No mention of Keri Russell punching Richard Thomas out like he was an underweight chump stacked up against George Foreman in his prime? Felicity kicks John Boy’s ass with one punch? You gotta love that.
They brought it up on the show, but I think we’re supposed to understand that Russell’s character is supposed to be much more muscular than she looks.
I don’t think it’s a size or strength issue but rather that she’s pretty skilled at hand to hand and that combined with her intensity and total commitment causes her to pack a punch disproportionate to her physical size. Russell does a good job as actress of selling that IMO.
Annaliese is Phil’s asset. He recruited her pretending to be working for the the swedish intelligence agency. Shes married to a DOD guy. She get the pics of Cap Weinberger’s office. Later, shes banging the Pakistani ISI guy on the side and giving the info to phil.
I couldn’t remember what Phil’s relationship was with the Pakistani guy though, and I’m still not sure. When he walks in at the end, had they even met before? Was the Pakistani guy going along with Phil out of fear or what?
I don’t think they’ve met, I think he just assumes that on the heels of her confession, that’s her contact. And I’m not sure he’s really going along with Phil. I think he’s just in shock. Something I’m sure Phil was counting on though after he saw what happened.
Great show, strong opener. I think Stan and Martha are going to become a real problem for our favorite couple. (Wait, why are we rooting for cold-blooded communist killers again? Because the show is brilliant.) Martha at the gun range was the biggest foreshadow that ever foreshadowed. Also, Frank Langella! I hope we see more Nina somehow, for story purposes and all.
Speaking of foreshadowing, did anyone notice that as Henry was channel-flipping he buzzed past a newscast announcing the death of Brezhnev? So Philip and Elizabeth, in addition to the manifold problems facing them in America are about to have their entire supporting country go through a massive historical upheaval. How does it go? Brezhnev, Andropov, Chernyenko, Gorbachev? My vague recollection of the history is that each one of those leadership changes caused significant shifts throughout the Soviet structure, which is sure to affect our spies on the ground.
I strongly second the wish to see more of Nina “for story purposes and all.” ;-)
But seriously, it would be nice to know that she doesn’t end up with a bullet in the back of the head.
If I recall, Brezhnev died in '83 sometime, and I do believe that you have the order correct, Sharpe.
IMO, unless there is some contractual reason the actress is unavailable, I believe Nina will get more than just a bullet in the back of the head. One specific mechanism of saving her is the possibility, that her former lover, the original (older) KGB boss at the embassy, who has apparently managed to restore some of his status by operating a research facility (we saw this briefly in Season 2) will reach out and help Nina. There are a number of angles that could flow from that.
That was one effed up scene last night, ugh.
Jeebus, between that scene and the beheading on Black Sails on Starz, I’m almost afraid to watch tv these days. Good lord that was excessive.
…but then there’s Nina and all is right with the world.
Some serious shizzit is going to go down this season. You can feel it.
Yeah the “corpse disposal” scene was seriously gruesome. My wife couldn’t take it, and I had to mute the TV.
You just know the sound techs had a ball doing the effects for that. I was in full cringe mode.
Regarding last night’s amateur dentistry, does anyone else find it hard to believe that the Soviets wouldn’t have secret dental clinics they could set up for the benefit of their agents? I mean, they had surgeons like that during Season 1.
Yeah, you would think that the embassy, at least, could supply a dentist. But I’m willing to put it off as a minor oversight given the overall quality of the series. And Frank Langella is a great addition to the cast.
On the one hand, given the extensive support network they have, you’d think they would easily be able to handle a dentistry problem covertly. Particularly if they didn’t need to do it on an emergency basis.
On the other, they really, really wanted to make us cringe. I couldn’t watch that scene.
That’s why it was gratuitous–the body disposal scene last week at least made sense in context. I ff’d through most of the scene last night.
I did really enjoy the evasion scene.
Yeah, I wonder whether we are going to get a cringe of the week from now on. I concur that they should have had an underground doc to handle that.