IIRC, that’s how she delivers the recordings to him. That she’s hanging on to it instead of handing it over is indicative of her having doubts about what she’s doing for him (my guess).
Wow that was good tonight. We have some loose ends tied up nicely, including the fact “the mistress” was Mousad as was the guy. The Scientist had to go back - in exchange for the Mousad who took a dump and tried to bury Philip, but more importantly for 1500 Russian Jews.
Stan is in deep do do. I wonder if he will let Nina die.
Wow, I went from thinking that Oleg is really smart to really dumb in one second.
First, he tells Stan that he knows he’s running Nina. Pretty smart.
Then, as they’re standing all alone on a deserted pier in the middle of the night, with Stan’s gun trained on his chest, he tells Stan that he’s the only one who knows. And then tries to blackmail him.
Stan wouldn’t even have to dispose of the body. The guy would just fall into the water.
It’s not like he hasn’t killed a defenseless man before.
Eh, I think he bet on Stan not wanting to push his luck by killing another KGB diplomat. There were three others chasing after Oleg after all and knew who the target was.
I am wondering
- Why did Elizabeth say “this is Mrs Jennings!” so defiantly when the Martha warning come in? Was it a simple establishment that Philip is her man despite all?
- What is Oleg up to anyway. He wants to do what exactly with Beeman?
- What is the KGBs extraction plan for the Jennings. They have been compromised…the Israelis know who they are. And can tell the US. They have their car. Engine and chassis number should permit easy tracing.
BTW, I well imagine Vladiamir Putin doing exactly what Oleg did. He is the right age as well.
Oleg will try to run Beeman as his own agent in exchange for keeping Nina safe. Remember, she was originally trying to defect and was providing info to Beeman, then had a change of heart and is now reporting to her superior, who agreed not to tell Moscow that she was initially giving info to the FBI.
Presumably Elizabeth knows when the KGB is calling, thus she needs to confirm to the caller that she is in fact Mrs. Jennings and not some other person.
Oleg is trying to turn Stan. He’s trying to obtain secret FBI info from him in exchange for a guarantee of Nina’s safety.
If the Israeli spy talked, it would violate the agreement between Russia and Israel. Russia would have to take some kind of revenge. It’s definitely in his best interest to keep his mouth shut.
This season has been emotionally brutal. So much of the time spent so far has been spent on deceiving naïve, well-meaning people. And that’s probably more true to actual spy work than assassinations and secret bugging missions into high security areas. But it’s icky to watch.
I can’t remember something - why is Stan’s boss in trouble? He mentioned taking the fall for something last week, and he was looked down upon this week.
This show is really good. It’s not talked about nearly enough. But it’s interesting, well plotted, well acted - it’s one of the top shows on TV now and I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone talking about it.
I like that Oleg has been a pretty smart guy. I thought they were setting him up to be the buffoon with connections that fucks everything up, but he’s a real rival to Arkady for control of the residentura. I also rather liked the spycraft that went into the car surveillance, and that it was all for naught.
I suppose if you’re going to rip off another show, The Sopranos is a worthy show to steal from. Even with the blatant theft (homage?) I found that scene compelling.
In the Sopranos version, the regular person Jewish guy was cowering before Tony and his goons while calling Tony a “golem.” Tony then had to find out from Dr. Melphi what a golem is. An inhuman monster.
The best bit from that Sopranos scene still sticks with me, badly paraphrasing the setup:
“We’ve always been persecuted by people like you, but we always persevere. 2000 years ago it was the Romans. We’re still here, and where are the Romans now?”
“You’re looking at them.”
I wonder if Arkady turned a semi-blind eye to Nina’s earlier spying because it was her activities that got his predecessor sent home so, in a round-about way he owes her his job and left much out of his report back home.
Oleg, in addition to wanting to turn Stan, wants to implicate Arkady in this so he can be top dog. (Turning an FBI CI guy would go a long way towards making that happen too.) Although I can see also Arkady saying that Nina is too valuable as she is the key to Stan and making sure that Nina knows that her life depends on him so he can blackmail her into sleeping with him.
I don’t remember it 100% clearly either, but it has something to do with Stan executing the diplomat last season.
I just don’t see the connection. For the Sopranos it was a simple shakedown of a Hassidic jew who refused to given in to their demands, after they were warned not to get involved by their friend Hesh. It was just another conquest for Tony, so like the Romans, he did it for power and money.
With Philip you’ve got a man at a crossroads in his ideology, the American way of life is now constantly invading his soviet values. Maybe Philip was thinking about how unappealing it is now to return to the motherland, but this guy in the backseat with his taunting has made it very easy for him to hand him over.
Ok, has the SEAL killed Philip? Admittedly unlikely. But, the guy was seriously pissed.
All these cliff hangers. He was very pissed. But I don’t think he killed Philip anymore than Stan was in a great position to off the KGB guy at the docks.
Is Claudia now on a slow ship to Moscow?
Well, no, as that would end the series. Philip had the drop on him, but lowered the weapon when he saw who it was. Can’t figure that out, as he was supposed to kill the guy.
Lots of humping and bumping in this ep. Keri Russell is really not all that. She’s not bad looking, but that was an unflattering shot of her on the bed. So if Nina has left Stan, is he still on the hook for handing over the documents?
Wait, did’nt they decide not to kill him?
And I vehemently disagree with you re Ms Russell
No, they had decided to use him to get direct access to the Contra-summit camp, which meant revealing themselves as KGB ( and adding another layer of risk to their dealings with him ). Philip was presumably trying to catch him in a compromising position re: the officer’s homosexuality to reenforce the KGB’s hold over him.
I see. I’ve always been really bad at following plots and usually have to watch things a second time. Or third. I think it took me four viewings to figure out WTF The Matrix was about. 
Some of us watched this episode several times (or parts of it) just for the KR scenes…
Presumably Claudia handled other agents besides the Jennings, and still does. But she blew her cover for the sake of romance, and may gotten 2 deep-cover agents & their daughter killed; she’ll be lucky if she makes it to Moscow alive.
Yeah, that is what I thought when Elizabeth leaves her sitting in her car and they are back on the docks. I assume she has been called back home. I sort of think her disclosing her indiscretion to Elizabeth was an appeal to her on an emotional level.