, and correct me if I'm wrong,  but for the most part we primarily see scenes from point of view characters - Phillip, Elizabeth, Stan. Arkady, Oleg and Martha were given some back in the day, and Paige is now. Aderholt hasn't ever been a point of view character, right? So his investigation hasn't been known to any of our characters until this episode. So it makes sense that we haven't seen it. I, personally, liked the way it was handled. For me it was more exciting, and I was all "strap on, the ride is starting."

1 hour ago, icemiser69 said:

The only information Henry had was through the conversations he had with his father over the phone.  He has no clue what the family dynamics are in that household since he left for boarding school.  Henry should have come home first and observed what was going on before talking to anyone else about the financial difficulties that the family is going through.  He knows his father is very depressed, Henry could have found a better way to talk to his father without making his father feel like shit. 

I know Henry is still very young, but if he is half as smart as most people here think he is, he would have thought of a better way to talk to his father about all of those financial issues.

I don't see it that way. Henry's working all the angles to fix the money flow problem (working in a tannery - that's a good, go-getter approach), and has an opportunity to get business for his father. Even as emotionally intelligent as Henry is, I think he'd see his approach as helping his dad by fixing the problem for both of them. Win, win.

Edited May 4, 2018 by Clanstarling

[duVerre]

3 hours ago, Dev F said:

I assumed those marks were part of her Chicago cover identity. Do they really show up in any of the earlier scenes?

Yes, they show up before then. Not in "Great Patriotic War" (which makes me think they're not from fighting the general or anyone else) but at the very start of "Fififi," they're visible on her right cheek when she defends killing S&G with a child nearby and Philip tells her he won't be going forward with Kimmy. Then they keep turning up, clearly or faintly, depending on the light, throughout the episode.

Edited May 4, 2018 by duVerre
misspelled "Philip"

[qtpye]

44 minutes ago, Clanstarling said:

Have to wonder if Stavos is good for a workplace shooting. Didn't going 'postal' have it's roots in the 80s. Or Stavos could come back for something and stumble upon something he shouldn't.

Would they could do after the dust has settled at the very end of the show and the fate of most characters has played out they could show Renee meeting Claudia or another handler even if Stan is out of the picture.

I wonder if Phillip has held any meeting warning the employees the if sales do not pick up, there will have to be layoffs and no, that horrible pep speech does not count. Stavos seemed a little dumbfounded which is surprising if he knew the company was not doing well.  

[sistermagpie]

11 hours ago, Dev F said:

Well, all the more reason why it's significant that Philip seems really embarrassed by the idea.

He was embarrassed by Henry's father casually calling him a failure, not the idea that his son was sullying his hands in a tannery by the owner's son's side. And probably just unhappy that Henry would be gone for the summer too, maybe.

This is the kind of summer job certain types of politicians love to mention in speeches to prove they understand the working man and are self-made so they're justified in slashing the social safety net and keeping wages down.

11 hours ago, Dev F said:

I'm not sure the most important part of Henry's revelation was that Elizabeth was in trouble. She's been going out on really dangerous missions and nearly getting herself killed or captured all season, so that's sadly not all that new. What changed Philip's mind was Henry pointing out how unhappy she is. That's the big realization, I think -- that Elizabeth didn't go down this dark path just because she has a different view of the spy game than her husband, but because he wasn't there to keep her from getting pulled into that darkness.

Ah, I see. That I can definitely believe. I mean, he's been trying to help her with that too, but he's realized that he can't do it by just being there at home, he has to be on the job. His last ditch effort was telling her to come home and stop doing this to herself but of course she wouldn't do that--but he had to ask. I think he pretty much knew he was going to have to just go back to work. He probably always knew it. 

It's funny because I see a lot of references in articles to Elizabeth taking on "the burden" for Philip out of love and that always seems a little off to me. They both were doing a job that he came to have fundamental moral objections to. So he quit. She didn't quit because she had no objections and in fact completely identifies with the job, so she kept working. To say she's doing him a favor by letting him quit implies she's entitled to him doing the job too. I do understand her gesture as one of love, but as long as she was still working and he was there the retirement was going to be temporary. 

Back in I think season 3 she talks to a source in disguise about how she regrets never having the chance to "be there" for him the way she feels he's been there for her and I think it's central to the story that she just still can't do it. I don't mean that as a way of calling her a selfish or anything--there are certainly times when she's being generous to him personally, but she still always gives the mission too much importance to really do that. The one time she definitively made a choice to put him first was when she said they would both go back to Russia and then Kimmy's dad got promoted and she changed her mind. Maybe she would have anyway. Philip knew she would do that and knew he was giving up going home by telling her the truth. It was inevitable that Philip would freely choose to come back to work for her sake just as she wasn't able to choose to quit for his.

