Stranger, I agree that it doesn’t make sense to have Paige undertake street-level operations if the plan is to embed her somewhere at the CIA or State that a first-gen could not get into. I also agree with you that you just kind of have to roll with it to make things more exciting, just as you have to roll with the idea that Philip and Elizabeth are doing dangerous wetwork night and day, instead of just engaging in more mundane espionage to get documents or whatever.
What really surprised me, though, was how on a podcast I really like the hosts both agreed that Paige’s parents were being wildly unrealistic to “tell themselves” that it will be different for her, that she’ll not have to get her hands dirty nearly as much as they do. No, just the opposite!
I also was puzzled by their take (and I’ve seen this in lots of comments as well) that Genady and Sofia are now marked for death, probably at Elizabeth’s hands. And maybe even their kid too. WTF? I would like to say I am 100% positive the writers won’t do anything this ridiculous, but there’s that season two Jared plotline so who knows. But Genady and Sofia are now safely in FBI protective custody, and will be relocated to small towns somewhere. Or maybe even better, small cities where you can still be anonymous but way off the radar of people in NYC or DC. Like Peoria, Illinois, or Columbia, Missouri, that kind of place.
So for the KGB illegals to find them would require use of serious assets that we don’t know they still have after Martha was caught. And why waste assets like that on a couple nobodies? This isn’t like “The Godfather, Part II” where that one guy was a key witness who needed to be neutralized to keep Michael Corleone out of prison. Nor is like the pilot of “The Americans” and that guy they had in the trunk of their car. He was a KGB colonel who had lots of intel and was going around speaking at public events under his own name. Sofia and Genady would be both much harder to find and much lower in value. I would not be surprised if we never see them again, but again: I was way way off with Jared, so who knows.
I wonder if we’ll be seeing Tuan soon. Maybe he has a partner now. I was also wondering about Philip’s son (Misha?).
Anyway, we’re now almost exactly two years from the wall coming down. That would seem to provide the natural end to this, even if spy-stuff circs intervene and there has to be an exchange in a flash forward.
Once the wall comes down the realities of life in the Soviet Union will become apparent even to E. There must have been some seriously long conversations about how to end this show.
Again, I went to the USSR for three weeks in summer 1990, after the wall came down. I also walked around the wall area itself after leaving the USSR. I came away inspired to be a Gorbachevian socialist. So I just don’t think this tracks. After Yeltsin comes in, sure.
I went there as well. Probably late 1991. Stopped at a large surf board shop around the corner from Red Square before moving onto a desperate meal of something that might have been chicken. Another day in the Soviet Union.
We have to complete Philip and E’s narrative arcs. It’s challenging.
The writers have established quite clearly that Sofia is willful and unpredictable, and that Gennady is blinded by his emotions about her. So even if, in real life, the pair and their kid would have been spirited off to some small town or city (and thus safe from KGB action)----it’s a safe bet that Sofia and/or Gennady will somehow defy or thwart whatever plans the FBI has for keeping them safe. And thus Elizabeth will be able to get to them.
That “POS sedan” is Lincoln Continental (presumably with the 5.0 L Windsor V8) and although billed as a mid-sized vehicle competed directly with the Cadillac DeVille before Ford decided to switch over to the Taurus platform in the next generation. As fucking ugly as that car looks today, either it or the DeVille was the executive car to have if you wanted to stay domestic and didn’t want to be seen in a Town Car or a Fleetwood Brougham.
The Camaro was clearly Philip just indulging himself, but the Lincoln is him flaunting his success in stereotypical yuppie fashion, which is of course what he has become. One can only imagine the conversation that he had with Elizabeth when he pulled that car into the driveway. No wonder she is so disgusted with him.
This is set in late 1987, right? That means the stock market crash is right around the corner. I wonder how this will affect Philip. Maybe the bank will call in the loan…
If Philip were still an active agent they might be filling to subsidise Henry’s school fees even if they didn’t have plan’s to recruit him. Henry away at boarding school makes it a lot easier for the rest of the Jennings family to go on missions.
If Phillip ever defects and wants witness protection, they should send him to Texas…he would fit right in!
As for the plot…I’m becoming more convinced that with the direction in which Paige seems to be headed, she’s going to make a mistake that will have one of two outcomes…Paige ends up dead, or she blows Liz’ cover.
I once felt sorry for Paige, but now if she survives, I hope she ends up in an American jail cell…along with her mother. Paige has regrettably reduced herself to being nothing more than a traitorous jackal.
I think it’s clear they’re setting up the business to go under.
As we remember, the travel agent business went from fantastic to a largely dead industry from the late 1980s into 1990s, as the airlines, hotels and computers made it increasingly easy for customers to deal directly with them.
If you were forced to go in a time machine to 1990 and have any business, the travel agent business might be the last one you’d choose.
Exactly. I used to always buy my plane tickets at this small agency in the mall. In the 80s I’m not sure how else you could even know who flew where without calling every airline and making some sort of spreadsheet. And prices were all over the place.
Now I don’t know if there even are any travel agencies around here. I do know the mall I mentioned above has closed!
OK, here’s my prediction for how things end:
(1) Paige is out on a mission, gets sloppy, gets caught
(2) She tries to maintain her cover, but Stan is called in for whatever reason, and of course recognizes her immediately
(3) But P&E have fled to a bolt hole somewhere
(4) Philip contacts Stan, offers an exchange: let Paige go free, and let Henry live his life unmolested, and P&E will surrender themselves and tell you everything they know
(5) Elizabeth of course would never take that deal, so Philip is lying to her about what’s going on
(6) At the crucial moment, she figures it out (maybe Paige is at the exchange, and has become such a true believer that she sabotages it), violence and conflict ensue, some or all of Philip, Elizabeth, Stan, Paige end up dead.
I really liked this episode, but DAMN that scene in the warehouse was (visually) dark. I was watching on a big high quality TV with the lights turned off, and I couldn’t see anything. I wonder how intentional that was? It did add atmosphere, but I also had no idea what was happening.
That’s plausible, but you’re ignoring P’s mission to spy on E and stop her from contributing to Gorbachev’s demise (if that’s what she’s doing).
I think E really wants to stop Gorbachev’s assassination. After P&E discuss the matter, they’ll agree that they’re on the same side and they’ll put an end to the threat.
We’re never going to get a proper resolution for Pastor Tim, are we?
Right. But considering what he wrote about Paige in his journal, I assumed something more final was going to happen to him. He can still blow their cover from South America.
I agree that the writers are setting up a complete business failure–and presumably Center isn’t willing to underwrite their current lives. This will add obvious stress to the issues the Jennings are already experiencing.*
I’d guess that the finale will involve Elizabeth having learned that she has a terminal illness. The chain smoking is being featured prominently. And what was it she said in this last episode: ‘I’m tired all the time’ —?
She will be given the chance to sacrifice her life or her freedom to save Paige, or Philip, or perhaps all three family members–and it will be plausible because we will have learned that she’s been given a terminal diagnosis. Possibly the sacrifice will go wrong somehow and will turn out to have been in vain, for extra pathos.
*Stavos has had a fair amount of camera time, lately; what odds he clears out the agency bank account and absconds with the funds?