The Americans 3.02
Feb. 5th, 2015 10:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakVery much a transition episode, I felt.
That silent sequence where Philip and Elizabeth dispose of Annalise's body and have to break her bones in order to fit her into the suitcase was upsetting even to yours truly, who is a Dexter and Breaking Bad veteran when it comes to body disposal. And note Elizabeth , ever the professional, takes a picture of Yousaf the moment he joins the bone breaking and thus touches Annalise's dead body as well. BTW, I appreciated that Philip didn't waste time to say something obvious like "we're blackmailing you now" to Yousaf, or tried to sell him on Scott being "Swedish Intelligence", but got to the point immediately, Yousaf not being stupid.
Continuing the theme of the Russian/Afghan war as a current day events parallel:/foreshadowing Sinaida (spelling?) the defector talking about Soviet leadership and invading a foreign country, telling its people what to do, plus Yousaf bringing up with the CIA group that their money goes to the hardcore religious fundamentalists.
Nina in a Soviet prison: in genre tv, a new sympathetic cell mate ALWAYS is a plant, so I'm not surprised that Nina, who is genre savvy, does not take to the apparant Belgian girl. Otoh the visit from Oleg's father was a surprise. Because having declined to help Nina as related by Oleg in the previous episode, I hadn't imagined he'd bother meeting her, which seems pointless and compromising from his pov... unless he is considering helping her after all. BTW, Nina asking him to tell Oleg she didn't pretend with him still doesn't clear up the question of Nina's feelings, because what would she tell her one possible way out of prison? "I totally pretended with your boy"?
Meanwhile in the US, Oleg is upset enough about Nina to almost shoot Stan. Which is treated genre atypically but all the more character intense because while Stan does the requisite tough "Then shoot me" agent thing, what the episode dwells upon is the aftermath; just how badly shaken he is when the awarenesss he could have died sinks in, how the phonecall presents him with his wife and son now being part of a new family with "Arthur", and how even the visit to Sandra, when he finally does what she begged him to do back in season 1, share with her what's going on with him, underlines that while she's glad he's alive, she's not willling to go back to him because of this.
Paige going back to her old suspicion that one of her parents is having an affair as an explanation for all the oddness in their lives isn't suprising, but her bringing it up to Elizabeth is (result of their new closeness?). And her response once Elizabeth tried to dissuade her: "You're looking out for each other - more than for us". She doesn't say it angrily (which she would have done last season) but matter of factly. It's shocking to Elizabeth, since both she and Phlip see each other as looking out for their children first. Is it true? I'd say in a pinch P & E would choose the kids above each other, when it came to it, and of course their differing views on what's good for the kids are key to the season, but in terms of the every day life Paige is able to observe it's of course true that they cover for each other and share secrets they don't share with their children.
The flashback to Nadesha's childhood with the revelation that Elizabeth's father wasn't a Soviet hero but, according to her mother, a deserter, gives Elizabeth's devotion to the cause yet another layer. When she tells Philip at the end of the episode that her mother "didn't blink" when young Nadeshda told her at age 16 she'd been chosen for a life in the KGB there's an ambiguity there, too; is she telling it to Philip to explain her own reaction re: Paige or because part of her wishes that her mother had blinked? Oleg's father tells Nina parents keep getting dissapointed by their children, which isn't how P & E see their own children, but Elizabeth not wanting to be a dissappointment to her mother (or Mother Russia) certainly was always part of her.
Meanwhile, Philip frustratingly yet in character doesn't take the cue to provide backstory of his own. We really do know more about Oleg's background by now than about his.
That silent sequence where Philip and Elizabeth dispose of Annalise's body and have to break her bones in order to fit her into the suitcase was upsetting even to yours truly, who is a Dexter and Breaking Bad veteran when it comes to body disposal. And note Elizabeth , ever the professional, takes a picture of Yousaf the moment he joins the bone breaking and thus touches Annalise's dead body as well. BTW, I appreciated that Philip didn't waste time to say something obvious like "we're blackmailing you now" to Yousaf, or tried to sell him on Scott being "Swedish Intelligence", but got to the point immediately, Yousaf not being stupid.
Continuing the theme of the Russian/Afghan war as a current day events parallel:/foreshadowing Sinaida (spelling?) the defector talking about Soviet leadership and invading a foreign country, telling its people what to do, plus Yousaf bringing up with the CIA group that their money goes to the hardcore religious fundamentalists.
Nina in a Soviet prison: in genre tv, a new sympathetic cell mate ALWAYS is a plant, so I'm not surprised that Nina, who is genre savvy, does not take to the apparant Belgian girl. Otoh the visit from Oleg's father was a surprise. Because having declined to help Nina as related by Oleg in the previous episode, I hadn't imagined he'd bother meeting her, which seems pointless and compromising from his pov... unless he is considering helping her after all. BTW, Nina asking him to tell Oleg she didn't pretend with him still doesn't clear up the question of Nina's feelings, because what would she tell her one possible way out of prison? "I totally pretended with your boy"?
Meanwhile in the US, Oleg is upset enough about Nina to almost shoot Stan. Which is treated genre atypically but all the more character intense because while Stan does the requisite tough "Then shoot me" agent thing, what the episode dwells upon is the aftermath; just how badly shaken he is when the awarenesss he could have died sinks in, how the phonecall presents him with his wife and son now being part of a new family with "Arthur", and how even the visit to Sandra, when he finally does what she begged him to do back in season 1, share with her what's going on with him, underlines that while she's glad he's alive, she's not willling to go back to him because of this.
Paige going back to her old suspicion that one of her parents is having an affair as an explanation for all the oddness in their lives isn't suprising, but her bringing it up to Elizabeth is (result of their new closeness?). And her response once Elizabeth tried to dissuade her: "You're looking out for each other - more than for us". She doesn't say it angrily (which she would have done last season) but matter of factly. It's shocking to Elizabeth, since both she and Phlip see each other as looking out for their children first. Is it true? I'd say in a pinch P & E would choose the kids above each other, when it came to it, and of course their differing views on what's good for the kids are key to the season, but in terms of the every day life Paige is able to observe it's of course true that they cover for each other and share secrets they don't share with their children.
The flashback to Nadesha's childhood with the revelation that Elizabeth's father wasn't a Soviet hero but, according to her mother, a deserter, gives Elizabeth's devotion to the cause yet another layer. When she tells Philip at the end of the episode that her mother "didn't blink" when young Nadeshda told her at age 16 she'd been chosen for a life in the KGB there's an ambiguity there, too; is she telling it to Philip to explain her own reaction re: Paige or because part of her wishes that her mother had blinked? Oleg's father tells Nina parents keep getting dissapointed by their children, which isn't how P & E see their own children, but Elizabeth not wanting to be a dissappointment to her mother (or Mother Russia) certainly was always part of her.
Meanwhile, Philip frustratingly yet in character doesn't take the cue to provide backstory of his own. We really do know more about Oleg's background by now than about his.