10 hours ago, UGAmp said:

Thank you! I was scrolling through wondering if anyone else thought something like this. @MissBluxom too (sorry... I lost your quote somehow). I think Stavos is going to play some role in P&E going down. At first, when the successful travel agency was suddenly having money issues, I thought maybe Stavos was stealing from them. He seems to be highlighted in a lot of episodes (as much as a side character can be). So when Philip was looking over the books for hours, I thought he’d find that. When that wasn’t the case, I don’t see why P hemmed and hawed for so long about firing people. If you’re having problems, that seemed like an obvious solution. G

I would hope Stavos isn't being set up as some surprise informant or vengeful person, though if somebody talked to him he'd probably be honest about Elizabeth and Philip's behavior as much as he knew about it, which might accidentally give the FBI something.

To me it seems more that Stavos is the only employee we've ever known and Philip has a personal relationship with him, but he wasn't meant for the kind of hard-sell agency Philip needed the place to be in order to make more money. He wasn't stealing, he just wasn't that good of a salesman. (He really did seem to handle that client they lost badly even if Philip was wrong to pass him off.) Philip hemmed and hawed because he likes Stavos and feels responsible for his workers. He doesn't want to take away the guy's salary because of an expansion they didn't need that was his bad decision. He saw the solution but tried to avoid it because he cared about his employees. It's the capitalism thing. Stavos doesn't make enough money and Philip can't afford to give him a job because everyone should have a job.

I guess Philip is seeing that even when not being a spy you can hurt people. I guess it's fitting that Elizabeth just thought he should fire them. 

10 hours ago, J-Man said:

I saw this posted in last week's thread, and again this week -- my understanding of the plan is that they were going to drug Kimmie (not PLANT drugs on her), smuggle her to Bulgaria, and then hold her for ransom. Nothing about a drug offense or Bulgarian prisons.

They were definitely going to plant drugs on her and throw her in prison. If they're just drugging her and throwing her in a trunk Philip doesn't need to do it himself. The whole point was for her to go to Bulgaria willingly. Once she's there they can do and say whatever they want.

3 hours ago, Dev F said:

I assumed those marks were part of her Chicago cover identity. Do they really show up in any of the earlier scenes?

That's what I thought too. I can't see the point of giving her AIDS for the last four episodes, especially while trying to honeytrap an intern. She's also got plenty of reason to have bad skin given how she's currently living. I wouldn't put it past the make up department to make her blotchy on purpose. Philip used to have deep shadows under his eyes.

2 hours ago, JFParnell said:

Was Philip eating the Corn Flakes or the Rasin Bran? Inquiring minds want to know. Henry went for the RB. Did they have milk carton kids in '87? Would be funny to see Peter Jacobsen's face on the milk carton -- the ultimate trolling of fans like us by the writers. Or Martha's face, maybe.

 

Yup. The milk carton thing started in the 80s. Remember Tom Hanks' character is on one in Big in 1988!

2 hours ago, JFParnell said:

As others have noted, there had better be a five-alarm Level 10 dramatic payoff for us when Stan finally learns the truth (though he'll probably have to wait until Aderholt figures it out for him). I want to see Noah Emmerich's finest hour. Or 30 seconds. He'll be in a tough spot vis a vis his career -- a true Hank and Walt breaking bad moment, though I hope we don't have to see Stan on the toilet when he finds out -- but he *seems* like he will put country before career. Or does he?!

 

I really like the way the show kept Aderholt as the superior counterintelligence officer he was introduced as from the first. Stan's always been a bad fit for that department and Aderholt was the best--he had to be to overcome the racial bias. Of course they still might give Stan the big win in the end based on his emotional intuition, but in this case Stan has more intimate knowledge of these particular Illegals than Aderholt does.

2 hours ago, icemiser69 said:

I know Henry is still very young, but if he is half as smart as most people here think he is, he would have thought of a better way to talk to his father about all of those financial issues.

I keep thinking about this story and while I don't think Henry's being portrayed as overly selfish I do think we're meant to see something a little...ruthless?...about it. Maybe that's the wrong word. Henry isn't intentionally doing anything bad to his father, isn't humiliating him on purpose. But he needs to make money and he's going after it like a shark. Everyone he knows has now become a potential source of it: his friend gets him a job for the summer--not just a kid job but a high-paying job that'll get him a lot of money fast. The guy at school is a source of even more barely helpful scholarships. Of course his father's business problems "came up" in his talk with his friends' father. He wants to get more money into the business. Not only should Philip listen to this businessman's advice but he probably should be meeting with him for the rich contacts as well. Henry has no trouble assessing the dollar signs over peoples' heads and mixing the personal with the financial. 

