I think it had to do with the fact that their entire existence and reason for being was to combat the evil capitalist American empire. But here they were, after all this time, having killed an innocent scientist because they made the wrong assumption about the intent of this research. Kind of forces them to take a look at who the good guys really are.
Also, did anyone notice how they continue to lie to Paige about the wheat? They continued to claim they were trying to keep America from starving the Soviet Union. I guess they couldn’t deal with the truth or face their daughter in light of their discovery.
To me, it was a major revelation–that Gabriel has, in some sense, given up on The Great Socialist Experiment. It was shocking.
Before the scene I’d been wondering if the special wheat is actually headed for the USSR, after all…what if Gabriel has made a deal with China, or some other non-ally of both the US and the USSR?
But after the scene, my final impression was that Gabriel is tired and not comforted any longer by his old idealism. Perhaps he will simply go back to the USSR and live in a tiny apartment and die alone.
Cool! (I love that movie.) Do you appear in any background shots?
Well, yes, she told him that (two episodes ago?). And then she told him to do whatever he needed to do in order to survive.
He was looking at the details. The two interesting things to me were the name & the dates. She was already married when she was put into the labor camp (that wasn’t as clear to me when she first spoke about it). And second - it’s 1984. I believe Oleg is in his early 30s. His slightly older brother was killed in the war. From the dates, at least one of those brothers was likely born in the camp.
As for Gabriel, I didn’t get the sense that he was giving up on the experiment yet nor necessarily that he knows it’s going to fail. But that everything he has done and continues to do has been mentally, emotionally, and psychically exhausting. During his talk with Paige, he spoke about sacrifice without a direct reward. That’s what he’s been doing; he doesn’t expect to be rewarded, but at the same time, he’s got nothing left to give.
That makes some sense but would the CIA have an agent sleep with Stan? There is a perfectly logical reason why Stan wants to protect Oleg and he explained it. Oleg risked his life to give Stan that tip and it’s fucked up to punish him for it.
Imo, turning Misha away was the end. You can’t justify that at any time, let alone to Philip who has given his whole life to the cause.
Gabriel has been there before, he knows what happens when systems and ideology go off the rails - putting soldiers in psychiatric institutions for disagreeing with the war they fought, and denying national heroes like Philip their children for fear of knowing that. It’s unraveling and can only get worse.
I’ve been reading about the Committee on Human Rights for which the episode was named. It’s the only mission we’ve seen whose purpose isn’t explained.
It looks like Elizabeth got contact info for Russians opposed to the USSR’s human rights abuses. I wonder if Gabriel decided to leave because he saw how badly his country treats its citizens.
Gabriel already knew how badly the USSR could treat its citizens. As he said in his talk with Philip, he was one of the ones who were administering the bad treatment. He has first person experience of what had been and still could be done.
I read a piece on, I think, Entertainment Weekly that posed the question: based on the parents link to labour camps, could Ollie and Philip be brothers …
It makes you wonder what people think they’re watching. It really fucking isn’t daytime soap.
Everybody’s spidey-sense is tingling over Renee, but if Renee is CIA then it’s pretty serendipitous because Stan meets her before he learns that the CIA is planning to blackmail Oleg. I mean, super duper counterintelligence guy not seeing he’s being played has a nice thematic balance to it (and this time by his own country), but the question is why would Stan even be on the CIA’s radar at that point?
I don’t think it’s the CIA that wants Stan fired, it’s the deputy AG himself. He can’t afford to have an agent making threats like that, so he gives Stan what he wants, but the price is he’s fired.
Favorite moment- “I feel like one of the guys in the posters.”
The point was made on the podcast this week that all Renee has do do is turn up, at that point paranoia is rife, at least with the audience and Philip.
Smart dramatic device.
To paraphrase Freud (on cigars); sometimes a blonde is just a blonde. Or not
Have to say…the latest episode…aired in the US on 4.25.17…worst in the history of the series. Absolutely nothing of consequence happened…at least from what I saw anyway.
I found the episode absorbing. The relationship between Claudia and Philip & Elizabeth developed; Stan and Aderholt gained a new Soviet asset; we learned what the agricultural defector’s wife has been getting up to; and we saw some cracks in Tuan’s loyalty, maybe (what with P&E continuing to decline to spend time with him, he has apparently decided…something).
This show can be slow-build rather than action-packed; it’s not for everyone.
Ouf … to say the meeting with Claudia was frosty wouldn’t be understating things …
Smart mirroring of women; Elizabeth with Paige (on empowerment), the Russian language teacher and the Lotus 1-2-3 woman (on married affairs).
I like how the subtlety of marriage is sometimes portrayed in this show; the cancelling of planned meetings with wheat guy and Lotus woman was pretty sweet, as was E stroking P’s ego when he got dumped. And also neighbour Stan coming by and talking about his son and their kids and wondering what happened.
Nice that Henry is finally pulling the babes, while Tuan is like some kind of terminator machine.
I guess that was a warning for Ollie to back off. Where are we going with the lady from TASS …
It’s crazy how all the spy stuff and family life sit easily side-by-side.
I don’t know how much more horrible overacting I can take between Elizabeth and Paige. It’s cringe-worthy and makes me want both characters to be killed in a horrible car wreck.
And no amount of garage combat training is going to fix Paige’s angst and mental weakness. She’s a child and she can’t be trained by her parents to be a spy. It’s completely unbelievable.
Tuan wants his “parents” to be home more but he never says why. He just comes across like he’s lonely and needy.
…I liked the show okay up until last season. Now I just want everybody to be outed, arrested and to die disillusioned in Guantanamo prison. Except Oleg. He’s a good guy.
