As the show ends its run, which character will ultimately meet their demise?
I really will be surprised if either Philip or Elizabeth survive the finale. I expect to see them go down together, Bonnie & Clyde style.
Renee will end up taking a bullet by one of the Jennings after Stan finds them out. (At this point, it’s the only reason I can see why she was included in this show at all.)
I would actually like to see Claudia get popped. She can be charming, but deep down, she’s a snakey, cold-hearted B.
Everyone except Stan, Adderholt, and Henry. I really hope Claudia is added to the mix.
Paige could never stand the vetting State or CIA would give her. They’d look into the backgrounds of not just her but her relatives and quickly find (a) she has no extended family and (b) her mother’s and father’s identities are false. If she doesn’t die, she’ll probably end up in the slammer for treason.
This is why Philip acquired the cyanide pill from HARVEST last night. It’ll be more like Adolf & Eva* than Bonnie & Clyde.
*Except I don’t buy the Soviet claim that Adi took poison.
I was wondering today why an agent in the U.S. would need a cyanide pill. It’s not like the U.S. will torture them, and if you have enough commitment to the cause to commit suicide, surely you have enough commitment to keep your mouth shut.
The only reason I could imagine is that if you knew the identities of a lot of other agents, the slight chance that you might talk would make it too risky for them to continue to operate after you were caught. But it’s basic tradecraft that you only know a small number of need-to-know people.
As I recall, she was given a suicide pill because of her knowledge of the new Sovient defense system? It doesn’t make sense that they trust her to commit suicide to evade capture because they don’t trust her not to talk if captured.
Elizabeth. Simply because so much of the show is Phillip having a shitty time and that would just be the cherry on top.
The important thing to remember in cases like this is that they’re judging us by their own standards. They think that we’d do whatever it takes to make their agents talk because they’d do whatever it takes to make our agents talk.
Claudia needs to catch a bullet. Elizabeth too.
Clearly there’s a confrontation coming between Stan and some of the family. The obvious thing is for Philip to have the drop on Stan but then be conflicted about killing him. Then there could be some kind of twist in the outcome that maybe does result in Stan dying. Paige comes out of the shadows and slits Stan’s throat while Henry looks on in horror. Ok, that’s silly, but I’m not sure that I think Stan has plot armor. Well, I guess nobody has plot armor in the last couple of episodes.
It was more than that. In Mexico, she was let in on the plot against Gorbachev if that advantage is surrendered at the summit. This makes her an accessory to a potential assassination, news of which the hard-liners in the KGB cannot risk having slip out. If there’s even the slightest chance she might talk, deliberately or not, she has to commit suicide.
When Paige stated her biggest fear was being alone, I’m wondering if that’s foreshadowing of her final destiny…
Right, but you do see the somewhat twisted logic in the notion of trusting someone to commit suicide because you don’t trust them to do a much lesser thing (not talk), right?
I do take E-DUB’s point that the Russians might have expected the Americans to treat a spy as poorly as they would themselves, which perhaps you echo in saying “deliberately or not”.
I do, but I think the risk of having something slip is too great to ignore, and apparently Elizabeth agrees with this POV. Of all the agents in Washington, they chose her to lead the operation because she’s proven herself to be 110% reliable. She’s more than willing to commit suicide if she’s captured, to protect the Motherland.
I don’t know about anybody else but before this is over I want somebody to pop a cap in the mail robot.
Wow, I think anyone except Elizabeth is a possibility. Elizabeth is already dead in the sense she has already sacrificed to a point where she has no place left either in the U.S.S.R. or U.S.A. She symbolizes the folly of the Cold War so I rather see everyone dying around her.
I said both Paige and Henry, because as terentii mentioned, I don’t see a long career at the State Department in Paige’s future, and Henry’ss as close to an innocent as we’re going to get.
That should be the show’s final scene…the mail robot going haywire and exploding.
I can also say I wouldn’t weep if Claudia met her end…great actress…but the character is about as unlikable as possible.
If you’re afraid of being alone, choosing a career in which you have to continually lie and pretend to be something you’re not (and kill people close to you if necessary) is a bad way to go. You could never trust even those who are in the same line of work, since they could easily kill you.
I put Paige as the most likely to die because it makes narrative sense. Elizabeth and Philip have done truly awful things. They have killed the innocent sons and daughters of countless people. Simply killing them is too low of a price to pay for their sins. Killing Paige and/or Henry is the only way to get them to feel the loss that they have so easily visited upon others.
E killed the old lady bookkeeper at the mail robot shop because she came in to do a little late work. P killed a college kid for visiting the soda machine at an inopportune moment. E killed a Navy SP because he was hitting on her daughter (though he was a bit of a creep). E killed the warehouse security guy because of his girlfriend. P fucked Kimmy just because he could. It just goes on and on. None of those people deserved what they got. Did Martha deserve what she got? They didn’t kill Gadd, but they led to his death. They killed Stan’s partner. They both killed the botanist that had nothing to do with anything. It goes on and on.
Paige must die. They must feel what they have done. Have Paige die a gruesome death right in front of them. Have her cry out for her mommy. Let them feel the pain. If they can find a way to have Paige’s death be their own fault, so much the better.
Quite correct. To be honest, I have always have been puzzled by Paige’s life choices. First religion, now she wants to be a full-blown spy. Talk about a 180!
Drum God wrote: I put Paige as the most likely to die because it makes narrative sense. Elizabeth and Philip have done truly awful things.
Interesting point. I was just thinking awhile back about the plot device where the writers opt for the most emotionally tragic outcome. For example, I didn’t like it when Jack died in Titanic because at least the guy had a plan for every situation. It really annoyed me that he went under, but I can see where it pulled major heartstrings.
Paige might fit this bill, although if you want a shocker that really tugs at the audience’s emotions, Henry would almost be the perfect choice. How do you think P and E would live with themselves were Henry be the one to get nailed?
I wholeheartedly agree regarding the innocents that P and E have done away with. Didn’t P wax a restaurant kitchen worker in one of the show’s early episodes? How about E crashing the car jack on that guy, and also the truck driver they let freeze in the elements?
I always thought the worst was the elderly woman who came in to work late. She had the best line of the entire series after E tells her she is a spy to make the world a better place…she replies “That’s what evil people tell themselves when they do evil things”.
No line will ever top that one…at least for this series, anyway.
He may have been a horny young sailor, but he made the BIG mistake of keeping Paige’s college ID. Fake or not, it could still be used to identify her through facial recognition, if it ever came down to that.