[Bannon]

2 hours ago, icemiser69 said:

The only information Henry had was through the conversations he had with his father over the phone.  He has no clue what the family dynamics are in that household since he left for boarding school.  Henry should have come home first and observed what was going on before talking to anyone else about the financial difficulties that the family is going through.  He knows his father is very depressed, Henry could have found a better way to talk to his father without making his father feel like shit. 

I know Henry is still very young, but if he is half as smart as most people here think he is, he would have thought of a better way to talk to his father about all of those financial issues.

Henry is doing the right thing. There is no reason for him to think that his dad is so fragile that Phil will suffer terrible emotional stress by Henry getting scholarships and a summer job, for cryin' out loud. Literally tens of millions of 17 and 18 year old do this every year without the fathers suffering unduly. 

If all the spies get caught, and their behaviors revealed, I hope Henry's reaction is "What a bunch of a-holes my family is. Good thing I've made myself self-sufficient!"

[ChromaKelly]

3 hours ago, JFParnell said:

Liz's impatience to get the Cold War party started again is indeed affecting her job performance. She's moving SO fast to seduce/interrogate/kill/whatever movie boy that it's almost painful to watch. Movie kid is either genuinely wary that he's a target for spies or he's thinking, "What's with Mrs. Robinson, here? She's old enough to be my mother. And she doesn't even know when a director's not French."

 

Agree. He seemed to be suspicious and/or just not that into her. He seemed a little more into the job offer, but also like he might check into it and see if she's for real.

[MisterBluxom]

The last time I can remember thinking that Phillip was actually happy was back in Season One when some pedofile tried to do something inappropriate to Paige and Phillip just kicked the snot out of him. He didn't actually express any degree of happiness. But you just have to know that he was smiling on the inside. I was smiling too.

I sure do hope that we get to see at least one more happy Phillip moment. Of all the characters in this sad story, Phillip deserves to have some enjoyment more than any other character that I can think of. I sure do hope he gets to experience a few happy moments before this story is over.

[Sarah 103]

17 hours ago, Bannon said:

The crappy writing lies in the fact that Henry has been a nonentity for the vast majority of this show.

I disagree. We saw Henry's excellent read on people with the hitchhiker in season 1. We saw that Henry was interested in movies, especially comedies and later developed a facination with computers and video games. He was even able to break into a neighbor's house multiple times to play video games. He wanted to spend time with older kids like Mat or adults like Stan. He had a crush on two older woman. Late in middle school or early in high school he realized he was good in math. He's always enjoyed playing hocky. 

12 hours ago, UGAmp said:

Stavos has been there for a long time and he’s seen and overheard some stuff that he knows isn’t right (even if it’s something small. Not necessarily “I think my boss is a Russian spy”) and he’s going to get them on the police/FBI’s radar. Just my two cents!

What do you think Stavos has seen or overheard that would make him think something is wrong/off? If the FBI interviewed him, what do you think he would say? 

[Bannon]

15 minutes ago, Sarah 103 said:

I disagree. We saw Henry's excellent read on people with the hitchhiker in season 1. We saw that Henry was interested in movies, especially comedies and later developed a facination with computers and video games. He was even able to break into a neighbor's house multiple times to play video games. He wanted to spend time with older kids like Mat or adults like Stan. He had a crush on two older woman. Late in middle school or early in high school he realized he was good in math. He's always enjoyed playing hocky. 

What do you think Stavos has seen or overheard that would make him think something is wrong/off? If the FBI interviewed him, what do you think he would say? 

There have been 75 episodes, and Keidrich Sellati has been credit only in 10 of them. I don't have a precise number, but of the remaining 65, there have been a lot where his role has been as minimal as Holly Taylor's was this past week. For what is a family drama at heart, I think it odd that one of four people in the family has received so little screen time.

[Sarah 103]

11 minutes ago, Bannon said:

There have been 75 episodes, and Keidrich Sellati has been credit only in 10 of them. I don't have a precise number, but of the remaining 65, there have been a lot where his role has been as minimal as Holly Taylor's was this past week. For what is a family drama at heart, I think it odd that one of four people in the family has received so little screen time.

I agree that he has not been on screen that often, but he feels like a fully realized character and we know or at least have some ideas of his interests, dreams and ambitions. We have also seen his character grow and change over time.

[Clanstarling]

9 minutes ago, Bannon said:

There have been 75 episodes, and Keidrich Sellati has been credit only in 10 of them. I don't have a precise number, but of the remaining 65, there have been a lot where his role has been as minimal as Holly Taylor's was this past week. For what is a family drama at heart, I think it odd that one of four people in the family has received so little screen time.

