The Americans 4.02
In which some revelations are at hand.
On all kinds of levels. On the minor, with Henry - very visibly a teenager with deeper voice now, not the kid he'd be if show time equaled real time - confiding to Stan about his crush on his science teacher. (A good thing he's moved on from crushing on Sandra, because I was afraid Stan might go to the Jennings house and find Henry's secret Sandra photo, furthering his jealous suspicion about a Philip/Sandra affair.) The ease with which Stan and Henry get along contrasts with Stan and currently everyone else in this episode (whether Gaad, Oleg, or Philip, where the distance is physical as well emotional and they solely have a silent exchange of looks - btw, loved Elizabeth's "have you made up with your boyfriend yet?", because I shall never get tired of Elizabeth teasing Philip about his relationship with Stan), but I think the scene is also set up for impending doom, because Henry wants to show his new (KGB donated and presumably manufactured) computer to Stan, who promises to come and admire it. I can hear the clock ticking.
On the subtle in ways of interaction; for the first time, we see Elizabeth display anger and some distrust towards Gabriel (previously solely Philip did), not just because the dangerous bio weapon is in her house with her children. Her question "did she?" when Gabriel tells her her dying mother said she loved Elizabeth (or rather Nadeshda) can be read in two ways - did she love me, did she say she loved me? - and when she clarifies she means the second, the implication is that she believes Gabriel (and the KGB, of course) capable of lying to her about this. Gabriel catches it at once and makes a on the surface fatherly and concerned but, again by implication, reprimanding remark about agents who lose their bearing. Granted, it's incredibly rare for Elizabeth the zealot to betray even a bit of doubt (the last time she did was in the Claudia era), so of course it's noticeable, but still. Elizabeth has doubts in another way, too; after pushing for the death solution re: Pastor Tim, and after scouting out his cabin for possible discreet assassination set ups (the gas oven offers obvious opportunities), she has a nightmare about Paige being there, finding a dead Tim who turns into Philip who turns into the KGB officer from the pilot who raped the young Nadeshda. Elizabeth's subconscious is acting up for the first time since early season 2, which is fascinating.
Overt revelations: Philip, having to explain the scene with Stan, tells Elizabeth about EST. As I expected, she couldn't care less about the Sandra aspect and focuses on the EST part and all it implies re: Phillip's troubled state. But she reacts far better than I had hoped for. Not angry at all, but focusing on what it says that Philip needs this and asking to share it with him. This in turn later in the episode enables him to finally tell her the complete story about the boy he killed. When she asks how old Philip was - 10 - it makes the story even darker. (I'd have thought 12 or 13 from the age of the young actor in the flashback.) Elizabeth and Philip are really communicating through the episode (argument re: how to handle Pastor Tim included), which is a thing about them as a couple most of the time (though not always) which I love.
Meanwhile, in Russia, Nina meets her husband Boris, whom she's been separated from for a while but is still on good terms with, and tries to use him to smuggle out a message for Baklanov's son Jakob. Any lingering doubts whether or not she does this to play Baklanov go when the whole thing backfires and it turns out Wassilij & Co. had no idea, that Nina truly wanted to do a favor to Anton Baklanov. "I am not who I used to be." Indeed. I have no idea what will become of her now, though!
Elizabeth's mother is not the only dead relation in the episode; Oleg's brother who serves in Afghanistan (wish I'd remembered that when writing my Yuletide story, it would have fit with him befriending the OC there) also has died, reminding us of the war. I had expected Stan to start with the blackmail operation right there, but he doesn't.
And of course, there is the doubled big revelation: Elizabeth finding out that Paige told Pastor Tim about her parents being spies, once because she's surveilling her daughter, and once because a conscious-ridden Paige confesses (which probably saves Pastor Tim's life for now, because it means Philip and Elizabeth can't kill him without Paige immediately suspecting the truth). Elizabeth is first shocked, then determined to kill Tim the first time around, and the second time, with Paige, angry, as if venting what she earlier couldn't show, and yet as true as the anger is it's also a performance because she already knows what Paige tells her. I think the difference to how Elizabeth would have responded if she hadn't known the truth before Paige told her is that she wouldn't have been able to catch herself and restrain herself after Paige says "this is killing me", she would have given Paige a stern "this is killing YOU? Your father and I had it so much worse!" type of lecture.
Inevitable way in which Philip's life sucks, Part the 10044th: after not wanting to kill Tim because of what that would mean to Paige, he's adding another murder to his record anyway because the airport security guy got suspicious of the pilot the KGB was intending to use to smuggle the bio weapon out of country, and then that was all in vain because the guy skedaddled. On the bright side, his opening up to Elizabeth about EST and his childhood kill leads to understanding and sharing, see above, so there is that...
This entry was originally posted at http://selenak.dreamwidth.org/1156669.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.
