If there had been a second transmitter relaying the signal out of the building, wouldn’t that have been detected or safeguarded against? Not even the FBI of the era could have missed that!
(Or maybe they could!* :dubious: )
I remember when that idiot Carter let the Russians build a new annex to the US Embassy in Moscow in the '70s. The place was so infested with bugs (the electronic type), it was never used. I remember walking past it many times in the late '80s and early '90s, just sitting there empty. Might still be there, for all I know.
Most receivers do put out some radio waves, even if they aren’t designed to transmit. It’s the physics of radios. It’s why electronic components have to be compliant with RFI output requirements. Of course the signal can be very weak, but the design of the prop they used for the scanner implied it was very sensitive.
But of course! But then we’d never get DRAMA.
Don’t forget, there’s no way that tiny bug would transmit that long. It would need new batteries all the time (and it didn’t even look like it had any power supply).
To quote the great Michael Westen: More spies get caught changing batteries and wires than any other activity.
Aren’t there miniature devices that generate enough electrical energy to transmit a weak signal through movement and vibration? Or is that way too beyond-1980s high tech?
Could it have had some kind of photocell to keep it powered? If it was a copy of a Mont Blanc, the trademark white star on the cap could have been the tip of an optical fiber.
(I know, I know: I’m reaching here. But as noted above, I do have a devious mind. )
I like your devious mind, but I don’t think 80s tech was there. IF it were a digital burst transmitter, maybe it could get enough power from a tiny solar cell. But it was surely an analog transmitter, possibly without voice-activation (maybe…) so it would transmit continuously, 24/7 (as kids say these days). The recorder could have been voice activated, though. (as an aside, the guts of the receiver didn’t look period correct. To me, the stenciling and gold foil seem newer, like 2000ish).
I wonder if the Feebs could tell where it was made. Did Phillip buy it from a US “spy shop” , or make it himself from Radio Shack parts, or it is obviously Soviet?
I didn’t hear the dialog clearly - did Stan say the Callie Thorne character went off with some other guy? Or was that someone else?
If so, what was the whole point of her character? We’re all speculating she’s a godless commie infiltrator, and she’s just a silly girl? Seems…unfulfilling, somehow.
I don’t think that’s entirely fair. First and foremost, Phillip and Elizabeth are not just random KGB agents. They are the absolute elite best of the best, who were recruited and trained specifically to do a job, and have been doing it for years, during which time they’ve gotten better and better at it. They are presumably among the handful of best espionage-practitioners in the entire world. If they weren’t as good as they are they would have been caught 10 years ago and there wouldn’t be an interesting show about them.
We’ve seen very little of the KGB as a whole. Certainly P&E’s handlers have not covered themselves in glory… the old lady character pissed off Elizabeth so much she got her face beat in, and the young lady ended up dead after a massive bungle which cost them the center an entire family of illegals.
And remember, in a game like this, while it only takes one screw up for P&E to loser permanently, they start from a MASSIVE advantage of being anywhere among a population of tens of millions, and absolutely unconstrained by legalities of any sort, with some huge (if only available at a distance) resources behind them. It shouldn’t be easy to catch them.
As for whether Stan should be more suspicious of Phillip, I don’t remember the precise details of what went on in the pilot episode with searching their garage, although I remember something happened… My fanwank is that Stan is a fairly paranoid guy who gets suspicious of people he meets fairly often and does little bits of snooping, enough to convince himself that he was just making it up, fairly often. So he’s learned at this point that just because he was a little suspicious of Joe Bob at one point, he has to just let it go. Effectively his paranoia has cried wolf too many times, and now the one time when in fact he SHOULD be more on his guard he’s learned exactly the wrong lesson. Or something along those lines. Alternatively that’s one of those instances where there’s a scene in the pilot episode which, because it was only the pilot episode, they hadn’t really thought through the implications of, and we should just forget it ever happened, assume that Stan met P&E when he moved in across the street, and that there’s just no reason for him to be suspicious of someone who has a very complete and compelling cover identity.
The FBI was on the lookout for the car used to kidnap (and murder) a defector, and the Jennings’ car matched the description. By the time Stan got around to checking the garage, P&E had cleaned up all the evidence and (IIRC) switched the license plate back to their own. So Stan shrugged the whole thing off (and probably got into the “I’m just being paranoid!” mode that’s served him so well this far).
He was damned lucky that he did, because Elizabeth (I think) was waiting for him with a pistol in the shadows.
Most of that is certainly true. But, it brings me to one point that has been bothering me for a long time now and one that I keep forgetting to discuss here. Here it is:
Why did the KGB ever send them in to work as a married couple instead of two single people who know each other in a casual way? Doesn’t it make things incredibly more difficult when they present themselves as a married couple?
If they were two single people living in DC and maybe occasionally dating each other, if something ever went terribly wrong with one of them, there might be a good chance the other one could come to their aid. But since they are a married couple with two children, if one is ever popped, the other one will automatically be arrested as well and jailed too.