It's certainly true that he hasn't been in as many episodes as we'd expect. But the ones he was in, for me anyway, clearly defined his character, made a real impact on how I thought about him, and kept him rock solid in my mind and in the family even without screen time. Of the four, he was the most solitary when it came to the Jennings family, so his absence never felt like crappy writing but true to his character.

[Erin9]

1 hour ago, Bannon said:

Henry is doing the right thing. There is no reason for him to think that his dad is so fragile that Phil will suffer terrible emotional stress by Henry getting scholarships and a summer job, for cryin' out loud. Literally tens of millions of 17 and 18 year old do this every year without the fathers suffering unduly. 

If all the spies get caught, and their behaviors revealed, I hope Henry's reaction is "What a bunch of a-holes my family is. Good thing I've made myself self-sufficient!"

I think my thing with Henry is- he sounds like his passion in life is making a lot of money. Doing well. Making the right connections. It’s a bit cold. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course. It’s good that he's a planner, goal oriented, pretty self sufficient. Those are qualities you want to see in someone. 

But he doesn’t sound passionate about education for its own sake or a particular career. Or people. He sounds driven to do well. That’s it. 

It’s an interesting conversation to have when his father is literally risking his life because he believes so strongly in the hope  of a better Russia and world, while Henry is rattling on about money and connections.

Whether you agree with the methodology, Philip and Elizabeth spent their lives devoted to the idea of a better, stronger  country, better lives for their people. Philip, in particular, cares about people. 

I’m not saying Henry doesn’t. He clearly does. He care about his family; I’m sure he cares about other people. He’s a pretty good kid. But people and causes are not his passion imo. Henry’s passion is...Henry and being a highly successful Henry. Again- not bad, or unusual for his age, but it just rubbed rubbed me the wrong way a bit. 

And Philip was understandably less than thrilled at Henry from blabbing about their financial issues.  I can’t think of a parent whose first response would be- gee thanks. Beyond that- I think Philip knew he’d miss Henry that summer. But he was ultimately very supportive of Henry. 

My guess is Henry will be quite unhappy about the truth. 

Edited May 4, 2018 by Erin9

[Bannon]

10 minutes ago, Erin9 said:

I think my thing with Henry is- he sounds like his passion in life is making a lot of money. Doing well. Making the right connections. It’s a bit cold. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course. It’s good that he's a planner, goal oriented, pretty self sufficient. Those are qualities you want to see in someone. 

But he doesn’t sound passionate about education for its own sake or a particular career. Or people. He sounds driven to do well. That’s it. 

It’s an interesting conversation to have when his father is literally risking his life because he believes so strongly in the hope  of a better Russia and world, while Henry is rattling on about money and connections.

Whether you agree with the methodology, Philip and Elizabeth spent their lives devoted to the idea of a better, stronger  country, better lives for their people. Philip, in particular, cares about people. 

I’m not saying Henry doesn’t. He clearly does. He care about his family; I’m sure he cares about other people. He’s a pretty good kid. But people and causes are not his passion imo. Henry’s passion is...Henry and being a highly successful Henry. Again- not bad, or unusual for his age, but it just rubbed rubbed me the wrong way a bit. 

And Philip was understandably less than thrilled at Henry from blabbing about their financial issues.  I can’t think of a parent whose first response would be- gee thanks. Beyond that- I think Philip knew he’d miss Henry that summer. But he was ultimately very supportive of Henry. 

My guess is Henry will be quite unhappy about the truth. 

I am a parent, and if my 17 year old was in the car with me, and told me she had an extremely viable plan to obtain scholarships, and land a  16 dollars an hour summer job for 10 weeks, I would not be rubbed the wrong way.

[sistermagpie]

26 minutes ago, Sarah 103 said:

I agree that he has not been on screen that often, but he feels like a fully realized character and we know or at least have some ideas of his interests, dreams and ambitions. We have also seen his character grow and change over time.

 

26 minutes ago, Clanstarling said:

It's certainly true that he hasn't been in as many episodes as we'd expect. But the ones he was in, for me anyway, clearly defined his character, made a real impact on how I thought about him, and kept him rock solid in my mind and in the family even without screen time. Of the four, he was the most solitary when it came to the Jennings family, so his absence never felt like crappy writing but true to his character.

I agree. He doesn't have a lot of screentime but what there is has been perfectly consistent not just with itself but with the person he is now.

21 minutes ago, Erin9 said:

But he doesn’t sound passionate about education for its own sake or a particular career. Or people. He sounds driven to do well. That’s it. 

