It’s easy enough to do a background check which involves finding the person’s neighbors from when they were a kid, elementary school teachers, etc., to verify that they are fundamentally who they say they are.
It’s probably also not THAT hard to cheat such a test, at least if you know it’s coming. “Why, yes, I am Frank Johnson, who used to live at 123 Lilac avenue, and this is certainly William whathisface…”.
Yeah - there was also the discussion between the 2 Russians along the lines of: “How did the elderly female computer expert work out? She done great!” Maybe they were simply talking about her acting ability, but with the subsequent relaying of the code, I figured it came from the computer info taken from Don’s office.
Was a tad disappointed at how much the preview seemed to show about next week’s ep. Not at all ready for a season-ending cliffhanger.
Most significantly, i think there was actually one instant that Paige emoted a genuine smile, relaxing the permanent eyebrow crease! 
That’s why I never watch previews for following episodes - of any of the shows we watch - but particularly the serial ones I love(d) like Justified, The Americans, etc… My wife makes fun of me for stopping all of our DVR records before the previews show. Since we watch nearly everything on Tivo, it’s easy to stop and delete when the previews start.
Like they said previously “they can’t help be American” - in this case contractors at private labs.
Lest we forget, he also didn’t have top level clearance.
Yes. What is unrealistic (and completely unnecessary to the plot) is that when the spies were all finished, they walked out unescorted.
Where did it show them walking out unescorted? Presumably, Phillip and Don returned from the bank with the money to find Gabriel and the computer expert sitting innocently where he left them and then Don escorted them all out of the facility.
Ha! Nice one.
Same here. And for most shows, I also avoid the “previouslies”, since those can often give things away too (any time they show something from an episode long before the last couple, it’s a dead giveaway some character or plot point is returning).
So no payoff with Henry or the computer, and it turns out Philip’s son is real after all.
Just finished watching the finale. I did call it on Paige wanting self-defense lessons. Also, Phillip at EST talking about how he hates being a travel agent, he wasn’t talking about how he hates being a travel agent.
That was a weird last episode. Not much happened.
Why is Page making out with whats-his-face a big deal?
There is no way the center would leave the decision to bail or not up to the agents. The agents have too much valuable intelligence. If the center really thought there was a high risk of exposure, they would pull them or kill them.
I agree with all of this. It was especially a weird last few minutes of a season finale–in part because, like you, I didn’t understand why Philip was so emphatic. Doesn’t he think it’s probably (or at least quite possibly) a moot point anyway, if that’s the last time she’ll see him before she disappears to the other side of the globe?
ETA: Great season overall, though, even if the conclusion was a bit off or underwhelming.
Philip thinks that she’s showing interest just to get information.
Ok, what the hell was that episode. Sweet fuck all happened.
Nothing happened in the episode??? Did we see the same show?
[ol]
[li]FBI guys tail and capture Soviet germ spy.[/li][li]Soviet germ spy infects himself.[/li][li]Soviet germ spy is in custody.[/li][li]Soviets wonder if he willingly gave himself up or got captured.[/li][li]Soviet germ spy unwittingly describes his contacts as an American couple, two kids, she’s attractive, etc. FBI guys take note.[/li][li]Soviet embassy chief is given a big fuck you and 48 hours to leave the country.[/li][li]Soviet woman angling for Kenya assignment gets screwed.[/li][li]Soviet guy in embassy decides to go home to his family, leaves his girlfriend behind.[/li][li]We see that Philip has a son in the Soviet Union, that he’s a dissident, that his mother was some sort of resister who left him a package of subversive materials, and that his mother knew Philip is a “travel agent” in America.[/li][li]Daughter comes closer to embracing her parents’ life, asks for defense training.[/li][li]Daughter conducts more amateur Mata hari-style making out with the FBI guy’s son.[/li][li]Spy dad tells his daughter to knock it off, they don’t want her doing that.[/li][li]Spy parents are told they should leave and go back to Russia, taking their kids with them. Their American kids, one of whom has no idea his parents are spies. To Russia – yes, it’s home but they know it’s a godforsaken, dreary, hopeless place.[/li][li]Spy parents left wondering if they should make this huge move, and if the Soviets might kill the whole family if they don’t.[/li][/ol]
But other than that, yeah, nothing happened.
I agree that it was a bit of a letdown. I kept expecting some big something or other. Instead, we got Arkady getting randomly ejected (who cares?), meeting Philip’s son (interesting, but no payoff yet), William dying (kinda interesting, and he gave Stan one more clue about P&E), and P&E being offered the chance to go home, which it’s hard to believe they will take.
Definitely a letdown. This show usually does a great job of balancing action and excitement with character moments. They failed this episode.
I think next season should be that P&E&family move to Russia. And they end up living in some dank crappy apartment and all the episodes are about standing in line to get food and they never get cool cars or video games or Coke and they never get to kill a single person, and the KGB doesn’t trust them and is watching them all the time. And then Elizabeth begins to realize that America really isn’t that bad after all?
And then P&E use their particular sets of skills and work to overthrow the government.
It might work…
Someone should get one of Phil’s famous group discounts for this flight to Moscow - half the cast are going!
Fascinating idea of someone lying, waiting for their organs to dissolve, and others just watching hoping for intel nuggets. Kind of like Waiting for Godot, but with more orifice leakage.
I suspect the idea is Paige is slowly turning into her mother (thinking nothing of sex as a means to an end, and becoming a (somewhat euphemistically) self-defence expert. I think Paige will be seen to make a very, very hard ball decision next season. There’s the start of a sense now of one generation fading and the next picking up …
I thought Gabriel was calling their bluff on returning home. No way can they leave yet unless their is absolutely no alternative - the kids need to at least be in college. Why would grumpy pants give them up … no reason at all. In fact I’m not sure he needed to do that to himself, an exchange can always be cooked up.
Very curious ending. Need to rewatch as there was stuff going on there. The podcast will be interesting…
I think Paige has real feelings for Matthew. She’s 16, it’s only natural. The problem is that her normal teenage hormones are all mixed up with the desire to help her parents be spies. Paige has some great instincts, but she doesn’t have the necessary knowledge or training to handle all this yet. That’s why I loved the final shot of the Jennings house looking like the Amityville Horror. I do wonder if the house will start to feel like a prison to Paige very soon.
I’m annoyed. Season 4 started with Paige’s confession to Pastor Tim, and that’s the only storyline that hasn’t been resolved. We say goodbye to Nina, Martha, Gaad, Arkady, Oleg, and William, but of all people, Pastor Tim is still in the story.
The kids’ casting has affected my enjoyment of the show. I’d be more interested in Paige becoming a spy if the actress didn’t look like a 14-year-old. I’d be more interested in the Paige-Matthew connection if Matthew didn’t look and act like a long-haired puppy. We’ll see…
Interestingly enough, the actress who plays Paige is 18. I think that with Arkady going, Oleg might stick around. After all, the “embassy contingent” gives the audience a big picture insight into things that we couldn’t get from just P+E (+G).
Phillip thinks that Paige is “playing spy” by getting close to Matthew, but I think she actually likes the guy and the fact that it makes mom happy is just a bonus.
I think that Gabriel’s worries about William were just based on him being unpredictable.