It is the one thing about this show I have never understood. Wouldn’t they be in a much better position to deal with adversity if they were singles? It just seems like one might be able to escape or further work the enemy. If P was ever arrested, E could feign some kind of “Martha Syndrome” - meaning, "What? Phillip is a what? Are you crazy? Why, I just can’t believe it! And, now you want to know all about his activities while I’ve known him? Are you for real?
At this point E has the option of calling for a lawyer or not). As a married couple … forget about it! If she asked for a lawyer, all she would get is laughter and torture.
I will now leave this thread and invite anyone else who is interested to finish the scene where Elizabeth talks with the FBI after Phillip is arrested. Would she secure some big bucks to defect? (I bet you that if it was E who was arrested, things would work out much better because Phillip would point to the kids and ask for a whole lot of mercy and there’s a real good chance that he might get that.
Anway, there is a lot of room to finish this scenario and I bet that some of the people here could do a lot better job at that than I can.
A married couple is an ideal cover. No one ever suspects a married couple, especially when they live in the suburbs, own a small business, have children, and so on. They’re also much more flexible operationally, since they can back each other up as a team.
If they’re caught, their interrogators would isolate them and try to turn them against each other. No way would they ever believe one partner is innocent while the other is not. I honestly can’t see Elizabeth letting herself get captured, though. She’d either commit suicide or force the FBI to gun her down.
The Soviets didn’t build the new chancery, but they did provide the supports, which were completely compromised. The housing and other facilities were used, but the chancery was left empty. The building was eventually torn down and rebuilt by American contractors. In retaliation, the Soviets were not allowed to occupy their new Washington embassy compound. The Soviets also tunneled underneath the old embassy to create listening posts. The whole thing was a fiasco.
It’s my understanding that the KGB possessed some really, really advanced listening equipment. Like when the embassy was torn apart our guys found stuff so sophisticated that it was beyond us to duplicate.
Yeah, the “married couple” works best. The single guy always attracts suspicion. The guy married to an innocent always has to worry that the Mrs. is catching on. (“You’re a Russian spy!!! Thank goodness, I thought you were having an affair.”)
I find this particularly amusing. On the Tchaikovskii Street segment of the Garden Ring, directly across from the US Embassy, there’s a huge Stalin-era apartment block whose roof is covered with antennas. Everybody knows the building’s main purpose is to eavesdrop on the Embassy, and it’s hard to imagine they could collect any more information than they do there.
If there’s any way the KGB can be more of an irritant, they’ll invariably find it!
“Unknown” isn’t from any episode; it’s a publicity still. (I’d love to have an autographed copy of it!)
Just off the top of my head, they were also seen together in “Catspaw,” “Friday’s Child,” “Day of the Dove,” “Spock’s Brain,” “Way to Eden,” and “Who Mourns for Adonais?”
Some interesting trivia: For a while in the second season (Chekov was introduced in “Catspaw,” the first S02 episode filmed), TOS couldn’t afford to have both of them together very often. However, Takei missed a number of episodes when he was off in North Carolina filming The Green Berets with John Wayne, and all of Sulu’s lines during that period were given to Chekov. This is why Chekov knows so much about quadrotriticale in “The Trouble with Tribbles”: one of Sulu’s hobbies was botany!
Stan and his wife moved into the neighborhood where P&E were already established. Stan is in counter-intelligence and when P learns this, *he * becomes paranoid that the FBI knows and E has to clam him down. They would never move Stan and his family next door to try to uncover them like nosy neighbors on Bewitched or My Favorite Martian. Stan then sneaks into the garage to poke around, while Phillip waits with a gun to see if he finds anything and when he doesn’t and he leaves, P understands that Stan has the same sort of paranoia that P does.
Somebody mentioned the similarity with Breaking Bad and the dynamic between Hank and Walt as a comparison. In drama, the protagonist is often almost indistinguishable from the antagonist in many respects so that the audience can identify with both simultaneously. They are looking for themselves, and will the realization eat them alive? One of the reasons I like Justified is that Raylan and Boyd both understand that they are very much alike, and they both know the other knows, so this trope is stood on its head.
Oh my goodness, Stoney (may I call you “Stoney” without offending you?).
You are around the same age as Paige but you remember TV shows like “My Favorite Martian” which ran from '63 to '66, and Bewitched which ran from '64 to '72. All I can say is Yikes! If you are around Paige’s age - say, 14 or 15 and you watched My Favorite Martian in 1963, it would be just about impossible to believe you could be 10 years old then. Because that would make you 61 years old today. So, unless my math is really defective. That show was on 51 years ago and if you watched it back then, I cannot make things compute so that you could possibly be any younger than 61 today. That would be just about the very youngest you could be. And … Betwitched? That show broadcast from '64 to '72 and so even if you were - once again - 10 years old in 1964, that would put you in your middle 60s today. I’m sorry. But I just cannot make those numbers add up. No matter how hard I try. “Yikes” is the only expression I can use and even that doesn’t come close to an explanation. But, I am just going to say, “What the Heck! Just Let it Go!”