On all kinds of levels. On the minor, with Henry - very visibly a teenager with deeper voice now, not the kid he'd be if show time equaled real time - confiding to Stan about his crush on his science teacher. (A good thing he's moved on from crushing on Sandra, because I was afraid Stan might go to the Jennings house and find Henry's secret Sandra photo, furthering his jealous suspicion about a Philip/Sandra affair.) The ease with which Stan and Henry get along contrasts with Stan and currently everyone else in this episode (whether Gaad, Oleg, or Philip, where the distance is physical as well emotional and they solely have a silent exchange of looks - btw, loved Elizabeth's "have you made up with your boyfriend yet?", because I shall never get tired of Elizabeth teasing Philip about his relationship with Stan), but I think the scene is also set up for impending doom, because Henry wants to show his new (KGB donated and presumably manufactured) computer to Stan, who promises to come and admire it. I can hear the clock ticking.
On the subtle in ways of interaction; for the first time, we see Elizabeth display anger and some distrust towards Gabriel (previously solely Philip did), not just because the dangerous bio weapon is in her house with her children. Her question "did she?" when Gabriel tells her her dying mother said she loved Elizabeth (or rather Nadeshda) can be read in two ways - did she love me, did she say she loved me? - and when she clarifies she means the second, the implication is that she believes Gabriel (and the KGB, of course) capable of lying to her about this. Gabriel catches it at once and makes a on the surface fatherly and concerned but, again by implication, reprimanding remark about agents who lose their bearing. Granted, it's incredibly rare for Elizabeth the zealot to betray even a bit of doubt (the last time she did was in the Claudia era), so of course it's noticeable, but still. Elizabeth has doubts in another way, too; after pushing for the death solution re: Pastor Tim, and after scouting out his cabin for possible discreet assassination set ups (the gas oven offers obvious opportunities), she has a nightmare about Paige being there, finding a dead Tim who turns into Philip who turns into the KGB officer from the pilot who raped the young Nadeshda. Elizabeth's subconscious is acting up for the first time since early season 2, which is fascinating.
Overt revelations: Philip, having to explain the scene with Stan, tells Elizabeth about EST. As I expected, she couldn't care less about the Sandra aspect and focuses on the EST part and all it implies re: Phillip's troubled state. But she reacts far better than I had hoped for. Not angry at all, but focusing on what it says that Philip needs this and asking to share it with him. This in turn later in the episode enables him to finally tell her the complete story about the boy he killed. When she asks how old Philip was - 10 - it makes the story even darker. (I'd have thought 12 or 13 from the age of the young actor in the flashback.) Elizabeth and Philip are really communicating through the episode (argument re: how to handle Pastor Tim included), which is a thing about them as a couple most of the time (though not always) which I love.
Meanwhile, in Russia, Nina meets her husband Boris, whom she's been separated from for a while but is still on good terms with, and tries to use him to smuggle out a message for Baklanov's son Jakob. Any lingering doubts whether or not she does this to play Baklanov go when the whole thing backfires and it turns out Wassilij & Co. had no idea, that Nina truly wanted to do a favor to Anton Baklanov. "I am not who I used to be." Indeed. I have no idea what will become of her now, though!
Elizabeth's mother is not the only dead relation in the episode; Oleg's brother who serves in Afghanistan (wish I'd remembered that when writing my Yuletide story, it would have fit with him befriending the OC there) also has died, reminding us of the war. I had expected Stan to start with the blackmail operation right there, but he doesn't.
And of course, there is the doubled big revelation: Elizabeth finding out that Paige told Pastor Tim about her parents being spies, once because she's surveilling her daughter, and once because a conscious-ridden Paige confesses (which probably saves Pastor Tim's life for now, because it means Philip and Elizabeth can't kill him without Paige immediately suspecting the truth). Elizabeth is first shocked, then determined to kill Tim the first time around, and the second time, with Paige, angry, as if venting what she earlier couldn't show, and yet as true as the anger is it's also a performance because she already knows what Paige tells her. I think the difference to how Elizabeth would have responded if she hadn't known the truth before Paige told her is that she wouldn't have been able to catch herself and restrain herself after Paige says "this is killing me", she would have given Paige a stern "this is killing YOU? Your father and I had it so much worse!" type of lecture.
Inevitable way in which Philip's life sucks, Part the 10044th: after not wanting to kill Tim because of what that would mean to Paige, he's adding another murder to his record anyway because the airport security guy got suspicious of the pilot the KGB was intending to use to smuggle the bio weapon out of country, and then that was all in vain because the guy skedaddled. On the bright side, his opening up to Elizabeth about EST and his childhood kill leads to understanding and sharing, see above, so there is that...
This entry was originally posted at http://selenak.dreamwidth.org/1156669.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.