That makes her a war criminal, though. I mean, I'm not saying it with great moral superiority because I've never been in that situation and don't know what I'd do. But becoming a regular executioner of your own people for the Nazis is being a war company. It's not like it only counts if you did it because you loved…

I don't think Elizabeth would ever think of Natalie as trying to protect her husband from the truth. She was protecting herself and the way her husband thought about her.

Yeah, I think often viewers see Philip as coming from that perspective and erase stuff he says that contradicts it. The Philip of the pilot was in his own way as cut off from the truth of himself as much as Elizabeth was in a different way imo.

Exactly. I think Philip would actually be happy to work to improve his country from within. It's like when Alexei talked about the problems with food delivery. Philip asked why they couldn't grow their own wheat. It didn't make him hate the country, it made him want the country to improve. I think he does love it and…

And it’s worth noting, imo, that she seemed to still be that same person.
She didn’t seem tormented by guilt or remorse. She ran away and made a happy
life for herself and when her past suddenly confronted her at the end of all
those happy years she lied and denied it to try to save herself again. Her
biggest emotion…

You’re right—I did get that you meant that from Elizabeth’s pov he was
Americanized. And there are some things, like EST, that are very much
anti-Soviet with the focus on self etc. And also I agree that Elizabeth will
have to regress along the way, whatever happens. When she’s stressed she
especially tries to go that…

I think what Philip wants, ideally, is to keep the life he has in the US,
but retire from spying. Be able to be honest with people without his life
changing or having to move anywhere and disrupt his kids’ lives. I agree he puts
humanity before the mission—I think that’s also what has motivated him in the
mission in…

Why would the FBI necessarily see a Russian hand in things? I mean, Natalie was Russian but she wouldn't have had anything that would link her to espionage. Do you just mean the method of execution?

LOL! I have tried this one exercise where you make a noise like a police siren and then settle in the middle and let your mouth go slack. But you can't do that everytime you hit it in a word!

I don't think that was quite where he was in the pilot. He thought they were about to get caught and saw nothing wrong with living in the US with all the perks. They've always been very open about the perks being enjoyable.

I agree—which would make him like a lot of other Soviets actually. Elizabeth's actually the weirdo of the two! But if going back was the only way to get out of this job, he'd choose the USSR.

I agree. But I'm not saying that Philip wants to go home because he longs to be in Russia, just that he's not totally alienated from the country to where the idea of going back is dreadful. (I think Alexei is a good example, actually, in the way he rails against the USSR and sees the US as so superior…but he can still…

Exactly! Boys at that age are a total crap shoot. I loved that on the show Freaks and Geeks. The three Geek friends all seemed to be totally different ages but were supposed to be 14. And I think two of them actually were.

Elizabeth is still devoted to the cause, but she has put family over it more than once.

Of course he wouldn't choose it over his family, but that wasn't the question. His first choice would of course be to keep the kids in the only country they've ever known and also get to stay with him. That doesn't make the USSR less his home than it is Elizabeth's. People have complicated relationships with their…

In the preview she did say it—maybe they used a different take later? Usually when she's said that word she pronounced it as "mwee."

The woman saying that KGB was so "above it all" (or "white and fluffy" I think she may actually have said) applies well to Oleg. I think the fact that he's been brought up feeling protected and privileged makes him less likely to be that guy.