I’m not saying there are not other or even better ways to do it. What I’m saying is that the Soviets were very suspicious of their people, that they had the true ideals, that they were not seduced by the American way of life, etc. So for the Soviets, it makes sense to foster teams that rely on each other and then report back to HQ on each other.
And marriages don’t always work out. They’re often some of the most difficult relationships, and many couples do not have the honesty of the ideal. Look how prevalent infidelity is. Stack that on top of a relationship that they must trust each other.
So I can see how the Soviets especially would desire more of the “make it look good” rather than “be emotionally bonded to each other” arrangement.
Adults can change accents. Plenty of actors these days are foreigners playing Americans, it seems. Certainly, not EVERYONE can change accents as an adult, but it can be done.
Anyway, why no episode next week? Doesn’t seem to be anything else on FX worth preempting it for, just some rerun of a crummy movie.
Agreed, though when we saw them as teenagers first meeting each other, didn’t they already speak American? That would seem to indicate immersion from a young age.
Not as young as 7, though. We saw Elizabeth at 7, when that guy tried to deliver that crate of goodies to her and her mother. No English at that point.
I wondered that myself. Doesn’t appear to be anything related to the NCAA tournament.
Doesn’t mean she wasn’t going through intensive English training at 7, just that she was with her mother. She could’ve still been doing English immersion for 8 hours a day at that point. I doubt they’ll ever address that in the show, but no reason to rule it out.
What is a “shape (shaped?) charge anyway”? I assumed it was something that was designed to be directional rather than blow the whole place to smithereens. It sure looked like the guy got blown there to me.
I’m surprised that nobody has picked up on the fact that Phillip is tired of taking Elizabeth’s crap, and was trying to kill her when he threw the charge at her.
A shape charge makes the blast directional. So he could have a large blast cover the door entry zone while remain safe a few feet on the other side.
But if you throw the shape charge into the bathroom and it happens to be facing him when he hits the button, he will be downrange of the blast and get its full effect.
And this same episode had a block of plastique the size of a couple of batteries create a fireball and take out a house, so I wouldn’t rely on the accuracy of the show’s depiction.
Really liking this show, FX’s stable is getting very impressive.
Specific to “Mutually Assured Destruction”…
I think that’s probably it; they don’t want the agents more loyal to anyone or anything than to the KGB and the homeland.
The incompetence brewing at the Center is poised to test this divided loyalty as the season goes on; capturing and interrogating their own agents, then changing their minds halfway through an operation is a powerful one-two punch of contemptible ineptitude, that will surely drive Phillip and Elizabeth further from the KGB, and possibly toward each other.
I rather agree. Not because HEY BOOBIES!!! although that never hurts, but simply because it seems so childish to have a serious show skirt around that. Every time I’m thinking “oh, right, this scene was awkwardly shot to avoid nudity because it’s not HBO” I’m taken out of the moment and into evaluating it as a TV show, which pulls you just a bit from the story. We’re all adults, right? This show is not going to appeal to 8 year olds, and even if it did, there’s much worse shit on it than seeing some skin. It’s about time we grew up about this issue.
Ok, that was an interesting episode. I really don’t get
Splitting Philip and Elizabeth up. While I thought the actors (the parents and kids) did a wonderful job in portraying the emotions of a family breakup, we all know its not going to last.
The actions of the protagonists and antagonists. They have an FBI agent and they don’t ask the resident WTH to do? I doubt it. Similarly, even in this War on Terror age, I still cannot see the government being okay with cold blooded murder, or at least unauthorized cold blooded murder.
I don’t think they have any contact with the resident at all. They had the emergency number they used to verify that he was alive, otherwise I assume they have never spoken to him. Direct contact of any sort with embassy staff would be a no-no for a deep cover agent.
Their only normal contact is their handler, who I agree should have been consulted. There are various ways you can fan-wank that away based on their mental states, their independent judgement as field agents and current suspicion of said handler. But, yeah - something on that level should have been called in, especially after the big speech about the dangers of an escalating tit-for-tat spy war.
One thing that kinda takes me out of this show is all the dirty work these two are supposed to do. They’re firmly entrenched, successfully placed undercover KGB agents, and they’re running around murdering people in public (like Elizabeth shooting the scientist) and in general taking huge risks (like Philip snatching that purse, bugging FBI cars, blowing up scientists’ cars and shit) that could get them caught easily.
It just seems like the KGB would not want them running around being so reckless.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the show, it just seems strange to me how exposed they make themselves.
True, Gaud did say this wasn’t exactly above board. Reagan is not going to authorize the assassination of a ranking diplomat on US soil, especially just after getting the hostages back. Regarding Arkady, was anyone else surprise Elizabeth knew him by name? :dubious: Obviously she’d be aware that there was a KGB resident at the embassy under diplomatic cover, but what’s the point in letting her know his name if she’s not supposed to have any contact?
Argh! After two weeks somehow I wound up with 10mins of whatever was on before Americans, and the first 50 mins of Americans. I don’t know if FX or Comcast or who is to blame, but GAAAH!
Agreed. Unfortunately that’s a hole we’re probably just going to have to accept, because otherwise they wouldn’t have a ( popular ) show. Sex and bullets sell. I was worried about this after the first episode, but so far the balance hasn’t been bad. But it could easily go off the rails into silliness if it starts to become the dominant theme.