I wonder about this. Because in the past Henry had one interest after another. He was always self-motivated. When he wasn't interested in school he wasn't interested and didn't study or do well, but sometimes at that same time he might be doing independent study about space or computers or whatever. 

So it actually is kind of interesting that suddenly his imagination got captured by wanting to become the 80s Preppie Kid. That's a very peculiar animal and he still seems very into it. They didn't go the route it seemed like they could go where he had idiosyncratic interests. Like the kind of kid who's quirky and friends with lots of people. 

No, he became a type. He's exactly what that school is trying to turn out. (Again, why it's so dumb that he doesn't have a free ride.) 

Is this supposed to be who he really is? Like Paige said, he found where he belonged? Or is this more a chameleon thing? Is he picking up the culture of the world he's in like silly putty? Or is it just a continuation of another part of his character, the kid focused on getting what he wants?

And politics really are a part of that world. Is he a young Republican? Because that's part of the type, even without actually talking about politics. His father seems so defined by not really fitting in anywhere exactly, is the idea that Henry is the opposite? Is it more like that children of immigrants thing where his father is defined by being a stranger because he's an immigrant (even one who's very good at appearing to fit in) and Henry's on home turf?

5 minutes ago, Bannon said:

I am a parent, and if my 17 year old was in the car with me, and told me she had an extremely viable plan to obtain scholarships, and land a  16 dollars an hour summer job for 10 weeks, I would not be rubbed the wrong way.

Philip was not rubbed the wrong way by Henry's plans about scholarships and a summer job! He was uncomfortable with Henry having conversations with other rich dads about how he was a failure. I don't understand lumping these two things together. At most Philip was surprised at how good Henry's plans were (he started to keep him from getting his hopes up when Henry said he would get a summer job because he thought it wouldn't help--then Henry revealed the kind of job he was talking about). 

Edited May 4, 2018 by sistermagpie

[Erin9]

14 minutes ago, Bannon said:

I am a parent, and if my 17 year old was in the car with me, and told me she had an extremely viable plan to obtain scholarships, and land a  16 dollars an hour summer job for 10 weeks, I would not be rubbed the wrong way.

I’m talking about blabbing about financial problems only. Not jobs or scholarships. That’s all I referenced. Philip was obviously fine with the rest. 

Edited May 4, 2018 by Erin9

[smartymarty]

19 hours ago, Erin9 said:

Henry is basically a male Kimmy with more street smarts.

Did you mean "Henry is a Kimmy with more street smarts." I don't think gender makes a difference here.

[smartymarty]

5 hours ago, JFParnell said:

Was Philip eating the Corn Flakes or the Rasin Bran?

I pick at little things -- why were both boxes on the table when only Philip was sitting there?

Also (a bigger thing), why isn't Paige's college tuition on the line too? Payment plan available there? Scholarships? Move her to a community college since she never seems to go to class (and can't even remember what she learned in 9th grade)?

2 hours ago, sistermagpie said:

Henry has no trouble assessing the dollar signs over peoples' heads and mixing the personal with the financial.

Henry's the capitalist?!

[stitcher73]

Anyone think we'll see Gabriel again and that he might play a part in the end?  He's been back in Russia now for several years; surely he sees that its terrible?   

[jjj]

I hope we learn more about the Chicago illegal-- it sounds like he realized he was under surveillance after the FBI had done some tracking to a safe house and garage.  Now he just has to go to his accounting job and wait?  All this has to have happened within the past four or five weeks, after Elizabeth killed the guards and Gannadi.  How ironic that Gannadi finally had some useful information in his bag after all those years.

[sistermagpie]

30 minutes ago, icemiser69 said:

Everyone in that family is treating Philip like a doormat.  He aught to have "Welcome" stamped on his forehead.

Yeah, a doormat and a useless one at that. Henry automatically holds Philip responsible for business failures (despite it being a business both his parents run), Paige doesn't seem to have developed any new respect for Philip thanks to his relatively gentle lesson in self-defense, Elizabeth heaps on the scorn throughout the season.

Yet Philip is actually exceptionally competent. Just as much as Elizabeth and certainly than either of his children even if being a salesman isn't one of his skills. Henry in this episode seems to easily see all Philip's problems and how to solve them easily. He honestly seems to share some of Paige's condescension--condescension his mother never gets. 

That also reminds me that Elizabeth still has that black and white track mind where she thinks if Philip isn't doing whatever she wants him to do for the Cause (she doesn't do this to Paige) it's because he's pursuing hedonist, selfish pleasures. Like when he wanted to save Martha it was because he had to want her for himself. Now when he puts a stop to the plan with Kimmy she accuses him of being a whore. Not that she necessarily really believed that, but that's where her mind goes. 

