On the Slate podcast, Costa Ronin talked about how great it was to actually film in Moscow.

P&E talking to Pastor Tim: at first I thought, WTH?!? Then I was reminded of the movie "The Sting": "…you gotta keep his con…he can't know you took him." While they may genuinely want his advice, I also think they want him to think that they just found out about his move from Paige, and that they're going to him…

I'm wondering if the show is comparing/contrasting the Jenningses and Burovs families and their views of their country. P&E want to go back "home" probably because they have an idealized memory of what it was like: everyone pulling together to first, defeat the Axis during WWII, and second, to defeat the West…

I think that Chris's father may be someone like Stan's boss, Agent Wolf. They only mention him, they have never shown him. Her family has to have some kind of pull in that Chris's dad and brother are alums, Chris is a legacy, and that a recommendation from her father can grease the skids for Henry.

Things I'm wondering about: if next week there is going to be some big reveal as to who Chris's father is. They've referred to him now several times without showing him. I thought that when she said he was coming to pick her up, that he'd come to the door. I keep thinking Chris's dad is going to be Stan's boss.…

Totally agree - Tuan has no view of the big picture. He treats Pasha like a task to check off a list, rather than seeing the outcome of what Tuan's treatment og Pasha will do to Pasha's psyche. Tuan doesn't understand that he can get Pasha to want to go back to the USSR without totally breaking him down such that…

Exactly. Just like in the movie "Long Day's Journey Into Night". Mary Tyrone is constantly referring to her hair, and through the play it becomes ever more so disheveled and wild as she descends into madness. This is also shown through clothing. Example: Rodin, in his sculpture "The Burghers of Calais". Instead…

I thought the same thing - Elizabeth takes one for the team, goes back to Russia, maybe fakes Philip's and Paige's and Henry's deaths (a fire?) and they continue to live in the US.

There were probably no boys left. By the end of the war, the Russians (and Germans for that matter) were conscripting the young and old. I read that by 1945, children as young as 8 had been conscripted by the Germans, and 12 year old boys were manning artillery units. The Russian children soldiers were called "sons…

Agree. I think Claudia knows that P&E have been conflicted in the past, so she spins things to make them seem as dire as possible in order to get P&E motivated.

I think if you're a spy/assassin, you have to compartmentalize. You have to do the job, and get out. She allows herself to be vulnerable with Philip, and to question what they do. But in the moment, she is a professional. She has a job to do. So she does it, and does it well.

Also, this scene was a book end to the scene last week when Elizabeth & Philip described what they did for the USSR as so heroic to Paige (in your words, "a soldier for justice and a better world"), and when they left the room, Elizabeth said "that was good"; meaning, the lie they told Paige.

Good point about Philip's father.

Yes - I watched the episode again and noticed how green the colors were and the red in the salad. From my readings about the USSR during the 1980's, I know that green vegetables - and produce in general - was hard to find or prohibitively expensive during the off-season, so the fact that the Burov family has access…

I think that it's going to be another way the Jennings' fake identity is going to come crashing down. If Henry's friend Chris's family is connected enough that she, her dad and brother are legacies at this ultra elite preppy boarding school in NH, they they have to be DC/MD/VA insiders. So, who are they? US…

That line killed me, about Stan being like Martha. So many levels to that one…falling for a fake person, getting turned into a double agent, being lied to, used and abused, being sent away….

And even more touching to me was when they put their rings on the shelf together, in their secret "their real selves" closet.

The process of turning the laundry room into the dark room, I equated to the 18 minute scene/process of digging the hole. The writers showing us the tedium of a spy's life. And, it was a way of further revealing themselves to Paige. Except for watching Elizabeth take down the muggers in the parking lot, Paige…

Something from Alias: "K Directorate" (who Anna Espinosa worked for), and in "The Americans", Oleg says that the three guys searching the apartment are from Directorate K.