dex14

uteotw

Nothing?
So Pastor Tim is fine and they will never lie to Paige. Not my favorite episode of the season. Very bummed to see former agent Gaad die like that. As soon as I saw him on vacation, I knew it was not going to be good.

mcnabb

Theere is only one problem with these types of episodes. When the family is threatened by Pastor Tim's wife with that tape, you know it can't end cause it's not the last season. Once they're outed, the show is over or near being over, so it loses some suspense in that respect.

The Patty operation is building to something.....

TimeandTide

Unless the next season involved the family on the run.

Anyway, the tape isn't in their possession yet, so it will probably come into play again this season (or next).

Also ratcheting up the tension: the relationship between Stan's son and Paige. Guessing that Paige will finally earn her spy stripes by getting intel from Stan's kid.

Loved the moment when Paige asked if the parents were ever going to tell Henry. Elizabeth and Philip both had an "Uh, never?" look on their faces.

PhantomStranger

Yeah, this episode fell flat for me when it should have been much more powerful. I never once thought during the episode the tape would surface or they would have to give up their lives as Americans. I'm sure it will be revisited in two years or whatever when the series is winding down.

I'm guessing Henry eventually discovers they are spies by accident and that poses a whole different set of problems than Paige.

What did people think the Russians were going to offer Gad? Were they looking for something from him? This show has been purposely underwriting minor sidestories of late to keep things in the dark until a later reveal.

Rex Fenestrarum

I'm confused about something... spoilered to be nice:

rocket1312

The meeting with Elizabeth's mother was in East Germany.

TimeandTide

I think the scene was just a convenient way for the writers to end that thread. I suppose it highlighted Gad's loyalty to the U.S., but the trio of Russians never seemed so threatening that he should fling himself out of the window. That the leader seemed genuinely apologetic afterwards meant Gad's fleeing was even more stupid. What an ignoble way to go. (Or perhaps that was the point of the scene? How clumsy these operations were sometimes, and that the men and women who ran them weren't Bond-like super spies?)

DWilson

I don't think the incident was to end a "thread" since they could have just dropped the character in the time-jump. There's some further story purpose to this. I think it was clear that Gaad over-reacted and his death will be proven sad and unnecessary (though it may provoke further actions). I'm sure we'll find out there was a mis-reading of the situation, because that's the nature of the show.

uteotw

I did feel like he overreacted. He could have just listened to what they had to say, pretended to consider it until they left, or whatever. My thought was they went to him hoping he would be bitter towards the agency after being cut loose, just hoping for a weakness there. It was a real unfortunate way to go out, regardless. The scene where the guy told Stan in the conference room was very well done.

Astrofan

Because we'll never see what they do on the lam or anything else. Huh?

Astrofan

Absolutely not.

TimeandTide

I'm blown away by your insight.

Astrofan

Don't worry, I'll link back to your statement when the scene ties back into the plot and you can admit you were wrong.

PhantomStranger

My only guess is that the Russians were going to offer up Martha for trade. She's useless to them and was only taken because one of their senior spies demanded it.

joliom

If all they wanted was to talk to Gaad, they should have just sent one guy and he should have knocked on the door. Three Soviet thugs surprising him like that was a very threatening approach.

mcnabb

The family is having a conversation about moving to Russia and how everything may go down in flames, and you hear Henry in the background throwing the tennis ball against the garage.

Jackskeleton

I mean, just like how Nina's death and the dragging on of her story was so fucking important....

Decker

Credit Alan Sepinwall with pointing out that Stan told Phillip that Gaad was going on a trip to Thailand after their racquetball match in the previous episode. That makes Phillip at least somewhat directly responsible for Gaad death. When their day of reckoning comes, it's going to be even tougher now for Stan and Phillip (as if Phillip killing Stan's original partner wasn't bad enough).

Astrofan

I liked that they did that, not everything has to be tied up into a neat package. Plus I think they'll be more consequences of her final scene. But yeah, throw the f-word in there to make your point.

Jackskeleton

I throw the f-word everywhere. not to make a point but because it was frustrating how that story was going no where fast.

RoyalTea

Once Gaad left the FBI, his usefulness to the overall plot was essentially over. I assumed they'd just drop him from the show completely. When I saw him "on vacation," I wondered if he was really "on vacation" or if he was still part of the FBI in another capacity, and that we'd follow his thread in the same way we followed Nina's thread (both serving no purpose to the overall plot). So I was a little surprised to see they brought him back just to kill him.

Astrofan

Fixed.

The Bus

Nina and Gaad are deaths that matter to Stan and will matter to the Rezidentura.

Deftones

That Peter Jacobson appearance seemed odd. I gotta assume he will be on the show full-time next season. He doesn't seem like a guy to do a one and done appearance on a show since he is a moderately successful TV actor.