So, now, I will place my entire post here within a spoiler box because my intention is just to have a little fun and I really do not want to offend anyone. TSS made a small error in her post. Probably just a typo and I just want to have a little fun with her post now. I’m definitely not trying to be sexist or racist or anything else that would cause offense to some. I’m just hoping to have a little laugh to lighten the mood of what has become a rather serious turn in the telling of this show. So, please be forewarned. If you are not interested in reading a big long rambling post that doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense, then please don’t open this spoiler box. I know that it doesn’t make much sense and the rambling style is mostly just my own personal amusement. If just one other person here finds a chuckle in that spoiler box, then I will be well satisfied.
But, if you want to take this post and copy it over to The Pit accompanied by calling me some nasty names, well, there is just nothing I can do about that. It has happened before and I sure do hope it will not happen again.
Peace out to everyone here!
If you feel this next part of my post is offensive and you would prefer that I just go away and not make these kinds of posts, I will take it under advisement. Anyway, like I said, I’m really just trying to have a little fun here. It’s my way of releasing some of the pressures and I really don’t want to cause any offense to anyone here. Honest!
The one thing about TSS’s post that I’d like to know concerns this “clamming down” arrangement. I’m pretty sure it was Andiethewestie who was the first one in here (#439) to point out that Martha ripped up the Kama Sutra book. But, you know, that just ain’t gonna help. People will remember that book for a very long time and they will search for the position known as the “clam down”. It may be similar to the “come down”. I don’t know. But it sure does sound like a real sweet ride to me. I would love to know how it goes and if anyone has tried it, I sure would love to hear how I might be able to try it too. It sounds so amazing to release all that pain and the pressures of daily strains.
I know that TSS just made a tiny mistake and my intention is not to jump all over her for that, but I would like to know if there is something in the Kama Sutra book that P gave to Martha.
As I must say, it is very difficult to find much sympathy for Martha. Poor girl got deadly curious about her co-workers. You know it’s none of my business and I attribute that to her desperate lonlieness and I believe that she duped herself into believing that she was really in love with Cluck the Duck! After all, I think we all need some love in our lives and Martha just fits the bill as the lonely worker who is ripe for plucking. The thing that surprised me was just how ripe she was for what it was that followed that plucking (Need a hint? I bet you can find that word on your own. In fact, I’m sure of it). But say what you will, Martha was just very, very ripe for that plucking. Poor girl. What the pluck, Martha! You really need to be more careful when you work for the FBI. Your workplace is full of rats and snakes and spies. As a matter of fact, it is a real nest full of spies and if you fail to exert extreme caution, some rat will reach out to you feigning admiration for you, but then, they will let everyone know they were just playing you and you will be left with your humiliations - a tremendous amount of humiliations. Also, a tremendous desire to shoot them dead as a way to deal with your humiliation. Believe me as I tell you that I understand that feeling.
One or more of those rats will reach out and grab hold of you around your neck and squeeze and squeeze until you die. But, Martha! Didn’t you realize that would be coming? They should have schooled you better and there is no doubt about that. You deserved better than to be taken in by a bunch of filthy rats who will now undoubtedly attempt to work you over again and again. Don’t let them get anywhere near you, Martha. Take down all the info that you can and give it to that man from Gaad.
You must now realize they have identified you as a “soft target” which means they will never leave you alone now until you get fired or you die. They will try every dirty trick in the book to get some info from you and if you don’t go along with them, they will then just try harder and harder until you cough up whatever it is they want. The only interesting thing will be who will win. Will you be able to fool the KGB and their agents? Or will they fool you and get the info they want.
You don’t believe me, Martha? I wouldn’t be surprised. But, you must now come up with a winning strategy and you can use the very best tools they have as well as any more that you can steal.
Just think how hard they try to get that info by all manner of tricks from those people who are now dead and buried. People who they caused to be dead and buried. They have zero compassion for all those victims. They are not nice people, Martha and they are not deserving of any compassion. Screw them!
What do you think will restrain them from getting some info from the living (by that, I mean you Martha. Sorry to say this. But you are the target now, Martha. No one else but you. You are the one who deserves to get plucked and give up the info they want. Do you think that you know all about Russian spies and their evil intent? They will conduct their espionage against you and there is a real good chance you won’t ever even know what happened!
Finally, I’m so sorry to tell you this, Martha. But the way things stand, there is just no one else who deserves to get plucked as much as you deserve it. I’m sorry dear. I imagine this truth must really hurt. And if I’m lying to you and I’m really a double agent, then the truth will likely hurt a whole lot more! You deserve better Martha. But you made the mistake of believing that Cluck would protect you from the evil forces and the Russians really play by the rules of some other universe. I am truly sorry. But, we are now done here Martha dear.
)