20 minutes ago, icemiser69 said:

I like Henry just as much as everyone else, but the dude doesn't walk on water.  There are a few episodes left, perhaps I will get to see that he can.  Still, people are reading an awful lot into Henry's capabilities when we haven't seen any of it yet.  We know what Henry has said to Philip, what we don't know is how much of what Henry said is true, and how much is exaggerated.  Henry is still a child, and children tend to exaggerate, at least a little.

 

I think you might have been reading my post differently than I meant it--or maybe not. But to clarify, I didn't mean that Henry was really a prodigy about business. I was just talking about him having a one track mind and it wasn't meant as a big compliment. I don't think Philip's business problems just "came up," I think Henry brought them up because they're interfering with what he wants and the guy enjoyed being able to present himself as a much better businessman who would give him a lesson. After that there's no big skill in Henry imagining the rich guy having rich friends who will give him business. He's kind of throwing him a bone.

Henry could be exaggerating, but I think he has proved himself a capable networker that way. That's how he got to the school to begin with. I've been accused of being too negative about Henry in the past because I think he can be a slick little suck up. Times that to other people read as Henry being a genuinely good kid (and poor orphan who raised himself) to me seemed like Henry doing that instead.

That, to me, is partly what I get from this episode.

Edited May 4, 2018 by sistermagpie

[JFParnell]

6 minutes ago, icemiser69 said:

The bigger question is why were both boxes open? 

The only thing worse is watching people drink out of empty coffee cups or old Cheers episodes where the drinks never seem to look the same from one minute to the next. 

LOL. I wondered that, too, but decided Philip must have been excited about a father-son breakfast and got both boxes out. Why both were OPEN is a good question. Hmmm. Maybe Philip mixed both! I think Stan needs to look into it.

OMG, the empty and half-empty coffee cups thing has bugged me forever. TV people only ever seem to have a tiny splash of coffee we can barely see, that is when they're not totally empty, while people like us, outside the TV, need giant mugs full up just to get going.

[Clanstarling]

44 minutes ago, icemiser69 said:

I like Henry just as much as everyone else, but the dude doesn't walk on water.  There are a few episodes left, perhaps I will get to see that he can.  Still, people are reading an awful lot into Henry's capabilities when we haven't seen any of it yet.  We know what Henry has said to Philip, what we don't know is how much of what Henry said is true, and how much is exaggerated.  Henry is still a child, and children tend to exaggerate, at least a little.

I am beginning to wonder if people really like Henry this much or hate Paige that much more.

Speaking for myself, I really like Henry that much. Paige doesn't enter into it - I don't even hate her, I just find her irritating.

Henry certainly doesn't walk on water. But he's also not a product of a household that holds family meetings and requires him to follow a rigid chain of command before taking action. Children left alone a lot tend to be resourceful because going to the parent first isn't always an option.

Edited May 4, 2018 by Clanstarling

[tinderbox]

Just an aside....

As a former cigarette smoker, I absolutely cannot stand the way Elizabeth (actually, Kerri Russell) smokes.  It's so obvious she's a non smoker in real life that it has become laughable, for me.  I'm not advocating her actually inhaling if she's against it.   However, once it became apparent to the showrunners that Kerri cannot fake smoke, Elizabeth should have been given some other bad habit to use as a coping mechanism. 

Edited May 4, 2018 by tinderbox

[Cardie]

6 hours ago, duVerre said:

Never have I ever obsessed about such a tiny detail! 

I didn't obsess but I did notice and thought the marks very odd. I did attribute them to the close contact takedowns of Sofia and Gennady. Your HIV hypothesis would be like Betty in Mad Men getting lung cancer. It would be an irony for sure, perhaps foreshadowed by the Erica storyline. More than one use for that cyanide pill.

[Cardie]

1 hour ago, JFParnell said:

Why both were OPEN is a good question.

In a multi-person household, with divided cereal tastes, several boxes would have been open at once. Perhaps Philip automatically got both ready to serve the two guys who were having breakfast.

[Umbelina]

1 hour ago, Clanstarling said:

Speaking for myself, I really like Henry that much. Paige doesn't enter into it - I don't even hate her, I just find her irritating.

Henry certainly doesn't walk on water. But he's also not a product of a household that holds family meetings and requires him to follow a rigid chain of command before taking action. Children left alone a lot tend to be resourceful because going to the parent first isn't always an option.

 

Yeah, I agree.

Where is all this stuff about Henry being "money driven" coming from?  I've never seen that, not ever.

He's driven by things that interest him, such as computers, and video games, then math, now he loves American Literature and hockey.  Seems like a pretty normal well-rounded kid to me.

He loves his school, has a ton of friends, is doing well there both academically and in sports.  He works hard at both.  He'll graduate next year.  What kids wants to leave school in his final year, and start over somewhere else, away from teachers and friends and teammates he knows and cares for?  He obviously also prefers the dorms to life at home, and again, who can blame him, his parents ignored him for most of his life, and he has as much contact with Philip now as he did at home, maybe more quality time than ever because they talk one-on-one.

I envision the conversation with the other kid's dad as pretty natural.  He wanted that summer job, the dad asks why he wants it so much, and Henry, who has always been an open and honest kid, tells him he needs the money to pay for school.  The family business has hit some hard times from an expansion that didn't work out well, and Henry is finding and applying for scholarships as well.  The dad, impressed by this kid (because honestly, who wouldn't be impressed by a 15 or 16 year old pitching in to solve his own problems?) then volunteers that he too has had business problems in the past (these things happen kid!) and offers to help out with some advice if Philip might want to hear from someone who has been there himself.  Henry knows the guy is loaded and thinks, "wow, this might be a good client for dad too, and he has a bunch of rich friend who travel as well."  It was a lead for Philip.

All of that sounds like an amazing kid to me, and as far as "does he care about others?" WHO KNOWS?  The show has barely had him on screen.  Maybe he does, he's certainly empathetic and a good listener for his dad, picking up on the unsaid as well.  He was empathetic with Stan as well.  He wants to be "a good person!" and has since he was a little kid caught breaking in to play video games, at that moment, all he cared about was his parent's opinion about his character, he wasn't pleading for less punishment, he just want them to see him, and know he wasn't a bad person.

I've ALWAYS preferred both the actor and the character to his whiny-assed-all-about-me sister and her boring and pedantic cult mind.

He solidified it when he had a good read on that driver who picked them up hitchhiking and begged her not to get in the car, and really nailed it when he saved her sorry stupid ass by clonking him over the head with that beer bottle.

Edited May 4, 2018 by Umbelina

[duVerre]

34 minutes ago, Cardie said:

I didn't obsess but I did notice and thought the marks very odd. I did attribute them to the close contact takedowns of Sofia and Gennady. Your HIV hypothesis would be like Betty in Mad Men getting lung cancer. It would be an irony for sure, perhaps foreshadowed by the Erica storyline. More than one use for that cyanide pill.

VERY much like what happened to Betty. IIRC, Matt Wiener said it would have been unbelievable not to bring lung cancer into the series after all the smoking that had gone on, as well as considering how central tobacco was to the culture at the time. Similarly, the writers here might have thought it too strange that Philip and Elizabeth should sleep with so many people for so long and escape unscathed.

On the other hand, this might be just another wild fan theory.

[Bannon]

Yes, Henry spoke more than he should have about the travel agency, although anybody with a 3 digit i.q. might have deduced it, once it became known that withdrawing from school after the junior year was a (again, in the real world, wholly ridiculous) possibility. That is dwarfed by the information that my 17 year old has the drive and ingenuity to solve the problem on his own. The more likely reaction, in my view, is not a sense of failure, but relief and pride, followed by "Son, don't be so open with any details about problems I'm having with the travel agency".

[UGAmp]

3 hours ago, Sarah 103 said:

What do you think Stavos has seen or overheard that would make him think something is wrong/off? If the FBI interviewed him, what do you think he would say? 

I fully admit I don’t remember everything that’s happened in this show so this is mainly speculation based on this season where Stavos looked skeptical in a lot of his scenes in my opinion. But the, what seems like, 95 billion business trips P&E have not actually gone on but used as cover along with these “big clients” that always have issues in the middle of the night might seem suspicious if Stavos is in any way aware of these cover stories. Or the lack of money coming in from these so-called big clients. He might not be aware at all. They also disappeared for days at a time to run different operations like when they pretended to be Tuan’s parents. But maybe that’s normal for owners of that type of business. I have no idea. And they discussed a lot of their dirty work in their office with just a shut door and some blinds as their soundproofing. Maybe he’s overheard stuff but that’s a reach since we haven’t seen evidence of it. 

Its all guessing and probably will amount to nothing. I’ve just been questioning it this season so I was happy to see some others doing so as well! :)

[Bannon]

3 minutes ago, duVerre said:

VERY much like what happened to Betty. IIRC, Matt Wiener said it would have been unbelievable not to bring lung cancer into the series after all the smoking that had gone on, as well as considering how central tobacco was to the culture at the time. Similarly, the writers here might have thought it too strange that Philip and Elizabeth should sleep with so many people for so long and escape unscathed.

On the other hand, this might be just another wild fan theory.

It would be a wholly credible plot development, although I don't know if they have done a good enough job of showing  a marked decline in Liz's health and energy level. Yeah, she says she's tired, but it just seems consistent with a woman in her 40s with inadequate sleep. Now, if they show her passing out in the middle of an operatation, or complaining of a persistent low grade fever, in the next episode, or at latest, the one after that, they might have time to introduce that element.

[Bannon]

2 hours ago, icemiser69 said:

Henry has no clue what is going on with the business and why it is failing.   At a minimum, he should have come home first and talked with his dad about it.  Philip is the adult, and Henry is the child at a boarding school.  Henry does care about his family, but he is totally overstepping his role in that family.

Everyone in that family is treating Philip like a doormat.  He ought to have "Welcome" stamped on his forehead.

He knows enough that his future is threatened with imminent severe decline in prospects. Faced with that knowledge, he acts diligently and efficiently to solve the problem. Sounds like adult behavior to me, and if the worst that can be said about an adult is that he is too forthcoming about how financial issues surrounding a relative's business are affecting him, most adults would be better people if that was their worst failing.

[sistermagpie]

2 minutes ago, Umbelina said:

Where is all this stuff about Henry being "money driven" coming from?  I've never seen that, not ever.

 

I don't know if you meant just in general, but since I talked about him as a capitalist etc., I just meant that he is money driven *here* because that's what he needs and he's showing himself pretty comfortable going after it. I don't think he's shown as being money-driven in general throughout the show. I can't think of a single time in the series he's ever been doing anything that particularly had to do with money. But now he's trying to stay at school and to do that he needs money, so he's turning all his focus toward how to get money.

But at the same time, this school can not be separated from money. It's not just some school he likes, it's an elite prep school that was created for the monied classes and those who would join them. That's the world he's in and where he wants to stay. He had friends at his public school and happily left them behind to go to the "fancy orphanage" "country club" where you wear ties and senators are alumni. They are his new normal. The main reason money isn't talked about as a priority there is probably that it's such a given it's not spoken about. It's not just about not wanting to leave his friends and classes in his senior year, it's that, as he himself says, if he can't put that he graduated on his college application or his resume it's "worthless" or whatever he said. He knows how this stuff is judged. 

There's a big difference between the kind of focus Philip has on money and the kind Henry has and the reasons it's a focus for both of them, and part of it is a class difference. As Bannon said, Henry sees this as a "severe decline in his prospects" even though his prospects would be graduation from a perfectly good suburban public school that would not close off the ivy leagues. 

7 minutes ago, Umbelina said:

I envision the conversation with the other kid's dad as pretty natural.  He wanted that summer job, the dad asks why he wants it so much, and Henry, who has always been an open and honest kid, tells him he needs the money to pay for school. 

Well, he's not always open and honest. When he's got something he doesn't want people to know about himself he doesn't share it--which is pretty much like most people. We don't know exactly what he said about the money issue but the other guy came away with the impression that his dad needed business advice not to fail. There's probably plenty of things that Henry would react the same way about even if the other person didn't mean to embarrass him over it. I'm sure the conversation was very natural, but I also think Philip is correctly understanding where his own place naturally fell in this natural conversation.

4 minutes ago, Bannon said:

That is dwarfed by the information that my 17 year old has the drive and ingenuity to solve the problem on his own. The more likely reaction, in my view, is not a sense of failure, but relief and pride, followed by "Son, don't be so open with any details about problems I'm having with the travel agency".

Gotta say, Philip's reaction seems far more human to me than the one where a grown man's kid casually mentions that his friend's father is willing to give him advice about his failing business and he has no embarrassed reaction because he's just so overcome with relief and pride at the kid's ingenuity for asking about scholarships and getting in on his friends' well-paying summer job. What Henry's doing is great, but it's still a sensitive issue for Philip. He feels guilty about not taking care of his employees and Henry's not the only one in the family casually reminding him he's a disappointment at every opportunity. And yet he still managed to find it within him to be completely supportive of his son's need to go to the fancy prep school. Henry's getting pretty much everything he wanted here--and he's had his tuition paid for by Dad for 3 years. 

5 minutes ago, UGAmp said:

I fully admit I don’t remember everything that’s happened in this show so this is mainly speculation based on this season where Stavos looked skeptical in a lot of his scenes in my opinion.

I think he was looking skeptical because of the very thing that played out. He's not comfortable with the new, more aggressive business model. Elizabeth is barely at the agency anymore and she's not working out missions with Philip so there's probably not much to overhear. He probably missed the days they whispered in their office with the printer running.